Essjayess

Yea..no Tettey / Trybull or Hanley..no Pritchard as in the first game..Farke saying our win chance is 2%..Conte saying Chelsea are due to hand out a thrashing..the negative pessimist in me agrees..only good side to a defeat of any kind is no 3 points at stake and no relevance to Champs goal difference so..always look on the bright side of life..dee doo, dee doo dee doo dee doo dee doo...

None of us know diddly about Naismith''s loan fee or his wages, so no point guessing these kind of things. Point is, if this report is accurate, then halfway thru the short crazy window of January, Webber has shifted out Pritchard and Jerome on permanents and Wildschut, Martin and Naismith on loans, combine that with a sprinkle of other loans for our younger guys then thats an amazing completion in such a small time slot and continues from what was achieved during last summer.We can opinionate each seperate deal done but we all know huge changes had to be made, wages had to be slashed, not just slightly decreased and Webber has done exactly that. Yes we all want and hopefully look forward to maybe 1 or 2 new guys coming in now, but the speed of change since Webber arrived is remarkable . Maybe this Kenny McLean from Aberdeen may be a new un, lets wait and see.

With Cam off to Derby and Russ Martin having his medical tomorrow at Rangers there is hardly any of the old squad left from just 12 months ago, maybe Wes and 1 or 2 others...remarkable clearout following season after season of same old faces.

Very genuine, realistic and sobering words from DF in todays EDP, surprised no one has discussed it. Seems to me like a very honest appraisal of where the club is right now, halfway thru a season of massive upheaval.He is basically saying City win a couple games and fans talk of promotion, lose a couple and its relegation, how true that is. He reminds us that this huge upheaval is not a 1 season shot at glory but a longer term plan, its obvious it will take 2 or 3 seasons for Webber / Farke to really be able to call everything their own work.It also reminds me in the summer, when Webber said the playing staff size was overly big and overly expensive. Add that to DFs very own words in the last few days, when he said he prefers a smaller, tight knit squad rather than a big squad and we are reminded that its not necessarily the case that we will replace every player leaving the club with another new guy. Honest as ever is our Daniel, a guy that has feet kept firmly on the ground.

When i think of what DF has had to contend with in his first 6 months, a huge shake up of players coming / going, which continues in this 2nd crazy transfer window for him, so making it very hard to build a regular, solid cohesive unit, added with a string of injuries, at same time building a playing philosophy style he believes in, same time coming to England and the Championship to lets face it is the most competitive division in all of Europe plus...amidst all this change and upheaval having most fans, i believe, still on his side...i cannot think of another manager / head coach who could have done a better job.Appreciate his honesty, admire his responsibility (calling his team "my lads") and after 6 months in the role i have more faith in his ability than i had in the summer, which even then i had the feel of a good un.Yes he knew what he was taking on, much of what is happening at the club is the club''s call, not his, and in him i see he has a vision, which, after 18 months of AN who got lost in the fog, its a bright new dawn for me.Once again, with this window, with losing players thru transfers and likely suspensions / injuries, added to a run of 6 or 7 very tough league games coming up, the moaning minnies of our fans may have new ammo to play with, but dont shoot it at DF, coz hes on our side.

Think this topic should be "Jeromes replacement?" as he is far more likely to leave than Ollie. Our club seem over stocked with 2 strikers, whereas Derby only have 5 so are hunting Cam to strengthen their ranks....

As to rate him as player in a City shirt, always hard to compare against former players, but hes up there with the best of them. As to the physicality of Madders, my opinion is that if he can come thru a 46 game season in the Champs pretty much unscathed, thats testament enough.Hes targeted and clogged regularly in this division, as he was in the Chelsea game, and im sure after most matches his shins and ankles will be burning red, but so far seems to have that knack of escaping any serious injury to his person.His future potential is sky high, its honestly that good. Financially, when the time comes to sell him, his transfer could well single handedly  complete the process of the club going thru and beyond the 2 season parachute stage and survive intact pretty much debt free. Its all conjecture of course, but realistically City could at least double his sell fee compared to the 10-13 million region we have gotten with the Pritchard, Redmond, Brady and Jacob Murphy sales. In a bidding war between some of the top 6 clubs who knows...

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]It doesn''t really matter what we recoup, the money spent on Klose is all accounted for so whatever comes in should bolster the coffers. I don''t think there''s a supporter out there who didn''t think us getting in Hanley, Raggett (and Franke) were in-part to cover Klose''s inevitable departure.[/quote]Agree with this. Each transfer is different, has a different set of circumstances to it. In Pritchard''s transfer, it was obvious City would only let him move if they made a reasonable profit on what they originally paid for him, because the situation was possible to allow that to happen. We are seemingly looking at the Naismith situation at the other end of the spectrum, likely to make a big loss on the original buy / final sell. I can only guess that Klose will be somewhere in between, probably City will try to get as near as possible to the original buy price, perhaps falling a mill or two under. But like Branston says, on all 3 of these, the original buy fees are all accounted, whereas new sells are additional fees. Add to the fact all 3 guys were no doubt high wage earners. But all this is financial, and very secondary to my thoughts on Klose, the player and the person for NCFC.Trying not to put my personal thoughts on Timm at City in a "past" tense, for me, his time at City has put him up there Malky, Big Dunc and earlier City CBs as a City legend. Not to do solely with how good or bad he was and is on the pitch, plus hes not been our Captain, its the whole package, the social media aspect, hes just the nicest guy, i guess its just his all round demeanour. Dont know him personally, but have an affinity for the guy and the time hes been here with us. I will miss him should he depart, unlike Pritch, and has nothing to do transfer fee price or how good / bad hes been on the pitch.

Manuel Akanji the Basel CB is now having a medical at Borussia Dortmund, seemingly on the verge of joining them. This of course means that Basel now have the funds to move on our big Timm. Expect this happen  in next 3 or 4 days tops i think. Will be sad if it happens, has become a favourite with us but i guess its good timing that Raggett  came in when he did.

Apart from Leeds themselves almost every club above us up to 6th place picked up points today, but that in itself could be a quirky bonus. People  having a glance at the division will see us still 13th and could look like we are still far from contention, but this 10 points from 4 games cannot be underestimated how its suddenly altered our placement. In effect we are just 6 points from a play off place and have done that by stealth. To get in the top 6 early in the season and stay there you need enormous consistency over 46 games, but get a good momentum going in 2nd half of a season can carry you there.Way to early to be feeling very positive, definitely think we need a couple of new guys to come in this window, but, since the Brentford game a definite move in the right direction. But ya, 19 games to go, anythings possible.

Rumours surfacing this morning of Fulham''s interest in Ollie. Honest truth about things is that half the Champs clubs are likely interested in Ollie, why would''nt they be. As to Derby''s "bid" one of the well known journos, Alan Nixon, was asked last night. his reply was two words. "Checked. Denied".Fans should really get a grip if they believe we are selling our entire team of quality players, was always likely Pritch would depart this window. Firmly of the opinion that Webber is doing his best to organise the  move of Yanic, Naismith and Martin. Of course Yanic''s left on loan, so we wait for developments on the other two.

[quote user="Beetley Yellow"]We are apparently putting up for sale our most valuable playing assets to whoever shows an interest in order to stay financially afloat, yet have majority shareholders who appear almost totally closed to outside investment. Our ability to attract suitably quality players to match those departing is thus seriously limited. Unless we get seriously lucky very quickly it’s only going to go one way isn’t it?[/quote]So silly a start to a post...our club has not at anytime  presently put any player up for sale..its become a norm for every transfer window for every club to have their best players in the transfer window..Pritch has gone...this happened to our club time and time again...as it has to all other clubs. So Yanic has gone to Cardiff..is he a more valuable asset than Maddison? Naismith has asked to leave the club...he looks likely to go...is he one of our most valuable assets?Not just about the ability to attract instant quality assets...as we know that takes much money..its as much about either signing up promising young guys  or the ones who make it thru the ranks..Maddison we bought cheap..nurtured him a year or so...now look at him...Josh spent many seasons here getting to where he is now...Jamal Lewis has enormous  prospects ahead of him...at 19 hes just starting  the climb. We have guys like Louis Thompson, Ben Godfrey, even newer ones like Simon Power and Adam Philips in the wings,,yes not all will make it big but i see no sign of a slow down in future prospects of young , hungry guys who can and will play for City and likely continue to  command good fees when they leave.Remember , was Webbers job to first get rid a to much old aged dead wood, the Whittakers, Turners, Laffertys, Bassongs, Mulumbus...things  are changing, much more emphasis on youth..its what was required, its what we are getting. Like Ron, i find it exciting watching this new evolve happening at City.

[quote user="keelansgrandad"]Is Wildschut a high earner? We bought him from Wigan for a silly price I must admit but that doesn''t mean he is on spectacular wages does it?[/quote]It seems some transfer fees are mentioned enough times that , without it being accurate in the first place, it becomes accepted anyway. Has been said numerous times about our 8.5 mill fee for Pritch and 7 mill fee for Yanic, when just recently the actual fees came out as 5 mill for Pritch, with off course the bonuses etc not having time to become affective and these very Archant columns saying Willdschut''s fee was actually nearer to 4 mill. So an actual layout for the two guys of 9 mill and not 15 mill. Still a lot yes but not near the actual mystical figures that had been accepted by fans.Dont doubt though that both players wages were high enough to make a decent difference to the wage bill now they are not on the books.

Completely agree and support what LDC wrote. As for you lot who talk about decline...are you meaning both financially and playing wise...i.e. our league position from season to season?..if its purely on where we finish each season, then make a graph...how many seasons would this graph  take in? 2? 5? 10? 20? 50? How about from 1960 until the present..apart from a decade ago when we slipped 2 divisions..the graph bar has remained very steadfast in the top two divisions, with occasional quicker or slower spikes pointing to the periods of relative steady seasons in one  certain division, or quicker  but still small spikes when we yo-yoed  a bit more...such as the last few years, but overall that near 60 year graph shows no decline...and its a no nonsense factual indicator.As for financial side, i hear the worn out record that is "ah but..without huge investment of millions upon millions of pounds pumped into the club by some rich sugar daddy investor, it gets harder each year for us to compete to get into the Prem" But the real truth?..its that its getting as hard as its ever been for ANY club to get into the Prem..be it with huge investment or not. 3 up 3 down...that does not change. Oh yea you say...the Bournemouths and Watfords  had big investment...they made it to the Prem...Huddersfield likewise had decent investment...got there. Wolves now doing the same..but thats the whole point!..each year more clubs get  a huge investment...which means each year there becomes  more clubs with big investment that fail..its so logical and simple. So what happens when these clubs like Watford, Huddersfield, Bourenemouth, Wolves manage a few seasons in the Prem?...just look at the Prem table now...it pushes clubs like Stoke, Southampton and Swansea, who''ve had a few seasons up there, into the mire. Just look at the Champs now...many with either big investment or being ex Prem..but only 3 will reach the Prem end season.So dont try tell me that being a rare self sustaining club makes it harder getting to the Prem...coz simple fact is, outside the top six clubs, its the same for ALL the other 86..no matter how much you pump into the coffers.

[quote user="keelansgrandad"]We signed a bit of a journeyman in Grant Holt at a fairly similar age and he worked out ok if memory serves correctly? Correct. However, that was to play in a team that played two up front with a diamond system, and support from that diamond in Hoolahan, even in the Championship. Big difference.[/quote]Maybe there''s a argument there then not to need to buy any new striker at all, unless its to replace Cam or Ollie should either leave. Thinking about it, Klopp does not employ an out and out striker does he?...seems to rely on  his attacking forwards to share the goals around. Maybe that is what Farke is looking to do.

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]Norwich made a big commitment to getting promoted last season, signing players like Pritchard and Nelson and not selling Klose, Howson etc then. However, it didn''t work. The club realised it had to cut back a bit. If they didn''t reduce the wage bill and make some money the cliff face at the end of this season would be sheer and a proper fire sale would happen in the summer of 2018. They have tried to do a more stepped down approach - the clubs outgoings now, even after the sale of Howson and releasing all those players, is still larger than it will be able to sustain post-parachute payments. That is the reality. I guess this January they have had to look at the potential of still getting promoted and work out how much they are prepared to risk on the club succeeding. There is no doubt in my mind, that if Norwich kept hold of Pritchard until the summer Norwich would do well to receive the £8.5m they paid for him - player power and Norwich''s weakened financial position would mean any suitors would have the club over a barrel. This would also happen for Maddison, Pinto etc. Forest, who are one point behind Norwich, are 300-1 to get promoted. Would you say Norwich''s odds are significantly better than that after seeing the first half of the season? Even with Pritchard? I wouldn''t and I wouldn''t gamble £3m/£4m on it.[/quote]This is probably the most spot on and sensible post ive seen to sum up where City are right now. Hard as it feels, the situation came along to sell Pritchard now, a guy that would have gone for likely less in the summer. A gifted player yes, but also injury prone to, a thing that robbed us for to long to enjoy his talent here. Getting shot of Yanic makes sense, im sure Webber will be hoping to shift Martin and Naismith also. If the Basel situation means Klose goes to, so be it. Webber came here with an almighty job to do, in the summer he cleared out much of the old aged dead wood, now hes doing the same with much of the high earners. It HAD to be done. One last thought on the playing staff, i guess Jarvis is Farke''s "Lafferty".With so many comings and goings, we as fans inevitably will not be happy with every single coming and going, but its all part of being a City fan, but the club itself had to deal with the failure of AN not getting us promoted, and they have decided on the current set up, which is ongoing and moving at apace, its change, its movement, if you dont enjoy it then look down the road 40 miles for samey, stable, solid, never changing and mundane life for your kicks.

[quote user="Jim Smith"]It’s the sales coming towards the end of two almost completely wasted seasons that is so galling. I think every fan accepts that if you come down from the prem and your parachute payments run out then you need to sell to balance the books and cut the wage bill, especially with our owners’ stance. However I think we also have a right to expect at least a vaguely decent attempt to get back up during those two seasons. We wasted last season through poor decision making and inertia and we appear to be close to chucking in the towell again here with 20 games to go.[/quote]Jim, despite all that happened last season, we finished  8th on 70 points, which can be definitely classed as a vague and decent attempt, just 2 or 3 more wins would have had us in the play offs. As for finding it hard thru the 2 parachute payment seasons and beyond, just look at the division we are in...its littered with ex Prem clubs trying to find their way back there....and most failing.

[quote user="paul moy"]It seems to me that the club are in a much worse financial state than they were letting on, having to sell this early and giving up on the play-offs.  Sad days....[/quote]aww cmon paul..where has or who has said that the club has given up?..just in your mind as you are feeling sad.Football is a funny old game, but my feeling is Pritch going will have far less negative effect than many on here think. And, as Julie Andrews said in the Sound of Music "When one door closes, another opens". Keep the faith. OTBC.

To many fans put to high a value on Pritchard, City were never going to get 15 or 20 mill for him now, likely his value could as much have fallen as risen in the summer for any number of reasons also. If they have negotiated 2 or 3 mill add ons  it would take it to around 14 mill.In anycase, he main point now that hes on his way, is not the question of how much of his fee is used on whatever, its that the deals got done with still 3 weeks of the window left, and City must stick to their words, that to buy they needed to sell. They now have funds to buy, we face 5 or 6 fixtures on the run of higher placed Champs teams, so the need is there not to hang around and ponder who they want or who is available.Its the "now" time for Webber to do his stuff. As for the rest of City''s season, dont think Pritch going will change to much actually. As ricardo rightly said, play offs were and are slim, prolly went weeks ago, but we will see. All in all, im far from downbeat, Pritch was always the top name to be first away, im not sorry its happened sooner rather than later.

*before 6pm

[quote user="FenwayFrank"]So the official pinkun story stating £12m rising to £14m is wrong ?[/quote]I posted before 6p, Frank, a couple hrs before the mainstream media caught it. Social media then had it at 11 +3.5 in potential add ons. Couple hrs later the Mail said 12 +2 add ons. Whatever the exact figure, if its a potential final 14 mill, then in reality its about what we could expect from the club i think.

Are rumours  in the media world of Pritch being in Huddersfield around now for a medical, could be an announcement tonight or tomorrow morning. 11 mill +3.5 mill potential add ons. This is far from official, but from the silence from City since they turned down the 5 mill offer, it looks probable.

ReadNorwich are saying City are considering a 1 mill euro (about 900k pounds) bid for Mata. This for a guy who is top scorer in Spainish 2nd teir with 18 in 21 games this season and interesting a host of other clubs. Im sorry but if this story has any credence i dont know why City even bother...900k aint gonna get a striker with that prolific scoring rate, even if it is 2nd teir football.

Dont think anything is imminent on Klose leaving, by all accounts Basel are similar to us in that they have to sell before they can buy. Their star centre back Amanji has a 20 million euro fee slapped on him and B. Dortmund who want him the most have struggled to offer 15 million euro. Only if Amanji is sold can Basel come in for Timm.I love Timm, love the way he has battled his way to consistent form this season after some dodgy performances last season and he was the the first to admit he  did not find it easy to adjust to Champs life after his Prem baptism. Im sure he is well aware about his requirements to be able to appear for his national team again, after all its not a new thing, hes been living with it since City dropped out of the Prem. Should not be under estimated how much he loves life in Norfolk either. Probably agree that hes expendable now, but should not mean we need to be rushing to show him the exit, even if he is on big wages.As to social media, if you guys aint seen it yet, go watch "Remi Matthews-Teammates" and then Timm Klose-Teammates" on youtube, same question and answer session but a huge difference in delivery. Timm is just a dream.

[quote user="ron obvious"]Ado Den Haag defender Tyronne Ebuehi has reportedly signed a pre-contract agreement to sign for Norwich City. According to Voetball International, via OwnGoalNigeria, Ebuehi has agreed a deal to join Norwich when his contract at Ado Den Haag expires. Ebeuhi’s deal lasts until the end of the current season, when he will become a free agent on July 1st. The report claims that instead of becoming a free agent, he will become a Norwich City player as soon as his contract ends. http://readnorwich.com/2018/01/10/ebuehi-signs-pre-contract-agreement-with-norwich/ Bit worrying - we need cover now![/quote]Well, having seen NewsNow display ReadNorwich''s story, then seen Voetball story, then the OGNigeria story, you get to see OGN are saying "reports from the Netherlands" that are unnamed, and also these reports are only "of the opinion" that Ebuehi has signed this pre contract agreement. Way to many loose strings there, nowhere near concrete enough to make it definite, although it could be likely, given he was supposedly at the Chelsea game.