Salopian

I don''t know, but Ewan Chester, is due to leave at the end of August. He has had two spells as chief scout/ director of football recruitment. Most of us are hoping that things will change with the new management, after two years that were a little dreary. Does the departure suggest that a new broom is sweeping clean, if so I hope that NA has got someone in mind, even if transfers will end more or less as Ewan Chester leaves. Or is Chester leaving because he doesn''t approve of the new structure, or even the new manager? I must admit that some of the signings recently, including the loans, have not really set the world alight, so I suspect that he is leaving because the club are not entirely satisfied.

It is vital that we keep Olsson. He stayed with his former club after relegation, so her''s hoping! I would also like to keep Pilks, if he has fully recovered. He has been a match winner on occasions, scored some vital goals and provided some excellent crosses. At the moment Pilks seems in an uncertain frame of mind, but if Snoddy goes, as seems possible, then Redders and Bennett will fight for the right wing place, while Pilks and Josh for the left. I think that a fit Pilks has an edge on the young Josh, so perhaps Adams can offer a regular place to Pilks as an inducement. If Pilks stays for the one year only, that would be good, as Josh should have matured with a further year. If Pilks has really fully recovered, and stays, then I would not be too upset if Snoddy went, so long as we get a reasonable fee.

It has been some time since a major player as transferred out to a big club, so we do not know how far the Board would roll over and be cheated. I suspect that McN and the Board are made of sterner stuff. At the Press Conference with Bowkett, McN and Adams, both the two non-players said very pointedly that there will have to be savings, but we do not need to sell. If they maintain this stance, and even if the would-be buyers put pressure, I hope that we stand firm for a true value. I was encouraged to read that Wet Spam have given up on trying to get Olsson and are now looking at a LB at ManU. If our Board resisted the Londoners, I am encouraged.

I don''t know how long the contracts of Fer and RvW are, but I imagine three years, so while either or both could have a lower value in twelve months they can''t walk away. It''s another matter if either really does not want to play. Any club which wants them would have to stump up, but in the end we surely would not want an unhappy player. Neither played a game under Adams last season, but perhaps he can get them tom raise their game.

Olsson, closely followed by Howson. (I am assuming that Fer continues to not want to play, or at least for Norwich.)

Both are less effective than they were. It is difficult to be sure over Pilks as he has had so many injuries. Perhaps a good summer of recuperation could put these behind him. At his best he could be a match winner. If the injuries are behind him, I would want him to stay. We is slightly different. He struggled in the Premiership somewhat, and was less effective than he had been. Now in the Championship he should be able to be more influential. The problem with Wes is to know how to use him. He needs to be free to roam, but that can leave a hole in whatever position he is supposed to be playing. In a sense the whole side has to be built round him. (We had the same problem with Hux, but he was so good in attacking that he could upset them opposing team''s carefully arranged defence.) I suspect that he has had enough at CR, wants to Join Villa. How serious they are remains to be seen. I would not be upset if he left for a reasonable fee.

In a word "time". Last summer the Board financed expensive deals for players Hughton thought would be very good, and some of them disappointed terribly. I hope that Adams does sign some good experienced players with known reputations in the Championship and above, and also one or two prospects who could come good in a year or two. We could increase our chances of immediate promotion by splashing money in signing players who could look good immediately but would need to be replaced when we are promoted. When he has achieved the two objectives, played some good football and taken us towards the top of the table, I hope that we shall be generous enough to congratulate the Board. My fear is that the anger will take long to dissipate and any small set-back will be accompanied by the kind of disbelief and criticism we have seen over many months.

I don''t know what he knows, but I suspect from the Youth Cup last season, when he had to sort out the strengths and weaknesses of some good youth players, he knows of some very good young players who may be available on loan. I suspect, and he hinted at it, that he has watched many of the broadcast Premiership matches last season and before. We have formed our opinions about various players and I am sure he has done the same. He will use the chief scout and his team to discuss prospective signings. In all this he is no different to a foreign manager arriving here, except that he has been watching and writing about English teams for several years.

Given the strength of several teams in the Championship, including the teams relegated with us, I would think that a top 8 finish would be good for us. We over-exaggerated the qualities of our team, and now we could lose one or two players. Unless Adams can find so very good replacements and additions, I would not expect much better than 8th, I really couldn''t see any manager doing very much with the present squad, many of whom lack pace, ball skills including passing, and concentration. I hope that Adams can find one or two very good signings, and then I could perhaps see us creeping into the play-offs

I am happy with Adams as manager. By this I don''t mean that we shall be promoted, immediately - we have far too much deadwood and defeat memory to do this, and there are some good teams we shall meet who would probably beat our present team quite easily. By it I mean that we shall approach games intelligently and well prepared, managed by someone who is a thinking manager, and we shall play attractive football. I also mean that some or most of our junior players will make the step up to Championship football, and we shall see in a year or two our first team with as many as three "home grown" players. I shall look forward week by week to see how Adams adopts tactics and chooses teams to neutralise the potential of opponents. I also wonder what the effect will be of the higher tempo training which took place under Adams, and which the squad evidently enjoyed. As regards the process of his appointment, I may be naive, but I believe the Board when they claim that they looked far and wide for possible candidates and interviewed each short-list member twice, and I believe Mick Dennis when he claimed that the talks with Malky stalled, presumably from unacceptable demands from one side or the other. I am quietly optimistic that we shall be proud of our team next season, and put behind us the nightmare of the past two years.

Canary02 suggested " It''s the fact that he has had a go and he was fairly unimpressive." I would contest most of that, unless by unimpressive you mean "Didn''t perform an impossible miracle". He had a completely demoralised squad, with leading players who seemed to have given up - Fer and Bassong, for instance, strikers who were the worst in the Premiership, midfielders who couldn''t pass and defenders prone to errors. The fact that having been the better team at Fulham we failed to convert our chances yet again clearly didn''t help. Above all, we had decided early on in the season that the last four game were going to be very difficult, and in the event the four top teams were far from being on the beach, and we effectively finished Chelsea''s hopes of the Premiership. The team commented on the new training at high tempo, which they enjoyed, and most people saw the new intelligence and real tactics and substitutions. If Mick Dennis is right, that he also had to deal with a couple of disciplinary problems, and the Board felt that he handled things well. Time will tell how well he will do with a squad of his own choosing. Although in the circumstances he couldn''t work the miracle, he gave a good account of himself and gave me some hope of much better things to come, and I know others on this board who feel the same.

Is Tettey out of contract? He has been with us only two years. His tweets published on here by someone suggests that he wants to stay and thinks Adams is a top manager - the two opinions may be connected, of course!

Culverhouse, yes, so long as his reason for sacking is not heinous. Karsa - what did he contribute that we should want him back? Holt - against him is that he is getting past it, hasn''t done terribly well since leaving us, and some think that he tried to milk the club.

Adams said in one of his interviews that he has players in mind for signing, that he had already spoken to one or two and hoped it wouldn''t be too long before we had some news. If this is the case, and I have no reason to doubt him, we could be more in the Lambert mould. We may even pick up a Bosman or two, and one or two of the many names quoted as being on our target list over the past month, in competition with other clubs, would be very acceptable.

I would prefer Derby to be promoted, as defeat to QPR would bring a massive fine and also curtail their buying success by dipping into a bottomless pocket. Derby are within my convenient range for an away game, so even if they are not promoted I shall have a consolation.

I feel even a sense of excitement with the new beginning, but I felt this even slightly with the arrival of Hughton before it was quickly extinguished. We may have a disappointing season, and have to build further and "enjoy" a further year in the Championship, but I feel that everything could be in place if Adams manages to sign a few very good players and all fans unite behind him. I feel optimistic, although I realise that it is going to be tough, - there are some good clubs left in the division, and I expect high spending Fulham and Cardiff to be thereabouts, even if Bellamy has hung up his boots. To change the metaphor, I think that we are about to emerge from a long, dark tunnel, although there are things still to achieve before we are in full daylight.

I agree. The results of friendly matches are less important than the way we play. After al,l the two previous pre-seasons we beat Celtic on each occasion but hardly impressive, and the season which followed were very disappointing. Last August too many foreign players took too long to bed in. I hope that Adams will secure an improvement in passing, which was pretty poor, and that we shall see smooth inter-passing and rapid progress as we have done in our past, with fast raiding wingers. He suggested in his post-appointment interview that he has some transfer targets in mind, and had spoken (or the club had) to some of them. There was a strong hint that it might not be too long before he can report progress. This is great, and shows that appointing him has saved time, and more importantly means that we could have some new players early enough to involve in pre-season training and friendlies. Finally, there have been comments from the squad of higher tempo training under Adams, which they enjoyed, so we may see something of this pre-season and start the new season quickly!

There is a great deal of criticism against Adams, and I suspect that deep down there is anger that Adams was appointed rather than the potential managers supported by various factions, in other words people are attacking him because of who he isn''t. He has not failed. The final four games were always going to be non-productive, - something many have been saying all season. He didn''t produce the miracle with a deeply demoralised teams with no effective strikers and other players incapable of passing accurately but very capable of making errors. He did fail, but we did see a measure of improvement, we created chances which were spurned, and gave away goals by the carelessness which has afflicted us all season. We now have the suggestion from Mick Dennis that he had two situations of discipline within the squad, which may account for regular players being relegated to the bench. I think that McN was referring to this as much to the improvement in playing commitment, when he said that the Board were impressed by the way that Adams had managed things.Fer and Bassong,among others, had seemingly given up, so the effective resources available to Adams were reduced, and his team were playing top four clubs who were most definitely not at the beach. Nevertheless it was a failure, if a gallant one. Otherwise during his long time at CR he has impressed, and latterly as an astute judge of football and players, capable of maximising chances by analysing the opposition and by being prepared to chance and adapt. Apart from the malcontents, who have their own reasons for underperforming, he seems to have the willing support of the squad, - three or four have already come out and said that they are staying. So I, for one, have a positive view on Adams, and I am glad that he was appointed. (Some of the alternatives, who may have reached the shot-list I was alarmed about, and I was hoping that if it was other than Adams it would be someone whose name had not been mentioned previously.)

As I understand it, it was Needham Market who released the news of the "appointment" first. (It seems that Foley is either released regularly to work there, or it is part of his duties. Do the scum have a centre there?) Is it possible that there is a misunderstanding here somewhere? I seem to remember Adams saying that he would be turning to think of assistants, now that he was appointed. Did he discuss things with Foley, and Foley thought that he was being appointed. Had the Board authorised Adams to approach Foley, and perhaps others, as a first contact, with a view to reporting back and making proposals. Did Needham misunderstand Foley? I can understand Adams consulting Foley - they go back quite a long way, and the former had some coaching from the latter, but I was amazed at the suggestion. Foley is 60 and has been relegated to coaching young teenagers recently at the Ipswich Academy. The East Anglian paper have made much of it, and they are no lovers of Norwich. Has the whole thing been blown up out of all proportion? I hope that we shall find out what exactly happened.

What was said but not quoted often is the explanation "to entertain the fans". We do not like defensive football, unless the circumstances call for it (- like the recent game against Chelsea, where we played Mourinho at his own occasional defensive game.) CR has a long tradition of playing good, inter-passing football, and most fans seem to like this. One of the disappointing things about the present squad is the two interrelated failures - to run into space to invite a pass and to pass accurately. Many, if not most of our players struggle to pass well. I had hoped that Fer would encourage the others, but he seems to have given up. If Adams can get the midfield passing well, and retaining possession rather then giving it away, and with quick wingers who can be released into space, then we could be much improved. There is also the little matter of converting chances when they arise!

Ken Brown and David Stringer - two of our better managers in the past, and fondly remembered and consulted. Neither had experience before taking over the reins at CR, and both were internal appointments if I remember correctly. While Roeder was not without experience, and Hughhton certainly had several years of experience behind him, and they hardly impressed in the end. It''s the man, not the experience which matters ultimately, and so far Adams has looked promising, although I do not underrate his task.

McNally may have suggested the appointment of Aadams, but it was a unanimous decision by the Board. As CEO he is answerable to the Board, ultimately even for day-to-day decisions. There may be better management options about. Are you suggesting that both men in the press conference were laying when they said that they had looked? The problem is that not many of the better managers want to come to a newly relegated side in the Championship- Lennon has cut himself adrift from Celtic and seemingly has no prospect in mind, yet did not fancy Norwich! There may be better around, but they are managing successful clubs with prospects of honours to be won, and we would have to engage in expesnive battles with their clubs. We don''t know which applicants reached the short-list, and we may never know. We do know that one or two favoured by posters on this board, e.g. Zola, have been sacked at least once. Most of the unemployed managers have failed at least once - Lennon is the exception. I don''t know what will happen next season, but it will not make the job of Adams and his assistants any easier if we constantly bitch about the club or seize on any slight reason to criticise in intemperate language.

An interesting statement by Dennis, explaining the repeated phrase "He impressed by the way he handled things". I had always assumed that McN meant in team selection and tactics, but if we add in the handling of two disciplinary issues, it makes even more sense. I am not sure what he means about talks with Malky "stalling", but it suggests that one side couldn''t match the other. Either Malky wouldn''t agree to what the Board wanted, perhaps the new structure, or else they could not agree with the conditions required by Malky. It seems that Malky was otherwise prized as highly as Adams, or even higher, but that when it came down to agreement one side or the other would not budge. This explains the rather strange and formal statement "No other candidate was offered the post", that however much they wanted Malky it was not possible, and they passed to their other preferred candidate with whom agreement was more than possible.

I agree in the hope. It will not be easy, even if we sign three or four very good players. There are other good teams in the division, including the well-funded Cardiff and Fulham. We are going to need some luck, with injuries especially. I think that Adams has what it takes, and I hope that he will take soundings from respected assistants. The people appointed to these three or so posts will be crucial. I always suspected that Culverhouse was a sounding board and also adviser for Lambert. For the first time since Lambert left I have a real hope that we could achieve something next season or the one after.

Given that they were impressed by Adams handling the impossible games, with a real improvement despite relegating leading players to the bench, and McN hinted at this more than once over the last three weeks or so, it may not be surprising that they chose him. I was myself pleased with the breath of fresh air he introduced, when if our players had not shown their continuing inability to pass or tackle or convert chances to goals, we might even have saved our status, even if it would have been undeserved.I liked the evident thoughtful preparation, which could have led to more than it did. I hope that Adams will be able to maintain this, and also the willingness to change. There are various theories as to why the process took longer than expected, and we do not know who the other candidates were although each was interviewed twice, (or do you doubt this statement as well?)