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Will Dance For Chocolate

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  1. Not so sure he can. He's wealthy but not that kind of wealthy. He isn't a billionaire. Having said that, the wage bill has been massively slashed already and around £60m generated with more undoubtedly to come when King/Wilson and maybe others if the right bid comes in move on.
  2. Looks like they let the YTS kid loose with Photoshop where he discovered gradients and then nobody had the heart to tell him.
  3. Thanks for the words and the welcomes. I'll be honest, I can't wait for the matches to start again so that rather than speculation becomes the main topic! However, as an addition to the recent savings on the wage bill, the club have announced that Francis and Surman have been released. Francis was offered a backroom job but wants to carry on playing. Surman was fifth choice and barely got a look-in last season plus we have a quite highly rated young CM coming through so that seemed inevitable. Daniels will stay with the club whilst he continues to recover from his injury. Whether there will be a contract waiting for him should he make it or not time will tell. I said before I expected all three to be released so it isn't too much of a surprise that the first two are gone.
  4. Oh, I can see his reply now you've quoted it. It's really odd how he wants us to keep paying the salaries of the players we've sold or that are out of contract. Does he think you're still having to pay James Maddison's salary? Seems like a poor deal if you do. I even listed those players for him before. As for no evidence of reductions, well you can say that about any club until the accounts come out. Unless payslips or contracts leak. Or you can rely on the journalists that report with frequently accurate reports about the club and so clearly have someone whispering in their ear. I wouldn't have a clue which of the local journalists that report on Norwich are reliable like that but I would guess people that post here do. Or you can stick your fingers in your ears and go 'lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala'. The irony of quoting a news report trying to use it as if it's fact and then a few posts later saying you can't rely on journalists reports. Anyone in the team I listed could be sold if their valuation is met and they want to move. The same as for Norwich. The same as at any club. If you go back and read the post with the team on it I even said that at the time. I'm not yet convinced by Travers so hope we can get in a decent replacement but if the manager wants to back him as the number one of course I'm happy to give him a chance. As for why I'm here, well I usually post on a couple of other club's forums each season. The relegation means a change of scenery and I've always kind of liked Norwich so thought I'd add a bit here. Until the season kicks off all I've got to offer is stuff about AFCB but we'll see when the matches start. Most places usually appreciate a different point of view. Most places usually have an oddball that you end up having to ignore despite trying to reason with them at the start.
  5. Once again you ignore all the stuff that people post that contradicts your point of view, pretending it was never mentioned. Where did I say no money was owed? If you go back I said the Ake transfer gave us room to demand full value for other transfers. Exactly in the way we rejected Sheff Utds first bid and forced them to pay top dollar. As for the fee, this is from a journalist that has a very good inside track to the club: You might also want to read this one as well: I also said a number of other outgoing transfers would almost definitely being happening. However, to reiterate let me say again we fully expect Wilson (wants to try and get in the England squad for the Euros but I think it's a forlorn hope. I can understand his desire though), King (one year left on his contract) and Lerma (not sure which side the pressure is coming from here but it's been widely tipped he'll leave) to all depart before the window shuts. So when they go they aren't further evidence of anything beyond what we expected to happen happening. After this post I'm not being drawn into another pointless discussion with you as your view of the world is bizarre. Your quoting June 2019 salary figures as if they are the same now despite all the evidence to the contrary can only be answered by quoting June 2019 figures back. We've got nothing to worry about as the same accounts that you're so fond of show well over £100m in tv revenue. I won't be responding to you further until you start to acknowledge the world in which everyone else is living. Enjoy your fantasy!
  6. Reports from our local journalists indicate that it's £18.5m excluding the sell-on so the price is the equivalent of selling for £21m to another club. For a keeper that's very good money and so I can understand why the club accepted, especially after the player told the club he wanted to go. No point hanging onto a player that wants to be somewhere else when the right money is on the table. It's a little muddled whether the sell-on clause was negotiated away or simply not applicable under the terms of the original deal because he didn't move on to a third club instead going back to Sheffield Unitued. Whatever the reason though, it's a fair old whack. From the Sheff Utd side, reports there indicate they've leveraged the money still owed for Brooks towards the fee so doesn't take such a big slice out of the transfer budget for this season. So could be seen as a good deal for them as well.
  7. Mentioning the wage bill before the across the board (excluding Ake who has since been sold) relegation wage reduction is misleading. Mentioning the wage bill without mentioning that Ake, Boruc, Defoe, Fraser, Ibe, B Smith and H Wilson can definitely already be taken from it and possibly also Francis, Daniels and Surman who are all out of contract with no news yet if they will be offered new ones is misleading. Mentioning the transfer debt without mentioning that we've already pulled in over £40 million in fees this summer and, let's be honest, with more likely to come is misleading. All you're doing is quoting figures from June 2019 as if they were the now in order to try and mislead without acknowledging there are already some significant changes there. You have a predefined position and only wish to consider things that back that up and ignore everything else. If the only thing we're going to consider is what the accounts show in June 2019 should I also argue that we have around £120m in tv revenue? No, that would be ridiculous because there's an obvious change since then. Like all of the above. Why would you give a three year contract to Tindall when he only had one year left on his previous contract if you were desperate to get him off the wage bill?
  8. Thought I'd weigh in. I'll ignore the oddball and his misleading numbers and focus only on Tindall. I'm frankly very disappointed. If Howe had stayed I would have been very confident of play offs at the minimum. When Howe left they had an opportunity to bring in some new ideas to a squad that contains a lot of quality but instead it looks like we'll get Howe-lite. So more of the same only not as good which isn't an encouraging recipe. Tindall doesn't strike me as manager material and I really worry for us now. I'd almost be happy to take a top half finish at this moment since if it goes wrong we could genuinely tumble as other clubs have before. However, I've also made a lot of bad calls when watching football down the years so I might have the guy totally wrong and it could be he does a great job. I hope so but I'm worried. The squad is strong and has the depth to take most of the inevitable departures apart from up front where we will definitely need a very good player to come in and fill the boots King and Wilson leave. As you know, new strikers can bomb so this will be Tindall's first big test. Oh, and for what it's worth we don't have a billionaire owner. Wealthy absolutely but he isn't a billionaire.
  9. Absolutely true, especially if we have a season like the last one with injuries. If we repeat that I can genuinely see us going straight down again. At the same time, a good run on the fitness front and we've a good chance of being in contention. Tindall making rookie mistakes is a big worry. I don't think anyone can predict with surety how well he will make the step up. If I'm honest, I'm far from convinced but then I don't bet on football for a very good reason!
  10. We don't know how big the wage reduction is, only that it was in place for all players. The initial rumour was 25% across the board but this figure seemed to be plucked from the ether. Since then The Guardian have published a report that says Callum Wilson had a 50% relegation cut clause. I'd imagine it isn't a single figure for all, with the higher earners facing a bigger one than those on lower wages but that's only a guess. You're right, I missed H Wilson and also Ibe. Neither will be missed and both a further saving from the wage bill. As for how the team is weakened it's a fair point but worth putting into the larger context. Ake, King and Fraser were always leaving this summer. Kelly was signed a year ago as Ake's replacement and would have played a lot more if Arter hadn't injured him in preseason. He's still raw but, I'll be honest, him and Stanislas were the only bright spots from our post lockdown performances. Probably the youngster I've been most excited about us signing that I've seen play since I first saw Fraser play for us in League 1. Fraser's replacement was Danjuma. Another who had a season ruined by injury. His were niggles rather than a long one like Kelly so hopefully he can shake that this year although there's always a danger he'll have a repeat as players sometimes do. He hasn't had a run of games where he's been fit so no idea if he can step up although with Stanislas and Brooks back, if they can stay fit I'm not worried about Fraser leaving. King has 12 months left on his contract and there's no way the club would have considered allowing a repeat of a player downing tools for the whole season like Fraser. By which I'm not referring to Ryan not signing the lockdown extension, I mean the way he didn't try properly in the normal part of the season that took place. Something he has admitted. So King was always on the way out this summer. Not sure what the succession plans were there but obviously the target will have changed now we've gone down. However, a replacement will have been earmarked. So the only unexpected player loss from that list is Callum Wilson. Replacing him is going to be fundamental to our chances and getting effective strikers is... problematic. That's where it could easily all fall apart. I've no problem in seeing the huge danger there. As I said above, I'm feeling reasonably confident in the squad if the new manager can forge them into a team. It looks like Tindall is going to get the job which is a big risk but he's the man the owner wants. There was no shortage of candidates, although it was a pretty depressing list if I'm honest. Ramsdale A Smith/Stacey - S Cook/Mepham - Kelly - Rico Brooks - Lerma/L Cook - Billing/Gosling - Stanislas/Danjuma Solanke/Surridge - ???? That's how I see the first XI with potential alternates where I'm not sure which way the manager will go. Or, in the case of Lerma, whether he will still be here. Oh, and before anyone gets the dig in you can mock Solanke all you like, plenty of strikers have struggled in the Premier League only to light up the Championship. Where did I say it was rosy? I said players would be sold but that wasn't unusual when a club went down. If we were in such dire straits why would we have turned down £12 million for Ramsdale in the last couple of days from Sheff Utd? I'm not saying he won't be sold but if he is The training ground hasn't been abandoned despite your rather bizarre claims to the contrary. I've said that it's possible they'll only go ahead with phase one and pause the other phases until the future but that's guesswork. Not simply making stuff up as fact unlike your suppositions. When did I claim the stadium was an asset? I said it that the current owners can't do a lot with it without our cooperation. So they can't wait for the lease to expire and try and knock it down and build housing. All that means is that at some point in the future they and the club will have to work together whether they want to or not so the non-ownership of the stadium isn't quite the barrier to a new stadium that it may appear to be. Why didn't Demin convert to equity? It gives him a hold to force a certain price if he does decide to sell, either in whole or in part. For example, at some point during the Premier League tenure he sold part of the club to a US consortium. He then bought that stake back but that debt will stop anyone trying to lowball him if they do try to buy the club. That would be my guess anyway, I'm sure you have a better insight into the mind of a very wealthy individual who has backed the club for not far off a decade now with your threes minutes of Googling. As I said above re: Ramsdale, players may move back to the PL but it won't be on the cheap. The Ake sale has solidified the position and now if someone wants a player they're going to have to pay market value. More will be sold but that's expected, not a sign of the club being in some kind of panic. I can see you have a predefined position and you're happy to join some dots and make up a few more facts to suit that. Enjoy yourself with that. The club has to make adjustments for the move down but it's hardly unusual. Players will be sold as a result of the move down but it's also hardly unusual and they won't move at fire sale prices which would indicate a business in serious financial difficulty. The training ground work will likely continue but plans may not go fully ahead just yet, we'll see on that. Everyone is guessing on there. I genuinely have no idea whether we'll be competing at the top or bottom of the table next season. I know, with assumed outgoings happening, we'll need a top drawer striker and we'll need the new manager to make them into a team instead of a collection of talented individuals. If he can do that I'd be confident. Time will tell. You seem to be in a strong position to compete at the top again but, equally, that appeared to be the long term plan last season. So it's no surprise to find you looking very prepared for an assault on promotion and I expect to see you right up there next summer. I hope we'll be there with you.
  11. Cheers. I think it's going to be an interesting battle. We genuinely could go either way. A lot will depend on who is appointed as the new manager as there's a good squad in place but if the wrong man takes charge we could plummet. Hopefully they get the right person and we battle each other at the top all season long. I suspect you're in a very strong position for the year ahead.
  12. As I said, they still own about 20% of the land. From the penalty spot of the south stand end through to the the edge of the footprint. That's how we were able to build the current first team training facilities there a few years back without the landlord getting involved. Or why it has been included as part of the, currently loosely sketched for good but complicated reasons, land swap with the council for the new stadium plans. That's really complicated to get into but it's a fact that the club still have a slice of the land which would prevent the owners from doing anything else with it once the lease expires in about ten years without our cooperation. A sensible precaution. 'most building work is restarted elsewhere'. So not all of has restarted then. It does matter if it's paid up front as it relieves cashflow. Now, there are ways to unlock the full value of a transfer through financing companies, as Sheff Utd did two years ago when we sold them Brooks or as we did last year when we sold Mings. The problem there is you lose a chunk of that fee that you likely don't want to. So getting it all up front means we have no immediate cash flow issue and no need to lose any of it to a financing company. Money lent to the club by Demin is loans so he can maintain absolute control over what happens to the club. The guy has been with us for quite a number of years now and has shown no intent yet to suddenly withdraw large sums. It could happen, but that can happen with fans that are owners as well. He can convert that debt to equity if he so chooses at some point in the future but more likely it will be used as part of the sale price when he eventually does want out. The wage bill is large and will require reduction. Fortunately, despite some initially incorrect but soon amended reports, everyone in the squad had a relegation reduction clause in their contract apart from one player. That player was Ake who has now been sold, taking his wages off the wage bill entirely. That's at least 25% off the bill plus the Ake wage. Then these players are all out of contract: Boruc, Defoe, Fraser, B Smith, Francis, Daniels and Surman. The first four are definitely gone and, in likelihood, the others as well but lets see what the new manager wants. As I said before, more players will be sold. Josh King and Callum Wilson are almost certain to leave for different reasons but that will lop a big sum off the wage bill total. There's no doubt work needs to be done but it isn't the dire scenario you paint. Weird use of dinosaurs which would normally indicate someone with outdated methods but ok. Oh yes, Andy Howe. How dare we employ someone that's been working as a scout since they were 21. Great interview with him here: https://www.scoutedftbl.com/post/interview-andy-howe Actually though, Richard Hughes is the man who really heads up the recruitment team. Andy Howe is under him. There have been some mistakes in recruitment but generally they've been doing a very good job. If we hadn't been absolutely hammered by injuries this season (bringing on a seventh choice centre back v Liverpool due to injuries for example) I'm reasonably confident we'd have picked up at least one more point. That isn't to say it's the only reason we got relegated, I'm not that blue eyed, but the squad is in good shape and even if we lose the aforementioned players I still think we're in a good place with the team.
  13. Hello! I thought I'd correct a few misconceptions since they tend to get repeated. All home games were sold out. There were zero home tickets unsold for the entirety of our Premier League stay. I'm not trying to make that sound impressive because it isn't when we're talking about around 11k in attendance. Historically we used to report number of people in attendance at the ground (you know... the attendance) rather than tickets sold. I'm not sure if that continued during the Premier League stay but there weren't any tickets to buy. I can assure as someone who regularly got contacted by 'I've been a fan for 30 years but can't get a ticket please can you help' type people. Strangely, they never got in touch with me before the Premier League jaunt to come and see a match with me but I digress. We do indeed owe a lot of money in transfer fees. Of course, £40 million up front in one limp and not spread over his contract, which was the deal as negotiated, for Ake will make a huge difference to that. Getting it done so early also puts us in a good position when negotiating other sales. King and C Wilson will likely be off and for depressed valuations but, for example, there's a lot of interest in Brooks and teams will have to pay through the nose to get him now. The training ground hasn't been shelved. Work stopped during the lockdown and hasn't resumed yet but all the machinery is still on site. There's been no news either way as to what will happen and so unless you're claiming to have inside knowledge that no AFCB fan has you're just making stuff up to suit your narrative. It would be a bit strange to lash out a huge sum on the land and preparing to being close to ready only to then abandon it completely. It was always a phased development so perhaps they'll go ahead with the first team section, which was phase one, and put the rest on hold for now. That's guessing though, time will tell. The club not owning the stadium is a historical thing back to long before this regime. There's a very long and involved story there and I won't bore you with it. The short version is that when we got promoted the stadium owners (actually we still own about 20% of it so they can't do anything with the land without us) hiked up the price to buy it back from about £10m to £30m. We told them where to go whilst we worked on resolving some of the other problems. The stadium ownership is still on the to do list but is far down on the priorities as there were/are so much else to sort first. We'll have to sell some players to make up the shortfall in tv money. Well, yes. That isn't exactly a unique situation. I'm not getting the dinosaur coaching staff reference if I'm honest. It's almost the opposite complaint from our fans, that they're too green and inexperienced. Ahh, the old billionaire owner that nobody has every actually proven is a billionaire. Wealthy, absolutely. No more so than the vast majority of owners of Premier League clubs. Less so in fact. I seem to recall a table showing him as the second least wealthy owner a while back. No idea where he will be in the Championship. I do enjoy the classics. Was FFP breached? Yes. However, what did the Football League say about it? Let's see: "...the EFL acknowledges that the club did not make any deliberate attempt to infringe the Rules or to deceive." I may be wrong but I don't believe the EFL have made any similar statement about any other club. Now, I can explain why they said that in a way that you wouldn't like and probably won't accept but I'd like to hear your take on why the EFL said that. Please enlighten me. I know the way people like to portray it is that the club went on a spending frenzy that dwarfed the rest of the league meaning promotion was inevitable but it doesn't really match up with the EFL's words. Or reality. Also, as I said above, there were no home tickets unsold for any Premier League match.
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