Back of the net!

Evening all, I don''t usually post on here but what has happened over the past 48hrs has me concerned. Selling Pritchard in this window was the wrong decision for a number of reasons. Despite NCFC being well off the pace and consistency to string a succession of results together the play offs were a possible (an extremely unlikely possibility!) We should have played hardball the guy is under contract and despite his lofty ambitions to play in the premier league (albeit Huddersfield) we should have held out until the end of the season. That is of course unless supporters are being fed bull5h1t . No need to sell? Then give me one good reason why we sold him? A lucrative profit? it''s difficult to discuss fees when they''re undisclosed but if I''m a betting man it will eventually be in excess of £10m - a good return for a player we paid in the region of £5m for and apparently haven''t triggered any of his add ons. Which makes me think was he close to reaching one of the terms for an add on - hence the January sale?? Which then becomes a balancing act of is it worth selling now or in the future - either way we deserve an explanation. Personally I would have waited until the end of the season. A bit of a gamble but I''m confident that a couple of teams in the summer would be interested in him hopefully pushing up his price. I''m also concerned what message we are sending out to rival teams. I appreciate everyone has a price but Pritchards valuation hasn''t really met with the fans expectations. Realistically you have to use the Murphy deal to Newcastle as the yard stick. If the reported 13m is true I would value Pritchard above that. I appreciate us fans don''t hold much weight in these situations but I think we can tell if we are being robbed! This evening the reports are that Nelson could be on his way out too?!? Another plausible rumour and why the hell wouldn''t he want to leave? Okay so this is a bit of a drunken friday night rant but realistically what will our squad resemble next season? I also expect the following to leave before next season starts: Klose Pinto Tettey Trybull (may not wish to renew his contract) Maddison Oliveira Jerome Murphy Naismith Martin Any one else care to add to my rant? Starting xi''s for next season anyone??

Such a cynic! I can''t comprehend that as GR was so highly rated by Sir Wenger and spent so long out of football after leaving Newcastle he must have watched a fair bit of football and been able to make a reasonable assesment of what players were good and not so good. I do agree with your point if we were discussing someone like OJ Koroma!

Evening all, I don''t often post on this site depsite being a frequent visitor and when I do it''s often drink infused (as is tonights) as a disgruntled fan albeit not a regular visitor to carrow road i''m getting deeply frustrated by GR and his lack of consistency, I''m becoming confused and some what bewiled by the current regime. I''ve read GR''s post match comments about Lupoli and the fact that GR feels he needs to improve and that AL needs power, strength and pace? Well if i''m not mistaken if these are the qualities he is looking for in a striker why the hell did he waste the clubs feeble resources in the first instance and bring a player of Lupoli''s qualities to the club?? If he is looking for a player of these atributes I can think of a few playing in the lower leagues? The fact of the matter is we need someone desperately to put the ball in the back of the net, now i''m no rocket scientist; however good Daryll Russell looked as a striker against Colchester in thre pre-season friendly he is never going to be a long term solution! Strikers are a rear bread a selfish bread and in my humble if not slightly drunken opinion you only need to name one clear golas scorer (a fox in the box) on your team sheet and however critical you want to be of them during 90 mins as long as they take the one or two chances (and lets face it are we capeable of creating much more than that over the course of a game?) that come to them do we really care??   I guess the point i''m trying to make is that GR should be 100% sure what he is looking for in a striker before signing them, why sign players such as Lupoli on loan? He is never going to be the kind of player described above so stop wasting poor old Lupoli''s time (he has been more than patient) and the clubs resources i''m assuming GR knew what he could expect before the deal was done it''s not as if AL hadn''t played in English football before? I''m waffling now but I would be interested in what other folks opinions are.

I agree selling Chris Brown for 400k is a shrewd piece of business. GR gave him a chance to impress (that’s more than can be said about Strahavka) and clearly didn''t like what Brown had to offer. The sale of Joe Lewis could also prove a worthwhile piece of business providing the money is invested back into the team. Lets face facts as much as a fantastic job GR has done to get us out of the bottom three we are still  in a precarious position. This January could prove one of the most significant months in NCFC history for a very long time and what happens on the pitch could prove to be just as important as to what happens off it. The Joe Lewis sale could bite us on the arse when next season when Norwich Vs Peterborough is a local derby and Lewis just happens to play a blinder! I certainly don''t want to paint a picture of doom and gloom and I''m obviously thrilled to be out of the bottom three I for one thought it was a big ask to be out of it at this stage in the season. I will continue to back  GR and the team 100% as I genuinely feel that we have a management team (question marks over the board though) that can deliver us premier league football providing the board go against the current trend and give GR time and a little bit of financial support. However, getting back to the point about being worried yes my concerns after grown particularly after the few days. Having released two players in Brellier and Strahavka and the sale of Lewis and Brown leaves us with a thread bare squad which is probably lacking in my opinion 7-8 squad players which could force themselves into the starting XI (2 CB, 1 target man, 1 fox in the box, a creative midfielder, LM and RB) would all be nice if not at all realistic. I also have question marks over our interest in Iliev - Why invite a player to train with the squad if it''s impossible to sign him due to permit restrictions? Surely him being there must have a negative effect on Shackell and Docherty as it''s one of the central births he would surely walk straight into? This makes me wonder whether the whole permit issue is one giant smoke screen? Why on earth would GR a manager we have come to know and trust in a very short space of time make such a huge miscalculation - Feel free to correct me if I’m being short sighted here? Why release Strhavka and Brellier now and not at the end of the transfer window - they would have been free agents to join any club regardless of when they were realised, right??  It is for this reason I am confident if not a little concerned until we see some more incoming transfer activity that come the end of the month that we will see 3/4 of the 7/8 players that we are lacking whether they are permanent signings or loan signings doesn''t matter to me at this moment in time. Any one else worried? Yes - but for once in what seems like a very long time quietly optimistic    

Kenton has today been given a free transfer by the saints.   Time to sign him up and sort out the problamatic right full back position?   What do we think?