Graham Paddons Beard

Well needless to say he was a hero of mine...indeed he was my earliest City hero. A very sad day for the Club. What a left foot..........I even liked West Ham for a while !

Do you really LOVE the Club or are you in it for money and Ego? If you love it, you need to attract £40 million. Simple. no if''s or buts. So get off your backsides and go and find it. Businesses with far lower profiles find investors everyday. NCFC would find one easily IF THEY TRY (and don''t want too much in return) I fear they don''t love it that much......

I''ll tell you this now. no chance . Thats it.

Gunny IS a legend for various reasons; his playing and his work for leukemia. But he is never a coach . Never. So any suggestion that he should be is rubbish. Phil Parkinson will get the job. Nailed on.

Eminates from a little further south along the A140 methinks......

Jas , by and large I agree with many of your posts, but I have to take issue here. Darren Huckerby is the only player we have who genuinely has the ablilty to play at a level we aspire to be at. I could be persuaded on players like Shackell and Drury , and I do think that even Srihavka has a place in a decent team. If Huckerby goes in Jan then I for one will throw in the towel (in fact I have tonight thrown it in for a while...I have 4 season tickets for my family and I simply cant bear to spend any more the the gunn club etc etc) I dont know what you do for a living, but imagine going to work every day with people who are simply nowhere near the standard of you , or your profession. It would drive you bonkers.  Like your posts Jas. Keep it up!  

Spot on Mystic. Sullivan will end up at Ipwich. He virtually admitted it on Radio 5 a few weeks back.

If Jewell comes to City I will eat my hat. No chance. None. My understanding is that he has stress issues. I think nearly going down the other year almost killed him. He now does lots of good media work. Cant imagine why he would come here?

I have posted on here before about Peter. I''m sure some of you (Blah) will remember it. Let me tell you what I know. I work for Peter. A lot of people in the insurance industry do. I have spoken to him about "buying" Norwich before. Here are some things to consider. 1. In order to "buy" Norwich he would have to buy it from Delia and  MWJ. My view is that they would sell now if they could. 2. PC is wealthy man. BUT he needs to sell Towergate (or float them) before he can afford to "waste" money on a loss making venture. That isnt going to happen yet. 3. BUT PC is also involved in a venture capital firm...called Cullum Capital Ventures. It is always possible given the land ownership and potential of any football club in todays environment that he might take a punt. Could he buy the club and still make a return on the purchase for CCV? Well a lot of foreign investors are starting to look. So it isn''t beyhond the bounds of possibility. Dont forget we get 23,000 each week. that''s a big affinity group. 4. Peter said to me that "the men in White coats would carry him away before he invested in football". We will see. My view is at the moment (and I am NOT in his inner cabinet) is that he will not come into NCFC. BUT there is no doubt in my mind that if Delia really wants it (and i have information suggesting that she does) she will start to court outside investment. Be asured that when she goes she will make on the deal (the money she has put in is after all only loaned to the club) and someone has to pay her AND pay off the debt or take the debt over Peter does not have a box. He has access because one of the companies he bought,. Smith and Pinching, already have a boxx. He does not attend every game. In fact last year he went to only one.. the last game agaisnt Southampton.   So there are some fact for you to draw on. I''ve no idea if he will but at least you know at little bit more now         

Many thanks Chaps. I think it was more therapy on my part but I did appreciate the humour in the responses! The Beard of Graham Paddon.  

You could also call your son Cambridge United, a plucky sort who once nearly made the promised land but now sits sadly in non-league obscurity. Why shouldn''t people want their club to compete? Not one ITFC fan that I know paused for a moment when Jeffers scored against Cardiff (leading to them finishing above us) to say to his brethren "you know, some of the money used to pay young Franny should have gone to the Hot Dog seller who received 5p in the £1".

Specifically a response to Blah.... As usual Blah a thoroughly well thought out, researched response. Many thanks . To answer your points on Peter Cullum and ITFC, Peter did sell a stake in his Private Equity company last year and banked around 65m (allegedly). PC is embarking on a mini-philanthropic journey so he does intend to spend a tidy sum of his fortune but at the time of writing not , it would seem on NCFC. So yes, I would say he is "considerably richer than Turner." Turner will no doubt have "salted" (not sure the FSA would like that phrase but I know what you mean!) some of it into trust funds, or bonuses. As for ITFC , living in Bury I do have various insights into ITFC. My biggest fear is the debts at ITFC (largely with Norwich Union!) will be at best resheduled over a longer period of time or at worst written off. If this happens I think the ambition of ITFC will far outweigh our own. It has in the past. Building a team is an interesting concept. I agree entirely BUT the record speaks for itself in terms of promotion. Team that go up either have more money than most of their competitors and therefore a bigger squad/better players . Over the last few years you would include Birmingham, Sunderland,Wigan, Reading (oh yes they did!) Sheffiled United OR they have an exceptionally fortunate year with injuries and we largely fitted into the latter although we did of course sign Hucks which was another key factor. Had Hucks broken his leg we would have been in the mire. Fortunately he didnt. Compare that to this years injury list (inc Earnie) and you would say that we had no chance of going up. So in order to go up we need more money, and plenty of it.   Building a squad over time is a nice idea but rarely does the injury factor allow it to work, to the point of promotion. Of the 9 seasons we had down before promotion, I wouldnt mind betting we had key injuries for many of those seasons. PS Blah I loved the "Drop in the Ocean / Tip of the Iceberg" analogy. I do hope that you are right!    

The only way that this is GOOD NEWS is if it is a taste of things to come. Some points (many of which have been made already). 1. It COULD be that the Board are being clever and don''t want other clubs to see this as a reason to put up prices. Personally I dont think the market works like that for Footballers. The price is the price, and is determined by the demand for a particular player. If Charlton go in for a player next year then we will need to match the offer so tactics dont come into it. 2. Mr Turner has a wealth presumably largely based on his shareholding . As a PLC he cannot realise this easily. Does anyone know if his Wife''s wealth is seperate? 3. Forgive me for saying so, but Mr Turners profit/turnover ratio is almost too good to be true and is I would imagine wholly unsustainable particuarly as the market for loans is so fluid. Business goes pop, and his £250 million paper money goes with it. 4. 2 million quid is a drop in the Ocean. How much have the two teams that have gone up spent? That is the only proper measure. 5.  Usual spin. If we hadn''t we would have to sell players. NOT , we can now go out and buy more! 6. Our cousins down the A140 are pissing themselves by the way. They will get 5 times this amount when there deal is set, AND some of their debt will be wiped off. 7. Looks like more of the same, everyone......

Au contraire Blah. I happen to know that Peter Cullum is in fact a huge NCFC fan and quite friendly with Delia. I have personally spoken to him on the subject. If you are looking for a cause or a crusade, I strongly suggest that you change this post to Dear Mr Cullum...I would but am a little to close to him to do this myself. Peter is the head of the largest Insurance Intermediary in Europe, called Towergate. Towergate is growing very very fast. PC is also involved in a Private Equity company and last year sold around 10% of this and made a reported 65 mil. My guess is that Towergate will float in the near future and PC will be worth a damn sight more than the Sunday Times suggests. Had Norwich Union been keen to get involved previously , PC would have followed them in, but that is another story......  

Sadly.....my most treasured possession was a silk scarf (remember them?) with "Wembley 73" on it. I say sadly because a few years ago it had battery acid spilled on it (dont ask) and had to be thrown away. Now it is my collection of programmes, I have over 200 with dates ranging from 1959 to last week!

For Gods sake, it is DARREN HUCKERBY. Why do we always get into this debate? The year we went up, it was Hucks that got us there and most people voted for Craig Fleming!!!!! Huckerby is the best player we have had for years. Didnt anyone see him beat Birmingham on Tuesday? Even now people sit around me in the Upper Barclay and moan at him for not defending. Unbelievable!!!!!

Flufty...you make some interesting points and I would imagine that you and I have been in the Dome at Colney at the same time in our scouting capacity. I too was asked to find 6 ft 6 players for worthy.   I agree with a lot of what you say re youth and in particular the 11 a side issue. I now run a girls team (under 13) and a boys team (u15) and I have to say they are both going the same way...effective players are those that can kick it a long way, defenders in good sides dont get a chance to play football and the parents think we are all playing for the FA Cup in each match. Academy football is however what it is. It is the highest level for young players and a club needs to see how the players can comptete. The Pdc''s are the main problem because they dont really offer what they should. but that''s another story. By the way I am level two. But McDonalds didn''t give it to me!!!!    

The point that Jimmy makes is a very good one. Regardless of what car you drive , the 90 minutes rule (in fact it is a 60 minutes rule for the younger players) does impinge on who you can invite in. What does seem to hapen though is that clubs set up "centres" where players can train out of area and this does seem to be the solution. However the Club does seem a bit slow on the uptake here, and there are very few centres outside of Norfolk. Here in West Suffolk, decent young players have no alternatives to ITFC or Cambridge unless they want to bang up the A11 for an hour. I know there are strict FA rules about this, but there should be a way for NCFC to have representation in Suffolk, and Essex.  

The teams that have finished third from bottom in the last 5 years of this division are as follows: Crewe 42 pts GD -29 Gillingham 50 pts GD -21 (relegated by one goal that season) Walsall 51 pts GD-20 Sheff Wed 46 pts GD-17 Crewe 49 pts -29. I dont know how the league looks this year with 10 games to go in comparison. Do we think it will be a high scoring points league this year? Certainly everyone keeps beating each other....      

Does anyone remember the cross bar collapsing on Kevin Keelan ? I''m sure it was an away game but I can''t recall too many details...

A couple of responses: To Blah I would say the point is seriously missed. no one is necessarily looking for plotting or intrigue but where we find ourselves now, given the amount spent ,MUST infer mismanagement EVEN IF it was not mischeivous. Allowing the club to fall into a position where it cannot compete with Derby County in the transfer market means exactly that.  Ommission is as culpable. To allow our transfer finances to be managed by Nigel Worthington BY NOT TAKING ACTION AT THE CORRECT TIME  is culpable in the extreme. We need more money. And Delia should either put it in or stand aside and openly attract investors. My original point is , simply , that DS appears happy with her lot and would cheerfully see us in division 1 just so long as the Gunn Clubb is well stocked with Chateau Sainsbury. To Bury Green I wholeheartedly agree. It seems that money DS put in is in fact "loaned" to the club. In turn the balance sheet of the club increases largely as a result of the increase in the real estate. therefore her security is increased. However the debt increases but is managed in such a way that the monthly repayments are "manageable" as the debt it treated as Long Term. All good news as far as the balance sheet is concerned. The notion that DS writes cheques out to the club out of the goodness of her own heart is misleading. Her share value has increased should a new buyer come into the club. In other words a win win on her part. If Delia really wanted nothing but the best for NCFC , she would actively be seeking investment. It would mean her giving up some share or even control of the club but so what? Money is what it is all about at the end of the day and we dont seem to have enough of it.

I emailed him at the end of last season. Reminded him of the facts, but he didn''t respond. The real issue here is that there are lots of us Suffolk based supporters who Del Boy puts off buying the paper but his bosses cant see it. I occasionally read the paper because I buy it for my business, the most recent was the ridiculous treatment of Iwan, again at the hands of this Muppet. The Publishers of the paper should understand that this kind of Fanzine style rubbish affects their pocket. But if you do buy the paper I would draw your attention to the pic of Del Boy. Nice suit innit?

Went to Palace in 86 or 87 (we got promoted that year), stayed in London and after a short walk got on a red bus with "Crystal Palace" on the front of it. I think I was on the bus for about two hours as it drove around all of the sights of London (and some of Watford probably) . I didnt know London too well then so didnt dare get off! Got to Selhurst just before half time. Gatemen had all packed up so we climbed over the turnstile. City were already 1 up and won 2.1 . Took us about 20 minutes to get back to my mates house afterwards. Apparently the buses with Crystal Palace has caught lots of people in the past. If you are ever in the same position get on the red buses with "Selhurst Park" on them.....

Now there''s a talent. Mr Sutch. A big engine, and a goal against the Villa. The stuff of Folklore. Very bad and sorry folklore. The sort of folklore that should be shut away for a very very long time. Nasty.

Look Wiz, there are a couple of other Hex''s that you clearly used last night but aren''t telling us about. My suspicions were immediately aroused when the suit being worn by Robert Lee turned itself inside out. The stitching cleverly moved to the outside of the lapel; all while the expression on his face (if "expression" is actually a word one can use for no expression whatsoever) remained unaltered. Then, Richard Keyes became a werewolf. Finally Sir Binner of Robson turned into a wisened old man in front of our very eyes during the post match interview, his eyes clouded, his back stooped and utter nonsense poured from his weasel-like mouth. "We were unlucky and I''m in charge of this football club" he whined. Of course you are, Sir Bobby, of course you are.... GPB