rieg77

Absent Friend I think you''ll find I was expressing an opinion, hence ''I don''t see....''. Players do want to play but they are also ambitious and want to play at the highest level. Middle to lower tier premier clubs will come calling and I just think there is less of an argument for them to stay versus jumping straight back into the premiership. Good debating with you.

[quote user="AndyCanary"]Poor analogy.. Adams isn''t a fork lift truck.. He''s a car that is purpose built for Norwich roads but hasn''t been tested against the other generic race cars the club could have bought.[/quote] There''s nothing like strangling an analogy, so here goes. Adams is more like a bicycle with the training wheels still on. One day he may grow up to be a car but it might be at our expense.

Let''s see now. If you need a car and you go shopping for a car but can only find a fork lift truck do you A) keep looking until you find a car B) buy the fork lift truck

I''ve not posted on here for absolutely ages but today has made me hit the forum again. I am so disappointed by the appointment of Adams. Nice guy perhaps, he did OK in the games he was in charge for last season, except perhaps for Man Utd away where her seemed a little dazzled by the headlights. However he did nothing that makes me think he is the right man for this particular job. There is a world of difference between the youth team and the English Championship and he has been given a job for which he has no credentials worthy of it. We are not Burnley and he is not Sean Dyche. We have just been relegated after three years in the premiership and these two years are a precious gift where we have some advantage over many teams. It was important to bring in a manager with experience, ideally experience of getting out of this division. We have just squandered this precious chance in my opinion. Was it the easy choice? I don''t know. Was it the cheap choice? Maybe but who knows what his salary is. I don''t see a reason for players to stay with Adams in charge. Players we might have hung on to like Howson, Redmond, Turner, etc will not look at Adams and believe he is the best chance of getting back to the premiership. Does it bring the club, fans and players back together in the way needed for us to succeed in getting promotion? No, I strongly suspect this manager will already have to overcome an air of negativity and if results don''t go his way it will quickly spiral out of control. What depresses me the most is that the people who run our club should know better. They should know this particular job needs a man of experience. It is incredibly hard to get out of this division and I think it just got a lot harder. I hope I am wrong and will always support my club but this feels more like a Hamilton, Grant, Deehan kind of appointment rather than Stringer, Walker or Lambert one. Time will tell.

I''m interested to know who you think might be on our shopping list should the board decide Houghton''s time has come to an end. There''s no great depth of talent sitting on the bench waiting for a job. Personally I don''t think McLeish, Coleman and the gang are good enough candidates. Pulis, well yes he''s operated at this level but poor football and there is a reason he left stoke at the end of the day. I guess we might be looking at people currently in work. Obviously it has to be someone who has operated at this level but not necessarily in the UK. I guess we''re all hoping there''s another pochetino out there somewhere. Anyway, I''d be interested to see peoples top three.

Ok, so I''ve spent all weekend thinking about this, and I''ve read a lot of the posts on this forum since Friday nights match, but I''m confused by all the negativity. Already, off the back of one match where we did not play our best and yet still looked good going forward in spells and only narrowly lost, people are already talking about us as relegation fodder. For gods sake, get a grip!! The way I see it, most of the mistakes that were made were due to a lack of familiarity between players. For example, Hoolahan''s through balls were not coming off because Jackson and he were not on the same wavelength. Less excusable is our two centrebacks basically leaving it to each other to clear a ball, which led to the third goal, but even that you could say was indicative of two players who haven''t played together before. We had six new players in the team and thats bound to have an impact on our performance. I firmly believe that in six matches time things will be very different. I thought Crofts, Fox and Surman played well and look good for the future, as did Jackson. The one that worries me most is Ward, but I''m sure he will be fine. And lets not forget we''ve just been promoted and are playing at a higher level than last season - you can''t just expect to turn up have it easy, especially not in this division. It took us 8 seasons to get promoted out of this division before, so lets not all get so negative after one match (anyone remember Colchester last season). We were playing a very young, confident, energetic Watford side who played without fear. To me they look like one of those sides that will do well until they lose, and then the bubble will burst and they''ll free fall. Not to mention they scored 2 deflected goals . You have to be disappointed with they way they carved us open for the second though, but that was an individuals defensive error, not team-wide ineptitude. Last but not least we were on telly, at home, for the first game of the season - of course we were going to lose!! (Just kidding) I sincerely believe we will do well in this division. We probably won''t get promoted, and we probably don''t want to at the first time of asking - that would be a challenge too far. However, I believe we will be in the top half, and thats pretty good for a promoted team. As for the boo-boys at the game, you are a disgrace. Please tell me what exactly you were expecting. Have we suddenly become Chelsea, just because we won league one? Of course I might be wrong, and I''m sure you''ll tell me if I am.

On paper he certainly seems to be a sucessful manager.  Having said that, if you look at Iain Dowies stats, he''s a pretty impressive manager too and I''m not sure I would want him at the club. My worry with people like Dowie, Curbishley and Boothroyd is that they would simply use the club as a way back in and a leg up the ladder in a year or twos time, leaving us hanging out to dry just as we''re improving.  Calderwood seems like he wants to stick around to complete the job looking at the time he''s spent at each club and the past offers he''s rejected. It is a risk though - not many successful managers have come south of the border and done it in England - McGee, Levein, Jeffries, Brown, Smith and even Souness and McLeish are all names associated with success in Scotland that have failed to achieve the same heights here so far.  I''m sure there are others that have succeeded (apart from Ferguson and Moyes) but I can''t think of them off the top of my head.

This is so disappointing!! We''re all sitting thinking it might be Boothroyd, Mackay, Ince, Curbishley,etc, and the board is plotting to bring back Worthy!!  Been there, done that - not to mention the old addage of never go back.  I really can''t see that move as progress.  I''m not denying we had success, but I''m not the only one who thinks Worthy just ran out of ideas at the end - hell the board thought it too! Thankfully, its been refused. I can''t believe the lack of ambition, imagination and long-term thinking shown by our board.....oh, wait a minute.....yes I can. Watchout for the next exciting installment where we approach the Bryan Hamilton/Peter Grant dream ticket!!

Firstly, Wiz, I hope you had a good Christmas and are looking forward to a a great year ahead of you. Now, to business.  I understand your obvious disappointment at the news of Harry Redknapps interest in Earnshaw.  Personally, I don''t think the club will have much choice.  I agree with the article that he would have a get out clause and should he choose to exercise that clause theres not much else for the club to do but get the best price they can.  I would personally hate to see him go but as an asset to the club I think he''s worth a lot more than £4million so if he goes I hope we get more than that for him. Looking at the bigger picture though, the money freed up on salary plus the transfer fee would allow us to significantly change the squad for the better.  Pearson is mentioned and looks a good player.  Obviously Rhiordan is out there as a possibility.  Not to mention the defence. Theres no doubting that the loss of Earnie would be a wrench and he would need to be replaced with 2 quality strikers such as Riordan and Eastwood (and they well be beyond our reach now).  However, I think we can all agree that the structure atg the club is wrong - too few players on too much money and we need to improve by adding quality players to the squad in all departments.  This may be the only way for us to do it.

You''ve also got to consider the amount of chances he wastes that another striker might have put away.  As much as I love the guy he has to have the worst stats in the country for missing one-on-one chances.  Its amazing really - if he''d scored more of those, he''d have 20-plus goals already.

[quote user="Kathy"]Birmingham 0 City 1. Shackell (61 mins). Expect more goals from defense with their new found freedom.[/quote] Bloody hell kathy - spot on!!

[quote user="just-cluckin"]I humbly disagree.........a feel for the club is a big plus and Bowen has the experience necessary for this kind of level. Rioch, Hamilton and Worthington were ''outsiders''.......and look what happened. Agreed though that he would need to be up for it......and having the fans behind him from the start would certainly help his cause. We aren''t ambitious enough to pull a serious quality manager out of his present job......horses for courses as they say. [/quote] Yes thats right - getting promoted was a real disaster!! My personal belief is that the first priority is to get someone in with a proven managerial track record at this and a higher level. If that person happens to have been at the club before then I agree its a bonus. We have less than a season to turn it round and get promoted otherwise its bye bye Earnie, Drury, etc and we''ll all be lamenting in 10 years time about missed opportunities. I don''t think we can afford to take a chance one someone who has never managed before or has only managed in the footballing third world just because he happens to be an ec player.

LOL Were you by chance watching Field of Dreams last night??

[quote user="1st Wizard"][quote user="Mook"] Honestly. You fall for this one every time Wiz. [/quote] As you no doubt fell for buying your season ticket this year Mook!. Another factor in all this I believe, is Rob Green. I am convinced, and led to believe by a very reliable source, that City had all but sold him to a lower Premiership team for £2 million quid. Of course that''s all gone out of the window now, hence no transfer activity. And there will be precious little activity right up to the big kick off, other than free and loan signings. Remember where you heard it first. [/quote] But surely if that were true then the club would be better admitting it. It would reduce the pressure on the board and management team. I think we''d all assumed Greeno was off this summer and £2 million plus is a lot of money for us to not have to spend.

erm.... proven premiership striker 10 years ago maybe. He had no impact at Birmingham to speak of. I think Worthys right in not being interested in Sutton. However, I also think the last thing we need is to be buying another utility man.