KeelansGlove

Ok so im a bit miffed that we appear to be the poorest team in what I can only say seems to be a seriously over rated league, Although my main argument is not that we should have spent stacks more money to compete in this league more "what the hell were we thinking about letting Huckerby score those goals and winning those matches last season" We should know our place and we should have had a reduction in season ticket prices to compensate for having to go home every saturday and kick the dog in frustration. I cant wait to get back where we belong next year and hopefully be able to compete and just miss out on the play offs. Should at least be able to hold onto most of the squad at least , unless some forward thinking second division club tries to tempt away our "stars". counting the days till this nightmare is over.

I can only presume I watch a different game to you boys, I think Holt is consistently ineffective creates nothing going forward and his defending is also patchy at best. All he does is run around 3 yards behind players never catching them. I remember how he used to play running the length of the pitch and getting in tackles and winning the ball and if not trying again, but I haven''t seen that Holt for the best part of 2 seasons. Safri for me please.

I don''t think people are specifically moaning about the lack of money being spent in January, Primarily they are moaning about the lack of money spent in the summer leaving as with a completely ineffective forward line and rooted to the relegation zone despite competing in all other areas of the pitch. The transfer window issue is another thing wondering whether they will address the situation or let us slide quietly back down.

Can I have some of Stevenage Canaries happy pills please when the nurse comes round......

I was very disappointed with our performance last night, Without Francis we would hardly have had an effort on goal at all, Leon missing his obligatory guilt edged chance. Man City caused our defence problems but I cant fault them too much apart from the soft goal and Charltons brain storm leading to the penalty issue. I thought Svennson put himself about which ultimately lead to our goal. Considering the notoriously wobbly nature of Keegans defences we did not put them under enough pressure. Given the nature of the game it was a smash and grab raid, we stole the point we got a fair result would have been a 2-0 defeat. Hopefully Huckerby will be back to his usual self come Saturday. A game we must win at all costs.  

We need a striker to keep the opposition penned back in there own half therefore not allowing them to batter our defence for a longer period in time with superior firepower eventually creating and taking goalscoring opportunities.

A very interesting point that I myself asked in my "Lies damn lies and statistics" threads to no avail. I am a small shareholder (100 shares) and recieve a copy of the accounts on a yearly basis although not being an accountant and not being able to address all figures other than totals they may as well be written in greek. To you YC of course NW & DS do not want this to be a one season wonder, the question is what are they prepared to do about it ? They were not prepared to budget a realistic amount for the transfer fund, our fellow promoted sides spend between 2 and 5 times what we spent. I am not advocating busting the club but if we get relegated with the same whimper we did 10 years ago what is the point? To say there was nobody to buy within our price range is not an answer, we have to have the firepower to keep us up (or at least give us some chance of returning within the next 10 years) do we have enough scouts ? was the net thrown wide enough ? were we over cautious with our targets ? Mckenzie and Svennson have both found themselves suplus to requirements at clubs not overun with riches in the striking department. Would it not have been better to get a red hot 3rd division hitman and give him a chance rather than doing nothing ? I personally don''t think there is any issue of weakening the clubs hand if it lets out its transfer budget, after all we haven''t managed to sign anyone any other club was keen to hold onto. Where does the blame lie ? with Worthy for misguidedly thinking we had a good enough strikeforce for the premier league , or being unwilling to take a chance on certain players on his list of targets ? With the board for not coming up with the goods when Worthy has asked for the money to sign a striker, or for being small minded in terms of our potential for remaining in the premier league ? With the fans like me who was hoping for team strengthening and giving it our best shot "within our means" which included more than one change in the starting lineup and a striker who can score goals at this level. If I was in charge I would give details of the number of players currently being tracked and the stage of negotiations without mentioning figures or names. I would also be working very hard to have a deal sorted and potentially another loans deal to be finalised on 1/1 I dont understand why we are scrambling around on transfer deadline day, in my opinion this means not enough time has been spent doing the work that should have been done in the summer.  

No point kicking a man when he''s down, do you think he might like to recouperate here in sunny Norfolk ? Time to ressurect his career and earn a move in the transfer window. Pay as youy play perhaps ?? Clutching at straws ?  

Ok so I was aware we would not be pushing for Europe. I also knew we would struggle to win games in this league and would be happy just to stay up. Am I being ungrateful, not appreciating the wonders of the Premiership ? Should it be less fun than any of the last 9 seasons in the 1st division ? (Ok bar 1) Should I think that the Premier League is actually as tough as people make out ? I dont think that the average premiership side is any different to us (with the exception that they all seem to have at least one player who can score goals) Was I the only one who thought Mckenzie and Svennson would struggle to make an impact on the premier league as they didnt set the first division alight ? Am I misguided in thinking that we should have been expected to sign a striker with enough quality to score in the premiership this summer ? or in thinking that "not having the money" was not a good enough excuse, was it a bad idea to get promoted ? Just to quantify my statements I think the team has played very well so far and that the lack of a goalscorer just wastes all the effort the players are putting in week in week out. I didn''t expect us to sign Ronaldo but there must have been options (of course one of which was Crouch for 2M) Bah Humbug the xmas season is approaching.

Sorry Stevenage Fan my blood was boiling when I sent that post and I may have overstepped the mark, all I was trying to say is it is very frustrating when you get to the stage when you are dreading the next home game. I will never stop supporting Norwich City but I find it depressing that that we dont even with a fully fit squad have a team we can believe in. I make no excuses for feeling very dissapointed in the situation (whoever is to blame is irrelevant)  

Firstly may I just say that I generally find DD in the glass half full camp and that all posts can be measured directly by our mood on a certain day, football is all about passion and despair I would hate too look back at some of my previous posts because I remember how low I felt when I was moved to post the rants. I would say I am probably in the half empty brigade and whilst I was generally happy with the squad I was very unconvinced by our strikeforce (to put it mildly) although as most I crossed my fingers and hoped "worthy knew best" unfortunately on the evidence so far I had every reason to doubt our stikeforce, and ironically the money spent in strengethening other areas of the team in terms of depth rather than quality would look to have been wasted. Are Doherty, Jonson, Safri, Helveg, Bentley better than what we had ? Ok so Charlton has proved a Gem and Jonson is showing signs that he is begining to settle, the 2 goalkeepers are obviously to keep depth in the squad when Greeno leaves. In my opinion Svennson and Mckenzie were playing at the top of there game last season and were lucky to have the quality of Huckerby supplying them from the left. We needed to sign a striker the same as we did the previous season and again we came up short. the board is scared of the risks involved and so bottled it again, only last season we still had the chance to put things right in time with the loan signings. Surely Worthy should have signed a striker first before even considering other players anyway its water under the bridge. Unlike you we have to watch this team fail infront of goal on a weekly basis and we do not like the fact that not only have we not strengthened the team we also have not invested for the future so the model of our triumphant return to the premiership at the end of next season is no more than a pipedream. Maybe it was the plan all along, take the money and run do "a Watford" but we will all have to suffer this season. Maybe I should have loaned my season tickets out till next year when we will hopefully at least be able to compete in the championship. You obviously have far too much time on your hands.

I''m starting to worry that he has either lost the plot or is desperate. Playing Doherty and Svennson upfront is an absolute joke. As you probably know I am convinced that Hucks should be on the left but to play Doherty and Svennson upfront is second division tactics. Can anyone find my glass ?

Do you mean a lot of people will be surprised, Like we were in the summer than we spent less than 2M ?? Are we going to sign a striker from Wroxham for a bag of chips and a bottle of coke ? Please not John Hartson though he is rubbish.    

I shouldnt Imagine it will be too hard to get a ticket next season.

Well I guess the title says it all really, do you remember that striker we used to have that scored 9 goals on the way to Cardiff and 15 the year after ? Probably not playing up front most of the time either, why hasnt paul been given a chance upfront ? just because he can if neccesary play on the wing ? Give him a chance upfront I say where he belongs, maybe him and Svensson could be the partnership to keep us going till January.  

You missed my point I wasnt comparing Sven and Leon to Henry and Rooney. I was comparing them to Ellington and Roberts and Bent and Bowditch. I know its tricky keeping up with what they call the leagues these days.

and can I have some of whatever you are drinking. Svennson and Mckenzie probably wouldnt get into many of the top six teams in the championship, Huckerby is a great player but not in the box enough to be called a striker. If we are going down this road we may as well get Jarvis and Hendo into the team at least we will be looking to the future even if it is in the championship.

Whilst Im not one of the spend 10 Million brigade I have been since the beginning of the season one of the "why bother getting promoted if we are not going to give it our best shot" brigade and our failure to sign a striker pre season was a major blow to any chance we have of staying up. We have so far given it our best shot and the team has played beyond what we could have expected competing across the park with the best in the premiership. The one area we have been a 1st division side is in front of goal and this will in the long term mean we end up back in the first division. You have hit the nail firmly on the head, If we were completely hopeless and outclassed throughout the team a decent striker would make absolutely no difference, but we haven''t. a quality striker and we would be mid table easy. Villa, West Brom, Palace should have all been wins. Much better off than we have been for a decade ? on what scale, financially maybe but not in terms of excitement and feel good factor. I never thought Svennson and Mckenzie would be the answer in the premier League in fact I wasn''t that sure they would cut it in the first division. I was praying to be proved wrong and still hope I may be but I doubt it. Do you remember Iwan and Bellamy upfront ?? Something other than burying heads in the sand needed to be done and sadly wasn''t. Maybe Ashton would be the answer I don''t know all I know is that Everton had about three chances saturday afternoon and I lost count of how many we had and we lost 3-2.

Campbell part of your reply made me really angry.....but part of it was exactly what I was saying. so I suppose i cant dissagree. I suppose we dissagree on two main points firstly we are not Leeds and if we did spend 5M on a striker on contracts like the other players we would not be stuffed and if we chose to sell him we could on our terms. Spending on a striker if we are still in the bottom 3 come january would be suicide. Hmmm this makes my blood boil, so you suggest we give up and continue to go to Carrow rd to watch a team getting beaten every week because the board wont invest in the team ? think id rather stay at home and wait till we are back i the fizzy league. But invest once we are safe ?? what is the point of that. So how far have things come ?? Get relegated this season and its the chase dome all over again, great pitch great facilities how about the team to get us back up ?? Im not sure how many players we would lose if we are relegated but we dont have the nucleus of a great young team for the next ten years do we ?? Ok I agree wholeheartedly with your other assumptions ie decent loan + 2 Mill for a striker maybe Ashton.Is there any reason to think the board is more likely to do it now when they could have before the start of the season and we could have been in a much better position by now.  "We''re a club very much on the up; just don''t expect things to happen immediately. We''ve got an amazing pitch, great new stand, stadium expansions planned, good reputation and we will never be in financial peril again...not all doom and gloom is it?" Your glass is obviously very much half full I wish mine was !

Mckenzie scored a good goal on Saturday but he has had very good chances in all the games he has played in (good positioning at least) are you telling me that he shouldn''t have scored from 6 yards against WBA ? I remember his chances against Man U , Newcastle, Arsenal and probably at least one good chance in every game he has played. To be a premiership striker he should be converting a much higher ratio, nobody will ever score them all but his finishing is championship quality at present. I still rate Helveg as a better ball player than many that are regularly given a start in our team, If he tries soimething that doesnt come off he is slated, much better to be Gary Holt and never try a pass of more than 5 yards.  

Give the man a break ! As someone else said at least he tries defence splitting passes unlike many of our players. Just because Holt managed to stay 3 yards behind Graveson all afternoon it doesnt mean he had a good game.

DD Have you come over to the dark side ? See my post regarding the same matter (although im always miserable) and Bananaman I wont even coment on your assumption theat Svennson and Mckenzie are good enough to keep us in the prem, although you do at least seem to agree with me that Hucks should not be played up front. Ok I only suggested 3-4 Mill but I think we need to go for it, It comes to something when teams in lower divisions are paying more money for players though. I am also quite angry we didnt sign a striker in the summer was it because A: We were too tight fisted B: Did we think we had a deal done only for things to fall apart at the last minute  C: Did we honestly think we had enough firepower to stay up. I dont think C because worthy made it clear that he wanted to buy a striker so which was it ? Lack of cash , or unfortunate circumstance ? Surely we had months to make a short list and make enquiries we should have been able to sign someone at least on loan. January may be too late regardless of anything else.

I am a little worried by our recent transfer activity. Huckerby: Only one word Quality (although not a striker) Svennson: Decent Championship Striker, will struggle in the premier league Mckenzie: Decent Championship Striker, will struggle in the premier league Charlton: Will in my opinion be player of the season this year, bargain Ward & Gallagher: Insurance against Greenos impending departure Helveg: Shaky Start but I think he is a decent player Jonson: Again Shaky Start but I think he is a decent player although is he better than what we had. Doherty: The new Rob Newman ? at best a squad player not better than what we had Safri: Promising but has not been given any time to shine, better option than Holt in my opinion Bentley: Talented but hasn''t come up with the goods as yet, not a team player. So is our team better than last season ? No We have increased the depth but not the quality and the area we always new we would struggle has not been adressed at all, up front. We obviously find it almost impossible to part with money to buy strikers as someone said you pay peanuts you know what you get, there are no short cuts. Give Jarvis and Henderson a run from the bench and pray we are still in touch come xmas. The more I look at it the more I think we may have wasted what little money we did have (although I understand we bought Svennson and Mckenzie to get us out of the first division) I think most of us were shocked when we didnt sign a striker in the summer (we should have known we were shocked the previous summer too!) I think we have to understand strikers cost money regardless of what division you are in and if we want to compete in this division we have to get out of that mentality. Can anyone fill my glass its currently half empty !

Sorry to ask this question again but I have just spent the last hour reading the mamoth "Feeling Sad" thread and find myself asking the same questions I did way back when in my "Lies Damn Lies and Statistics" thread. What is the financial reality ??? Ok so when my copy of the club accounts came through the door I didn''t go through them line by line, but hey im not an accountant ! can someone give me a roughly idiot proof view of where we are in terms of debt ? Including revenue from building flats behind the river end and the cost of the corner infill and pitch ? Ok if memory serves correct we were 16M in debt 6 of the 8M for the south stand came from the sale of land and we have spend a further 4m on the corner infill and the new pitch. Add another 4M for the loss for the last year. So this puts us in debt to the tune of 26M (before Sky money) If we presume that our wage bill increase and bonus payments accounts for a further 10M (Ok so im guessing) and we spent the princely sum of 2M on transfers that would bring a grand total of 36M Sky Money has been reported as any number of different figures, But I have no reason to disbelieve the figure I read in the press elsewhere of 20M bringing us back to a  debt of 16M without taking into account increased gate reciepts (both through higher prices and higher capacity) or indeed increased sponsorships and other "Higher Profile"increases. Ok again lets estimate Increased reciepts (dont forget half last season we only had a capacity of 18,000 and hopefully half this we should have 26,000) call it 3M if we play football people want to watch. Add a final 3M for increased sponsorship and merchandise sales and this brings the debt down to 10M. Can I just say I have no interest in the ah but the money comes in stages theory any additional interest should be able to be more than covered by the figures above. So where does this leave us ? Option 1 Do nothing and we are a Championship club with a debt of 3M after the parachute payment is taken into account (once Greeno has gone actually be in profit !) I for one do not follow the "bounceback" theory I dont think it has ever been more difficult to get out of the championship and the teams that went down last year were stripped of all the best players they had negating the idea that we would have a better squad to attempt promotion with, add to that the fact that with the exception of the goalkeepers we have signed none of the other players can be seen as investments for the future ie all 32+. Back to Square1 Option 2 Invest 3-4 Million in terms of a proven premiership goalscorer or attacking midfielder on loan (Ameobi, Scott Parker, Aliadiere)  and a young gun (someone to be the new Iwan for the next 7 years) Someone like Ashton gets my vote. This would give us a decent chance of survival if the current team can keep us in touch with the teams around us till then. Worst case scenario we either have another player to sell at the end of the season or a player who actually can help to get us out of the championship next season. Potential extra income of 20M per year Option 3 Spend Spend Spend 10M+ really go for it 2 or 3 quality players , could be a long term investment for our premiership future or indeed a millstone round our necks, high risk strategy. Boom or Bust ? Ok so its obvious which theory I follow to do nothing is to abuse the supporters and take the money and run, whilst it may safeguard our long term future it wastes the oppertunity we have for the first time in nearly ten years. To spend money when we cannot see how to repay it is also a foolish course and ultimately ends in disaster. Lets be realistic and optimistic, do everything we can to survive. In short give it our best shot. Like we did last season, everyone was aware that should we fail there would be some hard medicine to tak

We looked a different team when we reverted to the formation that served us so well last season, Hucks is far more potent with a free role from the left and as we have such a defensive central midfield I cant see why this shouldn''t be the formation for us at least we looked like doing something. I still think Holt has been poor all season but as Worthington will never drop him I have given up and will include him in my lineup. Our Best Team Green , Edworthy, Charlton, Fleming, Drury, Jonson, Francis, Holt, Huckerby, Svennson, Mckenzie. I think that this is probably our best lineup currently although I don''t think we have a premiership quality finisher at the club (we will have to make do with what we have till January) Mckenzie needs to take a long hard look at himself , ok he has managed to get himself into some great goalscoring positions this season, I guess about a dozen clearcut chances and a return of one goal is at best championship quality. The only area we are not premier league is that we still require six chances to score a goal and unless we sort this out ultimately it will see us back in the championship next season.