Bovril

I think it was widely known that before this summer's recruitment, Webber and co. weren't expecting many of the current crop of youngsters to make it and hence the injection of players at that level.

It's another sensible signing. Another signing that helps with the goal of promotion. The wider plan of actually staying in the EPL upon promotion is extremely hard though. This season the 3 x promoted clubs have lost all 8 combined fixtures.

We have no money left for transfer fees (the money we had before has gone on wages for the 'free' transfers in). We have three fit CB's, presuming Omobamidele is not sold in this window. I would go for a loan, akin to the Rodon loan to Leeds.

Southampton want him to play against us before he moves. JWP wants a chance to say bye to the fans (been at Saints all his life, through the academy, etc.). West Ham understandably don't want to run the risk of him getting injured. Two ways out here: 1) He doesn't play but waves goodbye pre-match or half-time. 2) He does play, but West Ham insert some sort of compensation fee if he get's injured.

Watford - Equally as mediocre squad as ourselves. Lost Sarr and Pedro and signed Jake Livermore and Tom Ince. Behind the scenes the club is a mess to boot. West Brom - See Watford. Middlesbrough - Decent side with a decent manager, expect them to be challenging as they were last year. People tend to overate the three teams coming down from the Premier League. Yes, they have more money to spend than most of the other teams in the league but that's largely as a result of selling their crown jewels. Not forgetting, even with their respective 'crown jewels' they were still the three worst sides in their league the year before. Leeds - Have you seen how many players they have lost? and not to decent fees either, alot of loans out to cover the wages and that's with a squad that was incredibly porous last year. Farke was a decent appointment but has a job on his hands. Leicester - Perhaps the best equipped for me but have gambled on their manager and the signing of Harry Winks is poor for me. I like the Coady buy but he'll be injured at the start. Lost Maddison, Barnes, Tielemans amongst others. Southampton - The worst side in the league last year. Likely to lose their two best players, i.e. Lavia and JWP. Russel Martin is an understandable appointment and I think they'll be up there but certainly nothing to fear. Whilst I do agree the league will be stronger this year than last, there are two major caveats to that: 1) The Championship last year was the worst I can ever remember in terms of team quality and individual player quality. It was impossible to get weaker. 2) As stated above, make no mistake, this league is wide open for a Sunderland, 'Boro, etc. to take and why not Ipswich? Look at Sunderland last year as I said, look at Luton last year. I obviously don't want Ipswich to go up and the expense of us (I appreciate I'm one of the very few that would like to see both clubs in the top league competing for the derby each year).

Take away loyalties and there is no reason why Ipswich can't finish Top 6 this year - there is little difference between them and Sunderland 12 months ago (who then went on to have their main player and striker injured for the majority of the season and still finished Top 6). This league is dire. The three teams coming down; Leeds/Leicester/Saints will be similar to Burnley/Watford/Norwich 12 months back. It's anyone's league once more.

We'll be a better team unit this year with the likes of Barnes, Duffy, and Stacey - it's just so boring to watch. We've been very lucky in the past 20 years or so, that we've always had a No. 10 or creative player to enjoy and hence the excitement of watching football. Some might argue it's the 'Norwich way' to have this type of player and play this type of football. We'll be fine this season, we won't get relegated but it'll be another slog of a season to watch I fear.

The Mumba deal is apparently £800k + add-ons.

That's superb and don't underate the level of skill required to do that piece. The shading on Fashanu's face for example or the vein on his arm. I was sad to see the Farke piece of work go but this is a great replacement. I'd personally like to see a mural of different legends behind him, a bit like the Brickmakers wall display which has legendary musicians.

Almost like we're missing: 1) No. 10 to create 2) No. 6 to hold the midfield We look exactly the same as last season. The only difference is the supporters expectations level now align with the squad we have. It'll be mid-season this year (anything between 10th-18th).

Frank Lampard is extremely smart academically, achieving 12 A/A*'s at GCSE Level (in contrast to Steven Gerrard's 1 x C, 6 x D's, and 2 x E's) which explains why Lampard might come across well in interviews, unfortunately intellect alone doesn't always align with great managerial/coaching skills in football. Edit: His IQ has been measured at 'well over 150', put into context the average IQ is 100, with Einstein's in the 160 range.

That hasn't been in practice for years now although there is lobbying from the top clubs to bring it back. I don't see why they can't alternate the home/away kit releases each year, so each kit still lasts for 2 cycles but the club can realise a new kit each summer still. 23/24 = New home kit 24/25 = New away kit 25/26 = New home kit etc...

It's ok - some might be judging it on last year's kit, which is unfair as last season's kit was the best in literally decades for myself. As others have said, the keepers kits are good.

We desperately lacked leadership, physicality, and 'know-how' in this league. All 3 signings would provide these traits at different ratio levels, and all three on free transfers. Happy with all three signings and early as well. Good business. As others have said above though, we really need a marquee DM and No. 10 if we want to think about promotion though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ss0p2Oiro Good Tifo (The Athletic) video here on what went wrong for Leicester - 6min long.