Steve Mortlock

    Fair enough post but would like to add my 2 pence worth.  IMO Lappin was man of the match yesterday.  He has tgood left foot.  I thought him and russel in the middle yesterday were very good and he passed and broke up play very well.  Wasnt afraid to get himself in on the challenge either and sunk into the midfield battle.  Add his work rate.  You also mention Dublin hoofing the ball up too much.  I have no problem with this as it clears the ball from our defensive third and could lead to a crafty flick on or a half chance.  Just takes sting out of attack and lets the defence re-group, nothing wrong with that.  If only Brown had the intelligence to anticipate where the ball might drop. Sthrikava came on and did things with more ease and purpose for 20 minutes tan Brown could do all game.  Dave is more of a physical presence and looks a tidy player at feet and with head.  Brown huffed and puffed and looked out of his depth.  thats all folks

 He cannot fight his way out of a wet paper bag.  Dreadful control, distribution and tackling.  Flat footed and unassured, just the kind of backbone we need.  I really hope grant signs 2 or 3 to ensure reserve team football or an exit for Doc. 

   Id go with the logic that players ask how much and will they play every week.  I dont believe for one minute that Grant would repel possible signings as he has had an excellent impact on the club already, and is little by little trying to get rid of our nice guy image.  Perhaps it is the vigour and determination he has, which upsets some of the lazier players.  Grant has been a winner and perhaps there are some guys in the club who do not share his mentality, just happy for their pay cheque. (which granty would not have for one second) Perhaps there is an atmosphere because Grant has come in and shaken a few players out of their comfort zone and wants them to earn their crust.  all questions we can merely speculate upon, as we do not have access to the hallowed turf of Colney or the halls of power at Carrow Road.

    Neither a judas or a tosserr.  He played well for us and certainly gave us one of the best moments at Carrow road, with his bullet aginst Newcastle.  Granted he has not always been a full season player, but in my opinion he was scapegoated for representing his country in ALN Cup and for Ramadan (both of which did not prevent club from signing him)Perhaps he did not get on well with grant but he has now gone to play elsewhere.  Safs never pulled out of a challenge and always put in a good shift when he played. Look at our stats without him last season.  Good luck Saf in your future but dont score on Saturday. 

   The only board I seem to be losing faith in is this one.  T*****s like Cluck and smudge who attack everybody who does not share their views and they are poisoning this forum with their constant crap. 

    "Your ultimate aim is usually to play for your favourite team and then get picked to play for your country. But it''s disappointing in that you always want your best players around you. "But you understand this is part of the game and that''s why you see managers like Jose Mourinho saying they don''t want to buy any more African players because you could lose four or five players for a month. "We haven''t got four or five African players, but we still have a very important player and it''s difficult if you end up losing him." But Grant said he was also personally pleased for Safri, well aware of how much success with his country meant to him. "I''m pleased for him and his country that they''ve qualified because it''s a big thing for him and I hope that when he does go he is successful," he added.I DO NOT LIKE THE WAY SAFRI IS BEING VILIFIED ALREADY.  THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY AND TWO SIDES TO EVERY COIN.  HE HAS BEEN A BRILLIANT PLAYER FOR US AND HOPE HE IS STILL HERE NEXT SEASON!!!

       Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses.  Bit of an adreneline swiller.

    Of course if you dont want to attend, nnobody is forcing you to.  Get behind the team.

1. Sheffield United2. Charlton 3. Sheffield Wednesdayid love to say norwich but playoffs might be out of reach .

    I would be the first to admit that the past two seasons have been complete drivel in terms of the players we have been signing and the performances on the pitch etc, but I must say I am quite optimistic about the coming season.  Looking at the players we signed under worhington and you will see has beens and journeymen who could not get a game at prem or championship level.  With this what I saw from these players was a total lack of application and effort (a la Etuhu) complete lack of any footballing brain (Docherty) and players who knew this club would be a stepping stone for Premiership and their heart was not particularly in it (Earnshaw, Ashton).  Quite a disjointed team with no real unity.  The opinion I am taking is that we now have players here who have unfinished business and with alot to prove (ie Russell, Cureton) and players who might actually give a stuff about wearing the yellow and green.  Not only that but we have an exciting new Shrihtavka, last seasons top scorer in Czech and compared to Jurgen Kohler.  We now have what I consider an immense midfield talent/hardnut Julien Brellier (check out his vid on youtube, he gets a glasgow kiss and gets straight back up) and permanent goalkeeper in Marshall.  I personally will be fully behind grant this season, as he has made some good signings and is at last trying to shake of the nice little norwich tag.  We just need someone in at number 5 to stir up competition in the defensive ranks and we can look for top eight next season.  Grant obviously had to work with the S**t , Worthless has assembled, but this is the team that Granty built and I am in full support of it.  

    Okay, I am not always the pillar of positivity, but reading smudge posts recently is getting a bit boring.  Although i am not totally excited about the new season, I can see sgns of positivity from within the club.Bit I find most interesting is Otsemeboor looking like another louis jean.  MLJonly played two games, so how can you draw this conclusion at such an early stage.  Knee jerk reaction from the comfort of an armchair. Players are not going to give it their all, this close into pre season.  Fear of injury or burnout all play key factors.  Just nice to see wole squad get a run out and do a good proffesional job.  I am most pleased that players like Spillane , Eagle, Rossi, Martin and Renton are getting the opportunity to showcase thir abilities at last (after the fruitless years of the worthington era) Nice to see a centr half get on the score sheet (spillane) Nice to see your so called dance troop member get a goal, as well as Martin and Renton getting 6 between them.  with fans like smudge the club are damned if they do and damned if they dont.  I could carry on picking your cincical rantings apart, but there are only 24 hours in a day.  Our team willbe complimented by a good balance of youth andd experience.  How else do you young players learn  Oh and gooddbye Etuhu, £1.5 million thank you very mch

Exeter went ahead on 11 minutes when Jamie Mackie took advantage of some sloppy defending to fire the ball into the net. A minute later it was 2-0 with Adam Stansfield giving the Conference side a surprise early advantage. i know it is a pre season friendly, but lets get some non sloppy defenders in.  dont  stop spending, use it wisely to get  defender of real quality into the ranks.

    if you dont mind a bit of a walk along the inner ring road, there is a car park where you can park all day for £1. If you are familiar with .  sainsburys on queens road this is how you get thereinstead of taking left into sainsburys car park, keep going under the bridge and there you will see it on your right.  Nice old man in the hut, pop him a pound and bob is your mothers brother.  i think it shuts at six or so.  Not for midweek games though i hasten to add\

    I defintely thin we whould keep him.  His contribution is immense and he is by far the best passer and user of the ball we seem to have at the club.  His vision and calmness under pressure would be a real blow to lose.  I hear people slating him about Ramadan and African nations etc, but find this out of order.  HE has every right to follow the beliefs of his religion and the club knew of his religion when he came in to the club.  Also it is not Safri''s fault he goes on African Nations duty and wants to represent his country, again this was known when he came to the club.  I think Safri is being hounded out be be honest and being made a scapegoat.  If these issues were apparent when he signed, why sign him in the first place (although we all know what a proactive forward thinking club we are)  Safri to me is by far the best passer of the ball we have had for over a decade.  Like Brellier, he appears to bust things up and get things moving.  What would be so wrong in keeping the pair of them.  when Saf is away on Af Nat Duty, Brellier comes in.  Its all about strength in depth and this would not be achieved by culling him.  If the worst does happen and we do get rid, who else will slide in when injuries set in (fotheringham, Hughes) leaving us with a depleted light weight midfield.Use your head here NCFC and keep him on board.  Even if he does not play every game, you need a fighter and an excellent passer in your weaponry.  He may be one of the highest earners at the club and I feel they will cull him purely because of this.  Disgusting if the case. KEEP SAF AT ALL COSTS

Just got an email from club saying about having a picture taken with the first team squad for £500.  I was feeling a bit bored and cynical so I thought I would reply   "£500 to have a picture taken.  Im sorry but this seems a complete rip off.  You would be better off selecting the 18 people randomly from your season ticket data base as way of an apology for the dreadful season we had to ensure last year.  But I guess the ten grand or so is of more importance!  Perhaps the lure of having a picture taken next to Rob Earnshaw may have persuaded some people to part with their cash, but we all know what happened there."Quite negative and cynical I know but could not help it.

    Get the season ticket holders on board and sell the only player on the books capable of getting 20 goals a season, for what is a paltry sum.  where does this leave our ambition to get promoted, as is replacing Earnshaw with Cureton or Eastwood in my reckoning.  earnie could turn a game on its head in a flash and could win us games.  first ashton now this, what a joke of a football club, that claims to ahve aspirations of a return to the premiership, get a grip board.  how much will a 20 + goal a season striker  (at a reasonable age such as earnie and ash) going to cost.  But we will get the cheaper option no doubt and struggle badly next year.  3.5 million (clause or no clause) is a complete joke,.

    in a word yes.  Far too little for someone who is going to get you 20 goals minimum in a season.  It would be both stupid and naive for the club to accept this paltry sum.  It would also fly in the face of the guff they have been spouting in recent weeks about wanting a return to the Premiership.   I really hope they hold Earnie and the spine we have or we will simply tread water with the also rans. If this club has the ambition they keep harking on about, they will add another proven striker along side Earnie, so they can get 40 plus goals between them and get us a promotion spot.  As ever though it will be one in and one out.  The club historically put all their eggs in one basket and we become known as a one man club (a la Hucks and Ashton when they arrived) West Ham pre season game will be an indication of the type of squad we could have had.   Green, Davenport, Parker, Ashton, Earnie, Hucks, et all, but we fail to build a team when we have a star to build around.  I can see them taking the paltry sum and replacing with the squit, we have all become acumstomed too over the past 5 years.   

   Just read this on Wikepedia and think this guy is worth a punt.  Is 25 years old, banged them in for Carlisle last season and is completely FREE in terms of a transfer fee.  Read on. In his three seasons for Carlisle United he has been the clubs top scorer and in 2005-2006 season. Hawley and Michael Bridges had one of the most successful strike patnerships in the country. Karl was also voted League Two Fans'' Player of the Year and was part of the League Two Team of the Year.[1] In May 2007, Hawley was given an improved contract offer by Carlisle manager Neil McDonald, but Hawley rejected the offer and left the club on 11 May, 2007. Young, hungry and he has goals in him 47 from 118 I believe (so around 1 every 2.5 games or so)  wouild make an excellent squad addition.  Perhaps a better proposition than when we signed  Leon McKenzie, who was also relatively unknown.  this would be an excellent Bosman signing. 

    I know who I would much rather have in my starting line up.  Safs never ducks out of a challenge and has the vision and skills to take the sting out of a game.  He is every bit as intelligent as he is skilfull.  although his goal scoring ratio is poor, how many times has a youseff ball resulted in a scoring opportunity.  He is dogged, hard working and never shirks responsibility.  Surely the best ball player we have had at this club since crook.  would work well at the base of a diamond midfield, sitting just in front of defence, allowing Etuhu to use his much vaunted pace and power further forward.  Fotheringham from what I have seen lacks any kind of pace.  I have not seen him complete a convincing tackle, without giving the ball away.  Does not seem to follow the pace of the play and seems in the wrong place or in the way.  Passing woeful and an inability to track back and win the ball once he has lost it.  For me, it seems youseff is perhaps drawing a higher pay cheque and for some reason Grant does not like him.  I heard the radio a few weeks back when grant says he is unfit to play (prior to getting injured) and that he cannot handle playing two games on the bounce.  a friend of safri rang in stating this not to be the case and that if he was not fit to play he would publiclly state this.  Perhaps a clash of ego''s who knows.  Worst case scenario is we lose Safri due to these politics and we get Fotheringham as a replacement.  I hope this is not how things pan out. Please also ensure gary doherty does not get to wear yellow and green again.  V poor, uncomposed and charitable to opposition in the final thrid.

    If Earnie goes he goes.  No one man should be bigger than the club.  I personally hope he will stay, but if we are honest with ourselves we are a small club and would not ever be able to reach his level of ambition, unless we were bought out by a yank or someone else rich.  He is a top top player and as he has prven, can cut in the premiership with the 14 or so he scored for WBA to keep them up.  In order for Norwich to rebuild it is highly likley the club will flutter their lashes at the first club that gets the chequebook out.  Sadly it has always been this way as we are predominently a selling club.  If we can get 1.8 million for Dickson I would snap their hand off.  Far too inconsistent and lacks urgency and skill. 

    Another transfer deadline day and another string of excuses.  typical of the club to have not learnt anything from the Coterill deal in August.  what is this guy looking for sympathy.  Most well run clubs have a plan B, C, D but this club seems hell bent on putting all their eggs in one basket.  It makes me absolutely sick how doncaster continuously plays the same card each and every time we miss out on a target.  The club is so badly run they cannot find a plan B C or D as there is an obvious lack of intelligence and ambition.  A complete shambles I call it and my season ticket renewal is in serious doubt.  The club is rotten to the core and you cannot even blame worthington for it''s demise.  we are now beginning to see the real problems that exist at this club and it is behind the scenes and at board level.  Next time Neil keep your trap shut and only comment on players when we have them in the bag.  Quit the empty promises and deliver.  In case you are reading this which league do you anticipate us being in next season, based on yesterdays siginings.  I suspect you would say championship as we are too good to go down, but at this rate a loss against Leeds at the weekend will all but seal our relegation.  Wake up

    Youseff Safri is our best player.  Hard in the tackle, great distribution and quick footballing brain.  I find Colin is slow and clumsy and does not overlap and put the right type of ball in.  Ifind him to be as clumsy as Docherty and Drury.  Although everyone is entitled to their opinion and I commend you.

     As much as I hate to admit this, Andy Hughes did not deserve this insult last night.  Brought on half time and subbed midway through second half.  there is a way to boost  a players morale.  the fans have played their part in trying to inject some confidence into him (although most tongue in cheek), but it seems as if we have another tactical genius on our hands.  From my point of view, Peter Thorne was the worst player on the park, so would have made sense to haul this waster off the field as opposed to hard working hughes.  I listened in amazement at Neil Adams commend thornes positioning and linking he did for the team (must be golfing buddys thats all I can say) Chris Martin should have come on as a straight swap.  He did more in the ten minutes or so he was on the field that Thorne has all his City career.  As much as people vilify Hughes (me included) this must be a massive kick in the balls for him and the effort he has put in over recent weeks.;  another amazing point from last nights canary call was the guy who said he would destroy his season ticket if Etuhu leaves. What a joke and what games is he watching.  yes he made a couple of good runs and can hit them from afar but what about the other 80 or so minutes when he disappears.  A massive guy like Etuhu has the potential to be one of the best midfielders in any league through his pace and strength .  when is he going to use it  (when his contract is up for renewal probably)   He sure as hell did''nt even show it when he was on loan.  go ahead and rip up your season ticket mate.

    Since the chase era has departed when we were only 5 million pounds in debt, we now find ourselves with a staggering 20 million plus in (manageable debt, ahem) Over the past four to five seasons we seem to have ammassed several millions through TV money, big cup ties, play off gate receipts, promotion as champions, more TV money for the premiership and two parachute payments equalling around 15 million.  The sales of players such as Green , Francis and Ashton for approx 10 million.  The sale of land for new homes estimated at around 8 million and the sale of the corner for a hotel estimated at one million.  You don''t need a GCSE in maths to figure out that the wool is being firmly bundled over the eyes of the "canary faithful".  also with merchandise revenue, resturant profits, charging mugs 100 each to sing on the ball city before the game, and all the corporate sponsorships and packages available.  I think the club are pulling the wool over everyones eyes.  We cannot be in as much debt as they make out.  If we are there is serious mismanagement and misappropriation of funds going on.  What money has been reinvested into the playing staff compared to outgoings.  Today is the day we finally get to see the level of the clubs much mooted ambition.  Failing to strengnthen in all key areas with quality players would clearly show we are bound for a stint in the third tier of English Football.  The club are bull s******g the fans and most are swallowing the same old c**p.  As for colins words today about being too good to go down, have a look at forest, man city and sheffield wedensday over the past few years and they undoubtedly thought the same.  We are not "too good at all, mediocre at best and at time of writing, heading for league 1, where we will struggle even there,  ask Rotherham, Walsall and Grimsby.  It is time for people around the club to lose this air of greatness they seem to have as we are not as good as we make out.  Gates of under 20,000 may make them realise this.

  Yet another transfer window about to slam shut and as yet another blank on the transfer front (with exc of Marshall and Chadwick) We look to be in a bit of squit.  With relegation looking more of a possibility than promotion, we were in desperate need of a boost in ranks.  It look as though we may get Fotheringham and Lappin but is this really a conserted effort to get up the table and add some much needed steel to the team.  The Parachute dollar is to finish at the end of this season and the money for promotion is an estimated 40 million with extra tv revenue.  could we not make a calculated risk and sign some players capable of gaining us promotion.  With Earnie out for rest of season we need someone to get us some goals and we sign Brown.  What are the club playing at. Everytime we get in this situation the board trot out the same old trash about jeopradising the financal situation, yet we find ourselves 15 more million in debt than the end of the chase era.  We also have sold 10 million in players (Francis, Green Ashton) and what has actually gone back in to the playing side of things. (yet we still ave massive debts) Combine this with the 20 million for promotion and estimated 14 million in parachute payments and I ask myself what the hell has happened to the dosh.  You obviousy have to take wages out of the equation but that still leaves a hell of a lot for reinvestment into the playing staff.  Ewe find ourselves with a club full of has beens and journey men.  we should have spent when we had Ashton and tried to build a team around him rather than allow him to carry the burden and become disenchanted.  Same has happened to Earnie and he will no doubt go the same way.  Why put all your eggs in one basket and allow things to get where we are now.  Why not give Grant a war chest to sign some quality .  What about the West Ham link, what about the scouts, why do we end up with s.***e like docherty, robinson and hughes (No wonder Ashton upped and went) The conclusion I have reached is that there is a disgusting air of complacency about the club and that they are quite happy being a middle of the road championship team or in next years case, League 1 team.  Failure to bring in some quality signings would confirm my belief that the club don''t give a toss anymore.  Im just glad I have finally woken up to this and taken off the tinted glasses to see what a shower of crap we have assembled as a "team".  Failing to prepare is preparing to fail