chicken

But few people come on here and say x had a bad game today. It tends to be he is rubbish and isnt good enough and should have stayed in the fizzy-pop league. Or that there is no quality in the squad. Well for one, I sent them all a tub of quality street to share at half time so now all the players have a little bit of quality in them - happy?!!!! Secondly if you say something like; Svenson was rubbish lets sell him in January. Then be prepared for someone else to come out and say something just as extreme in a counter post to that. I have to say that what I dont like is some of the people on here only come on to have a moan and slag players and the manager off. They never say such and such was class or he played well or that was a good decision. If you are going to say somebody was rubbish I would suggest you explain your view and also name a player that was playing well to show what you mean. Even suggest areas where the TEAM let themselves down - its never as simple as one player letting us down.

What? The team is good enough! Look at it, we are 10 points off 12th! Every team around us lacks in a certain department. Mainly because all of the wealthy clubs plunder them. Just look at Chrystal Palace, how many different clubs has AJ been linked with now? And how long can they really keep hold of him for? Whats the difference between Fulham this year and Fulham last year? Luis Saha. Southampton look as if they will loose Beattie and are still managerless. West Brom also lack a cutting edge. Portsmouth look like loosing Yakubu and possibly Lua Lua. Blackburn have Dickov and little else. It is not likely that any of these clubs will be spending great deals of money in the transfer window because the money isnt there anymore, if it ever was. We dont need an overhaul. We need a goalscorer that can consistantly put the ball in the back of the net. One thing I would blame prices on is inflation. If a premiership team look to get a player from lower down the leagues they raise the price. Had we bought Ashton at the end of last season he would have cost at most £1 million. But you are taking a risk of bringing in a player two leagues away from where you are. I think that we have one great striker in Hux and another in McKenzie. We just need a partnership up front, then we will see the goals start to come. If we bring in a new striker the problem will still be there if they dont gel with the players around them. In a way Iwan was fantastic at gelling with new players, we just lack that at the moment. I dont think there are many players that are not capable of premiership football in our squad, after all most of them did get us there. If they are better than Div 1 they are premiership. I think it is just the experience at this level that we lack not anything else, and they are learning. As I have said before, in my opinion we need to sure up our defence before we go looking to bang in goals. We have given away too many sloppy goals due to a lack of height, pace or communication. I admit the communication is getting better but I feel Shackell should be given a chance to prove his abilities. He is quick, and more than capable. Also if Mullers aint fit, give Safri another shot. Couldnt do any harm could it?

I have had enough of people slagging Worthington and some of the players off. There is plenty enough to be cheering about and if there is one difference between us and Chrystal Palace that has influence on our positions it is us the fans! Their fans dont seem to care if they stay up or go down, they are just going to give it all they have as a club and be glad that they got the chance to break even financialy. Even though we finnished top of the league I fee that we are in the same position. I like everyone else to do with the club would like us to stay up there but it is very very hard. Just look how close the Premiership is this season. Anyone in the bottom half of the table could slip up and find themselves dragged into the fight at the bottom, and that includes some quite respectable teams. I think Worthington is an incredibly valuable manager. He is like Curbishly in that he is able to get good players in on a limited budget. Lets be honest, it wouldnt be hard to be a great manager if you have hundreds of millions of pounds like Man U or Chelsea. But Worthington and the team and board won the 1st divsion last year. No mean feat when you consider the sides that had money to spend. We know that WBA were bathing in parachute payments and Wigan financed by a franchise buisinessman. Worthington was alowed to take calculated risks by the board. That money for Hux, Leon and Sven not to mention Francis, Edworthy. The way he has turned this club round on a shoe string budget is fantastic, and nothing short of briliance. The way that the players have reacted to his actions have also been brilliant. How many teams would have lost spirit, focus and confidence? Not city. Those guys all deserve medals. It had been eight long years before I saw such determination along with a real desire to win. That was the last time we were in the Premiership. I am not ashamed of where the club is at. We are building for a brighter future. We are not far off compeating for mid-table premiership places, if we have to go down and come back up to do it at the second attempt its something well worth waiting for in my opinion. I still think we have a chance, but it is plain to see that there are three or four teams we are going to have to be better than, Chrystal Palace, WBA, Southampton and Blackburn. If any others come within range then great otherwise it is important that we sink the others whilst we can. So far we have beaten Southampton which may put us in good stead and drawn with the others. We need to win the return fixtures as a start. 40 points should be our season target because I dont think that 30 will be nessisarily enough. A point a game would be good enough but we are already behind on that target. But I for one am not going to let anything get to my passion for city. Those lads that go out and play are putting in 100%, what more can we ask of them? If its not enough, at least they gave it their best shot. I am not going to moan untill they give up, and their heads drop. Because while they still believe we have a chance, I still believe, if they are still pushing for it I will support them all the way! And please can people stop speculating about players unless they have been properly linked (is via a newspaper). Its getting almost as annoying as the stupid text adverts on teletext!

Look at what happened to the last ex-saints manager they employed! Haha! I dont think Hoddle can do anything without money!

I think it is about time for my few wise words!!! ;oD I think that people are looking too much to Worthington to provide all of the answers we need to keep us premiership. But I dont think he is a miracle worker! I think that he has done incredibly well with what he has got. If you dont think so then you ought to look at the prices he pays for players and the results he is getting from them. Gary Holt = £100k a bargin Damian Francis = £250k(i think) a real bargin No, I dont think that much of the way things have gone can be put down to Worthington. Remember he has been after more and possibly better players and either been priced out or lost with a battle with another club, I would argue this would probably be down to contract terms and money offered to agents. At the beggining of the season so many of us had accepted that staying up was going to be inredibly tough and hard to do. If we finnished 17th we would be happy. Otherwise we would go down and then back up just like Charlton has done before us. I think the biggest problem is that people are disolusioned to think that one 15-20 goal a season striker will solve all of our problems. It is simply not the case. Read all of the match reports, look into the detail a little further than the goals for column. We need to create the chances for the goals to come and it seems that it is that that is letting us down. I dont think it is worth pumping all the transfer money into one player unless he is proven, and I mean proven quality. The problem with that is the wage side of things. Not only might he brake the wage structure but it is possible that the wages could damage us if we do possibly go down at the end of the season. I think it may be worth saving the money and gathering what interest we can on it and use it to address strengthening our position in the summer. Whether that be to sustain another campaign in the premiership or to thrash out a new squad to get us straight back up. No we are not far away from being premiership survivalists but not far is two or three players. Thats possibly one or two players at least more than we can afford. My shopping list would be for another defender, with both height and pace, a winger that has pace and ability to undo defences, and a striker that is capable of getting the new chances into the net. Ten years is a long time, much has changed along with the amounts of money flying around. Whilst the lower leagues havent really changed in prices for players much things have changed in the top league one hell of a lot. Our squad is also relatively small in comparison to most other clubs, even Chrystal Palace have thirty something players! Lastly I do think we can stay up but we need to have 20 points half way through the season. Thats twenty points from 19 games. I havent given up hope but the chances are growing slimmer by the day and I doubt very much that one £1.2 million player is going to change things a great deal. I really do hope that I am proven wrong . . . . . .

I dont think we can blame anyone for the predicament that we are in other than Mr Chase. He got us there and the current board has done everything in its power to get us back into a sound situation. Its not Worthingtons fault and its not the boards fault its how it is. What some people dont seem to understand is that this supposed £20 million that a club gets for going up isnt just slapped into their hands instantly, it comes in drips and drabs with sky appearences, gates etc. Add to that the fact that the club took a £15 million pound loan out with a bank a season or two ago to cover for the debt already owed and other projects. Its likely that quite a bit of money has been put to paying that off more quickly than the deal had agreed.

hhmmm. A tought one to call. I have also heard that Man U were in the hunt for him after Fergie fell out with Howard. If I remember rightly it is no longer legal to sign a player and then loan him out straight away so that would be a no-no for the supposed deal. This law was passed in the summer after last season when Chelsea signed 20 players and loaned half of them out straight away. I dont think that Green will go anywhere until the summer when he knows where we finish. If we stay in the Prem then I have a feeling he may hang on for at least another six months. You forget that he has always said that he is a Norwich man, he won''t abandon us halfway through a season, and he won''t leave unless the club is really desperate for the money. I think that £5mil plus a player is good, but I think Green is worth nearer £6-7mill by himself. If you look at the money being thrown around at the moment, and not just by the "BIG TEAMS" you will see that teams are willing to fork out for good, solid players. Green is one. However the money must be ploughed back into the team, we need more quality. All this hard graft is good but we seem to be lacking the killer balls and ideas from midfield. In other words we need a quality play-maker. For me Francis and Holt are too similar in that their focus is on ball winning and simple passing. Safri looks as though he could offer an alternative but I would also like to see Mulryne given a shot. We know he can pass and we know he can retain the ball which is another thing the midfield is struggling to do right now. If we can keep posession a lot longer than we do we could really be a force. Its one of the main reasons why we keep drawing!

Dean Sinclair is gone also, thats another one to strike off the list! That means we are down to 20!!!! But do not dispair I am sure that Worthy is quietly working away to get more players in. If the situation is still the same two weeks after the european championship then I will be a little worried. We just have to wait to see who is put up on the market to make more money available for tournament successes! Thats when there will be bargins to be had. I think we might loan one or two of our youngsters out as well, but I think that depends upon how many players we can and do bring in.

If you are interested in anything and want to voice your theories or opinions may I suggest to you all visit www.the-dot.org. It is only lacking in the sport department at the moment although I have tried to get it going! It is a site open for discussion on absoloutly anything. Its very free and open so there are very few limits. Anyway thats that lot done!

I really cant believe what some people have come on here and said in this post! I am sorry Fatman but I couldnt give a damn how successful your career is, and thats not an insult. I am sure that you have deserved your successes and worked bloody hard to achieve them. I dont think the club is handing Abbey a favour. Why would they need to? They have paid his wages still for the last two season whilst he has been out. We all know Worthington can be ruthless, just go talk to Heckingbottom! No. Abbey has been given three months to show us what he has got left in him and if he can perform to the level he has been able to play to in the past. After all there were a couple of low premiership teams interested in him when we signed him. For those of you who dont rate him, he has shown signs of a real quality player. He can shoot powerfully and accurately from outside of the area, not something that we are used to having on the pitch. All the sounds that the club has made about him have been nothing but possitive. We cant pass accurate judgement because we cant see the whole picture. If you look at my "lets get realistic . . ." post then you will see that we dont have many strikers on the books at the moment and we only really have Svenson as an experienced target man. Otherwise the buck is passed onto Jarvis who I am told can play that role, but I have not seen him play. Abbey is possibly an option. He is certainly no worse than Trevor Benjamin at Leicester and Campbell at Everton. Give the guy a chance, he has actually recovered quickly when you look at the injuries he has had. GG had just one such injury and he took the same amount of time to recover as Abbey who had double the trouble, that says something. And like others have said, three months is nothing. It gets him to Christmas effectively, or just before it. Maybe we will launch a new bid for another tall striker then when we are in a better situation to see what we are up against.

ronny johnsen! Please! Dont make me laugh! Or cry for that matter!

Ermm ok!! I thought that he was called up for Jamaica during the season but either rejected them or just pulled out. I think he will wait and see what interest this season in the premiership brings because playing for Jamaica will do nothing but give him nice hollidays! As for comparing Francis to Mulryne, now thats just plain silly! I dont think they are the same sort of player at all. Mulryn is a mutch more cultured play-maker, but he doesnt put up mutch of a fight on the defencive side of things, not that he doesnt try mind you. Francis is much more of a battling midfielder and he isnt quite in the playmaker bracket, at least not yet. He is more of the Gary Holt style player - good at hasseling, tackling and non-stop running but not fantastic in the playmaking department. Saying that they have done brilliantly together this season, just at times they lack the cutting edge that Mulryne can provide and help to tear open teams. In short Francis is a Viera style player and Mulryne a Scholes style player. If that makes much sence to any of you! We need them all for the Premiership that much is a certanty. Lets not forget that Mullers has been one of those players that has been fighting for our cause for quite a long time now. And has resisted the temptation of premiership clubs.

Hah, I linked us with him three or four days ago on my lets get realistic . . . posting. A good signing indeed. And I hope we do get him. As for Megson, he has signed or is trying to sign every player under the sun. How many more will go knowing that they already have a largish squad and they are less likely to start regularily. What he has so far is nothing I would be bothered about. Dickov isnt that great and neither is Scimica. If Scimica was good he would be going to portugal instead of Phill Neville. Darren Purse has at least been linked with playing for England in the past but has just has an unlucky season with injury. I think he would be a great signing. Along with Pennant if we can get him. They are the two that I am most interested in.

If you people can wait a week I will be back home where I have my much treasured Bryan Gunn testamonial programm. I do know that Steve Bruce was playing and got cheered nearly as much as one of our players. I think Cantona made the trip also. Anyway, should have the full list for you by next tuesday if that helps any!

I have heard that Darren Purse may become available along with Pennant as both are reviewing their positions at their clubs. Purse wants the chance to play first team football as does Pennant. I think both would be good aditions to the squad either permanently or on loan if possible. At least we would have two more players in two needed positions.

Ok lets have a look at the squad we have now; GKs; Green, Lewis. Defence; Drury (L), Mackay(C), Flemming(C), Shackell(C/L), Edworthy(R), Briggs(R). Defence/Midfield; Brennan(L). Midfield; Holt(C), Francis(C), Mulryne(C), Rivers(R) Midfield/strikers; Henderson(R), McVeigh(R/L). Strikers; McKenzie, Huckerby, Svenson, Jarvis, Abbey. From that we can see that we have enough striking options for now, we need to strengthen midfield more than anywhere else. But in my mind we need to get in a couple of midfielders and at least one extra defender. After releasing so many players we are now down to 19 again. We have lost Nielsen, Notman, Russel, Crichton, Iwan Roberts, Easton, Sinclair and Needergard since last summer. In replacement we have Huckerby, McKenzie, Svenson, Francis and Edworthy. We need to get more depth in most areas. There needs to be cover for every position but at the moment one or two injuries could leave us in a lot of problems. A defender/midfielder would have helped, but thats water under the bridge now. We need to bring in keen players that want to play football. Not some premiership has-been wanting money for retirement! The only time we should be after a striker is if he is proven quality. I think we are quite far off a strong enough team for survival at the moment. I dont mean to sound depressing, the team we have is good enough to finnish mid-table in my view but there is no depth. Last season we had depth but we have cut some of it loose now and the rest were loanees!

I dont think WBA can actually afford to go out and buy too many more players untill they axe some. They still have Lee Marshall the last time I heard. And they seem to be going for cheap taff. They have a huge and largely average squad. They still dont score many goals and they forked out £1million squid for a player that is thirty something and is not guaranteed to score goals! Last season they signed two players we were after, thank god because they are nothing on Francis and Huckerby, or McKenzie and Svenson. I mean we got four quality players in for less than £2 million. That averages to £500k each. What do they have to show for their £2 million? A couple of fringe players! Worthy is a genius, let him work his magic!

If you check out www.teamtalk.com they have a what the papers say section which is good for rumours. Today it reckons we are going to sign; Todorov (portsmouth) Bryan Hughs (Birmingham) Peter Crouch for £1.5 million (Aston Villa) The other day it had Martin Keown linked with a move to the yella and green. I dont know if we would pay out that much money for Crouch. And I feel Keown is not exactly what we are looking for. We need defenders that are experienced but not too old incase they decide to retire if we dont stay up. We really need to look at how West Brom have managed things.

Here are my thoughts on this; Goalies: Douglas - uh huh. Sullivan - good as an understudy to Green, he is also getting on a bit (32-35) Stack - I see where you are coming from. Barthez - Would be class as he is underated due to Man U, but wages would be a no-no. Defenders: Keown - too old Primus - not much younger Cygan - good if he could improve his consistancy but is also about third or fourth choice so no Dunne - Breen - about the same age as primus who is a little older than Malky and Fleming Bernard - yeah, but price and wages Huth - I like this one, another young player and one we may actually have a chance at getting Dabizas - another pushing towards the end of his career, maybe good to strengthen the sqd Midfielders: Butt (bit ambitious) - never rated him. He can tackle and fight but little else Cooper - I am yet to be totally convinced but if he is on the cheap lets give him a shot McPhail - I can see where you are coming from, possibly worth a shot Bellion - I doubt we could get him from Man U on anything more than a loan an he is a striker Ziege - Naturally a left back I believe, has been crocked for a while and is also quite old Pennant (again bit ambitious) - not really, if Leeds go down then we could get him on loan Stanic - another oldie, and again he has been out all season due to injury Bowyer - been a bit ropey this season for me, but worth a shot I guess, wages may be prob Cisse - very unlikely indeed! Harley - what jon of fulham formally of chelsea, hes a left-back I thought. good idea i guess Partridge - poss Petit - a bit of a risk but maybe a good risk Cameron - poss Poyet - too old Barmby - like it, good idea Litmanen - maybe a bit of a risk Strikers: Sherringham - past it, sign him as an accadamy coach though and Jarvis may pick sum up Crouch - too expencive and is scoring to many goals for Villa now Lua Lua - doubt we could find the dosh Kanu - it would mean a bit of a struggle to find the money for his wages, seems a bit lazy too Sutton - I could only dream of seeing sutton return, but again wages Dickov - yeah, hmm, not likely. Jeffers - please, the guy was good for one season and has failed to get anywhere near again Marcus Bent - perhaps but a fat lot of good he did for walkers I think that Worthington will be taking a trip to the European tornament this season to see who he can spot and meet up with out there. There is bound to be a lot of good players available cheaply or on frees out there. Also, how about a shot at getting Rivaldo? I know he may have high wage demands but if Bolton can afford to offer him something then there is a chance we can too. We have a better airport for a start! And I wouldnt mind Suttons little brother who banged in twenty something goals in scot div 1. Give him a little while and see if he is up to it at that level and then perhaps take a risk on him at christmas before the transfer deadline.

My man of the match has to be Edworthy. Did no one else notice how he was effectively the only player offering width and actually did Coopers job for him? Cooper was not GREAT. He was average, but then what do you expect from a left-footed player out on the right? He showed some class but didnt seem to know what to do with the ball half the time. Francis was disappointing, he only offered a little height and some good man-marking and disapointed me with his passing etc, after all he is chosen above Mulryne. Huckerby was ofcourse great but went down a little bit easily which led to the ref treating him harshly. Drury had a very poor game in my opinion seemed to get beaten every time there was an attack down their right. A very even game for those of you that didnt see the match. Had it not been for Green, Reading would have had a goal or two in the first half. Luckily Worthington gave them a boot up the arse in the break and they did better. Very pleased to see that we can play averagely and still get the result required. I would just have prefered to have seen a little more passing, perhaps the introduction of Mullers earlier?

Ok I know I am looking forward a little but I spotted this on another website and thought it may be interesting; "Alex McLeish has begun the clear-out at Rangers - with Nuno Capucho, Emerson and Christian Nerlinger the first to be told they have no futures. The de Boer twins, Frank and Ronald, are also out of contract and it now looks unlikely that they will be offered new deals." I defenitely think the De Boer twins have quality and may just be what is needed. Are there any other players that people think would be a good bet for city?

What if he did a REAL LuaLua and score the winning goal in the 90th minute. Then that what be funny wouldnt it?

Portaloo road had one and their capacity is not 30,000. I think its only about 25,000.

Well I have heard that Nick Barmby is possibly working his way to Forrest! Maybe we are in for his services too as a right winger? Thats defenitely the area we are looking at I feel. Other than that a defender. Thing is if we get a right winger in what do we do with McVeigh? Could we be looking at a Huckerby McVeigh strike-force with Paul playing the deeper role and supporting the destruction that Hux causes?

I can see both perspectives here and I do feel for both sides. Hammer, ok so you have lived in Norwich for most of your life or a long time, but do you not feel for the people who cant get tickets because our stadium is under construction and therefore has limited ticket allocation. I am yet to see a game actually in the flesh this season, my uni work has been hefty and I am down in Surrey. Finding the dosh to get to a game is hard too when on a very tight budget. The few times I have gone home to visit my folks the games have been sell-outs before I could get tickets. Overly I am not upset because it means the club is getting as much money through the gates as it can do. I can listen to the radio even if chearing by yourself isnt quite the same as the atmosphere at Carrow Road is now. In some ways I am not bothered that away fans have gotten tickets which are actually allocated to Norwich supporters but in reality it should not be happening. However I think there are few footie fans out there that would not do the same in a similar situation. For example when NCFC are playing Chelsea next season I will try to get away supporters tickets but I also have the back-up plan of getting a home supporters ticket through my girlfriend who is a Chelsea member. I would do almost anything to get to see my team play! I am pleased to say that I will be going to my first match of the season in April when I will be going to the Reading match to watch them be pummelled into the ground whilst choking on Darren Huckerbys dust! In the meantime I will just have to be satisfied of the highlights which seem to nearly allways involve McVeigh or Huckerby!