0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM>  º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM>  º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True

So this chap from Lowestoft (lifelong fan) won the lottery last weekend and decided to treat himself to a season ticket as a result, according to the Pink ''Un. He also says he hasn''t been a season ticket holder for 9 years so a) its a good time to jump back on the bandwagon, after we''ve got promotion (grrrr) and b) there are obviously still season tickets for sale to non-existing holders, provided you''ve got enough money (grrrr). Ama

Seems unlikely given Worthy''s statement about wanting players nearer 24 than 34. So I''d put it down as rumour #157. Next...? Ama

GenerationA47 - Yes, I agree that most/all teams try to buy success (unless you are a selling club like Ipswich) in some form or other - we could be accused of that with Huckerby last season. I think my gripe is around the enormous sums of money that distort the game. If you had unlimited funds you could simply buy the top 50 players in the world and effectively buy the league, and that sucks. Its the bare-faced scale of the Chelski buy-up that irritates me. Little by little it all contributes to the relative demise of the smaller teams, and lower leagues. Ama

Everton, because of last season, and because many believe they sent us down in 94/95. Man U, because they are so arrogant. Chelsea, because just trying to buy success isn''t very sporting.

He only escaped if he was captured in the first place. And I doubt very much that Worthy was ever interested, or made a bid, certainly not at that sort of price. Consider that over 90 percent of the players we are linked with are just paper talk or rumours and will therefore ''escape''. He''ll have his own list that he is working down and, judging by the past couple of seasons, we/the media have little or no idea who is on that list. Await some surprises! Ama

I hope you''re right! Although remember, last year we signed Francis, Edworthy, Hucks, Crouch, Harper (and Brennan?) after this date...! Ama

Actually that''s a good point, and part of what makes football so intriguing. Look at Man City, quite a few ''big names'' there but very little joy. Its how the players work as a team - i.e. the balance of attitudes, skills, strengths and weaknesses. A great manager is one who can achieve that balance. Any manager (you or I!!!) could play fantasy football with a big wad of cash, but I doubt we''d achieve much. Ama

I''d be pretty worried if I was a Man City fan too, or Fulham, or Portsmouth. Or us. Ama

Well, look at it this way. This time last season who had we signed? And the players that turned our season around? Now I know we can''t get new players after 31 Aug, but you get my point. Ama

Now that would be a good idea. Hey, we''re really getting somewhere if its our turn to loan out promising youngsters. Nice one. Ama

In many ways, he''d be excellent for us. But alas, see the line from his agent "He is still very ambitious as a player and wants to go where he can win trophies." Now even with my yellowest and greenest tinted glasses on, that does not sound like us does it?! Unless he would settle for the Championship trophy in 05/06!!!!

Probably on the basis that it is unlikely that Green will play every game of the season. It rarely happens (although, yes, it did last season). So he''s number 2 keeper at a Prem club. Look at the other teams'' number 2 keepers and there are some other decent ones there, biding their time.... So its not that surprising, we should have plenty of good players who only make the bench next season. Ama

True, would look like a sound signing. As for being linked... we weren''t linked with Safri, or Huckerby, or Svensson, or Crouch.... Worthy is very good at keeping things under his hat, so we must assume there are some defenders under there too. At least, I hope there are! Ama

Herd it? I don''t think we herd anything here. Well I certainly don''t. Although your post does have the whiff of a herd about it. Ama

Agreed, although we must assume he''s working on this. Look at it this way: how many players have we been linked with? About 100. How many players have we signed? 3. It strikes me that there are two groups of players: 1. Players that we are linked with in the media, who we won''t sign. 2. Players we have no idea about, who ''suddenly'' sign. Put it this way, how many of our recent signings (in the last year... including Huckerby and Crouch) were predicted by the media, without Worthy himself talking about them? Even the EDP is lazy, just lifting stories off bulletin boards sometimes. I''ve noticed that there can be talk on a bulletin board and it can appear in the paper a few days later. Look at this Johnson thing... this has come from a Forest fanzine right? And suddenly its a hot tip. And the funny thing is, Teamtalk pretty much just lifts stuff from papers. So there you go, you can start a rumour, the EDP will report it as a ''link'' (whatever that means) and then Teamtalk will report that we''re ''locked in a battle to secure XXXs signature''. And so it goes on. I only imagine whether managers crease up laughing at some of the speculation, or get genuinely p***d off with it? Ama

Basically, no thanks. And definately not at £3m. I mean, for that money surely we could get Crouch. And I''d rather have him than an ex-binman who''s worth no more than £1m in today''s market.... Ama

Nick "Don''t think we we could turn down a potential 25 goals a season player". No, but he could turn us down. Or the 10-20k per week we would offer him. Sure, he''s a very good player, but we need to be realistic. And mostly, we need players for whom a move to Norwich represents a real opportunity, and who might therefore put their back into what will be a difficult season. Is a move from Chelsea to Norwich for a relegation fight really that attractive? Ama

Here, here! Even after the storming season we had last season there were still people wanting to have a moan, who didn''t think any of our players or NW''s tactics were good enough and who didn''t seem to ''support'' Norwich at all. I always say, if you want to have a moan, a) tell us what you would do instead, and b) tell us which team you manage so much better than NW and co do! So go on then moaners: which players would you sign? And I''m not talking fantasy football or CM04. These have to be players that a) we can afford (fees and wages), b) want to come to Norwich and c) are the right kind of player in terms of ability, position and attitude. So people who say things such as ''I''d rather have Poyet''... would you rather have him even if he didn''t want to play for Norwich? To my mind, a 26 year old international for 500k, who wants to play in the Prem, is prepared to move to Norwich and probably doesn''t want huge wages, who has played in the Prem before... well its a start. I really REALLY hope we take the attitude that the Portsmouth fans took to their 5-0 thrashing by Arsenal earlier this year. Lets face it, we''re not EXPECTING any points from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th games of the season are we? We may shock someone, but lets focus on beating a few of the teams ''around us'' and enjoy the rest of the games. Unless of course your form of enjoyment is to have a good moan. Ama

I''d love to see some stats on this from the last couple of seasons, to see whether its a myth or reality. Anyone?

Well that would contradict completely what Worthy said in the paper this morning - namely that there would be no signings ahead of players returning for pre-season next week. Mind you, its not unheard of for Worthy to throw everyone off the scent and then spring a surprise...

I know what you mean, but I think some English players are just as capable of it as foreign players. Mind you, even the commentators were joking about it in the Spain v Portugal match last night. It always amuses me that such big tough hard guys have such a high centre of gravity that the slightest touch with a feather and they go down. So I thought, if all players who fell over got booked, irresepctive of whether it was their fault or not, they''d do everything they could to stay on their feet. End of cheating. But probably 5-a-side by the end of the game! Ama

Nope, I think we should sell him if we get an offer. Although he has always shown to be capable of good performances, he hasn''t ever looked likely to produce the goods on a regular basis. He just doesn''t have the work ethic that Worthy (quite rightly) requires. Mind you, by not loaning him out last season Nigel has at least suggested there''s a chance for him, even if its slim. Ama

Hey, don''t worry. Worthy knows what he is doing. Like he says, most players, agents etc are on holiday right now, and the Euros are on. If we get 3 new players arrive at the end of the month, all''s fine, right? For all we know, they''re already lined up. Recent history tells us that a) the players the papers talk about are rarely if ever the real targets, while the real targets turn out to be surprises and b) Worthy rarely if ever lets on. So almost be definition, we don''t know, and won''t know until it happens. Its tough waiting, but there''s not long to go now.... Ama

"Their stadium being on an island". Whatever next. ;-)

I think the board''s ambition is fine. I have no doubt they''ll give Worthy all they reasonably can... without jeopardising the future of the club. Last season I think they took a gamble, and I hate to think where we''d be if it hadn''t paid off! Any anyway, its who you buy not how much you spend that counts. And don''t say you can''t get quality for nowt, because you can. Or at least for very little. Look at our recent good purchases... hardly expensive - even Hucks was cheap compared to West Brom spending 2.5m on a defender! Getting the right players attitude-wise, or spotting unrealised talent is a better bet. So Nige can either work with it or he''ll go. Which would be a great shame, but I wouldn''t have it any other way. SO many clubs have gambled and lost in the last few years, it just isn''t worth it. Do we want to go up and be Bradford? Ipswich? Barnsley? I''d rather be West Brom, or Wolves - and that''s saying something! Of course, we''d all really rather do a Birmingham, but then they seem to have quite deep pockets now. Maybe Charlton is the better example. Ama