Tetteys Jig

I think we are about where we should be. Still though, I’m a bit sore at how everything in the club turns into absolute amateur hour whenever we’ve recently been in the prem. Little old Norwich, if you will. It has felt like we’ve paid the price upon promotion for having a big wage bill/ bonuses to pay out since that’s what we budgeted for meaning we have little room to swap things up to go at survival which demands a far more pragmatic style than we would prefer. That’s the problems with being a yo-yo side. Compare that to Luton who went up with a tiny budget, it left them room to buy some players suited to battling it out in the bottom half of the prem. We then also suffer with reputation when compared to the likes of Leeds who got promoted and immediately attracted a seasoned Spain international £30m striker to join them. We’d never be able to do that without paying them through the nose and even then, I doubt they’d really be prepared to give 100% What we need to find is some strategy to get through this. We sort of had it with Lambert/Hughton where we had an established side that had grown together and been largely uninterrupted for a couple of seasons. It meant the side was greater than the sum of its parts. The likes of Grant Holt and Russell Martin steady away in the prem in mid table when in reality they were upper championship players at best. if we don’t go up then it’s bye bye Sargent and Rowe and Sara and we have to spin the wheel and sign multiple replacements to try exceed what they managed.

Actually feel for Wagner with all this. I was one of many who wanted him gone when Webber left but he’s so far ridden the storm well and picked up an entertaining 4-2 vs a bogey team in Watford and all he gets is grief. How else is he going to feel? I get the malaise at the club long term after them damaging PL spells but realistically, this is it for now so Wagner and the players deserve to be encouraged, especially while he’s actually pulling off results and promotion is very much on the cards.

Actually buzzing for Morris who’s had to go the long way to fulfill his potential. Either injured at the wrong moment for us or having to dig deep to find regular game time. Kind of gutted he didn’t work for us as he always looked like the perfect complete forward in need of that break. Would think even if Luton go down then some pretty big sides might be keen on him. Would have him back here in a heartbeat if we lost Sargent.

What’s the hold up?

Lovely little move for him. Bag a few goals vs some farmers, a bit of silverware and then assess his options in summer

If I’m him I’d be snapping this chance right up. This club has held him in limbo to his detriment before so only fair he’s allowed to pursue the opportunity provided the offer is fair. We have 2 senior strikers still and some decent prospects to cover. Don’t think it’s fair to keep him under the guise he might be needed as cover. He’s not seized his chance to cement the no. 1 spot and Sargent isn’t off anywhere any time soon. might free up some money and space to fit Varane in where we definitely need reinforcement

Quickly rebuffed by our Connor… was a weird few minutes!

he replied to his own tweet https://x.com/sportspeteo/status/1751362504725291352?s=46&t=ghAxJRG28TXbC39GWn1eYQ

Idah linked with Serie A, Hwang coming back to cover… How on earth does this make sense?!

Why would the person in the background be wearing a coat if it was from summer?

Not like they are nowhere to be found though…I guess we have Adam Forshaw this season but you’d think there would be someone from the lower leagues or abroad that our scouts could have found to shake things up.

This gets my goat… instead of any holding hands up and taking responsibility to sort the mess the first instinct was to deflect. Appreciate much of that was the biased media flinging around the mud but still a sad reflection of how party politics and weak governance at the hands of the capitalist masters has held back real progress in this country. Fully expecting a whole year of this nonsense toned right up now the current bunch of cronies seem to have been found out by enough of the electorate to finally vote them out. I first knew about all this when a friends dad was implicated around 10 years ago and was amazed by how it had been allowed to drag on like this when it was so obvious what was going on even then. I understand the initial error since there was trust issues there which was part of the reason for the system to be brought in but surely someone with the slightest understanding of statistics could see something badly wrong pretty early on and at least have not condemned the postmasters to dodgy guilty verdicts.

Good point about the Hudds midfield… Sara about as close to a Billing clone as you can get. A Btec Bellingham if you will… all of those type players need a defensive mid in there with them to free them to show their swashbuckling best. Shame Hayden never worked out as he was the right profile of player we needed. Seems it’s been our bogey position for years since Tetteys legs went. We just can’t quite find the right replacement. Much like Chelsea with strikers or Man U with keepers after Schmeichel left. We are kind of caught between two styles it seems though. We don’t just want some thug in the middle as we’re trying to play a decent, technical game but really we end up regressing to counter attacking where a thug mopping things up would be ideal in there. I genuinely think the attack is one of the best and strongest in depth in the division bar the newly relegated prem sides, just can’t quite find the right formula to settle on in the middle.

I see Onel as more of a defensive winger these days, useful off the bench, strong and can dribble and dig in but technically he’s all over the shop. Showed all his usefulness tonight but still dining out on the credit in the bank he built up long ago during the promotion seasons (and the Covid games tbf to him). If we really are going to regress to the mean of being a mid table champs side then for the right money, we could do a lot worse than keeping him about the place. Don’t think he’s anywhere near good enough to be much use for a promotion chasing side though.

Barnes was forging a decent thing with Sargent before all the injuries spoilt that. Think he’ll be a useful player for us for the rest of the season provided we’re not relying him to score many. Actually pretty satisfied with the attacking options, just need someone a bit more robust as an option in the middle where we seem to be constantly be getting overran.

Similar vein to Carlton Morris who could have been a steady lower prem striker earlier if he hadn’t been stifled at Norwich/by injury

I still have this theory that he was supposed to be the “big replacement” we had lined up for Andy O and it fell through last minute. Something about him not leaving posh on deadline day when it seemed certain and something about how confident everyone sounded at the club and almost happy to see the back of Andy O makes me think he was the ace up our sleeve until it went wrong last min so we had to panic buy Ba’ath. I don’t think Ba’ath is even that bad but it just makes no real logical sense we got him in when we’d already spent big wages on Duffy to be the experienced head.

What’s the master plan if we’re not prepared to take a surplus of migrants to make up for the shortfall caused by our lacklustre and aging population?

Ethan Nwaneri next season? Still only 16 but looks generational. Ruell Walters, Charlie Patino, Myles Lewis Skelly all look worthwhile punts over the next few years as well as Sagoe.

Exactly. The win gives Wagner a stay of execution and the new SD time to actually assess things before he pulls the trigger. Not like we’re near relegation or promotion at the moment.

I’d have bumped him off before the weekend but it leaves a sour taste to sack a manager after winning… it’s not like there’s someone out there we are desperate for. I’d be setting him a big target to turn it around and if it’s not sorted by Christmas then bye bye. What happens now if he suddenly inspires a few back to back wins? We don’t have much of an issue stringing goals together so if we suddenly stumble across a way to keep them out then it’s plausible.

Not really… regression to the mean of being a lower half tier 2 club. Until the next Lambert/Farke turns up and works a miracle, Norwich will just be a provincial feeder club to the bigger and more ambitious clubs out there. We will consistently get 16th place and at least 20k of you will enjoy it. Into football wilderness we go. Sara gone in summer for £15m, Rowe for £10m should he continue his good form and a lower prem/newly promoted side fancy a punt. That pays for another season treading championship water.

Sounds like none of the clauses are included in that. Even if it’s say £2m extra for Andy if Forest survive. We aren’t “due” it until they do even though they probably will.

Best way is to simply not show up. The club don’t owe you a good side to support, neither do you owe them your support. Should the product they offer be unsatisfactory then just don’t go?

Really weird signing… being paid £25k+ a week to not play after all that hype about not being arsed over Big Andy leaving because we had a big replacement lined up. i can only think that Ba’ath wasn’t the intended replacement (perhaps Ronnie Edward’s was/is) and Ba’ath was a panic buy once Edward’s wasn’t happening?