My spoon is too big!

Who will stick around? At the back: Otsemobor, Doherty, Stefanovic (if he comes back from injury) Drury, Spillane In the middle: Lappin, Russell, er... Up front: McDonald, Cureton, Martin? Loanees: We might keep Lee, mostly because he wants to be back in East Anglia, and he''s getting on a bit. Maybe Cort will stay because he''s getting old too. Otherwise we''ll have a bunch of youngsters who have barely played competitive matches. Rudd and Nelson in goal. No young defenders. Stuart Nelson, Korey Smith, Tom Adeyemi and Damon Lathrope in midfield. Renton and Daley up front. Heading out the door? We can safely assume Marshall, Clingan, Croft, Pattison, Fotheringham, Hoolahan, Cort and EIGHT loan players. That''s almost an entire matchday squad. I think Cureton will stick around. He might still be useful in League 1. Which means we''ll have TEN players who have experience playing competitive professional football. Still, maybe we''ll be able to get Elvis Hammond back for a second crack of the whip. I don''t think Cheltenham will be asking for much.

This is probably the closest anyone''s come to understanding and explaining what went wrong for us this season. It''s nice to read a serious and sensible article on NCFC. You don''t find many folks outisde Norfolk devoting that many column inches to the Canaries. Norwich''s financial plight isn''t unique. There are plenty of clubs with similar money worries that make do with limited budgets and limited players. Sometimes I wish that all those who have a problem with the board that runs NCFC would take a look at other clubs and their gripes. Sometimes it seems that posters on this board can only see two teams - one in yellow and green and another that plays in blue and white. What''s interesting is that despite our limited resources, at the beginning of the season we had a team that really did outplay Coventry (that''s the only game I''ve managed to attend this season) and have been capable of beating the best in the league. We can do it, so why haven''t we done it more often? As we saw during our playoff season, there are teams that can do very well in this league as long as the players are confident and play well together. Really this is what makes the difference between success and failure in the championship. Hopefully Gunn''s level head and calm hand on the rudder will steady the ship. Until the Cardiff match I was sure we were going down. Now I''m not so sure. The only way a supporter can influence things right now is to show up and cheer, and it sounds like plenty of you are doing that right now. Like the commentator on the highlights of the Cardiff match said "23,000 there tonight. They really keep the faith down there."

Have you compared our current points tally with that of 12 months ago? Back then we were 21st with 7 points and it took us until the 24th of November to break into double figures. I don''t think your argument stands up to scrutiny. The team has had a bad couple of games, but we''ve started stronger than we did last season. Even if we don''t get to the playoffs this season, I we won''t be flirting with relegation.

It''s not that much of a concern when the most expensive tickets rise to £50, but what is of concern is the price of the cheapest tickets. Looking at QPR''s pricing structure, the cheapest ticket is £20. The next are £30 and £40 and the most expensive is £50. I''m currently resident in Bordeaux, and there are 8 different prices depending on where you sit in the stadium. There are also four different categories of match. For a category 1 normal match against regular Ligue 1 opposition I could sit behind the goal for as little as €9 or £7. If I wanted to be in the swankiest exec. box I''d pay €42 or £33. For a category 4 gala+ match against Champions'' League opposition the cheap seats are €15 or £11.80 and the exec. box comes in at €76 or £59.80. So if I can get a ticket for Bordeaux v Chelsea, I could watch the match for under £12. I think even Southend is more expensive than that! The last Canaries game I attended was Coventry away, and it cost £25 to sit behind the goal. Needless to say, with cheap footy on my doorstep I''ve adopted Bordeaux as my second team!

Has everyone forgotten than only three members of an Olympic footie team can be over 23? The majority of a possible GB team for 2012 will all be unknown teenagers right now.

You''ll never turn on Jamie lad? Is it because you''re not his type?

And here I was thinking that this thread would be someone suggesting we get Hartson in again!

I dunno, hanging on to the underside of a train moving at well over 100mph sounds pretty heroic to me!

Old boy, Wittgenstein? Are we talking psychology or philosophy here?

Thanks, Canary Boy! I''ve been waiting to see this all day. You just made an expat very happy. Cheers!

Celia, Thanks for your quick response. The plugin you suggested does improve matters: I can actually watch the video now. It''s not perfect, but it''s good enough. Cheers!

Pink''un web team, is there any chance of you folks also offering a Quicktime version of the videos you put online? I''m pretty certain Mac users all have trouble getting the streams to buffer properly. I can''t see more than the first 20 seconds of your wmv files before they simply stop. If you were to use a service like www.blip.tv it''d automatically convert the video into other formats, maximising the number of folks who can see them. Blip also lets you keep all your rights to the video, unlike YouTube. So, anyway... any chance? Are there any other frequenters of the pink''un board using MacOS? Please tell me I''m not the only one!

Thanks for posting that. It was the most interesting post I''ve seen on here for a good couple of weeks! Also worth bearing in mind what the article states, and that''s BASIC salary. Additional payments for actually playing, and performance-based incentives often see the Premiership salaries double!

The VirginMedia site denies access to Mac users! I''d love to be able to check the highlights on YouTube.

Nielsen is Danish. Moved back to Denmark to play for Aalborg when his wife got a lucrative IT job. We can''t have been paying him that much! Got involved in a betting scandal. Punched a team-mate, got sacked. Now plays in Norway for Start. The full story here: http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/nielsen.htm

Why does Bart have no eyes? The liquid he''s blessing the shirt with is not yellow. What could it be? This "quality merchandise" is wrong on so many levels.

Wow. I''ve managed more than that, and I''ve been in California for three years!

Mystiic Megson, it''s quite clear that in the final paragraph of his article Matt Scott has taken two separate quotes from Delia and linked them to make his own point. "When Chelsea came to us, their fans were singing, ''There''s only one Gordon Ramsay''," she recalled. "So the Norwich supporters were singing, ''We''ve got a super cook, you''ve got a Russian crook''." Such jibes about Abramovich are groundless, but Smith admitted: "I think it''s quite humorous." She makes some very good points of her own in the interview, and although I don''t always agree with her views (she''s Catholic and I''m atheist, for example), I think she''s very good when it comes to commercialism and community.

Did you really expect us to win? I think in this case she''s exhibiting a decent knowledge of the game. It would have been more embarrassing had she claimed we had every chance of upsetting Chelsea''s apple cart. Obviously those directly involved with preparing for the game should be trying flat-out to win it, but Delia''s in the boardroom. She doesn''t coach the players, so I think her cautiously optimistic approach was appropriate.

I think, in France at least, a lot more games are televised, so what they lose in gate money is made up by TV rights money. I don''t think it''s as expensive to watch footy on TV in France, either.

Um... it might be just me who thinks this, but at least one of those six years wasn''t crap! I seem to remember one being quite good and ending in disappointment at the bitter end, and another that was really pretty sweet all round - even despite the lemons in the squad.

I didn''t get to see the programme, so what''s the story on Ron Atkinson at Peterborough and Danny Crow? If it''s particularly juicy, stick the word "allegedly" on the front in a HIGNFY style. How exactly does his attitude stink?

Someone (can''t remember who) was asking if it was possible to make a map on which all users of this board can note down where they are. There''s a mapping program called "Frappr" which does this. I''ve created a map so folks can add themselves if they wish. Go here to join in: http://www.junkopia.net/ncfcmap.html OTBC!

There''s probably some hack for Google Maps that helps you do this kind of thing.

Are you drunken posting?