Chunky Norwich

I''ve said before that I quite liked Rioch. Brought in Malky and Mulryne when the latter was actually a really good player (before those trips to Delaney''s*) as well as getting the best out of Roberts and implementing a better fitness regime. Also left with his head held high after having no finances available to him and a disasterous run of injuries. I''m sure he quit because he said Bellamy would be sold iminently and very soon after he left, Craig did indeed go. *Allegedy

Then we''ll be delighted together sir

Some of the things the board does is wrong - believe me I know. But not every single bloody thing has to be used to start a new thread slating Delia/Doncaster/Roeder. If Huddersfield are offering Clark the position and he wants to go, how is that the board''s fault?

...but on current form, that also means giving away at least one penalty surely?

Firstly, who cares? What does an assistant manager do? Hamilton changed things around as soon as he changed from Rioch''s assistant to manager. And Worthington did the same from being promoted to manager from Hamilton''s assistant - clearing out a lot of the "dead wood" that he should have had a hand in signing if an assistant manager actually does so. What did Martin Hunter do? Secondly, it does not make Clarke a rat fleeing a sinking ship, although it does give everyone another opportunity to knock the club. Why should he not and why would he not want to take the opportunity to take his first management opportunity?

Worthington started the decline. Was the perfect man for the job up until about 2004 and was then forever out of his depth. No thanks

One of the seven eh?

I think I''ve finally reached a nadir as my time as a Norwich supporter and I really can''t help it; it''s not my fault - it''s down to emotions and my heart rather than my head. Seriously, who here is actually looking forward to the **** game this time next week? When I was growing up, I''m be buzzing for about a week or two before every derby game and the banter would start flying. The morning of the game I''d be a twitching wreck; excited by the thought of beating them, scared at the thought of the unthinkable. This time however it''s just pure fear and resignation - already. I''m just scared witless. I can''t see anything other than some pretty but ineffectual football by our boys for the first twenty minutes and then They kick it up a few gears and slice through our collection of headless chickens. Danny Haynes will score and cup his ear towards the Barclay. I can even see the little b@stard now. Rather than people throwing abuse at me or calling me a binner, can someone please give me some reasons as to look forward to it. All I''ve come up with is the time we went to Portaloo Road as vastly inferior underdogs and Iwan scored two crackers. Anyone?

I''ve always maintained that seeing as "playing badly and winning" is a sign that a team is destined for the title or promotion, teams that play okay but lose (i.e. fail to take the chances that are presented to them and have a defence that concedes freely) must surely be destined to be in the mixer come the final day of the season. As always, with our loans, some of our first team squad are due to go back very shortly and even if we do stay up - which I really hope we do - half the team go back to their clubs or have their contracts expire. It''s going to be a long season and a long summer

If 5.5 is the average then everyone gets a 5.5 except Marshall and Bell getting 6s, Clingan, Drury and Croft getting 7s, Lita and Bertrand getting 4s and Sibierski getting a 3

I whole-heartedly agree that there''s no proof to this; in fact that''s why I included both a question and exclamation mark in the sentence. I too severely doubt he''s on 25k a week and it''s probably not even half that. The original point was that he''s simply not very good

That''s roughly equivilant to a thousand pounds a touch. It also looks like he''s got a canny agent whose managed to insert a ''being offside'' bonus into his contract.

It would be the Walkers Bowl wouldn''t it?

Maybe it''s because Roeder feels Lappin is symptomatic (sp?) of the old Grant regime and ''Plymouth Away''. He''s the manager now and has to stamp his mark on the squad; he''s brought in Bertrand at left-back and Hoolahoop and Pattison on the left wing. Reinstating Lappin could look, in Roeder''s eyes, like he''s saying that his new signings aren''t as good as the ''dross'' he inherited from Grant. Or maybe that''s just me when I play Football Manager?

Completely agree with the above poster. That may have been the best-written article in the world but there''s no way I''m going to read it. I was hoping for a one-line joke or something.

Only twenty players This includes Lappin Oh and Eagles

Don''t worry about the individual players; derby games are decided about which side wants it more and who has more passion. Oh dear

It was actually an analogy but what the hey! If I wanted to make a bad metaphor, I''d have a picture of Jesus as my avatar and then be a rude cock to people.

Let''s play a game. Imagine your job. The one you do from Monday to Friday or whatever it is. Now let''s pretend that you perform your job in front of thousands of people once a week. Like loads of people. About 25,000. And the weird thing is that these people absolutely love your job. They want your autograph, adore you, talk about you down the pub and discuss how best you fit into Tescos as a company - whether your best position is shelf-stacker or till operater. Y''know, the usual. So what motivates you to do your job better then? Do you: A) Work in a company where your efforts are lauded whatever you do. The chairman of the company is a sweet old woman who sings your praises and refers to the friendly office where you work as a "family company". A few years ago, you were in the top 20 performing businesses/labourers/whatever in the country and you appeared in the national press quite a few times (although that lovely sweet old woman was caught giving an embarrassing, drunken speech at the Christmas party. Whoops!). On the last financial day of the year, you would have stayed in the top 20 performing businesses/labourers/whatever if only you''d performed your job capably and broken even. Hell, you could have made a loss and three other companies could still have gone down. Instead you cock it up and do an absolute botch job. Lovely sweet business woman gives you a pat on the head and sings your praises. Well done. Your customers and loyal fans also stick close to you. After all, who are they to criticise how well you do your job. Can they even do your bloody job? Hell no. Some of them demand better sales/painting jobs/work ethic but not too many. You''re still loved by the manager and the lovely woman and get paid a pretty penny. Besides, the vast majority of the fans still love you and continue to turn up in droves to watch you at work and applaud your efforts. A few managers come and go in that time but you''re still there, still on a long contract and still have the perenial support of the lovely old woman and the adoration of your admirers B) Work in a company where the chairman demands 100% from you all the time. Not only that but the manager of you and your colleagues is a bit of a nut-job and you know that if he caught you slacking on the job, there''d be hell to pay and you might even be shipped off to one of the branches in Luton or Rochdale or, heaven forbid, Grimsby. Not only that but the people who turn up to watch you work also demand that you do your job properly. They''ve come all the way to watch you and a large chunk of your salary actually comes from them turning up to watch you and buying that lamp-shade. The one with your face on it, grinning behind your computer/fork-lift truck/lorry. Admitedly, some of them can be a bit fierce. Some even tie scarves around their wrists and yell nasty things at you when you have a bit of an off-day. You have cried once or twice in the past. The chairman demands that the company does well and he, the manager and the fans all want you to be in that elite list of top companies. This isn''t a family company that wants to be loved by all and sundry. It''s a company that rewards the people who watch you at work and it also makes the chairman and manager look good if you''re performing well. To hell with the other businesses you''re competing against. So if you think you would be more motivated and give a better performance by working for company B, turn to page 73 If you think you would give a more motivated and better performance by working for company A, turn to page 109. Then hang around there for a few years before being released for free and playing for a non-league team.

I don''t rate Croft at all but I can completely understand where the original poster is coming from. He''s not saying that he''s an amazing player (well maybe he is...) or that his crossing is great. In fact, he''s saying his crossing is rubbish and was suggesting that he would be better utilised as a winger cutting in from the left-hand side for which you need pace and drive - something Croft has - rather than a traditional right-midfielder for which you need good crossing and a cool head - something Croft definitely hasn''t. It''s a shame that when someone comes up with an interesting point, they''re shouted down because the word "Croft" is in the title and we didn''t beat Preston yesterday. Personally I''d be interested in seeing it being given a go. With Hoolahoop not being played and Bell much, much better on the right, why not?

I genuinely forgot we even had both Troy and OJ!

[quote user="Queen Delia"] Chunky you talk cr@p.  I hate people like you who have clearly never played footie in your life.  Robinson wasn''t the greatest player but he was a half decent midfielder, to say he was up there with some of the true rubbish that have played for us is a joke.  Football is a possession game, maybe thats why England do so badly.  Too many England fans boo if we''re not hoofing it down the line or punting it forward just for the sake of it.  A side-ways or backwards pass is not always bad and if there is no movement ahead of you there is no choice. Any of the abuse people like him or Hughes got - and what Fozzy is getting now - is a disgrace. What happended to supporting your team and the players?  As long as they try and run thats all you can ask.  You may be surprised to discover that supporting them would bring improved results.  [/quote] Okay then we''ll just have to agree to disagree (but I won''t "hate" you for it if that''s any consolation). What was Robinson''s position though? Was he a tough-tackling defensive midfielder who protected the back line? No. Was he an attacking midfielder who''d get into the box, link up with the strikers and thread delicate through-balls? No. Did he stand in the middle of the park and dictate play, holding up the ball up or switching it from one flank to the other to stretch the opposition? No. Could he take a mean free-kick, a brilliant corner or pass through the eye of a needle? No. Would he stand around aimlessly in the middle of the pitch and pass the ball 5ft backwards or, joy of joys, sideways the second it came to him? Yes. This is why he''s only ever commanded a single transfer fee in his entire history (from us, unsurprisingly) which was a whopping 50k and was then released to go and play football in Canada.

I''ve been watching and supporting Norwich for 11 years now. Not an astonishingly long time I know but I''d still say that I''m pretty sure Carl Robinson is the worst player I''ve ever seen in a Norwich shirt. Even more so than Coote, De Waard, Benjamin et al. Steve Walsh comes pretty close. Robinson never tackled, never passed forwards, never got forward and never dictated tempo. How he got 50 caps for Wales, I''ll never know but I suppose the Welsh midfield is not particularly the strongest

And he was dross

Marshall - 5 Looks unsure of himself but, more importantly, the defence in front of him. Would he have run out like a headless chicken had he been more confident of the defence in front of him? Semmy - 6 Not his best game but looked all right Bertrand - 7 Good play and he looks like he genuinely wants to play well and help the club Omosuzi - 5 Looked raw and unsure of what to do when he had the ball. Never brought the ball down and instead aimlessly headed and lumped it forward Drury - 5 It''s a shame to see Drury playing like this when he was once one of the best defenders outside of the Premiership. Like Omosuzi, never brought the ball down and played it even if there was a Derby player 20ft from him. He would then head the ball 15ft forward to the Derby player''s feet Croft - 4 Needs someone to tell him to cross the ball first time, hard and low. Not faff about for two minutes and then hang the ball in the air for the opposition goalkeeper to catch. The most annoying thing with Croft is that he has the potential but keeps making basic mistakes. Get some chalk on your boots Croft and cross early. OJ - 4 The Sierra Leonian Emile Heskey. Big, powerful, fast but can''t get his shots on target. Not his fault he was played out of position but still gets a 4. Sorry. Klingon - 7 Solid. Several crunching tackles and good distribution Rusty - 7/5 Looked our best player in the first half and then faded in the second at precisely the point where we needed someone to grab the game in midfield by the scruff of the neck Sibierski - 6 Big lump which needed the ball pumped up to him. Never happened Lita - 6 Nice touches and looked willing but still needs time to gel Subs Fozzy - 6 Bell - 7 Looked really promising. Has a wicked cross on him and is two-footed Lupoli - 6 Oh and FAO Jas: I thought you hated Drury? Very surprised to see you give him and 8 out of 10