The Judge

[quote user="Yelverton Yella"]I absolutely agree that this is the real issue. In many ways, this could be the most important signing of the close season. If we fail to appoint someone who has the nous and expertise to analyse the situation, identify the problems and produce and execute a winning strategy regardless of sentiment and possible boardroom opposition, we may never recover from our current woeful situation. I just hope that, whoever is conducting the recruitment, (and I''ve recruited a fair few MD''s and other Directors in my time) has properly nailed down the job, the person spec. and the competencies that are required and selects objectively against them. The lack of a CEO is evident in the rudderless wallowing of the club at the moment- it MUST be sorted quickly. [/quote] Thing is as an incoming CEO - wouldn''t you want some sort of say in who the manager was ?? The decision to appoint Gunn the day after Doncaster and Mumbles went shows who is, has been, and more importantly will continue to make the decisions going forwards. Unfortunately until they go, or sell their majority share NOTHING will change and sadly we will continue to slip into oblivion...  

Dear M Foulger, As a current season ticket holder I received the rebate pack the other day along with a letter from yourself requesting that I, along with all other season ticket holders, forgo this rebate for the benefit of the playing budget for next year. Although I am in the fortunate position not to need the money, and the fact that your offer to add to the transfer fund is a generous one, I am out of protest requesting my rebate. I feel this is the one of the few things I can do (other that cancelling my ticket entirely) to make it clear to you and the rest of board (i.e. Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones) that I hold you totally responsible for the situation we find ourselves in, and as such why should I give you more money when I am not convinced in any way you will use it to the benefit of my team. In fact it will just help dig you out of a very big financial hole you are totally culpable for taking the club into. You use the world economic climate as rationale for the request for us to fore go the rebate, however, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever, that due to the strategies shaped by the current majority shareholders, and yourself, we would be in this dire situation regardless of these harsh financial conditions. It has been clear to a sizeable proportion of supporters for a number of seasons the strategies you have adopted around investment in off-field activities rather than strengthening the team would result in lack of success on the pitch, and ultimately relegation. My fear is that unless we get new majority shareholders with different objectives around what a successful football club is, (or the current ones fundamentally change their own views which is unlikely) then we will continue to decline and fall down the leagues even further. You as a board consistently state that your objectives lie around the club being at the centre of the community and significant finances have been aligned to this objective accordingly over the past few years. However I suggest you review this objective and ask the community you state you are serving, what it actually wants from their club ? Does it want lovely facilities, land, roads, restaurants, hotels, refurbished ticket offices, etc etc or does it want a successful football team on the pitch ? One they can be proud of, one which makes them feel happy when they come away from the ground on a Saturday or Tuesday evening ? This is fundamentally what supporters want – a successful team, and this is what you have failed to deliver consistently for numerous seasons. This is what a football club is about – the TEAM, and this is what you have systematically ignored season after season. You may argue that player purchases are the responsibility of the manager, and I agree with that sentiment to a degree, but you as a board appoint the managers and more importantly set the playing budget for that manager to work within. In 3 seasons we went from having Dean Ashton (sold for £7.5m) to Robert Earnshaw (sold for £3.5m) to Jamie Cureton (purchased for £800k). This example can be replicated all over the pitch, and you then wonder why we haven’t been successful !! I appreciate that the world of football has changed significantly over the past 10 years, and no one can disagree that money is ruining the game, however our stance as a club has been to try and fight against this inevitable change rather than accept it and this has resulted with sad and predicable consequences. This said you as a board, inherited significant investments made by the previous incumbents, and have presided over a period when the revenues into the club have been higher than ever before, yet our debt has increased significantly and the quality of players in our squad has diminished dramatically. Prudence with ambition was the proud mantra the club came out with when we reached the Premiership. Whilst we have seen plenty of prudence we have seen no absolutely no ambition whatsoever from this board in terms of striving for success on the pitch. The counter argument you always used when this provocation was levelled at you in recent seasons was that ‘we signed Darren Huckerby didn’t we ?’’. Well we all know now (and some of us before you went public in a very small sentence in one of Neil Doncaster’s press columns after Darren left) that if it wasn’t for the generosity of Carl Moore we wouldn’t have in fact signed Darren in the first place. So despite the fact that you were given a clear example of what investment in the team can actually deliver, and the rewards this brings, you subsequently chose to assign revenues to ‘safer’ off field investments with the inevitable decline in the quality of the team and resultant league position. I appreciate that this letter will probably be disregarded as a ‘rant’, and you may state hindsight is a wonderful thing. However a lot of fans have seen this coming for seasons, and if we can see it, surely it is safe to ask why can’t the supposed ‘business brains’ on the board see it, rather than being blinded by personal views, expectations, and desires for what they want the club to be ? and if you didn’t have the knowledge or expertise you should have sought it. To move forward as a club it is clear we need new ideas, a reappraisal of the objectives for the club, and money. This in my view will only come with a change in majority shareholders and someone on the board with real footballing knowledge. I appreciate Delia Smith and her husband have publicly stated they are willing to sell their shareholding, however this has only happened over recent seasons once the club has been in this steep decline, the debts and running costs have been increasing, and they have realised it is a money pit and are having to put their hands in their pockets year after year to stop the club going into administration. Why didn’t they seek investment when the club was in a stronger position ?  Why did they put ridiculous conditions on the people they were even willing to talk to ? Perhaps it was because they enjoyed the limelight and accolades a bit too much ? We shall probably never know. What we do know now though is that they are now extremely unlikely to recoup their investment and must adjust their asking price accordingly otherwise they will take the club even further down, taking them with it. The Wolves majority shareholder sold his stake for £10 a few years ago, and look at them now. Will Delia do the same ? You made a step in the right direction with the removal of Roger Mumby and Neil Doncaster, however then took 2 back very quickly with the appointment of Bryan Gunn as manager – what message do you really feel this sends out to the fans following a disastrous relegation ? Doesn’t 6 people out of 500 at a fans forum in favour of his appointment give you some indication of the feelings of the supporters and how out of touch with us you really are. You say you are making changes, but this appointment just shows you are incapable of doing so and who is (and has been) behind all the major decisions at the club. If his appointment was due to financial reasons, say so, at least people will understand even if they don’t agree. Don’t say it was the right appointment for footballing reasons when it so clearly isn’t as we prepare for one of our most important seasons in decades. Despite your mis-management of the club, I will be there next season, because as a supporter I have little choice. However I pray for the day that I can have real hope for my club again and personally I feel this will only be with new people in control. When that day comes I will gladly give my rebate back and more. 

Just shows who has been making all the major decisions all along then doesn''t it. So for those who though Smith and Jones just took a back seat and left the running of the club to Doncaster / Munby - think again. She and the vision she has had for this club is the reason we are debt ridden, haven''t got a squad to talk of, and why we got relegated. Its not that i''m saying Doncaster and Munby are blame free, they just obviously agreed with everything she said and wanted.. Unfortunately until new majority shareholders are found we will only continue to head in one direction - and we all know what that is. 

Fingers crossed - if correct (which I doubt it is) this would be the first thing Delia Smith has done right in 12 years (which is why i''m not holding my breath) - as she & Michael don''t seem to learn from things staring them in the face... If they then followed this up by appointing a CEO with a iota of knowledge of football then that would also an improvement - then this man should be given the urgent task of appointing the manager for next season (and most of us know that shouldn''t be dear old Bryan..)

[quote user="Arthur Whittle OBE"] [quote user="CANARYCHARGE"][quote user="Bury Yellow"]The problem is, amongst many others, is that she is not the chairman. She is the majority shareholder with MWJ and has appointed a Chairman who is very skilled in PR but has no power whatsoever. We have a Chief Executive who has no skill whatever in PR or running a football club. Both these chaps are rolled out to take the flack. She and MWJ are the only ones who have the power to help this club forward. The best option for the club is for them to sell at a market price if they really have the club''s interest at heart. Similarly Gunny should never have sort the mangers position.[/quote] Delia is the public face, thats why her name is used .....but yes you are right.....the lot of the should sell up, and give Norwich City a chance! [/quote] She''s the Public face when it suits her. Huckerby signing was the best one!! Where is she now?  ''Where are you,Lets be avin you''.....[|-)] and lets not forget Arthur (as in my opinion alot of people incredibly do) we all know now that if it wasn''t for Karl Moore we wouldn''t have signed Hucks at all..... Delia Smith, Doncaster, Munby etc whenever questioned on the clubs lack of ambition over the past 5 seasons forcefully countered the questioner by saying "we signed Darren Huckerby didn''t we ?" - this was the one and only thing they had to counter the ambition arguement - yet we all now know if to was down to them we wouldn''t have signed him.... To me this just shows ultimately why we are in the position we are - the board have for season after season not been prepared to invest in the team and it was only a matter of time with the current incumbants in charge following the same strategies that we would end up getting relegated - some fans saw this coming some time ago, some chose to ignore it, some couldn''t see it at all and still don''t - hopefully relegation will make them realise that Saint Delia and her cronies and her vision of what a football club should be have led us in to this position. [/quote]

If this does happen I believe there is real opportunity to send a clear message to our incompetence CEO and Board. Although financially I could allow them to keep the money, there is a real matter of principle here in that we would be bailing them out (or at least helping) of the situation they and only they have got us in to. How many times have they said they are just the custodians of our club - yes they are - but they are the ones that have made the decisions that have put us in this position - not us. If they do ask for the 20% to be waived I would beg anyone not to agree and spend 10 mins writing a letter or spending an email as to why. Mine will state that I am prepared to waive on the basis of; Doncaster being sacked, Munby being replaced, Gunn not being given the job full time and Delia Smith and MWJ publicly admitting they are totally responsible for the situation we are in, and stating they are prepared to sell there shares at a massively reduced price to ensure the club can move forward - I will also state that I would be more than happy to send my rebate back to club if this was done. The fact is if they couldn''t afford to have so publicly made this offer available to season ticket holders in the first place - they shouldn''t have done it. 

Have our board been simply unlucky? - good question - and the answer is both yes and no. Yes they have been unlucky in the fact that the world financial markets have crashed recently meaning that they couldn''t find an investor/buyer once they realised they had dug NCFC into such a big hole they knew they didn''t have the intelligence or finances to get us out  of it and holding on would just mean they would need to dig their hands in their pockets year in year out to protect the value of their shareholding by stopping us from going into administration. Other than this luck has played no other part in the position we now find ourselves. That is solely down to the financial decisions our board  have taken over the past 7 years or more - namely attracting and making money available for the playing side of the business, or attracting and making money available for the non footballing side of the business. Year after year they have decided the vast majority of revenue, and or additional funding (loans, share issues) should be spent on non footballing assets, whilst ''hoping'' the football side of things would look after itself. I put the word hope in quote marks because if you go back over the past few seasons you may remember how many times Doncaster, Munby etc trotted out the word ''hope'' in terms of our footballing aspirations. Yes  - nothing in life is certain and even if you decide to invest alot of money in one or two players, they may be flops, they may break their legs - so yes even if you do have ambitions and back these up with hard cash you have to ''hope'' to a certain extent. However not to invest in the playing side of the business, ultimately means you are far less likely to succeed (even though you may hit it lucky and have a great season). As the saying goes (or something like it) - prepare for success and you may well succeed, prepare for failure and you will ultimately fail. Our Board were not prepared to invest in the football team and therefore for the last 4 / 5 seasons we have failed and got worse and worse taking us to this ultimately inevitable position - that is not down to luck - it is down to people who have been too pre - occupied with off field activities rather than what is the life blood of any football club - the team..  

[quote user="rjwc22"] It is tough to defend them given their record. I do think that they all want the best for NCFC and are genuinely mortified at our current predicament but think that they do not know what to do to help and this is where the problems stem from. [/quote] Do they really want what is best for NCFC ?? - thats a very good question. My personal belief is that they want what is best for NCFC - but only in regards to what they believe a successful football should be about i.e the community. For me this is the fundamental error in their strategy and why we are in the position we are in. Ask the general run of the mill supporter of NCFC what they believe they want from their football club - i''m convinced the answer would be 99 times out of 100 a successful team on the pitch, challenging for playoffs, promotions etc. Ask Delia Smith and the board of NCFC the same question they would say something totally different, they would say: excellent family facilities, excellent non footballing facilities, football in the community, being open, being friendly, not taking risks for the long term existence of the club etc etc Now don''t get me wrong these things are not necessarily wrong - but for me these should all come secondary to the football on the pitch - that is what NCFC is A FOOTBALL club - not a community service provider. Ask a fan (the community) what makes them feel happy on a saturday afternoon ? is it the feeling you get when your team plays well and wins (or even plays badly and wins !) or is it the fact that you have fantastic facilities, the ability to go to a restaurant at the ground, the fact your company could have meetings & conferences at the ground. I think we all know the answer to this question. In my view they have constantly got their priorities wrong for the fans - and if you look for the reasons why - well I don''t think you have to look much further than the fact that investing in the footballing side of things (i.e. buying players) is inheritantly more risky than investing in bricks and mortar. If you invest in these things there is value in the shares you own i.e. you are more likely to get your money back when you want to sell them.      So do they want whats best for NCFC or themselves - the answer is probably both, but to this point in time they have not put their investment in the club on the line in terms of trying to achieve footballing success. Lets hope they will do going forwards - remember a couple of years ago the owner of Wolves at the time sold his majority shareholding in the club to someone for £10 and now look at them. Will our owners do the same ??    

[quote user="Blainsey"] Specualtive perhaps but, we couldnt afford to go for anyone else. After Roeder''s payoff (must have been huge) and with the board only wanting a manager until the end of the season, it was only ever going to be Gunn. [/quote] No Sh~te Sherlock.....!! Number One objective for the board  at the time was season ticket renewals (i.e. money in the bank) - they felt Gunn was the best man to meet that objective and you have to say they met it. Sod the fact that we might actually need anyone with an ounce of managerial experience to get us out of the predicament we were in then - the rest is history..... The fact that it looks like (barring a miracle) we are going down is depressing enough - what makes is even worse is that we will probably stick with the hospitality man next season because we can''t afford to do anything else...

[quote user="Captain Controversy"]... Roeder wasn''t sacked. I don''t care what the rest of you think, or think you know. Roeder disliked the fans for a reason. We werent in the bottom 3 all season until ''Legend'' Bryan Gunn comes along. Playing legend doesnt mean he can be a managerial legend. This club is pathetic. Posh will be in a tier above us next year and it was only a couple of years ago I was going to their matches for a laugh to see what lower league football was like. Hope you''re all suitably depressed - NCFC will be stuck in the lower depths of english football for a long, long time. And its been coming since January 16th 2009. [/quote] I actually agree with you Captain... I disagree that he had lost the players - yes they played crap in that game against Charlton in the cup - but they tried. That game was nothing compared to those last fateful games of the Worthington era when it was obvious he had lost the players. However it was clear that he had made enemies with a sizable proportion of the crowd and therefore in their ultimate wisdom (and with season ticket renewal time fast approaching !!!!) our wonderful board decided to get rid. Now in isolation I can understand that decision IF and only IF you have a suitable and experienced replacement lined up for the predicament we were in terms of league position (or prepared to pay the going rate for one) - that is where our masterminds came unstuck - so what did they do (with the season ticket deadline fast approaching !!!!) appoint the very nice, hospitality man, former Sheriff of Norwich, NCFC goalkeeping great - good ol'' Bryan. Objective achieved - season tickets renewed....the side issue of Championship survival a secondary consideration...the rest has a sad inevitability about it... And to your final point of been coming since the 16th Jan 2009 - sorry way off there. It has been coming much much longer before that; before Grant, Roeder, and Gunn...   

[quote user="10 Bryceland"]Could you please clarify what ''funds'' the board have starved management of.  Where is that money being held?  Does it appear in the balance sheet?  If there are funds why do we lose money every year and remain millions of pounds in debt?  The reason we are where we are is that a succession of managers have failed to assemble a squad of players that are capable of winning more games than losing.  The players are the ones who ultimately hold the key to our fortunes.  Despite the odd collective and individual ly good performance the players this year have not been good enough to consistently perform to the standard expected of NCFC.  The board need help until such time as a viable alternative appears.  I do not see that alternative at the moment.  The number of season ticket renewals shows support for the club, not the board.  Unlike Charlton we are not relegated.  Let us all support the club in the next two matches and after that if anyone wishes to replace the board then work towards that by giving us all details of who are the genuine contenders.[/quote] The thing is Bryceland - if you study the accounts for the past few years before this one we actually made a profit year on year. We were one of the very few clubs in the top 2 divisions (inc Premiership) in terms of making a profit.(Top 10). This was all that Doncaster and Delia were interested in; investing in off field projects and making a profit - and look where it has got us. This was Ambition with Prudcence... I''ll leave you to make your own conclusions as to whether you feel that was the sensible thing to do - and done in the best interests of the success of football club in terms of footballing achievement. There are lots of contributing factors to our plight ie. I agree that it is also down to the players - but you can only buy players with the money you are given. Agreed managers have made bad purchases - but would they have bought different players had the money been available ?? Ashton to Earnshaw to Cureton in 3 seasons - and this example can be replicated all over the pitch. Sorry but the blame for our current position sits firmly at the board room door. This has been coming for the past 4 or so seasons - Roeder and Grant had their part to play in this but the rot had set in before that - keeping Worthington far too long - and the end point i.e. relegation was unfortunately inevitable. They are the ones that have put us into this positon and just because the world financial markets have changed meaning it is extremely unlikely that a buyer/alternative investment can be found - does not mean we should forgive them for what they have done.

The bloke is a joke just like the rest of them - not an ounce of footballing knowledge and accumen amongst them. Remember 3 seasons ago he spouted out the line "we are going to be cleverer than the rest" - well Mr Mumby you''ve been really clever haven''t you ?? - taking the football club to the brink of relegation to the 3rd tier of English football for the first time in 50 years, whilst building up a debt that can now only be paid off by selling off the last of our very view players of any worth...very clever indeed.... However you stated only last week that the only 2 main mistakes you feel you have made as a board are the appointments of Grant and Roeder. Well if those are the only mistakes you feel you have made then you must have your heads further up your own backsides than I originally thought.....my god even the CEOs of the banks even had to publically admit they got it wrong and say sorry (even though it was incredibly false and they still walked away with huge pay offs) .. yet you can''t even bring yourselves to admit you mucked up major time and its us the FANS that will still be here long after you have gone that are the ones suffering. Cleverer my ar~e....Mumby is only surpassed in his incompetence by the supposed business brain of the whole show - Mr Neil Doncaster....Its quite interesting that in these relegation haunted times it is the salaried lackies that are being wheeled out to face the music whilst the other major shareholders who shaped the vision for NCFC of a lovely little community club with lovely restuarants, conference facilities, offices, hotels etc (christ they even wanted a chapel in the ground at one point !!) are very very quiet. Mind you who could blame them - they realise that their dreams for NCFC as the heart of the community is falling around their feet and its their fault....teking the dreams, passions, and hopes of the supporters with them!

Unless I''ve missed this comment on another thread the 17,000 the club are saying have renewed is incredibly misleading - especially if the majority of this 17,000 are existing season ticket holders who have paid by direct debit previously. This year the club set up a new auto-renew facility for those season holders paying by direct debit i.e. they had to call in a physically cancel there renewal to ensure they didn''t get one for next year. I would bet alot of money that the vast majority of those 17,000 are people who a) haven''t got round to cancelling yet or (more probably) b) done nothing at this stage waiting to see whether the club gets relegated or not and if we do get relegated will cancel their direct debit with their banks. This obviously allows the club at this point to say these supporters (myself included) have renewed - and why wouldn''t we at this stage ?? because we may well stay up and we get the benefit of the lowest renewal prices. It certainly doesn''t mean these 17,000 will have season tickets at the start of next season....far from it. Also the crap in the paper today about the Gunn factor - bollo*ks !! the club are just ltrying to (and badly in my opinion) trying to justisfy there decision in appointing him in the first place - despite the crap they came out with at the time about it being a "footballing" decision and not a financial one. There were 3 reasons why Gunn was appointed a) he was cheap b) he wanted it and b) they thought his appointment would be the best chance of people renewing hence maximising revenue. So all they are doing is saying they achieved the 3rd reason for appointment (but see above re misleading renewal numbers). I may well be in the minority but the fact that Gunn is in charge is more of a concern than a motivation to renew. If we stay up and I really hope we do, I would be more enthused by the fact they would replace him at the end of the season by someone more competent and experiened and Bryan can move back in to his hosiptality role to which he is more suited. 

[quote user="lucky green trainers"]did the maj shareesholders loan the club £10m plus and then convert this to shares??? also - the turners put in a wedge - before their business hit the skids??? but yeah - after spending so long getting to the prem - and only via a speculative investment model (share issue) - the maj shareholders probably chose to go back to what they knew worked from their other business ventures - steady growth from reinvestments based upon balanced books - the ''prudence with ambition model'' - which alas for them went west,,,as the prem took off with a much increased tv deal just as we went down - causing a goldrush whereby new benfactors/speculative investors entered the champs market - leaving us uncompetitive...recognising this - the board invited their own sugardaddies onto the board - the turners - who unluckily for all concerned seemingly had to withdraw before buying out due to the effects of the unfolding credit crunch upon their bussiness,,,and despite the city board being cleverer than the rest since relegation with land speculations/income from non-footy streams...and loading the team with (alleged) prem/champs ''inbetweenie'' loanees this summer...it seems such a huge turnaround in playing staff gave us the downsides - an underperforming team that couldn''t gell and gambles that didn''t come off...but with the club losing money after the turners took flight - and no buyers in the market - the maj shareholders have been unable to sell the club - and with only limited funds they rallied around four city legends - who it appears did their best in the jan transfer window - but maybe not enough - as we could go down to league 1.... thats my take - i could be wrong///but as i''ve said before - it looks like the board have got an anti-midas touch that has dogged the club since we went down,,, surely our luck must change soon??? [/quote] Some fair points LGT - but where I have to disagree is around your use of the word "luck". The board / Chief Exec consciously took the decisions around what they wanted to invest the money the club had coming into it over a sustained period - and it wasn''t the team. They also didn''t want to seek new investment in to the club unless it was on their terms, or someone who "got" Norwich, was community minded, came from within 1 mile of Carrow Road etc etc (i''m sure you can remember the crap Smith blurted out a few years back). Hence they invited the Turners to join the board (never really that wealthy - their COMPANY was worth £275m - how much of that was their own ? - not much now for sure). Yes few could have foreseen the downturn in economic conditions that forced them to back away totally - but they were never going to be the sort of owners we needed to compete regularly at the top of the Championship - but hey that didn''t matter they met Delias criteria.... So could they have attracted significant new investment in to the club ? - In my view the answer has to be YES especially during or just after our brief stay in the Premier League - but they orginally didn''t want this investment at all, they liked the kudos and attention ownership of a reasonably successful club gave them (and who wouldn''t ?), they then realised after spending the majority of  the Prem revenue and income from previous land investments on things other than the team, whilst building up significant debts in the process, that they needed abit more cash - hence The Turners. They disappear leaving an even bigger financial hole for Delia to fill - one she finally realised she couldn''t get us or importantly herself out of - hence her appointment of Mr Harris and plea for investment of any sort at a time when the markets turned against her....arrrrr shame.. Sorry - but the plight we find ourselves as a club (and Delia Smith as an owner) is not down to bad luck its down to absysmal decision making. Which is why I for one have NO sympathy for her one bit and if she loses loads more money it serves her right. First thing I would do if I were her is sack that muppet Doncaster who is supposedly the business brains behind NCFC and the one that should have been seeking new investment for the club all the time. The only ones I feel sorry for in all of this - is us the fans, we turn up week in week out buying our season tickets year after year, buying shirts etc  because its in our blood - we have been let down badly. Some saw this coming years ago, others still can''t see why we are where we are - but one thing for sure its not down to bad luck..

[quote user="OTBC11"]Regardless of Doomcaster''s salary the biggest problem is the club worry too much about the community and their 20,000 season ticket holders than what''s going on out on the pitch.[/quote] Totally agree with this. The "community" would get far far more pleasure from the football club if it was successful ON THE PITCH......and this in my view has been the fundamental flaw in their strategy over the past 10 years..they have been far too focused on off - field activities (Community programmes, ancillary revenue generators) than the life blood of any football club - the team and its success on it. It is the success of the team that will bring in more money than anything else BY FAR...who wants to go to a restaurant at a failing football club ? Which companies want to hold meetings/conferences at a failing football club ?, which companies want to have boxes at a failing football club ? which companies will be fighting over sponsoring a failing football club - thereby increasing the amount needed to get their name on the shirts ? etc etc...this is what they have overlooked time and time again - that the revenue generated by all these off field activities is DIRECTLY linked to the success of the team on the pitch. Therefore by investing more in these activities than the team is, and has been, totally wrong - and being the supposed business brain behind NCFC - Doncaster is ultimately totally responsible for this strategy. Yes he could earn more money if he took a solicitors job in the city - I for one suggest he does just that...it was shame in a way he didn''t get the FA job because then everybody could have hated him - not just us....    

[quote user="jbghost"]FFS. £180k a year is nothing for a man in his position.[/quote] It is when he is totally F''ing failing at what he is supposed to be doing... Shit - I''ll talk to people all day for £180K...

[quote user="We Want Lappin Back"] It''s his fault we''re not scoring enough and conceding too much then is it? Any excuse to have a pop at someone on the board isn''t it. How many other CE''s offer as much contact with the fans as he does? [/quote] Ahhh so thats what he gets paid £180k a year for then - talking to people !.......and there was I thinking he should spend his time seeking new investment, spending the revenue the club recieves wisely, developing and delivering strategies to take the club forwards - silly me eh

I think you are letting your hatred of Roeder get to Rudolph. Suggest you take a pill and think more clearly about things - the real damage was done FAR long before Roeder walked in the door at Carrow Road - to put all the blame on to him is absolutely wrong. Yes he made mistakes and his personality obviously wasn''t to everyone''s liking.  You are obviously very angry and frustrated about the current plight of our club (like me and most other supporters) however I suggest you vent this in the right direction rather than using Roeder as the scapegoat for our woes... 

The thing is Komakino - if (or when) we get relegated, how much will her shares be worth then. She will either have to pump in more money to stop us going into adminstration,(something i''m sure she will not want to, or can afford to do), or we will go into adminstration and her shares will be worth nothing anyway. Whatever happens I feel we are entering the end game for Delia - and she knows it - which is why she wants to get out - however current economic conditions have resulted in the fact that she will get nowhere near her initial investment - if any at all. The thing that worries me more than anything is the fact we (Delia & MWJ) own the ground & Colney - with no new investment will she sell these to protect her own investments ?? - I wouldn''t like to bet against it...

Although in hindsight not signing Ashton or Crouch was an error I can almost forgive them for that decision. Who in all honesty believed we would stay up that season in the Premiership ?? - Not me. Yes it was close and yes in hindsight the signing of those 2 players may have made the difference - but that is just hindsight. For me the major major errors that have been made at this club and have led us to where we are now were those in the 2 seasons after relegation. These are ones that could (and in my opinion should) easily have been avoided if the club showed a tiny amount of ambition for the football team. Keeping Worthington far to long, cashing in on our better players only to give half the transfer revenue to bring in new players, buying players such as Jarrett, Hughes, Thorne - when we could have had the pick of the Championship better players. The club took these decisions in a cold calculated way whilst ''hoping'' the football would look after itself - how many times have you heard that word ''HOPE'' used by Smith, Munby, Doncaster over the past 5 seasons ?? Yes you do need abit of luck in life but you sure as hell aren''t going to win the lottery if you don''t buy a ticket !!! Sorry Delia et al you got it wrong big time - well done..! I just ''HOPE'' we stay up and get bought by Saudi Billionaire in the summer - but I feel my hope is as misguided as yours has been over the past few years... And for the comments about the club being well run off the pitch - yes it is - but what would you rather have a nice comfy stadium to sit in with nice restuarants, bars, conference facilities, offices etc - or a successful team on the pitch. I know what I would prefer....

Nothing. Which is why (despite the fact I disliked the man intensely, and will recieve a barrage of abuse for saying this) I would have kept Roeder until the end of the season. I said it at the time that I didn''t feel we should get rid of him - purely because of the options that would have been available to us as alternatives, and the financial situation at the club (i.e. none available) and so it showed to be true. The sacking of Roeder and the appointment of Gunn was a desperation measure by the board because in their tiny little heads they thought this was the way to get most people to renew their season tickets next year - in no way was the decision a football one it was a financial one - to protect their investments I will go on record as saying that I think we would have had a better chance of staying up if Roeder was in charge. Experience and contacts..

Good points Thorpe...feel there are some more to add tho.. - Sell all land investments made by the former Chairman, whilst not investing the money into the team - Build up a £19m debt whilst the revenues for the club were the highest they have ever been - Having to pay for the interest on those debts by selling our better players - not having anyone with an ounce of football knowledge on your board - Paying £180k per annum for a totally ineffective Chief Executive - not seeking new investment when the club was in a better position due to the need for control and kudos    

The fundamental thing here is that its not what has gone wrong this season - its the things that have been done wrong in previous seasons that have lead us in to what some (including myself) may say as an inevitable position. Season after season of under investment in the team, making profit on player transfer activity season after season, poor management appointments, lack of direction from the board, over investment in off- field activities leaving a debt that can now only be serviced by player sales, lack of a real football brain on the board etc etc etc... There is a very sad inevitability about where we are - and unfortunately unless their is significant new investment into club (and the team) we will get relegated and go into administration. I hope it isn''t this season (as the longer we hold on in this division it gives me hope for someone to come in and invest) but don''t kid yourselves folks if nothing changes at the top - there is only one way the club is going...and i''m afraid that is a realistic appraisal of the situation we find ourselves...    

[quote user="ellis206"][quote user="Buckethead"][quote user="Big Dave"] Very happy with the comings and goings. The spine of the team is unaffected and no one has left who we will really miss. The incomings are nearly all loans I know, but this is a perfectly acceptable part of modern football, and all have something to prove, be it an international place, or a step up in level. Credit to Gunny and the Board for getting this done within the budget constraints we have. [/quote] Big Dave. You show me one other football club with such a high number of loan players as NCFC and I will show you a Club in crisis. As for the budget constraints you mention, will you be as content when Doomy comes out in the future and tells us that next years season ticket money ''enabled the loan signing of......'' this January and that''s why we''ve nothing to spend in the summer? He will you know, he''s done it before. [/quote] And you show me one football club outside of the Premiership who is operating at a profit? Are some of you actually being serious? Do you really think that we are terribly run and are in a unique position as opposed to every other club outside of the Premiership? We are in a lot healthier position than a lot of clubs in our league!!! There''s a reason why we''re not buying players left, right and centre, and that reason being that we cannot afford too, we''re living within our means, and I can''t figure out how you think thats a bad thing? [/quote] Depends whether you what you describe as success for a football club Ellis - a successful football team pushing for promotion having invested in the team year on year - or a profit on the balance sheet ?? You may remember the report in the Telegraph (maybe Times) last year which showed Norwich was in the top ten profit making football clubs in the country (and only one of 3 in the Championship) - if only that meant we were in the top 10 league positions in this country ..... ... Don''t get me wrong i don''t necessarily think it is a bad thing to run a tight ship, but when the majority of other clubs in the top 2 divisions in this country (most with much lower gates than us) choose a different, and some could strongly argue more successful approach to running their clubs in terms of assisting performance on the pitch then you would have to say are wonderful board have got it very very wrong - to the extent that dear old Delia has now finally realised she has taken us into a hole she can''t get us out of and wants to get out. Yes the state of the financial markets make this very difficult, and cost of running a football club have escalated dramatically over the past few years (primarily players wages) but don''t let these facts fool you that our board got it very wrong - and this is why we are at the wrong end of the table for the 3rd year running with a serious chance of getting relegated, having to rely on loans to bolster the squad, having to buy players from non-league clubs, and have a rookie manager in charge at at time in the clubs history when we really need experience. Don''t get me wrong - as a supporter of this TEAM i really hope and pray this comes off and we manage to stay up, and then I pray for investment in the summer, however I am also realistic enough to know that we are in deep deep danger this season - and I can''t blame anyone else but the board for putting us this position - a position we should NEVER have found ourselves in, with the consistent crowds we get in year after year, the cash that the club recieved from Mr Chase''s land investments, and the cash we recieved from our all to brief visit to the Premiership a few years ago. Delia, Munby et al - got it wrong. They didn''t allow/employ anyone onto the board with any FOOTBALL sense, it was just people she liked, "got" Norwich, loved her sense of "community" over success, no one who was prepared to take a risk, and this is where it has got us -  and we the fans are the ones suffering.    

[quote user="Canary Nut"][quote user="Big Dave"] Very happy with the comings and goings. The spine of the team is unaffected and no one has left who we will really miss. The incomings are nearly all loans I know, but this is a perfectly acceptable part of modern football, and all have something to prove, be it an international place, or a step up in level. Credit to Gunny and the Board for getting this done within the budget constraints we have. [/quote] They have made a profit for the second January transfer window running. Well done! I support the team, Gunny and crew but this board is something else.   [/quote]   What do you mean the 2nd January transfer window running..... ?? Make that about the last 6 or 7 transfer windows full stop...unfortunately like it or not this board has dug us into this hole and we have to sell our assets (i.e. better players) to service the debts they have built up. Its either service these debts or go into adminstration which would result in Delia and MWJ losing alot of the money they invested (loaned). This is something they obviously don''t want to do (understandably so) so what else do they do to make good these payments ? If no new investment is found, it will either mean they have to put their hands in their pockets again (as per the £2m they had to put in when the Turners decided enough was enough) or we will have to continue to sell off our other playing assets (Marshall, Clingan, & Croft) or start selling off some of the fixed assets (Colney, or even Carrow Road itself).. unfortunately that is the way of modern football to an extent - but our plight has been worsened by poor investment decisions by the board over the past 5-6 years so I for one don''t feel sorry for Delia one little bit - unfortunately it is us as fans that will, and have suffered, due to a continually mediocre football team and the poor performances on the pitch that naturally follow.