Old Shuck

Relegation would, no, damn it, its going to happen-it WILL be a bad thing. It might not be-Fulham were back down in this division, look at them now-ditto Reading, Portsmouth, Derby, Sunderland. Ask their fans-maybe reaching that lowest of the lows was the turning point that saw their clubs recover and get to where they are now-all have been in that division, or whatever it was called then, in recent years and have managed to turn it around and get into the Prem. Sadly, fans of clubs like Swindon and Bradford-and now Notts Forest-might also have thought that as well. The question is, if and when we go down again, has the club the infrastructure, the balls, the fighting spirit and the plan in place to get out again and move forwards. I think not, at this present time. Leeds went down and everyone and everything was against them. They have used that to their advantage and got a spirit in the club and amongst their fans (their gates are now as good as they were when they were in the Prem!) that is surely going to see them swap places with us come May. Can''t see our club doing that-they have the fans but what else?

Couldn''t agree more. They are presiding over the death of our club. When we are relegated at the end of this season, the financial hit we take will be so severe, the club will have  a struggle on its hands to ever recover. Are our Board aware of that, do they know what relegation will bring and how it will forever tarnish them and their names amongst the supporters of this club, and how they and their contribution will be viewed in its history? Delia talks about finding "idiots" to take the club off their hands-people then say its not that easy, as, just to pay off the debts & give the Manager some money to bring in some quality AND pay off some of the dross currently on the books and still playing for us, someone, somewhere, will need to come up with £20 Million plus. So, who presided over a club that, despite a season in the Premiership is madly, crazily, stupidly now more in debt than before we went in it! Who were the real IDIOTS that ran the club whilst that noose of a debt steadily got bigger and bigger and bigger? Who are the real idiots? Should we accept the inevitable and file for administration here and now? Yes, we''d lose the points but we''re dead meat anyway. As the club stands, no-one much will ever be interested in plouging money in, but, after admininstration, a new and "clean" Norwich City FC 2008 Ltd might just garner some interest? Mind you, I am perhaps being naive-is it the answer (administration) and are we actually either eligible for it or in a position where-by we could apply for it? Finance experts, what say you?    

Just about to start on FM 2008, however, two essential purchases for FM 2007 are Rasmus Elm and Fredrik Risp. Elm is a DM, Risp a CB. Cheap to buy, ultra-cheap wages, but start getting 7''s and 8''s consistently straight away. The Arsenal reserve keeper -can''t remember name- Vito Mannione or similar is worth getting on loan then buying. On FM 2007, always found a willing buyer for the Doc if you need income fast. Yes, concur-Halford is a good purchase. Play him in attack and try to get Sahar or Sinclair on loan from Chelsea to play alongside him. Found Colin did well at RB for me. Drury is a nightmare, but save money and promote Mark O''Toole to first team LB, he soon settles-solid enough. Someone will buy Drury, usually Derby, usually £400''000. And yes, Ryan Jarvis will do well on RM or LM. Denilson will come on loan from Arsenal-try to get them as parent club-and can be outstanding, once had four 10''s in a row from him-but is injury prone and keeps clearing off to play internationals.

Yes, Sunday was encouraging. Yes indeed, Roeder deseves his opportunity and time to do it-but he also needs cash. Yes, Clark''s appointment is a good one-couldn''t see the Board thinking outside the box that much to approach/appoint someone as young and well thought of as him, had it not been for Roeder''s suggestion. But NO, a corner has most definitely not be turned! Two things could happen tonight-the players might think all is well again, relax, relapse, and we get tonked-a return to the "beyond bad" as Garry Birtles so rightly called the QPR ''performance''. Or they could genuinely build on that Ippo result and get a win tonight. But even then-corner-hell, its a long way off, we haven''t even got to it yet, let alone started turning it. The players need to do their job, the Manager and coaching staff theirs, the fans theirs-and respect for Sunday all of you there-and, importantly, the Board need to do theirs-sitting down and basking in the glory of Roeder''s appointment and a derby day draw will not do, though I suspect some of them might just think it will!  

It going to be Kevin Keen-currently Reserve Team Coach at West Ham.

Reckon Lee Clark as Assistant Manager and Kevin Keen as First Team Coach. Clark has been "demoted" following Big Sam''s arrival at Newcastle-but still working there (as Roeder said, currently at another club) and, because he is down the ranks there now, it would be, as Roeder again said, "a promotion" for him. He worked with Roeder at Newcastle. Keen was with Roeder at West Ham, is Reserve Coach there now (thus currently at another club), thus a step up for him-Reserve Team Coach at West Ham to First Team Coach at Norwich. Think they''re the men!

I might disagree with some of Cluck, Smudgers, Arthur et al''s postings. Of late, though, I have found myself relating to them more and more! But however much I might disagree with posts on here, I wouldn''t just dive into assuming and labelling them as "non fans" etc etc-indeed, they are very passionate fans, with very strong opinions, nothing wrong with that at all. At the end of the proverbial, we are all Norwich fans on here, we all have a common bond and desire for the team to do well and be successful, the differences are how we perceive that might be achieved. Providing we can argue constructively and enjoy some good debate, all well and good, it makes the messageboard a nice little distraction and worth a look every day. There, aren''t I naive, never mind...

There were numerous options that would have been worse than appointing Roeder. Jim Duffy might have got the job. Phil Parkinson was up in the running and had two interviews. Tony Pulis was, I am led to believe, the Boards no.1 choice from day 1. Steve Staunton was another possibility. John Gregory another. ...he has to be given a chance. End of. However, whether the Board deserve any more, thats another question.  

[quote user="The Judge"] Now I am definately in the Arthur, Cluck, Smudger camp when it comes to the current board of NCFC - but I am actually not to depressed about this appointment. Bearing in mind where we are as a club at the moment, which is all the boards doing, we were hardly going to be able to attract a big name manager. There are plenty of vacancies at other clubs which are in better positions than us which would be more attractive. Roeder is a "known name" manager, with experience of managing in the premier league, a person that will have significant contacts in the game to bring in the much needed quality loan players, and probably most of important - I really feel because of the above he will get the respect of all the players in our squad. (something Grant and Worthington never had). Against all the other people we could have got (Parkinson, Tilson, Grayson, Ince, Pulis etc) he is the best of the rest by far and on that basis am prepared to give him a chance. Lets see who he appoints as assistant and coach(es), see who he can get here on loan and then make a judgement. OK so he isn''t everybodies 1st choice but for me he isn''t that bad. The pressure on the board however needs to increase. I listened to an interview on Sky sports last night with the new guy Pearson at Derby. Some of the things he said just made me fume, bearing in mind these are exactly the things i''ve been accusing our incompetent board over for the last 3 seasons. Can''t remember the exact words he used but it was along the lines of that he was looking at other potential investment opportunities when Derby "approached me for investment". He then went on to say that now he was in place he would be looking to bring in further investment from the UK and abroad to fund Derby''s aspiration to stay in the Premier League. All the crap we hear from Doncaster and Smith about the phones not ringing with people looking to invest - They won''t - you need to go out and find it and Derby is just another example of where it has happened. The modern world of football is passing over our wonderful board of directors heads and if they aren''t prepared to change they need to ship out. Can anybody give me Doncasters email address as I want to ask him the question directly as to what inward investment opportunities is he seeking for NCFC.     [/quote] Like it. Roeders appointment is by no means the worst one we could have made. If he gets a decent Assistant & First Team Coach it could -note, COULD- be a good appointment. But the Board must not think everything is OK now. They need to do all that they can to attact new money, investment and outside interest in our club, from wherever it might come. They could do worse than get someone in like Trevor Birch as CE as he is a "proper" CE, whislt Doncaster strikes me as being more of a head of PR! Lets hope that they are doing just that, as Roeder is going to need money in January to help keep us up and a hell of a lot more come the Summer if we are to get in the calibre of players to get us up-hopefully of this division and not League 1! If it is League 1 mind you, I suspect they will have all long done a runner!  

This one is going to run and run isn''t it!? Not the best choice but a lot could have been worse! Phil Parkinson? Rather have Roeder. Duffy-Christ, would rather have had Parkinson! Pulis-nope, rather have Roeder. Allen-Roeder, just. ....could have been worse folks, could have been worse. I know thats a bit of a negative outlook but so is the rest of this season-if we avoid reegation now, its been a success!

Wiz mate, can we all see a photo of you so we can give you an animal based nickname!!!!

So, everyone is calling him "ratboy"  are they? I thought that was Lee Bowyer? But name calling? Come on....

OK, he''s not everyones first choice. We all wanted Jewell and we were convinced he was coming here, but we are not a big draw for "name" Managers, and never have been frankly-look at what we did when we were in the Prem, hardly a draw then, even when Walker left, the applicants were such quality at the time, it was Deehan who got the job! His plus points are that he is articulate, intelligent, experienced and highly thought of. And he has good contacts in the game. He is so well thought of that Arsenal were looking at the possibility of appointing him as Director of Football! I think it is obvious that he was not the first choice-three weeks on and  the successful applicant was never in work, plus the fact that the implications from the Board were that the first choice was in work at the time. However-maybe we made candidate "x" an offer and he turned it down. We''ll never know. Roeder is this Boards last throw of the dice. Hopefully they realise this. It is now crucial that he gets a good team in alongside him-those appointments are as important, if not, more so. We shall see. But lets get behind the poor bloke now, he needs this season just to keep us up, nevermind anything else. January is a crucial time for him-if we have any £££-as is the Summer. We could have got someone a lot  worse than Glenn Roeder.

No. And if they appoint someone like Parkinson after rabbiting on about all these "high quality" Managers beating a path to the doors of NCFC I will be beating a path to Smudgers door and pleading to join in with the protests!

Jewell would be a great appointment, no question. He''s popular in the game as a whole and playes like him-that may sound trite and yes, players need to respect their managers first and foremost, but if he is the sort of person who players and coaching staff etc actually get to like, as a person, and a manager, then that is a big, big bonus. Doesn''t guarantee results of course, but it helps. You get the feeling with our lot is that if Grant was on fore, most of them wouldn''t have bothered to piss on him... I think if the Board and the club had showed evidence of ambition and seeing a bigger picture in the last few years, especially after we got promoted and that trend had happened since then-imagine the statement that would have been made, if, just before our Prem season started, we''d have spent the £3 Million on Ashton then, people would have sat up and taken notice of our intent, then an appointment or even perceived interest in Jewell now would have been seen as more credible. As it is, we maybe can see that would might have been something he''d consider as we''ve got all that Wigan had -apart from the sugardaddy...at the moment-but, because the board go shopping at Lidl, they are not capable of that sort of progressive thinking. Therefore whenever his name is mentioned the possibility is laughed off. That mentality from the fans is something our board need to be aware of. Its all very well other people deriding and taking the micky out of and generally running down your club, but, when you are doing it to your own club, then thats the time to worry and that time is here now.  

I have to say that, after all this time, after all the spin, after all the quotes about "getting it right" and "we are taking our time" bla bla bla, they (the Board) really do have to pull a rabbit out of a hat this time. If the new Manager is as underwhelming an appointment as I think it is going to be, an appointment following nearly three weeks of waiting, three weeks of quotes about "high calibre" candidates and names that would "surprise us", then surely we HAVE to let our feelings be known? Count me in if that is the case. I have defended the status quo on a "better the devil you know" basis, but, at the moment, quite frankly, I''d prefer a new devil, known or not.

Would be happy with any of the following, realistic or not- Paul Jewell  Steve Tilson Paul Ince Martin Ling The guy at Stevenage! Simon Grayson   Please God NOT PULIS!!!!! Not Parkinson either.

Parkinson signed a three year deal with Charlton in April 2007, so, if we are looking to tempt him away, the compensation we will owe Charlton for his release will be considerable. Can''t see the attraction in him-he did well at Colchester, but that was in getting them promoted from L1 to the CCC-didn''t he jump ship before their first season in the CCC, therefore all the credit for Colchester''s excellent in the division should go to Williams. He (Parkinson) the screwed up, big time at Hull, where there was more expectation and pressure (just as there will be here) and his penultimate game there saw them lose 5-1 to Colchester! His stats aren''t that exciting either-even at Colchester, they are as follows- P 187 W79 D54 L54 which is a win percentage of 42.23%. His win percentage at Hull was 20.83%, woeful! Grants was 30% at Norwich so he''s either a little bit better than Grant or a lot, lot worse! Of course, no-one can tell-and he decided not to take the managers job at Huddersfield to go to Charlton, why?-but I don''t see him as one of these fabled "high calibre" applicants and would be very disappointed if the Board appointed him.  

I have been thinking along similar lines Wiz! "Get Dublin in as coach" think the board, "City legend*, the fans will love it and sing our praises" etc etc etc. Sort of burying the bad news re.Duffy''s appointment with this little tantalising carrot to dangle in fromt of us. If we really have had "high calibre" applicants then they surely cannot give the job to Duffy for fear of being seen as liars, pure and simple? Any "high calibre" applicant would surely be offered and get the job ahead of Duffy, so, QED, if there weren''t any "high calibre" applicants, Duffy gets the job by default. If it was always their intention to offer him the job, they should have had the balls to offer it to him there and then and took the flack for it, rather than all of the spin that now seems to be surrounding the whole affair. If I remember rightly, after Grant left, Duffy said he wouldn''t be applying, so who persuaded him to change his mind? (*um, no he isn''t actually)  

[quote user="sydneysider"]Age Hareide for me!!! He''s a winner! Or Paul Jewell........[/quote]   Either of those would be excellent. Didn''t Age come very close last time? Man City were looking at him prior to their appointing Pearce.

Wiz, have to agree with you. I am racked with fear at the moment with the prospect of Staunton coming here once the ROI relieve him of duties there-he being an "international manager" as mentioned at the AGM. Can''t think how the Board would get away with promoting such an appointment, guess there would be a lot of the he''s been educated the "Liverpool way" about it? But not a good appointment if it is the one.

I read a report earlier this week that said that the gap in the Premiership between the top 4 (ie) the Champions League qualifiers-who are bound to be the same 4 clubs for years to come and if one falls away from there, something will be done to make sure they are included after all, remember how the rules were broken for Liverpool?-runs into tens of millions-even the team that finishes 5th is a league away from them in earning potential and sponsorship, reward money etc. Football now seems to exist primarily for the Champions League, it is the tournament all the European clubs want to be in, all the players want to play in, all the TV companies want to show. Everything else is dwarfed by it, including the World Cup, and players, no matter what they say, value a place in a team in the CL and success in that tournament far above playing for England. It makes me wonder why we are all hoping for a Norwich side that can play and compete in the Prem again when, in all honesty, survival would be the greatest achievement in the clubs history and that we''d never win it or anything anyway. But I still want us back there! Does the club though, is getting there, staying there, financially insurmountable?  

Mark Barham was it?

For a non-footballing person involved in football, he''s very well known. Worked at Chelsea for a long time, kept Leeds afloat during his time there and has just left Derby County after, I believe, a personality clash with the Manager-not hard with Billy Davies, I suspect! Probably the top Chief Executive in the game at the moment, if there is such an "honour"! I just wonder if, with the Turners giving Neil Doncaster a "watch it" warning last week, and, through their company, probably very aware of Birch and his capabilities, if there might not be a chance he comes here, either as a new CE, or in a "consultancy" role. I know the place and position of such people in the game is a controversial one, but he is as good as it gets for getting the finances sorted and on an upward tempo, so maybe something to ponder?

The "International managers" will be Steve Staunton and Aage Haredie (sp., I know!). Duffy has opponents as he is seen as part of the previous failed regime-you get rid of the rotten apple by throwing it all away, not just some of it. Drury has already been quoted as saying "not much" has changed under Duffy. Will that mean results? Of course, if he does get offered and takes the job I''ll get behind him and give him every chance going. But I think its the wrong appointment and he is the wrong manager at the wrong club at the moment. However, IF, after a few weeks, much talk, more spin and then some more, and he is still appointed Manager, you have to wonder (a) who the other candidates were, (b) who applied who was then rejected by the Board for an interview, and, cynically, (c) if he always was the favourite, but, because you have to make a job ''available'' for anyone to apply, they''re going through the motions and seen to be doing so, but only have eyes for him. We''ll see.