Shifty Sid

Gary Doherty.

Actually, the profits are re-invested into the Football Club.  She waives interest on the £11Mn''s worth of loans she''s put into the Club.  Granted, she''s made some awful decisions and should now go - but to say she doesn''t have the interests of NCFC at heart are just wrong and anyone who has actually met her will agree.

Yes but that''s the whole point.  If we think that way then we really are doomed.  We need some World War II mentality.  What if Churchill just said ''The Germans outnumber us and have more resources, we don''t stand a chance lets just surrender?''  (like the French did...)Are you up for the fight?  Or are you a surrender-monkey Frenchie?  :o)

Using the BBC predictor... if (and it''s a big IF of mammoth proportions...) we can win at home against Plymouth, Watford and Wednesday PLUS get something on the road (either a win and a draw or 4 draws) we might just be able to scrape it - but that''s how tight it is.For me, we''ll need to get something at Blackpool and Ipswich (the only two places we''re remotely likely to get anything) and 3 wins at home.  It really is a long shot and the last throw of the dice BUT we must believe.  You can bet your ass Southampton fans won''t give in and will back their team to the hilt - we MUST do the same until it really is all over.  I firmly believe if we can recreate the kind of atmosphere against Barnsley we can get something from our last few home games.Don''t slate me for being optimistic, because personally, I think we''re down - I am just saying it CAN be done and while there is still a chance, every one of us in the stands must give 100% backing to the team - just as we would expect from the team.

[quote user="Fabregas- Poor Mans Ian Crook"][quote user="Shifty Sid"]     6.        The appointment of Roeder. Did a fantastic job keeping us up when he took over from Grant, but proceeded to go on a self-destruct mission.  Ripped the heart and soul out of the club by releasing Huckerby and the manner in which it was done undermined his managerial tenure.  No one can complain about the other players shown the door by Roeder.  It was something that had to be done; but I question the decision to get rid of such a large number of players in such a short space of time.  It must have cost us a small fortune in contract severance fees not to mention it left the squad chronically short on numbers.  When Roeder failed to bring in all his summer targets we had to over-rely on the loan system.  Whilst there is nothing wrong with the odd loan player or two, to add quality you otherwise couldn’t afford to buy, Roeder loaned in several players no better than we already had.  His tactics (and because of the number of players on short-term deals) meant the team was chopped and changed from game to game and we never had a settled side.  Inconsistent line ups lead to inconsistent results.  The Board acted decisively in dismissing Roeder (which suggests they learnt from past mistakes with Worthington). Who was to blame:  Roeder.  His appointment worked initially, so I don’t feel the Board can be blamed here. [/quote] How can Roeder be to blame for his own appointment.[/quote]LOL...good point... I think I meant he was to blame getting rid of too many players, he should have got rid of 2/3 in August, another 2/3 in Jan and so on, rather than axeing 18 in one hit then struggling to make up the numbers.

I''ve thought long and hard over the past few weeks, thinking where did it all go wrong and who was to blame.  Here are my thoughts... 1.        Releasing Malky MacKay and Marc Edworthy. Malky was a leader on the pitch, solid at the back and got the odd goal or two as well.  Edworthy was a very capable full back and could have done a job for us.  Helveg never impressed me at all and was never worth the salary we paid him. Who was to blame:  Worthington.   2.        Failing to buy Dean Ashton in August rather than January. Had we shown just a little ambition and signed Ashton at the start of the season I think it’s fair to say he would have bagged 3 or 4 extra goals for us.  Considering the narrow margin by which we were relegated, I am convinced this would have been enough to have kept us in the Premiership.  The Board wanted to see where we were in the table by the time the January transfer window opened and then take a decision on whether or not to spend the money.  By then, as history has shown – it was too late. Who was to blame:  The Board.  (Maybe Worthington as well, as I am not sure how hard he pushed them).   3.        The purchase of poor players. On relegation, we had two successive years of £7.5Mn cash injections from Sky’s ‘parachute payments’.  This money was in my opinion wasted on sub-standard players such as Peter Thorne, Carl Robinson, Andy Hughes etc.  This resulted in us struggling near the bottom of the Championship and without the quality to get us near the top. Who was to blame:  Worthington.   4.        Keeping Worthington way beyond his sell by date. Worthy did a great job for us, getting us to the play off final and winning the division but about 2-3 months into our return to the Championship it was clear to everyone but the Board, that we were under-performing and continuing to buy poor quality players.  Worthington should have been dismissed for failing to challenge the top six all season.  He wasn’t and further decline continued the next season. Who was to blame:  The Board.   5.        The appointment of Peter Grant. With the calibre of the candidates that applied for the job, I was astounded the Board gambled on someone with no managerial experience when we could have gone with a proven manager and someone who would have made better use of the Sky money we still had at our disposal.  Instead, Grant bought some very poor players.  Also, in my opinion I feel we could have got a much better striker for £950k than Jamie Cureton.  I’m never a fan of buying 30+ players, particularly when they are average at best.  I also believe it was a mistake buying Marshall for £1Mn.  We had a perfectly good keeper in the reserves, in Joe Lewis.  He should have been promoted and the million we spent on Marshall plus the £950k spent on Cureton could have bought a decent striker and defender or midfielder.  A wasted opportunity. Who was to blame:  The Board.  Grant should never have been appointed.   6.        The appointment of Roeder. Did a fantastic job keeping us up when he took over from Grant, but proceeded to go on a self-destruct mission.  Ripped the heart and soul out of the club by releasing Huckerby and the manner in which it was done undermined his managerial tenure.  No one can complain about the other players shown the door by Roeder.  It was something that had to be done; but I question the decision to get rid of such a large number of players in such a short space of time.  It must have cost us a small fortune in contract severance fees not to mention it left the squad chronically short on numbers.  When Roeder failed to bring in all his summer targets we had to over-rely on the loan system.  Whilst there is nothing wrong with the odd loan player or two, to add quality you otherwise couldn’t afford to buy, Roeder loaned in several players no better than we already had.  His tactics (and because of the number of players on short-term deals) meant the team was chopped and changed from game to game and we never had a settled side.  Inconsistent line ups lead to inconsistent results.  The Board acted decisively in dismissing Roeder (which suggests they learnt from past mistakes with Worthington). Who was to blame:  Roeder.  His appointment worked initially, so I don’t feel the Board can be blamed here.   7.        The appointment of Gunn. Legend that he is, a man with no managerial experience should never have been charged with getting City out of the mess we found ourselves in.  It was far too much of a risk and we should have opted for an experienced manager such as Aidy Boothroyd.  Whilst performances have improved, results have not.  The 4-0 win against Barnsley was more a collective celebration on the departure of Roeder than Gunn’s managerial prowess.  The Board were naive to think that would be repeated in subsequent games and made a decision with their hearts and not their heads. Who was to blame:  The Board.   So to sum things up, I don’t think any one person or entity is to blame for our demise, it has been a catalogue of failures over a number of years.  However, because ultimately the buck stops with the Board, it is they who should take responsibility for their failings.  To suggest they should resign is nonsensical – when you own something you can’t simply resign.  You need to sell – and if there is no buyer, there are not really that many options left.   Some would say they had the opportunity to sell to Peter Cullum.  I am not so sure.  I am in a privileged position to know a little bit on the inside of that particular episode in the club’s history.  Cullum’s intentions were there.  The money was also there.  But the way he tried to take control for the Club via the media ruffled a few feathers with the Board.  He tried to build public opinion to apply pressure on Delia and Michael to sell up for a small percentage of what the Club was worth.  She has never been in this game to make money, in fact she stands to make a considerable loss.   But why should she sell the Club for a cut-price fee to someone worth billions?  It was quoted at the time, she wanted £56M to sell.  This was merely calling his bluff to see how serious he was – and playing him at his own game through the media.  In reality, had he been forthcoming with a serious (and fair) offer, she would have sold up – no question.  I won’t waffle on this subject as it has been well documented before but I wanted to dispel the myth that Cullum was sent packing with a flea in his ear, as that simply was not the case.   Unless by some miracle, we are now pretty certain to be in League One next year.  We will undoubtedly lose the likes of Croft and Clingan and have very little money to rebuild in the summer.  Challenging for promotion would be very tough indeed.  We won’t have the foundations of a solid backbone upon which to build the team.  There are no signs our away form will improve either, so even with a good home record I can’t see us getting near the top six, even in League One.  I’m afraid to say things look very bleak indeed and it could well be a long hard slog or 3 or 4 years simply to get back to the Championship.  Even then, without serious funding we are going to struggle.   I have renewed my season ticket.  Not because I am some blind sheep throwing my money down the drain but because after 15 years of being a season ticket holder, I am still hooked.  I’d miss the routine of trudging to Carrow Road every other Saturday and I’d find that very hard to give up - even in League One.

[quote user="Phil E Stein"]Does anybody know if the great man is a regular in the Leeds side? If so, which position is his "speciality" at the moment?[/quote]Dunno...I expect we''ll find out next season, when we play them...

What really annoys me is the fact they think the last few games are ''massive''.  If they had that attidude from August and treated every game as a ''must win'' right from the start we wouldn''t be in such a bloody mess now.

I think we''ll beat Burnley on Saturday, we always do better against the better teams.  We''ll probably get a draw against Coventry and lose to Plymouth.Either way, whatever happens is out of our control with the exception of providing one hell of a hostile atmosphere for opposing teams and not the damp squid that''s been served up in recent games.

I was being anti-Smudger :o)Where is the schmuck anyway?  Making his way back to Portman Road???

Similar style... calm, relaxed, instills confidence, gets the best out of players, scores tons of goals (and lets loads in too).Wonder if Gunny is another MW in the making...?

It was crap.  Gunn out!  Sack the Board.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Gunn out!!  Sack the Board!!  Boooooooooooo!  Only a draw...what a joke!:o)

Cue the pessimists!  Gunn Out.  Sack the board........ YAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaawnnnn!!!Whatever the result, makes a change not to just go through the motions away from home.

Bloody marvellous....go to get a cuppa and missed our goal.  Always the way... I guess I''d better make another in about ten mins... :o)

I  was talking about signing Earnshaw and Ashton if you bothered to read my post instead of wallowing in your own negative self-indulgence.Crouch and Huckerby as someone else mentioned were loans originally - did you slate those at the time for not being permanent?

As I said... back then, we were being bank-rolled by Sky TV with their promotion money, tv rights and parachute payments.  Our turnover is much much less than it was then.  You''re being unrealistic.

We signed Earnie and Ashton etc when we had tons of dosh from Sky, so yesterdays dealings are not a fair comparison.Given how tight things are at Carrow Road, I''d say we are being ambitious within our modest limits.  Like it or not...we are not a blig player (financially) and as such, we physically can not compete with the likes of Wolves, Sheffield United etc etc with their financial backers.I won''t even mention the C word, because he''s shown his true colours already - and they certainly are not yellow and green.

Here here!

Whats changed:1.  Better atmosphere in stands and dressing room2.  Players playing with freedom and without fear of Roeder3.  5 points from last available 9 (would quite possibly have been 0 from 9 without the change in manager)4.  3 games unbeaten5.  Getting something from a game after going a goal down, for only the 2nd time this season6.  Simon Lapin training with first team and told he has a fair crack of the whip under new manager7.  Huckerby allowed to train with first team at Colney8.  Cureton brought back into the squadI think quite a lot has changed in the last three weeks.  Stop moaning, be positive and get behind the team.  Anything else will only do harm.  If you still have gripes with the club at the end of the season then protest in May.  Nothing is going to change before then - the manager is going nowhere and unless someone comes in with a big wad of cash, neither are the Board.

Get out of here!  Making positive comments like that.  We don''t need your kind here.

I remember beating Bayern Munich too.  Swindon Town and Oldham were also in the Premiership that season, I recall....That was 15 years ago my friend.We''re a Championship also-ran these days.  Live with it.

I''m sorry but we''re not in the top six fighting for automatic promotion.  An away point against a relegation rival and a team that have only conceded 9 goals at home all season and recently managed to keep a clean sheet against Villa is a good result in my book.Gunny''s unbeaten in 3.  Scored 7, conceded 3.  Plenty to be POSITIVE about.  What''s gone has gone.  Back the team.

A 1-1 draw that would have been a 2-0 defeat under Roeder.  Gunn is unbeaten in his three games in charge and STILL people are being negative...

We actually competed away from home?  Tonight must be the first time in ages.