Matt Morriss

There was a bit of positivity floatin around after last nights game, amazing as it was 0-0 and we dropped into the bottom 3. But for those of you who attended the game it was clear as to why there is still a glimmer of hope for NCFC.We were pretty unlucky last night, we should have had 2 or 3 goals, Martin was desperately unlucky with his strike and Hucks should have had 2. If we''d have won 2-0 or even 1-0 everyone would be raving about a good performance, unluckily we just couldnt get the ball in the back of net so of course its all doom and gloom. There where a lot of positives to take from last night, im my eyes at least, and those of you who cant look past the fact it was another game without a goal or a win, and were in the bottom 3, read on and then see if you feel the same.1. Doherty and Murray kept a clean sheet and were both immense, we finally seem to have found the answer to the CB problem in Murray i think. He''s solid, didnt make one mistake, good in the air and the tackle and gave 110% last night, and seems to have made a good partnership with Doherty.2. Another impressive game for Rossi Jarvis which gives me immense hope as he and Spillane look to have bags of ability, which is much needed as im still not convinced that Russell and Brellier are the way forward. 3. Otsemebor and Croft were magnificent last night, Semmy''s attacking was spot on and much improved from recent performances, this was due to Croft showing for him and coaxing him forward, something the hapless Chadwick has failed to do in his outings. Croft was superb and deserved his man of the match award. Attacked with pace and purpose, always looked to get forward at every opportunity, taking Semmy with him, and showed bags of energy for the full 90, he looks like the fittest player at the club now, was up and down the wing all game and performed his defensive duties well as there was minimal threat from Scunnys left wing. Really looks like a Championship poor mans Ronaldo now.4. Another improved performance from Huckerby, he''s getting better with every game now, should have had 2 goals and provided a good attacking threat like we know he can. Remember, he had no pre season and is far from 100% match sharp, but he''s getting there now and soon will be on fire again.5. Last glimmer of hope in my opinion is the return from injury of Smith and Fozzy. We are lacking midfield creativity and attacking threat at the mo and these two will provide it in abundance. There was a bit on canary call about Smith last night, a guys QPR friend had told him how good Smith is and how he dragged QPR out of the relegation zone last season, scoring 7 goals and bossing games along the way. This sounds like the kind of midfielder we desperately need at the mo, and will make a difference. As for Fozzy, we saw what happened in the 1st half against Barnet and the 2nd half against Southampton. He made us tick and we have sorely missed his passing and creativity. These are my reasons as to why there is much more to come from NCFC and why we shouldnt panic yet. Give Grant time, let him field his 1st choice 11 and see what happens then. Smith is on his way back, as is Fozzy, Spillane and Jarvis are the real deal and Hucks is near is best, Martin looks sharp and Murray for me has solved the CB crisis, so the future looks yellow...On the Ball City..

Ive been behind Grant from day one as i liked everything he had to say and was a breath of fresh air from Worthy''s mundane ramblings after a loss, he pulled no punches and said what we all thought. I was hoping he was the man to take us forward but it looks like his time is up, already.From whats floating around at the moment it appears he has lost the dressing room, all speculation of course but clearly Huckerby has no respect for him, and according to a few rumours a few of the players dont either. This sounds like he has lost the dressing room, if indeed he ever had it. If he has its all over.Regarding the team, exactly who''s fault do you think it is that were not performing? Grants for not motivating them? or the Board for not funding any big name signings. You can argue that Grant hasnt had much money to get in quality signings and has had to work with what he''s got, and on paper he''s made some excellent signings in Marshall, Semmy and Cureton. Strihavka will in time prove his worth i believe, but may need time to adapt to english football. Russell is a good signing, but will always be backup for Fozzy, Smith and Brellier in my opinion. Brellier comes with a good pedigree and i believe weve not seen the best of him.Fotheringham and Lappin have been good signings for Grant, and Brown has played well this season. If Brown had scored 3 or 4 goals i think we''d be looking at the different picture at the moment, is that Grants fault? Perhaps yes for buying him, but if the lads got ability its not Grants fault he cant deliver on the pitch. Brown has done everything else bar score and to be fair as looked like a viable option up front for us so far, if he''d have got a goal or two everyone would be singing his praises cause he has played well and led the line to good effect, but alas no goals and people forget his hard work.Things could be so different at the moment if certain players would have delivered a bit more than they have. A few more goals here and there by certain players and we''d be in the top half of the table and not talking about Grant getting sacked. That is the fine line in football.I think Grant has been very unlucky tho. The injuries to Fotheringham, Smith and Huckerby have been huge and is the main reason we are where we are. You cant hope to score too many goals playing 2 defensive midfielders in Brellier and Russell. If we''d have had Fozzy, Smith and Hucks fit from the start things would have been very different. Chuck in a few goals from Brown to compliment his hard work and we''d be in the top 6 right now. Weve basically been playing with 1 attacker in Cureton, no wonder we havent won many games, weve not had enough winners available. Fozzy, Smith and Hucks are match winners, without them look what happened. Yes Hucks is back now but he looks like a player that hasnt had a pre season.Unfortunately it looks like Grants time is up. Theres only going to be one winner between Grant and Huckerby. If Grant drops Hucks for his comments or if he thinks he is undermining his authority the fans will not stand for it and the board will take notice.Its a shame because simply where do Norwich go from here if Grant is sacked???OTBC

Im gonna start by stating that I was behind Grant and his new signings 100% at the start of the season so im gonna have to stick by it, but i do wonder for his future should things continue the way they have been. I have cited injuries to Mark Fotheringham and Jimmy Smith as being the reason we are struggling at the moment. You cant hope to score many goals and win many games playing 2 defensive midfielders, which is why I think we miss Fozzy and Smith so much. Somebody that can put there foot on the ball and pass it. Grant has been unlucky with this, look how different Norwich played when Safri was in the team. This was replicated at home to Southampton when Fozzy came on. We looked a different side and went on to win. Now unless either of those 2 get back to playing sharpish we could be in for a rough couple of months. I hear Smith is returning to training but for me Fozzy is the key because he looks like he can pass the ball. At Southampton, and the West Ham freindly, he wanted the ball and looked full of confidence, wanting to dictate the play, he also got stuck in as well, which is something i didnt see from him last season. We need Fozzy back asap, this looks like it might be a way off so were gonna have to do something else. Spillane could well be the answer, he looked like he can put his foot on the ball and pass it. We must give him a go because the current midfield of Brellier/Russell/Lappin just isnt working is it. We need a performance against Man City now, forget a win, we just need a performance from the players, a reaction to the Wolves game. If there is no change then it could spell disaster for Grant because it will mean he has failed to get a reaction from the players which will mean he has lost the confidence of the team and there not playing for him. The next couple of games are crucial, lets hope the lads can turn it around. One postive is that Grants going to have to change the team, unless he just plays Murray alongside Doc, to cater for the loss of Dion and Shack. Plus its Hucks against his former club at Man City, hopefully he will be well up for it and will be a talisman for us again. This could inspire the rest of the players to play, and they may well end up playing for Huckerby rather than Grant....Dunno if this would be a good thing but it may well produce a performance. OTBC

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Grant out?Boring football?God you lot have really lost the plot now, your all so narrow minded and just cant see the bigger picture can you. Here are some points you all need to remind yourself of before you condemn this season to failure and start planning your Grant out protests.1. We have 9 new players in the squad, and for the most part 5 or 6 in the starting line up. THIS AMOUNT OF CHANGE TO THE TEAM WILL TAKE TIME TO GEL. 2. Huckerby isnt fit yet and we all know how much he makes us tick. Strihavka looks like he will be key to our success this season, as clearly Brown isnt the answer, again, he needs time to gel. Once he''s up to speed him and Curo will be on fire. Brellier looks to have real quality from what ive seen and is getting better every time i see him. When he came on against palace we looked much more solid and organised in midfield and we kept the ball for the last 20 mins and saw the game out. Once he''s up to speed i can see us dominating the midfield.3. The main issue i think as to why were not flying at the mo is the absence of Mark Fotheringham and Jimmy Smith. We are forced to play with 2 defensive midfielders in Brellier and Russell, or Lappin. We are lacking in attacking threat at the mo, because of this. When those two are back, which should coincide with Brelliers 100% sharpness, we''ll see a quality midfield of defensive and attacking balance. With Huckbery, Croft, Curo and Strihavka in the team we need a playmaker to make us tick, Fozzy or Smith will give us this. At the mo its no wonder weve not hit top gear with 2 grafters in midfield.These are the reasons were not doing so well at the moment, and to me there pretty obvious, but youve all seemed to have looked past them. Once my 3 points have been resolved, ie new players integrated and gelled, key players fit and sharp, and attacking injured players back, i think we will see the real Norwich City.Until this happens we will not see the best of Norwich, this is obvious. For example, with the top premier teams you take out there 2 top midfield attackers and there best player isnt fit, and what would happen? Lets have a look:Man Utd - Take out Rooney, Ronaldo and Scholes and they would be far from at there best.Arsenal - Minus Fabregas, Van Persie and Adebayor wouldnt be the sameChelsea - Without Lampard, Cole and Drogba would clearly struggle to score goals.Liverpool - No Gerrard, Torres and Alonso would see them lose more than they winIts a no brainer to me, once our best players are back and the rest of the team has had time to gel we''ll be flying...Until that time lets get behind the team.....how many games into the season is it again? 6??? Jesus, give the boys a chance will ya...

Have a look at theses pics of the Brellier penalty, a truly shocking decision from a clearly incompetent referee. The Dion sending off was atrocious also..the ref got that totally wrong aswell, it was never a red card, a booking at most.http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhotos&albumID=1311634&MyToken=4c9833a8-e75a-4dc4-9c79-664b508a96a2

[quote user="Graham Humphrey"]I don''t think he''s that bad, just he cuts inside too much (not good for a winger). I think he''d be better suited in central midfield as he doesn''t look like a natural winger. The irony is he stayed out wide in the second half and played quite well but was substituted. Would rather have Croft there as he has a good understanding with Otsemobor and they''re both a real handful down the right-hand side. [/quote] This was all he did in 90 mins and was vastly outdone by all the bad things he did...like losing the ball, passing to Palace players and not delivering 1 quality cross in the entire game..

Yesterday was Luke Chadwicks last chance to impress me, not that he has to, but i havent been impressed from day one and after yesterday im convinced he just isnt good enough for this football club.He was no better than Hughes yesterday, works hard runs alot but no end product. How many quality crosses did he put in? 0 thats how many. Otsemebor was more of an attacking threat than Chadwick was. He cuts in too much, and always always just runs at players, runs into trouble and loses the ball. Every time he looks to cut in, finds himself with 3 players around him and then loses possession.Too many times yesterday his passes went to a Palace player. He does work hard, tracks back well and runs alot, but so did Hughes, we need more from our right winger. When we have Lee Croft on the bench, who looked like Ronaldo in the 2nd half against Southampton, why are we playing donkeys like Chadwick?He''s been here long enough now, he''s fit and I think we have seen the best of him, theres nothing more to come, and i think yesterday is all he has to offer, and its way short of what i want from the right wing berth.He infuriates me with his constant cutting in, running into trouble and losing possession. And too many times he ran forward only to stop and not take on his last man. There was one moment when he beat his man, but then his cross was woeful.There was also a moment when we were breaking away, in the 2nd half, Chadwick had it, was sprinting away with it, then a Palace player just came up behind him, ran across him and effortlessly nicked the ball away, and Palace were back on the front foot. This was shocking.Ive really had enough of Chadwick, doesnt help that im a big fan of Croft, but ive given him a chance and for me he''s no better than Hughes, runs a lot, works hard but simply not good enough. Doesnt put in crosses, rarely beats his man, gives the ball away a lot, doesnt score. Why is he in the team?Im probably being biased cause i really dont like him, he doesnt impress me at all, so please remind me if i have forgotten anything good he did yesterday.Interested in your opinions on Chadwick so lets hear it, Croft or Chadwick?

I must admit that when Hucks went off, Brellier came on and Lappin went to the left we looked much more solid. Excellent sub by Granty, with Lappin left we looked more balanced, Brellier was spoilin  well and we kept the ball for pretty much the last 15 mins, Palace didnt look like scoring at all as opposed to a lot of games where were hangin on in the last 10.As for Chadwick, again he was very poor yesterday, i remember 1 good pass thru to Semmy for Curetons shot, but that was it. No good crosses, positional play is awful. I cant stand him to be honest. Yeserday was his last chance for me, and again he was poor.

Yes Mr Huckerby returns to Carrow Road today so lets please forget all the pessimism and ignore all the negativirino''s on here and just get behind the team...

Got to disagree with most points on this one Norfolk..He should be starting Dion and the kids should come in if 1st teamers are ill/not fit, agreed. But if you think Grant isnt the man to take us forward your sadly mistaken. He''s a learning manager but for me already he''s made some fantastic decisions. Bringing Martin thru, would Worthy ever have done this?Playing Huckerby up front, giving us more solidity in midfield, this worked.The bargain hunts of Lappin, Fozzy, Semmy, Marshall, Cureton and Russell, not too mention resigning Dion.These have been great decisions.Weve had a decent start with an injury ravaged squad. Would Man Utd have done so well without Scholes, Ronaldo and Rooney? Oh yeah, no they didnt. Weve been without our match winners, Hucks, Fozzy and Smith. When we get them back we''ll be flying.One last point, and the main thing i applaud Grant for is the squad, in the past under Worthy one of our biggest faults was a poor squad and an ineffective bench. We now have Dion, Luke Chadwick, Chris Martin, Mark Fotheringham and David Strihavka to bring on to change games, were before we''d have Thorne, McVeigh, Henderson and Hughes, not too mention the likes of Mattias Jonson, Graham Stuart and Elvis Hammond in the past. We now have absolute quality on the bench, and whatever our starting 11 were always gonna have 5 quality match winning subs to bring on. This is Grants doing and will get us promoted this season, as games like the Southampton match will confirm. When things arent going well you turn to the bench. Bringing on Thorne and Henderson wouldnt have won us that match. Bringing on Fozzy and Dion/Martin/Striker/Smith etc will.Lets get behind Grant and the team, be patient for results our injured players to return and enjoy this season....we could well be going to Wembley come May.OTBC

Rightlets not get carried away, decent start at Preston, great 30 mins against Southampton to get the win, without Hucks might i add, a game last yr we''d have lost, and a loss today to a half decent side in Hull.Agreed if we are to go places this season we need to beat sides like Hull, but, its a new team, and the main thing to remember is minus Huckerby, Smith and Fozzy we are lacking any real attacking threat, aside from Croft and Cureton. Without these key attacking players we are gonna have to grind out results. When they are back, and Hucks especially, im positive we will start to see the real Norwich City and what this squad is really capable of, until that time we have to be patient.We''ve had some shocking luck recently with Hucks, Smith and now Fozzy getting crocked. But when there back we''ll be flying so we need to keep things in perspective. Were far from our best team at the moment and weve had a decent start. If we''d have had the crocked 3 available im sure it would have been 3 wins out of  3.We do need to sort the defence, but having said that before today it was 1 goal conceded in 2 league games, not bad at all, i remember the days of the almost inevitable 4-0 away losses week after week, now that was a bad defence. Long term tho we all know Shacks and Doc doesnt work so lets get Murray settled in there or get a recognised out and out centre back in. Once this has been sorted and Hucks and Co are back we will be in business im sure of that.OTBC and lets keep positive! Hucks should be back for Cardiff!!!

[quote user="Saint Canary"]Firstly, I didn''t compare any of the players you mentioned.  I compared the excitement around this forum about how good the new signing were.  However if you are going to compare, both Thorne and Louis-Jean had at the time we signed them, very good records in this league and dare I say it, a better record in this division then Semmy or Cureton.  For the record, I don''t think any of the players we have signed so far are bad players, they appear to be right sort of players we want and add competition/variety in certain area''s.  I just don''t think we should get carried away until we have seen them play over a prolonged period of time.  I am assuming that because you "know your football", you have seen Brellier and Strihavka play a few times to determine that they are good signings? This works both ways, while we do not want people to be critical of players we have only just signed, we should not raise our expectations too high either.  It just means they have further to fall.  I really hope these players are as good as you are suggesting and they all prove to be good first team players.  However I repeat that it''s not unfair to assume that 1 or 2 may not settle, get injured or just not have the impact you were hoping for. [/quote]Saint Canary with respect that is exactly what your saying. If your comparing the opinions of the new players with what was said when we got in Thorne, Jarrett etc then your effectively comparing the players. The positivity, from me at least, about the new signings is far more justified than when we signed Thorne and Jarrett. Thorne was washed up and Cardiff didnt want him, and he wasnt the leagues top scorer the season before like Cureton is. Jarrett was also not wanted, and was not hero worshipped by his club as Brellier was, nor did he win any league cup.There is simply no comparison with these sets of signings and I still maintain the optimism, whether they work out or not, at this time is totally reasonable. On paper and past record suggest that our signings should be a hit. There was nothing to suggest that Jarrett, Thorne, Louis-Jean or Hughes would be a success, and lo and behold, they werent.

[quote user="Smudger"] [quote user="USA Canary"]You say we spent £10M on Ashton and Earnshaw...however, we re-sold them for almost £11M.  Therefore, it''s hard to justify this as bad business.  Some clubs by players for multi-millions and re-sell them for much cheaper...resulting in huge losses.  These buys were a gamble at the time with hope of promotion, but at the end of the day did not hurt us.[/quote] That is because (as with the rest of his post) he is talking absolute piffle!!! We spent approximately £3million on both Ashton and Earnshaw... with one being a direct replacement for the other there was never anymore money invested by the club than the original money that we purchased Ashton for. We made all in all about a £4million profit on the pair of them... hardly big money for two proven players of their calibre in my opinion... but then again we have always sold on the cheap haven''t we??? [/quote] Yep, an error there I admit, got carried away with the £7.5m we sold Ashton for, not bought him for. But calculation errors aside, another ridiculous line from you Smudger. My post is my opinion, how can an opinion be wrong? This is a forum, for fans to express there opinions. We have to listen to your negative opinions all the time, are you saying that everything you say is actually fact? And anyone who disagree''s with you is talking piffle? Ill reiterate my point for you again, just so you understand. This is a forum, for fans opinions, any opinion you do not agree with doesnt make that opinion wrong.

[quote user="Saint Canary"]No offence Barclayman but it''s worth remembering that following relegation many posters were very excited about the players we signed that summer.  Jarrett was to be better than Francis, Hughes better than Holt.  Colin was going to be amazing because he came from PSV and Thorne/Louis-Jean were "proven" Championship players who would bring extra quality to the squad.  Add to that, that Marney was to be Bentley but without the ego, we were set.  It was a bright new dawn with 6 fantastic new signings, on "paper" we had a better squad than the one which had won the league and some were suggesting it was better than the Premiership squad we had. The reality of it all is this.  Thorne and MLJ are gone after leeching vast amounts of cash from club and adding nothing in their time here.  Jarrett was away on loan to Plymouth before Xmas even came around.  He been at nearly every Championship club since then!!  Marney was sent home injured and Colin struggled to adapt.  The less said about Hughes the better.  If Colin now moves that will leave only Andy Hughes from the players we signed two summers and I think most of us are praying that the rumour regarding Leeds is true. Don''t get me wrong, we could have signed some very good players this year.  Marshall looked good and Strihavka "sounds" good.  Cureton was last seasons top scorer in the league and Otsomober was named in the League One team of the year.  Add in Gilks who would appear to be a capable No2 and again on "paper" we are looking good.  However it is not unfair to think that maybe one or two signings may not settle well early on or may not be as good as we were hoping for.  Maybe I don''t "know my football" as well as you do but what I do know is that things do not always go according to plan. It may well be unfair that people are not being as positive as they could be but we have seen this all before.  Let''s hope all these new players turn out to be great but lets not put them on a pedestal yet!   [/quote]Many posters may have been very excited about previous signings. I for one was not one of them, and was not in the least bit excited about Andy Hughes, Jason Jarrett, Thorne or Louis-Jean, not once did i think there were going to be better than Holt and Francis, never liked Marney and Thorne was a donkey from the second he came to the club. They were all players other clubs didnt want and didnt fill me with any enthusiasm whatsoever.For you to compare Thorne to Cureton or Strihavka, and Jason Jarrett to Brellier or Semmy to Louis-Jean is laughable. I wasnt optimisic at all about those signings, and my initial opinions were proved correct. All 5 signings were a failure, perhaps with the exception of Hughes, who has had some good matches, albeit amongst a lot of bad. Thorne, Louis-Jean and Jarrett were a disaster from start to finish. The same will not be said of Brellier, Striker and Cureton, imo. I have enthusiasm about these players because ''i know my football''. I had none about the previous 4 because ''i know my football''.

Cant see it myself. His laziness wont impress Roy Keane. Ill be surprised if its true.Really dont wanna see him or Saf go. As it stands we have a great squad. If we lose them two it will do us more harm than good unless we bring in 2 players of equality.

OH MY GOD!!!!I literally cant believe the reaction to saturdays loss to Exeter.Why on earth anyone is taking any notice of this result and using it to predict our fortunes this season is beyond me.IT WAS A FRIENDLY. OUR FIRST ONE. MEANINGLESS. WE HAD DOHERTY IN MIDFIELD AND EAGLE AT RIGHT BACK FOR GODS SAKE!!!!!!Does this not tell you that nobody was taking it seriously? Do you think the players and management really wanted to win this game? No. The purpose of this game was no different to training and Colney. Just another game of football to shake the rustiness.Anyone who thinks the result was important and posts on here as such is a complete fool and doesnt know there football.

Our signings to date... I cant remember the last time i was more optimisic and positive about the players weve bought in. Look at the last 3 seasons, and i may make an error or two here as my memory is going, but last year we bought 1 player, Lee Croft. The year before wasnt it Jason Jarrett, Carl Robinson, Andy Hughes and Peter Thorne? Something like that. Even in the Premiership season we bought Helveg, Jonson, Graham Stuart and Simon Charlton, the only good one was Bentley, and he was on loan. Scattered in between were Cashton and Earnmore. They turned out to be good investments didnt they, one season out of each. Yes we got a profit from the sale of Ashton and he and Earnie got us goals but what has this achieved in the long run? Both are history, neither will exactly be remembered as Norwich heroes and we spent in excess of £10m. Ashtons goals didnt keep us up and Earnshaw missed half the season with injury. Brilliant. In hindsight I believe our money could have been better spent, on 6 low key signings that will improve the team as a whole rather than one top player perhaps???With the exception of Ashton and Earnshaw we havent brought in anyone of any real class since Holt, Francis, Huckerby, McKenzie and Svensson. Those guys all came at the same time and made a massive difference to our squad and results that year. If my memory serves me correct we walked the league.Now, the guys we have brought in bare a striking resemblance to the aforementioned league winners in my opinion. Especially in the case of Brellier, Strihavka and Cureton. Not to mention defensive reinforcements in David Marshall and Jon Otsemebor.Now while none of the players we have bought are world class, they are most definitely Championship class, and i dont care what anyone says, we know about Cureton, Championship top scorer for gods sake, so in my books have we not bought the leagues best striker? Marshall weve seen, he''ll be immense. Brellier has done the business in Scotland, and was part of the Hearts team that won the cup and challenged Celtic and Rangers. Now if he can perform and perform well against Celtic and Rangers there is no reason why he wont do the same for us. Is anyone about to tell me Celtic, Rangers or Hearts wouldnt finish in the top 6 in the Championship? Cause I for one dont see an awful lot of quality in this league. Where did Gary Holt come from? Kilmarnock wasnt it? Nobody had ever heard of him and no doubt they were all saying much the same that were hearing now from the nay sayers about Brellier. For my money Holt was even less of a decent signing on paper back then and look how that worked out. Holt wasnt the greatest player but he was most definitely one thing, a jigsaw filler, a neccessary part of the Norwich City puzzle and there''s no question about his worth to the team and the impact and influence his ability had on our success in this league. We havent looked as solid defensively since he left, purely because weve never replaced him. Until now, as Brellier looks the same kind of player and i believe he will have a similar impact on our results that Holt had.David Strihavka appears to come with a very high pedigree. Ive read that Czech fans see him as not only Jan Kollers eventual replacement at international level but a viable alternative in the here and now. Top scorer in his league last season. And while he may not be a Dean Ashton, he is what is needed, another part of the puzzle, big strong quick, perfect partner for Cureton, and to be the end product to Huckerby''s creativeness and hopefully Croft and Chadwicks upcoming war of the right wingers.Then we have Semmy, best right back outside the Championship. Same thing was said about Drury. Nuff said.So...the point is, while we may not have broken the bank and signed world class players, and lets face it, who in there right mind thinks we have the resources to do this? We have bought the neccessary quality and type of player to make Norwich City a TEAM, and a team to win football matches at that. We tried the all eggs in one basket spend all our money on one top player approach with Earnie and Ashton. Where did that get us? We got relegated and have done nothing since.I am literally stunned by the negativity still surrounding some of your thoughts, judging by some of the posts recently. If you cant see that the team has improved from last season with the players we have brought in then you just dont know your football....Does anyone honestly believe that Marshall, Brellier, Strihavka and Cureton are bad signings? All you nay sayers, do you really not think that these players will be a hit this season? If you dont then ill say it again, you really dont know your football. Finally, as long as Etuhu and Safri stay, and if Saf does go we will need an adequate replacement, these issue''s aside i believe we have the team and squad to at least finish in the top 6 this season. Last year we proved we had the team to beat anyone in the league, inconsistency and injuries meant we achieved nothing. We now have the competition for places and strong squad to gain promotion, be it playoffs or top two. I believe either is a real possibility. One last thing, the new forward line of Dave Striker and Jamie Cureton, along with Julien Brellier will have a massive impact on our ability to defend as a team. Earnie up front on his own with Hucks and Croft either side, and no out and out defensive midfielder was a recipe for disaster, and so it proved. We looked so weak at times. We will now be much stronger and will defend from the front. Our new strike force and strong spine will change the way we play. We''ll be more prolific up front and stronger defensively on the whole. The front two will keep the ball in there half longer and Brellier will ensure it stays away from our box to greater effect than last season, and should the ball ever get thru....well, hello Mr Marshall....OTBC

Canary_teen.. Smudger is the glass half empty kinda guy you always find moaning about everything in the pub. I for one havent been this optimisic for years about an upcoming season, i really think weve bought some top players, maybe not world beaters, but we neither need nor can afford world beaters. We need players to compete in this league, and in the players weve bought, Marshall, Cureton, Dave Striker, Brellier and Semmy, weve bought the jigsaw fillers that will make us tick again. Roll on August 11th. OTBC.

The trial at Ajax is a bit odd, seeing as tho he is still contracted to Norwich City, surely any deal would be of a loan nature? It is pre season i suppose, and there''s obviously no official agreement either needed nor in place. He''s simply having a trial with a view to a permanent transfer.In which case, if i was messrs Grant and Duffy I would be looking into the possibility of some sort of swap deal for a centre back, providing Ajax have any that is.

Once again you lot are all missing the point, especially the posters critisizing my use of Leeds as an example, and ill repeat, AN EXAMPLE. I never said thats where we''ll end up if we spend big, its an example of what can happen. Theres lots of big clubs that spent big and are now either no better off than us or worse. Leeds, Notts Forest, Coventry, Sheff Wed, Southampton, Wolves. WOLVES for god sake! Theyve been spending big for years and where are they? They probably spend double what we do season after season.My point is, and its a point you all seem to have missed, is that NCFC is not just a football club, it is a business, and is run as such. If it wasnt we wouldnt be where we are. In any business you have operating costs, expenditure, incoming and outgoing. Norwich as a club do not have the incoming resources to sustain itself  on its own. We have a relativley small fan base, small catchment area and cannot justify big ticket prices and season ticket costs. This does not bring enough revenue into the club to sustain the operating costs, hence we will always have to sell to keep the transfer kitty circle revolving.Any funds that come in are to contribute to the running of the club, be that transfers, player and staff wages, or the myriad of other costs a professional club has.For those of you out there, and Smudger is a prime example, that think that just because we sell a player for £3.5m that automatically means we then have millions to spend on loads of new players, then you are so unbelievably deluded its unreal. Do you honestly think its that simple? We get £3.5m, a £2m loan from the Turners, and this means we can now go and spend £10m on 3 or 4 of the top players available? Of course not. The Turner money was a loan, not hard cash like a transfer. It doesnt make financial sense to go splash £2m on a player using loan money just because its there, especially when your £20m in debt. Earnie wanted to go and he triggered his contract clause, it wasnt the clubs fault, we all know now the power has shifted to the players and agents, clubs and managers have little say nowadays.Since Earnie''s gone, thats £3.5m coming in over the next few seasons. From what i make of it weve spent about £2.5m, probably £3m with the add ons. So thats pretty much the Earnie money. A sensible operation does not spend all its season operating funds in one week, and from what i make of it there isnt much left. You cant count the Turner £2m loan as transfer kitty cash, it was a loan to ensure we didnt have to sell to buy, as it turned out we ended up selling Earnie due to him wanting to leave and the clause. If we hadnt had sold Earnie we would have had to resort to using the loan money for transfers, which would have meant we would have missed out on Marshall, Strihavka and Cureton, or at least would certainly not been able to bring in the 6 players we have. I doubt very much we''d have got the previous 3 players, which is where the majority of the Earnie cash has gone, maybe 1 of them at best.Transfers out and in will always be moderate depending on the size of our club. If we spend all the money in the transfer kitty now then we''ll have nothing left for January, nothing left for loan deals and besides all of this, one thing you all like to conveniently forget is that transfers out also fund season operating costs, not just new players.I really dont know what you lot want, or what your expecting, so in fact lets hear it, what do you think should have realistically happened in this close season? £10m to have been spent? Thoughts please..

At what point did we become 1. solvent and 2. a big club able to spend spend spend like Birmingham etc. Are we still not in debt £20m??? With this kind of debt how can anyone justify big spendings? If we make £3.5m from the sale of Earnie we cant possibly spend all of that as its not only to fund new players but operating costs for the next season. All the negative posters on here need to remember NCFC is a business. Our hated neighbours down the road flirted with administration not so long ago. That could have easily been us were it not for the shrewdness of the board. Look at the alternative, we spend spend spend what we havent got and end up like Leeds and Notts Forest...Spending doesnt guarantee success, as Leeds proved. Businessman dont make high risk gambles, and i can think of nothing more high risk than spending £5m that WE DONT HAVE (£20m in debt, season running costs etc) on 1 or 2 players. The only people who seem to understand this are the players, the management and the board. The majority of fans dont and they wont because they are on the outside looking in. Unless we get major investment we will never be able to go out and spend £10m on a couple of players. Until that time we have to be prudent with the comings and goings, otherwise the alternative....well, just doesnt bare thinking about does it. We go into administration, have to sell all our best players and end up bottom of League 1. Now does anyone out there, Smudger, still want NCFC to take that kind of gamble?

[quote user="1st Wizard"][quote user="BlyBlyBabes"] WTF is going on? Give Safri a new contract & get him onside FFS. I''m annoyed. OTBC [/quote] Sorry BB Babes, but I''m not annoyed, in fact, I agree with this transfer if it does happen. With The African Cup, Ramadan fasting and the ''I''m too tired'' quotes from  Safs, I say let him go and thank him for a FEW good memories. He''s just another link to the old Worthy regime. And before anyone says anything, Hucks is different!. Anthing from a million quid and over and I''d rip their arms off!. [/quote]This is my point from my Safri post, people are too hung up on these issues with Saf. Agreed they are negative, but is it Safri''s fault that the ANC is scheduled during our season? No. Should Safri be denied his religous beliefs? No. And the tired thing was probably mis qouted and out of context. Safri obviously isnt the fittest guy in the team, and may need more rest than others. This all happened after his international duty, and it was Grants words that he was ''too tired'', in his antagonistic way, remember how he slagged off the fans the 2nd he was here? Its just his way of motivating people. Despite these issue''s, which for me have been and always will be non issues, Safri is an excellent player and our best midfielder and is crucial to our SQUAD this season.No, he wont play 46 games....but neither will Dion. He is still integral to our success. There will be games where we need to scrap, Etuhu and Brellier will be used for this. There will be other games where were 1-0 down and creating nothing, and need to change it. Subs win matches, if you dont have options of different styles of play on the bench you wont win the league. Theres no point in having players like Chris Martin and Chadwick on the bench to bring on unless you accompany them with a player that will use them. We need a passer of the ball. If Saf goes and we buy nowt we will not have one.This will be detrimental to our play and ability to win games were losing, theres no doubt on this. Were building a squad to win promotion.Safri should not be allowed to leave.

BUT he is currently ruining the balance of our teamWhat a ridiculous statement, so wrong Cobain. Safri makes the balance of team tip in our favour as his break up play and passing ability utilises our attacking players to their fullest and keeps the team on the front foot and able to counter attack when the opportunity arose. When he was out and it was Etuhu and Robinson, the lack of vision for the quick pass to get an attack going sharpish was shockingly evident thruout the 90 mins. There was simply no one at the club last season that made us tick like Safri did. This is more fact than opinion.I do not think that Saf is as crucial to the team as people seem to think although as i say i do like him as a player but i feel Etuhu will be more important to us if we can ensure his consistancyAnd perhaps i should have been more clear in this posts title...any chance of some REASONED OPINIONS, rather than just ......'''' I like Saf but he''s not good and Etuhu is good and is better ''''Thanks for the insightful opinions Cobain18...Anyone else care to offer something substantially better?

Smudger...what exactly would it take to get you optimistic about the coming season? If we signed Rooney and Ronaldo?If you dont think that signing Marshall, Brellier, Cureton and Strihavka as being a good thing then you just dont know your football young man. Im willing to bet that all four will be an instant hit and improve the side considerably. Lets pick this up again end of October and see who''s right. I wont forget so lets see.....Marshall we know about, class.Cureton, proven, CHAMPIONSHIP TOP SCORER LAST TERM...NUFF SAID.Brellier, watch the you tube video, just what the team needs.....at Hearts for last two seasons when they have been flying and really challenged Rangers and Celtic, Brellier was a big part of this. Will do wonders for us.Strihavka, tactically just what we need and have needed since Iwan, and can actually play a bit, looks like a poor mans Ibrahimovic, similar to Saganovski who has proved a hit at Southampton.Otsemebor, best right back outside the Championship....remember when this was said about Drury? look what a bargain he was...And its still early days, Grant has worked wonders so far IMO in the transfer market....