Patches OHoolahan

Stockport manager has been linked with the vacant Brighton post. If Gunn and co don''t stay on at the end of the season, Gannon might be a good appointment- doing well with Stockport on limited resources, good at nurturing young players and reportedly plays good football. Also, according wikipedia, he is quite ambitious and holds the qualifications necessary to manage at a Premier League level.  

I know that most of administration cases are due to poor management of the clubs, but I can''t help but feel that it should just be the games on the pitch which decide whether or not a club succeeds/fails, as in most cases it is not the fault of the fans, players or manager.

Absolutely superb post, couldn''t agree more, but I don''t know how things will change now, unless the money bubble bursts and footballers pay decreases to decent levels. The FA/ Premier League are too spineless/ greedy to do anything in my opinion.

Because only the Sith deal in absolutes

I think that we would do well to keep hold of Hoolahan, and I could see him going to say Bristol City for 750k. I also think Lappin will leave unless he plays about 5 or more games between now and the end of the season, as he is out of contract as well is he not? It''s a depressing thought having Eagle down the left, but maybe we could reinforce that area as well as the right wing. I agree with your estimate on Marshall''s price, but would hope for a bit more for Clingan.

On another note which senior players do you think we would retain? As far as I can see, Drury, Otsemobor, Cureton, McDonald, Doherty maybe, Stefanovic if he recovers, Cort maybe, Russell  very much a maybe, Nelson, Fotheringham maybe, and Pattison. We have a few saleable assets, but it strikes me that we have a number of players who could leave at the end of the season, besides the loans.

Although I do not accept we are down yet, I was just wondering what would happen to our wage and transfer budget with the loss of income resulting from relegation. As far as I can remember we are currently operating with a wage bill of £8m when £5m is all that we could really sustain. I have heard other estimates that suggest we could lose in the region of £5-6m should we drop into League 1. What would be a sustainable budget in these circumstances, because no doubt we would have to rebuild the squad almost from scratch. Anyone got any ideas, or figures contrary to those which I have conjured up from memory?

Here here! My sentiments exactly.

I''ve seen a lot of posts on here talking as if we are already down, we are not! As a supporter, I will not throw in the white flag when we have so many games to go. I also do not believe that the managment team will give up without a damn good fight, and we have to believe that their passion for the club permeates to the players. We can''t go down in February, but if the players have the same attitude as some on here we could be down by the end of March, and despite the losses they seem to have the best interests of the club at heart. I know effort isn''t the same as results, but hopefully we will get that bit of luck we need to convert performances into results, and then we can build for next season with a fresh start in the CHAMPIONSHIP.   On the ball City!

I would like to reiterate the sentiment of this post. We can''t get too carried away because of a couple of defeats. Things may seem bleak for NCFC at present, but I for one retain confidence that Gunn et al will steer us clear of danger. All we need is a good consistent run of form, which could quite easily stem from a bit of luck and a win. It''s easy to be pessimistic about the clubs fortunes at present, especially given our fall in to the drop zone this evening, but I am unwilling to concede that we will fall into League One in February, derisory comments on players calling for fight, although understandable are not the correct attitude to encourage. To quote Lenny Kravitz, ''It ain''t over til its over'', and if these players are dedicated to NCFC they will have to fight to the last, it is the least the fans deserve.

How is defending the board related to beating Preston- on/off pitch separation enter into your thinking at any point?

Is it me or has the Transfer Talk forum become a lot quieter since the change in structure of the site? People tended to post all transfer news and rumours in the main forum rather than the appropriate place throughout the transfer window.

Although I can''t see this happening any time soon, I wonder whether a switch to this sort of formation would suit Norwich. We used it previously to great effect when we won the league with Hucks, Mckenzie and Svennson upfront, and it seemed to compensate somewhat for the defensive weakness of Huckerby as a left winger. Could it not be used in a similar way with Hoolahan playing behind a front two of say Killen and Cort, or even Hoolahan and Gow behind one or other of those two strikers. We could have three central midfielders whose main job would be to break up opposition attack and feed the front three. That midfield trio could be made up of Pattison, Russell and Clingan. While we might sacrifice a bit of width and pace with Croft, it would hopefully give us a bit more defensive resilience. If we needed further bodies in the midfield to protect a lead we could bring on Croft down the right as more of a right midfielder than attacker and switch to a 4-4-2 with Pattison wide left. Any thoughts as to if this might work?

While I am undoubtedly happy with the Wolves draw and the way things are going under Gunn, it has only been a few games. Threads praising Gunn are deserved but I think we are yet to see both the best and worst of Gunn as a manager. It''s not as if we are safe yet, nor do we necessarily know whether or not Gunn and co will be here beyond the end of the season. This is not to disparage Gunn and his achievements to date, but more to warn against yet another false storm of a Norwich resurgence. Let him prove his managerial quality over a few more games, and judge him more perhaps when we have played 10 games not 4. I would like to emphasise that I am fully behind Gunn and the team, but I for one shall be reserving judgement for a little while at least.

No, I am Spartacus...oh wait...

Smudger, what galls me about this particular post of yours is that you haven''t even given these guys a chance to become ''new heroes'', and that you maintain your oddly arrogant certainity that we will fail. Also your comment vis a vis Roeder is redundant as he is not here now is he- he got things wrong- give Gunn the chance he deserves. He maybe a pawn of the board in your eyes but he doesn''t want us to fail and I, at least, have faith that he will give his all to keep the club up. Also its better in some ways that they are here on loan as it means that should they fail, we haven''t got them for another two or three years. This maybe putting a positive spin on things Smudger, but quite frankly I am not devoid positivity unlike some people on this m/b.

Head, Nail...Bang...Ouch

Mmmmmm...cake

                  Marshall Otsemobor Doherty Grounds Drury        Russell Clingan Pattison                  Hoolahan           Cort         Lupoli Something a little bit different- a combative midfield with Hoolahan given free reign, and then have the two full backs,as well as Russell and Pattison all bombing on, with Clingan sitting in front of the defence spraying the ball about. Should hopefully see some fight in this side anyway, and you could deploy croft later on when their defence tires.

If Roeder leaves NCFC either by resigning or being sacked, will this inspire change at boardroom level? Maybe it could bring this consortium we have heard about into the open, with their own choice of manager, and a promise for investment under this manager, similarly to how Randy Lerner did it at Aston Villa with Martin O''Neill who was undoubtedly aware of the incoming investment.

Is a lack of confidence the main reason behind the current failings on the pitch? It seems that we can perform well against teams like Ipswich where the motivation is there but, lack the motivation and killer instinct in other games. This is undoubtedly Roeder''s responsibility but would a big dose of positivity to the players from Roeder and the crowd turn some ''good performances'' into good wins?

While I occasionally agree with some of your posts Smudger, I have to wander how you don''t implode with depression.

I started the aforementioned thread (''Where are the negative posters?''), and I am sorry that you felt this to be divisive Wiz. However my thread was intended as a call for unity in celebration at victory over the scum as I had seen very few posts from people who, for lack of a better term, I described as negative posters. I have never implied that Delia is the saviour, nor Roeder a magician, but I still feel that the team should be given time to produce a run of results under Roeder. Also, whilst I am not apathetic with regards the investment situation at the club, I choose to believe that Delia and the board will get out when suitable replacements are found, and I appreciate the passion they have shown over the years. The result today was another disappointing one, but by all accounts we dominated them in the first half, with clinicality in front of goal the main reason for our failings, as well as yet another penalty. I am frustrated but remain a positive poster.

Reading some of the remarks on this m/b I''d be interested to know who people consider to be the most intelligent poster... you don''t necessarily need to agree with what they say but they could put their point across in an eloquent and well-reasoned manner...

Beauseant, just out of interest which university did you attend- i''d guess LSE? Also which side of the debate did you fall on with regards Elton and Starkey vis-a-vis Thomas Cromwell?