Stevo

Just off the Avenues in the City. With the snow we''ve had it''s been an ''absolute nightmare'' walking in for the last couple of games. I deserve a medal [;)]

[quote user="can u sit down please"] I really rate the guy. His touch and finishing are amongst the best in the club. It does irritate me how some people target him as "not bothered or lazy" (not quoted from this post). Get him signed up! [/quote] Martin suffers because his natural ''running style'' and demeanor can make it appear that he''s not putting in maximum effort but he''s got great potential. I disagree slightly about his finishing as he''s been guilty of missing the simpler chances whilst sticking away more difficult ones. But with Holt and Hoolahan as older more experienced players alongside him, taking more of the attention, it''s allowed Chris to develop his game and confidence. Vital to our success and we need to keep him in the side. One other point though....due to his age we wouldn''t lose him on a free would we (as suggested elsewhere)? A fee would be settled by a tribunial wouldn''t it?

Doc''s future will be sorted out once the season is over and both the club and the player take stock of the situation. If we get promoted and he continues his recent form for the rest of the season then I''m sure that both parties will be happy for him to stay on. If we miss out on promotion, then as one of the higher earners, I imagine he will move on elsewhere. He let his contract run out before and was a free agent only to sign a new deal during the summer. Will be the same this time round.

I could (perhaps) understand Bryan Gunn''s comments today IF he was still involved in football management and trying to maintain his reputation and standing within the game. However, he has moved on to a new venture which perhaps suits his talents best - corporate hospitality and client schmoozing - so why maintain that he was faultless and blameless during his tenure? He gives no reasons or mitigation for the fact that we were relegated during his tenure and capitulated on the opening day of the season. That to me is the crux of the problem. He lacked the understanding and experience to recognise what was fundamentally wrong at the club when he took over (and what to do to put it right) and more importantly he was and evidently still is unable to see that the approach he took whilst ''managing'' the club was flawed. I feely admit that I couldn''t manage a football club. It does Bryan Gunn no credit whatsoever that he can''t admit to making mistakes or being unsuitable for the role when his track record strongly suggests otherwise. "no regrets" Bryan?? That suggests once again how deluded and naive you were / are about the role you played. 

[quote user="Old Shuck"]Agreed-need to get him signed up on a decent contract and PDQ. But "Derby" FFS, how did they even come to that conclusion? Drop a load of names into the hat and pick one out?? Lazy journalism, as usual. Wonder if its Derby who *might* have shown an interest?[/quote] They probably saw some video of him scoring a goal last season wearing the white and black of Luton and thought ''is that Spurs?...nah must be Derby!''

[quote user="Barside Edd"]Stevo, I hope you and your friend have a great match, I can relate to your description of the Man Utd fans attitudes, I have to say I have never seen your fans in that light. [/quote] Cheers buddy. Once we''re out the ground, then the p*ss-taking will start one way or another....obviously I hope it''s me that gets to dish it out this time round but we''ll go for some beers and have a decent night out in town afterwards. In that Man Utd game I remember being told to sit down and shut up by a group of Utd fans in the row behind me when I was getting excited over a City attack. Unbelievable. They then started singing "Oh Manchester...is wonderful" at which point I commented that it had failed to get the olympics. They went nuts and the stewards finally removed them. That''s the key point I think. We''re all football fans - just with different allegiances. Normally we can have rational discussions but during the emotion of a match, you don''t want some idiot in your face rubbing it in.

I''m sitting in the home end too although in my case it was always my plan to do so. I have a good mate who supports Col U and we agreed in the summer that we''d watch the league games together. He sat with me in the upper Barclay on the opening day of the season and considering what we witnessed, he behaved himself impeccably. I intend to do the same whatever the result on Saturday. I watched the premiership years show on Sky the other night and they showed the goals from when Man Utd came to Carrow Road in 93/94. Cantona scores their second in front of the Barclay (from a mishit Newman pass) and loads of people in the ''home'' end celebrate. I was at that game and remember how it felt to watch your team concede and have a bunch of smug idiots around you jumping up to celebrate. What struck me at the time was the arrogance of the Utd fans (most with Norfolk accents) who felt they could sit in the home end and basically rub it in our faces. I hope for our sake that the City fans who are watching the game in the home areas show a bit more respect. We do have good crowds and we are doing well in the league this season but it doesn''t give us the right to act like arrogant pr*cks.

[quote user="norfolkchance1"]Isn''t it amazing how artistic you can be with plastic seats.[/quote] It''s a shame the photo doesn''t show the whole stand.....it has DEAD WASTELAND written across it. Very impressive

Apparently they don''t bother announcing team line-ups before kick-off....instead they announce crowd changes...."Bob couldn''t make it today cos he''s visiting his mum"

He''s gutted that his repeated attempts at starting a mexican wave failed to take off

Spot the crowd - 50p a go .....simply mark a X where you think the ''loyal'' Wigan fans are  

Monkey tennis?

[quote user="Canary_on_the Trent"]Seems strange to me, what qualifications and experience has he got for that job?[/quote] I remember asking the same thing when Delia made him our manager [;)]

I have a genuine scam warning... If a bloke knocks on your door claiming to be the ''c*ck inspector'' and asks to see your c*ck, whatever you do DO NOT show him your c*ck. This is a trick and he just wants to see your c*ck! I feel so used.

It all becomes clear....he''s obviously a relative of Bryan Gunn and is still very very bitter.

[quote user="refjezhitchin"] “We would prefer it to be derisory and there be no mention of it, but it is derisory." [/quote] If he doesn''t want any mention of it, he should stop banging on about it.....whether it''s derisory or not

They''re letting their physio take charge?? I guess they didn''t have a corporate hospitality manager / goalkeeper coach / head of recruitment / club legend / local sheriff to see them out of trouble

[quote user="Bob Franklin"] The fact that Hoolahan and Russell were pigheadedly overlooked by Lambert during a critical period when gaining points was so vital suggests to me that Lambert was stupidly stubborn and too proud. What the heck do you know about his style of management, are you claiming to be an insider with first hand information or, more realistically, did you swallow hook, line and sinker everything that expert on football management, late of Fulham, Mr Mc Self Important said ? Gunn''s Norwich team had a one-off disastrous game against Colchester when everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The squad that Lambert is now saying is capable of promotion was put together by Gunn and I hope that Lambert provides the leadership, motivation and tactical nous to achieve the very thing that Lambert is now saying is possible. [/quote] Bob - I take issue with the selected points you raised in your post; Russell has been brought in from the cold by Lambert after being frozen out by Bryan Gunn so your comment doesn''t seem to stack up. It seems incredible to criticise Lambert for not playing Russell sooner when he was not fit to do so having played no part in Bryan''s pre-season. You deride McNally - the ''expert on football'' but I would suggest that his track record of running football club''s makes him a far better judge of a manager''s suitability than any ''average joe'' who posts on a messageboard - including both you and I. Gunn''s Norwich were relegated - the Colchester game was the straw that broke the camel''s back. One element of managing a football club is bringing in players and I think even Gunn''s biggest critics would applaud the signings of Holt, Askou and Hughes. However this is tempered by the signings of Theoklitos, Gill, Tudor-Jones and Maric who have yet to demonstrate any worth. As you point out, other elements of management are leadership, motivation and tactical nous and it remains to be seen whether Lambert will provide this....so far so good. Many people feel that this is the area that was sadly lacking during Bryan''s tenure.

Good post Beau. I think a point worth adding is that because Lambert hasn''t made any signings he is able to base his team selections solely on the circumstances and those players who have performed well in training. As yet he doesn''t have anything riding on particular players in terms of them justifying his decision to bring them to the club or a transfer fee etc. A lot of managers will persist with players they have signed to demonstrate it was the right decision - possibly at the expense of others who are more capable or in better form.    

I think I''m right in saying Cureton got his first touch of the ball on 19 minutes and 8 seconds. We were watching out for it after 6 minutes because the football was rubbish and we were bored and someone said Cureton hadn''t had a touch

To sum up...for the first hour we had no guile, no flair and lots of long balls but with no pace up front to get in behind their defence and a tall CB for Walsall that meant Holt won very little in the air. A reliance on ''shape'' and ''solidity'' that meant neither of our full-backs were inclined to press on and no pace down either flank. The subs came on and made a difference IMO but by that point the crowd were restless, Walsall had gained confidence that they could see the game through and we became increasingly desperate. Not sure what the answer is if Hoolahan is frozen out.

I saw him walking past the back of the Barclay before kick-off with (presumably) his missus. For someone that''s had a shocker and lost his place in the first team plus seen his nation lose the ashes, I can understand why he was still grinning...she''s a stunner

It''s a shame for you that Gunn has gone. If he was still manager he would have handed you a 3 year contract

And a proper chief exec. Doncaster came across as nothing more than a legally trained mouthpiece for D&M put in place to justify their decisions. Now it seems as though we have a man who will be making the decisions and run the club properly. I just hope our owners realise that they should leave him to get on with it

I think the question boils down to whether they want to stay and whether we have budgeted for their departures. By all accounts Russell told Gunn he wanted to leave hence the reason he has been left out. Whether his mind has changed now that a move has failed to materialise and there''s a change at the top remains to be seen. He certainly didn''t seem to perform under Gunn - maybe Lambert would bring out the best in him (a manager who understands the role of a central midfielder). Stefanovic did come out to say he was prepared to stay. I guess the issue with him was the associated wages and injury history. Seems like Gunn thought that Nelson was a better and more cost effective option. From the little I''ve seen of him I would be delighted if Stef was in the first team. One thing is that Lambert will presumably have to work with what he''s got (perhaps supplemented by a loan or two until January). That means each player will be judged through a fresh pair of eyes with no preference given to a recent Gunn signing. As such both players could come in from the cold. My bet is that we still try and cash in on Russell to save / make money but that Stef plays a part in things this year.