Houston Canary

I was under the impression that the loan ends with about 2 games left in the season.  I don''t understand the policies the way they are now, but I''m hoping someone can tell me that "YES" we could extend the loan beyond April even though the transfer window is closed. Or if not, then I''d like to know anyways. If we opt to purchase him, that would, as things stand now, still exclude him from being with the team for the last 2 games and the playoffs (unless we finish 1st or 2nd and get automatic promotion) (ha ha).

Is there any chance we get to extend Evans''s loan spell should be be going into the playoffs?  I''d hatre to lose him since he seems willing to take shots instead of passing it to someone else who won''t shoot either.

Just remember this, you can''t spell CRystAl Palace  without   CRAP!    

  Doherty was named Player of the Year at some point since we were relegated, at least according to one source I read.  Our defense has been a disaster for the last 3 years up until about the time Roeder was able to implement his game plan following the international break 3 or 4 games after he arrived.  The lineups I see have shown us playing 5 defenders, so I am sure that helps keep scoring low both ways. Maybe Doherty is good most of the time, but he has a knack for making egregiously (sp?) dumb mistakes that often prove costly.  Nobody seems to mind his mistakes, but too many people get all bent out of shape when Huckerby states the obvious with honesty and force.  The team sucked. It was NOT due to lack of talent, it was due to mismanagment of the talent we did have, leaving better players on the bench of sidelines while starting an odd mishmash of management''s overmatched darlings.  Perhaps we can at least agree that Roeder knows how to handle the players he has better than Grant could.

How would I know?  I read the Pink''un on line, I follow the games live on BBC Sport and soccernet, I listen to the radio over the net, and last year I saw 5 or 6 games, 2 in person and the rest on TV.

Yes, but Doherty did his best to make sure that Southampton scored. A hand ball yesterday had me wondering if this is his new way to screw up.  It''s guys like you, Humphrey, who picked Doherty as player of the year follwoing a season in which we gave up more goals than just about anyone else.  It''s such a Norwich fan thing to build up the scrubs and tear down the stars.  

Yah, I got a little full of myself, but that was only in response to a personal attack by someone who doesn''t know anything about me and my commitment to NCFC. I certainly wouldn''t open with insults.

Maybe Murray would be happy playing for Derby County.  NCFC was the Derby of Championship until Roeder got the 2 week international break to implement his game plan without prejudice. Since then, we have lost once, and that was on a late goal (I think).  I bet they''re having a blast in Derby.  I know I have been miserable with all these darned wins and draws.  It was so much more fun getting blasted 3-1 by low grade teams with small crowds.  That''s what every kid dreams of, playing for a crappy team and getting humiliated week in and week out. If Murray really wanted to be a man, he should have made his comments when he was here, a la Darren Huckerby. (sarcasm is over) I was so glad when I read Huckerby''s comments about this team being the worst. He was correct, he was sick of it as were the fans, and nothing was being done about it.  It was obvious many of the players were not having the fun Murray was, and they obviously quit on Grant to force the board to get rid of him. I mean, no goals in 6+ games?  Come on, you''re gonna score just by accident at some point. If we''d been awarded a penalty during that stretch, it likely would have been over the bar, accidentally on purpose. We were not shooting, and I assume it was a conscious effort by the players who wanted Grant gone to not bother trying once it became obvious to them what a train wreck the team was.   The players who were enjoying themselves didn''t have the talent to override the likes of Huckerby and others.

HAH!  Good one.  More comments from you, Maloney, fewer from bunny!  And thanks to Barclay Boy, too.

Are you suggesting Huckerby is not as team player, Old Boy? He drew far more fouls than anyone else in the division when we were in the Premiere.  Why is that?  Because he was the keystone to the team, so opponents knew to stop NCFC you had to stop Huckerby. He didn''t whine, roll around in fake pain, or ask for time off.  He just kept setting up scoring opportunities that usually went unanswered. That''s a team player. As for letting the results speak for themselves, when Huckerby comes on the pitch as a sub, we often score soon after that, and you know the other team understands that it is ''lights out'' for them. I think they know they have a 1 goal advantage when they see Doherty starting. He makes the stupidest mistakes, usually at the worst times. Why he wasn''t red carded in Southampton, I don''t know but I''m sure the ref''s  family was released unharmed.

I agree with you about Mackay. He was on 3 or 4 different teams one season after the next, and each of them got promoted and then dumped him, with the exception of Watford.  He obviously has a good impact on teams. However, I don''t think my comments re: our defense were harsh at all.  I think it is something I have not seen or heard before and yet it is blindingly obvious. The elephant in the room we are all pretending is not there is we gave up 10 more goals than the 2nd worst defense. That''s a lot of goals, and it guarenteed we had no chance of winning a goals difference place in the table. had we tied Fulham, we''d have been relegated anyways. I realize the quality of players is different in the Premiere, but there were 2 other sides that got promoted that gave up 10+ fewer goals than us. 

The movers and shakers are the fat cats, the big wigs, the big shots, the boss men, The Man, or as you blandly refer to them in a very uninteresting way, bunny, the board.  Way to make this dull, girly. I have bled green and yellow since 1972. I am well aware of Nigel Worthington being the manager for promotion and subsequent 10-more-goals-than-any- other-team conceded demotion the following season.  Thats over 1/4 goals per game more than the 2nd worst defense.  That ain''t chicken feed (minor).   I was asking if the do-nothing board we have now is the same crew as during promotion, and if so, what changed in their ability to make deals. I suggest you do your own research before making ignorant comments about me. You could have looked up other comments I''ve made and seen that they are intelligent and funny, while yours seem to be sophmoric, bland, snobby and mean. 

I thought I was the only one who seemed to realize Huckerby IS the team.  He is diplomatic without being politically correct, he plays hard no matter what the score, he is/was wanted by big clubs but rejected them to stay with l''il ole NCFC, he sets up most of our goals (the other ones he scores), and he is DAMNED GOOD! Why all the hard feelings for such an awesome talent, all the ''he''s done'' when he''s only 31, the complaining about his defending (he''s our attack, not out defense that gave up goals galore until Roeder showed up), and the preference for scrubs who wouldn''t last a day on any other team in this division with any other team? The Norwich attitude seems to be to glorify scrubs who work hard, and resent the stars who work hard and actually produce and know it.  I''d take 11 Huckerbys over 11 Dohertys (should I be changing the ''y'' to ''i'' and adding ''es'' when I pluralize them?) (ha ha) ANY day of the week, especially Saturdaies!

The movers and shakers that run the club seem to have developed a knack for bringing in people to positions where there is not a problem.  The year we got demoted, defense was a sieve and we brought in Ashton to score. He did, but the defense was an embarassment from then until recently. Now we need a striker to finsh off the good work coming from behind, and we borrow everything but a striker. Are these pinheads the same crew that borrowed us to promotion?  If so, was that just an anomoly? (readers scramble for dictionaries to look up ''anomoly'')

Roeder should have gone ballistic on the team before the game. We had what, about 3 shots in the first half? He made the pronouncement a few weeks back (at PNE?) to start taking chances, and it worked wonders with a 1-3 win.  My only means for following the games is on soccernet''s ticker updates, but even so I knew GR would GRowl at the lack of shots in the first half, and voila!, the players started shooting.  You can''t score, except on yourself, if you don''t shoot. As for playoffs, most of the rest of the league is mired in the doldrums, which works nicely for us. We have come 2 points closer to the playoffs today. Wins seems more dependable on the road as of late, so 3 points at Cardiff will help nicely when we are home the following Tuesday to Hell.

He has reached the age of majority, so he should be referred to now as MR. BATES![:)] Does he imagine himself scoring a goal when he Mr. Bates?

The team is not skint. I base that on 25,000 fans watching each home game. They are paying to get in. Either that, or I got royally screwed last time I went to see a game. The team is just CHEAP! Well, cheap and stupid.  They did nothing for almost 3 years to shore up the worst defense, bringing in midfielders and nonscoring strikers, and unproven defenders who turned out to be not good enough to crack the lousy lineup we already had. The year we brought in Ashton (much needed) we did NOTHING to help the defense which was giving up goals left and right. That summer, we brought in NOBODY on defense and quickly ran up the worst goals against in Coca Cola. To recognize this fact, Gary Doherty was named player of the year!?  We should have thrown caution to the wind the January we got Dean-o and spent some more money on defenders. That was the weak link that got us demoted after an embarrassing (lack of) effort at Fulham.

Huckerby is victim of the traditional NCFC fan attitude, which is glorify the "working class" schlubs who couldn''t play for any other team in the division, and villify the guys who keep us from being an embarrassment after they become too popular in Norwich and around the country.  People were making stupid comments about Dean Ashton, dedication to playing, and yet when he was was injured, we couldn''t score a goal. When I was at Carrow Road last Christmas, I kept hearing comments from the stands about Huckerby''s lack of defending.  How about the crap that gave away WAY more goals than any other team that are actually supposed to play defense?  Huckerby didn''t give up 70 goals in the Premiere, and the games I watched in TV, I never saw any sign of quit in him, even when we were getting smoked by Arsenal, or last year by Chelsea. Some jackballs are writing ignorant comments about another 100% hard working TALENTED player, Lee Croft, calling him fat. I don''t know what they are looking at, or how drunk they are, but that guy hauls ass (US euphemism for works hard and fast)! The ones who need to be ''called out'' are the relatively worthless scrubs, and the continual screw ups (Doherty).  How Doherty was player of the year when we finished the season with -30 goal difference is beyond me.  I have not seen anything about his ridiculous hand ball last week, but it should have cost us that game. Check out my Huckerbeatles chant! He deserves a catchy ditty about how important he is to any success the team has.  When was the last time we had a GREAT player who wanted to stay with the team?  By the way, Gordon, I like your last name. -Richard Gordon 

Environmentalism is a huge scam.  Global warming is much ado about nothing. Think of it this way: You go for a run in the park, where there are a bunch of people playing soccer.  By the end of the day, how much has all that body heat in such a limited area changed the temperature of the park.  NONE.   OR, look at the earth using satellite pics.  Note how far you have to zoom in to even recognize anything man made.  It is ridiculous to think we have much or any affect on the planet''s climate.  We are like an ant hill in Wembly.  Will that ant hill EVER make the temperature rise?  NO!

I have read quote from him before that he is happy with the money he has made and doesn''t "need" any more, so maybe he would take a pay cut.  But first, let''s see if his leg injury can heal properly, because if it does, he could still dominate the left wing.

........and it''s game over!  Tonight, we celebrate with the finest meats and cheeses. The serving wenches will entertain us afterwards!

I only have the Soccernet printed updates of the game, no radio or verbal version.  Every game Doherty plays, he costs us a goal. Today that spell may have been broken with the missed penalty shot awarded thanks to him.   I agree with the other guy, bring on Huckerby and let him run them ragged the last while.  They appear to be shooting no matter what, so maybe hux can catch them over extended in our end!?

How about if the Canary on the ball is turned facing out with an angry look, and maybe his other foot is raised, holding up 2 of the toes (and for N American sales, just the middle toe) giving a big "F You" to all challengers.

If Huckerby comes to MLS, then me and my boys can sing my Huckerby chant when he comes to Houston. (Check out the Chants page!)  I''d much rather he stuck with Norwich despite the "we love the crappy but gritty players" mentality of so many NCFC fans. This loser mentality is disappointing, but it seems to permeate Carrow Road. When was the last time a player as good as him  told the big clubs he''s perfectly happy in Norwich, so don''t bother?

I don''t understand why NCFC fans always seem ready to dump on the better players. If Huckerby had a bad game today, then be glad it was today and not when it really matters.  What about the other 10 players on the pitch? Did any of them play above and beyond to cover up Huckerby''s supposedly weak play, you know, the way he has completely dominated his side of the field to draw the focus away from some of the lame-os sharing the field with him? Our defense has been a sieve for 3 1/2 years, and you want to get rid of Huckerby? Send him to Houston so he can play for the Dynamo where he will be appreciated!