venta icenorum

[quote user="jas the barclay king"] because of our financial status, poorly run infrastructure and leage position.. no one else wanted the job....hence the "old boys" came in... have a think... if you were a manager out of work would you come near the club with the situation its in at the moment....? jas :) [/quote] Dowie said he''d be interested, so did Ince''s agent. So I think Gunn and Crook won out because they both bleed yellow and green (makes me wonder if they''re aliens!) and the club didn''t trust anyone else in case they brought in unpopular methods/ bad p.r. like the last two gaffers. I think Crook will do a magnificent job as coach, leave the public face to Gunny, should work well.

He could have had a chance in either cup competition. Last tuesday would have been good, v. Charlton.  Imagine if he''d scored a hat-trick and saved Roeder''s bacon?!!! Still wouldn''t have made the 16 for the Barnsley game!

[quote user="Romantic"]Morning Darling - thanks for last night, you were wonderful![/quote] and by the way, I''m a few weeks late....

How about George from ''Rainbow''? I''m sure he could do camp goal celebrations as well as any previous manager. Also, being a hippo, they could probably lease him some riverside swamp-land, instead of a house, as part of the salary negotiations.

Q. What''s the difference between a girder and a joist? A. Goethe wrote ''Faust'' and Joyce wrote ''Ulysses''.

Oops, looks like my post has been eaten alive by We8wba. I think Boothroyd is underated. As in he needs to eat more pie and peas.

[quote user="we8wba"] lets throw in some hard facts 08/09 season - league wins 4/15 = 26.67 win rate 07/08 season - league wins 18/46 = 39.13 win rate 06/07 season - league wins 5/38 = 13.15 win rate in his last 14 games of the 07/08 season his league wins were - 1/14 =  7.14 win rate 5/29 = 17.24 win rate in his last 29matches in the league in charge of watford past 2 1/2 season totals  27/99 = 27.27 win rate in 3years These statistics are presented in a misleading way in order to back up we8wba''s argument. If you remove the year they were in the prem (06-07) then Boothroyd won 60 out of 138 games as manager of Watford at Championship level, giving a win ratio at this level of 44%. In the season they were promoted, (05-06), a season we8wba has neglected to mention, he won 22 out of 46, a points tally of 81 and a win ratio of 48%. Even when they were in the Prem they made the FA Cup semi finals. They reached the Championship playoffs twice. Oh, and he saved them from relegation at the end of the 04 - 05 season after being appointed in  March 2005. Just about every manager who is experienced and successful at Championship level has had a nightmare season in the Prem. Including Coppell, Davies, McCarthy, Warnock, Worthy of course!... the list goes on.   as i said one word - overated   [/quote]

Thought JC had a decent pre season but had his confidence knocked by a few key misses, eg penalty against Cardiff. Roeder also lost patience with him missing opportunities and couldn''t be arsed to wait for his lean period to end. He needs someone to deliver low crosses in, perhaps could link up well with Bell, also thought he had a good understanding with Hoolahan developing but had very few starts under Roeder. A fresh start under a new manager should see more goals from Jamie.

So far 72% Yes           28% No and I''ll add another Yes - play him as a striker if needed, or supersub. On loan from Earthquakes.

What we need is fresh tactics, what Blackburn need is someone to get them out of relegation scrap, why don''t we swap managers? It could even be a reality tv show - ''manager swap''. Let''s do it the Norwich way and sign Paul Ince on loan from Blackburn, while loaning Glenn Roeder to them.

[quote user="PhatCanary"]  If Roeder was given the funds,could he get us to the Premier League?  [/quote] He would certainly get us good players and assemble a very strong looking team, but would they get enough points on the board? Maybe after a few seasons of trying, although I still think that the playoffs would be our only route to the Prem as I can''t see us ever finding the consistency like Wolves/Birmingham can to be a top two side. If only Roy Keane would come here!

[quote user="Yellow Shirt"]There is obviously something wrong- last night we desperately needed him on the pitch, 20-25 minutes left Roeder should have hauled Rusty off (if he should have even started him there is besides the point) and got Lupoli on... especially considering he hasn''t had a run in a while and Lita cant play on Saturday anyway! I get the feeling Cort will start on Saturday even if he''s not ready. Lupoli seems to have been brought in just to make the Lappin situation look normal.[/quote] Yes agree 100% and what about Kris Renton and Luke Daley? Tear apart Arsenal kids but we still lose to Watford who are just as bad if not worse than us in the consistency stakes plus have lost their best players. It''s like Theo Walcott at the World Cup - Sven bottled it even though we had no strikers, yet look at the lad since. Lupoli - I''m not surprised he''s learning Spanish at UEA as I wouldn''t bother with this country next season if i was him, he deserves much, much more of a chance.

[quote user="chicken"][quote user="Yellow Submarine"] I’m sorry but I can’t take this post seriously! You genuinely believe that reappointing the man who (I feel) is to blame for the current predicament we’re in, is the way forward? Get real! Granted Mr Worthington got us to the play off finals, and got us promoted, but you all seem to forget about what he did afterwards!! I believe that had he not dismantled a winning team at the start of the premiership season, we would be in a better position than the one we find ourselves in now!  Also it was idiotic allowing Malky and Iwan to leave the club. They would have contributed that season, not necessarily every week on the pitch, but they were big influences in the dressing room. A couple of goals from Iwan off the bench, or Malky from corners could have been enough to keep us up! Then when we got relegated look at the dross he brought in! I’m sorry I won’t be joining your petition. Thanks for the memories Mr Worthington, but it’s a pity you didn’t do the honourable thing and leave three seasons sooner! [/quote] When you say winning team those that were left looked out of depth at times. We were promoted predominantly with this side: Green, Edworthy, Fleming, Malky, Drury, Rivers, Francis, Holt, Easton, Huckerby, Svensson/Iwan. Subs from: McVeigh, Mulryne, Svensson/Iwan, MacKenzie In the Premiership we had: Green, Edworthy/Helveg, Fleming, Charlton/Doherty, Drury, Bently/Jonson, Holt, Francis, Huckerby, MacKenzie, Svensson / Ashton. Subs from: McVeigh, Mulryne, Safri, Shackell. To be honest the only big players to go from that promotion winning team were Iwan and Malky. The problem with both of those were their severe lack of pace. I think this would have been less of an issue with Iwan than it would have been with Malky but saying that Iwan would have been 36/37 that season and would not have played many games especially after Ashton came in. Malky is four years younger than Iwan but was not the most technicaly gifted player I have seen. At some point people just have to accept that neither were up to premiership football. Sure Malky got his chance with Watford they were limited also. He simply was not quick enough and although was a tremendous player to have in a team for his character - just like Iwan. At some point you have to draw a line and accept that it is not always enough to simply be able to lift the guys on that pitch. If anything the one thing people are right to suggest is not getting someone like Ashton in sooner. That and the fact that other players like Francis did not have their heads nor hearts in it for Norwich. However having said that if we were to loose or let loose Roeder then I would not be against the idea of bringing him back if he was interested. I would not go out of the way to get him back but at least he isn''t like some managers who have their head up their own back side and refuse to drop down a league and instead prefer to wait for another premiership team. Curbishly is the only name around at the moment that is overly tempting, maybe Boothroyd. [/quote] Good post, agree 100%. Definitely had some extra class in the prem, eg Saf, Bentley, Ashton. If we had started believing in ourselves earlier then we could have stayed up, but oddly enough I see parallels from that era with the current woes. If you cast your mind back to the infamous Man City game at carrow road, we were 2 - 0 up I think but still lost (correct me if I am wrong). Just the kind of result we are currently seeing. Why doesn''t this crap happen to anyone else - dominating the game but somehow snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? Or has our defence just not been good enough for 4 years? Or have we not spent enough on defenders? Or are our players p****d all the time (see separate post)!!!! Bringing back Worthy would be an interesting move, although almost impossible, as at least he knows this league better than either Grant or Roeder. Glenn has brought in Prem quality players but not necessarily Champ players who can be bothered fighting out every second against some of the crap teams we have to play. We might be better off bringing through some talented League One players as they are more likely to treat this league with more respect.

Drowning their sorrows after our victory....

It''s made me chuckle listening to some of the things on here - I''ve been accused of being anything from drunk to Neil Doncaster (or possibly a drunk Neil Doncaster) for suggesting that we don''t need to fear anyone, could beat Ipswich, and are capable of having a good second half of the season with the same squad. And I''ll still stand by what I said on Friday. In fact it''s now 9 points off the playoffs, 25 games to go.

[quote user="Irish canary"] Does anyone else feel that on paper we actually are not a bad team at the moment (loan signings aside and counted as our team), APART FROM OUR RUBBISH DEFENCE!!!!! I genuinely think that the likes of Marshall, kennedy (ok),  Russell, Clinigan, Hoolahan, Lupoli, Lita, Bell, Croft are all quite good players, oh and sibierski on the bench is not bad either! If we had a strong defence, I really think we have the team to build for a strong league position, if we did not conceed so easily, the pressure would be off a bit and the team could maybe gain some momentum. its very hard to see this at the moment as we leak goals far too easily, and I know there is probably no money there to solve this problem, but just venting my feelings!   So to sum up, fix the defence fix the team! Cheers [B] [/quote] Good - a sensible post regarding the calibre of our squad. We are lacking in confidence which is making all the difference and leaving us at the wrong end of the table from where we should be, on paper. We''ve had some moments of madness and stupid mistakes, but then so does everybody in this league - the quality isn''t that high. Roeder may be unpopular but we are stuck with him, and he has plenty of experience and is probably just as good in the long run as anybody else. He took the niceness out of the club - which many people seem to feel aggrieved about, yet this needed to be done. The players are professionals and need to take criticism on the chin, which I believe they do. I also believe they are still behind Roeder, witness the performance at Notts Forest away. We have had a number of games without our first choice defence and that will inevitably start to leak goals. I do believe the second half of the season will be better.

Just thought it was time for some positive thoughts on this message board. There''s still everything to play for and all these nervous people on here have no spirit. We have a perfectly good squad who were always going to gel better in the 2nd half of the season. This is also the most topsy turvy league known to man. Basically we could finish anywhere, except probably the top three as they will be too strong. As for everyone else...Sheff U? (5th place), didn''t seem that good when we beat them 1-0....PNE (6th), almost beat them too....oh yes Wolves, we beat them 5-2. We shouldn''t be scared of anyone. PNE have lost 7 games, we''ve lost 10. Less than half way into the season. Ipswich? Let''s get behind the team and we can easily win at home. 

Should get more of a look in once Lita returns to Reading, as it''s surely him keeping Lupoli out of the side, with his slightly better goalscoring record here and matchwinning ability. Lupo''s 2 goals against Cardiff were great though. Didn''t Roeder start both of them (Lupo and Lita) against Preston? Is it not an option, with Hoolahan in the hole behind, Pattison on the left and one winger, Bell probably on the right? This would be my team were i manager:                                   Marshall Otsemobor       Kennedy      Doherty       Drury Bell                           Clingan              Pattison                                Hoolahan                     Lita                     Lupoli   (could be more left sided as used at Derby?) Subs: Steer (why not?) Lappin (why not) Omozusi (needs to compete more for his place) Russell, Cureton   No place for Fozz or Bertie but they would be straight back in if the above team turned out crap, as it probably would!

[quote user="Fuglestad"]I''ll ask again. Which player in our squad is better than Darren Huckerby?[/quote] David Marshall and Sammy Clingan are probably better players than Hucks currently is, although I assume what you mean is who is better than Hucks in his prime. The answer to that of course is no-one, although our Reading loanee isn''t far off IMO.

According to a previous thread, a fictitious version of Wes Hoolahan was seen/heard in the Ribs of Beef a few weeks ago disclosing his impending departure to Wolves ( to one person). However at least three people posted that they were there all night on the night in question and nothing of the sort ever happened. In fact he wasn''t even there. So it just sounds like a load of rubbish, especially after Roeder''s comments re Wes''s attitude in training being exemplary, hardly a sign that he''s downing tools.

[quote user="GJP"][quote user="GJP"] He stuck a couple of decent balls into the ox [/quote] *I meant "box" not "ox" Thought I better correct myself otherwise people might think David Bell is into weird things. [/quote] Was the Bell already inside the ox before the couple of decent balls?

[quote user="Ah Newton Mink"] To all who read my posts over the last couple of months I just want to say that I made it all up[:O].  I don''t know why I did it, I do however hope you gained some enjoyment from my harmless fun.[:D] Perhaps a warning could be had from this to be on your guard from posters claiming they know some major top secret information.  It is all too easy to be taken in.  I am not saying immediately shoot them down and call them binners, but, until they can back up what they say (if at all), or what they say actually happens, take what they say with a pinch of salt, and if neither of these things happen I will put my house on the fact that they are spouting BS. It''s now time for me to go, I''ll never come back here, not as you know, who am I, does it matter?  I hope you enjoyed my friendly patter[;)] [/quote] AN ODE TO AH NEWTON MINK Ah Newton Mink, you made us think You intrigued us all who read the Pink ''Un message board how we guffawed as we studied your riddles or shopped at LIDL''s yet you say it was squit or utter bullshit (I particularly liked your frequent use of quotes from the zany Dr.Seuss). Ah Newton Mink you will be missed, you must have been extremely pissed! And if you ever feel inclined to share the information you find, whether true or whether fictitious like a pre season tour of Mauritius then be our guest, that''s the end of my go, so give it up for the MAN IN THE KNOW

It does seem odd how it''s panned out for Wes since his arrival. Billed as Huckerby''s ''replacement'' he would have been expecting to feature heavily in most games. Given that we are lacking in creative players, and pre season Cureton was quoted as saying Wes might play in the ''hole'' behind the striker(s), it seems strange how Roeder hasn''t given him more time to gel into the side. I think that''s the big problem at the moment. The side haven''t had enough games with a settled line up to go on a run like we did last season - 13 games with a settled line up. (Of course, injuries are partly to blame). The players aren''t used to each others games but they would be with time. I like Roeder''s effort but his lack of patience is astonishing. I still think he''s applying Premier League solutions to a Championship problem, ie try to improve the quality with more and more signings, one false move and your fighting for your shirt again. Lita seems a good idea but does he have the pre season that Cureton had with the likes of Wes, Rusty, Croft where they seemed to develop an understanding? Obviously not, he arrived Friday and with time could be good, except he''ll be back at Reading before we can blink. His appearance is a short term fix that so far hasn''t worked. Teams like Blackpool seem lacking in quality yet are more consistent than us, without any famous names in the side. If Wes goes to Wolves on loan then good luck to him - in some ways we need to decide what our best starting eleven is and with all these wide midfielders around, we never seem to get it right. I can''t believe we sacked Worthy with a point more on the board than we have now. His lack of activity in the transfer market was refreshing, and led to a more settled side, that had a bad patch, from which it would have recovered. He knows this league inside out and we''re yet to find his equal at this level with either of his replacements.  

I have heard that Matthews, after consulting with the Turners, and following Doncaster''s revelations in the local press, has decided to replace the entire playing staff with turkeys in a bid to cut the wage bill. The ''highest flying '' turkey''s wage demands are only 4K a week which halves the reported amount being paid to many current players. He also wants to increase the size of the squad considerably, believing there is room inside Carrow Road for at least 25 000 of our feathered friends and even proposes that the wives and girlfriends be allowed to live there too in order to encourage the creation of the next generation of NCFC players. The only drawback is that squad numbers may be somewhat depleted for the Boxing Day and New Year fixtures. There may also be negative reports in the tabloid press regarding ''roastings'' occurring. The other problem is that Wednesday''s EDP is set to reveal the Sultan of Brunei''s plans to hijack Matthews'' takeover plans, and there is no room in his thinking for turkeys.

[quote user="AndyJR"]Imagine for one moment we did get a peno, who do we all think should take it? [/quote] Good question. The people I wouldn''t want to see striding up to the spot would be Cureton (missed at Cardiff) or Croft (misses chances), or any of the defenders except for Stefanovic. sibi would be best, lupo second. I''d trust the non - Brits with a pen. So Hoolahan too - scored a famous one for Blackpool against PNE. Didn''t fare so well against a certain D Marshall, but that was never a pen and justice was done! Rusty however seems to have succeeded where others have failed in finding that mythical kingdom known as ''the back of the net'' so i wouldn''t mind him having a crack either.