Jump to content

Bobzilla

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    371

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Bobzilla

  2. Posted

    I've got into an awkward situation.  I don't usually drink, and I don't drink at football, but I fancied a cider before the stoke game.  And we won.  An away game that we won.  So I thought 'well, there might be something in this'.  So I had a point of cider before the Ipswich game.  That we won.  

    Then I was at Preston, and the places to get a drink around the ground are all home fans only.  But I still went over to the Catholic social club to get my pint.  And we won.

    Now I'm stuck wondering whether I need to have one if I'm not watching live.  And also wondering how I'll manage it at Birmingham given the early kickoff.

  11. Posted

    4 hours ago, Yellow Fever said:

    I kind of understand the reasoning not to add extra matches -

    Answer is in the event of draw (i.e what would be replay) a nominal tie win awarded to lower league or positioned club automatically!

    The point being the lower club would then get into the next round with more gate receipts anyway even if by default.

    I was thinking that.  Perhaps a choice, play a replay or forfeit.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    1 hour ago, Branston Pickle said:

    Give split tickets a try - am sure that £600 could  be much lower 

    The timing is more of an issue for me, tbh.  In a car I can leave when I like and, barring any accidents on the M6, A14 or A11, I'm golden.  Sure I've got to be concentrating for those 10 hours, but that's OK.

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    2 hours ago, Mello Yello said:

    It takes me a whole walking 26 mins from my front door to sitting in my seat at Carra.....So anyone who travels from afar and spends a substantial amount of their disposable income (or not that disposable for some) to support NCFC....I salute you!....

    Respect.....

    Done it once this year, for the Ipswich game.  Think it cost me about £400 all in for travel and accommodation.  Well worth it, but not something I could do every other week...

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    2 hours ago, Mr Angry said:

    It would probably be quicker to go from Liverpool to Euston, hop on the tube to Liverpool Street then on to Norwich.

    Last time I went to Norwich by train I was living in London. I missed my scheduled one at Liverpool Street due to delays on the tube, had to pay for another ticket, got abused by Ipswich fans, then everyone had to get off the train at Ipswich because a lorry had crashed into a bridge down the line. Had to cadge a lift off someone who had his car parked at Ipswich. We got there with about a minute to spare. I think it might have been the game against Palace where Simon Hooper disallowed Jerome’s overhead goal.

    Yep, quicker to go via London.  And less stress too.

  15. Posted · Edited by Bobzilla

    I live in Wigan.  It is quicker to go into London and back out again for me, even with the (non) coinciding train times.  For Saturday for a 3pm, it's a 7.14 train getting in at 11.43, at a cost of £615 for the pair of us.  The later one, 9.01, gets us in to Norwich at 15.10, but is only £129.

    For Swansea, I can at least get an 8.01 and make the game with 45 minutes to spare.

    However, it's 11.30pm when we get home...

     

    And that with friends and family railcard.  At least I get to leave when I want for the 5 hour drive over, and it's nice in my car.  Leaving at 8 should get me there in time for the match.  But it's a hell of a late night unless we stop somewhere on the way back.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    8 minutes ago, JonnyJonnyRowe said:

    Interesting.

    We know that MA had a meeting with Ben Knapper just before the transfer window "to discuss what he needs" to do business.

    So what we are saying is that MA actually wanted to leave us short of players and for us to fail to win promotion so he can afford to buy a majority stake? Sounds more than a bit shady to me.

    I worked for a company where they intentionally started closing fewer sales to drive down the price for a management buyout, it felt really unethical at the time.

    With Wagner making it very clear that he had asked for players and hadn't been backed, I suspect Wagner will walk at the end of the season if promotion isn't secured. We talk about whether Knapper wants to keep him, given the circumstances you'd have to question why he would want to stay. 

    Every time we fail to win he gets pelters for his subs, and yet he has next to nothing on the bench to use.

    I'm not quite saying that.

    I'm saying the guy has put a truck load in to give us stability.  I think he's in for about £40m so far, which is huge for someone who isn't actually a billionaire (although if he's the front end for an investment consortium there probably is as much again at least behind the vehicle).  However, promotion is expensive - look at how much even a half hearted attempt has cost us over the last 3 years.  It's only a £100m pay day if it costs you no more to run than the championship team that got there. And we all know that's not happening.

    In order for promotion to be worth it for him (and his backers), he needs control, not promises.  So there is no point in him putting more good money in to push for it before we're, and he's, ready for it.  If we get it based on our existing financial position, great.  It means he's buying into a brand that CAN do it on their own, and his money is cementing that position.  If we can't, great, because it gives him an even better bargaining position with D&M.  In short, at this point, his interests are in ensuring our stability rather than pushing for us to get to the prem at a stretch this season.  He won't sabotage, but I'd be surprised to see him bankroll.  This year.

  17. Posted

    5 hours ago, JonnyJonnyRowe said:

    If we're applying relatively here, and knowing that MA is worth somewhere around £560m.

    Then £2m to somebody worth £560m would be like £2 to somebody with £560 in cash.

    Yes I would bet the £2 if I had £560 in my wallet.

    1 - He doesn't have £560m.  At best he has an interest in investments which is worth £560m on a notional basis.  I'm not saying he's brassic, but he does not have £560m under his matress.

    2 - He is in the middle of negotiating a deal with two rather recalcitrant sellers.  At the minute he's put money in to avoid banks disclosing on us.  Until he's agreed a price and a timeline, he didn't want to be giving us a lifetime to promotion as that will push the price up for his ordinary share purchase.

     

    To illustrate, to get control as it stands, it might cost him £10m.  To get control as a premier league club it might cost him £30-50m.  I don't know whether that ever finds its way out of the club and into D&M's hands (I gather that MA`s takeover will be achieved by new subscription rather than share sale), but MA won't want to be giving £40m away for nothing.  You don't make £560m by any measure by doing that.

  18. Posted

    On 11/04/2024 at 22:14, essex canary said:

    I lived 90 miles from Carrow Road for many years. I still had a season ticket and attended many away games. That wasn't easy based on family, work, affordability, travel etc. The logic of what you state though is that rather than negotiate these things and still go to Carrow Road, best not to and take the easy option of just going to away matches instead. In those days though thankfully such a 'lazy' system was not in place though students still went to Uni. How does the Club help Uni students now in relation to home ST'S?

    I live 250 miles from carrow road.  That's basically 5 hours each way.  I bought a home membership because the only match i could watch that coincided with holidays was the Ipswich match, which I fully expected us to draw at best.  And it meant at least one overnight in a hotel.  

    I have an away membership and have been with my son to 6 league away games (would have been 7 if we didn't get Ipswich tickets), Liverpool, and will hopefully be getting tickets to Birmingham as well.

    So two tickets to the most expensive game in the calendar PLUS home membership to get them...  What do I win?

  19. Posted

    On 10/04/2024 at 11:10, essex canary said:

    So reward the loyalists like Supermarkets do. How are all these people who can't make Sheffield on a Tuesday night in April going to find it any easier on a Thursday or Friday night in May? (assuming we get there and extra support in Sheffield may have acted as a 12th man)

    The problem is that NCFC behave more like my now ex car insurance company who put up my renewal by 50% hoping I won't notice. Their suggestion that they can knock off 20% fell on deaf ears.

    Other clubs are available.  I'm fairly sure you won't be missed by their letter answering department...

  20. Posted

    22 hours ago, JonnyJonnyRowe said:

     

    You could however argue that we've known the fixture list since July or whenever, and knew the fixture list in January when we decided to reduce the size of the squad.

    Reducing the size of the squad when in a scrap for 6th place and with potentially 3 extra games to play at the end of the season doesn't look like the brightest idea, and yes we don't know what state we are in financially, but a small cash injection to bring in 1 or 2 additional faces on loan would have been good optics for MA ahead of a potential full takeover wouldn't it? 

    Its amazing really that when you consider how much some clubs spend to get to the Premier League we've left ourselves short of numbers to save what must amount to little more than half a million quid in wages for Forshaw, Springett and Placheta, or perhaps £1m if we include Hwang who was sent home.

    If £1m couldn't be found from somewhere to ensure that we had an adequate number of players to give ourselves some sort of chance at a promotion worth north of £100m in additional revenue, then might have to question whether MA is actually the regime change that we want. There is being fiscally conservative and there is chronic underfunding, a fine line between the two which in January we stepped the wrong side of I fear.

    I do get it, we've got high earners like Giannoulis and Gibson leaving in the summer and need to potentially find some cash for transfer fees to replace them. But a couple of million is surely a worthy punt with a 25% chance of a £100m return. 

    I would bet £2 to guess the number on a four sided dice if you told me I'd get £100 back if guessing correctly.

    Would you bet your last £2 knowing you hadn't eaten in a week?

  21. Posted

    50 minutes ago, Robert N. LiM said:

     

    Funny game, this football, isn't it?! Two posters I really respect with completely opposite views.

    On this I'm with Dylan. Thought it was a tough afternoon for Sam yesterday. Felt like their right wide player had the beating of him. 

    Having kicked the **** out of him early on in the first half without so much as a protest from the ref.  Holmes was a dirty cheating **** yesterday.

  22. Posted

    On 05/04/2024 at 16:31, The Real Buh said:

    Literally no other fan base would allow this to carry on lol

    What exactly are you going to do about it?  What could any fanbase do?  He realistically owns us anyway.  His investment in us very significantly exceeds the net assets of the club (disregarding the difference between cost and market value of our squad).

  23. Posted

    1 minute ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

    Completely agree on the promotion score.

    Re Idah, I don't think anyone's seen the finished product yet with Idah and I think Idah did suffer from the skeptical view of him both this season and last at Norwich. His move to Celtic seems to have turned him into a different player; Celtic really seem to want to keep him now. Yes, it's a different playing environment and some players do better in some places than in others, but I don't think I'm the only one who thinks confidence was the big thing he was short of that was affecting his game for the worse, and that seems to have been changed in his spell at Celtic. Other than that, the qualities that combine to make a really good centre forward have always been there in abundance, hence the club chose to keep pursuing him when others had written him off. He still has plenty of scope to develop.

    Fair point and one I hope is true for him.  Confidence is massive for a striker, but the problem with Idah is that he never seemed to grow in that confidence.  He hit two in one of our earlier games (can’t remember which, Plymouth?) and I was hoping that would give him the confidence, but it fizzled pretty quickly.  Which is a real shame.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    14 hours ago, JamieNorfolk said:

    Today was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. 

     

    The weather, the scenes, the atmosphere, the breakfast in bills before the game, the result & my sons first derby day. My throats in bits & my heads banging, but today for me is all about the memories built with my son - just beautiful. Thank you NCFC you ****ing beauties. 

    Same here mate.  I can’t get to home games because I live the other side of the country - 5 hour drive just to get here, so it was a stay overnight on Friday, back today for me (although I could have got back yesterday given the game time change).  My son had no idea I had tickets until yesterday morning.  Absolutely fantastic boys’ weekend for us.

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...