Fromage Frais

[quote user="Redders Right Foot"]i think under any normal season, 6 points from playoffs would be enough to give hope with even just 10 games left, let alone 19. this season is far from over, we can''t take our eyes off of either end of the table right now. really need to reinvest some of that pritchard money[/quote] I agree From what I have seen at home and heard on the commentary today we can make clear improvements. Specifically up front and some heft in midfield to help tetty

[quote user="keelansgrandad"]England International Barkley going to Chelsea for £15M. Maybe that is all we can expect for Maddison.[/quote] Contract up at end of the season. At full price Barclay 30 million JM 10-15

[quote user="king canary"]Only just saw the price- "They are keen to at least get their money back after paying £8.5million for Pritchard,24, in August 2016 from Tottenham. But the Carrow Road club are likely to end up making a small profit if Pritchard goes. Pritchard is now fit again and got on the scoresheet on Boxing Day with his first of the season after recovering from ankle surgery." We should be looking to make more than a ''small profit.''[/quote] Signed for a good price to confirm promotion..... did not happen.... and does not look like happening this year. Better to get top-dollar now than firesale later personally I would rather sell Maddison but it looks like we will have to sell one to keep the other. It may even make us a better team if we can get some pace and width in the team. Prichard is fantastic at this level I don''t think he is fast enough for the top half of the prem so anything north of 10 million is fair value 12/13m. Ironically probably worth more in this division than in the premier league.

[quote user="GJP"]If he was a striker with lightning pace and about 20 league goals this season then you might get £25m from someone. Even if he was amazing (which he isn''t) people will know we need the money and will take much less than £25m and probably much less than £20m.[/quote] 8-12 million any more well done If I was a top 5 champs team with a sugar daddy I would prefer Prichard, that ability to shuffle and get a shot off and on target when faced with a parked bus defence. If I was a middle prem team I would prefer a Murphy as you need that pace. lovely tidy player but is he going to help you avoid relegation from the Premier League? The top teams have plenty of talented technically gifted players and most likely would prefer someone from a lower prem team when you get to 25 million +

[quote user="Yellowbeagle"]A huge player for us an pretty much has been since he arrived, when he''s been out through injury even in the premier league our form has always suffered. When fit he''s the best player in the championship at what he does, but thats also the big problem he has a dodgy knee, is nearly 32 and probably one of our high earners so in a time of hard decisions i would understand the club possibly letting him go. However the club should never have gone into this season without a real defensive midfielder to compete and fill in for Tettey.[/quote] Yes its so obvious that I cannot believe we have not recruited a combative defensive midfielder. Many of the issues in the poor performances have come from the powderpuff centre. We had a link to Hanno Behrens at some stage who at 1.87 and 13 stone + looked like potentially like the hard man we needed forTetty to pass the baton along to.

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Dean Coneys boots"]Two posts above claims Ed Balls went out of his way to say the board would like to hear from investors. I say look carefully at what he actually said "We would always welcome a helping hand..." Let me translate that for you. We are going nowhere but if you want to help- by giving us your money to spend- yes please! A long way from ''we would sell for the good of the club''. That wont happen because it is a nice little nest egg for nepotism Tom.... And only a moron would give the investment minus the control.[/quote]Not true. He never said "We would always welcome a helping hand." The "helping hand" phrase was used by the EDP not as a quote but as a questionable assumption in trying to summarise what Balls had said. Balls never specified that he was talking only about minority investment. I took a note of what he said and it went like this:"If there are people out there who believe in this football club who want to invest in Norwich City our doors are open. We aren''t in any way close-minded about new investment. If someone came along who believed in the club and its values and wanted to invest in this football club we would engage without any hesitation. Although we would want to know if it was going to work for the long-term benefit of Norwich City FC."[/quote] I agree why the hell would you ever by a minority share in a loss-making business in a high-risk market. Its not really an investment unless you own the whole thing or at least a % so can do as you like.

[quote user="keelansgrandad"]Apologies but I am not quite getting the assumption about money meaning success. And if all football has been reduced to is how wealthy your owners are and how much they will invest over the top of the normal running costs, then I will be happy to follow my club even in L2 downwards as long as they play football. Even if we were to get a new wealthy owner prepared to spend large sums then I don''t see how we develop from there. How much is enough? Who do you bring in to spend it? Is the ground big enough to cater for all the hangers on who would attend? Does it spell the end for the youth scheme? What would the ladies team be called (TIC)? Do we boo at home when we only draw? Dinosaur I may be but this isn''t what it is about.[/quote] I agree when its a spending contest why bother with the football. I am so narrow-minded I do not even like the current model I would very much prefer to be like Athletic Bilbao A limit of say 3/4 brought in players and the rest have to come through our academy. For coaches also Maybe this football bubble has years to run but anything that needs outside money to keep it going is at risk of collapse.

Good example. 14 million is less than we would want for Maddison. Unfortunately/fortunately we are doing well enough to not be a bargain. Should we be relegated/dire financial stress and going for peanuts that is probably the time the folks will come out of the woodwork.

[quote user="Rhubarb"]I looked up the word investor (which is the same as han hinvestor)''is a person that allocates capital with the expectation of a future financial return''Could someone please explain how, where and when this financial return is made.....................an example as well might help[/quote] It won''t be In football, i can only see 3/4 risky business models which look like you may get profits. a) Being massive like Manchester United/arsenal and spend less than what you get in. b) being in the premier league and staying up whilst not spending the dough (works for maybe 2 years max as the players good enough to keep you there want more wages. This then catches up with you and down you go. c) buying a medium-sized or sleeping giant club and getting them promoted to the premier league and then flogging them once you get there. d) Being a well-run club and make money from player trading Plan A will not happen as even teams in much larger cities do not meet this requirement. teams like Chelsea and Manchester City are happy to loose hundreds if millions trying to get to A. Plan B been there and done that and failed Plan C is what all the others are trying to do spending silly money. You''re not going to get someone who is going to want to pay what the club is worth and do this. Aston Villa went for 60/70 million £ apparently so how much are we worth? http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10287003/aston-villa-sold-to-chinese-company-owned-by-dr-tony-xia With the team looking mid table maybe you better buying from someone in distress assuming you are going to have to completely overhaul the team anyhow. The latest premier league club guesstimates value Brighton at 132 million in the premier league are we even worth 50 million outside it say Delia sells for 40 million and you have a real go at it how much would you have to spend to guarantee promotion and thus avoid financial fair play etc quite possibly 50 million again leaving a crappy return of 30 million once promoted......if you do Plan d is where we are and you are only as good as your recruitment team if they are good then you may challenge for the playoffs. This is the prudence with ambition model. Then that just leaves the option of a crazy rich nutter deciding to waste hundreds of millions for no logical reason whatsoever.

Our business plan is to develop and sell for profit. N O is a good player but is he pulling up trees? I would sell for 7m + tbh. If we were in the top 6 come Jan maybe I would have second thoughts but given the poor form what the hell.

Just a comment about that. Those sports are individual sports you may be a fan of those people but in a way it is a purer form of capitalism than football for example. With football its your team many people go religiously and its woven into the fabric of their identity. So if you charge 10,000£ a ticket for a Mayweather fight unless your his close relative you not compelled to go. But by charging say £60 a ticket for the football your pricing out people may well have wanted to go previously. Additionally with those other sports your going to watch a contest/spectacle not usually the individual/team. They play crap they make less money. This brings me to my bugbear why are we spending so much money to watch a game which is fundamentally unfair? More subscriptions required for the tv, higher prices and a worse level of competition. The players may cost 10 million now in the championship but why they are no better than before. Football to me is not big business as business is about making money, in football the agents and players make money.....most of the teams dont. Its more akin to the Prime London property market where a terrace can be 20 million and get 1% rental return ....the reason a huge bubble caused by the criminals and dictators of the world putting their money here for vanity or laundering purposes. How much does a team get for winning the champions league and premier league? Premier league 150.8m (1st place) champions league 100 million euros so say £ So if you win the lot you can win 250 million £+ which is unlikely and teams are spending 50-100 million on individual players + wages. Dont even get started on PSG what a joke. Its a bubble as soon as it pops it will be a crater as the players worth 50 million will be worth a lot less and the balance sheets are all screwed. That day does not even have to be a disaster it only has to be the day when less people watch the premier league than they did before = smaller revenues. Sky TV suffers fall in viewers of live Premier League games https://www.ft.com/content/45e8a3e8-4d1e-11e7-a3f4-c742b9791d43 Is the unthinkable happening – are people finally switching the football off? https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/24/sky-sports-bt-sport-people-switching-football-off The English Premier League''s viewership drop spells danger for the future of sports on TV http://uk.businessinsider.com/heres-what-the-english-premier-league-viewership-drop-means-for-the-future-of-live-sports-2017-1 ETC ETC The transfers are going up and up but it looks like the TV deal may not be so large next time and BT may not be in for them like before. Apparently the auction starts in February and we may be in a scenario of falling tv money and rising expenditures........not good If revenues do fall it will hit mid/small sized teams the most and the league will have to make a tough choice be more like the NFL with spending limits and even competition or go like Spain where Manchester United/Chelsea/liverpool etc fans can pay per view and pretty much dominate like Real and Barcelona.

[quote user="Indy_Bones"]You mean the ''Age addled, z-list celebrity'' who has done more for this club than you ever will?The one who has used their own personal wealth to the tune of millions to keep this club going and who has given us Premier League football in 4 out of the past 6 seasons?And what exactly have you contributed during our owners tenure that makes you so much better - f**k all, is the honest answer...[/quote] I could understand all this if Mr Qián was waiting with 20 billion and the owners where refusing ...... but they are not.

[quote user="Captain Birdseye"]What is clear is the current set up is going to be a disaster but there needs to be a longer term aim here The problem is the stowmarket 2. Instead of jumping to soon and asking for the head of the German we need to wait for it to get really really bad Only then must the fans rise and finally drive out the real issue the cook and nepotism Tom Short term pain for long term gain has to be the strategy for those fans who have worked up ownership is the issue and not the the coaches or players A disaster this time will leave the cook no where to hide[/quote] I just dont get this. Rather than bully an elderly couple go and find a Chinese billionaire in-fact any billionaire then persuade them to by us. Once you find them get them to make a decent offer and then complain as that would than be a case of them holding the club back.. We need a BILLIONAIRE to achieve what you want nothing less. There are only 134 in the uk. http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/richest-person-in-east-anglia-has-a-fortune-of-9-66bn-1-5004255 Who is the richest Norwich fan you know? It has to be someone stupid enough to spend 100m on the club and another 50-100m at least on players right now to compete for promotion as decent champs players are 6-10 million+. So really you need a multi billionaire as even a billionaire would need to spend 10-30% of their net worth to guarantee us a stable premiership place. Dont forget Marcus Evans is worth 750 million and is on that list the 5th riches person in east anglia do they outspend us? Have they had more recent success? I dont see the point of complaining at this stage about ownership unless you have a proceed-able alternative with a net worth over 3 billion?

[quote user="Hardhouse44"]Maddison, Vrancic, Hoolahan and Reed. That has to be the most lightweight, pedestrian midfield in the entire football league. Zero pace zero strength. Ok. We know with the ball at their feet and acres of room the look talented but with hard fighting, burley players in their faces the are miles away from the right mix. 3 luxury players and a defensive midfield midget. Add in the 4th luxury in Murphy. Yes he has the pace but not the bite or the bottle to make up for the others. It''s a disaster created by a clueless manager who''s understanding of the English game at or level is also ZERO!![/quote] This is what I am thinking also. In any sport with a physical aspect I was always coached that you have to match the fight and physicality of the opposition and then earn the right o play to good stuff. Having a midfield of number 10s is not going to cut it at all. Second half against Charlton I liked the sound of Tetty and Trybull words like agressive where used.....more of that or buy that please

I was positive like many but I hope the manager learns quickly. Webber talks a good game and he will need to sack DF to save his own skin within 10 games or so if this does not change, I can only assume where he has coached has had teams where playing football is more important than the result as in B teams like the one himself was manager of. In the championship is a fight and you have to physically fight even harder for the right to play nice football. The team today was always going to loose whee was the power or the pace? Maddison is not a bad player neither is Mario V or Hoolahan obv but the 3 of them? Additionally Reed is not that fast or that big either. It would have been better to have the second half team from Charlton the other night out there with tetty and trybull. Of the 3 creative players mentioned I would only play one at any time you need players to win the ball and give to them and b players with pace to run in behind to receive it.

Ironically from the stats on the clubs website it looked like we had less possession. So the difference seems to be as you say exactly more defence and more directness

[quote user="king canary"]Gunn Pinto, Zimmerman, Franke, Husband Reed Wildschut, Maddison, Wes, Murphy Nelson[/quote] Looks fair to me although I would prefer a box to box mid in place of either wes or maddison. Whats this Stiepermann guy like? Is he that guy

No need to be mega fast. He can whip the ball in and let it do the work. Plenty of times he was in a position to do so rather than play it safe an pass on the responsibility

[quote user="Indy"]One thing to remember, Farke isn''t Wagner and we''re jumping to the conclusion that Farke is as good a first team coach as Wagner! Dangerous! Having seen what Huddersfield did to Palace was pleasing to see. I''m still at a loss to why Webber jumped ship when he did, surely the sensible thing to have done was to wait till the end of the season before committing to us. One thing we can conclude, Webber departing Huddersfield hasn''t had much of a negative impact on them. It''s early days and I''m liking the new set up, but still reserve my judgment on just how good they are till next summer. We might be expecting more than these guys can deliver, time will tell.[/quote] In his defence Directors have a short term impact when things are bad and need sorting. When things are all running lovely your not missed for a while its not like a team manager or a player the rot or standards fall over time.

I was at the match and it was all very interesting. but it was also very worrying as despite all the nice passing and the obvious effort in training to facilitate this we mostly did bugger all. Sunderland literally did not have to do anything 4 - 4 - 2 keep their shape and wait for the chances. After all the hype if all a side has to do to beat us is play a static 442 we will struggle. My Father bless him being from a uglier football era gave Farke 15 games and predicted he would be sacked. The passing has to be a means to an end the end being the fashioning of chances or incidents that have a probability of creating chances. We spread out back three wide and instantly you could see this is great for moving the ball as a team up the pitch.....but a out/hoof ball to a decently mobile striker is going to get goals against us. I dont care if we score a few more than them but 2 shots on goal? Also I think the midfield with the ball is great without it its physically weak and slow S Naismith is too slow and weak physically and reed although a lovely player is not fast enough when play breaks. I dont know if Stiepermann is this guy but I think the balance would be greatly improved by a dynamic physically stronger player who can catch other midfielders when we loose the ball.....and/or is no so slow he can shot shots from outside the box. If this player can also drive into the box happy days at this level I miss Bradley Johnson do they have a german version? madders is a lovely player really like him but I would never have him and sn in same midfield if he is not playing as a 10. To quote the late Graham Taylor who''s football was all about effectiveness. “People talk about a direct approach, what I say is there are only two ways you can pass a ball – for someone in to space, or to someone in to their body. If you pass it in to space all of the time you will lose possession of the ball, if you pass it to someone all of the time you will not turn the opposition, so you’ve got to get the balance right if you are going to have a direct approach." Read more at https://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/tactics/graham-taylor-playing-long-ball#VT11IDWbTHWB07s0.99 I am not saying we play long ball but we went to far the other way to the extent where we hardly crossed or turned the opposition. James Husband and YW got into some lovely positions to swing a ball in but rather do so the cut back and passed it back. Giving the defenders time to get in line set and facing play. This situation improved with the subs so my humble opinion is swap SN for another midfielder with more athletic ability. play murphy and or tell watkins to run in the channels and cross that ball Husband and Pinto/YW to cross the ball once our lovely passing gets them in a position to do so.

How can you beat the recent example of Murphy. Get a reasonable wage do well for a season and then become a multi millionaire. If your at a richer club they may hold onto you a bit too long. Unless they pay over 5-10k a week in the under 23s there what is the point.

My speculation/bull I think this recruitment team have many irons in the fire. Maybe reading have offered circa 10 million and its acceptable but they do not agree to let him go unless they have someone else who may or may not come in. Just because a price may be agreed does not mean he will be allowed to go. In that scenario you have folks in Reading thinking they have a deal and of course no deal this side.

I like this signing 22 and a bit stale there. Looking at some of the reports from when he was 19 they thought he was going to be international quality. Make or break for him now time to move out and see if he can swim. The good thing is that this lads strengths are work rate/drive, commitment and breaking up play.....pillars of the champ and something we lost with Bradley Johnson. Skillful lightweights are more of a risk than "pit bulls" so i am quietly confident.

[quote user="damn that Ralph Coates!"][quote user="Lessingham Canary"] like Hooper was[/quote] Hopper had some ability to shield the ball and a nice powerful strike on him. You thought when you saw him that he would score goals if he had the opportunity. IF being the word as his lack of physical attributes reduced those chances when playing in the Premier league. Ergo he is at the right level now it seems

I would put money on Cameron Jerome getting 30 goals a season in that league. RVW nice guy but totally unsuited to the game here and the role we had for him. Teams these days press and defend from the front so a "fox in the box" is rare especially when in the Premier league we are a smaller team with one up front. I struggle to remember a player with such a combination of weakness, lack of pace or aggression. he must be made of 95% confidence