sgncfc

Yes it''s just you.............we will go straight back up.

[quote user="delboycanary"]Just read that hart has had his appeal turned down so Lewis will be in goal for the U21''s. Good Luck Joe[/quote] Pearce played Scott Loach before when resting Hart. No guarantee that Lewis will get the game.

Yes, I''m sure Simon Lappin, Chris Martin and Michael Spillane were 100% behind Roeder. I suspect they would all say bad words about him and they are not far away at all. And Alan Shearer is on record as saying that Roeder couldn''t cope with the big players at Newcastle and was out of his depth. If you are going to make stuff up, at least make it credible. I agree that Croft was good enough, and I think he will regret leaving us for Derby.

[quote user="blahblahblah"][quote user="sgncfc"] Now that the fixtures are out, how will we do? I forecast 83 points and 4th place, with Leeds and Huddersfield promoted and Swindon, Brentford & Wycombe the others in the play-offs. Relegation for Hartlepool, Carlisle,  Leyton Orient and Stockport. Our 83 points will come despite a poor start which will see us get only 11 points from our first 9 games - I think it will take us a while to get used to it. [/quote] Any chance of a weather forecast for the weekend ?  Or maybe something simple, like the lottery numbers ? [/quote] No problem. Fine and sunny. 6, 12, 23, 27, 43 and 46.

Now that the fixtures are out, how will we do? I forecast 83 points and 4th place, with Leeds and Huddersfield promoted and Swindon, Brentford & Wycombe the others in the play-offs. Relegation for Hartlepool, Carlisle,  Leyton Orient and Stockport. Our 83 points will come despite a poor start which will see us get only 11 points from our first 9 games - I think it will take us a while to get used to it.

Martin Peters by a country mile.

Wow! That''s all a bit positive for this messageboard! Hope you''re ready for the flak that will come your way when the schoolboys and the retired get up in a couple of hours. You can''t talk about hope and being excited on here!

[quote user="Carlos Valderrama"] Well I dont think this is a good deal.  Clingan is the sort of player you build sides around.  He is the right age and has the right amount of talent.  I personally want him to stay. The other thing that wrangles me is the price.  Football has gone money mad these last few seasons so why arent we quoting Cov figures like £3m for Clingan.  Everybody else seems to do it, look at the fight swansea are putting up for 2 members of the backroom team.  I want a chairman like that, someone with some balls and teeth for a fight. [/quote]   I agree with you Carlos. This isn''t a good deal. We have already let Marshall go for less than one third of what Man City are paying for the Sheff Wed keeper. We should be quoting £2m minimum for Clingan and stick to it. BUT he only has a year left on his contract so if he won''t sign an extension he has to go in this window. That is the problem with 2 year contracts and why we should never give them out.

[quote user="GJP"] [quote user="colneycanary"]What did Croft actually do to deserve it? [/quote] Ran his nuts off trying to help Norwich City win games of football. His work rate can''t be underestimated but is by many. Fortunately there are people out there who appreciate it.   [/quote] I voted for Lita and frankly can''t imagine why the rest of you didn''t as he was clearly the best player to wear the shirt last season. Plus it would have embarsased everyone at the club if he had won it.

[quote user="CT "]who do you think is most likely to ''do a norwich'' and totally fold? In my opinion Boro'' are down- they have to win and turn a 4 goal defecit over. So from Sunderland, Newcastle, and Hull, who do you think do a norwich and lose a must win game convincingly? [/quote] I really, really hope Newcastle get hammered. For several reasons but mostly to show what a wazzock blubberfat Mike Ashley was for buying it in the first place when he wasn''t even a proper fan. He bought a toy, and boy has it bitten him on the bum.

[quote user="Icecream Snow"][quote] Only at Norwich could you get a young player who works hard, wins your player of the season award and still gets slaughtered by so many of the experts on the message boards. [/quote] Ultimately we''ve bought him for £600,000, he''s walked away for free. He''s been paid well in excess of £1 million for three years work and is going to warm the bench of another Championship side instead of taking any responsibility for the current mess. Wishing him luck doesn''t come into it. I had absolutely no problems with the likes of Craig Bellamy and Darren Eadie wanting to play at a higher level, but they ensured the club got a very good price for them. Croft has just buggered off at the earliest opportunity. Goodbye Lee Croft, but we certainly didn''t get value for our money. [/quote] Have to say I agree with this one! I''m not in the habit of slagging off players who leave NCFC and I don''t blame Croft for not staying, but why do we have to be so damned grateful to him for costing us so much money? Yes, he worked hard. Yes, he became one of our better players but that isn''t saying much. I certainly didn''t vote for him as POY and I was a bit surprised he got it. I wish he had stayed or that we got a decent fee for him but it sometimes doesn''t work out that way. I don''t see him ever going above average Championship level. Do you really think he would get in Sheffield United''s or Reading''s first XI? But why did he have to say that it has nothing to do with money and that he was really happy here? If he hadn''t said that no-one would care. When people say that we as fans have a right to believe them, but in Croft''s case it is clearly bo***cks because he is leaving! But, please people, he is no City legend. Not remotely close! We have lost a very average player and it''s a sign of the times that so many people are so upset about it - some perspective is needed.

When we won the league our last game was at home to Preston which we won. The Stockport game in the play-off year was also at home. But nevertheless your point is well made - we don''t do well when our last games are away.

Didn''t think he was any better than what we already had, to be honest. Better at home than he was away, when he went awol a lot. I wouldn''t have him back, even in League One - think Drury is a better defender.

I can''t agree with Shacks coming back. He started well, very committed etc but lost his man just like old times in the last few games. As soon as he got settled again I fear we would see the same old faults return. I just don''t think he is mobile enough and he loses concentration. If I was an opposition manager I would target him in every game. Assuming the Doc and/or Stefanovic stays, we need someone young and quick to play alongside them - Spillane for me, with Smith at right back.

[quote user="kdncfc"]Get rid....Lappin isn''t strong enough to play in a league dominated by big brutish type players while Cort as big as he is simply isn''t strong enough and far to injury prone. Nelson I know nothing about but I think I remember reading somewhere that he wasn''t particularly good so get rid.[/quote] Oh, right. You read somewhere that Nelson wasn''t very good so therefore he must go. How extremely bright and intelligent of you - you can read. Wonder why so many of us think this message board is dominated by dickheads.

[quote user="shyster"]sgncfc - [quote]I have no idea if they will do well[/quote] There lies your problem.  [:P]  Dullard. [/quote] So just because I don''t agree with you I''m a dullard or a muppet or some other puerile insult. Well congratulations on your extensive vocabulary. Actually I run a decent business and employ 70 people. Obviously, I am a muppet and I am not entitled to an opinion.

[quote user="First Wizard"] [quote user="Matt Juler"]Enjoy your Saturday''s listening to Radio Norfolk... I''m sure they''ll be someone else happy to snap up your pair of Barclay tickets...[/quote] Don''t bank on that now mug! [/quote] You just don''t get it do you? I am sick of reading all this absolute nonsense on this board - dominated as it is by a few no-brains. Look up the word "support" in the dictionary. Try to understand that those of us who are true supporters really don''t care that a couple of dozen of you won''t go to any games! So what''s new? Even if we are in the Prem in 2 years you will find a reason to snipe and be negative. Most of you talk nonsense and are ill-informed. You make up stuff and then get all high and mighty about it - like you lot would have a clue how to do better. There are maybe 50 or 60 contributors to this board - what makes you think you are representative of 25,000 of us? You''re not and you know nothing. Whats more, if you don''t go to games your opinion is invalid. Just like the plonkers on Radio Norfolk who phone up to say how rubbish we were even though they haven''t been to Carrow Road since the 1970''s. Personally, I will support the Gunn/Crook/Butterworth ticket. I have no idea if they will do well, but given where we are they deserve a chance. I am gutted about relegation but then I actually go to the games. You see, I support Norwich City FC - unlike you lot.

You''re all pathetic!

I used to sell sweets at the ground from one of those really heavy trays that killed your shoulders. I had a "pitch" at the River End and used to get soaked regularly. At half time we would walk around the pitch. Only did it for the free entry to the game, but we would always miss the first 20 minutes of the second half because we were cashing up in a little office under the old Main Stand (before it burned down). They would deduct any shortages from our wages so I frequently earned almost nothing, especially when the away fans grabbed handfuls of sweets and the watching policeman just laughed. My first game was our debut in Div One - against Everton, Jimmy Bone scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. (I think...!)  

My Dad died the summer of our UEFA Cup season. The first thing I did when the final whistle went in Munich at the end of our 2-1 win was have a chat with him, along the lines of "are you watching Dad?, We beat the bloody Germans! Us!" Football and Dads are inseperable. My 18 year old son is now as nuts about NCFC as me and we shared Sunday together - thats what life is. Don''t apologise - rejoice that you had football to share, and cheer, shout and curse even louder now. Don''t care what league we are in. OTBC forever.

[quote user="silver fox"] If Russell put as much effort into trying to mark players, make tackles, closedown opponents, track back, support the forwards, as he does in providing storylines for the Pink Un he might actually contribute something towards the team staying up.  I watched him closely on Monday and for the majority of the game he marked open space, he didn''t close their players down, he strolled around midfield as though he was out for a Sunday walk.  He writes that we shouldn''t be where we are and cannot understand it, well quite simply Russell it is because we have had too many players like you in the team all season. I felt sorry for Clingan as he didn''t have a midfield partner.  Gunn should have put young Korey Smith in and he would have put in a better performance. Whatever happens on Sunday Russell must be one of those we ship out at the end of the season, and he can easily be replaced by either Spillane or Smith. [/quote] The scary thing is that the article indicates yet again that the players still think they will get out of it. I am convinced that at no point so far have they truly believed they were going to be relegated, and they still don''t. When bookies have you as 1/12 to go down it''s time you started thinking it was more than a possibility, but just like at Fulham 4 years ago, the team will turn up thinking all will be well. I have little hope.....

[quote user="Pastry"]That would be the Shackell who lost his man for both Reading goals ? [quote user="CANARYCHARGE"]If the board seriously want to start to get us out of this mess, then shakell is amust..... i do think we need rebuild and he has developed so much since he went to wolves, i for one would welcome him back! [/quote][/quote]   Spot on! Shackell is extremely average and not worth spending money on. He loses his man frequently at set pieces.

Charlton 2 Norwich 1, Plymouth 1 Barnsley 2

[quote user="Camuldonum"] Here is a curious thing: last year, Mr C was 40th in the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated worth of £1.7 billion. This year he does not appear on the list at all.  Either it is an oversight by the list compiler or they know something we don''t. Has he been badly hit? Yes - but still not exactly "on his uppers" as they used to say.  I certainly don''t think he is currently worth anywhere near £1.7b at the moment. [/quote] The so called "Rich List" is complete garbage anyway! I personally know at least a dozen people who should be in it and I would imagine every single wealth advisor or decent IFA will know at least a dozen each. The really rich and powerful keep their heads well below any radar and miles away from prying journo''s. It''s only the ones who want the attention that you ever hear about, or those involved in "public" areas who can''t keep out of the limelight. Cullum isn''t in it because Towergate were re-negotiating their banking covenants and the compilers couldn''t accurately assess his wealth. They couldn''t anyway because he owns a lot more stuff than they know about, but thats the reason they give.

[quote user="thebigfeller"][quote user="sgncfc"] I agree that Big Fella''s post is superb - so nice to see some intelligent, structured comment on what is usually a kiddies rant site. Just one thing omitted in my opinion and that is the effect of Sky money and player greed during the period of our demise. Very few boards or managers could have done anything vastly differently in my opinion because of this millstone. Put simply, wealth cascades downwards. So we now have clubs like Newcastle and Middlesbro about to leave the Prem despite their wealthy backers, because most of the clubs above them have BIGGER wealthy backers. The successful Championship clubs (with one or two notable exceptions) also have wealthy backers. The reason we, Charlton and Southampton are going further down the tree is because we can no longer even compete with this level. Our backer isn''t big enough. Look at the clubs coming up from League One. Look at the ones making moves upwards in League Two and the Conference. With almost no exceptions they have financial muscle. When you have a player like Lee Croft supposedly after £9,000 a week it illustrates the problem. I like Crofty as a player. He works hard. But lets be honest, even if he may be the best player in the 42nd best football club in England is he really worth this kind of money? Let me re-state that - He may be the best player at the 42nd best club in England. He is in his early 20''s and he wants almost half a million pounds a year in salary. In a recession. From a club about to be in the Third Division. What income does he generate? How many people pay to see him? Would 1200 people not go every week if he wasn''t here? Crucially - why does he think he should get this kind of reward for failure? But he can easily get that at 20 of the 41 clubs ranked above us. Maybe more.That''s our problem. Yes, Doncaster is an overpaid, incompetent, uncommunicative buffoon. Yes, Delia and MWJ have made mistakes. Yes, our managers have been poor. But all in all while the Liverpools and Chelseas and Man Utd''s cream the money and make everyone else sprint to keep up, those of us who can''t have no chance. So Mr Scouser, I accept your tinted memories with the good grace they were offered - but please don''t try to pretend that you are not part of our problem. Until the FA and the Premiership sees the bigger picture and  redistributes the cash or Sky withdraws the big bucks, we and clubs like us have no chance. [/quote] Sure, modern football''s changed. But does that either explain or excuse the cascade (to use a word you employed) of mistakes the board have made throughout their tenure? No - no it does not. What does SKY''s hold over the EPL have to do with their inertia for a whole year when Worthington should''ve dismissed, and ridiculous appointments of Grant, Roeder and Gunn (not that the latter is to blame in any way)? Nothing. Instead, it''s given them a ready made excuse: "We can''t compete. Football isn''t fair." But that spineless attitude is a complete betrayal of the fans of this club: as I said, the board prioritise community over winning, and look where it''s got us. The two year window of parachute payments has made it very difficult for clubs who fall out of the EPL if they don''t get back within that period - but that means the board needed to be at their most focused and on the ball between 2005 and 2007, yet they proved the exact opposite. Failing to dismiss Worthington - then hedging their bets, and refusing to back him properly in the transfer market either - was utterly disastrous. The repercussions have left us where we are today; yet the board learnt so little from the saga that, as Barry has said, they even tried to get him back a few months ago! Meanwhile, Charlton and Southampton are in such a dire position because of boardroom incompetence worse than or at least equal to our own. Charlton spent two seasons'' worth of money in a single summer when Curbishley left and Dowie was appointed; then panicked and sacked Dowie prematurely; then appointed the ludicrous Les Reed! Relegation devastated them, because they''d overspent so catastrophically. And Saints, who already had a bloated, largely useless squad under Harry Redknapp, gave George Burley crazy amounts of money to spend when he was appointed - because their board thought a large transfusion of cash was about to come their way via external investment. But the investment didn''t happen, meaning they had one chance to gain promotion or be destroyed. When Derby knocked them out of the 2007 play-offs on penalties, the die was cast: they were *this* close to administration that very summer, and the slide has continued ever since. What the parachute payments system has done is separate the wheat from the chaff: the well, ruthlessly run clubs from the lazy, ineptly run ones. For a club our size to be relegated from this league, you have to be run with the most staggering level of incompetence: that certainly applied to Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City when they went down; it applies to Charlton, Southampton and Norwich now. But it doesn''t apply to West Brom, Birmingham, Reading, or at a more moderate level Crystal Palace; and it certainly doesn''t to Stoke, Hull, Preston or Burnley. All smaller clubs than ourselves; all doing very nicely thankyou. Good grief: Blackpool have stayed up for a second straight season, Doncaster have survived as well - how can they do it, but not us? Answer: our board. [/quote]   I am not excusing the board''s mistakes, but all of the clubs you mention, except perhaps Doncaster, have very wealthy backers. And they won''t survive long in the Championship without one. We could have had one too if our board had been more open and honest about things last summer.