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sgncfc

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Everything posted by sgncfc

  1. By the time he makes his offer, the way the club is going £25 a share will look like he's overpaying.
  2. A great example of how a manager can improve a player. He'll never be as good for anyone else or anywhere else so hopefully for him Howe stays for a few more years. One of the relatively few players Norwich have sold over many years who have gone on to reach the heights of the game.
  3. I think this is spot on - BUT it would help if Wagner didn't keep messing with a performing team with really, really stupid substitutions which in the last 3 games have probably cost us 6 points. Whoever is telling him to do it should move on....
  4. This. Unfortunately some "supporters" think that individual results are the only thing that matters and as soon as you have a Board or a SD who thinks that then a club like Norwich will never find itself. Before everyone shouts me down - it's about performances, commitment, heart and soul. That's what football is. That's why we played it and that's why we watch it. It's about going with your family or your mates. It's about the highs and the lows - not just the always the same (supporting Man City must be really boring!) Yesterday was classic Wagner Norwich City. Lucky to be 2-0 up at half time, having played OK but conceded several big chances Leeds didn't take, we were then completely in control until our manager, for reasons known only to him, replaces Hernandez (our out ball down the left side who had played well and terrified one of their star players all game) with Tony Springett, who swaps wings with a clearly knackered John Rowe. I don't know why Rowe can't see out a game fitness wise, I just know he can't. I also know Springett is not the player to bring on in that situation. If Hernandez needed changing it should have been for Placheta - another speed merchant to match theirs,and their tactical switch, and much more defensively adept. Within seconds our substitute keeper (not good enough for Millwall, but fine for our supposedly aspirational club) makes a horlicks at his near post. It happens. But we're still winning until we contrive to give their best player two of the easiest goals he'll ever get. The first was a decent shot that no one closed down, the second was just5 a gimme. Our keeper didn't get within 3 yards of either. No pressure, no strategy, no on field captain screaming at his absent covering midfielders, no sprinting, no teamwork etc. We then spent almost 15 minutes passing it to anyone not in the same colour shirt. For 60 minutes they were our team. For the next 30, instigated by a manager who is tactically clueless (but we've had loads of them before) they were the embodiment of embarrassment. It hurt a bit more that it was a tactical change by the man we dumped that we couldn't deal with. There are lots of reasons why we lost yesterday but the main one was the manager, not the players. It should have been a good day - he made it a bad one. All that commitment, heart and soul disappeared. All that belief gone. When we had Webber and Farke as a team, we never lost that, even in defeat. There was always the promise that if we stuck to our ways it would all be OK. Not any more. What it will be is average at best. That's why it all feels so depressing; there's very little to hope for beyond trying to stay within 10 points of 6th place until Barnes and Sargent come back. Our new young SD has the chance to start again. Bring in a young, hungry manager to work with, tell the supporters what the plan is and to be patient. Keep Sara and Rowe. Get rid of Hwang and Idah. Play the lad from Man City up front or recall Kamara. A new beginning. Wagner, Andy Hughes at al should be gone by Christmas. They are safe mid-table. We need hope and laughter again. And by the way, what does Danny Baath need to do to get a game?
  5. No, the squad is clearly not good enough. We are a mid-table Championship team currently being managed and coached by a mid-table Championship manager and coaching staff and run by a mid-table Championship Board and Sporting Director. However, there is now (finally) some hope that might change. We are keeping our heads just above water financially until Attanasio and his new appointments step in. Let's see how that all pans out. In the meantime, just enjoy the occasional victory because that's all we're getting.
  6. Following our second promotion, Cantwell was set up as our "main man". Along with Gilmour, he started against Liverpool in the first game and he had right there, the complete trust of his manager and colleagues and the support of almost 27,000 people who desperately wanted him to show he still had it and could step up. Cantwell could have been our new Buendia, our new Hoolahan. He had the skill and ability, we all knew that because we'd seen it. Within minutes of the start it was pretty obvious his heart wasn't in it. The rest of the team were pretty rubbish too but he was anonymous. He either wasn't good enough or couldn't be bothered enough at that point, and that was effectively his Norwich career down the pan because he never really recovered. He had more chances but disappointed in every game. He simply couldn't or wouldn't live up to his billing. That's why he lost his place. That's why he was shipped off to Bournemouth, where incidentally he barely played. Not because of managers or coaches or being isolated. We did very well to get anything for him at all, given his refusal to sign a contract extension and the fact that at that point 3 coaches had pretty much given up on him. Blaming everyone but himself is just classic Cantwell; there was always an excuse. Gilmour had an even worse time but since then he's reset, got his head down, kept his counsel and is doing well at Brighton like a proper professional footballer should. Cantwell - not so much. Too much talking as ever and not enough doing.
  7. The Premier League title race was fun but we didn't win it - when we needed to show up against Man Utd at home, we didn't. The games in Europe were fun but we didn't win it. Lambert's first season was fun but apart from the effervescent Holt and a couple of others, the football was effective rather than free-flowing. Never before did we play the football, with the kind of sprit and connection, so frequently that we played under Farke in that first title winning season. Almost every game was a joy. Saying "if not for Buendia and Pukki" is a bit silly. If not for Holt and Hoolahan. If not for Huckerby. Every team has stand out players - if not for Rowe and Sara we would be in the bottom 3. That team also had several other players who contributed massively - Krul, Vrancic, Stiepermann, Godfrey, Zimmermann, Lewis, etc. Farke doesn't have a Buendia or a Pukki at Leeds - let's see where they finish. Football doesn't begin and end in the premier league - that league is the outlier; the vast majority of football across the world is in a better shape and more interesting to watch than anything in the premier league. Just because it has the most money doesn't make it the "best" league, just the most financially rewarding.
  8. Farke gave us 2018-19; the best season in my 60 odd years of supporting this club. For that I will always love him. But we all know he's got no idea how to manage a club in the EPL, so getting his Leeds team there will be an interesting watch. I'd rather he took second place than the scum so we can beat them again in the playoffs.
  9. So much goes on without supporters knowing about it. So he's on £5k a week at 20 - that's £250,000 a year, and yet everyone goes, "Oh, is that all?" He's got 18 months left on his deal apparently plus the club has an option, so this contract lasts for another two and a half years until he can walk for free. He's played a handful of games. He has yet to perform well for a complete game of 90 minutes; he's had a number of good 30 minutes at a time but still can't last a game. Who knows where he'll be in two and a half years time? It makes perfect sense that the club would wait and see. Rumour is that an agent will always ask for a release clause in a new contract at this stage. So does he gets his new 3 or 4 year deal at £15k a week, a promotion bonus and a decent release, or do we as the club sit tight for a few months to see where he goes? The club hold all the cards at the moment. If Palace or Villa come in with £20m in January they can have him. But they won't. If Rowe finishes the season with 20 goals and 10 assists he'll get his new contract, or we'll get our £20m, or both.
  10. I'm still not sure that anyone has addressed the issue of Attansasio effectively acquiring the club for an amount way below it's market value. I simply don't understand why the purchase wasn't accompanied by a contractual commitment to donate further funds to the club to make up at least some of the difference in value. All D & M got was two small loans to help with cashflow.
  11. Rowe or Sara only leave if a stupid offer comes in. We will have learned a lesson by keeping Aarons and Cantwell for too long - both should have been sold on much earlier. That cost us £20m or so. More likely that we move Idah on and Kamara comes back from Pompey.
  12. Getting back on topic.....with 28 points from 11 games, the Binners need just 47 more from 35 games to qualify for the playoffs. That's 1.34 per game, or 12 wins, 11 draws and 12 defeats. So mid table form from here on in will get them to at least 6th. Their form would have to fall off a cliff for them not to make the playoffs. I think they are catchable for the top two but not by us, unfortunately. Leeds, Southampton and possibly Middlesbro have the best chance. I think Coventry then make up the top 6. I've always had us as mid table, even with the good start.
  13. Salary caps aren't illegal, they're just contrary to common sense. The best people in any field get paid the most money. What we need to stop is undeserved reward, so that salaries are fair. But players will get what they can. Paying Ben Gibson over £40k per week is simply nonsensical, as is paying the SD of an average Championship club a basic of several hundred thousand pounds a year, but it isn't their fault that people are prepared to pay it. Let's be honest though - what else are you going to do with the money if not pay salaries? Pay dividends to shareholders? For as long as "contracts" form the basis of employment in professional sport it isn't fixable. Equally, results based remuneration is difficult when among 92 clubs there are effectively only ever going to be a maximum of 15 which achieve anything in any given season. The one thing I would do is cap the price of tickets - make clubs manage their own finances more efficiently.
  14. It's fairly well evidenced that success in the Championship is not something that is down to the amount of money invested in the squad. I'm sorry if that doesn't sit right with some on here, but with the exception of the Wolves side promoted a few years ago almost none of the promoted sides of the last 10 years have spent big money. We did it twice ourselves without spending much. On the two or three occasions over the last 20 years when we've had the most expensive squad in the division we've been useless. The best current example of the hugely wealthy owners, no success result is Stoke City. Their owner is worth over £8bn. They spent a fortune in the summer. They're 20th. Success in the EFL depends on finding the right person or team of coaches/managers whatever you wish to call them. Ipswich have shown that. We showed it. Burnley. Luton. Fulham. The man/woman at the top has to fit. When Webber/Farke came in, it took over a season but something clicked. We made a huge, massive error in sacking Farke without also sacking Webber. If one went, they should both have gone. For me, with Webber on the way, his replacement needs to get rid of Wagner and bring in his own man/woman (and I'd be delighted with Emma Hayes as our manager, but we couldn't afford her).
  15. Some very short memories on here. Andy Marshall became a decent enough keeper but in his first year was the sole reason we got relegated from the PL. Krul had some good games and was clearly a big dressing room presence but again cost us dearly with his various errors. Even the mighty Keelan made the occasional howler. Gunn really is the least of our problems.
  16. I'm not really sure why Forshaw and Baath aren't in the starting 11. Very experienced at this level.
  17. Leicester changed their starting line up precisely because their manager recognised we would prepare for the way they played against Southampton. Wagner got it half right in the first half, with the extra man in midfield and not pressing their keeper. But Leicester switched to feeding their flanks rather than coming through the middle - McAteer and Mavididi were their only two danger men in the first half, their midfield was nullified completely. Stacey and Giannoulis generally still coped well, even with a lack of cover, especially from Rowe, until that one error by Fassnacht which resulted from Stacey losing the ball higher up the pitch. The second half was a different tactical battle because we were behind. If we had held them to 0-0 at half time I doubt Wagner would have changed anything. Leicester could still have brought on their 5 PL quality subs though, and would have done to try to win the game, which they probably still would have done. I think they just have better players and more of them. I was reminded of a game against Wolves in their promotion season which was very similar - they seemed to have all the luck. It's funny how often better players and teams seem to have all the luck......
  18. I wouldn't expect anyone to fully invest in a football club if they are not majority owners. I think this is very much an interim stage and assuming all goes according to plan over the next three years, I think it likely that Attanasio will then buy DS and MWY out. Of course it's possible that DS and MWJ will give some shares to the CT but even if they hold a large minority there isn't much they can do to block anything. They would get a voice at the table, but that's all. I still don't really understand though why Attanasio is being allowed to acquire his large minority so cheaply. He could end up owning an asset worth £150m for about a sixth of what it's actually worth and making some serious interest on his loans. I realise that DS always said she would take no profit - but why should that mean Attanasio gets such a bargain?
  19. If we'd drawn on Saturday as we deserved to and drawn again tonight as we deserved to, we'd be one point worse off but we'd all be happy. I was pleased with the tactical change in the second half and I thought Idah and Placheta did well when they came on. One poor challenge for the penalty was really the only difference between the teams in the end.
  20. This one is down to Wagner. Wrong team playing against a Leicester side with 5 changes who are playing completely differently to expected. Out thought by Maresca, I'm afraid. Rowe, Gibbs and Fassnacht all awful so far. Gibson almost as bad. We have nothing to aim for up front; no control or tempo. Let's see what Wagner has in mind to get back in it. Personally, I'd put Idah on.
  21. That almost happened in League One last year, and it isn't impossible by any means. Having said that the Champs is a much more even league and it's still likely that anyone with 2 points per game is promoted automatically. I agree that remains the target over the season - I don't much care where we are in the league table in October.
  22. Andy O was the surprise, not Jonny Rowe. He came from almost nowhere and we've cashed in while we can in my opinion - he wasn't first choice and was unlikely to be as we now know we need some steel in his position and he is very much not it. Quite weak in the air, not that quick with his feet and no tackler. He is very good positionally, excellent at anticipation and closing down space and is in style a Premier League CB rather than a Champs one. That's why he's gone. And also interesting that Ireland choose Duffy over him against teams like France and Holland.
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