John

This looks to give a pretty clear indication of where some of these are headed...http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2011/07/25/lambert-gives-holt-the-skippers-nod-as-the-canaries-prepare-to-step-up-their-premier-league-preparations-this-week/Also clarifies Lamberts stance somewhat on all that goalkeeping malark

[quote user="Lewie - Holt Our Saviour"][quote user="ms miggins"]apparently we had a £1.5m bid for lansbury rejected a while ago[/quote]Really? Is that all we offered?Rubbish? I don''t think Lambo''s lying.[/quote]I think he was "''avin a laugh" in all fairness Lewie. As for the article, it just highlights how there is an ever present need to distil nuggets of truth from all the c*** that often surrounds it in the press.Lamberts comments on the official website gave off that impression, just a shame the writer had to muddy it with his impression. Anyway, it''s good to see he''s still on the prowl for new players if an oppertunity is too good to pass up, and he did indeed say a week or so before the Naughton deal that he will "always be on the lookout".

[quote user="Chunky Norwich"]3) Lambert is a canny old boy and is well-known for holding his cards to his chest. I doubt he''d actually come out and say ''oh but I still need a decent goalkeeper''. Personally I think our centre-backs are covered with Whitbread, Barnett, Ward and Dick the Milk. Right side is very strong with Martin and Naughton now. The only question marks are on the left side, which nobody seems to mention, and - I hate to say it - the goalkeeping position. [/quote]Is the left side truly in need of reinforcements, when it seems Lambert will be utilising Drury, De Laet, and Tierney during the season? If Lappin, or even Steven Smith, are involved with the squad that amasses to (at the very least) two dedicated candidates to the position, with a fair number also capable of filling in. Considering there is a cap, i would suggest a new left back hasn''t so much as entered the equation in Lamberts mind over the past few weeks, and i dare say he''d be right in doing so. I am personally satisfied in a most general sense with all things Norwich, none more so than with the present shape of the squad. It has in my opinion well and truly reached ''nit-picky'' stage, whereby minor concerns are magnified by fans transfixed by the workings of the club at a time when not much is going on in the footballing world, like a bored kid in the dentist waiting room.The exact same thing took place at a similar point last summer, when there was ''major'' concern over the lack of a back-up target man for if Holt was injured or suspended, and Hoolahan as a playmaker for if a similar scenario were to occur. Twas a load of b0110x evidently.

Elliott Bennett.

Deary me, grammar has indeed forsaken me.

[quote user="City1st"]"If they do then they should have got on the season ticket list a few years ago when we were in league 1." I wonder how many of them won''t be on the list come next summer, how many of those ''die hard fans'' will be ''bitching'' when their prices become ''realistic''. Of course the club is going to maximise the income but I have to wonder where those who got on the list were before they ''got on the list''. The presumption that you are not a supporter because you do not have a season ticket is a nonsense as much as it is offensive. Most of the lads I knocked about at games in the 70''s and 80''s no longer go, not through financial reasons but simply that the heart of the club seems to have been ripped out of it. Where there was once passion and a grasp of the game there is now happy clappies there for the experience. That experience used to be in the pub before the game, talking about the game and lord knows what else. The experience is now whatever the club puts on before the game. The experience is a tacky choreographed waving of outsized flags rather than the spontaneous exuburence of celebration tthat the last home game always was. The experience is now having wretched piped music blasted out at various stages in the game to let the happy clappies now what is happening. Fine, things change. But change the nature of the game too much and when the razzamatazz goes, when it is just football again don''t be too suprised when the happy clappies move unto the next experience and those who were there for the football are no longer there either.[/quote]With respect City1st (and please do note that), you''re tone seems to have changed somewhat from the last ''discussion'' we had.[quote user="City1st"]"Our massive surge in crowds since the Worthy revolution of 10 years ago and the great crowd figures being maintained indicates that we need a bigger home ground " old tosh We need to simply adjust the price to reflect the demand, as we did when the demand was much lower - only this time it will be in the other direction. The idea that the club will want to lose millions in income from the loss of part of the ground when building work has to be carried out, is ludicrous. Ludicrous when the above is a far simpler and a more effective means of dealing with rising demand. The club previously had stated that it costs between £2000 and £3000 per seat to build a stand. Factor in the loss of income from the disruption caused by building the stand and you could be looking at a minimum of 6 years to recoup the costs, never mind showing any increase in revenue. A period of time where the current level of demand could not be guranteed and the club might be left servicing another debt ,without the commiserate income being generated. Raise the ticket prices by 20% say, and you have an almost instant revenue increase wth not much more effort involved that a few taps on the keyboard.[/quote]The most stark contrast to me is an appreciation of the nature of the game and the fans incurred by the money surrounding it, which seems to have been ignored in my second quote, since reflecting demand is merely another means of saying concentrating sales amongst the highest tier of demand.Generally here we have to be aware of what that highest tier comprises off before we go of the wall with our pricing because of the demand. My biggest concern, and i tend to note this, is that the demographic of sales inevitably focuses on the casual white middle/upper class, middle/upper aged men, whereby more valuable, long term customers are too readily dismissed in the face of ''Premier League Football'', and ''paying our pound of flesh'', otherwise misrepresented as labelled by some as the definitive form of ''realism''.

[quote user="itsnowornever"]re write that do not know what happened. tell that to arsenal, man u, chelsea, sunderland spurs and the rest. Fitness my backside, they would have had a harder run out against the reserves. i am a sports therapist they should be testing themselves now regardless wether they get beat or not. what did gorleston prove.[/quote]Much still passes you by young padawan.

If i wanted to dismantle that club and oust them out of all of their assets of actual value, Paul Jewell is making as good a fist of it as i could ever hope to. A mixture of counter-productive moves and failure, accompanied with a slight dose of hope, has been enough to prolong what will become a wholly sorry affair.In Bowyer they are paying an extortionate wage for a player incapable of helping the club to a position where it is in any way remotely progressive, with no sell on value, at an almost decrepit age within the game, yet with high enough profile to sustain both the position of any manager pursuing a mission of total and utter sabotage. Such a thing would be a blessing.Achieving a minor burst of form in a season whereby there is nothing left to achieve was another fantastic move by Paul Jewell. That hope will pay dividends in the great number of times his jobs will be put into question in the following season. Ridden with old haggards like Mark Kennedy (35), Ivar Ignimarsson (33), Jason Scotland (32), Carlos Edwards (32) and now Lee Bowyer (34), and some of the most laughably untalented players plying their trade in the football league, like Nathan Ellington and Arran Lee-Barrett, comprised otherwise by a remarkably unremarkable batch of youngsters  (bar Josh Carson), their imminent decline seems all too obvious for anyone willing to see the situation for what it is.In my opinion, the worst Ipswich side for half a century is about to coincide with the strongest second tier there may ever have been, finally capable of condemning them to the drop they fear ever so.Is there as much hope after a relegation for them as there was for us? I personally don''t think so.City1st made some telling points on the role of the chief executive, and if that position has ever been held with real value, Simon Clegg is certainly not the man to fulfill that responsibility. This man''s thin veil of professionalism is seen through all too easily (could one imagine McNally arriving at a new club with a petty appeal to the vitriol of fans that Clegg did? That "small club up north"), and has admitted without lack of emphasis his naivety in football (and has even used his ignorance to excuse his mistakes... I''m sure the people responsible for appointing him are loving that). Accompanied with both a peculiarly heavily restricted budget, and a harsh debt owed to an owner for whom his only main priority seems to be anonymity, with a more than ''questionable'' business history, i''d have serious questions were i an Ipswich fan over the functions of the club at boardroom level.As for the flaws they are ridden with on the field, for a future beyond so much as next year, things seem bizarrely perilous (and i use the word ''bizarrely'' given how it all seems to have been walked into volutarily - i assumed decrepitness is something we often look to avoid, not purchase).

[quote user="City1st"]Sadly for all your ramblings, evidence points against you. Check the stuff put up in another thread about the ''meal deals'' on offer in the Barclay, check the ticket privces for awau games, check the prices that went up for food and drinkl at the beginning of last season. I''m sure, like ''the boy on the burning deck'' you will continue to bleat away in your delusions, oblivious to the reality of the world around you. Prices are now far far more responsive to demand. Unfortunately being unable to grasp this might happen with NCFC appear you therefore are stuck in some ridiculous belief that the prices could never be reduced again either (something that is, as I pointed out, far easier to do than to commit to long term debt repayment based on a very uncertain income stream). Currently most season ticket holders are paying a price not much different to what they were paying in League 1. If you think that price is going to remain on or around that figure if we were to stay in the Premier League (high demand) then you are more out of touch with reality than your rambling post would suggest.[/quote]Keep to posting on Ipswich City1st, because otherwise you''re really not worth the ****ing time.You''re an idiot that seems to find more substance in his deranged insults than in his facts, and that alone is not lost on many. If you are still yet to cotton on to that particular fact you''re a far bigger fool than i first thought.

[quote user="Butterbean_Canary"]They need someone to cover the hole left by Johnson and he fits the mould, makes a lot of sense really[/quote]It''s more the loss of Neil Kilkenny that they''ll be looking to cover for, and in Sammy Clingan they couldn''t hope for a more like for like replacement in my opinion.Makes absolute sense.

[quote user="City1st"]"Our massive surge in crowds since the Worthy revolution of 10 years ago and the great crowd figures being maintained indicates that we need a bigger home ground " old tosh We need to simply adjust the price to reflect the demand, as we did when the demand was much lower - only this time it will be in the other direction. The idea that the club will want to lose millions in income from the loss of part of the ground when building work has to be carried out, is ludicrous. Ludicrous when the above is a far simpler and a more effective means of dealing with rising demand. The club previously had stated that it costs between £2000 and £3000 per seat to build a stand. Factor in the loss of income from the disruption caused by building the stand and you could be looking at a minimum of 6 years to recoup the costs, never mind showing any increase in revenue. A period of time where the current level of demand could not be guranteed and the club might be left servicing another debt ,without the commiserate income being generated. Raise the ticket prices by 20% say, and you have an almost instant revenue increase wth not much more effort involved that a few taps on the keyboard.[/quote]''What a load of old tosh...''With moderate fear of the baptism of fire i''m likely to receive in response to this, from a poster certainly not unknown for being ''heated'', i do see a severe issue with that - not least considering the model of club we purport (and often successfully manage) to be. Not itself the symptom of primary concern to me, is a blatant disregard of the ''family'' image. I risk sounding cliche''d, but the meaning of it is of unequivocal importance and justification for the sport itself; and we''d be deluded as fanatics to think little of it with respect to sports participation in the community.In a financial sense there is of course a more immediate concern however. Rising ticket prices in the midst of excessive demand may always seem a logical short term strategy; but this will inevitably cause long term damage. For a club of our size, by making such a change, we could only hope to of consolidated current numbers of attendance in the next 5 or 4 years.It mitigates communal activity of all branches within the club in it''s privileged exclusivity, and will dislodge or ward off any supporter outside of the inner fanatical or ''financially capable'' orientated sphere.Simply rising ticket prises in the midst of high demand is essentially a perilous endeavour in the long run, and i''d consider it one of the biggest shames of the last decade to befall our club if we were to emulate the likes of QPR in such a way.As a long term strategy it is so fundamentally flawed we''d be not but shortsighted fools to so much as consider it. Any remnant of a solution that i can detect is that it is up to the club to estimate the fanbase, and the turnout we can expect, and then gauge the projected success and popularity of the club in order to justify the cost of a commitment to an extension. What is sure is that if demand is sustained we''ll have to extend capacity at some point in the relatively near future.I''m sure however that the club are well enough acquainted with the facts to make the most sensible decision with regard to such a move, and we''d all best let rest for now, and it will take 2 years of Premier League football at the very least before such notions even begin to enter the equation.

In fact, altogether, it''s neither rare nor unusual if you''re willing to spend enough time looking into it:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_association_football_families_of_note

A bit closer to home, the (John & Chris) Sutton and (Joh & Robert) Fleck families, and also the Jarvis brothers.

I''ll be very surprised if Ipswich finish above any of Birmingham, West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Leicester, Cardiff, Brighton, Burnley, Bristol City, Hull, and Reading.It''s a massively competitive Championship this year, and all the aforementioned sides seem far more well equipped for the coming season. For me, the apex of second tier football is about to coincide with one of the worst Ipswich sides for half a century. The side is becoming more and more decrepit, less inspired, and the addition of Nathan Ellington compounds it all to an almost laughable extent. The likes of McCauley and Norris, very average players in themselves, kept up any semblence of Ipswich being a moderately competitive Championship side.The way i see it is Josh Carson is like one last burning ember on a dead star; but even he will come to be burnt out by the suffocating nothingness he is surrounded by.I await the standard purgative comment from City1st for true satisfaction, but i''m confident Ipswich will find himself in a relegation battle this season.

Looking at his profile on Wiki, it has a hint of a ''Thomas Helveg'' feel to it.

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="John"] Huh? Do my eyes decieve me, or is this First Wizard having a go at blah for being tiresome?I fear i''ve just waltzed into the twilight zone.Where''s Descartes when you need him.[/quote]   Probably before the horse...[:D][;)][:D]   [/quote]That explains it. [:D]

[quote user="First Wizard"][quote user="blahblahblah"]"Yeah right, so why not post a thread discussing whether Lambert had consulted with ex Prem managers?  I tell ye all now, if this was started by a wizard you''d all be queing up to slag him off."First Wizard wouldn''t have posted this.  It''s not about First Wizard.[/quote]   Spangles was spot on, it happens every damn time I start a thread, no matter what the subject, arseholes like blah alway says the same tiresome cr*p.   So much so that these days I start threads on other sites to avoid the juvinile purile comments on here......I hadn''t even replied to this thread and still the same tosspots are having a dig.   Wonderful. [/quote]Huh? Do my eyes decieve me, or is this First Wizard having a go at blah for being tiresome?I fear i''ve just waltzed into the twilight zone.Where''s Descartes when you need him.

[quote user="yellow jonny"]At last. A positive post about the amazing summer so far. I presume that the lack of response on here is a symptom of that.... everyones far more interested in what the newspaper that lied about us going into administration is saying..... I agree 100% with your comments. We have a team that is capable of out scoring many prem teams and I can''t wait to see the new team up against some of the big boys. As you both said the team has enough goals in it already but now we have serious options. Also people forget Crofts, Fox, Whitbread, Ruddy and (fingers crossed) Pilkington have all been at big clubs (Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Everton). Add a couple of defenders and the holt factor and things are looking good. Just one problem, who you gonna drop for Cody????;)[/quote][:D]It''s the luxurious question all managers cherish of course, where one is left to choose from a quantity of quality. My honest view is that i''d quite possibly pick him over Martin. The records and evidence i''ve covered in other discussions suggest McDonald is more immediately capable, though i am confident Martin will shine very brightly indeed within the next 2 to 3 years. Also Martin will need the consistent rigours of higher league football to help him realise the ''warrior within'', perhaps on loan, rather than a place 5th in the pecking order that will lull him into the dormancy his game has long been victim to.(Like a Redneck in a McDonalds drive-in, i''ll take anything involving the Big Mac seriously) [+o(]

Correction, *120* goals from midfielders. Forgot Fox''s 3 for Colchester (partly for the better).

Regardless of the amounts spent, or the politics surrounding certain players in the team, the depth of the squad, especially with respect to the forward line, has come on leaps and bounds to the point where we now find ourselves with more than likely the most thrilling attacking Norwich side for at least a generation.Over the last two seasons only, regarding our strikers, we have Grant Holt scorer of 53 goals, Simeon Jackson scorer of 29 goals, Chris Martin scorer of 27 goals, Steve Morison scorer of 40 goals, Cody McDonald scorer of 28 goals, and James Vaughan scorer of 9 goals, with the kind of potential that once had him heralded as Rooney''s successor on Merseyside. Not just a selection, but a list of prolific strikers that have conquered the respective leagues they''ve played in.Altogether 186 goals in two seasons, and that''s not even accounting for the 117 goals of our current midfielders over the past two seasons, a surprisingly offensive defence, and indeed the rest of the strikeforce (that, had they been at the club any other time during the past decade, would probably be making the bench or even first team) and any other players we buy from now on.Lambert has fed a lot of ammunition into this well oiled machine, and it certainly has the potential to reak havoc given enough support.

[quote user="Smudger"][quote user="Nuff Said"][quote user="terrier10"][quote user="DOGGER"]Good player, hope it comes off.Maybe we can give you Mac and cash?[/quote] Would love Cody McDonald to be a part of any deal. We are crying out for another natural goalscorer to help out Jordan Rhodes.[/quote]You had to go and spoil it by mentioning Cody! Here we go....[/quote]haha natural goalscorer and Cody McDonald don''t quite fit correctly together in the same sentance for me.I wonder if you are going to have Cody as part of the deal, if you could take our Paul Moy with you???[/quote]Please elaborate, for i fear you''re propgating a ''gut feeling'' that has no compatibility with reality here Smudger. As of right now it all seems far too factually deprived.The only valid record we have to go by within the Football League system is that he is, so long as 25 goals and a League ''Player of Season'' award as a striker is enough to quantify this to any extent. At the first attempt, at a relatively young age, that is no mean feat (Grant Holt''s first genuine attempt was also at 24, and he scored only 17 at the same; and it took Steve Morison until 26 to enter the system).

[quote user="Power Hamster"]Also, we appear to be strengthening our squad, whereas QPR and Swansea seem to be selling off some of their best players, so if we can finish above those two, we only need to be above one of the other seventeen in order to survive.[/quote]Another interesting point on top of that is that our form post-second-half/one-third of the season was top of the table in the Championship, and quite remarkably so. Once we had assembled our spine in the midst of gaining a foot in the Championship, supported by a short refining process in January, we were quite arguably the best side in the league. That, and that we have both retained and improved to a far greater extent than either, you can''t help but feel we are of the strontgest candidate out of the three for survival.I posit that with even this much of the window to go, there will be at least these two teams that finish below us this season (though i believe we certainly have it in our armoury to acquire safety, quite comfortably).

Good posts, and it is of great relief to see a reversal of perception here. Probably incurred by the success over the past year, it is of distinct disparity with the soundbites of last year.Whereas a similar thread last year must of conjured a 10+ page array of very brief inane replies, with frighteningly inadequate substance in quantity over quality, we now find calculated, thought-out arguments, that are more concerned with cultivating an equlibrial understanding rather than appealing to cliche''d ad populums, that appreciates quality over quantity.Experience to some people ensures a standard, even if it is poor (such as the relegated candidates that have been mooted). The step into the unknown confounds every man and woman, and this disseminates in many regards, so it is of no real surprise to see a symptomised lack of confidence amongst us at time of progress; and although it is of little substance to stand for poor proven players, to naive people, it is at least of a substance the void of the ''unknown'' doesn''t share.However we owe it to this success of our ideas of our own to keep at them, against the current trend of buying ''big names'', for it is long proving to be the better mode for that success.Under Lambert we can be the ''reneissance'' to the weathered naissance of English football. We''d better of relying on his and his teams assessments of players (you''d like to think we have a scouting system for some reason after all) than the unqualified, extremely basic and blunt process of assessment your average by the bar fan endeavours with, or lord forbid, typical bigoted critic or pundit (and it doesn''t take an educated man to see that the latter is merely a glorified version of the former).

(Those likely to make the side in bold)Russell MartinGrant HoltSteve MorisonSimeon JacksonAndrew CroftsCody McDonaldOli JohnsonBradley JohnsonAnthony Pilkington can be added to that list if we can pry him from Huddersfield''s grasp.

[quote user="Herman "][quote user="Lennon7"]2nd highest goalscorer still playing in England.[/quote] Is this true? If so who is number 1? [/quote]Kevin Phillips i believe.