Dave Backham

[quote user="Sideshow Tim"]It was more an interview with Adam Drury ''''the only member of the current squad that played for Norwich whilst in the Premiership''''[/quote] and how many players are still at Leeds from their Premiership days?

Line-up (4-3-1-2) Ruddy R Martin Drury Nelson Ward Fox Crofts Surman Hoolahan C Martin G Holt Subs: Rudd Askou Gill Hughes McNamee Jackson Johnson What''s the prize for getting it right? (I originally had Francomb in for Johnson, then swapped as it''s a home game and I think Lambert will gamble for more attacking options on the bench, especially if choosing to start with Holt)

I''ll be happy if we avoid a season of uncertainty by being involved in a relegation scrap. It''s important to build on last year''s success by keeping the positive vibes and maintaining the momentum. Top half will be fine for this year, then we can build again in the summer next year. Slow but continual progress is what is required, but we do need to be promoted soon in order to address the debts. The club will struggle to survive financially in the Championship long term with a growing debt burden to service, so we need to find at least a couple of seasons in the Premier League soon or develop a hand-full of talented players we can sell for a few million pounds each. The thing is - if we develop and sell our best players we''ll be more likely to end up staying in the Championship rather than getting promoted, so it''s much better to keep them and try to get promoted by developing the team and trying to keep winning matches - the money available to the club by being in the Premier League is the only permanent solution to our debt problem unless someone comes in with a load of money and pays it off for us. So we need to have a sense of urgency about needing to be promoted, but not necessarily as important for this year as it was for last year. But next year and the year after we do really need to be challenging for promotion. If we hadn''t won promotion last year can you imagine what our close season transfer activity would have been like? Would we have got the quality players in that we seem to have acquired? (judging only from the Newcastle match admittedly). Without last year''s success maybe we would have lost some of the squad we wanted to keep, instead we have kept those we wanted to keep and been able to strengthen further. Let''s keep on that path by safely avoiding a relegation fight this year, and see where we are in January. If we''re in a good position then maybe the club will take a view to invest further and push on - much as what happened the last time we got promoted from this league.

[quote user="PLAMBERT"]i rang up today to get tickets but i was told all sold out.[/quote] Surely not - there''s got to be a pay on the gate option hasn''t there? When did Swindon last sell out their ground?

This is a game for Cureton, surely?

Although their ''book'' debt is huge there''s only £2m in external debt, the rest is ''owed'' to Marcus Evans Group companies, so as long as Marcus Evans doesn''t mind them owing his group of companies money then they''re not likely to be pressured by external factors into having to sell any assets if the loans get called in. And presumably those debts have to be cleared or written off if anyone wants to take over the club. Aren''t we in a similar position in that the majority of our debts are also ''owed'' to our directors in the form of loans? Only don''t we owe a lot more than £2m in external debts? And isn''t one of the conditions of Delia and Michael to sell their stake in the club that they get their loans repaid in full - i.e. that they get their ''loaned'' money back? What I don''t understand is how this situation - having huge debts or loans - avoids the company being declared ''technically'' insolvent. It seems that a huge number of football clubs are running with a debt overhead, and if you sold off all the assets of their company it wouldn''t clear the debts - so isn''t everyone effectively trading illegally? Dave.  

In the West Midlands Wolves, Villa, WBA and Walsall are all within a few miles of each other. I was living in Dudley last season and the Wolves fans were having a great time at the top of the Championship whilst the WBA fans were getting relegated. This year expect the roles to be reversed. However I don''t recall anyone at work supporting Villa or Birmingham, they really are extremely localised fans there. Catchment area for clubs = within 3 miles maybe because they''re spoilt for choice unlike us where the whole county and beyond come to Norwich. Apologies to King''s Lynn (my home town).    

We don''t need a winger with pace if they then can''t provide a decent cross otherwise we''re no better than last year. Croft had pace but no delivery. Getting pace and delivery is going to be beyond our meagre budget I think. I think it''s more realistic for us to seek improvement in our set pieces as for far too long we''ve lacked any creativity and success from a key component of the game - one where the best teams deliver and that gives the ability to turn a close-fought game into a win, and will allow us to beat teams that park the bus in front of goal for 90 minutes. I''d have us practising those for 2-days a week until we know what to do in a set-play situation. With Lappin, Martin and Hoolahan we''ve got options to pass, cross or shoot so let''s coach our players in how to convert more of those opportunities into goals. Instead of getting a player - can we get a set-play coach? Or is that what Crook is here for? Dave.

[quote user="chicken"] What he did on Saturday though, was to receive the ball tucked just inside the left and encourage Drury to get forward and attack the wide space - I thought Drury was on fire on Sat and a lot of the reason for that was the understanding the two have and Lappin working space for Drury to attack into. [/quote] I agree, I thought on Saturday there was a lot of flowing interchages between Hoolahan, Drury and Lappin on the left hand side which caused Swindon all sorts of problems tracking back and keeping up with the movement of the ball and the players. It didn''t work quite so well on the right hand side because when Hoolahan went to the right he wouldn''t/couldn''t use his right foot so he ended up turning back and letting Francomb put the crosses in whereas play involving Drury and Lappin seemed a lot more ''fluid'' rather than ''stuttering''. Having the diamond works well if the full-backs press forwards into the wide spaces, and both Drury and Francomb did that very well, especially in the first half. We really should have scored more goals though - I know 1 is enough to win when you keep a clean sheet, and Swindon didn''t threaten us at all hardly - and I''m a bit concerned that our goals have dried up of late. Dave.

Put the first team out and try to beat our score against Sutton Utd.

Some of the time Lambert has been fielding the kids because there was no-one else in the squad fit enough to pick - it wasn''t necessarily inspiration. Having said that - he does seem to have used the available resources cleverly - resting the key first team players whenever possible to keep them fresh for the league games, and bringing the youngsters through in the cup games. He''s selected the youngsters primarily for their work-rate, energy levels and pace rather than their ability - something the rest of the squad lacks - and that''s why we got relegated last year - Lambert''s spotted that weakness and has put it right. The youngsters still have a lot to learn, but their effort and desire can often overcome their mistakes. Gunn''s managerial problem was that the team couldn''t get motivated for the really important games - and when we needed wins we only got draws. That''s when you need a manager to know what tactical options exist - and to find a way to change the game for the better. That''s why Gunn didn''t cut it as a manager. But he remains a legend in my eyes - and should never have been given the job - it has tainted his memory. Having said that - Gunn''s scouting may have found us Askou, Hughes and Holt who look like great signings, but as for Nelson, Gill, Tudur Jones, Maric, McVeigh, Whaley and Theoklitos - we would have been better off not bothering thank-you very much. So that''s a 30% hit rate for signings - is that good or bad? I don''t know anything about Boothroyd''s ability as a manager - but I don''t like the physical style I saw Watford play when he got them promoted. I like the Norwich traditional style of passing play-making football, and I''m happy we''re playing that way under Lambert.    

1-0 win for Leeds It''s on Sky - we''ll lose, but we''ll keep it tight - Lambert saying we''ll attack is a mis-direction. We''ll pack the midfield 4-5-1 and leave Holt unsupported on his own.

We''ve all been brainwashed? Seriously though I think a lot of this comes down to Andy Cullen (now of MK Dons) and his introduction of ''affordable family football'' as a policy to keep ticket prices low and encourage a new generation of supporters with ''kids for a quid'' etc. Of course the fact that we have so many season-ticket holders means they''ve paid in advance so they have to come whatever division we''re in. So we now have sell-out crowds, but probably the same in gate revenue we''ve always had. It does mean that we all support our local team - rather than the team that''s flavour of the month in the Premier League, mostly Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea. Glory hunters the lot of them. Dave.

I think the sin bin would be a good idea in that it keeps the offence punished within the same match in which it occurred. The problem with the yellow and red cards system means that it sometimes leads to players being suspended for subsequent matches - which means that an advantage is handed to a team against whom no offence has been committed. If you think of the offence that wasn''t committed by Fraser Forster at Gillingham for example, we were penalised by a penalty kick being awarded against us (which was then scored), a player being removed from the pitch for the remainder of the game, and a player suspended for the following game. Unfortunately getting a red card there was the wrong outcome - when perhaps a yellow card might have been fairer especially now we know no contact was made. The nature of a sending off as a punishment is more severe the earlier in the match in which it occurs, whereas if it was for a fixed period of time - it would be an equal punishment whenever it occurred. So let''s say a new punishment might result in a 30 minute session in the sin bin and be dealt with during the match in question, then maybe you could start to think about two yellows not automatically equalling a red, and stupid yellow cards (like taking your shirt off after scoring) becoming sin bin offences instead. Then red cards and suspensions from subsequent matches could be reserved for those players who commit acts of serious foul play, yellow card offences wouldn''t accumulate into a red card - leading to suspension, but instead 2nd yellow = sin bin say, and the game starts to be a bit more sensible in dealing appropriately with offenders, depending on the nature of the offence and frequency of being committed. I think we should keep an open mind, because it presents an opportunity to improve the game - depending on when and how a sin bin might be used. Dave.

[quote user="Dogger in 7th"]Pacy [/quote] I agree, from what he''s said PACE is very much lacking at the club - so you would assume he''ll try to get someone with pace in. I don''t necessarily agree that it will be a winger though, but having dumped Whaley out on loan almost immediately after he arrived he might be looking to replace him. I would hope he''d look at getting cover in for a right-back as we''re exposed in that area now both Otsemobor and Spillane are injured. We are also going to have to do something in the way of solving our goalkeeping dilemma - we either need to get Theoklitos out or get his confidence back, and Rudd has done well, although exactly how long he can perform consistently is anyone''s guess. Forster''s only here until January - so I expect a keeper to be high on the priority list - can we go all season fielding a loan keeper (or several?). Another thing Lambert said on arrival was the need to tighten up the defence - we played far too open, and he''s managed to reduce our losses to just once in eight league games since, which I think is pretty remarkable. Given that he''s not changed the personnel - it must be down to his tactical and organisational ability, and knowing how to select the right players for each game. To be honest I think our back four has pretty much picked itself on the basis of player availability for most of this season - apart from dropping and then recalling Doherty that is.