Cestrian Canary

Shyster, Ta for your reasoned insight, I love you too xx  I didn''t say that athletes pace is ''shot'' post 24 yrs old, the point was that Cody''s pace will wane as he get''s older and if he doesn''t have many other attributes to offer/develop then he may not be the player for us.  

Cody''s main asset is pace, which at 24, will not last for ever and let''s be honest may have even started to wane with the rigours of professional football. Most pacey strikers of his ilk have their most productive years in their early late teens/early 20''s and, given that he is this ''raw'' talent, his best years could potentially already be behind him in terms of making it at this level. 

I''d guess at Jackson. If you''re looking for clues then the fact theat the number 10 was not allocated when the squad numbers came out may suggest PL is working on bringing in a striker.

I''m all for giving him a loan and therefore an extended run of games to see if he does ''develop''. But after a season and a half as a pro and at age 24 at what point do you think he will have developed? At this point most pacey players like Cody have been in professional football for 6 or 7 seasons and made the most of their natural attributes while their bodies still allow them to do so. Yes, there are exceptions such as Ian Wright but Cody is no Ian Wright and never will be. Having said this I will happily eat humble pie if he notches 10 goals for us this season, I just don''t see it happening. 

I''d have to agree with Wiz here. If he could not break into the team in League 1 then I don''t see how he can do it in the Championship. His main attribute is speed and enthusiasm, if this isn''t honed in a way he can play Championship football by now then we should look at other options. In a couple of years his speed will start to go and if he isn''t techinally good enough what is the point in having him still? He was worth the punt at 25k but I think we should look at option which will give us a more immediate return in terms of performances and goals, hopefully we can make a profit when he is sold to a League 1/2 team where he may have a more fruitful career.

Am I right in remembering that Bowkett said the plan NCFC had in place with their creditors was for two seasons in League One. This surely would mean that having got promoted at the 1st attempt there is a little room for manouvre with debt repayment? Meaning the extra money coming in due to promotion (tv rights, ticket sales) can go on the playing budget, rather than straight into paying off the debt. Not a sustainable plan in the long term by any means, but achieving your target earlier than expected will always give you a little extra to play with.

I''d say we have more parallels with Newcastle. Several bad managers (including putting club legends (Gunn/Shearer) in charge when it was all going to pot), relegation, the board at both clubs under big pressure but then earning a little bit a bit of slack by bouncing back from relegation at the first attempt.

It''s a good idea to give both Steer and Rudd time out on loan at alternate times. Even so, I reckon we need three keepers at the club at any one time to cover suspensions and short term injuries where it would do more harm than good from recalling a young keeper from a sucessful loan period. I mean I''m sure one reason Fraser developed so well this year is from having an extended run of games and we wouldn''t want to disrupt Steer or Rudd and their development if they were doing really well out on loan just to cover on the bench. Maybe an option would be to get Fraser back on loan and hire a goalkeeping coach who is a recently retired keeper and could jump between the sticks in an emergency if needs be? Gunny even! (that''s a joke..)

For me Holt is an all round attacking footballer, he can tackle, take on players, good in the air, has physical presence and can finish. This makes him a superstar in League 1 and 2 but, for me, is maybe his downfall when it comes to a higher level: i.e he is an adequate jack of all trades but a master of none. For example, Alan Lee is an out and out big forward, battering ram and good at it, hence why he has been a Championship footballer for the best part of the last decade. Holt has similar qualities but seems not to want to play soley the target man role, he plays like Rooney does in the sense he tracks back, runs at defenders and generally does everything, however Holt is obviously not world class at it. For me Holt will have to adapt his game to a more specialist role (i.e be the ''big man'' up front) as I doubt the Championship defenders will allow him to play the way he has done over the past two seasons in Leagues 2 and 1 while at Shrewsbury and Norwich.

My first game was on Boxing Day 1991, Man City vs Norwich at Maine Road and I was 7 yrs old. I remember getting the tickets for Christmas in an envelope with "DO NOT RIP,  love from Father Christmas " written on it. Don''t remember much about the game, remember having to walk through Moss Side though!

He has the experience which could be just what we need if any end of season jitters start to set in.The OP makes a valid point as McVeigh can steady the ship if needs be. We saw this after Lambert came in back in August, against Wycombe WLY was talking all the time and giving a bit of organisation to a team that had been a shambles against Colchester and Brentford in the preceeding games. McVeigh has played his part this season, it may have been a small supporting role, but he has done his bit.

James Corden is just a poor man''s Ricky Gervais. Everything he does where he is himself (i.e not Smithy) he copies Gervias'' mannerisms right down to the high pitched laugh. Oh, and if anyone wants to see where Ruth Jones first used "What''s occurin''?" watch Saxondale season one(written by/stars Coogan,  and also stars Ruth Jones). It''s not a Gavin and Stacey thing. 

Pablo - if you look into the background of Chester''s owner (Stephen Vaughan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Vaughan,_Sr.) you will see why not many fans wanted to give money to the club and why only 425 turned up to their last game! In a twisted way many Chestyre fans were happy to see the club go to the wall as they reclaimed it as their own.

Having been described as a ''habitual defaulter'' by HRMC I don''t think any leeway will be granted to Southend, just as no leeway was granted to Chester who had been in adminstration before. If they get wound up in April, which isn''t at all unlikely, there will be no Southend United as a business or a team, they will cease to be and will not be able to finish the season. Thats it. The courts won''t give a damn how late in the season it is. In Chester''s case, the motion was tabled by the league executives to throw Chester out of the league and expunge their results. This needed 75% of teams in the conference''s vote to pass and they got it. I imagine League 1 will follow a similar model should the same happen to Southend. The only example I can think of a team finishing the seaason while completely insolvent is Gretna in the SPL. Even then they had to take out adverts in the local paper to try and get people to play for free. I doubt that the football league would allow that to happen though.

Born in Chester but a Norwich fan due to my Dad who hails from North Norfolk. My first Norwich game was on Boxing Day 1991 at Maine Road in the old Div 1. Always been thankful that my Dad got me into Norwich as otherwise I would have ended up a Liverpool or United fan like everyone else in Chester!