Mr.Carrow

Jason Dozzell's cousin I believe and ran on the CR pitch from the 1p5wich end circa 1990?

I think we have to be very realistic and accept that Buendia and Aarons have almost certainly been told "get us up and you can move". Doesn't mean it's 100% going to happen, but there's no way the club would stand in their way if that is the case.

McLean and Hanley are both players at their absolute peak who have worked their socks off to maximize the talent they have. They deserve huge respect and appreciation. At current levels they are Premier League players, full stop.

Yes I largely agree, but take the scenario of the same freekick Vs Brentford. The keeper would've studied Mario's freekicks and may well think "he always goes to his right, but his last one was saved, so this time he'll go for the other side". In that scenario it would be best for Vrancic to stick to the same side! I'd actually be tempted to let Buendia take it as the keeper definitely won't be expecting that!

As with many things in football it's a game of cat and mouse. Or double bluff. If the keeper starts moving to the right assuming Mario goes for the gap he's left, it's a goal. As it happened it was a good bluff by Stockdale and a good save of an excellent free kick.

If you look at Sheffield United they had a team many of whom I wouldn't rate as PL quality, yet they stayed up with a flourish. Look at the bottom 6-8 and there are many players who are nothing special. Our defence has improved immeasurably and we have a much better balance (although the Skipp issue is a big one). If we don't get the ridiculous injuries of last time, and make 3-4 shrewd signings we have a decent chance.

Here's a crazy idea: players learn, work on their weaknesses and improve. When we went up I cringed at the idea of Hanley in the Prem, but since he came back from injury last season he has been superb. Also the defence is the one part of the team which can really be "more than the sum of its parts", and Hanley is a big part of a unit functioning very well this season. I think we'll sign a younger centre back IF we go up and I think that there's a fair chance he would displace Hanley by the end of the season, but Hanley/Gibson is a decent, experienced Prem partnership.

I'm currently in Argentina and the currency has absolutely tanked. Football clubs here will definitely welcome some foreign currency and we'd get a lot for our money (as I am right now!).

There are probably 20 clubs out there who have their own Emi who believe they are doomed if a club like Norwich come in with a £10m offer. We were doomed according to some when we sold Maddison and even the Murphy's and Pritchard. We picked up Giannoulis for £6m who is still getting up to speed but already looks a very good player, there are plenty more out there. Yes Emi is clearly very difficult to replace but as I said, using the money to replace him plus upgrading other positions means we could net benefit if we find the right players.

Replacement for Emi, plus a big upgrade at number 10. I think after last season Webber owes Farke some real strengthening.

Farke said recently that 2 years ago we were basically playing with two number 10's in front of the central defenders. It was fantastically exciting but frankly that is no way to prepare for the Premier League. We will be much more robust if we go up. Main negative is that unlike 2 years ago we barely score from outside the box. Our poor shooting really is quite bizarre considering the quality we have.

Buendia sold and Olise here in the summer? Yeah I know bigger clubs will want him but maybe he'll put actually playing first.

I literally barely remember Lewis ever getting in the area. A player who can register no goals and two assists in a high scoring promotion season is not an attacking full back.

Sorensen offers more of an attacking threat and wins more headers. Lewis a bit quicker and maybe better on the ball but the fact that Sorensen isn't a Left back is pretty irrelevant if he's playing very well there.

If you could cross Vrancic with Steiperman you'd have a hell of a number 10. In reality neither are quite up to it in the Prem and I think both will be off to free up wages and squad space for a really quality operator in that position.

Mourinho can hardly talk about him staying when we haven't even said we want him to, imagine how that would sound to Skipp? To be fair, Mourinho might be thinking that he will play in the cup games and if he's outstanding get in the first team, so it's certainly not a given. Maybe 50/50 chance.

I think there's a reasonable chance that Skipp will stay. I know Mourinho said he'll be "back next season" but he kind of has to work on that assumption before any deal has been agreed. If not I'd say it isn't a disaster with Sorensen primed to step in. McLean the best midfielder in the championship on current form.

But there is a "third way" between splashing loads and ending up hamstrung a la Naismith, RVW etc and spending almost nothing and running a club simply to sell players and stay afloat. That is to invest in youth, training facilities, coaching, scouting etc building a fantastic reputation which encourages players to take a risk in proving themselves at City even if they have to accept that wages will reduce considerably should we be relegated. Giannoulis looks like a high pedigree player and is probably thinking "I'll probably be first choice in a Premier League team next season, yes if we go down my wages will be much lower but if I've done well enough I'll get a move back to the Prem". This is our niche and it's pretty similar to the one Leicester and Southampton have been built on. I think your point about Godfrey kind of illustrates the disagreement here. You see it as entirely negative, others see that we have replaced him with an England squad player who is playing very well for a third of the money and when it comes to Buendia the line across the media is we "don't need to sell" BECAUSE of the sales of Godfrey and Lewis. If I got the impression that as a club we were desperate to sell our players once any half decent approach is made I would fully agree with your "glass half empty" approach. There is absolutely no evidence of that though.

Errrr, as I recall we didn't spend much staying up under Lambert and Hughton. In fact it was spending (at the time) a considerable amount of money under Hughton that started the rot.

Is there any confirmation that their two giants are missing? That would be a huge plus for us.

Yep, and I also think Norwich fans were pretty classy that day. Very little abuse but a few loud, ironic "There's only one Paul Lambert" chants towards the end.

We just need to hold our current course, stay calm during the bumps in the road, support the kids coming through and we'll leave them for dust.

I've been saying for years that the days of a group of mates or a family of more than three getting tickets together at CR pretty much ended years ago. That significantly impacts our support. I don't think now is the time (we probably couldn't do it anyway) but it's a very logical step to try and find a way to increase capacity without impacting funds for the first team too much in the coming few years.

Well we lost Godfrey and got an England squad player for a third of the cost who has improved the defence. This is our method. Selling a good player doesn't mean it's impossible to find a better one for less money. Maddison was replaced by Buendia. You could even argue that a makeshift Sorensen offers more attacking threat than £15m Lewis. Mumba, Idah, Martin, Soto, Placheta, Famewo, Omotoye, Omabamidele, Sinani, Dennis all young and extremely highly rated. We are also now a magnet for the best young talent because they know we have the facilities, coaching and if they do their bit they will get an opportunity at a top level.

Given that in the summer we will probably be down to one number 10 (the young and seemingly rather lightweight Dowell), that's certainly an interesting perspective.... At 26 Powell is coming into his best years, pretty experienced at a high level and adds badly needed height and physicality. But hey, opinions 😉