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Overrated, Overpaid and Over Here!

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Everything posted by Overrated, Overpaid and Over Here!

  1. I missed Elmqnder oooops! I take your point re smashing he transfer record bu so have about 9 premier league clubs. The money this season is racy, crazy and relative to income we haven''t actually spend more this season. Just felt we could have pushed for more depth. Loose A Fer or a Ruddy or a Basong and and the team has a completely different feel. Just reading what other clubs signed and I think we''ve remained careful despite the cash available. Remember, we only just survived last season.
  2. We''ll finish around 15th place, some 5 points clear and safe. Agree Liverpool on for a good season and maybe a champions league spot Manchester Uniteds expense. Man city for the title with Chelsea runners up. Relegation, Hull, Sunderland and West Ham (we can hope) more likely Palace.
  3. Really pleased with the majority of the signings this summer and the squad has definitely improved. However,, I still feel we may have been somewhat cautious this summer given the millions were generating in the EPL and the fact our club debt has almost disappeared. Despite the great signings of RVW, Fer, Redmond and Hooper along with Olson I, like most others sense we cold have really have done with: A seasoned centre half, a creative midfielder and probably another striker, OK, Hooper and RVW were great signings with bags of potential and hunger but Becchio is clearly out of favour and with Jackson, Martin, Vaughan, Holt gone we''ve effectively one from 5 strikers to three plus the young youth lad Murphy, Thoughts? We brought plenty in, 7, but we''ve also let plenty go. Also, why on earth keep a Fox, surely he has no chance of playing and he would have commanded a decent fee from a championship side, good player. Outside of midfield which we haveplenty of options, Do we have enough depth? And quality in the squad?
  4. Source, Alan Hanson. As I posted, bid rejected. No idea what you mean about other thread, following the matches right now. J
  5. Agree, guess the scousers are classed as a big team and no doubt have more cash to throw at him. Maybe the additions this summer mean he''s not a guarenteed starter. Need to keep him unless it is stupid money,
  6. Understand yesterday evening Liverpool made a substantial bid for Pilks. Apparently the player wants to talk to them but our management team have rejected the bid. Player in the squad for today''s fixture. No idea what the bid was. We need to keep hold of him, bid asset for us.
  7. Oops seems my ''management consultant'' line my have marked me out as a prat know it all. Genuinely isn''t the case on either counts. However, I do advise boards on CEO and leadership appointments. My opinion on Hughton was formed largely last season and nothing I have seen so far this term has changed that. As I said, he needs at least 4 games to blend and gel HIS new squad before any concrete conclusions regarding his style and ability can be Proven. Like some of you say ''he''ll come good, we believe in him etc etc, that''s all I''m saying, I don''t believe he''ll be an amazing manager or elevate us as a club and largely because of his lack of real leadership. look at the way his players respond to him, do they look like they will run through walls for his cause. ALSO Holts comments need to be taken seriously, he was our captain and a worthy hall of famer. He clearly had an issue with Hughton and i would suspect there are other senior players who also share the same frustrations. To be fair he has a tough task and maybe our expectations are the flaw in this assessment. Like one of you said, this is a results driven business and ultimately that''s all that matters largely. My point is this league is so demanding and competitive with no easy games so teams need other elements to excel and that my friends is where managers and leadership come into it. Look at Jose at Chelsea. Do you think he is the greatest technical mind in football management.... Of course he isn''t but he''s an incredible leader.
  8. I don''t post much on this forum but login a few times a day to follow the debate and enjoy the banter between regular posters. However, you seem to have a large majority who either dislike Hughton full stop and nothing he says or does and nothing the team does performance or result wise will change that. Others are equally blinkered and seem to defend him to the hilt regardless of obvious failings. Here''s my take on our manager, this is coming from a City fan who''s been following our teams since the 1980''s and who has endured the ups and the lows and who also takes and interest in other teams across the leagues. When Houghton was appointed manager I was, well, underwhelmed. It wasn''t a disastrous appointment like say an Ian Dowie, a Steve Bruce or a Mark Hughes nor an exciting appointment for a club our size. It came on the back of Lamberts departure and regardless of how some sections of our fans seem to now hunk he is lucifer he was a success and the brand of football he produced here was exciting. Every game we played under Lambert I felt we had a chance, no matter how slim, we could nick something, we could, on our day, beat anyone, and this proved the case. Lambert moved on, as he was always going to and next to take the hot seat was the amiable chap so poorly treated by Newcastle United who appears to be warmly welcomed by everyone in the footballing world. Chris Hughton is a nice, decent chap. Possibly one of the nicest people in football if what I''ve read is to be believed. However, nice wins you nothing. Whilst his technical and tactical abilities as a coach are well documented from his days at Spurs being manager and having the buck stopping at your door is a different ball game and situations and challenges call for quick decisions and an ability to evolve and adapt mid game. My take on Hughtons managerial performance at Norwich City is a mixed picture. Positives: he is professional, he is sincere, he is decent, he is committed, he clearly cares and he wants to achieve over the long term with our club. We are not just a stepping stone al la Paul Lambert. He is a sound coach who is more the capable of setting out an organised and strong defensive unit. He has improved our defence and we are harder to beat despite what some on here say. our record at home last season shows a solid improvement and only a handful of crazy beatings squiffed the goal difference stas. His player acquisitions have, in my opinion, been pretty decent and despite a slow start the additions to the team have been largely an improvement across the squad. Negatives: Hughton is too nice. I''m a management consultant by trade and I have spent years studying and developing leaders. Hughton is not leadership material. He would never be a CEO but would make a strong head of compliance or operational manager. He will follow instructions, carry our his duties to the best of his capabilities and there would be little boat rocking from the man. He would be honest and reliable. He however wouldn''t be innovative, driven, be a visionary or dare to be a little wreck less in the pursuit of rich rewards. He won''t chance his arm by going ''all in'' but he''d stay in the game and would protect his pot. His overtly defensive and overly cautious nature is mirrored throughout the teams he sends out to play wearing the yellow and green. Despite identifying the need for greater creativity and more attacking intent by buying better attacking players they are set up to again produce defensive minded performances. I have yet to see one single team sheet where I thought '' Christ, Chris is going for it''. And we won''t until such a time we are really up the creek and paddle-less. His fear of failure prevents him going for it unless he has no choice at all. Reference last 3 games of last season. Ok, I''m rambling on now. But basically, he''s a decent chap and a relatively competent coach/manager whose a safe pair of hands. He is absolutely NOT amongst the best 20 managers plying their trade here in England right now, he is not in possession of the qualities needed to drive this team to level where we will be anything but in the relegation mix year in year out. The players will ultimately determine whether we stay up as, on paper, we are not amongst the worst three squads in the league. Hughton will not pull that extra 10% out of the players like Lambert did nor will he be crafty enough to mastermind a win against all the odds. He''s nice and safe but we''re are in with the big boys now and the stakes are ''Sky'' high... No pun intended. Whilst I will back our team always and feel hughton is given a hard time by many and often unfairly he, in my opinion, doesn''t cut the mustard (colmans of course). Sticking with Chris Hughton is the likely strategy for this season at least but for me, I know we''ll be flirting with the drop all season and I think one more year of negative football and skin of the teeth survival at best will see the board move to replace him next year... But that depends on the availability of a better option, decent managers do not grow on trees and these guys generally work for good clubs. If you think signing a decent striker was a nightmare then try and find a proven, hungry and gifted manager whose not on a final pay day and past their best, not any easy task. My only hope is the likes of Fer, RVW and Hooper and Snodgrass and Bassong and Ruddy, the talent that IS THERE, deliver to the best of their ability more often than not despite how Hughton sets them up. Break the ranks and go for broke if you need to, they have the talent!! Then and only then, we will have a chance purely because their quality should see up rise above the newly promoted teams and a handful of premier league clubs that seem to go into melt down and free fall every season. Hughton deserves at least 3 or 4 more games without being hounded to get these new players gelling, Hughtons a decent chap, one of the good guys and I respect that... But ...You know what they say about Nice Guys Finishing Last.
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