BarclayWazza

And he''s now in the MLS Cup final? Sign him up!

Is it not possible that the people on both sides of the Hughton In/Out fence each want the best for Norwich City Football Club? That our opinions on Hughton are based around the fact we want the club to progress? This one thing unites us. What help are posts calling out the Outers for being quiet after a good win and vice versa. It''s beyond pathetic. Regardless of anything else, it should take more than 1 game for someone to change their opinion or to say whether another opinion is wrong or right. Personally I don''t think Hughton will take us down but I don''t think he''s the right person to take the club forward. That opinion is based on results, tactics and performances from the start of this year (think Luton, Newcastle and Fulham from January). Recent wins haven''t changed that opinion for one reason or another and the manner of the defeats has strengthened it. As a regular reader but rare poster, this forum seems like it''s full of children with too much time on their hands and nothing better to do than point score off one another instead of supporting our club.

I think this is one of the positions that will be focused on for replacements in January/summer.

While I agree with a lot of what you say matik, in the absence of an investor there will probably come a point where we reach a bit of a glass ceiling. The achievements we can then shout about are that we finished 8th and made a £5 million profit. Woooooo! Sussex is correct in saying at that point, everything becomes a bit mundane and is correct in saying that none of us want to see us relegated, while recognising that the 2009/10 - 2010/11 seasons were by far the most exciting in recent times. Our best chance of getting something to get worked up about is then a cup run, something that (league cup aside last year) we''ve not really shown much of an appetite for. I think this is the reality for the modern (non gloryhunting) fan. The fact our board quantify a deep run in the Europa League as one places merit payment in the Premier League tells you what the priority is.

The point that people are missing here is the article reflects on the relative priorities of the board. They don''t want a Europa League run as it costs money. They would rather 10th place and out of the cups in 3rd round than win a cup and relegated. What Downes is saying is not that he wants to see us relegated, its that he would rather see us win a cup and get relegated that mill around the middle of the table for eternity. The point a previous poster makes about enjoying League One/Championship more than the last 2 years is one a lot of us can sympathise with. In those 2 years we were challenging for a measurable success and they joy I took out of Simeon Jacksons winners at Derby and Portsmouth eclipses anything from the last 2 and a bit seasons. Really, football is in a sad state these days in that no-one can really challenge the top 4-6 so what do the rest aspire to? A cup final or Europa League qualification. But the noises coming out of CR are that they prioritise PL safety and financial stability. Which is fine but it appears it''s at the expense of a cup final or playing in Europe. This then poses a difficult conundrum for us as fans. We''ve not yet reached that glass ceiling but what happens when we do?

I was mascot for that game - Eadie scored just as I was coming back out of the tunnel up the end opposite to where our fans sat. Was funny because I was the only City fan who saw the goal!

I remember Darren Eadie getting a call up once although I don''t know whether he got on the pitch or whether that was while he was with us or Leicester.

Seems that there is a group of people who are interested in what ex players are up to and a group that aren''t.  Both groups can''t be criticized for their interest or lack of so can I make a suggestion - if you are interested in what Leon Barnett is up to then post away, it''s Norwich related and probably of interest to a group of people.  If you aren''t interested, try and resist that urge to click a heading which makes it clear the post is about a former player....... it''s really not that difficult to ignore!

So I''m watching a stream and just after Redmond comes on you can clearly hear some guy shouting abuse at him for his haircut. FFS new player, 19 years old and you''re slating him for his hair. Tit.

Realistically as far as the league is concerned we can''t do much more than maintain the status quo. Swansea have said to push on from their 8th place or whatever it was then it would take hundreds of millions. Realistically there wasn''t a great deal between the teams in 8th - 17th this season points wise so our challenge should probably be to achieve the upper places in that part of the league regularly and not spend 3-4 months of the season looking over our shoulder! Of course the other measure of success is the cup competitions. Realistically for a club like ours the only way we''re going to win any trophies and have the big celebrations is either relegation and winning the Championship again or a major cup.

Returning to the use of ethics here rather than the right or wrong of what Wonga does - it wasn''t a problem for him to wear the shirt of a bank for a club which has an alcohol company as a major sponsor in a league carrying the name of another bank.

2012-13 stats (2011/12 in brackets) League position: 11th (12th) Goals scored: 41 (52) Goals conceded: 58 (66) Goal difference: -17 (-14) Clean sheets: 10 (3) Not really a great deal in it at first look but for me the massive comparison to last season is that we don''t look like conceding every time a team attacks. We''ve largely cut out the silly mistakes and where Holt has probably been found out this year we have quality coming in to improve plus christ knows how much as a transfer fund for further replacements. I think if I write this post again next season with updated numbers it''ll look a whole lot brighter.

Question for those who think Poyet should be our next manager - Poyet''s assistant manager of choice is Mauricio Taricco.......

I''ve been in two minds about Hughton for the last couple of months. He''s either been: a) Trying to see the season out without any strikers of real quality and showing form and the reason for our poor attacking is that we haven''t got the players to do it. Therefore I''ve been looking forward to getting the season over with, getting RVW in plus a few more players and seeing what Hughton can do with them. b) Not up to the job. I won''t go into his deficiencies I think he''s shown because its all been said before here. But this team is a stronger one than Lambert had. We''ve got full backs who are good going forward and until yesterday it seemed they had orders not to pass the half way line. What we saw yesterday was something we haven''t seen over an entire game all season. Full backs consistently overlapping wingers, not sitting on one and two goal leads, general positivity going forward. Granted this was against a team with their minds on Marbella but they didn''t offer much less than Newcastle and Fulham. This only leads me to the conclusion that it''s down to Hughton''s tactics - which was also instrumental in Holt''s loss of form. As such, for me, he''d get 10 games at the start of next season and a review then.

We''re assuming a loan is going to be taken out with the risk of a subsidy hampering us should we get relegated. With all this money due to come in, would it not be an idea to set aside £5 million a season then after 4 years we have £20 million saved, an idea of the long term future of the club and the demand on tickets. If we''re established in the PL, the £20m is there, if we''ve dropped a league, either sit on it until we''re in a position to build or use it to get players to come back up.

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]The crucial thing is the Wigan/Villa game, whatever the result is makes it certain that Reading and QPR are gone.[/quote] ^^^ this Reading/QPR can only make 34 points now. No matter what result comes in the Villa v Wigan game on the last day one of these teams will have at least 35 points.

Sunderland win and this is why: As Villa play Wigan on the last day of the season I think a Sunderland win would make it near certain we''re up. Should Wigan win that game, to have any chance of overtaking us Villa have to be the only team to beat us at Carrow Road this year and then get at least a draw and maybe with goal difference a win vs Chelsea. If Villa beat Wigan, Wigan need 2 wins from West Brom (A), Swansea (H) and Arsenal (A) to have any chance of overtaking us. If the game is a draw, Wigan still need 2 wins or a win and 2 draws plus Villa still need to beat us and again depending on goal difference, get a result against Chelsea.

I salute him for the contributions he used to make to my Championship Manager teams - RIP

We had a song for him earlier in the season. To the tune of Que Sera, the second line hailing the fact he never puts a foot wrong, the third that he is the owner of a rather large baton. Never really took off unfortunately.

Regardless of people''s opinions it looks like there are plenty of ideas at least worthy of consideration by the powers and maybe a trial. Many posters reasons for not doing it can be easily factored into a solution. However just look at how hard it was to get goal line tech implemented - there seems to be no appetite for it at the top of the game and increasingly out of touch reasons given for not doing it. The technology is there, the motive to do it is there, intelligent people can surely come up with a way to make it as little of a disruption as possible. I just can''t understand the ridiculous argument that people would rather have a game flow than have an opportunity to ensure decisions are made correctly.

[quote user="lappinitup"][quote user="Indy"]If a penalty is not awarded or goal dissalowed for offside then there should be a challenge allwoed by the Manager! just the three per game. It would not take up much time nor would it be every two minutes because it would be upto the manager to use them wisely.[/quote]Seriously? Imagine this scenario...City are under pressure, all the players are in our half, the ball is booted forward and collected by Kei Kamara who charges forward and is one-on-one with the keeper. Kei rounds the keeper and just as he''s about to release his shot, the opposing manager appeals for offside. The appeal is dismissed so City are awarded a free kick with all the opposing eleven players behind the ball...after the police have quelled the riot?[/quote] In the scenario I suggested, you would not be able to stop play. If Kamara scored it could be reviewed after the goal is scored. For situations where there is no immediate break in play the manager/captain signals to the 4th official, they review while play goes on and if necessary the play is brought back if the initial decision is found to be wrong. If there is a break in play in the mean time the play stops until a decision has been made. It''s so simple, it might go against some of the old fashioned ideals of the game but as I said before, when a season in the PL is worth £60m + I''d much rather a bit of common sense and use of technology already available. Love the idea of doing away with linesmen as well and using a combination of cameras on rails and Hawkeye.

I said this on another thread about a 3 review system. For cases like the corner on Saturday use there is a natural break in play so its easy to do without much fuss. Where you have a decision not given, its then something the 4th official can review as play goes on and then brought back as necessary. I just think there''s so much at stake nowadays for there not to be something like this to help out. I''d prefer that the integrity of the game be maintained rather than ensuring the game flowed (I can''t imagine it interrupting the game too many times) or the argument that I really hate - having something to debate in the pub after the game.

But why? I mean I get that if something happens in play it may take a minute or so for a break in play to review the decision (this can be done between the manager and 4th official as play is going on then the ref bringing it back if necessary) but in the instance of the corner yesterday you can probably within 30 seconds get a decent replay and decision.

I mentioned this on another post and you show it well here - these decisions going against us are not just little niggly things here and there, it''s things which result in goals against or penalties we aren''t given. I don''t remember one dodgy decision we''ve benefitted from which has swung a game our way all season.

Their decisions table suggests these things do indeed even themselves out (for us at least). But it appears the incorrect decisions cost us more points than incorrect decisions for gained us. In fact I''m not sure I remember a dodgy decision going our way all season that''s actually gained us extra points.