Brucie

Wouldn''t read too much into this to be honest. We''re prepared to let Bunn leave so Ruddy will definately be here next season.

Bassong was left behind - didn''t travel.

I have a feeling that we''re not done by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to our forward line. What this means for Hooper who knows, but I expect us to sign another striker shortly.

Alex, is that your way of telling us you''re best mates with tom Meighan and Serge Pizzorno?! 😁

Just a feeling.

I expect some transfer news today/tomorrow but an incoming player, not an outgoing one.

I take it RVW hasn''t signed for Fiorentina? The Italy deadline is shut now so maybe we''re still in with a shout?

Our ball retention isn''t good enough, I would be more in favour of a ball player in there alongside either Tettey or Johnson rather than them both.

I was told that he was at Colney last week. Don''t know how reliable that was though - probably not very as I would have hoped something would have been announced by now if it was the case?

IMO Ayala has a lot of potential but he''s justr not currently robust enough to be a PL centre half. Hopefully this season in the Championship will toughen him up and coupled with his ability on the ball we will have an excellent partner for Bassong long term. As for Vaughan - there is no questionin his ability but in the days of 25 man squads and huge wages I still think he is a gamble but if he plays 30 odd games for Huddersfield this year then I would say the odds on that gamble shorten.

Interesting post. I would however add that it is more down to his attitude than injuries that he has ended up where he is though.

[quote user="First Wizard"] [quote user="baldyboy"]3 more games max, if we havent won by then he needs to go! [/quote]   Huzzah! [Y] [/quote] Let me ask you both this, if we had Mourinho in charge and results had been the same would you only allow him another 3 games to prove himself? Too much is made of reputation - I doubt people would have been jumping up and down giving Lambert 3 games to save his job if he was still here and the start had been the same. Give the man time...

[quote user="ellis206"]These doom mongerers that have appeared like a virus are going to create the downfall of this great club once again. Some of the rubbish that has been spouted on here is unreal, it was good to see Holt make a few of you look very stupid this week. Anyway, slightly concerned over the abuse David McNally has been getting over twitter, that would be all we need if he decided to bugger off because of ungrateful fans who have already forgotten the amazing job he has done for us. A few of you actually deserve relegation for not supporting the club during a tough spell, calling for a managers head after 7 games is ridiculous.[/quote]   Good post Ellis, I am fed up with all the kneejerk stuff. As far as I am concerned Hughton was the right man at the right time and I believe that will still prove to be the case. 17th would be a great result this season and everybody connected with the club needs to play their part to make this happen. The players will undoutably be short on confidence at the moment so our role as supporters is now more important than ever. We will come good and we will stay up.

Would you prefer that Hughton and the players came out stating that we''re doomed? There''s 30 games left..... Jesus...    

I personally cant see it as a years wages - that would have meant we were paying Lambert £40K a week.... seems way beyond us?  

I was watching a piece on Hillsborough last week and I thought I heard somebody (I think it was Ray Houghton) say something along the lines that if Man Utd (?) had won their FA Cup Quarter Final the venues for the FA Cup semi finals in 89 would have been the other way around and Norwich would have found themselves at Hillsborough. I dont know how accurate that is?

[quote user="morty"]News just in, Paul Lambert claims Norwich city smell. The board have countered by saying their dad could have his dad in a fight. [/quote]   It''s starting to feel a bit like this!

So - Lambert is apparently suing the club for £2million, but why £2million....? Personally I can see this being a bonus payment with regard to the two successive promotions and Premier League survival. Now to me that seems not entirely inconceiveable and if that is in fact what the cash is for in my opinion just pay the man and draw a line under this so both parties can move on. Mr Lambert may have left under a massive cloud but neither party is covering themelves in glory here and regardless of what you may think he has earned that money for giving us the most exciting 3 years as an NCFC fan in a lon long while.  If its Bonus money that he is owed - pay the man, shake hands and move on.

[quote user="pete_norw"][quote user="TCCANARY"] Petrov is still in the squad of 25 and still club captain because he''s recovering from a life threatening illness and its good PR, did you expect Villa to discard him during his treatment? I would expect any club to do the same if they had a player who was that ill, football clubs can and still do things because they''re the right thing to do.       [/quote] No I never expect a club to discard him, just pointing out the old pals act, incidently my Nephew is not a Villa fan or even any of the other B-ham clubs, so no reason to tell me this other than out of interest.   [/quote] Apologies for sounding incredibly cynical here but if Petrov should not sufficiently recover enough to play again (and I really hope he does) then Villa will not lose out. The Insurance settlements (for club and player) on a player having to retire through injury are astronomical and I assume it is a similar scenario for a player with a life threatening illness. So, is it really an old pals act? Doubtful...

Is it possible that this weekend against Chelsea will be the closest Hughton has got to fielding "his" side? We are yet to see what I believe is Hughton''s first choice midfield and pattern of play IMO. If you look at the signings he has made coupled with the injuries to certain members of the squad I believe that we are looking at a future midfield with more depth and the wingers everyone has been crying out for. Bearing in mind the reluctance to add to our strikeforce with a "proven" Centre forward I also believe that we will mostly feature with one up top. I think that Saturday we are likely to line up something like this (injuries permitting) :                                      Ruddy    Martin         Barnett                   Bassong         Garrido                        Tettey                    Fox Snodgrass                  Howson                           Bennett                                     Holt   To me, that looks alot more solid yet also more flexible and likely to carry more of a threat to the opposition. With Tettey and Fox protecting the back four I would expect more freedom from the front four and I would also expect our ball retention to be better with more options on the park. It also leaves us with options everywhere should players be unavailable / out of form etc with a more obvious role for Hoolahan (who would be my choice instead of Howson on Saturday), Butterfield to come in, Pilks to come in and Moro able to rotate with Holt. Thoughts?         

[quote user="Indy"] we have come a long way but that should not stop us wanting that little bit more.   Finishing 17th would be a bigger achievment than 12th last year, given the league, the turmoil and the start we have had. [/quote] Indy, I completely agree with this, please dont take my comments to mean that I think we have come as far as we ever will - i just think these things take time and stability is what we need. Like you said, finishing 17th will be a huge achievement - we are no longer an unknown quantity and we will no longer face teams who will be under estimating us following last seasons'' exploits. I firmly believe that we have what it takes to stay up this season (by whatever margin!) and that we will be well on our way to establishing ourselves as a Premier League club following anoother 3 or 4 quality additions in January / New Year. We just need the ball to start dropping the right way and things may improve...

I ensured they would stay away by writing more than 12 words.....

So what if we''d have had our best ever start? Would we be thinking we''d be in the running for Europe? No, thought not....

Our club has had an incredibly turbulent decade - we have played in three divisions, had two relegations, a play off final, three promotions, countless players (more awful than decent) and 6 (?) managers. We also very nearly went out of business. Without wishing to harp on - what Lambert achieved was incredible and it will not be seen at this club (or probably in his career) again. However, we were really sailing on the crest of a wave and it was to not last forever - whoever was in charge... This season would always be tricky. A number of these "lower league players" are now full internationals, we also have a few who are Under 21 Internationals. We have signed players with proven Premiership experience but have also still recruited players with great potential such as Butterfield. We have even been out and signed full internationals. Could we have imagined that 3 years ago? Someone stated on here that Turner is one of the worst singings in recent history - Really?! Do you really think that? He has been here for a month or so, yes he has been awful in the two games he has played in the EPL but give the guy a chance and dont be so quick to hang him out to dry. Would it be fair for a player to come to this club and ask to leave after a month? No.... Would it be fair for you to start a new job and be out on your arse in a month? No.... things take time. I guess what I am getting at is for the first time in a long time we have some stability, we are not a club who will throw money at names and sack a manager without giving him time - what if we sack Hughton tomorrow? Where does that leave us? Like it or not he will be backed by our board and they will give him time - even if we do go down this year we would be able to keep hold of a majority of our squad and make more of a sustained effort to become a midtable Premiership club - Look at West Brom, they were a yo yo club for a long while before establishing themselves. Our squad is stronger than last years and I believe Hughton was and still is the right choice. We have seen a huge shift in the footballing philosophy of our Manager which was needed. Hughton is building a more solid side and with the exception of Fulham and Liverpool we have looked solid. It will be difficult this season but make a choice, back the manager and support the team or stay away from FCR. Lets not forget that with that little bit of luck that has been missing we''d be sat mid table.

I have read some of the ludicrous bildge spilt over this board since yesterdays game and I feel compelled to add my own point of view. I dont get to many games on a Saturday anymore due to other commitments and also historically being committed to playing football myself on a Saturday, I do however try and get to Midweek games when I can. I realise that to some the fact I am not there "week in, week out" means that my opinion is likely to already be disguarded by some on this board but here goes.... I cannot believe some of the negativity I hear spouted at our players, I was a Season Ticket Holder in the dark days of Hamilton, Rioch, Grant etc and I can not remember ever having a group of players so committed to the shirt as we do now. Their achievments over the past 3 years will go down in Norwich City history and rightly so. The difference is that now we are a PL team you are not going to win games through running yourself into the ground alone, we need to be technically better and it is clear Hughton is working on this. We passed the ball well last night and at times played some great stuff. What do you think Hughton would have wanted from last night? He would have told the players to ensure that they go through but not to kill themselves I would imagine. Regardless of what people think the PL is our priority and so it should be. This is the first time we have progressed into the 3rd round in 5 years so as far as I am concerned that is job done for the evening. If you rewind a year we were just bombed out by MK Dons in the same competition. If you compare the side fielded that night with last nights it is clear that we have a much improved squad. I have to agree that we didnt look a major goal scoring threat last night but there were plenty of positives (Tierney, Francomb, Turner was much improved, Rudd, Hoolahan, Fox). This is a great time to be a NCFC fan and its about time some of our supporters started enjoying it. The club is in great shape behind the scenes, we have a young, talented squad (still to be added to) and we have a good manager. Paul Lambert was great for the club and his achievements will maybe never be matched, he is however no longer our manager and Hughton deserves time to put his own stamp on the squad (something he is now doing). A fresh pair of eyes may be what the likes of Martin and Morison need and while they are wearing a yellow shirt they will get my support. I think some of our supporters need to realise that football is all about opinions (at any level) and that at this present time the only opinion that matters when it comes to our playing squad is that of Chris Hughton so learn to accept it and just worry about making a difference where you can - by supporting the players at FCR. P.S. Canary Call?? Where do we find these idiots?!