Jack Flash

But of those players that were involved in the Window Transfers, which ones did we actually need, at the Window Inflated Prices. Norris for £2M sums it up for me - a competent mid table Championship Player. Is that a good investment. I believe that GR has made his own decisions regarding what he wants for this season, and will have kept some cash in the Pot for the Summer bargains. The clammer for Taylor is also typical of the Window - an OK player, who can''t get near the Bitmingham Team, even with a massive shortage of Central Defenders there. £1M is a ridiculous fee for him. About £400K would be the right fee.

Do correct me if I''m wrong, but its my understanding that its GR''s decision to hold the Taylor bid at £750K and not the Boards - he has made a judgement how much he wants us to pay for him, and is currently not showing any signs of increasing the Bid. Brinkmanship perhaps, but thats his call and I for one think he''s right and we''ll get our man at a sensible and realistic price. I also believe we will see additional Team strengthening, and I am happy to trust Roeder who has delivered already way beyong expectations.

This link is to an excellent blog which highlights the difficulties of buying players in the current market - ridiculously inflated prices, and I support Glen Roeder''s stand with Brady, even if it means we lose out on Tiny eventually as £1M for a reserve for the Blues Reserves is crazy money. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/01/11/soccernomics_or_how_injury_and.html

If the Guardian Article is accurate then it confirms Int of approximately £2.5Million is payabale annually and adding that to the already £2.5Million annual losses, thats £5Million to find - does that come out of the £12Million? or will the Debt increase even further? Perhaps we are not so badly off after all with the Turners and the Smiths.

Good point, LGT, as it will reveal the likely one he will replace, as Doc is much stronger on Right side of the defence as Shacks is on Left. As far as Taylor is concerned, I remain a bit unconvinced, as Birminghams inept defending against Huddersfield, a modest League 1 side, again makes me wonder why he is not considered good enough to play for them.

Odd that they want to sell Taylor so they can buy...another Centre Half. Yet from what we''ve seen, would have thought they could save the money and play him. Still hope we do a sensible deal, and get him, but there is also the little matter of his wages to agree, which would make up more of the overall package than the transfer fee.

Not pretty to watch but effective! That was Duncan Forbes and Doc is in same mould as far as I am concerned. The stats for this season say it all - when he''s played we have conceded far less goals on a ratio of 2 to 1. His critics have all made up their minds before he plays, so he has no chance with them.

And how badly we all wanted the Board to pay £3M for Sharp and £2M for Eastwood not that long ago. That would have been £5M well spent I don''t think, based on their progress at new clubs.

Well I think that whilst Taylor has been solid at the Back, the good run is also down to Pattison''s energy and intelligence in Midfield, Fozzy''s captaincy - its great top see a skipper actually doing some shouting and organising on the pitch at last, Camara''s reliability at LB, and Evan''s excellent play up front. And yet, all the moaners are focussing on one thing - Taylor''s departure. There is clearly money available, but no doubt Roeder wants to spread it over 2 or 3 players, which is sensible and I for one believe is the right way forward. Whatever happens today at Col U we have seen progress in a short time, so lets trust Roeder''s judgement on this and see what happens in January.

This is another example, if it comes off, of Clubs with excessive and unmanageable debt getting their Lenders to write off massive amounts of their borrowing, whereas Clubs like ours still have to carry large debt, but which is being managed and to the detriment of investing funds into new Players. Doesn''t feel like a level playing field does it?

For those who go back far enough, please remember Duncan Forbes - probably the best £10,000 we have ever spent, but also looked awkward, and was frequently in  trouble with Referees. Yet he could head the ball brilliantly, and was great at the Hoof upfield, with a fair number of fouls to his name in every match he played. Also Malky fits that style of play although he has now got cult status. And Doc has similar qualities and weaknesses, if thats what they are. Shackell defends too far off his man, and loses most of the 50/50 headers, but Doc does a fair bit of holding admittedly but defends tight, and clears much better when under pressure. We all know the anti Doc brigade in the ground, as they are those who always look for any mistake however small to jeer, yet ignore his positive contributions, and there were significantly more positives last night. To say otherwise, demonstrates a bias which is patently unreasonable. I was staggered also to read elsewhere in this thread that he was the man to blame for the Plymouth goal. Hang on though, where were Shackell and Dion at the time?  Sadly that also further indicates the bias towards the Doc.

So the deals done is it? Suspiciously quiet on that front isn''t it?

How sad that the agenda for Saturday has been set by these protesters. I say, Let Them Protest, and then wait for the reactions of the supporters. I predict that will be the end of the Protest and those of us who want to show our serious concerns at the present plight of our Club will have to find other ways to show our feelings. At present that other way for me, after a properly observed show of respect for a true Norwich City Great, is to give the Team 100% support for 90 minutes on Saturday, and then make a proper judgement of what Glen Roeder and his new Staff have to offer for the future of NCFC. When you follow a Team for 50 years, you see a cycle of good times and bad times, and at present our Team is undoubtedly poor and underperforming, but Roeder is taking the very actions, it seems, that we want to see taken - addressing the problems at the heart of ther Team by bringing in a quality CH, rebuilding our woeful Midfield, and by all accounts seeking to find a solution to our inadequacies up front. Maybe, just maybe, some of the "leaders" of this Protest have nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon!

Shocked and so sorry to hear this news. Deepest sympathy to his family. Like so many on here, will always remember him, especially those special goals he could score from outside the Penalty Area. Came to us as a teenager from Coventry, so Saturday will be a day to share with their supporters and applaud his memory. 

Not a world beater, our Doc, but hang on - look at the Stats: first 9 league games played (+Doc) - Goals Against 10; last 7 league games played (-Doc) - Goals Against 16.  So that indicates that with Doc playing we concede a fraction over 1 goal per game and without Doc goals conceded exceed 2 per game. Thats a big difference.

It could be argued that the Real Investors in Ipswich were the local businesses who were obliged to contribute 95p in the £ and now Norwich Union with their alleged "gift" of 80p in the £. Thats not how I want my team to operate! Yes, an investor would be really nice - but in the proper sense, and not a debt purchaser, with probable intentions to make a very good profit at some time in the future. Isn''t that how they normally operate?

Probably the type of Manager we need - hard as nails! I suggest that Dion should be part of his Management Team, to provide the balance.

An 80 mile round trip from enemy territory (W. Suffolk).

Hey, come on - they had made 9 changes and we had 8 missing for various reasons. But they still had over £25M of talent playing and are 3rd in Premier, so lets give our Reserves some credit!

But they still had over £25M of players on display. Says it all really!

Whilst its all turned sour so quickly, and I too am not at all pleased with our appalling start to the season, there are no easy solutions. Not long ago we were excited about the prospects of spending £2M+ on Billy Sharpe and another £2M on Freddy Eastwood - just take a look at how they have performed for their new clubs, and maybe there is a crumb of comfort that another £4M wasn''t wasted. And where are all these CH''s we want so badly. Frankly available ones are not out there. So whilst I join in the clamour for a big improvement, I really do not see any ready made solutions in the short term. And throwing money (or the Turners money) at the Sharpe''s, Eastwoods, Davenports etc, is not a ready made solution. So lets see what Spillane & Cave-Brown can do - now could just be their big opportunity to show they are good enough and want it badly enough, as we do!

Absolutely spot on!

Re CJFs comment - He is still probably the weakest player in the first XI, Kenwyn Jones made him look Conference standard: but to put that into context, where does that leave Southampton''s new £1.2M CH given how Curo handled him. The reality is that even spending over £1M will not get us a Centre Half of  real quality. People have got pre-set opinions about Doc, and look for his errors, as he has been adopted as the new Hughes, but truthfully there is little to choose between our two Centre Backs. And so far, two Championship matches with 1 goal against is not that bad. And there will be few strikers as good as Jones playing against us this season.

I heard that they compared him to Carlton Palmer - is that good or bad?

Was interesting watching on Setanta, with the two commentators enthusing over the match throughout, saying it was a proper football match, played like a Cup match and not a pre-season friendly. They also pointed out several times during the first half, and well before the first goal was scored, that Norwich''s defence did not have support from midfield, and were often left isolated, which is presumably the job that Brellier will have. Its too easy to point the finger at Doc or Shack, but they are often left marking two or three players.