danielsroundabout

Nobody (except Ian) has suggested that Bennett was more at fault at Birmingham than anybody else but even if he had been, bringing Martin in would never be an improvement. Klose had a relative shocker against Ipswich (Murphy) but you wouldn''t dream of bringing in Martin and nor should he have been today.

Yorkshire doesn''t understand why so many supporters are unimpressed by what RM has to offer. Obviously, I can only speak for myself but I''ll try to help. My issues with playing him stem from the time he was switched from RB to CB. Prior to that, I had been a relative admirer of his and argued his case with friends who, even then appeared to have some sort of agenda as far as he was concerned. Because I don''t think he will be a CB for as long as he has the proverbial, I have cringed at the way he has worked the press and a succession of managers, in proclaiming that he is a CB and that CB is his best position. Throughout all this time, with Martin demonstrating his unsuitability on a weekly basis, Ryan Bennett, an eminently more gifted individual, has had to play second fiddle to his hapless colleague. Game after game, the Archant reporters describe goals conceded, carefully omitting culpability when RM has fouled up. Yet should Bennett be responsible during one of his brief runs in the team, then a full paragraph is devoted to the detailed dissection. Today''s restoration to the centre of defence, again at Bennett''s expense, with no justification whatsoever, is typical of past events and sums up why many people don''t rate the guy.

Hoola Han Solo diminishes his questionable viewpoint by needing to resort to personal insults directed at the OP. Try to show some respect if you want some in return. I am amazed by the support RM has on this board, far greater by proportion than appears to be the case in the ground. His record in the opponents box (for corners etc.) is pretty good but for the main part of the job, his defending is abysmal. And in no area does this apply more than at CB. When I heard today that he was starting alongside Klose, I assumed Bennett had picked up a training injury. To then see that he was on the bench meant that he had been delivered the biggest blow to his confidence imaginable, considered a poorer CB than Russell Martin. I can only agree with the OP, that MOM for RM is a joke but the fact that he was in the starting line-up is a bigger one.

Like many posters on this and other threads, I''d love to see us recover our outlay by selling him to Sunderland but, as with RVW, there is not a cat in hells chance of us getting more than a small fraction back, if indeed, we can shift him at all This current recruitment debacle goes to confirm what a total incompetence exists in the club when it comes to identifying new players and getting them signed. So many of our recent year signings fall into the "total failure" bracket and I am not talking about youngsters who we might take a punt on for the future. I am referring to established players who we can look at and assess before coughing up. But we get in a corner at the end of the window and finish up making expensive panic buys of any carp that''s available. RVW, Hooper, Naismith, who will it be this week?

Apparently they put the distribution of tickets in the hands of an outside company, THG Sports. The company then experienced some "distracting issues" which account for 7000 them being unsold.

I worked for the same company as Peter in the early/mid 70''s. Peter remained there for his entire career, I moved on after about three years. I had not spoken to him in all the years since although, of course I''d seen him on the pitch after each home game. But about this time last year, I was fortunate to be drawn to play a fourball with him (against him actually) in a golf match. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, topped off by his company during the meal which followed. We were able to discuss colleagues from those days in 1972, many of whom had remained with Peter until recent years and to get Peters take on the individuals, past and present, at Carrow Road. Peter tells it as it is! So I was really saddened to learn on here that less than a year on he had been struck down. I join the other posters in wishing him every success in returning to full health. Very best wishes Peter.

Or you could get one like Marcus Evans who has made a fortune and no bloody football club is getting any of it.

I find it difficult to understand the mentality of the band of happy clappers on this forum. When anybody draws attention to the most obvious shortcomings in the structure and management of the club, they immediately become targets for personal abuse. How can these people not be critical of so many horrendous decisions taken at the highest level. The appointment of Fry, then of Balls. The loss of Bowkett a couple of weeks after his re-election, the parting of the ways with McNally. The club finding itself with nobody to identify transfer targets and nobody to conduct business in and out. When we need to act quickly and decisively within a window, we are unable to do so. All in all, a total indefensible shambles. Personally, I think Alex Neil could well prove to be a good manager but for a guy needing good support as he ventures into English football, just look at the back-up he has had from above. Having spent his most recent years in Scottish football, he obviously needs assistance in identifying targets down here but the club doesn''t appear to have that expertise. So we engage a bunch of self-serving consultants to assist with personnel in and out. Let''s face it, football agents are pretty close to the bottom of the ethics league table. The facts are that the owners have allowed the management of the club (not the team) to completely disintegrate and these deluded posters seem oblivious to it.

Of course it''s a good time to change the captain - it should happen automatically if Martin is excluded from the starting line-up, as all football logic demands. We''ve seen far too many images of him, head in hands in the aftermath of his latest rickett. Now, those in denial on the subject are suggesting that he could play centre back alongside Klosse and because of the talent of the Swiss defender, we could "get away with it". Why handicap Klosse in this way? It is all part of a "retain at all costs" strategy from a group of people who think there is an agenda surrounding Martin. I would suggest it is they who have the agenda. Another line from these folk who want to keep Martin at all cost is to appoint him as club captain alongside whoever is chosen as team captain. What the hell is that all about if not to be in denial about the need to be rid of him? As for who the next captain should be, that decision can only come from someone who knows the individuals well and knows how they react with their team mates.

It''s great that they have arrived in Div. One by working their way there from the bottom and that Winkleman''s back door methods find him in the same division.

Its a shame that in her figurehead position at the football club, Delia seems unable to prevent herself from alienating a significant proportion of the support base with her political outbursts. A football club, like any other sports club, should be in the business of pulling together its supporters from all backgrounds and viewpoints, it is not a place for politics. This thread is now 120+ in number and it was provoked by the clubs owner putting her yellow and green scarf on and getting on the political bandwagon. A repeat of the last election and from the same thinking that has seen the arrival of Fry and Balls. Numerous posters on here tend to be sycophants as far as Delia is concerned and think that because they agree with her views, then its fine for the clubs owner to take a public position on divisive issues. Many who support this public positioning of the club argue that those of us who oppose these matters would take a different view if Delia''s support was for the opposite wing. Well in my case, certainly not. I agree with much of what she says and will vote with her in the referendum but I resent the discord she insists in initiating in the clubs support. Not at all clever.

Those who continually call for Smith and Jones to sell the club would do well to see what has happened at Kings Lynn where Buster Chapman has moved on. If the details published by the EDP are accurate, it''s an indication of how things could end up.

I don''t know enough about him to comment one way or the other but it does worry me when Bury Yellow states that he is Norwich through and through. The very words used frequently when Gunn and Adams were appointed and re-appointed. Now we are hearing the same words from those individuals who close their eyes to Russell Martin''s shortcomings as a CB and captain. Desperately wanting a job is one thing, being capable of delivering is something entirely different.

My dissatisfaction with having RM in the team is in the playing of him at CB. He will not be a successful CB while his has the proverbial. I feel also that we must have a more influential leader to captain the team. He does not display confidence on the pitch and this can only be detrimental to those around him. I feel now that his performances at CB so destroyed his confidence that when he came back at full back, his performances there were nowhere near what they used to be.

The fact that this one player has been the subject of a thread which has reached page 46 must indicate that the most serious doubts exist about his continuance in the squad. Admittedly, nearly half the pages will be from those in denial but anybody who thought that he and Bassong were an acceptable centre back pairing in the Championship, let alone the Premiership, should have seen enough to be convinced otherwise by now. In a recent post, wcorkcanary asked which other CB/RB has not made some kind of cock-up this season. With RM, it is not the occasional, once-a-season blunder, they come almost every game, all through the season. My opposition to his involvement goes back to when he went very public with the assertion that he considered himself a CB and that that was his best position. He managed (don''t ask me how) to convince a succession of managers that this was the case and we have paid for his presence ever since. He has developed a cosy relationship with the local press such that the individual responsible for mistakes which lead to goals is not mentioned in reports when he is culpable. Should a Bennett, Bassong or Wisdom be at fault, great detail is reported. Now, at the seasons end, Archant are giving him swathes of the sports pages to express his belief that he is the man to lead us next season. Unless we adopt the Davis Cup policy of a non-playing captain, I say please, no. And even as a non-playing captain, I have seen very little to suggest there are leadership qualities there. It is very difficult to be a good captain/leader when your own performance is so frequently woeful.

So Purple, you think that Balls is in a position where he can stand up to and argue with the owners do you? Yeah, I''m sure he can.

Most posts, along with official interviews and releases from the club, point to this being a matter which has blown up in recent days, upon realisation of our likely demise. My guess is that discord of some sort had developed behind the scenes long before this past week-end and that what played out after Saturday''s match was the lid coming off to the public. Such a scenario would account for why the board was able to unanimously and so quickly accept the departure. Could this latest set of events link back to the fairly recent and extremely hasty departure of Bowkett and the appointment of Balls?

In his opening line the OP states that DM was on a really good package and there is very little likelihood of him being able to better it elsewhere. With his track record in transforming Norwich''s finances whilst achieving relative success on the field, I would think there is every chance that his services will be sought after. And given the insane money swirling around in the Premiership, an offer in excess of his Norwich remuneration would not be at all surprising.

[quote user="Nuff Said"]And"Daniel", if Ed Balls was a "career conservative politician" instead of a "career socialist politician" would that make a difference?[/quote] Not one bit. I was simply alluding to Delia''s politicising of the club by her recent board appointments Balls and Fry, coupled with her own hustings appearances at the last election. I feel a football club should pull all people together and that politics should have no place in it. I was not a fan of Robert Chase''s Conservative county council connections.

Football and football finance has little in common with building and running a conventional business. And even less in common with matters discussed and dealt with at the Treasury. Balls''s experience is that of a career socialist politician, a background that appeals to Delia but is totally inappropriate to the advancement of NCFC.

All ready for your solo then Pedro?

If there is any substance and a vacancy is there to be filled, please don''t tell me that S & J will assign the role of recruitment officer to the Chairman. If so, he will doubtless have a long list of associates, all keen to get their snouts into one very deep and well-filled trough.

The error frequency from the pair of them is and has long been far too high. Bassong was so poor back in the Championship that he had to be removed from the team and then, unbelievably, he was restored to start the Premiership campaign. Some folk never learn. And as for Martin as a centre back, his performances, originally on the back of him telling successive managers that it was his best position, eventually so destroyed his confidence that he remained a liability even when played at right back. Scapegoating would be to blame anybody else for their all-too-frequent failings.

Katie Borkins wrote: "To be fair, Bassong was only playing today because Klose (and possibly Bennett) were not available. We are never going to be a club with real squad depth for the financial constraints mentioned above. Bassong seems to have shaded Martin for scapegoat at least." A couple of points re: the above. Yes, Bassong (and Martin) were at the back today because of injuries but it was out of management choice that that filled those positions for most of the pre-Christmas matches i.e. half of our matches. Secondly, the association of the word scapegoat with Bassong and Martin. My understanding of the word (scapegoat) is when the blame for something is laid at the feet of an innocent, to deflect attention from those responsible. On that basis, after seasons of diabolical individual errors from the pair of them, why are we introducing the word scapegoat?

The happy clappers on this site cannot refrain from abusing anybody who posts a critical word about the club/board/manager/players, dubbing them trolls, binners etc. Generally, despite devoting a major part of their lives to the subject (NCFC), they do not have the first idea of footballing reality. Most of them will have supported the appointments and re-appointments of Gunn and Adams because of their City credentials, never mind there couldn''t have been two less equipped individuals for the role. And more recently, these same posters started this season under the impression that we were wonderfully equipped for the task in hand. That it should have been patently obvious that we were back in the Premier with a bunch of proven failures at that level, never occurred to them. If anybody suggested that to start the season with the likes of Martin and Bassong at the heart of your defence and with nobody on the books to give us a few goals, they were ridiculed and abused. It does not register with these people that because a certain bunch of players were capable of winning third place in the Championship, they may not be good enough for the step-up. For instance, Bradley Johnson got my vote as last seasons POS but I would never have contemplated keeping him for this season. I well remember how he fell short when we were last in the Prem. Likewise a fistful of others including rejects from other bottom half teams in the Prem. who have joined us since. Wouldn''t it be nice for one or two of those who live on here to post that they have got a few things hopelessly wrong, including this OP with his post title and thoughts?