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hertfordyellow

For what it's worth, my take on the summer activity

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First off, I know there are loads of threads talking about the transfer ‘crisis’ but I wanted to give a broad opinion rather than tag mine onto a thread specifically about Brady for example.

Anyway here it goes…

1) Yes AN is inexperienced in the transfer market, it is not a shock as he has come from a club that has promoted from within and spent very little. So why use it as a stick to beat him with? We took a gamble on a guy who could be brilliant and it worked. He has proven himself to be tactically savvy, a leader and a winner. If he had years of experience, a host of transfer contacts and the other attributes I have listed then he wouldn’t be a Norwich, he would be at a top 6 club (sorry but its true).

2) Yes Watford have gone all Championship manager and signed a whole new team. Is that ‘ambition’ or disrespectful to the team that did so well last season? Personally I think it is the later, I would not want us to do this and prefer to be selective and patient than build a whole new team.

3) Seen quite a few posts writing off out centre back pairing and saying we need to change them before the season starts. I thought Bassong and Martin built a good partnership last year and will be much better prepared for the Premiership. If both were made available I would suggest a number of Premiership clubs would be interested. Premier league experience, good age, International experience and leadership. I’m not entirely sure why people are desperate for some guy from a lower foreign league to come in and take their place.

4) Just because we don’t want to spend over 8 million on a player with not much left on his contract doesn’t make us lacking in ambition. It means we aren’t stupid. Hull paid 8 million for Snodgrass, so what? that makes them idiots not ambitious.

5) We have spent too much time on Brady now, move on, get a loan deal in for that position and see how arrogant Bruce is in January when it is the last window before he can move on.

6) I’m not Waverley ( but then I would say that wouldn’t I :) )

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Good to see you start a thread in this subject that needs a good debate.

At what point would you hit the panic button if the situation stays the same? Me I am already there!

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Watford won''t work. Too many new players, I''m sure even their fans aren''t happy which is why Im glad we didn''t do the same thing.

Were we restricted? Not really. Should we have signed a few by now? Probably. But yet, do I (or most of the NCFC community) think we will go straight down? Of course not. Some of our current squad members should flourish like Vadis, who has the same agent as Mbokani btw and hopefully we can bring in one or two strengtheners before the season starts.

Also, if Mulumbu costs money, would less people be whinging? Just food for thought.

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What is your take on the team''s pre-season programme. What is your opinion on our preparation for the season ahead? If our transfer success suddenly exploded and we made 6 player purchases. Say 5 made it to the starting line up leaving 6 of our championship squad retaining their place, how successful could we be? Do you have any league position prediction? I am going to stick my neck out and place on record 15th, with some memorable upsets for us to keep in the memory bank for years to come...

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It depends on what your approach is as a club. With Bournemouth and Watford it is most likely chuck what you can at it and hope you stay up. With us it is more a case of expecting to stay up, and if not expecting most of those who we sign to stay with us as they did last season. If Watford are relegated then I doubt many will stick around, or expect or want to. If players are relatively easy to sign it is often because they have little commitment, or requirement where they are. For us it is more a case of players only goung out when their replacements have been found. Wwhich could be why the likes of O''Neil and Turner are still here. Fans would do well to calm down a bit and recognise getting players is not like picking something off the shelf. It''s there when you want it. As said elsewhere if we had failed with both Brady and Van Dyke then why are they not with another club ? Let those who know what is going on get on with it.

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Well it''s not a tread bare squad, I would want a couple of signings but I''m not panicking. We had the best record against top 6 opposition last term. We can beat good teams, our problem was drawing against teams like Rotheram. I don''t see a lack of quality here, I really don''t.

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The way I see it, if Jerome wasn''t our player and we were linked with him, our fans would see his impact last season, youTube the lovely goals he scored and would be happy if the club splashed 5-6 million on him. Yet they want to replace him with Gestade for 8. I don''t get it really.

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[quote user="Benjamin Bradford"] What is your take on the team''s pre-season programme. What is your opinion on our preparation for the season ahead? If our transfer success suddenly exploded and we made 6 player purchases. Say 5 made it to the starting line up leaving 6 of our championship squad retaining their place, how successful could we be? Do you have any league position prediction? I am going to stick my neck out and place on record 15th, with some memorable upsets for us to keep in the memory bank for years to come.. .[/quote]

I haven''t seen anything done in pre-season that concerns me, no one looks overweight, there haven''t been serious injuries, MO shoulder operation was timed well.

I wouldn''t want another 5 players into the team. We have quite a full squad. I would want competition for CB and an option on the left to come in and fight for a place but not wholesale changes unless RVW moves on quickly, then I would want a striker.

I think we will finish above the other promoted teams. We then need to look at being better than Leicester, Sunderland or West Brom or Villa. I think 16th.

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Here''s mine:

1. The ''Wembley Wall''

2. The third kit

3. The second and first kits

4. The ham fisted attempt at signing Brady

5. Our lack of transfer activity

6. The theory that we have less financial clout than Bournemouth and Watford

7. The coming realisation that Neil is not, after all, the messiah

8. Being linked with has-beens like Lambert and Carlton Cole.

9. Watford''s ability to sign quality players (just because you don''t know them doesn''t make the ''journeymen'') from the best European Leagues.

10. The prospect of starting the season with Bassong and Martin at centre back.

11. The excitement generated in some quarters by the signing of Mulumbu - who is generally regarded as past his prime by WBA fans

The highlight of the summer has been the wedding of Razz the Clown and Auntie Pearl.

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[quote user="Thetford Yellow"]Here''s mine:

1. The ''Wembley Wall''

2. The third kit

3. The second and first kits

4. The ham fisted attempt at signing Brady

5. Our lack of transfer activity

6. The theory that we have less financial clout than Bournemouth and Watford

7. The coming realisation that Neil is not, after all, the messiah

8. Being linked with has-beens like Lambert and Carlton Cole.

9. Watford''s ability to sign quality players (just because you don''t know them doesn''t make the ''journeymen'') from the best European Leagues.

10. The prospect of starting the season with Bassong and Martin at centre back.

11. The excitement generated in some quarters by the signing of Mulumbu - who is generally regarded as past his prime by WBA fans

The highlight of the summer has been the wedding of Razz the Clown and Auntie Pearl.[/quote]Well I guess some will always have a glass half empty look on life I guess.Not sure what thread you read but I didn''t call Watford signings ''Journeymen''. I questioned the number of signings and the sporadic nature of the signings. Different leagues, nationalities etc all coming in to play together in a few weeks time? not for me sorry.We obviously don''t agree about much apart from the amazing news about Razz and Auntie Pearl, a story worthy of the silver screen

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We have a 25 man squad with Redmond still counting as under 21. Move on to Alonso now and we have 26. If a quality CB comes in, either Turner or Miquel can leave or be loaned out. Beyond that, a striker/AM is all we need, IMO. No panic - we have 18 players with PL experience and an excellent management team which is getting the players fit and ready for the new season. My prediction is 14th.

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[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]We have a 25 man squad with Redmond still counting as under 21. Move on to Alonso now and we have 26. If a quality CB comes in, either Turner or Miquel can leave or be loaned out. Beyond that, a striker/AM is all we need, IMO. No panic - we have 18 players with PL experience and an excellent management team which is getting the players fit and ready for the new season. My prediction is 14th.[/quote]My feelings exactly

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Having had more new kits than new signings is a bit annoying.However, we still have a stronger squad than the one that Lambert took to 47 points in his first Premier League season. However, you could argue that so was the squad that got us relegated.  A left back and left sided midfielder is a must. I''d go for two new additions, not just one of Brady or Alonso.After that it''s about whether you believe we have the quality and the strength in depth. I''m guessing most believe the lads still ''need a hand'', as Lambert used to say.

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[quote user="Pyro Pete"]Having had more new kits than new signings is a bit annoying.However, we still have a stronger squad than the one that Lambert took to 47 points in his first Premier League season. However, you could argue that so was the squad that got us relegated.  A left back and left sided midfielder is a must. I''d go for two new additions, not just one of Brady or Alonso.After that it''s about whether you believe we have the quality and the strength in depth. I''m guessing most believe the lads still ''need a hand'', as Lambert used to say.[/quote]What happens to Johnson if we get in Brady for example I wonder?  I quite like the balance of him on the left as a midfielder to counter a full on attacking player on the right. I would slightly worry having both in the team.

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[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]My prediction is 14th.[/quote]

I love that, we might well end up in 14th, who knows but please expand on the 6 teams who you think will finish below us?

I don''t think Watford will be far away but probably have the financial clout to buy if needed in January.

I can only see three side who we will be fighting relegation with, Leicester, Bournmotuh and Villa. The rest at this time are pretty well sorted with managers a good signings.

17th would be a fantastic season and giving a good account of ourselves is the most important thing.

Don''t you think the other teams fans are pretty much saying the same as we are.

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Any of the bottom half of the PL could finish below us. AN is the difference, IMO, as Lambert was in the PL. It isn''t about who signed who, as QPR amply demonstrated.

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[quote user="Indy"][quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]My prediction is 14th.[/quote]

I love that, we might well end up in 14th, who knows but please expand on the 6 teams who you think will finish below us?

I don''t think Watford will be far away but probably have the financial clout to buy if needed in January.

I can only see three side who we will be fighting relegation with, Leicester, Bournmotuh and Villa. The rest at this time are pretty well sorted with managers a good signings.

17th would be a fantastic season and giving a good account of ourselves is the most important thing.

Don''t you think the other teams fans are pretty much saying the same as we are.[/quote]I personally think we will be the best promoted side. I think Leicester, Villa and Sunderland will be down there. It will be close but I can''t help thinking Leicester will have a bad season.

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You can only do so much with the tools in your box, and as good a job AN did working on a Skoda, he''s now progressed to working on a Bentley using pretty much the same tools, where others have been given a few better tools required to complete the job.

It depends on how fast AN can get to grips with a more complicated manual and utilise the tools at his disposal.

I''m not convinced that our Manager is so great he can take a team of relegation level players and finish 14th. Hope he can though, will be fun and a big learning curve for the management team.

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Every year teams tend to invest on new players some work out and some dont this is what happens in football, but you have to always try and improve your squad and your first eleven this does not seem like a difficult concept to me.

It becomes worrying when the other teams in the league are bringing in players Newcastle have brought in Mitrovic, Palace brought in Cabaye these are both good players as an example they are improving there teams, yes Watford and Bournemouth have spent money and some may say too much, or in the case of Mings over paid but they have improved their teams and therefore harder to beat.

Not only that the teams within the top 4-6 are improving by signing players thus trying to get some points off them will be harder to do, if it was''nt hard enough initially.

Now im not saying spend silly money on players ( I do not think that Brady is worth the 8 million quoted) but bringing in the right players at the right price is what we should be doing, the players we have already have brought arguable make us better but we need to doing more and at the moment there does not seem to be any progress which is frustrating, and when like others have said we now have 3 new shirts and we are also charging £45 for the first game of the season and with previous seasons the money should be there but i have no idea on the finaces.

I do not think we require lots of investment, but some would be preferable.

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Bournemouth, Leicester, Watford. Villa, Sunderland and possibly West Brom will finish below us.

Not sure on how Newcastle will pan out. They have some decent players but a poor manager.

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[quote user="whoareyou"]Bournemouth, Leicester, Watford. Villa, Sunderland and possibly West Brom will finish below us.

Not sure on how Newcastle will pan out. They have some decent players but a poor manager.[/quote]That is erm confident. I hope 3 of them are below us at the end a very much doubt all of them will.

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I hit my panic button yesterday. The only part of the squad i am content with is the midfield.

Our best back four looks okay, enough to fight against relegation sure. Any injuries though and we are in big trouble. As for strikers, we have depth but I''m not overly confident we will be reliably scoring a lot as it stands.

Obviously there is a balance, you don''t want to do a Watford. But the number of people content with going with what we have got is baffling and I think will be in for a bit of a wakeup come January.

I''m not faulting the club who are clearly trying to get the right players in, obviously signing good players for a good fee is difficult (who wants to sell their best players?). That said my point stands, in my opinion we will be really up against it to avoid relegation with the current squad.

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McClaren a "poor Manager"...... he has a very decent win ratio, better than Paul Lambert.

Oh, great OP and like many others who are not going hysterical, I too, whilst a little frustrated am comfortable with the situation and trusting a very good management team to do what is best for the club.

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Another day with and Norwich still haven''t signed another left back / right back / centre back. We will be in trouble if Whittaker / Olsson / Bassong / R Martin get injured.

We will concede goals left right and centre if we have to rely on R Bennett & Turner playing in our defence.

If Norwich don''t sign these players players in key positions it could be the difference between us staying up and going down!!

Watford are trying to improve their team - unlike us - we are being idle and doing nothing!! How do we expect to improve our team if we don''t sign players?

We need to sign a striker who can score goals at Premier League level as Dean Ashton rightly said - Jerome / Grabban have never been prolific goalscorers at Premier League level!!

If Norwich go down I will blame McNally & Alex Neill for not signing any quality players to improve our team!!

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[quote user="craigbrown2015"]Another day with and Norwich still haven''t signed another left back / right back / centre back. We will be in trouble if Whittaker / Olsson / Bassong / R Martin get injured.

We will concede goals left right and centre if we have to rely on R Bennett & Turner playing in our defence.

If Norwich don''t sign these players players in key positions it could be the difference between us staying up and going down!!

Watford are trying to improve their team - unlike us - we are being idle and doing nothing!! How do we expect to improve our team if we don''t sign players?

We need to sign a striker who can score goals at Premier League level as Dean Ashton rightly said - Jerome / Grabban have never been prolific goalscorers at Premier League level!!

If Norwich go down I will blame McNally & Alex Neill for not signing any quality players to improve our team!![/quote]Have a cup of tea and a sit down mate, you might do yourself some damage. I''m going to break it to you, Norwich might go down, it is a fiercely strong division and Norwich do not have the finances to spend 30 million. What we do have is momentum from winning a lot, a happy squad and a togetherness. We can destroy what we have by panic buying, pi$$ing off key players and filling the team with players who are only with us because we are in the Premier league. Norwich specifically focused on keeping the squad intact last season so that we didn''t have to do a re-build if we went up. You can throw your toys out of your pram and blame everyone at the club if you want. I''m sure you will be one of the idiots booing AN if we are in the bottom 3 at Christmas.I''m sure the fountain of knowledge that is Dean Ashton would have said Holt and Morison would struggle for goals too but they did alright didn''t they? Also I''m sure more than a few people would have said Dean who? the jump up from Crewe to Premier league is too big, he won''t score the goals, and did he?

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