£12m bid accepted

[pete 372]

For McCormack from Aston Villa according to SSN. Alex Neil is either a liar or extremely naïve he needs to go a strong manager required with experience in the tactics, recruitment and management skills Neil so obviously lacks.

[unique 466]

I very much doubt this shambles can be laid at Alex Neil''s feet....

[SeattleCanary 0]

Agree with unique. After the Brady saga last summer we do look an effing shambles though. We do the ground work just to be pipped in the 11th hour. If we are serious about him, we should stop messing about. Same old story with us. Embarrassment.

[Clint 221]

He doesn''t want to come here so we are his last resort to get out of Fulham. The club can''t do much about that. What they can do however is identify more than one target for a change, we should not be in this position 3 days before the season starts. This stupidity goes back as far as Linvoy Primus over 10 years ago!

[CJ 1]

Well what a surprise wonder what excuse AN will try for this summers shambles on transfers. Really beggars belief weeks negotiations and Ross gone to Villa.

Boy we are pathetic now, we are quick enough to sign old players no one else wants but when it comes to getting in new ones forget it

[Legend Iwan 30]

You do realise Alex Neil isn''t the one negotiating the deal with Fulham right, Pete?

[chicken 0]

[quote user="SeattleCanary"]Agree with unique. After the Brady saga last summer we do look an effing shambles though. We do the ground work just to be pipped in the 11th hour. If we are serious about him, we should stop messing about. Same old story with us. Embarrassment.[/quote]

SSN isn''t 100% reliable, it''s Murdoch owned so what do you expect?

The figures I have seen elsewhere all tend to suggest that we offered £11million rising to £12+million with add ons, which is what we were discussing with Fulham.

Villa came in with £12million plus add ons to £15million.

Now call me fickle but I would imagine that Fulham dragged their heels because Villa were waiting upon the sale of other players - which appear to have gone through now. If so, it''s more a case of Fulham playing silly buggers.

[PaulineFowler 4]

Neil goes to board with transfer targets then they take over. Brady, Afobe and now McCormack - all an embarrassing shambles

[The young canary 0]

I do hope if he fails to land his main target that he accepts the responsibility and falls on his sword

[Highland Canary 78]

Well st least we''ll have money in the bank that will keep us ''debt free'' for six months or so after the parachute payments run out. Much truth to those who continually post the refrain of the club in crisis. Indeed.

[Felixfan 53]

When will they realise that every penny of spare cash needs to be invested in a quality striker.

[ROBFLECK 134]

Yet another dissapointment! Our transfer policy really really stinks, since the Messiah was at the helm...who''se gonna be the next target? season starts in a few days and we don''t have a lot of options up front do we?

Very very dissapointed...

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

If Pete and Highland Canary think that Alex Neil has been personally negotiating the McCormack deal then they''re even dimmer than I realised. Neil picked his target and it was up to our board to get him in. They didn''t. Nothing Alex Neil can do about that.

[unique 466]

It looks like every penny of spare cash went into the contract extensions for Dorrans, Turner and Whittaker.

Three of the most game-changing signatures this club has obtained over the past thirty years.......

[Alex Moss 2,167]

Perhaps McCormack actually wanted to join Villa all along?

But we could blame NCFC for that, it''s easy 👍

[Horse Renoir 1]

I''ve been championing McCormack and he was obviously the club''s first choice, it looks like we''re missing out now and it''s disappointing. But remember back two summers ago, Grabban was our no.1 target and we landed him, leaving our second choice (Callum Wilson) to sign for a different club, we got our man then, but he turned out to be a poor choice by comparison.

We''ve got around 10 million to spend on a striker and that''s quite exciting, just because we lost out on our first choice target though doesn''t necessarily mean our second or third choices will turn out to be much worse. I''d rather we lost out on Grabban last summer and had to go for Wilson in hindsight, our second choice this time like Assombalonga could turn out to be the better choice.

[Legend Iwan 30]

Callum Wilson wasn''t our second choice, we wanted both strikers, but Wilson asked for guaranteed first team football, which City couldn''t promise.

[Yelloow Since 72 56]

Though I''m not happy and certainly not clapping, I do think it isn''t the disaster some think it is. I assume we had a top price beyond which we were not prepared to go, which seems to be £12m including add-ons. Some are saying we should match or exceed the £14m including add-ons that Villa are reportedly paying. Much as I hoped we''d get McCormack, I don''t agree with the ''pay the going price'' argument. If McCormack helps Villa achieve promotion then it will have been worth it, but if he doesn''t? He has failed to do that with Fulham for the past two years and with Leeds the years before that. That was my concern about paying that much for a 30 year old who is already past his prime (usually considered 26-29) and won''t have any sell on value. IMO, it''s a desperate gamble by Villa and would have been the same for us, especially with so many older players already. The test will be what happens now with 4 weeks left in the window.

[Alex Moss 2,167]

Can anyone who''s slamming the club for the failure to land McCormack guarantee that it''s our fault?

Can they tell me for a fact that we''ve not offered the same fee, with even higher wages, but McCormack has made the decision that HE wants to go to Villa IRRESPECTIVE of what we''ve offered him? I would imagine Ross has a fair bit to say in all of this y''know, you can''t force a player to come just by throwing money at him if he''s always had a preferred choice himself!.

[cornish sam 1,040]

Also, for those of us blaming the club for shoddy negotiations, did we not employ an agency to do these negotiations for us? Yes, maybe we shouldn''t or could have employed better agents but it''s not our manager or even our board members doing the actual negotiations...

[hogesar 10,770]

Problem is, even if we do meet the same bid as Villa, Villa can further outbid us and probably double us on wages anyway.

So people slating the club probably have to realise that there''s little we can do.

And I wouldn''t want us spending £15 million + £60k wages on a 30 year old championship striker.

Saying that, as i''ve said before, the downside is he was clearly a big target for AN and we''ve not managed to secure it. That''ll be disappointing and a setback, i''m sure.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

AN does set the price the CEO is the one that sorts it out but i think you will find it is down to the manager how much he wants to spend

i will give you a example

club says alex you have 20 million to spend

now alex does not go to the CEO and says get McC in he is my target

CEO comes back yes we got him took all your 20 mill but we got him !

How it happens AN says i want McC i am willing to spend 12 mill of my budget on him go get him then the rest on XYZ

the manager sets the price he is willing to spend on a player NOT a CEO what he does he know about players worth ?

same as when selling we have a bid for olsson 4 mil CEO asks do we take it AN ??

The CEO does not turn up at colney and says to AN oh by the way we have sold Olsson last night

the manager says who comes / who goes The CEO looks after the budget

i think for what it is worth AN is not used to looking at players in this price range and just like his tactics he is like a Rabbit in headlights

the only way the club is to blame is if they are so hard up they take offers above the managers head due to lack of funds this is not what happens here at Norwich at the moment

[Clint 221]

Isn''t that the point Alex? I''ve heard from Fulham fans that we were never his first choice so why bother persisting with him? Surely we should have other irons in the fire? We did the same with Naismith, we eventually got him and he''s been terrible ever since.

I''m not bothered about the lack of McCormack, I''m bothered by the fact we''re going into the season basically with one forward. That is the shambles, whatever spin you put on it.

Last promotion season we had Jerome, Grabban, Hooper and Redmond all weighing in with goals. Now we just have a completely out of form Jerome.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

do not worry we have learn''t our mistakes from last summer !

[king canary 8,759]

@Clint

Yep that''s the issue. It is not really about McCormack as such but about the fact for a second summer in a row we''ve utterly failed to address a glaring need in our squad before the season starts. We knew from the second we went down we were short on strikers but we''ve let two months pass with no progress in this area. It''s piss poor planning and strategy and it''s becoming all too predictable.

[Alex Moss 2,167]

It''s very simple. If ourselves and Villa had both had a bid accepted then we had bid the right amount - upping the transfer fee means nothing so why people keep harping on about it I do not know. And that''s what it comes down to in the end - I get the impression everyone thinks this is just a case of throwing extra cash at him and he''ll sign! If McCormack prefers a Villa move, then he prefers a Villa move - Simple! How would that be NCFC''s/AN''s/Delia''s Mum''s etc etc fault?!

[Alex Moss 2,167]

Clint, I totally hear you buddy, but as of Saturday McCormack could well of thought there''s no interest from Villa or Newcastle so may have indicated to our club that he''d be happy to join us. Then Villa made their move and that''s where we are today.

[curious yellow 184]

Bullet dodged, too much of our a risk could have broken his leg first game and immediately become our biggest waste of money. Also not the centre forward type that we need.

Ironic that McNally lost his job, mainly because of what happened this time last year. Now the same is happened and our new CEO is sitting around with his Wolves scarf on.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

Villa have just or about to sell two midfielders for £13m upfront. They are suddenly, unexpectedly, cash rich. That is why they could blow Norwich out of the water with a big bid right at the death.

Norwich did exactly the same to Bristol City over Canos - waited until a fee had been agreed and swooped in to steal the player away. If reports are correct they are now doing the same with Pritchard.

An ordinary case of the richer club being able to gazump less wealthy teams. The Norwich board can''t get into an ''arms race'' with Villa over fee as they will lose out ultimately, or end up over stretching. You work out the value of the player you want and offer up to that ceiling - if it isn''t enough it isn''t enough.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

i think it has more to do than the CEO or club

i think money is Available the CEO does not make a list of targets

i think it is the manager and his inexperience showing again