All said and done the club have f....ed up another transfer window

[Crabbycanary3 994]

Nope ncfcstar, it''s just common sense

[ncfcstar 289]

Pah, again, I''m not some numbskull who thinks this is CM99/00 and I can bid £1m, offer £100 a week and Bob''s your Uncle, striker signed.

I realise there is a lot more to it. Which begs the question even more, with all that time to plan, why did it take so long? I''m not suggesting the club wanted to leave it until August 30th - I''m sure they didn''t - but something went seriously wrong IMO for it to drag on until then. Are you happy to argue against that?

[Jim Smith 2,317]

Look its not over yet and we may yet produce a surprise and its also possible that both Oliveira and Sinclair may prove to be inspired signings. Retaining some of our key players is also a positive.

That said, can we say that the club has covered itself in glory in its quest for strikers we knew we needed since may and has given itself the best chance of promotion this season with the strikers we look to have brought in. At this stage no. We look to be taking a bit of a punt on two relatively unproven players as back up to Jerome and I think the fans have a right to feel that we deserve/should expect more than that in the circumstances. I genuinely feel that there appears to be a very scattergun and reactive approach to recruitment at the moment which has resulted in us having to scramble around at the last minute again.

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 526]

I think the club had two options - to join in with the mad gazumpfest which is the transfer market this year, or not to join in. They appear to have chosen the latter option, and I for one support them in that.

There must be a huge long list of strikers we have enquired after, but we were always going to lose out to any Premiership team who also enquired about the same player, and this season we were always going to lose out to those Championship teams which have new/rich owners, such as Newcastle, Villa, Wolves etc.

Let us revisit this thread next May, when we can see whether a net spend of £25 million on players like McCormack was a decision we should have taken.

[93vintage 16]

For me it''s been like watching a car crash. The key moment was failing to land McCormack.

[Alejandra 0]

I''m basing my reply on two things hereWe are no longer a premiership teamWe are not bank rolled by a rich chairmanwith this in mind I don''t think we''ve done too badly in this window? Why does it matter if we don''t get a deadline deal done, push on with what we''ve got and look at this things in december/januarySergi Canos looks a cracking young player costing 2.5 million, he''d walk into any other championship sideMichael McGovern looks a safe goalkeeper as a back up and doing OK in the first team, and a free to bootAlex Pritchard well we saw him tear teams apart with Brentford, once he''s in the starting line up I''m expecting great things from this one, was he around 8 Million ? he would also walk into any championship sideNelson Oliveira - Forest fans loved him, hoping he can do the business for us, about 5 Million ?15/16 million spent in one transfer window.  I''m happy with that.  Forget about Aston Villa, they have a luxury of a rich owner who can bail them out if their ambitious aim to buy a whole new first time doesn''t work out, we don''t

[sgncfc 1,227]

[quote user="93vintage"]For me it''s been like watching a car crash. The key moment was failing to land McCormack.[/quote]

Correct. Since then we''ve been all over the place. But some of it is completely outside the club''s control - like last minute bids for Naismith and Brady for instance.

Personally, I''d tell them both they have to stay and stop sulking. All this c**p about "you can''t keep an unhappy player" - garbage. Chelsea have about 30 of them.

[BroadstairsR 2,162]

"We are not bank rolled by a rich chairman."

I agree with all your posting, particularly the above.

We have done quite well this Summer but we have to proceed with caution in the transfer market because we are not heavily backed. We were the paupers of the Premier League and now we are gradually drifting towards that same status in the Championship, especially as we aspire to be amongst the top six and more.

When I have previously mooted the view that the comfy "Delia model" was becoming outdated my supporting credentials were questioned.

If we fail to move forward in the way so many clubs now seem to be doing (reference ownership/investment) Delia''s prophesy of "lil'''' ol Norwich" will be fulfilled, and sooner rather than later.

Times change. We don''t.

[Essjayess 307]

Agree with much you say Alejandra, so i cannot agree with the Topic title, unless its just aimed at the striking area, in which i agree with, its been a very disapointing fail.  But midfield we have signed  some  reaaly exciting  guys, Defence has hardly been touched, really puzzled how we still have Whittaker, Turner, Bassong  , Martin here..these players are just cemented at the club it seems.All in all, taking the window as a whole, id say average, good enough squad for 8th to 12th place end season, so our striker hopes move on to January...then next Summer. OTBC.

[Dean Coneys boots 1,400]

Last season some of us bemoaned the failure in the window and were assured it would all be ok in January/ but it wasn''t. Our failure in the summer to secure a CB worthy of the prem cost us relegation and, sorry, but the approach of the board was miserly and small minded.

Now we have been relegated all the same mistakes are there again, only this time it is a CF not a CB. And we are told we shouldn''t complain because that is the cost of relegation.

When will it be the turn of the board to take some blame rather than fans who dare to question?

[If wed only kept Howie.. 3]

Daly,

Not everyone that I disagree with is an Ipswich supporter, but I do disagree with every Ipswich supporter. Not sure which category you fall into.

[tricky974 61]

I know the window has not closed yet so something may happen yet, I''m ever the optimist after we have got rid of some of our players during this window and the players we have brought in just in fees alone we have spent around 4m, and I understand that it''s not all about the cost of a player but can''t we bring in the players we need?

[Branston Pickle 3,655]

IMO we appear to have kept all our best players, Redmond apart (but Canos is a very good replacement) and for me Pritchard is a better bet than Naismith who seems to have been a bit of a mistake. On that front I fail to see how this Window is a disaster. The one area of weakness is of course up front, but we have a new guy in, unfortunately he seems to have been written off before kicking a ball.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

ncfcstar, your original point was that the Club WAITED until 30th August to sign a striker. That was what I was responding to. What I think, of us signing a striker on the 30th, and not before, is another thing altogether.

[Crabbycanary3 994]

btw ncfcstar, who should we have signed (since end Jan) when should we have signed them, and what makes you think we were the best team , for that (those) player (s) to sign for us?

[ncfcstar 289]

I didn''t mean ''wait'' in the sense that we purposely thought ''I know what, lets just wait until deadline day to sign someone'' - perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but the fact that we did not sign anyone until 1 day before the window closed irks me. I can''t imagine many fans are happy with it either.

I''m not sure who we should have signed (I don''t like the sound of McCormack or Rhodes tbh), I''d like to think the club had a list of players which they were determined to get before the season began at the start of August. That is the job of the ''footballing board''. We should have done everything possible to get a player in pre-season to have that preparation time with the whole squad. I''m assuming Oliveira was available all summer, so doubt highly that he was anywhere near the top of the list of targets.

Saying that, now Chrissy Martin is apparently available I''d happily have him back, I think he would suit our system. I appreciate that this is target the club would not have been able to plan for though.

It was clear to everyone that we needed a goalscorer to score the goals to push us back into the PL - I''m not confident we have that now, are you?

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

So we have apparently f...ed up another transfer window. Some were willing for Naismith to leave on a free transfer, ''just to get rid''. Others assert that AN ''said'' Maddison wouldn''t go out on loan. Could it be that was before we switched from McCormack (the ''goal machine'' who so far has scored once in six games for Villa) to Pritchard. Maddison has performed well against League One opposition, but the Championship is a big step up from that. The reality is that Maddison at 19 has Wes, Naismith and Pritchard ahead of him for that number 10 spot. His chances of games other than the EFL Cup or EFL trophy are limited, so perhaps it makes sense for him to go out on loan to the SPL to develop his skills.

At the beginning of the window all the emphasis was on keeping Klose after Redmond moved on for a respectable £11m. That allowed us to bring in Canos, Pritchard, McGovern and Jones, which pleased most of us at the time. Most, like myself, thought Brady would move on but the club played hardball and it seems to have worked. Instead of having to replace Klose and Brady, we''ve had unexpected continuity going into this season. Compare that to Villa, whose manager is pleading for time for the new players to gel (McCormack included). Is it worth pointing out that they are 3 points behind us? So, while it hasn''t been an exciting window, we have added Canos, Pritchard, McGovern, Jones and Oliveira against the loss of Redmond, Mbokani, O''Neil, Kean, RvW and Odjidja-Ofoe. My feeling is that the squad is stronger for that, but time will tell.

[Wibble 109]

Fuck it ill agree now, this club is on a downward spiral, bounce back up, my arse !

[Samwam27 527]

[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]So we have apparently f...ed up another transfer window. Some were willing for Naismith to leave on a free transfer, ''just to get rid''. Others assert that AN ''said'' Maddison wouldn''t go out on loan. Could it be that was before we switched from McCormack (the ''goal machine'' who so far has scored once in six games for Villa) to Pritchard. Maddison has performed well against League One opposition, but the Championship is a big step up from that. The reality is that Maddison at 19 has Wes, Naismith and Pritchard ahead of him for that number 10 spot. His chances of games other than the EFL Cup or EFL trophy are limited, so perhaps it makes sense for him to go out on loan to the SPL to develop his skills.

At the beginning of the window all the emphasis was on keeping Klose after Redmond moved on for a respectable £11m. That allowed us to bring in Canos, Pritchard, McGovern and Jones, which pleased most of us at the time. Most, like myself, thought Brady would move on but the club played hardball and it seems to have worked. Instead of having to replace Klose and Brady, we''ve had unexpected continuity going into this season. Compare that to Villa, whose manager is pleading for time for the new players to gel (McCormack included). Is it worth pointing out that they are 3 points behind us? So, while it hasn''t been an exciting window, we have added Canos, Pritchard, McGovern, Jones and Oliveira against the loss of Redmond, Mbokani, O''Neil, Kean, RvW and Odjidja-Ofoe. My feeling is that the squad is stronger for that, but time will tell.[/quote]

Yellow, perhaps one question I think many will agree with me on is, how and why is Naismith regarded as being ahead of Maddiosn. Price tags shouldn''t count. Naismiths performances, and I''m saying many of them don''t justify his starting berth. So why shouldn''t a young and exciting ( and dare I say, someone with far more attititude and enthusiasm to play for NCFC) have his chance ahead of Naismith.

It seems Naismith has been given a stay of execution at City, but I doubt it will do anything to improve his performances for us!

[Samwam27 527]

[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]So we have apparently f...ed up another transfer window. Some were willing for Naismith to leave on a free transfer, ''just to get rid''. Others assert that AN ''said'' Maddison wouldn''t go out on loan. Could it be that was before we switched from McCormack (the ''goal machine'' who so far has scored once in six games for Villa) to Pritchard. Maddison has performed well against League One opposition, but the Championship is a big step up from that. The reality is that Maddison at 19 has Wes, Naismith and Pritchard ahead of him for that number 10 spot. His chances of games other than the EFL Cup or EFL trophy are limited, so perhaps it makes sense for him to go out on loan to the SPL to develop his skills.

At the beginning of the window all the emphasis was on keeping Klose after Redmond moved on for a respectable £11m. That allowed us to bring in Canos, Pritchard, McGovern and Jones, which pleased most of us at the time. Most, like myself, thought Brady would move on but the club played hardball and it seems to have worked. Instead of having to replace Klose and Brady, we''ve had unexpected continuity going into this season. Compare that to Villa, whose manager is pleading for time for the new players to gel (McCormack included). Is it worth pointing out that they are 3 points behind us? So, while it hasn''t been an exciting window, we have added Canos, Pritchard, McGovern, Jones and Oliveira against the loss of Redmond, Mbokani, O''Neil, Kean, RvW and Odjidja-Ofoe. My feeling is that the squad is stronger for that, but time will tell.[/quote]

Yellow, perhaps one question I think many will agree with me on is, how and why is Naismith regarded as being ahead of Maddiosn. Price tags shouldn''t count. Naismiths performances, and I''m saying many of them don''t justify his starting berth. So why shouldn''t a young and exciting ( and dare I say, someone with far more attititude and enthusiasm to play for NCFC) have his chance ahead of Naismith.

It seems Naismith has been given a stay of execution at City, but I doubt it will do anything to improve his performances for us!

[HertsCanary93 222]

I don''t think our squad from before the window is significantly different in quality to the squad after. However, when you compare Canos/Pritchard vs Redmond and Oliveira vs Mbokani, there is an argument that it is potentially slightly weaker. That said, keeping Klose and Brady is obviously a significant development and has ensured that we haven''t moved backwards significantly.

I think I''m feeling a bit down because Villa and Newcastle have significantly strengthened and we have failed to keep up. It was always going to be difficult as both of these clubs have money to burn, but I feel there really was the opportunity of us this window to do more than we have done to stay competitive.

No matter how disappointing the window has been to us, we still do have quality in the team and I believe we can still get promoted with this squad. Despite this, it is vital we get a good run of wins ASAP as i fear the fans are on the verge on turning.

[PurpleCanary 5,557]

[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]So we have apparently f...ed up another transfer window. Some were willing for Naismith to leave on a free transfer, ''just to get rid''. Others assert that AN ''said'' Maddison wouldn''t go out on loan. Could it be that was before we switched from McCormack (the ''goal machine'' who so far has scored once in six games for Villa) to Pritchard. Maddison has performed well against League One opposition, but the Championship is a big step up from that. The reality is that Maddison at 19 has Wes, Naismith and Pritchard ahead of him for that number 10 spot. His chances of games other than the EFL Cup or EFL trophy are limited, so perhaps it makes sense for him to go out on loan to the SPL to develop his skills.

At the beginning of the window all the emphasis was on keeping Klose after Redmond moved on for a respectable £11m. That allowed us to bring in Canos, Pritchard, McGovern and Jones, which pleased most of us at the time. Most, like myself, thought Brady would move on but the club played hardball and it seems to have worked. Instead of having to replace Klose and Brady, we''ve had unexpected continuity going into this season. Compare that to Villa, whose manager is pleading for time for the new players to gel (McCormack included). Is it worth pointing out that they are 3 points behind us? So, while it hasn''t been an exciting window, we have added Canos, Pritchard, McGovern, Jones and Oliveira against the loss of Redmond, Mbokani, O''Neil, Kean, RvW and Odjidja-Ofoe. My feeling is that the squad is stronger for that, but time will tell.[/quote]Assuming we sell no-one else in the last hour we will only have sold one player - Redmond - we probably would have liked to have kept. To the list of those we have held on to despite other clubs being interested Olsson can be added, since we fended off West Ham. Two years ago we lost Fer, Snodgrass and Surman, plus Pilkington.Overall, last time we roughly only spent what we got for those who left. This time, again roughly, we seem to have spent more (on Canos, Pritchard and Oliveira) than we have received. A sensible judgment would be that this window has improved the squad.And Naismith staying may not be quite the bad news most fans think, if the penny can finally drop with Neil that he should either only be played instead of Hoolahan (as he did well in the win against Newcastle United) or as second striker in a 4-4-2.

[sonyc 5,511]

Well that is a positive way of looking at it Purple and it provides some balance. Yet we are still stuck seemingly with strikers AN doesn''t like to play. Hope Oliveira can be our talisman

[Indy 3,297]

Purple could it be that no one wants our failed players? So one out isn''t a strength but a fact of how poorly they are regarded, no one has come in for them!

[Essjayess 307]

Yellow Since 72, trouble is back in May after relegation,  we all expected at least some changes to the old guard deadwood, even Alex said a refresh and some younger ones needed to come in. 1 or 2 have, but only in midfield, In May most of us id imagine thought of the likes of Whittaker, Bassong, Martin, Turner, Laffery and laterly maybe Naismith  would be the obvious choices, but no, they are all still here! Alex  has virtually not touched the so called deadwood. Look at the defeat at Brum last game, 2 of the goals  from Whitts mistakes, up front an absolute toothless Naismith and the invisible Lafferty on bench whom Alex just seemingly wont start.Depressingly the whole window has gone much as i thought, as its now a recurrence every window, and i see many more Brum type games heading this way in next few months. Alex is fast sealing his fate for City fans, the goodwill is long gone, and now it only needs a couple months of poor results for the majority to want him out. His future at City lies in results / performance on the pitch as the window has been poor, and right now i for one dont see optimism ahead, hope im wrong.

[The young canary 0]

Even after a disastrous transfer window the happy clappers have found a way of happy clapping it''s truly depressing these people allegedly support our club

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

It seems that some people see Naismith as a striker and then fault him for not scoring more goals, while others see him as an AM who doesn''t get enough assists. IMO, he is a mix of the two. Last season, he developed a good understanding with Mbokani that worked well when they played together. He hasn''t managed that as much with Jerome, but it remains to be seen if he will with Oliveira.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,748]

surely its coming up to the time when we hit the "Dame N''doye emergency button" ?!?!

[Ginja 26]

Much like last season, I am sure we will look back on this window and think if only.

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

Not being a ''happy clapper'' or a ''pants wetter'', I have mixed feelings about this window. My main concern at the start was to hang on to our best players. We lost Redmond, but to my surprise we kept Klose, Brady, Olsson and Naismith. Perhaps that limited our budget for new players and while I like the signing of Pritchard, Canos, McGovern and Oliveira, I had also hoped we''d sign another quality striker. I do feel that the Murphys have been brought into the squad and got more playing time than I would have expected by now, and, as such, could be considered like new signings along with Canos. I always felt that it''d be more difficult for Maddison as at 19, he''s playing in probably the most technically demanding position behind Wes, Naismith and Pritchard. Hopefully he''ll get game time with Aberdeen and return to us in January with more experience at a higher level and confidence that brings. Some good, some disappointment for me but I still think we''re in with a good chance of promotion