Always good to see ex-players doing well

[lake district canary 4,530]

Ricky - six matches, six goals, leading goal scorer in the league.....can''t finish for a toffee that lad.....[:O]

[Clint 221]

It''s amazing what a bit of confidence and playing in a team that suit your game, can do!

[hogesar 9,606]

Its amazing what playing in a sub standard non physical league can do!

[FCC 76]

No it isn''t - not if they''re lining up against us.

[Horse Renoir 1]

Much weaker than the Championship that league, technically maybe a little better but much, much easier to score in, the same as every other top league in smaller European countries. We signed him as a PL goalscorer and he was hopeless. He''d be very lucky to get 15 goals in this league (the same as Jerome basically) but it would be like playing with 10 men most of the time.

Wouldn''t take a wage cut to move to Sporting either so lumbered us with paying his extortionate wages for far longer than necessary. Sod him, I prefer to see the likes of Wilbraham/Cureton/Morison etc still doing well

[JF 694]

Missed a penalty in their last league match, Snodgrass was obviously right....

[pliff 4]

[quote user="hogesar"]Its amazing what playing in a sub standard non physical league can do![/quote]Dont Switzerland have a higher world ranking tha England?

[hogesar 9,606]

What does that have to do with anything?

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Clint"]It''s amazing what a bit of confidence and playing in a team that suit your game, can do![/quote]its amazing what 5 managers in 3 different countries all with very contrasting stuyles of quality can decide too.the Dutch league is about league 2 standard (Ajax apart) Ricky has found his level.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="Syteanric"][quote user="Clint"]It''s amazing what a bit of confidence and playing in a team that suit your game, can do![/quote]its amazing what 5 managers in 3 different countries all with very contrasting stuyles of quality can decide too.the Dutch league is about league 2 standard (Ajax apart) Ricky has found his level.[/quote]even more so now he is at Switzerland.

[curious yellow 184]

Now found his level in the Champions league.

Excellent goals to games ratio but not good enough for us when all the rest of the team was playing so well

[Guest]

Glad to see he''s found his level and is doing well. Poor man''s Robert Earnshaw for us, however.

[ROBFLECK 132]

I was so thrilled that he joined us, ''cause I had worked a lot in Holland and knew him as a top striker there. But he just couldn''t cut it in England. But he was often played as a lone striker it has to said. Doesn''t have the physical power like NO or Cam or Holt have....pity...I still feel he is a good striker but not 4 English football

[Making Plans 936]

[quote user="hogesar"]Its amazing what playing in a sub standard non physical league can do![/quote]It''s a much higher level than the German 4th division

[Dean Coneys boots 1,398]

Its a funny one and I blame CH most of all.

He purchased Ricky cos he was good but thought he could slot a player that needs to play in a 2 up front partnership on his own. It didn''t work.

The effect this had on the man''s confidence was awful to watch and it has taken him years to get back to where he was.

He lacks the physicality for the championship- but that is his standard. In a 4-4-2 with a Holt type partner I think he could have bagged us loads- Hooper too. But we keep playing 1 up front stuff that suits a few and not all.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

Was a weird summer of business that as we basically bought two strikers for big money, neither of whom fitted the style of play we intended to play and we slightly ruined them both.

Mind you I just also think RVW is not very good. He may be able to finish when confident but he has no pace, no strength and nothing to his all round game.

[Indy_Bones 441]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]He may be able to finish when confident but he has no pace, no strength and nothing to his all round game.[/quote]That''s merely a reflection of the changes in football itself rather than a set issue with this particular player.There have historically been numerous players who often offered little other than pure finishing and goals, and they were quite rightly lauded for this ability at the time, but the game has moved on since then, these players are now almost extinct, and there''s very little appreciation for what they can offer in the right system, as everyone is too focused on having the next Drogba, Lukaku, Costa or similar - a player with strength, pace and other attributes which makes them well suited to playing as a lone striker, rather than a player who needs the right ammunition from the team to truly perform.Whether RvW was good enough for the PL or not has become a moot point, because he wasn''t a target man, never would be a target man, was signed by a manager who clearly knew he wasn''t a target man, but was blamed for failing to perform - despite being played as a bloody target man! He didn''t fit the system, and all our other strikers failed to truly perform in that mess as well, including Holt who saw his goal tally HALVED thanks to Hughton...

[king canary 7,558]

Oh christ NOT AGAIN.

[Herman 9,691]

  [:D]

[Mr Angry 1,542]

Going back to the OP-Yes, it is good to see ex-players doing well. It pleases me whenever I hear about one of our old boys scoring, regardless of how well they did when they were with us, and regardless of what level they are now playing at.

[lake district canary 4,530]

[quote user="Mr Angry"]Going back to the OP-Yes, it is good to see ex-players doing well. It pleases me whenever I hear about one of our old boys scoring, regardless of how well they did when they were with us, and regardless of what level they are now playing at.[/quote]

Agreed - as long as the players gave their all for the cause while they were here, that is what counts for me. I think I was lucky with RVW.  Of the few matches I saw live that season, two of them were his first game where he scored against Everton - and the 1-0 win over Spurs - where he was directly involved in the goal and was given a standing ovation for his determination and sheer effort in that match. That effort alone cemented a feeling that here was a player trying his absolute hardest for the team and therefore worthy of some respect and well wishes for his career. After all, there are plenty of ex-players who did not appear to try their hardest while they were at Norwich - RVW may not have cut  the mustard with his goal scoring, but he tried his hardest to make it work imo.

[hogesar 9,606]

Ricky gave his all for a good 6 months or so.