Swansea after Godfrey

[pete 371]

According to BBC nothing on JM. Hope selling is over sure BG will not be attracted to Swansea now a Championship club but with pots of dosh but still a hole.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

Yesterday, 7:20 PM TIL 1010 Joined on 20/01/2008 Norwich Posts 15,682	Re: City Summer Transfer Thread.
	Essjayess wrote: Swansea and WBA are thought to be lining up  3 mill bid for Ben Godfrey. C. Palace also thought to be interested. (source BBC). https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44506675

[KeiranShikari_2 0]

Cheers for the up to date news, pete.

[Bill 1,788]

At least Godfrey cannot be accused of wanting to look up ladies skirts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH5syhVTwlM

[Highland Canary 78]

And so the firesale continues.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

It''s the beginning of the end....

[Herman 11,136]

You coudn''t make it up.

[lappinitup 629]

What a fiasco...

[Bill 1,788]

As Barry would say

[The Bristol Nest 597]

Fair enough

but don''t sell.

[Highland Canary 78]

Indeed

[Mike 68]

Will it be

A) he wanted to go so we had no choice

B) he was disruptive in training

C) the crowds booing him

D) the fee was just too good

E) our shortfall is actually £6m than we thought

F) the money we are getting for everyone else comes in really really small bits... And everyone we sign is different

Would be nice to give him a chance as he has impressed when I have seen him play.

[Bill 1,788]

or maybe this

watch it and weep

binboy

[paddycanary 579]

Godfrey matches all the criteria of what the club are supposedly attempting to do. Unless there is something going on behind the scenes that us mere mortals are not privy to, I for one would be more disappointed with this than with the Murphy sale, given the timing.

Strong prospect picked up a couple of years back, given his loan experience to get him ready to challenge, does well, possibly just about to make his mark and then flogged for a million or two at the first sniff of interest. Only rumor of course at the moment but he could potentially become a lynchpin over the next couple of years and, although I don’t like saying it, could be the sale to balance the books a couple of seasons down the line. I’ve high hopes for Godfrey this season. There was a sniff of a twitter dig recently if i’m Not mistaken, could have been rubbish of course.

[Making Plans 957]

We are becomming nothing more than a production line for young players that come from lower divisions.

We get them in, we send them out on loan and, if we''re lucky, we might even see them play a few first team games before they''re sold.

That is all we are about now.

[Mike 68]

[quote user="Mr Benn"]

or maybe this

watch it and weep

binboy

[/quote]

Ah the old "binboy" insult always used by the Delia fanatics when their idol is questioned... made me laugh... Enjoy your day Mr Benn OTBC

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

Arrgh rumours, but anyhow I get the feeling that any sale of Ben Godfrey just now could be a defining point of the fan''s tolerance of the situation with the club, the new way, of Webber and of Farke and upwards.

Although he has had only a handful of games for the first team many of us will not see this as an inevitability in the way the Murphy and the (impending) Maddison transfers are generally viewed.

We are not in a position to prevent youngsters improving their career prospects by succumbing to the Premier league draw. As one of the many clubs recently losing their top league status our difference in income dictates a policy of financial frugality that involves the need for plugging ''holes'' in any case.

If, and I believe it a big if, Godfrey is sold for anything other that totally ridiculous money I sense it might cause far greater discontent amongst the support than the sale of the two more established stars.

Despite some high profile purchases in recent years we have never quite escaped from the status of being a selling club. Rarely will we have made it more blatant or more humiliating.

It would go against the grain of everything we have been persuaded to swallow because selling an apparently highly rated youngster to a fellow Championship outfit (rumoured) in order put a few more millions into the coffers means that the Club is going in the complete opposite direction to that we have been led to believe it is taking. There would be something very difficult to accept about it.

Enough would be enough and only a flying start next season, far from expected by many it seems, would likely quell the impending revolt amongst the bums on the yellow seats and amongst those further afield.

Let''s hope it is just rumours, but we can but react in a negative way whilst the club remains silent. Deny it all someone.

[ZLF 335]

Now? Has ever been thus.

Plenty of clubs have been "interested" in Godfrey since the hammers cup game. So far it doesnt seem that any club has made an offer let alone one we cant afford to reject.

It may be that his head has been turned and he chases a pay rise, but assuming he wants to be here next season I suspect he will be as he will get 25+ games here. That is unless we get an offer disproportionate multimillion offer for a non international recognised one season league 1 player.

[lake district canary 4,830]

Easy to be negative about it, but on the other hand, if people are interested in our players it means we have good players.  I hope he stays of course, but should he go, that is just the way football is - and if sold, it will have been for a decent amount that strengthens our financial position, which like it or not is an issue until such time as we have got rid of all the expensive contracts left over from the PL season.

The good of any of the transfers in and out will be shown next season, so getting too negative about any player sold at the moment is not going to help anyone. 

[king canary 8,754]

I don''t think fans opinions on if a player is sold is really going to have much of an effect on anything, positive or negative.

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

It’s to make up the shortfall of parachute payments remember . Even though the Pritchard and Murphy sales achieved this the Maddison sale must be be for 19/20 season .Only Oliveira and Lewis to sell now before everyone can relax .

[Making Plans 957]

Haven''t seen any reports about Clubs being interested in Naismith, Wildschut, Husband, Martin, McGovern or Oliveira.

Wonder why that is?

Still we did get rid of Watkins.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

Every deal needs to be looked at individually as well as in the whole.

Ultimately, Godfrey is a player with pretty much zero experience above League One, if someone offers £10m for that then it’s a no brainer sell (not that anyone is offering that much but you should always work out at which point it is obvious to sell and work backwards).

The broader picture is that Godfrey has a lot of potential but in an area of the pitch that is pretty well covered by Tettey, Trybull, Vrancic, Maclean - personally I always wondered where he fit in to Norwich’s plan and thought the loan to Rotherham seemed a likely outcome. Giving him a full season in the Champ before Tettey’s knees finally give up.

I haven’t seen enough of him to know whether he’ll be displacing other players to go straight into the first team or not.

Without being able to see the whole picture of a Webber’s and Farke’s plan then it is hard to make a judgement on each sale or purchase as they come in. It could be by moving on Godfrey Norwich get the funds to bring in a striker that isn’t affordable with him around.

Anyway, this looks like a bit of a nothing story. It has all the hallmarks, three clubs mentioned, ‘considering a bid’, ‘around £xm’.

[ROBFLECK 134]

LDC ... it''s all well strengthening your financial position...but you have to do something with the money!

Are you confident in the current tandem Webber-Farke will be able to achieve this?...

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

When you look back at the attendances from the mid 90s there must be around a 40% increase over the last dozen seasons . Taking support for granted with zero ambition will result in significant drops in ticket sales which was kicking in last season .

I remember Delia saying that this clubs days of financial hardship were over after promotion at Portsmouth . Maybe that was the free bar talking but whenever she speaks it normally backfires .

[king canary 8,754]

"The broader picture is that Godfrey has a lot of potential but in an area of the pitch that is pretty well covered by Tettey, Trybull, Vrancic, Maclean"

This sort of thing in the biggest question mark I have with the Webber strategy at the moment right now.

Long term sustainability relies on us developing players to sell for a profit further down the line. So resigning Tettey or signing a keeper on loan actually become negatives in the long term if it stops the players with the best chance of developing getting into the team.

Last season it seemed Lewis was earmarked for left back and Husband was inexpensive cover. In my mind this is what we should be doing for Matthews and Godfrey as in 12 months time they may be the players being linked with big money moves that allows us to develop in this model.

[Fuzzar 1,861]

As Bethnal says, we don''t really know how he fits into the total jigsaw Webber and Farke are (hopefully) constructing.

That said it would seem odd to sell a player at this stage of his development, so hopefully it''s just a made up story.

[lake district canary 4,830]

[quote user="ROBFLECK"]LDC ... it''s all well strengthening your financial position...but you have to do something with the money!

Are you confident in the current tandem Webber-Farke will be able to achieve this?...[/quote]

I''m confident that the players Webber/Farke are going get will have the right mentality for what they want to achieve. How Godfrey fits into the scenario will be seen next season, but like everyone I would like to see young players brought through to the first team before being sold off, but then the more successful the youth policy is at bringing on players, the more of them that will be sold before they even get to the first team, particularly if they have done well on loan.

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 2,424]

Guess it is a balance King Canary, between developing players and having a team good enough to challenge for the play-offs.

Something obviously changed with Norwich’s view of Tetty, think everyone was pretty much agreed that he was off this summer last January, but then Norwich offer him something at the back end of the season. Whether this is a sign that they felt Godfrey needed another season to develop or just that Tettey’s experience was too valuable to lose is unclear.

If Norwich can get an offer for Godfrey north of £5m then you’d have to argue that they have developed him well and can sell him to keep the self-sustainable model.

I don’t think Norwich are actively looking to sell him, like I don’t think they were actively looking to sell Murphy. But as I said before you have to look at deals both individually and collectively.

Same with Matthews, all well and good wanting to promote young players, but if they don’t think he is good enough then no way he should be first choice.

[ZLF 335]

I think one thing we did learn from last year is that the squad did not have cover for Tettey; neither Vrancic nor Trybull were able to do his job in his absence and results and performances suffered. McLean is an unknown but it seems he is another better going forward than a pure cdm. Trybulls performances (and our results) were markedly better with a holding mand beside(behind) him.

We know that Tettey is unlikely to start every game - which is what gives Godfrey his chance to stake his claim if he is as good as we hope / assume. Having Tettey is also a pressure valve for Godfrey (and far more optimistically Thompson who I think is the more likely loan candidate give his time without match practice).

With the end of season games suggesting we will move to a 4141 formation the 1 cdm role is pivotal. The lack of a disciplined defence focused ball winner in those games meant that the choice to go with 5 ball players was unbalances and not the success it could have despite the "flair" that started.

We will know more in 3-4 weeks time - until then itis all, including my thoughts, little more than assumptions and guesswork.