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Squad evolution - Gunn to Farke

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I thought I would have a look at the evolution of the Norwich playing squad from Gunn’s management to present in the light of many fans thinking our current squad is inferior. Also bearing in mind that we were promoted from the Championship twice in this period. Players are listed in chronological order. I have tried to slot our current players at the end of the chains where they seem positionally best suited.

Goalie: Theoklitos/Alnwick, Forster, Ruddy, Gunn, Krul

Backup goalie: Rudd, Bunn, Rudd, McGovern

Right back: Otsemebor, Martin, Naughton, Martin, Whittaker, Wisdom, Pinto, Aarons

Left back: Drury, Tierney, Garrido, Olsson, Brady, Dijks, Lewis

CB1: Doherty, Whitbread, Turner, Martin, Hanley

CB2: Nelson, Ward, Bassong, Klose

CB3: Askou, Barnett, Ayala, Bennett, Zimmermann

Holder: Russell, Crofts, Tettey >>> Godfrey or Thompson??

CM 1: Gill, Fox, Howson, Vrancic/ Leitner

CM 2: Smith, Lansbury, Surman, Johnson, Dorrans, Reed, Thompson/McLean

CM 3: Adeyemi/Tudor Jones, Fer, Odjidja, O’Neill, Mulumbu, Trybull

Wide mid/wing: Lappin, Pilkington, Brady, Josh Murphy, Hernandez

Wide mid/wing: McNamee, E Bennett, Snodgrass, Redmond, Ja Murphy, Marshall

Playmaker: Hoolahan, Pritchard, Maddison, Buendia/Cantwell

Playmker2/ high mid: McVeigh, Pacheco, Butterfield, Andreu, Stiepermann

F1: Holt, Elmander, Jerome, Rhodes

F2: Martin, Kamara, RVW, Grabban, Oliveira, Pukki

F3: McDonald, Jackson, Hooper, Naismith, Srbeny

F4: Cureton, Johnson, Wilbraham, Morison, Becchio, Lafferty, Mbokani, Watkins

I don’t think our current squad is noticeably weaker than those of the past. It is definitely one of the most exciting for a Norwich fan though because of the amount of former youth players involved and because of the team spirit which is epitomized by Zimmermann and Klose. With the exception of Maddison I don’t think we have seen a central midfielder as cultured as Leitner for a long time and Pukki really does have the “Grant Holt” feel about him.

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Interesting perspective. There are some great players on that list, and also a couple of ‘who?’s. Why did Butterfield never play for us? He’s got over 160 appearances for Derby, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield.

I think we can agree that with the exception of Grant Holt, the Gunn era saw us buy some sh*t players.

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Yeah Gunn was having to rebuild a decimated squad after Roeder but he bought quite a lot of rubbish. Michael Nelson was another solid signing though.

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Of course some individuals will be better than others but I still think it is the sum of the parts that counts.And some of those parts go on to progress with us and on to better things.

Saunders proved that you can take some ordinary players and make them into a unit that can do things.

I have no idea where and why Gunn got his information about some of his purchases but it is fair to say most didn''t achieve much with us.

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@KG

That is why Lambert was such a success with us imo- got a team performing as much more than the sum of its parts.

Hughton on the other hand spent more money on ''better'' parts but couldn''t get them playing together as they should.

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[quote user="Nuff Said"] .......... Why did Butterfield never play for us? He’s got over 160 appearances for Derby, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield. [/quote]My understanding has always been that Butterfield was, like Snodgrass, a Lambert target, though PL left before Butterfield actually signed. If he was bought with an eye to the future, it was clearly a mistake, since anyone less content to wait for his opportunity behind the likes of Hoolahan, Surman, Howson, Bradley J, et.al is hard to imagine. He was youngster like Canos (and Maddison), who''d got the taste for starting eleven football in the lower leagues and wanted and expected to be playing. Doesn''t seem that much has changed, judging by his reported comments (DerbyshireLive) when joining Sheffield Wed on loan from Derby last season:
"I spoke to my agent and just said Derby’s style of play was not really the way I like to play my football. I just had a feeling that he (Gary Rowett) wanted to play a more direct, physical style," Butterfield said. "I said I didn’t want to spend the season on the bench and my agent made some calls and I had a few options."
Rowett responded to Butterfield''s comments.

"The player probably didn''t mean it in the way he said it. He meant it as a positive for the club he has joined and in all fairness it wasn''t his decision necessarily to leave," Rowett said after Derby''s 5-0 victory over Hull......Rowett added: "They are not the best comments to make if you are going on loan. If you are going permanently, then may be."What I would say is that it was not about a style of play, it was just that we felt Butterfield hadn''t been as effective as he should have been."When you see the performance (against Hull), if you can tell me that is not a good style of football and style of play then I would be very, very surprised."

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I’m still not over the Becchio signing. Still think he could’ve made a difference for us, after being top scorer for Leeds that season.

Oh well, as with all clubs, some signings just don’t fit I guess.

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Butterfield wasn''t bought in as one for the future- he was a 22 year old with nearly 100 league appearances to his name by that point.

Yes he was a Lambert signing but he''d also been very badly injured the season before he joined us and I don''t think he got fit enough to really push for a place in the team.

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[quote user="lincolncanary"]Where''s Simon Whaley!?

What an injustice not to mention him.[/quote]
Didn''t he have a pretty good time at Preston, signed for us, and literally decimate into the world of nothing-ness and retired a year later at something like 26 years old after a couple of poor loan moves?

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*cough*

Might be some info in here lads, just saying...

https://www.alongcomenorwich.com/articles/the-we-barely-knew-thee-xi

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