Re. Worthies pre season squad size comments........

[jimbo 0]

I have read a post below written by Mr Carrow regarding Worthies post Fulham/relegation comments regarding squad size.

I too very clearly remember Worthy saying in post Fulham/relegation interviews that he would be looking too replace any players that left and that he would be looking to add one or two more players due to the fixture list in the Championship  being very heavy with games coming mid week and then at the weekend.

I too was very encouraged by these comments and envisaged us bringing in some decent players to give us a really good squad for the season ahead. I also was relishing, as i sure were many others us handing out some good thrashings to some teams and seeing us at the top challenging for automatic promotion.

The question is, as Mr Carrow asked what happened?

I am pretty certain that a few days after he made those comments Worthy had his meeting with the board and they tightened the purse strings right up. Worthy of course was not happy with this but would not criticise the board so as to retain a united front.

I feel sorry for Worthy in a way, as he was not given the financial backing by the board that he, and most other fans expected. Why did Worthy have to sell Jonson to create some funds to strenghten with?

Our role model is supposed to be Charlton, but we did not do a Charlton. Doing a Charlton would have meant giving Worthy money to go out and buy some better players. When i saw us linked with Hughes and Jarrett in the press i assumed that they were smokescreens and that we were after players of better quality, i was sadly wrong.

Francis was not replaced because Nigel was probably not given the money to replace him with. Although the board make out that their aim is to become an established prem club, i do question how serious they are about this. Little old Norwich had there little adventure in the Premiership and now we are back to the usual division one.

Your thoughts please.

[Massimo Venta Icenorum 0]

Jimbo we are now getting down to where this club is going. Least year when the board went to the big clubs, the Cooks, book printers, shop keepers and chicken farmers, where made to feel small amongst the high powered club owners. Now a days premiership clubs are lead from top, not on the pitch and if the people at the top allow for failure (ie we have budgeted to come bottom.) where do you come and where do you go on from there.

 

We all now know.

[Mr.Carrow 376]

    I must admit Jimbo when i wrote that first post mentioning Worthy`s desire for 5 additional squad members on top of replacing any departing players i wasn`t entirely sure my memory was serving me correctly-it all seems pretty hard to believe now doesn`t it? However there was a link this morning on wotb to the actual article in which Worthy is quoted saying exactly that.

   Our starting 11 with Dav and Marney IS certainly a top 6 one but in this rough and ready division having between 4 and 8 players out injured at any one time should be expected and planned for but the squad has been appallingly weak right from the word go (smallest in the Championship in fact). Anyone who seriously thought we had the strongest squad in the league needs their head testing.

   The fact that this vital subject was apparently not even raised at the AGM is extraordinary and worryingly seems to indicate that the small-minded and complacent attitude of the board is reflected by a number of the clubs most dedicated supporters. If the club cannot afford to spend a bean on the team after the huge bonus tv payments,share money,record season tickets,G.Watling money,land deal money etc.etc. it begs the question what position would the club be in if we hadn`t been promoted? Would we have gone bust? I thought the board were supposed to be financially astute?

    Im afraid the endless "Charlton model" statements have become an utterly meaningless platitude. The last club to do this were West Brom and they spent good money when they came down (Gaardsoe,Hulse,Purse,O`conner,Horsefield,Koumas) and had a squad at least 10 stronger than ours. Our board are trying to wing it on a pittance and it was NEVER going to work.

[Creative Midfielder 1,985]

Frankly I dont think this shortage of cash thing will wash.

Firstly Doncaster said quite catergorically that all cash raised through player sales would be made available to Worthington to bring in new players and I dont think there is any evidence whatsoever to suggest that this is not the case.

Secondly we apparently had £2 million to spend, which Worthington wanted to blow on Clinton Morrison, despite everyone else in Norwich knowing that it was a midfield player(s) that we needed.

Sorry but by Championship standards Worthington has had plenty of money, he has just spent it badly.

 

[TRAVIS ASKEW 0]

I am afraid you were correct....  He did say he would get players to replace any leaving and that he would add 5 new faces too.  This has been my bug bear all season, as he has had the chances of free signing too and loan players.  Instead he bought in 2 or 3 decent championship players.  He has said that the players weren''t out there....  I beg to differ, just look at other teams pre season signings.

Bentley done quite well for us, and was clearly available for another seasons loan.  Put it this way, would he have done any worse than the new boys.

I admire Nigel as a manager and decent man.  But for me all my hopes where dashed before a ball was kicked LAST season, as he freely admitted that we  would probably be going back down.  Maybe true!!  But talk about instilling no confidence in his players....  Maybe just maybe its time for a change for him and for City...

Best wishes Nigel

[Tumbleweed 106]

Its a combination of both. The Board have made money available, so it seems, but Worthington has either not spent it or spent it on mid table medicocrity. Failing to get in a quality central midfielder to help out Saf was a scandal. Letting Jonson go was a bad mistake too as I believe he would actually have done well as Ashton''s partner rather than being stuck out on the wing.

[kdncfc 0]

The club also said that worthy would have a budget irrespective of player sales, That is true because I posted a question to that effect on the offy site and the club confirmed that was the case. As the summer progressed it became obvious that there was no money to spend until jonsson was sold which meant that by the time we were in a position to sign players all the best had already joined other clubs, that is not the managers fault. I posted another question last week saying how we should still have a couple of million to spend and asking why we didn''t allow more of the parachute payment for new players. They said that wages for new players should also be taken from the incoming transfer fee, my point was that we had released more players than we signed therefore the savings in wages should cover new players wages. They also said that a large part of the parachute payment had been used to buy Deano but I thought the share money covered a large proportion of the fee. 

At the start of last season I''m almost certain the club stated that they had budgeted to be on the tv 7 times last year after being told by sky that was the amount of tv coverage we could expect. We were on 12 times I believe with an addittional 1.5 million pounds being earned and we also finished second from bottom after budgeting to finish bottom, another 500k we didn''t budget for. Delia and the board have done good things for this club but there are financial aspects that I find confusing to say the least and I do feel that were it not for the fact she saved the club many more searching questions would have been asked of her as with Chase all them years ago, but remember he also did good things for the club before it all turned sour.

[Mr.Carrow 376]

   A very interesting post kdncfc. Creative Midfielder, the club have told us several times that the fee agreed for Morrison was "nowhere near" the 2million stated by Birmingham-it seems to have been a ruse to encourage a higher bid to come in. The person who runs another forum (ncfc-fans i think) posted a few weeks ago an account of a phone conversation with Doncaster in which he was told that had we signed Morrison, a player would have had to be sold in January to cover it. Obviously this cannot be presented as absolute fact, but the post was linked to other message boards and the consensus was it was genuine. I also remember that when Jonsson was sold Worthy stated it was "to free up money to bring other players in". Yes, the club always stated there was `a budget` for new signings but frankly `a budget` could be 5 million or 5 quid couldn`t it? Remember Wayne Thomas (good player) choosing the mighty Burnley over us? I hardly think we pushed the boat out to get him did we?

   Kdncfc i would encourage you to keep asking probing questions-not many other fans seem to be bothering-as it seems the answers you have recieved are unconvincing to say the very least. So we sell a player and get him off the wage bill, but the fee we recieve has to pay the fee for his replacement AND his wages....I think i`m starting to see where its all gone wrong now!

   As i asked on another thread-why has the main `pruduct`of the business been allowed to become so appallingly weak in by far the most financially rewarding period in the clubs history? Why,when we have the highest gates in the division (16th highest in the country) are we outspent by clubs like Burnley and Sheff.U. who dont even have the 6 million parachute payment we enjoy?

   I sincerely hope the spotlight is gradually turning to where it should be amidst the current fiasco.

[charlies dad 0]

The size and make up of the squad is clearly wrong. 4 goalkeepers, 3 left backs, no right wingers.. it goes on. Ive stated before, a 1.5 million transfer profit, was not conducive to a promotion push, and a few free transfers do not cover up the cracks. We now have a much smaller squad than last season, when we played far fewer games. That a club of the stature of Norwich City has the smallest squad in the league is criminal, pathetic, short sighted and downright stupid.