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Promotion - the Fulham way....

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Last season, Fulham lost just one game from the 16th December to the end of the season - the final game against Birmingham (had they won, they would have achieved automatic promotion). Fulham went on to defeat Derby and Aston Villa in the play-offs to secure promotion to the PL.

Imagine the morale in the squad, and the sense of achievement, to go so long unbeaten and then to win the play-offs.

In the summer Fulham spent £112m on new players.

With a new manager long since in charge, Fulham started on Saturday with just three players who lined up in that play-off game at Wembley - Mitrovic, Ream and Odoi. Four more of that Wembley squad were on the bench. There were eleven changes to the play-off squad.

So for an outlay of £112m, Fulham have won just 4 from 26 games, losing 17. They are currently 8 points adrift from safety (9 if you include their dreadful goal difference).

Norwich have surprised most of us this season, so as far as I'm concerned, if they were to get promoted, next season in the PL would amount to a 'free-hit'.

That would mean giving the majority of the current squad a chance to prove themselves in the PL. If the likes of Aarons, Lewis and Godfrey are being scrutinized by PL scouts, then they should be good enough to play in the PL for Norwich.

No silly money wasted on 'big transfers'. It is far more satisfying picking up players for 'peanuts' and proving others wrong.Save funds for future 'rainy' seasons.

Sticking with Farke regardless of the results.

The entertainment, effort and style served up on a weekly basis by the current crop of players deserves continuity next season in the PL should promotion ensue.

 

Edited by unique
Clarify
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We will try and do it the Huddersfield way. But if we do go up and buy extra players we must have another goalscorer alongside / to rotate with Teemu

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I suspect that should we go up we would need to add something in the middle of the park, we probably have the attacking side sorted, but tettey will be another year older and Im not sure trybull could do it week in week out at that level. 

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Sure we'll need to add to the squad, like we do every season, players come and go. What the OP is saying is that we should give the boys a season to see how it goes.  No point spending 100 million and get relegated anyway, it would put us back to square one. 

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The ‘buy premiership quality players as an upgrade on what got us promoted’ approach is what we tried for the last two visits to the PL isn’t it? I don’t think there’s many posters on here who would disagree that we’d be better off as the OP suggests. If we end up back in the Championship, so be it, but we will have a wodge of cash to invest in the sustainability of the club. Plus we get the thrill of competing for promotion again.

 

I just hope our support can maintain enthusiasm over the course of a dispiriting  Premier League season if it turns out we’re going straight back down again.

Edited by Nuff Said
Speeling

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Good post by the OP and I definitely agree we should be very selective if we go up. The Fulham approach is just bizarre.

 

We have many first teamers who we expect to end up in the Prem anyway so should have most of what we need. But we will have the parachute payments to build for the long term  if we do go back down.

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Well the Fulham owner is an NFL owner too - Jacksonville - so spending oodles of money on marginally better players is par for the course. The difference is the NFL teams operate in a closed shop league, no relegations

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Just to clarify, I agree with the original point, the only place I would be a tad disappointed if we didn't strengthen our starting 11 is the DM, breaker role that tettey and trybull currently share. I would be happy to go with what we've got the rest of the way (with perhaps options to push krul and instead of Hanley to push the CBs)

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Farke and Webber have worked wonders so far, I certainly don't see them changing our current philosophy just because we've got a bit more cash. These are the players that got us there and I'm sure the team will be built around that. Players like Tettey will of course most likely be replaced, but in reality our squad is quite possibly good enough to compete. We certainly didn't do ourselves badly last season against Arsenal and Chelsea, and that was arguably with a weaker squad than we have this season

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Why look at Fulham and Huddesfield? Over the years Fulham have had hundreds of millions given to them by rich owner investors and even Huddersfield had vast more similar such money to  fork out recently on players compared to City. Only connection we have to Huddersfield is of course Webber. Maybe the club nearest to our situation in recent years has been Burnley, who have made a good fist of things, but in general, no other club in recent years come close to Norwich in being so tenaciously and wonderfully consistent in being able to once again get into the top tier purely on playing / managerial staff and income derived from existing means associated with our rises and falls each particular season.

Still think its a bit to early yet to start talking of what we will be doing in the summer heading to the Prem, but  a few more weeks on our present course we can do.

We always do, and always will, do it the Norwich way, no other club have the capabilities to do it our way, and also  of course it narks our neighbours even more each time we do it, all the better this time, as it happens when they're headed in the oppo direction.

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What was our outlay this season? I saw it yesterday. Something like £3.5 Million on incoming players.

It is quite phenomenal what we have achieved thus far and I think we can all agree that the humble, classy nature of our coach has filtered down, through the club and on to the pitch. We do things quietly but with lots of class and intelligence. What a brilliant turnaround that should never be underestimated.

I feel like we might see us 'splash the cash' on a couple of players to improve the squad but I don't think we'll spend more than, say, £6 million on any one player. We were already being linked to Yusuf Yazici a while back and I imagine there are already other irons in the fire.

What we can be sure of is that these players would have been well scouted and anything we do in the summer will have been meticulously planned. I can't wait to see where this all takes us.

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10 hours ago, cornish sam said:

Just to clarify, I agree with the original point, the only place I would be a tad disappointed if we didn't strengthen our starting 11 is the DM, breaker role that tettey and trybull currently share. I would be happy to go with what we've got the rest of the way (with perhaps options to push krul and instead of Hanley to push the CBs)

Agree with this, plus your original post that said another good striker to rotate with Pukki. If we splash out on just one player should we go up, I'd love to see us get Phillip Billing from Huddersfield... maybe Webber could persuade him, as I'm sure he'd get plenty of offer from elsewhere.

As for the striker, someone in the Marcus Gayle mould would be good, but no way we should risk a RVW-style marquee signing. Pukki needs a fair crack of the whip.

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For every Fulham who sign a bunch of players and fail, there is a Watford who sign a bunch of players and kick on and have never looked in danger of relegation. 

The amount of players signed isn’t necessarily the issue, it is who is signed and the overall strategy. Fulham spend a lot on players who they probably didn’t need, where they should have targeted signings to replace people like Odoi who just isn’t good enough. 

It is easy to sit here and go - doesn’t matter if we get relegated next season (should we be promoted) as it is a ‘free hit’. But I guarantee you, 20 odd games into the season if Norwich are floundering and only won a handful of games people will be clamouring for signings and accusing the board of all kinds of things. 

I’ve said before Norwich probably need to make 4 - 6 signings in the summer - almost regardless of the league they are in. If Norwich get promoted it will make the differnce between these being big money or little money signings. 

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When you think back to the promotion under Paul Lambert to the PL, the squad that took us up from the Championship was pretty much what we had for the first season back in the PL, with only some changes. The wheels only properly came off in the third season when quite a significant number of changes were made that, on paper, you might have thought were good moves but didn't work out. 

Overall, sticking mostly to what you have when you've just been promoted makes sense for more reasons than just giving the players a chance: you have a known cohesive unit that can play football together well. If you make wholesale changes then it's a leap into the dark. 

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11 hours ago, cornish sam said:

Just to clarify, I agree with the original point, the only place I would be a tad disappointed if we didn't strengthen our starting 11 is the DM, breaker role that tettey and trybull currently share. I would be happy to go with what we've got the rest of the way (with perhaps options to push krul and instead of Hanley to push the CBs)

I'm still hoping Louis can overcome his appalling luck with injuries. From the unfortunately limited amount I saw of him as DM before his original injury he could be up there with Max & Jamal in terms of quality.

 

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5 minutes ago, ron obvious said:

I'm still hoping Louis can overcome his appalling luck with injuries. From the unfortunately limited amount I saw of him as DM before his original injury he could be up there with Max & Jamal in terms of quality.

 

I had forgotten about him Ron, but, even if he can step up, he would have not played much/any football for two years and would be a massive risk to rely on him.

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47 minutes ago, cornish sam said:

I had forgotten about him Ron, but, even if he can step up, he would have not played much/any football for two years and would be a massive risk to rely on him.

I wouldn't want to rely on him solely CS, but a lot would depend on pre-season. If he looks the part (& I'm sure Farke & co. would look at him very carefully) then it's possible he, Trybull & Tettey might be enough as the defensive side of midfield.

 

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One of the problems with promotion is the need for 'instant success' ie players who can hit the ground running when they join.

Hence we have signed players who are up to it but certainly don't see City as more than another club Olsson, Brady, Pritchard, failures such as VOO, Fer, RVW and then a host of other stop gap players.

WhenWebber and the Farke joined it should have been obvious from their comments that the club was taking a different approach and were looking for long term sustainability. Players would join and like Steiperman and Vrancic would take a bit of tim to bed in and develop. Youngsters would be signed with the virw of 'bringing them on... Aarons, Lewis and Gordon.

The signing of Heise points to the club having already lined up players. And like McLean will not be automatic first choice players. If the club can find and develop players like Pukki, Buendia and Onel then I'm certain they will be able to find the right players needed for the PL and have them playing to the standard needed.

No more 'panic buying' but a continuation of the process that has got us to where we are now, as both a team and a club.

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I agree with a lot of comments in here. We won't be buying big. Our present team can be competitive. Playing those larger pitches too, you could see how our team might flourish. Emi is up to it and many others. 

I just know we will need another Pukki type player ( or two) when there are the inevitable injuries or rest phases. You cannot have too few scorers. I love Jordan Rhodes like many but is he in the same mould as Pukki in his style of play? We need other potential scorers in our 18. Huddersfield found they couldn't score enough in their second year. And look at all the bottom placed Prem teams. It's scoring enough that is the problem. You are better in the Prem scoring well and conceding some than struggling to score in every match. You must carry a threat. And in Teemu, he is just one player and we must reinforce. If we can unearth another in the way we have players in the last year, we will do well. I'm not advocating large fees, it's the type of player we have to find. Hopefully if we go up the likes of Buendia, Hernandez etc can also scored their share of goals too.

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38 minutes ago, Bill said:

One of the problems with promotion is the need for 'instant success' ie players who can hit the ground running when they join.

Hence we have signed players who are up to it but certainly don't see City as more than another club Olsson, Brady, Pritchard, failures such as VOO, Fer, RVW and then a host of other stop gap players.

WhenWebber and the Farke joined it should have been obvious from their comments that the club was taking a different approach and were looking for long term sustainability. Players would join and like Steiperman and Vrancic would take a bit of tim to bed in and develop. Youngsters would be signed with the virw of 'bringing them on... Aarons, Lewis and Gordon.

The signing of Heise points to the club having already lined up players. And like McLean will not be automatic first choice players. If the club can find and develop players like Pukki, Buendia and Onel then I'm certain they will be able to find the right players needed for the PL and have them playing to the standard needed.

No more 'panic buying' but a continuation of the process that has got us to where we are now, as both a team and a club.

Gordon? Who the f e c k is Gordon? 😉

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If we do go up, give this group their chance, confident that they will be good enough (and still improving) to avoid a relegation fight, however, if we want to step up like Bournemouth and Wolves have and be a sustainable force, then suspect that Krul, Stiepermann Rhodes and Hanley won't have the capability to be starters.   Farke knows his stuff though and sure we can trust the club to make the right decisions and choices.      It is a free hit - no doubt, as none of us expected this to happen!    OTBC.

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My only concern with promotion (ha listen to me say that!) is the root from academy to first team would become much much harder to achieve. It works in the Championship quite well but in the Prem. Saying that, players that have come through recently appear to be quite fearless and in one or two cases, good enough for the Prem.

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4 hours ago, Bethnal Yellow and Green said:

For every Fulham who sign a bunch of players and fail, there is a Watford who sign a bunch of players and kick on and have never looked in danger of relegation. 

The amount of players signed isn’t necessarily the issue, it is who is signed and the overall strategy. Fulham spend a lot on players who they probably didn’t need, where they should have targeted signings to replace people like Odoi who just isn’t good enough. 

It is easy to sit here and go - doesn’t matter if we get relegated next season (should we be promoted) as it is a ‘free hit’. But I guarantee you, 20 odd games into the season if Norwich are floundering and only won a handful of games people will be clamouring for signings and accusing the board of all kinds of things. 

I’ve said before Norwich probably need to make 4 - 6 signings in the summer - almost regardless of the league they are in. If Norwich get promoted it will make the differnce between these being big money or little money signings. 

I think in the case of Fulham the amount of players is certainly part of the issue- the squad had a sense of momentum and togetherness that was killed by essentially adding an almost entirely new first team.

As you say though it is mainly the completely scattergun strategy that has undone them. The fact they've bought in so many players for over £100m and yet still give regular game time to Ream and Odoi who just aren't good enough speaks volumes of the quality of those that came in.

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2 hours ago, sonyc said:

I agree with a lot of comments in here. We won't be buying big. Our present team can be competitive. Playing those larger pitches too, you could see how our team might flourish. Emi is up to it and many others. 

I wonder if we might try and pluck a couple of top performers from the Championship who might make the step up- I'm thinking folks like Bradley Dack or Rico Henry. 

The area's I'd be most concerned about upgrading are in goal and upfront though. Pukki and Rhodes are both finisher/predator type players that work well when you can play on the front foot but may struggle when we see less of the ball as you'd expect we will. 

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I'd imagine our transfer target market would elevate from Bundesliga 2....to lower end Bundesliga.

Theres no way in the world we would be spending £100m in the summer or on players who cost £15m+....we'd still be trying to sign players in the £5m - £8m bracket

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Just now, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

I'd imagine our transfer target market would elevate from Bundesliga 2....to lower end Bundesliga.

Theres no way in the world we would be spending £100m in the summer or on players who cost £15m+....we'd still be trying to sign players in the £5m - £8m bracket

You won't get much for that. Even teams like Cardiff and Huddersfield are paying north of £10m for players.

If we do go up I'd also say there is an argument for looking to boost our home grown contingent in case we go back down again. We struggled to afford good home-grown players with our Championship budget but a bit of cherry picking from the lower leagues may be helpful.

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Is there a restriction in the Prem for having home grown players?

If not then if we do go up I would hope we could unearth more Pukki, Buendia, Leitner, Stieppermann type players. I cannot see us being in a position to buy top class CB's and we don't want to pay silly fees, agents fees and wages.

Obviously we would have to strengthen but no RVW marquee signings this time please. The chances of us staying up diminish each year and it wouldn't tear me apart if after promotion, we ended up relegated. The only real upsetting thing is continually losing which would be the likely scenario.

But to me it is more essential that we keep this going this season and take our chances next if successful this.

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On 12/02/2019 at 22:23, Surfer said:

Well the Fulham owner is an NFL owner too - Jacksonville - so spending oodles of money on marginally better players is par for the course. The difference is the NFL teams operate in a closed shop league, no relegations

And exactly the same budget each club

 

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14 hours ago, keelansgrandad said:

Is there a restriction in the Prem for having home grown players?

I think in the Prem you need to name a certain amount of them in your 25 man squad but no restrictions in the 18- hence why teams like Chelsea and United have random English keepers as 3rd choice to make up the numbers.

My point about home-grown though is more about preparing for dropping back down if we did go up. English players are expensive and it might be wise to grab a few when we have the budget. I mentioned players like Bradley Dack and Ezri Konsa in another thread, two 'home-grown' players who have Premier League potential that we couldn't afford currently but could if we went up.

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