Webber article in The Times today

[Fuzzar 1,702]

Stuart Webber knows instinctively what is coming. “Every expert on TV before the Liverpool game will be writing us off,” Norwich City’s sporting director says. “It’ll be, ‘They have spent no money, it is a disgrace, what are the owners doing, they are stitching the manager up’ . . . blah blah blah.

“Internally, as staff and players, we have to utilise that, ‘The whole world thinks you are not good enough because they think we should sign ten new players — what does that say about you?’ That is pretty disrespectful to some of our players.”

The coming months will reveal whether Norwich can defy expectations and remain in the Premier League but, in the meantime, other preconceptions can be challenged with rather more haste.

The insinuation lingers that this is a club that has lacked ambition in readying itself for a first return to the top flight since 2016, particularly given that a trip to Anfield lies in wait on Friday, yet that depends entirely on the barometer by which City are to be measured.

If the gauge is spending £100 million à la Fulham last summer, a spree that ended in a speedy return to the Sky Bet Championship, or Aston Villa this time around — £134 million and counting — then Webber makes no apologies for not meeting that criterion.

Alternatively, scratch below the surface and a cluster of young talents have signed new contracts rather than being sold, Daniel Farke, the manager, has committed his future and there is a revamped, state-of-the-art training ground that cost £6 million and replaced the 49 Portakabins that had previously constituted their base.

The wage bill will rise to £65 million and Norwich hope the four signings they have made — Josip Drmic and Sam Byram plus Ralf Fährmann and Patrick Roberts on loan — can become the latest examples of how to manipulate the market. Just as Teemu Pukki’s arrival on a free transfer from Brondby a year ago resulted in 29 goals and proved a catalyst for progress.

They are backing youth, players such as Max Aarons, Jamal Lewis and Ben Godfrey, placing faith in a squad that scored 93 goals in winning the Championship with 94 points, trusting a manager Webber believes could become world class to eke out more improvement and putting foundations in place that will ensure that, were the worst to happen, relegation is not a disaster. “We might not be able to buy superstars, but we can create them,” Webber says in a neat precis of the club’s mantra.

“Coming up has enabled us to get back on a financial footing which will last a long time for this club. It has allowed us to tie down assets which, otherwise, we might have had to sell and it has allowed us to invest massively in an infrastructure which will be here for ever.

“We could have sold a Max Aarons for a considerable sum to then help us build the squad but we spoke about keeping this group together because we still think there is a lot of growth in the current players.

“Whether they are good enough to stay in the Premier League we are going to find out. We don’t know. But we could spend £100 million and not know.

“We cannot talk about the harmony of the group being a major strength and then panic. We actually don’t think we need a major rebuild. We didn’t think we had massive gaps.”

History is on their side. No side winning the Championship have been relegated immediately since Cardiff in 2014, while the past has also helped to point the way forward.

The reality is that Norwich tried spending big on previous flirtations with the elite only to flatline, and it has taken promotion to resolve the financial mess that came with that flawed splurge.

This summer, a bonus payment was made to Everton relating to a promotion clause in Steven Naismith’s contract when he joined for £8.5 million in January 2016. Naismith’s last game for the club was in August 2017 and he spent the last 18 months of his three-year deal on loan at Heart of Midlothian.

The sales of James Maddison and the Murphys, Josh and Jacob, in recent years were not with a view to reinvestment but borne out of necessity. “The biggest problem in my time here is that we have made nearly £70 million net in transfers and 95 per cent of it has gone to pay off misdemeanours, not improving things,” Webber says. “If we get to next summer and decide to sell a player for a considerable sum of money then, whatever league we are in, that money can be reinvested.”

Webber has been entrusted with pulling a fresh blueprint together by the owners Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones, with success in East Anglia adding depth to the work previously undertaken at Huddersfield Town where he was behind the recruitment of David Wagner.

The 35-year-old, who spent three years in Liverpool’s recruitment department earlier in his career, moved to Norwich in 2017, repeating the model of hiring a German coach — as with Wagner — from Borussia Dortmund’s second team.

One of the attractions was Farke’s work ethic. Cameras have been installed at Norwich’s training ground to film every session, which can be followed live by a team of analysts.

A case study of Farke’s ability to nurture talent would be Godfrey, the 21-year-old who was signed from York City aged 18 and has been transformed from defensive midfielder to centre back. Webber thinks he will play for England.

“Daniel has the potential to be a world class coach and he has the potential to one day be stood in Liverpool’s dugout, managing them, not managing against them,” Webber says.

“When I was appointed here or when I appointed Daniel, or David at Huddersfield, it was very clear — this is what this club is. If you want a club that is going to spend £40 million on a striker then don’t come.

“We are not saying to Daniel, ‘You must keep us up.’ He should be protected in his job, not be the fall guy. We will either be successful or we will fail but we are not going to fail by doing a popularity contest of ‘we must spend £40 million because there is £40 million to spend’.

“Our fans are educated enough to know we have spent a lot of money before and it didn’t work. They know the money isn’t being siphoned off into owners’ pockets. Every penny stays within the club and they know we will spend it wisely so that they have a better club at the end of it. We want to become sustainable, really healthy and successful. It would be great if, in five years, we are seen as a club that people want to be like and think, ‘We need to visit Norwich to see what they are doing.’ ”
 

[Michael Starr 519]

Fantastic.

[Jobsworth Canary 168]

What a man!

do you think he touches the ground when he walks or does he just float 

in Webber we believe 

[smooth 114]

Great piece. At the end of last season we did hear many managers talk about promoting from within. Hopefully across football we see this more and more. 

But delighted we are at the forefront.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

It will be a sad day when SW moves on ... my god do ManU need him in their system!

[ged in the onion bag 854]

1 hour ago, Jobsworth Canary said:

What a man!

do you think he touches the ground when he walks or does he just float 

in Webber we believe 

He just glides effortlessly I suspect....

[ged in the onion bag 854]

36 minutes ago, Cantiaci Canary said:

It will be a sad day when SW moves on ... my god do ManU need him in their system!

Shhh!!!

[Hairy Canary 668]

Whether they are good enough to stay in the Premier League we are going to find out. We don’t know. But we could spend £100 million and not know.

 

Brilliant comment!

[Harry53 207]

Very good topic, thanks for sharing (i don't have to buy a copy now!!). Wouldn't it be great if we show the football world that you can be successful without spending huge sums of money on buying players? Still, we have a wage bill of £65m which sounds high, but i guess it's not in this crazy football world we love. 

[Fuzzar 1,702]

20 minutes ago, Harry53 said:

Very good topic, thanks for sharing (i don't have to buy a copy now!!). Wouldn't it be great if we show the football world that you can be successful without spending huge sums of money on buying players? Still, we have a wage bill of £65m which sounds high, but i guess it's not in this crazy football world we love. 

It's certainly chunky money, but not crazy as a percentage relative to the coming season's projected turnover and obviously peanuts in PL terms.

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 526]

20 minutes ago, Harry53 said:

Very good topic, thanks for sharing (i don't have to buy a copy now!!). Wouldn't it be great if we show the football world that you can be successful without spending huge sums of money on buying players? Still, we have a wage bill of £65m which sounds high, but i guess it's not in this crazy football world we love. 

£65m is a lot, but what is it in terms of % of turnover, and where does it put us in relation to everyone else in the Prem?

[Trevor Hockey's Beard 526]

Fuzzar - snap!

[Fuzzar 1,702]

4 minutes ago, Fuzzar said:

It's certainly chunky money, but not crazy as a percentage relative to the coming season's projected turnover and obviously peanuts in PL terms.

And I bought a packet of wine gums and a Boost Duo, costing £4 at the weekend game, so that should help.

[Petriix 2,834]

I very much doubt that £65m figure is accurate. It was something like that in our last season in the Premier League and was the cause of our financial meltdown after relegation. I seriously hope that it is closer to £40m which would reflect the work the club has done to shift the high earners and only sign unheard-of players. Maybe it includes all the promotion related bonuses and payoffs for terminated contracts?

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,777]

The £65m figure took me by surprise too, as I wouldn't have expected it to be that high. I guess the new contracts are higher than I imagined.

 

7 minutes ago, Petriix said:

I very much doubt that £65m figure is accurate. It was something like that in our last season in the Premier League and was the cause of our financial meltdown after relegation. I seriously hope that it is closer to £40m which would reflect the work the club has done to shift the high earners and only sign unheard-of players. Maybe it includes all the promotion related bonuses and payoffs for terminated contracts?

There's even more money in the Premier League now, so I guess a similar wage bill to last time would still be a lower percentage of turnover.

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

I’m not surprised by the £65m number, we’ll get over £100m from TV money.

 

what matters is the wage bill if we are relegated, and I’m sure Webber has the contracts set up so the wage bill will be sustainable if that happens, 

[splendidrush 700]

47 minutes ago, It's Character Forming said:

I’m not surprised by the £65m number, we’ll get over £100m from TV money.

 

 

The money doesn't arrive in one big lump, SW was at pains to point that out. So when the 'outsider's accuse us of a lack of ambition, I'm going with our man that he knows what he's doing. 

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

1 hour ago, Petriix said:

I very much doubt that £65m figure is accurate. It was something like that in our last season in the Premier League and was the cause of our financial meltdown after relegation. I seriously hope that it is closer to £40m which would reflect the work the club has done to shift the high earners and only sign unheard-of players. Maybe it includes all the promotion related bonuses and payoffs for terminated contracts?

It very much depends what measure is being talked about. Last time in the PL our figure for overall Staff Costs, which is the one you will see quoted in most of the league tables for PL finance (in which we are usually in the relegation zone...), was £67m. But the more precise figure for Player Wages was £53m. And that on income of £97m. Our income this time around should be getting close to £130m.

This is guesswork, but I would be surprised if our overall Staff Costs this season will be lower than in that previous PL season. I take the point about high earners but the real problem was not that we had them in the PL but that we had them once we got relegated and couldn't get rid of them quickly enough!

So if that £65m figure is true I suspect it more refers to Player Wages. On the assumption that income is about £130m that would mean Player Wages will be half of that figure, which is not far short of what they were (55 per cent) in 2015-16.

[Van wink 2,994]

Hurrah for Fuzzar..........and Webber!

[Diane 500]

Great news that he's being offered a new contract 

Michael Bailey@michaeljbailey

3h

As far as I know it will be a new 3-year deal for Webber & I'm sure it'll get done. Whether Norwich City keep him beyond that is a different discussion. But for the here, now & the horizon, it's terrific news. Delia & Michael on that and much, much more:

[ROBFLECK 132]

thanks for sharing!

[The Bristol Nest 513]

Thanks for pasting it in full. We are getting some very positive coverage in the broadsheets.Unusually for us they are informed articles. It must be refreshing to review a Club with a plan beyond rich owners or risking everything for a flash of the glory of not being relegated.

[TIL 1010 4,722]

"The biggest problem in my time here is that we have made nearly £70m net in transfers and 95pc of it has gone to pay off misdemeanours, not improving things," he said, speaking to the Times.

He just won't let it go about the previous regime will he ?

[PurpleCanary 5,554]

33 minutes ago, TIL 1010 said:

"The biggest problem in my time here is that we have made nearly £70m net in transfers and 95pc of it has gone to pay off misdemeanours, not improving things," he said, speaking to the Times.

He just won't let it go about the previous regime will he ?

No, he obviously won't, and as said before it may do wonders for his ego but it's not a terribly clever idea.  .

[nutty nigel 7,509]

It's a rum'n old kettle of fish though beause I am assuming that money made was because of investments of the previous regime. Or one of the previous regimes...

[paul moy 235]

3 hours ago, TIL 1010 said:

"The biggest problem in my time here is that we have made nearly £70m net in transfers and 95pc of it has gone to pay off misdemeanours, not improving things," he said, speaking to the Times.

He just won't let it go about the previous regime will he ?

A good thing IMO to always remember past mistakes in order to not repeat them.