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Rudolph Hucker

Dean Ashton

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Neil Adams thinks he is a certainty to go in January.

I still do not believe a deal is done and have previously suggested that a good run up to January might affect any decision.

His link up play tonight was exceptional, he is a 20 goal a season striker and there are not too many of those around but in front of goal he couldnt hit a 16 inch teflon coated frying pan with a thick spam fritter.

Ashton continued his stretching regime again tonight and once again showed weakness in his lower back. I am convinced there is something amiss with his hamstrings and lumber region.

Most interesting of all when Ashton came off tonight, and he wasn''t injured apparently it was a misunderstanding, he was directed towards the tunnel by Neal Reynolds and refused to go, sitting on the bench instead. Now I know Deano has soldiered on before when he should have accepted the inevitable and I now know he wasn''t injured but his application tonight and his desire to watch and support his team mates does not look to me like a player who wants to leave.

I think the truth is this: Ashton is a thoroughly decent individual. he signed an improved contract and was happy to do so. He gives of his best. He knows if Norwich receive an exceptional offer they will consider selling him, that in itself is unsettling, and he cannot therefore state that HE has no intention of going anywhere.

Ashton will not rock the boat, like others in the side he can see that a change of form may affect the situation, sure he must be ambitious but last year he played for Crewe and wasn''t banging on the door to get away from there. Also, he did not attract big club interest before and all good players are watched.

One last point. With the sell on clause of a proportion of the money to Crewe; how is this affected by cash plus players.

 For example, Man City are said to have tabled a bid. What if City accepted say 3 million plus Sibierski for example do Crewe only get a cut of 3 million as opposed to say 6 million if no player exchange involved?

Would Norwich benefit more from this type of deal? I am not yet convinced Delia will sanction a sale and three points tonight makes her decision more difficult, goodness knows what being in the top six by Jan 2nd would do.

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I agree with your assessment of Ashton as a person, Rudolph, but I thought he was oddly off-colour last night. He went down in the first half and spent a long time kneeling, looking at the pitch while the play carried on around him. When the ball finally went out of play, the physio came on, and he eventually resumed. But it looked bad for a while. Then he had a clash of heads in the second half. I thought the decision to replace him was sound, whether injured or not, bearing in mind the schedule, but it seems to me that all the transfer speculation IS affecting him. Whether he wants to leave or to stay, I''m not so sure.

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If he goes i think the board will be weak and let him go for less than they are talking about. Nobody will pay over 8 million, he just isnt better than some other 8 million strikers.

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I think you''re right about the £8m ceiling but wrong about the fact that there are equally good players available for similar money.  Ashton is class.  He''s plied his trade predominately in the 1st Div/Championship, yet a couple of months in the Premiership and he nearly kept us up.  A year or 2 of playing with other international players and Ashton is going to be the finished article.

He''s easily worth £10m of Newcastle''s money... an almost direct replacement for Shearer... I just wish Board would get off the fence and set their stall out by saying he''s not going anywhere for less than £10m. 

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agree your assessment rude old. I hoping a deal isn''t done yet, and if we can get into top 8-10 next 2 games, deano might yet stay - or at the very least it strengthens are bargaining position with other clubs.city top 10  -deano worth 10millcity bottom 6 - deano worth 6mill.

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I thgink Neil Adams usually knows what he''s talking about and comes across as a sensible guy who knows alot about football. Although i feel that seelling ashton for 6-7million like he said would be ridiciouls. He said it would make norwich a good profit and we could strwngthen the squad and that the finances would also be boosted. Unfortunately this is totally unrealistic. Financially say he went for 6.5 million, we make a 3.5 million profit of which 700k goes to Crewe, that leaves us 2.8 million, we would need 2 strikers is i believe and were not going to get one like he said that will score 12 goals before the end of the season for less than 2 million. we also need to stengthen the midfield. The problem is we will need to invest the money, and so selling ashton now is waste of a big asset and wont help the finances.

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