Lewis to Newcastle for £13.5M according to mirror.

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

25 minutes ago, komakino said:

He was first class in getting us up, but largely to blame for not keeping us there, though there is no will from above. Credit for 18/19, none for 19/20. 

I think that's pretty fair. 

Whether Webber is more ambitious than our majority shareholders, I'm not entirely sure. He talks as though he is, so ultimately he has to put up or move on. 

My money is on us finishing upper/mid table with Webber leaving stating he cannot take the club any further, which in a way would be true if that outcome happens. 

If we go up in a blaze of glory, he'll still face the issue that he had last year and the five year mirage. 

The jury's still out for me, despite the positives he has made. 

I think its pretty obvious what our game plan was last season. Webber clearly didn't feel that additional transfer outlay would represent good value in terms of improving our chances in staying up. I.e. we could've spent £10m-£20m and still ended up in the exact same position. This certainly proved the case retrospectively given our injury problems!

Rightly or wrongly, Webber chose this path and our season was about giving our youngsters a chance to gain experience (and £££), maintaining the core of our squad and giving ourselves the best possible chance of building a stronger and deeper squad for the next attempt (and if we stayed up then its a huge bonus and we can build from there).

We are now seeing the benefit of this approach in spades with no shackles holding us down in the transfer market. In a time where other teams are struggling to nail down even a couple of players, we have managed to sign 11 - before even losing any of our key players - and the team is bursting with competition all over the park. I think massive props to Webber for this transfer window, we have been seriously driven and appear to have strengthened in every single area.

I am sure if we go up this season we will invest again in similar fashion to this window (but maybe less signings more concentrated on specific areas) and work to establish ourselves in the prem on steadier ground. I think we are in good hands.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Hank shoots Skyler

[Crabbycanary3 994]

1 hour ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

Is this really one of these 'he only moved for the money' posts?

No . 

[sgncfc 1,223]

12 hours ago, ELYOUKAYEE said:

He'll be loaned out to Nottingham Forest in a couple of seasons.. great deal for the club to cash in and bring someone else through!

I suspect you might be right. I hope he starts well and cements his place, but I fear a Jacob Murphy style career in Newcastle. It's a very different place to Luton and Norwich for a 22 year old lad on his own.

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

45 minutes ago, komakino said:

I don't quite understand the Webber love - in. He did very little to keep the club-up last year in what was a wasted season for all concerned. When he starts using some of the money to keep us in the top tier, then he'll get my praise. Until then, he is just a Delia apologist. 

Can't agree with this much, I'm afraid. Webber is essentially the reason we've taken the path we have chosen, focusing far more on developing youth, and Farke was his choice of head coach. We have already tried the spend your way in method with the aim of staying up, and nearly went bankrupt as a result of it (Naismith's contract, von Wolfswinkel's transfer and the fall into Division One before that, anyone?).

Recruiting is a field that is usually far more miss than hit. We've had some absolutely brilliant hits in the last three years. Pukki and Buendia came out of left-field to be well on their way to being cult heroes (sure, we've also had Franke, Husband, Drmic and Watkins). Lewis and Maddison have made the club a nice packet and Lewis's fee will be handy for covering what was lost during the pandemic. Even the likes of Trybull, Leitner, Stiepermann, Vrancic more than played their part when we went up. We won the Championship with four lads in the eighteen that had come through the youth ranks two years previously. Not many do that.

And without Webber I doubt we'd have got that extra few million for Lewis as well. Apparently we've got a reputation for being far more hard-nosed to deal with compared to previous, more compliant days. We've remembered what a quality youth set-up looks like after a good decade of not producing much apart from a few goalies. And it was the mother of all injury crises and the global side-effects of an undercooked bat that really hurt us more than most.

The criticism of Webber and Farke seems to lie in the roots of overachieving and then some when we won the Champs.

[king canary 7,580]

12 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Can't agree with this much, I'm afraid. Webber is essentially the reason we've taken the path we have chosen, focusing far more on developing youth, and Farke was his choice of head coach. We have already tried the spend your way in method with the aim of staying up, and nearly went bankrupt as a result of it (Naismith's contract, von Wolfswinkel's transfer and the fall into Division One before that, anyone?).

Recruiting is a field that is usually far more miss than hit. We've had some absolutely brilliant hits in the last three years. Pukki and Buendia came out of left-field to be well on their way to being cult heroes (sure, we've also had Franke, Husband, Drmic and Watkins). Lewis and Maddison have made the club a nice packet and Lewis's fee will be handy for covering what was lost during the pandemic. Even the likes of Trybull, Leitner, Stiepermann, Vrancic more than played their part when we went up. We won the Championship with four lads in the eighteen that had come through the youth ranks two years previously. Not many do that.

And without Webber I doubt we'd have got that extra few million for Lewis as well. Apparently we've got a reputation for being far more hard-nosed to deal with compared to previous, more compliant days. We've remembered what a quality youth set-up looks like after a good decade of not producing much apart from a few goalies. And it was the mother of all injury crises and the global side-effects of an undercooked bat that really hurt us more than most.

The criticism of Webber and Farke seems to lie in the roots of overachieving and then some when we won the Champs.

Whatever you think of Webber and our overall strategy last season you can't really see the recruitment last summer as anything other than a failure- Webber himself admitted this. Our 4 most high profile signings last season were all on loanees and yet come the last game of the season not a single one was still with the club. That is pretty abject. 

I personally think he still has quite a bit of credit in the bank but lets call a spade a spade here- in terms of first team recruitment he did a bad job last season.

[Alex Moss 2,165]

2 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

No good byes or thanks to the club and fans from Lewis? I’d be surprised if he hadn’t put something up on twitter etc. 

Even his parting words published today just sounded like someone who thought he’s bigger than the club (Norwich), which he isn’t. No mention of or to the supporters whatsoever. I appreciate he’s ambitious but so was James Maddison and you can still to this day feel the love and respect he has for all things NCFC. I’m not feeling any sadness over him leaving to be honest, just hope that any of the other young lads that move on remember all the supporters that have travelled all over the country spending their hard earned money to cheer the team on. 

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

2 minutes ago, king canary said:

Whatever you think of Webber and our overall strategy last season you can't really see the recruitment last summer as anything other than a failure- Webber himself admitted this. Our 4 most high profile signings last season were all on loanees and yet come the last game of the season not a single one was still with the club. That is pretty abject. 

I personally think he still has quite a bit of credit in the bank but lets call a spade a spade here- in terms of first team recruitment he did a bad job last season.

In terms of performance alone then it certainly was a failure, that much I do readily agree with. However, the silver lining in the whole affair is that he did it in a way that didn't remotely bust the bank. We didn't have a load of underachieving and reputed "star" players on contract and their wages on the books for much longer than was necessary. It was a gamble, but one that fell short.

We've failed magnificently via purchases before when going into the Premiership. We nearly lost the club as a result. Webber took a financially less risky approach, but was happy to gamble status on it. Even then, we still had the mother of all defensive injury crises. I certainly don't remember a season where we had so many centre-halves out for so long over the course of it.

[BigFish 1,986]

32 minutes ago, WD40 said:

I can just about accept the narrative that last years failed prem campaign was a ‘free hit’, happened much sooner than we thought, and despite being miserable has set a solid foundation for the club to build from and bounce straight back.

But if we do get promoted this season, then I am looking for a hell of a lot more ambition from the club to stay in the league. Another abject failure then what is the point of it all.

I can see that yo-yoing is beneficial to try and slingshot into mid table obscurity (Burnley). But to a perennial yo-yo club...

I am more worried about this year. We don't know how many of the 11 will kick on this season. If it is the majority we are all good and the project is working. If not......?

[komakino 272]

8 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

In terms of performance alone then it certainly was a failure, that much I do readily agree with. However, the silver lining in the whole affair is that he did it in a way that didn't remotely bust the bank. We didn't have a load of underachieving and reputed "star" players on contract and their wages on the books for much longer than was necessary. It was a gamble, but one that fell short.

We've failed magnificently via purchases before when going into the Premiership. We nearly lost the club as a result. Webber took a financially less risky approach, but was happy to gamble status on it. Even then, we still had the mother of all defensive injury crises. I certainly don't remember a season where we had so many centre-halves out for so long over the course of it.

In all business, there is - and should be - an element of risk. That risk does not have be significant, but it does need to be taken. 

Webber took no risk. Zero. Our majority shareholders are on record for their distain and dislike for the EPL, therefore his stance was ideal. For them. 

I'm in business and calculated risks are essential to move a business forward. 

As I have previously posted, NCFC's approach to the EPL last season was widely criticised and I think it would not be unreasonable or the EPL to reduce or drop parachutes payments for teams that have a very low points total (maybe on a tiered system) to stop the likes of us that took the money and ran. 

Last season ended in disgrace and nobody should forget it. If there is a next time, that approach cannot be taken again. As a previous poster said, what would be the point of it all? (If we did what we did last season)

Edited September 9, 2020 by komakino

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Just now, BigFish said:

I am more worried about this year. We don't know how many of the 11 will kick on this season. If it is the majority we are all good and the project is working. If not...…?

If not, then we will be able to compete at the top end of the championship again for the next couple of seasons IMO. We still have plenty of star players who will garner some good fees in the future if needed - but let's hope we aren't forced into selling any of them.

As things are we're in a healthy state and I think will be able to maintain top 6 competitiveness for the foreseeable future. I think we should take a lot of comfort from how many players have joined us stating how good the club is and 'I spoke with *random player who played 7 games for Norwich 5 seasons ago* and they said how brilliant the club was' etc.

We also continue to buy with an eye on the future and provided Webber can still uncover the odd gem I expect us to be relatively secure. As raised earlier, with the amount of young players joining, developing and moving on or excelling in the team - we must be an exciting prospect for other younger players at the start of their careers.

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

2 minutes ago, komakino said:

In all business, there is - and should be - an element of risk. That risk does not have be significant, but it does need to be taken. 

Webber took no risk. Zero. Our majority shareholders are on record for their distain and dislike for the EPL, therefore his stance was ideal. For them. 

I'm in business and calculated risks are essential to move a business forward. 

As I have previously posted, NCFC's approach to the EPL last season was widely criticised and I think it would not be unreasonable or the EPL to reduce or drop parachutes payments for teams that have a very low points total (maybe on a tiered system) to stop the likes of us that took the money and ran. 

Last season ended in disgrace and nobody should forget it. If there is a next time, that approach cannot be taken again. As a previous poster said, what would be the point of it all? (If we did what we did last season)

Considering the vast majority of PL clubs splash out in the transfer market, did he not take a bigger risk by not following suit and doing the same?

Webber clearly felt the potential cost was greater than the potential benefit, or the benefit was not deemed achievable enough as a result of this additional cost.

We took an opportunistic approach in the transfer market, picking up loans and bargains where available, which clearly did not pay off. But I'm sure for the outlay spent, Webber was aware this was a small bet to make with a high chance of failure. The good thing is that this failure has not hamstrung us in any way.

Let's wait and see how it proves for us over the next season or two, I think any judgement can be put on hold until then. But I am enjoying how things have been shaping up this transfer window. Let's hope we follow through.  

If we do fail to get promoted then I expect us to remain competitive at the top of the championship - but if we fall further from this then you will have to say the approach has been a failure. 

[Midlands Yellow 3,951]

28 minutes ago, Alex Moss said:

Even his parting words published today just sounded like someone who thought he’s bigger than the club (Norwich), which he isn’t. No mention of or to the supporters whatsoever. I appreciate he’s ambitious but so was James Maddison and you can still to this day feel the love and respect he has for all things NCFC. I’m not feeling any sadness over him leaving to be honest, just hope that any of the other young lads that move on remember all the supporters that have travelled all over the country spending their hard earned money to cheer the team on. 

I get you on the comparison when Maddison left. He said very kind words which seemed heartfelt and totally genuine.
Let’s see if he turns up at an away match like Maddison did to cheer us on 😉

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

29 minutes ago, komakino said:

In all business, there is - and should be - an element of risk. That risk does not have be significant, but it does need to be taken. 

Webber took no risk. Zero. Our majority shareholders are on record for their distain and dislike for the EPL, therefore his stance was ideal. For them. 

I'm in business and calculated risks are essential to move a business forward. 

As I have previously posted, NCFC's approach to the EPL last season was widely criticised and I think it would not be unreasonable or the EPL to reduce or drop parachutes payments for teams that have a very low points total (maybe on a tiered system) to stop the likes of us that took the money and ran. 

Last season ended in disgrace and nobody should forget it. If there is a next time, that approach cannot be taken again. As a previous poster said, what would be the point of it all? (If we did what we did last season)

Except the club wasn't really in much of a position to take such risks after Farke basically having to re-build a squad to sort out the financial aftermath of goofing it with the other one. Very few expected us to be there in the first place.

As for the notion of dropping/reducing parachute payments, that's a rather absurd proposal that might make good copy for the likes of rent-a-gob hacks like Martin Samuel. If you're good enough to get into the Premiership, you earned the rewards that came with it.

[komakino 272]

10 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Except the club wasn't really in much of a position to take such risks after Farke basically having to re-build a squad to sort out the financial aftermath of goofing it with the other one. Very few expected us to be there in the first place.

As for the notion of dropping/reducing parachute payments, that's a rather absurd proposal that might make good copy for the likes of rent-a-gob hacks like Martin Samuel. If you're good enough to get into the Premiership, you earned the rewards that came with it.

This is not about cheap copy. If the EPL took a stance similar to what I've suggested, it would make teams that get promoted respect the league and take it more seriously.

Norwich City did not do that. 

I respect that we did not have fortunes to splash around, but can anyone really say that we gave it our best shot? 

The lack of interest and distain for the EPL from the majority shareholders is where it all starts. Why invest in a league you don't like? 

Fine for those fans who wish us to remain in the Championship, but for the rest of us, we deserve a little bit more. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by komakino

[HazzaJet 252]

2 hours ago, komakino said:

I don't quite understand the Webber love - in. He did very little to keep the club-up last year in what was a wasted season for all concerned. When he starts using some of the money to keep us in the top tier, then he'll get my praise. Until then, he is just a Delia apologist. 

You know the reason why we didn’t spend much last season - with us already being in debt it was too much of a gamble. Villa spent £143m on players and only stayed up thanks to a fault in GLT. It was sad to hear that we weren’t going to be spending much last summer, but they explained the reason why and it was understandable 

So you’re saying you’d have still been happy with Webber now if he’d broken the bank last summer and we’d have had to have gone into administration now?

Edited September 9, 2020 by HazzaJet

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

11 minutes ago, komakino said:

I respect that we did not have fortunes to splash around, but can anyone really say that we gave it our best shot? 

The lack of interest and distain for the EPL from the majority shareholders is where it all starts. Why invest in a league you don't like? 

Fine for those fans who wish us to remain in the Championship, but for the rest of us, we deserve a little bit more. 

We can't spend money we don't have. It's not like the EPL can force you to spend a certain % of owner's wealth on recruitment to try and keep the EPL competitive. But I agree with all your other points, we don't spend money because we don't have any, we don't have any money to improve the squad because our owners don't invest because they don't have any money either. So if we are going to stay in the EPL we're eventually going to need new owners with more money and more willingness to invest.

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

7 minutes ago, komakino said:

This is not about cheap copy. If the EPL took a stance similar to what I've suggested, it would make teams that get promoted respect the league and take it more seriously.

Norwich City did not do that. 

I respect that we did not have fortunes to splash around, but can anyone really say that we gave it our best shot? 

The lack of interest and distain for the EPL from the majority shareholders is where it all starts. Why invest in a league you don't like? 

Fine for those fans who wish us to remain in the Championship, but for the rest of us, we deserve a little bit more. 

Oh dear... toys, pram...

If there is so much distain for playing in the prem then why have we now bought 11 players? Do you not think our approach to last season was Webber's call entirely rather than any decision from the top? Do you think Webber would even stay with us if D&M had that power over him? Give over.

I understood why you would want to reserve judgement with Webber and say 'the jury is out' after last season, because that's true - we don't know at this stage if his risk has paid off. But why don't you show a little more patience, and respect that his approach will take a season or two to prove correct or incorrect - rather than getting upset and making blanket statements which are patently not true?

[WD40 720]

1 hour ago, BigFish said:

I am more worried about this year. We don't know how many of the 11 will kick on this season. If it is the majority we are all good and the project is working. If not......?

To be honest I’m expecting top 6 at minimum and hoping for more...it doesn’t look like a particularly strong league and I thought we’d recruited well. We will probably know at the end of October. 

[norfolkngood 1,086]

18 minutes ago, HazzaJet said:

You know the reason why we didn’t spend much last season - with us already being in debt it was too much of a gamble. Villa spent £143m on players and only stayed up thanks to a fault in GLT. It was sad to hear that we weren’t going to be spending much last summer, but they explained the reason why and it was understandable 

So you’re saying you’d have still been happy with Webber now if he’d broken the bank last summer and we’d have to have gone into administration now?

One thing for sure Webber has built a good squad for very little outlay 

i would say that with Lewis going for 15 mil plus

 spending very little the last 2 Transfers windows and this one the net spend on transfers and loans will be  near even 

Of course the 11 new signings have to be paid wages but that will be budgeted for 

So that is Very good business 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by norfolkngood

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

24 minutes ago, komakino said:

This is not about cheap copy. If the EPL took a stance similar to what I've suggested, it would make teams that get promoted respect the league and take it more seriously.

Norwich City did not do that. 

I respect that we did not have fortunes to splash around, but can anyone really say that we gave it our best shot? 

The lack of interest and distain for the EPL from the majority shareholders is where it all starts. Why invest in a league you don't like? 

Fine for those fans who wish us to remain in the Championship, but for the rest of us, we deserve a little bit more. 

It wouldn't. You'd have a lot more than just Bury going out of the league. It's hare-brained.

[komakino 272]

6 minutes ago, HazzaJet said:

You know the reason why we didn’t spend much last season - with us already being in debt it was too much of a gamble. Villa spent £143m on players and only stayed up thanks to a fault in GLT. It was sad to hear that we weren’t going to be spending much last summer, but they explained the reason why and it was understandable 

So you’re saying you’d have still been happy with Webber now if he’d broken the bank last summer and we’d have to have gone into administration now?

The Villa stance which gets rolled out is a boring one. Nobody I know wanted us to do that for obvious reasons. That would have been irresponsible. What we did under McNally was not smart either. 

However, we could have spent a little more but decided not to do so. That could have made the difference. 

I do not believe for one second that we spent the maximum we could have spent on a prudent basis. 

When you have majority shareholders that do not really want to be there, is it surprising that spent as little as we did? 

We planned to get relegated and got relegated. What does that say to the players? 

Being a yo-yo club is all very well if you give it the best you can within the parameters of your finances, but we didn't do that. 

As a club, what are we? 

 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,426]

14 minutes ago, komakino said:

The Villa stance which gets rolled out is a boring one. Nobody I know wanted us to do that for obvious reasons. That would have been irresponsible. What we did under McNally was not smart either. 

However, we could have spent a little more but decided not to do so. That could have made the difference. 

I do not believe for one second that we spent the maximum we could have spent on a prudent basis. 

When you have majority shareholders that do not really want to be there, is it surprising that spent as little as we did? 

We planned to get relegated and got relegated. What does that say to the players? 

Being a yo-yo club is all very well if you give it the best you can within the parameters of your finances, but we didn't do that. 

As a club, what are we? 

 

Comparing us with Villa is fundamentally flawed as Villa had to buy Mings and a replacement for Abrahams - both key members of their promotion team and both loan players. 
 

We didn’t have an option because of the wealth of our owners. Webber didn’t simply sit down and work out a business model , he works within serious financial constraints handed to him. 
 

It worked in the EFL and failed in the Prem. I can’t see any other way of looking at it? If we fail to go up in the remaining tenure of Webber it would have to be seen as less than successful over the 5 years or so he is/was here. You can debate finances as much as you like. Maddison (success) paid for Naismith (failure) - neither were down to Webber . Webber’s success was  Buendia / Onel/ Zimmerman et al that got us up. His failure was the four loan signings that didn’t work . 
 

This year we start again. We will see at the end of it whether it is successful. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Graham Paddons Beard

[Uncle Fred 526]

2 hours ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

I think its pretty obvious what our game plan was last season. Webber clearly didn't feel that additional transfer outlay would represent good value in terms of improving our chances in staying up. I.e. we could've spent £10m-£20m and still ended up in the exact same position. This certainly proved the case retrospectively given our injury problems!

Rightly or wrongly, Webber chose this path and our season was about giving our youngsters a chance to gain experience (and £££), maintaining the core of our squad and giving ourselves the best possible chance of building a stronger and deeper squad for the next attempt (and if we stayed up then its a huge bonus and we can build from there).

We are now seeing the benefit of this approach in spades with no shackles holding us down in the transfer market. In a time where other teams are struggling to nail down even a couple of players, we have managed to sign 11 - before even losing any of our key players - and the team is bursting with competition all over the park. I think massive props to Webber for this transfer window, we have been seriously driven and appear to have strengthened in every single area.

I am sure if we go up this season we will invest again in similar fashion to this window (but maybe less signings more concentrated on specific areas) and work to establish ourselves in the prem on steadier ground. I think we are in good hands.

This is probably the best example of a Delia apologist Trying to justify yet another poor season , no the poorest season in the premier league ever.

time to face up to reality and this season will be yet another disappointment 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

2 minutes ago, Uncle Fred said:

This is probably the best example of a Delia apologist Trying to justify yet another poor season , no the poorest season in the premier league ever.

time to face up to reality and this season will be yet another disappointment 

@TIL 1010 please come and collect your son.

😄 

[HazzaJet 252]

1 hour ago, komakino said:

The Villa stance which gets rolled out is a boring one. Nobody I know wanted us to do that for obvious reasons. That would have been irresponsible. What we did under McNally was not smart either. 

However, we could have spent a little more but decided not to do so. That could have made the difference. 

I do not believe for one second that we spent the maximum we could have spent on a prudent basis. 

When you have majority shareholders that do not really want to be there, is it surprising that spent as little as we did? 

We planned to get relegated and got relegated. What does that say to the players? 

Being a yo-yo club is all very well if you give it the best you can within the parameters of your finances, but we didn't do that. 

As a club, what are we? 

 

I certainly agree we could have spent a little more than we did which may very well have made a difference - at first it was said that we weren’t going to spend any more than £20m, and we spent nowhere near that

I know we would all love to have a wealthier owner who was willing to pump some of their money into the club, but when was the last time there was news about some billionaire looking to buy the club off Delia? In my opinion, it’ll never happen 

Your claims that we planned to get relegated is nonsense. No club does that. Palace wanted to sign Aarons to replace Wan-Bissaka at the start? Why didn’t we sell him then? Why did bother signing any players? In my opinion, we planned to try and avoid the risk of going into administration if we did get relegated, signed a few players and put relegation clauses in all the contracts

I know our league positioning over the past decade has caused many to class us as a yo-yo club. I know this is going to be a very tough season for us, no one can deny that but if we do manage to bounce straight back, I think we should be able to spend quite a bit more next summer than we did last summer. We’ll just have to wait and see

[komakino 272]

7 minutes ago, HazzaJet said:

I certainly agree we could have spent a little more than we did which may very well have made a difference - at first it was said that we weren’t going to spend any more than £20m, and we spent nowhere near that

I know we would all love to have a wealthier owner who was willing to pump some of their money into the club, but when was the last time there was news about some billionaire looking to buy the club off Delia? In my opinion, it’ll never happen 

Your claims that we planned to get relegated is nonsense. No club does that. Palace wanted to sign Aarons to replace Wan-Bissaka at the start? Why didn’t we sell him then? Why did bother signing any players? In my opinion, we planned to try and avoid the risk of going into administration if we did get relegated, signed a few players and put relegation clauses in all the contracts

I know our league positioning over the past decade has caused many to class us as a yo-yo club. I know this is going to be a very tough season for us, no one can deny that but if we do manage to bounce straight back, I think we should be able to spend quite a bit more next summer than we did last summer. We’ll just have to wait and see

 

Delia in the infamous The Times article said they (Her and MWJ) 'Don't listen to offers', so we will never know whether anyone of wealth has been genuinely interested in NCFC over the last few years. I suspect there would have been some interesting offers had the majority shareholders been more open and not xenophobic. Again, we may never know. 

I absolutely stand firm that the plan was to get relegated and staying up would have been a bonus. DS & MJW do not like the EPL and has gone on record to state that. There are far from comfortable being in the EPL and it's not just in not them - unfortunately some of our fans agree. I've met some of them. 

I do not see any purpose whatsoever having owners that neither invest or attract investment. Otherwise what is the purpose of them? We are a kind of community project, rather than a football club with ambition. 

As for relegation clauses, this is common place in all but the biggest sides, so I don't know why Webber gets credit for basic economics. Newcastle famously didn't do that when they last went down, but fortunately went up to ease the pain. 

This season may answer one of two questions, but I'm not sure Farke or Webber will be here the season after to tell the tale. 

[TheGunnShow 5,933]

3 hours ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

If not, then we will be able to compete at the top end of the championship again for the next couple of seasons IMO. We still have plenty of star players who will garner some good fees in the future if needed - but let's hope we aren't forced into selling any of them.

As things are we're in a healthy state and I think will be able to maintain top 6 competitiveness for the foreseeable future. I think we should take a lot of comfort from how many players have joined us stating how good the club is and 'I spoke with *random player who played 7 games for Norwich 5 seasons ago* and they said how brilliant the club was' etc.

We also continue to buy with an eye on the future and provided Webber can still uncover the odd gem I expect us to be relatively secure. As raised earlier, with the amount of young players joining, developing and moving on or excelling in the team - we must be an exciting prospect for other younger players at the start of their careers.

The bit I put in italics, bold type, and underlined is the foundation of the whole edifice. If that train keeps producing, so will Norwich in this guise.

[BigFish 1,986]

2 hours ago, Uncle Fred said:

time to face up to reality and this season will be yet another disappointment 

Excellent, as you were pretty disappointed the last time we won the Champs

[cambridgeshire canary 6,682]

Maybe it's down to his hair but I always thought Lewis was quite short, yet as you can see he looks slightly taller than Callum Wilson who's almost 6ft 🤔

[Chelm Canary 404]

7 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Top ten images that make you feel sick 🤢

Its like seeing your ex mrs parading her new fella all over social media ☹️.