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3canaries

Too expensive?

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So, Worthington has been in the press this afternoon dismissing the signings of both David Norris (on a 3 yr contract so would be too expensive) and Calum Davenport (we were quote £3m in January).  So what is deemed too expensive?  I quote Worthington  “It isn''t a huge amount of money that we have to work with.”.  £500k, £1m, £2m? 

Maybe it''s the ''lets play the poormans club to the press - like we did for the Ashton transfer" cloud of smoke, or maybe we just don''t have the money to even now compete in the Championship.  Why spend £m''s on Carrow Road when you haven''t got a team to perform in?

Our player ''assets'' are now few and far between, most notably Earnshaw, Green the two big names.  The ageing Huckerby wouldn''t command such a fee,  and I am really struggling to think of anyone else who is could command £1m+ apart from Earnie & Green (possibly McKenzie?)...... so where will self-team funding come from now?

Like everyone else, I am becoming frustrated with non-transfer activitiy, whilst teams around us are becoming bouyant about big signing - we need to show our intent sooner rather than later, or become - again - part of the furniture in the Championship.

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I would expect that it''s just smoke and mirrors, and that we''ll get some players in before pre-season training starts.

We probably can''t afford a championship teams'' player of the season on a 3 year contract though.  They''d want at least a million, and we need to buy several players.

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I, unfortunately, have to agree.  Comments like Worthington''s today can be shrewd - if the club then delivers good deals on players it actually targeted - but can be a depressing statement of intent if, six weeks down the line, we''ve bought in nobody but a loanee keeper and a pair of super-cheap, bargain bucket hand-me-downs.Davenport has been touted at what, 1mil? (At least on the BBC and other neutral sites) While I still believe it''s maybe a touch too expensive for what would amount to more extra cover at the back, there''s still no need for Worthy to come out and say something like this.  If teams don''t want to lose their best players, it''ll take hard-bargaining and clear ambitions to bring them in, not pussy-footing and doing the humble peasant-folk act again.  We may not have a fortune, sure, but surely there must be a bit of money floating about in the club?  I certainly believe there exists the /ambition/ to get a high standard of player in, but is this backed up by actions?  Much as I loathe comparisons to last seasons promoted clubs, I can''t help but think of Wigan''s attempt to land a certain Mickey Owen.  Audacious, doomed to failure, but WHY NOT HAVE A CRACK?  The worst you get is a ''no thanks'', and who knows, you may capture someone you wouldn''t expect - maybe some like Huckerby, Ashton, Earnie, Helveg, Jonson, etc...they all came here, perhaps against expectation (excluding Hucks, of course), but there was something that persuaded them Norwich have what it takes.  I would suggest that future press releases from the club start to focus on the positives of our transfer dealings, rather than accentuating our limitations.

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I get the feeling it''s going to be the same squad we have now with a few loan signings thrown in.  My guess is that the board are thinking beyond the last parachute payments and planning for a failure to get promotion.  It''s a vicious circle tho.

I don''t believe that we currently have the players (or management) to get promoted next season.  I''m not saying that wholesale changes need to be made to the playing staff, but there are obvious areas of weakness in the squad.

Or, perhaps, Worthy is going to make use of our talented youngsters in lieu of new signings?

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With the best part of 20,000 season tickets sold, the second wave of parachute money, the departures from the wage bill of foley, charlton, Jarrett, Ward, Johanneson, and Rehmann, just what do they do with money at Carrow Road? Eat the bloody stuff? Prudence with mediocrity strikes again.

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[quote user="Trent Canary"]

Worthy usually rolls out this speech once every transfer window.

Take it with a handfull of salt.

[/quote]I know Trent, and it''s bugged me every time I''ve heard it.

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if it means that we get more quality players through the door come August, isn''t it worth putting up with ?

I could see Davenport arriving for 500k up front plus extras and a sell-on clause, for example.  I can''t see him arriving for a million.

So if we have to play the pauper to do that, where''s the harm ?   

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[quote user="Bernard Robinsons Paperboy"]What I find especially disappointing about this announcement is Mr Doncasters statement at a business breakfast at Carrow Road at the end of March that Norwich City F.C. are no longer a "selling" club, we are now a "buying" club.[/quote]

If he said that about last season, he simply isn''t telling the truth. 

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Thinking positively here he could mean that the individual prices are to expensive. We need 5/6 good players so we cannot afford to spend 2/3 million on davenport or over thje odds on an average midfielder. We could have 2 or 3 Million to spend but dont want to waste it on 2 players.

Looking at it negatively as everyone else is it means we have peanuts to spend, no more than 1.5m if david norris is too expensive, which would be worrying. Wheres the ashton cash gone? (whats left of it anyway) and why dont the board tell the truth?

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I personally think that the parachute money is being rationed. So far Worthington hasnt actually spent that much more than he has made in the last two seasons. When you look at the exits of Helveg, Johnson, Svensson, Mackay, Ashton and Francis then look at the imports off the backs of those in Hughes, Etuhu, Robinson and Earnshaw it sort of ballences out just about.So I think the club is actually planning forwards with things and is just trying to make sure that every season for the next few seasons we have a pot of say £2million to spend. I say this because only a few days before the transfer window shut we almost had Clinton Morrison - thank god we don''t because he has done little at Palace this season according to my housemate who has a season ticket.No I think there is money about but after paying over the odds for players I think Worthington and the board are just saying that they are not going to play games like that anymore. And people have to remember that Earnshaw cost us £2.7million plus clauses. As of yet we have no idea what they are and if any of them have already been forfilled.I would just be patient because to be honest other than Huckerby a lot of players we have signed under Worthington have hardly been blips on the media radar before signing. How much of a media warning did we get for Earnshaw? Maybe 24 hours?I am at least proud of our club for that because it means that there is no public rubbish like with the England Manager thing.As for why he is saying it now - well there could be two reasons. One that he doesnt want current negotiations to go public and incurage other clubs to put in a bid. Also it may be that they are discussing prices with clubs and want to make it clear that we have limits.Then ofcourse it is likely that Worthington actually said this in response to a question regarding both players and to be fair £3million would be too expencive and as others have said maybe even £1million would be pushing it. As for Norris - Plymouth so far as I know at the moment are sound so I dont think they need to sell although saying that who knows.

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[quote user="mystic megson"]

[quote user="Bernard Robinsons Paperboy"]What I find especially disappointing about this announcement is Mr Doncasters statement at a business breakfast at Carrow Road at the end of March that Norwich City F.C. are no longer a "selling" club, we are now a "buying" club.[/quote]

If he said that about last season, he simply isn''t telling the truth. 

[/quote]

Agreed

What I realised is,that at the level  Doncaster was operating that morning he would say anything that he thought the people present wanted to hear. I was in a slightly uncomfortable position, being a guest of my company chairman and not wishing to embaress them or others around me by starting an arguement. It was quite political, with written questions being submitted to the top table and then being vetted before being put to the likes of Munby, Cullen and Doncaster.These are people capable of putting "spin" on anything and that must be remembered when reacting to any statement that comes out of CR. Personally I would rather a "no comment" than "he''s got a groin strain and I have the X-rays to prove it"

As long as I have supported Norwich we have been a club that has had to sell to survive and I can see no difference today.I was fortunate enough to meet Dave Stringer, when he was no longer Manager, but was retained by the club to oversee the Colney development, a true gentleman, he explained that Norwich could attract good young players because they would be given more opportunity of first team play than if they went to Arsenal, Tottenham etc and once on the "big stage", if they were good enough then they would be spotted by the big clubs and get the chance to move on to bigger things. I think we may have lost that, if so it will not benefit the club. The way ahead is through yong players, preferably local. Middlesboro at the end of last season played a game where 10 of the 11 players came from within 30 miles of the town. surely something to aspire to.

 

 

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