Question for Smudger and his merry men (or women)

[Blainsey 2]

You have probably had countless posts about this before, and if so please excuse my ignorance for having read them.....

What would you like in an ideal world for NCFC as everything that seems to happen is to your dislike?

You now have carte blanche to tell me exactly what changes you would make to anything you wish ie; playing personell (ins and outs), backroom staff (coaching, board etc), expenditure, tackling media so on so on.

 

Over to you.....

I am actually quite interested in your response.

 

[Arthur Whittle 0]

[quote user="Blainsey"]

You have probably had countless posts about this before, and if so please excuse my ignorance for having read them.....

What would you like in an ideal world for NCFC as everything that seems to happen is to your dislike?

You now have carte blanche to tell me exactly what changes you would make to anything you wish ie; playing personell (ins and outs), backroom staff (coaching, board etc), expenditure, tackling media so on so on.

 

Over to you.....

I am actually quite interested in your response.

 

[/quote]

Simple. The Board have been very happy in the last few years to plod along and sell Norwich as a little club happy to promote itself as Delias happy family. Get rid of this mentality and start competing as a Football club with ambition and fight. I have no grudges whatsoever with playing staff. What do you want from the club? Are you happy with the last few years?

[TwoSheds 0]

First of all i am not one of Smudgers merry men,nor am i a follower of any other person on this forum! If i agree with someone and it''s not to someone elses liking,then tough titties!

I have a question for you............If your car isnt working properly,what do you do? Fix it or plod along in the hope it will fix itself ?

[1 post poster 0]

Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away.

That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.

[Boogle 0]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

How many times can people use leeds as an example for not changing direction?

For every leeds there is a Derby County!

[Arthur Whittle 0]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

Fair enough but its our hard earned cash that is still promoting this poor excuse of an ambitious club. I havent got the solutions but would you go back to a restaurant that served you rubbish? maybe once even twice for the benifit of the doubt but if it didnt change week in and week out im sure you would either not bother or say something. Now imagine that if it was something [and im sure it is] that is so close to your heart. Im not saying it is easy to run the club but the mentality of the board is all wrong. I want change in that respect and if it doesnt happen then i will say my bit.

[Cobain18 0]

[quote user="TwoSheds"]

First of all i am not one of Smudgers merry men,nor am i a follower of any other person on this forum! If i agree with someone and it''s not to someone elses liking,then tough titties!

I have a question for you............If your car isnt working properly,what do you do? Fix it or plod along in the hope it will fix itself ?

[/quote]

So why did u not answer the question?

[Dr Terrible 0]

[quote user="Arthur Whittle"]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

Fair enough but its our hard earned cash that is still promoting this poor excuse of an ambitious club. I havent got the solutions but would you go back to a restaurant that served you rubbish? maybe once even twice for the benifit of the doubt but if it didnt change week in and week out im sure you would either not bother or say something. Now imagine that if it was something [and im sure it is] that is so close to your heart. Im not saying it is easy to run the club but the mentality of the board is all wrong. I want change in that respect and if it doesnt happen then i will say my bit.

[/quote]

good points Arthur, Grant has done well to bring in good signings and only spent 700,000 on cureton and 900,000 on marshall.

Is the supposed 6.5m transfer kitty really there?

Credit to Grant for getting decent players with the money on offer but............

we had the 2.5m sharp money and at least 500,000 ready for marshall and are told the 3.5m earnie money will go into the kitty.

So thats 6.5m call it 4.5m left for signing on fees and transfers.

This transfer budget still has 4.5m left so does anyone believe the board will let him spend it?

If they do i will stop being negative and maybe start to forgive them for 3 pathetic years.

Grant has done a fine job working on what hes been given.

P.S. Seems strange we were allegedly ready to spend 2.5m on Sharp but when southend start accepting bids of 2m for eastwood we pull out. Strange but true!

[Cluck 0]

[quote user="TwoSheds"]

First of all i am not one of Smudgers merry men,nor am i a follower of any other person on this forum! If i agree with someone and it''s not to someone elses liking,then tough titties!

I have a question for you............If your car isnt working properly,what do you do? Fix it or plod along in the hope it will fix itself ?

[/quote]

Spot on TwoSheds...a perfect analogy which describes my view exactly. It seems that to have any ambition at all regarding NCFC you are a labelled a "negative"....which is rather a ridiculous contradiction in terms I think.

Spot on too Arthur....but maybe a tad too sensible and realistic to be taken seriously on here.

Nice to see the Leeds comparison brought up again though. I suspect that despite the current plight they are in, they will be back in the Premiership waaaaaaay before us....because they don''t think "Little Leeds" like our lot.

[Polar 0]

[quote user="Cluck "][quote user="TwoSheds"]

First of all i am not one of Smudgers merry men,nor am i a follower of any other person on this forum! If i agree with someone and it''s not to someone elses liking,then tough titties!

I have a question for you............If your car isnt working properly,what do you do? Fix it or plod along in the hope it will fix itself ?

[/quote]

Spot on TwoSheds...a perfect analogy which describes my view exactly. It seems that to have any ambition at all regarding NCFC you are a labelled a "negative"....which is rather a ridiculous contradiction in terms I think.

Spot on too Arthur....but maybe a tad too sensible and realistic to be taken seriously on here.

Nice to see the Leeds comparison brought up again though. I suspect that despite the current plight they are in, they will be back in the Premiership waaaaaaay before us....because they don''t think "Little Leeds" like our lot.

[/quote]

clucker, do explain how arthurs sensible responses are being taken seriously, while your less than formal responses are being made into the next benny hill?

[Smudger 0]

[quote user="Wayne Gardner"][quote user="Arthur Whittle"]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

Fair enough but its our hard earned cash that is still promoting this poor excuse of an ambitious club. I havent got the solutions but would you go back to a restaurant that served you rubbish? maybe once even twice for the benifit of the doubt but if it didnt change week in and week out im sure you would either not bother or say something. Now imagine that if it was something [and im sure it is] that is so close to your heart. Im not saying it is easy to run the club but the mentality of the board is all wrong. I want change in that respect and if it doesnt happen then i will say my bit.

[/quote]

good points Arthur, Grant has done well to bring in good signings and only spent 700,000 on cureton and 900,000 on marshall.

Is the supposed 6.5m transfer kitty really there?

Credit to Grant for getting decent players with the money on offer but............

we had the 2.5m sharp money and at least 500,000 ready for marshall and are told the 3.5m earnie money will go into the kitty.

So thats 6.5m call it 4.5m left for signing on fees and transfers.

This transfer budget still has 4.5m left so does anyone believe the board will let him spend it?

If they do i will stop being negative and maybe start to forgive them for 3 pathetic years.

Grant has done a fine job working on what hes been given.

P.S. Seems strange we were allegedly ready to spend 2.5m on Sharp but when southend start accepting bids of 2m for eastwood we pull out. Strange but true!

[/quote]

Perfectly illustrated Wayne... and exactly my point... the board must give Grant all the money they have at their disposal if they want him to succeed and not just the Eanshaw money.

Why is it tat 90% of fans are allowed to let this board who have yet again promised that they will invest put SWEET FA in to the transfer kitty for a 3rd consecutive season?

As for the rest of the thread... yawn, yawn, yawn [S] and Blainsey in aprticular... do not think that I am going to answer your question when their are quite a number of posts from myself littering this forum about players I like etc... If you are to lazy to look for them then why should a busy man like me devote my time to answering a question that you have posed when the answers are clearly already there?

As Cluck would say NEXT!

[First Jedi 0]

Arthur - you want us to show a little fight. Lets face it we all do... (I guess you are liking the Brellier transfer then?)

Anyway, you dislike Delia for this reason. I agree - Norwich, Delia and Worthington showed little fight... but I think Grant is showing a hell of a lot of fight. You can''t accuse him of mincing his words, telling popular player they were shit when they were. He is passionate, desperate to win - obviously hates losing with a passion. For that - can''t you show an element of positivity about the club and where we might be heading?

[Mr.Carrow 378]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

If i can butt in......

In the last three seasons the club has recieved £35million in tv revenue, about £13million in player sales, on-going payments from the £6.2million TaylorWoodrow land sale, £1.1million from the hotel, a £1.5million loan written off and some of the biggest crowds in the division.

Now have a look at our activity (or lack of) in the transfer market, the number of times players have had to be played out of position or inexperienced kids drafted in because our paper-thin squad has been crippled by 3-4 injuries, how many times we`ve been scrabbling around for a last minute bargain in the transfer window- and missing out several times because we won`t pay the going rate, and look at the performances of players who seem resigned to being at a club going nowhere. Then see if you can figure out why passionate City supporters (thats supporters, not spectators) have got a bit pi**ed off with the direction of the club.

[gazzathegreat 0]

The past three seasons haven''t been good transfer wise, no. But then we were under the stewardship of one Nigel Worthington, who had his merits, but sadly not in the wheeling and dealing way, bar the Hucks Crouch loan.  I get the feeling Peter Grant is a different sort of manager entirely.  He has a history with the club, passion and grit.  He had no choice last season but to work with what we already had.  This pre season he has shown the good work he and his scouting team have done, 5 new signings with a probably sixth to come.  Before Grant there was little competition for places and an air of complacency amongst some of the players.

I have been p****d off with the club as much as many of you, but IMO their is more than a subtle change in direction in place now, not just Grant but the coming of the Turners to the board.  I agree with all your points in principle Mr Carrow up to about March of last season when on the pitch things started to change, and since then off field in the boardroom. 

It''s only my opinion granted, but I can see a real change of heart at the club and I have more optimism than I have felt for a good many years at this moment in time. 

[Show Me What You Gooot! 0]

"I have a question for you............If your car isnt working properly,what do you do? Fix it or plod along in the hope it will fix itself ?"

They are fixing the team. Have you seen the transfers recently?

"P.S. Seems strange we were allegedly ready to spend 2.5m on Sharp but when southend start accepting bids of 2m for eastwood we pull out. Strange but true!"

We only offered £2m for Sharp. I think both these players had their hearts set on Sheff Utd (Sharp) and Wolves (Eastwood) before our bids were accepted. Shame but maybe we should try getting Riordan instead?

"Why is it tat 90% of fans are allowed to let this board who have yet again promised that they will invest put SWEET FA in to the transfer kitty for a 3rd consecutive season?"

Well the Earnie moneys a starts, smudger. Plus the input from the Turners.

"do not think that I am going to answer your question when their are quite a number of posts from myself littering this forum about players I like etc... If you are to lazy to look for them then why should a busy man like me devote my time to answering a question that you have posed when the answers are clearly already there?"

Why not? Everyone on here repeats their views - thats discussion. Why should you be any different?

[Saint Canary 0]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]

[quote user="1 post poster"]Arthur, what does any of that actually mean in terms of a real world business plan? ''I want to see ambition and fight'' sounds very nice anv is very easy to type but it would be more constructive to suggest how this might be put into practice in a way that doesn''t condem the club to the current Leeds situation if promotion isn''t achieved straight away. That''s the thing. Alot of people seem to think running a club like Norwich is easy. It isn''t. If they came up with some plausable, positive changes then i like many people would back them. Instead we get silly sound bites that actually mean sweet nothing.[/quote]

If i can butt in......

In the last three seasons the club has recieved £35million in tv revenue, about £13million in player sales, on-going payments from the £6.2million TaylorWoodrow land sale, £1.1million from the hotel, a £1.5million loan written off and some of the biggest crowds in the division.

Now have a look at our activity (or lack of) in the transfer market, the number of times players have had to be played out of position or inexperienced kids drafted in because our paper-thin squad has been crippled by 3-4 injuries, how many times we`ve been scrabbling around for a last minute bargain in the transfer window- and missing out several times because we won`t pay the going rate, and look at the performances of players who seem resigned to being at a club going nowhere. Then see if you can figure out why passionate City supporters (thats supporters, not spectators) have got a bit pi**ed off with the direction of the club.

[/quote]

I have criticisms of the board, my feelings about them are not as strong as others but I still have them.  I feel we could have spent more money on players but that is not the boards biggest failing in my eyes.  It has to be "Little Norwich" that gets me and I don''t mean the way the club portray themselves in the media either.  I''m talking about the "pride" Delia felt after a 6-0 drubbing from Fulham ending in relegation.  Where was her anger that 9 of our players didn''t turn up for the most crucial game we had had in years.  She should have been calling for heads to roll!!  Where was the urgency for promotion?  There was none, they let Worthy drag us down and all with the boards "support".  This slack attitude from the board of not setting hard and fast targets has filtered down through the club to the players.  I would be happy if the board came out this year and set the manager and players a minimum target of 6th place.  They should have done this with Worthy, instead they let him take a team that were favourites to win the league into the bottom half of it without even getting close!!

Grant was spot on when he said he wants to get rid of the "nice" tag we seem to have.

 

[Shack Attack 0]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]

If i can butt in......

In the last three seasons the club has recieved £35million in tv revenue, about £13million in player sales, on-going payments from the £6.2million TaylorWoodrow land sale, £1.1million from the hotel, a £1.5million loan written off and some of the biggest crowds in the division.

Now have a look at our activity (or lack of) in the transfer market, the number of times players have had to be played out of position or inexperienced kids drafted in because our paper-thin squad has been crippled by 3-4 injuries, how many times we`ve been scrabbling around for a last minute bargain in the transfer window- and missing out several times because we won`t pay the going rate, and look at the performances of players who seem resigned to being at a club going nowhere. Then see if you can figure out why passionate City supporters (thats supporters, not spectators) have got a bit pi**ed off with the direction of the club.

[/quote]

Mr Carrow

Of all the ''negative'' posters it is you that I find most interesting and informative. However, it''s a shame that you had to ruin your post with the little dig about "supporters, not spectators", it really does you no credit.

I''m sorry if you''ve stated this before but do you know what the difference is between all of the revenue stated in your post and the amount spent on transfer fees, agents fees, wages, loan fees, signing on fees etc. (e.g. all football related expenses)? I''m guessing that it will show quite a shortfall and although this annoys me too I don''t see what raking over it all again now will achieve.

I agree that our board have been way too prudent in the past and that this has ultimately, along with poor decisions made by the previous manager, led to the situation we find ourselves in now. However, I can see the green shoots of recovery and judging from the more optimistic nature of some of your recent posts I think you can too.

Do you think it''s possible that the board have learned their lesson of the past three seasons, and if they have will that be enough for you to forgive them?

We all support the same team here and it''s not pleasant to see some of the back biting going on here at the moment. Jas started a new thread yesterday asking posters how they thought we would line up for the new season, as I type this it has been relegated to Page 2 behind numerous threads from people about protests or getting rid of certain posters. I think that''s pretty sad don''t you?

For the first time in ages I''m genuinely excited about goings on at our club, there''s still a lot of work to be done to turn us into a top six side but I believe we''re making significant progress.

[Stevo 0]

Apologies if this point has been made before on other threads (have only recently joined ''the fun'') but it seems to me that regardless of whether the board decides to makes the money available, PG still has to overcome the major problem of convincing ''big-money'' players to come to City.

We are a far less attractive prospect for players with premier league ambitions than we were a couple of years ago and every season of under-achievement will make this worse.

I''m sure players take all sorts of factors into account when deciding whether to sign but obviously the perception of our chances to get promotion will be key. Whilst we sell our big name players, market ourselves as ''little Norwich'' and continue to under-perform, it doesn''t matter who we get linked to or who we make bids for - the top quality players just won''t sign.

I fully acknowledge that I don''t know the constraints that the board are working under and do not claim to have the answers or what it takes to run a football club. However, I believe that in the last 3 years we have missed out on a golden opportunity to take the club forwards through general mis-management and a catologue of errors. As a result, we find ourselves hoping for a top-half finish or the outside chance of a play-off challenge.

[Arthur Whittle 0]

[quote user="Stevo"]

Apologies if this point has been made before on other threads (have only recently joined ''the fun'') but it seems to me that regardless of whether the board decides to makes the money available, PG still has to overcome the major problem of convincing ''big-money'' players to come to City.

We are a far less attractive prospect for players with premier league ambitions than we were a couple of years ago and every season of under-achievement will make this worse.

I''m sure players take all sorts of factors into account when deciding whether to sign but obviously the perception of our chances to get promotion will be key. Whilst we sell our big name players, market ourselves as ''little Norwich'' and continue to under-perform, it doesn''t matter who we get linked to or who we make bids for - the top quality players just won''t sign.

I fully acknowledge that I don''t know the constraints that the board are working under and do not claim to have the answers or what it takes to run a football club. However, I believe that in the last 3 years we have missed out on a golden opportunity to take the club forwards through general mis-management and a catologue of errors. As a result, we find ourselves hoping for a top-half finish or the outside chance of a play-off challenge.

[/quote]

Excellent post and an arguement i have used on here many times. I believe that under PG there seems to be alot more passion and fght but i feel because of the boards mentality in the last few seasons he has his hands tied in the transfer market with regards to signing the latest batch of promising talent. We can only hope that this silly ''''Little Norwich'''' tag that seems to follow us around under Delia is buried for good under PG with or without the current board.

[Mr_Chimp 0]

So would I be right in thinking your weird little Coach and Horses cabal has given up the ghost?

And that you /still/ haven''t answered any of the questions put at you?

[Hardhouse44 261]

Surely we all want the same thing. A successful football club.

It boils down to how successful you expect us to be.

I would hazard a guess that most if not all the posters on here feel that we are underachieving and have been since the promotion season.

For me Norwich is a top flight football club. That’s what I grew up with and that’s when I was happiest supporting Norwich.

Don''t get me wrong I still love the club and still go religiously but if I am true to myself it isn''t as good as it used to be.

What is the level that we should expect and would find acceptable. Ok. None of us expect Champions league or Premiership titles. But the board itself continue to say that the premiership is the goal.

So that is I suppose what I expect. It is then only down to the time frame.

The 12th of never isn''t acceptable. What is. Well that’s the $64000 question

Surely what we all want to see is progress, a gradual improvement leading in the "medium" term to us challenging for promotion.

I did not see that last season or the season before.

Am I not allowed to express my disappointment at that from time to time?

Good luck to all the players and to Peter. This is what he has wanted a new season with his own players to mould in to a team. I watch with cautious optimism and will give it time to come good. But I will still judge the performance from the first match as that is what I "pay" to watch

OTBC

Am I not allowed to express my disapointment at that from time to time?

 

Good luck to all the players and to Peter. This is what he has wanted a new season with his own players to mould in to a team. I watch with cautious optimisum and will give it time to come good. But I will still judge the perfomance from the first match as that is what I "pay" to watch

OTBC

 

[Arthur Whittle 0]

[quote user="Mr_Chimp"]So would I be right in thinking your weird little Coach and Horses cabal has given up the ghost?

And that you /still/ haven''t answered any of the questions put at you?[/quote]

You clearly havent been on here recently. Im not saying we are not going to protest, infact me and others are currently in discussion about how we should go about it without actually effecting on field activities. Whats so weird about our aim. Is it the fact we dont like seeing our club lanquish at the bottom of this league while all around would have you believe we are about to become a great club again? Answer me this. Why are you so pleased with the way things have gone since we won promotion a few seasons back? Ive said on previous post i dont really have the answers, but ive yet to be given any reason to change my opinion maybe you could help with that?