We haven't got to sell...

[Dionysus 0]

Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. And it looks as though Grant thinks loan signings are the answer to our defensive crisis. We may have been crap last season but at least we had a few valuable assets. Who are we going to sell next Summer to make money for squad rebuilding?

[djc 0]

"we havent got to sell" was used early in the summer in reference to the fact that parachute payments had ended - as in "we havent got to sell players to survive"

However, we did sell due to 2 players (Earnie and Dickson) using their sell-on clauses in their contracts, which are like the "get out of jail free" cards in monopoly.

And Saf was sold because he apparently didnt want to be here anymore.

the Board informs that all monies from transfers will be/has been given back to Grant, but "we didnt have to sell" just to survive.

 

[Marigold 0]

To be fair Earnie was never goin to be here beyond January anyway.

I think we have doen extreamley well to have made £1 million profit on a donkey like Etuhu in such a short space of time.

Safri is a quality player, on his day. His "day" is becoming increasinlg rear these days and you have to question his hunger. Without seeing him play i think we''ll be better off with Brellier.

I have been really impressed with Grant''s signings, there are a lot of positive noises coming from within the club so let''s see how they compare with the departed before we judge them.

[ricardo 7,401]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. And it looks as though Grant thinks loan signings are the answer to our defensive crisis. We may have been crap last season but at least we had a few valuable assets. Who are we going to sell next Summer to make money for squad rebuilding?[/quote]

You will find that nothing much changes Dionysus. It has ever been thus in my experience and I''m talking about a lot of years.

Perhaps we expect too much but it seems we are always doomed to be disappointed.

[Temp the Revelator 0]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. [/quote]

In your opinion.......most others have a higher opinion of these players than you seem to.

[Le Juge 0]

Why oh why do people continually go on and on about the "We don''t have to sell" statement! It''s ridiculous. I''m getting fed up of replying the same thing.

It was stated we didn''t have to sell but what they actually meant was "We don''t have to sell - from a financial point of view" Financially, we didn''t have to sell but contractually (due to release clauses) we did have to sell - assuming the player in question wanted to go (which when the statement was made, the board did not know) As for Safri we didn''t have to sell him at all, we could have stuck him in the reserves never playing him for a year, taking x thousands each week draining the club. It was clear Grant was never going to play him again so simply getting him off the wage bill regardless of the fee was good business.

I think I might save this message in notepad and the next time someone brings it up I can copy and paste it in.

As for replacements, that''s personal opinion. I personally think that each of the new players will be pushing for a first team place, meaning the squad is much stronger even though it has the same numbers because the players going out had a few first team regulars but mostly had people we were just waiting until we could wave goodbye to (Thorne, Louis-Jean, McVeigh, Fisk, Henderson) Then again on paper Thorne and Louis-Jean seemed decent buys so our on paper good buys of Brellier, Ostembor, Cureton, Big Dave could end up being wastes of space. I''m still confident though.

[BBFF 0]

We have sold what class we did have (apart from Hucks) and got back some £mils for the club, but does anyone know really what we have spent on new players. Or is that well used NCPLC phrase the"undisclosed sum" covering up the clubs well known prudence again?

 

FOOTBALL MUST COME FIRST

[Dionysus 0]

[quote user="Temp the Revelator"]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. [/quote]

In your opinion.......most others have a higher opinion of these players than you seem to.

[/quote]

Earnie (£3.5m) replaced with Cureton (£750,000). Etuhu (£1.5m) replaced with Russell (£500,000). Safri was worth a lot more than it was rumoured we got for him but then his replacement was free. That the replacements were cheaper is not an opinion, it''s a fact. Journeyman Brellier aside, these players are worth less than those that have left because, quite simply, they are not rated as highly.

[lobster catcher 0]

[quote user="ricardo"]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. And it looks as though Grant thinks loan signings are the answer to our defensive crisis. We may have been crap last season but at least we had a few valuable assets. Who are we going to sell next Summer to make money for squad rebuilding?[/quote]

You will find that nothing much changes Dionysus. It has ever been thus in my experience and I''m talking about a lot of years.

Perhaps we expect too much but it seems we are always doomed to be disappointed.

[/quote]Not wishing to sound disrespectful to one of our older supporters,but if its always been like this why do you get upset about it.Personally i have seen reeves,fashanu,sutton,bellamy,eadie and many others go.Life goes on lets make the most of what we have and enjoy the season,The way some people are posting you would have thought we have already been relagated

[blahblahblah 2]

[quote]Journeyman Brellier aside, these players are worth less than those that

have left because, quite simply, they are not rated as highly.[/quote]"Journeyman" Brellier was the lynchpin of a Hearts team that broke the Old Firm dominance, beating Rangers to 2nd place in the Scottish league and into the UEFA Cup.  It''s hardly his fault that Romanov was such an idiot, choosing to wreak chaos amongst a successful team.I think you''ll regret making that statement after you''ve watched him play a few games.

[chicken 0]

Thats right Romanov, that ever-so nice guy who has lots of money and is exactly the sort of person that fits the mold of a perspective investor . . . . . .

People think Delia is bad, try having her picking the team every week! That''s bad.

[Tom NCFC 0]

[quote user="Dionysus"][quote user="Temp the Revelator"]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. [/quote]

In your opinion.......most others have a higher opinion of these players than you seem to.

[/quote]

Earnie (£3.5m) replaced with Cureton (£750,000). Etuhu (£1.5m) replaced with Russell (£500,000). Safri was worth a lot more than it was rumoured we got for him but then his replacement was free. That the replacements were cheaper is not an opinion, it''s a fact. Journeyman Brellier aside, these players are worth less than those that have left because, quite simply, they are not rated as highly.

[/quote]

Yeah and what about Ostemober for Colin, Gallacher for Marshall, Dublin for Strihavka....... All of Grant''s signings this season have been good!

[Dionysus 0]

[quote user="blahblahblah"][quote]Journeyman Brellier aside, these players are worth less than those that have left because, quite simply, they are not rated as highly.[/quote]

"Journeyman" Brellier was the lynchpin of a Hearts team that broke the Old Firm dominance, beating Rangers to 2nd place in the Scottish league and into the UEFA Cup.  It''s hardly his fault that Romanov was such an idiot, choosing to wreak chaos amongst a successful team.

I think you''ll regret making that statement after you''ve watched him play a few games.
[/quote]

He''s 25 and he''s played for 8 clubs, admittedly 3 of which were on loan. IMO that makes him a bit of a journeyman. Whether he is any good or not remains to be seen. Has any club actually paid anything for him?

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

How the **** can people say the new signings are better or the old players are better????  Without giving the new signings a couple of months at least playing competitive matches for the team? Its beyond me that.

The thing that annoys me is that I believe, without guessing figures, that we have made more from player sales this summer than we have spent.  And the one area that was in the most dire need of strengthening, along with GK position, the defence, has been pretty much left untouched, with the exception of Ostemobor. 

And now, it is looking increasingly likely that the most we will see is a loan, if anyone.  Why???  Why can''t we buy one? Why aren''t we, or why haven''t we been looking for a central defender?  If we have been looking, what has gone wrong?  Grant must have known by the last game of last season at the very latest, judging by the number of goals we conceded, that the defence was an area that would need strengthening.  - I would find it interesting to hear the response of Grant/Doncaster on this.

[chicken 0]

"Journeyman" - I don''t care. We have had plenty of players that you could class as a "journeyman" but not all of them have been bad.

Iwan Roberts - one voted as a great hero was not exactly the most settled striker ever, we were his fith club.

Edworthy - again we were his fith team.

Lets all remember that even Martin Peters had played at two clubs prior to playing for us. I don''t give a damn how many clubs a player has played for so long as they come and play for Norwich. So far as I can tell Brellier was partly instrumental for Hearts the season they made Europe.

Now yes he may well have had a tough time earlier on in his career but then it happens. Ian Wright was effectively playing Sunday league football before being spotted and I bet the teams he played for regretted that didn''t they?

This is just another fruitless pop in the dark.

The truth is good or bad on paper if we sign new players they are all unknown factors. Maybe they played well last season because they built a good relationship with team-mates, or the manager knew how to get the best out of them.

To some extent the paper part is all left to the real games to prove that they are as good as they have been in the past.

To argue either way is slightly pointless. At the moment we only have paper to compare current and previous players by and on that at exactly this time last season we are better off. You can hardly argue that Croft/Chadwick/Smart is not better than Croft/Henderson. Look at every position and go through it Huckerby/McVeigh/Eagle or Huckerby/Lappin/Eagle - that is agreed closer but at least we have a genuine experienced left midfielder in their now rather than two strikers and a 1st year pro. Goal: Gallacher/Lewis or Marshall/Gilks/Gallacher/Lewis/Arnold.

Infact the idea that we seem to have a 1st year pro as understudy for nearly every position is encouragement in itself.

 

 

[claus 0]

[quote user="Dionysus"]Yet somehow we ended up selling 3 of our 4 most classy players and replacing them with cheaper, try-hard, little-skill garbage. And it looks as though Grant thinks loan signings are the answer to our defensive crisis. We may have been crap last season but at least we had a few valuable assets. Who are we going to sell next Summer to make money for squad rebuilding?[/quote]

I just cant believe how unintelligent you and people who have this view that we have purposely sold players are!

"Little skill garbage" How have you come to the conclusion the new signings are garbage even before the season has started, it makes me laugh.

[Stevie Wonder 0]

The point that seems to have been overlooked is that we do not appear to have too many saleable assets left to fund any new signings in either Jan or next summer! Marshall may be the one to develop or possibly Martin but he could just end up being another Akinibiyi, Broughton, Llewellyn, Forbes or Jarvis!

All I can say is we better get promoted this year or else  we will be struggling to make any signings next year.

[Dionysus 0]

[quote user="blahblahblah"][quote]Journeyman Brellier aside, these players are worth less than those that have left because, quite simply, they are not rated as highly.[/quote]

"Journeyman" Brellier was the lynchpin of a Hearts team that broke the Old Firm dominance, beating Rangers to 2nd place in the Scottish league and into the UEFA Cup.  It''s hardly his fault that Romanov was such an idiot, choosing to wreak chaos amongst a successful team.

I think you''ll regret making that statement after you''ve watched him play a few games.
[/quote]M

I''m certainly not regretting anything yet. Worst player on the pitch yesterday. Maybe you are beginning to reassess your original high opinion of him?