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BlyBlyBabes

Our central defence.

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Neil  Doncaster thinks that what we have is what we will probably go with i.e. no reinforcement for our central defence.

I wonder what Peter Grant thinks about that. He has been particularly quiet on this matter.

But then Doncaster is our head honcho, sits on the NCFC board, and has his eyes firmly fixed on the bottom line at the behest of our pair of new ''investors''.

Peter. Kick up a stink like Nigel used to do sometimes before he got tired - otherwise they will chew you up and spit you out with no compunction.

We need a new, good quality, experienced, reliable centre half who can organise and lead. Any idiot can see that.

And don''t tell us about Dion. We''ll be lucky to get 25 games out of him - and he prefers to play as a striker anyway.

But, one suspects, that Neil and the board think they know best - rather than the manager and fans.

We shall see what we shall see.

OTBC

 

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He will probably bring up the fact that Doherty was player of the year a couple of seasons ago - (IMO the worst player of the year I can remember based on a decent first half to the season where we couldnt stop conceding sloppy goals).  Unfortunatly I don''t think the Shackell/Doherty combination is up to the task. When the going gets tough, Doherty crumbles.

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Sadly that''s what you have to put up with when you appoint a lawyer as your Chief Executive. When did you last meet a lawyer with a flair for business? When did you last see a successful business with a lawyer as its top man? I''m not denying the man is intelligent, genuine and a good bloke into the bargain - always seems that way - but a lawyer is a lawyer with caution and prudence the words they live off at the cost of all else.

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What if grant thinks we do have enough CB cover, and its the fans on the board asking when a defender is arriving?    doncaster isnt going to either tell selling clubs that we want a type of player or tell us that the manager is going against the boards wishes,  not at this stage anyway.

 Like most of your post BBB this is pure speculation of course.[;)]

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

 

 Like most of your post BBB this is pure speculation of course.[;)]

[/quote]

Slightly harsh comments aimed at BBB.

I emailed Doncaster directly about lack of centreback transfer activity, and he has basically said we go with what we have.

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[quote user="djc"][quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

 

 Like most of your post BBB this is pure speculation of course.[;)]

[/quote]

Slightly harsh comments aimed at BBB.

I emailed Doncaster directly about lack of centreback transfer activity, and he has basically said we go with what we have.

[/quote]

 

Just playing devils advocate and wasnt meant as a particular dig at blybb, djc;  apologies to you bly if I have offended you. 

I know you that was the response to your question direct from Neil D,  all I am saying is we dont know the reason why doncaster gave the answer he had and any attempt to second guess that is pure speculation or if coming from carrow road its usually called spin.  

I am not happy that we dont have cover and it would be the single biggest mistake that the club makes this close season (club meaning the manager and/or the ubiquitous ''board'') if there is not further cover provided,  but it hard to know  who else the chief exec could answer these sort questions  

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[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

What if grant thinks we do have enough CB cover, and its the fans on the board asking when a defender is arriving?    doncaster isnt going to either tell selling clubs that we want a type of player or tell us that the manager is going against the boards wishes,  not at this stage anyway.

 Like most of your post BBB this is pure speculation of course.[;)]

[/quote]

I''d do well with the tabloids then Zipper. They often use speculation to force out the truth.

As opposed to the Pink''Un and the rest of the Archant group who are usually happy to merely retail PR and spin from the NCFC board, Munby, or Doncaster.

Please see djc''s post which saves me time having to search for the quote from Doncaster.

Where do you think the truth is?

Do we have a central defence capable of winning the Championship which Munby boasts is the club''s objective this season.?

One has to speculate to accumulate. The NCFC board is behaving like Granny. And when the season goes tits up, Peter will say - I told them so.

Speculation is a wonderful tool - you should try it sometimes Zipper![:)]

One love.

Good luck Peter Grant.

OTBC

 

 

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The truth is out there and most of us wont like it! 

I do think that any two of the current centre backs are good enough for this league;  but our midfield is still relatively weak (despite the over hyped signing of the 60 game career possible of Brellier)  and wont provide the attack with enough quality possession to carry the threat we should or the defence with enough protection to turn around a 3 season average of 70+ goals conceeded.    Until grant has sorted out how to play Hux in the side without weakening the defence or reducing the style of football to route one then little will change.     

My speculation is that we will see 2 more player arrivals and that one of those will be a centre back (the other a midfielder).  We wont spend much on the centre back as, rightly or wrongly, PG does feel that two from three of dion/doc and shax is enough for this league.  He will target a youngster who has some experience in lower leagues with a view to bringing them on for the next season or so and using them as cover should the worst happen.  ND has made his comment knowing we want more but doesnt want to undermine either the search for that signing nor the remaining players confidence should they have to be the ones to be relied upon.

Not headline breaking speculation,  but no less valid for it...

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Bly I am surprised at you!

Tabloids are not interested in Truth - they are vein, they just want people to look at them. The only thing I take for certanty in any newspaper is the result.

I have read papers that tell me Croft is a forward, McVeigh had an awful day at centre back and more! All you need to be a journalist is a wicked sense of imagination and the ability to sprinkle it lightly with small snippets of reality.

Either way it has to be said if this interview was entirely missleading then something to the contrary would likely be posted on the clubs official site.

And by that I mean, this is not what the paper wants, the paper wants readers and there is no better news than bad news to bring to the attention of the public a name - even if it is that of an already known paper.

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Something needs to happen otherwise we wont be challenging for the play offs.

The defence still worries me, and from what I have seen or heard, nothing really has changed.

Shackell and a nother please.

No disrespect to the Doc, but he isn''t good enough.

Grant needs to get another centre midfielder, centre half, left sided player cover for Hucks.

Only then will I be convinced that we have half a chance to sneak into the play offs.

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[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]

Neil  Doncaster thinks that what we have is what we will probably go with i.e. no reinforcement for our central defence.

I wonder what Peter Grant thinks about that. He has been particularly quiet on this matter.

But then Doncaster is our head honcho, sits on the NCFC board, and has his eyes firmly fixed on the bottom line at the behest of our pair of new ''investors''.

Peter. Kick up a stink like Nigel used to do sometimes before he got tired - otherwise they will chew you up and spit you out with no compunction.

We need a new, good quality, experienced, reliable centre half who can organise and lead. Any idiot can see that.

And don''t tell us about Dion. We''ll be lucky to get 25 games out of him - and he prefers to play as a striker anyway.

But, one suspects, that Neil and the board think they know best - rather than the manager and fans.

We shall see what we shall see.

OTBC

 

[/quote]

If the board feel our defence is good enough, after the last three seasons, they are havin a laugh.

My eyes haven''t decieved me, last three years its been like watching a carry on film with our back four

I am happy with Ostembor and Marshall, but its all about the spine of the team, and the centre of defence has been a major problem, its far to weak!

Something has to be done if we have any realistic chance of doing anything this season

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our defence has leaked for the past 3 seasons - personally i''ve no confidence in our current central defenders to get us up there fighting for promotion.  the doc is good on his day, but if he''s out for a while injured, he takes 5-6 games to get match fit and in form - why was he resigned???  dublin is not the answer in defence either.  shacks has yet to realise his obvious potential - he''s getting there but can we afford to wait? whether its backing off unecessarily - as drury has started to do now, or not picking up runners behind (shacks), or going to ground and fouling on the edge of the pen area (doc) or leaving players in acres of space in the pen area (all of them)  - or just making goddamn awful blunders/clearances (all of them but esp hughes) - our defence looks too often like bunny''s in the headlights.  i must admit, i didn''t buy last seasons ''highlights'' dvd - but granty could do no worse than to review all the last 3 seasons goals conceded - identitfy the problems - and common mistakes - and prepare a pitch to the board based on these results to get at least one commanding central defender in so we can make a serious challange.  or perhaps Granty thinks  we have enough???   

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Well if its true and we do "go with what we got" then the board will be rubbing their hand with glee saying we''ve pulled the wool over the eyes of the majority supporters again and got away with it ..god they must think we''re stupid..

Fact 1: The club have made a profit out of this years transfer dealing and savings of players salaries.

Fact 2: Our defence (one of the worst in the league for the past few season) hasn''t been strenghtened.

Based on the above how can Munby, Doncaster and the rest of the board keep harping on about being ambitious when they aren''t backing up that statement with tangible action. Blimey - I could say I have ambitions to play centre forward for Norwich - but it isn''t going to happen is it !!! Its easy to say you are ambitious but if you don''t back it up then it means nothing.

I admire the optimism of some of my fellow posters on this board about where we will finish in the league but with out further quality signings before the season (which is looking increasing unlikely now) in defence and mid field we will just be in for a average season i''m afraid - and as for the board if we survive and we all renew our tickets again next year they we see it as objective achieved..

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If Doomcaster and the board think our current central defenders are the business then we are stuffed. As has been said, we won''t get anything close to a season out of Dion and Donkerty is just nowhere near the required standard. I would imagine Granty only resigned him as he wasn''t sure if he could get a replacement before the start of the season.

The defence is the most glaring weakness in our side and anyone who expects to be there or there abouts whilst shipping 60+ goals a season is a bl**dy idiot!![:@]

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So far in the pre-season friendlies the defence has''nt been too bad but, the opposition have been low grade to say the least. If City think they have a good enough defence i fear it''s gonna be exposed for what it is aganist a decent team on Tuesday night.

Maybe then they''ll realise we need better defenders or we will be in trouble this year again.   

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Probably about a year since I last posted but just to say that I feel very little excitement about the season ahead for the exact reason that others have posted on this thread. If teams are built on the defence, and the spine is crucial, there can be nothing more important than the central defensive partnership. I see no evidence to suggest that we shall cease regularly to concede silly goals, indeed PeterGrant in assessing the Dutch tour has referred to his frustration at this aspect of the team''s performance. I therefore expect our goals conceded column to be our downfall and cause us to throw away points that might otherwise have pushed us towards the play-offs. I simply do not understand why we have failed to invest in central defensive quality. And the worrying thing is I''m naturally a glass half-full man! 

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Our defense has certainly improved since last season.

We''ve replaced Hughes, the one who gave his all, with a league one player. We''ll leak about 5 less goals next season thanks to David Marshall

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[quote user="DIZNAZZA HIZLOMEZ"]

Grant needs to get another... left sided player cover for Hucks.

[/quote]

I have a feeling Grant see''s Rob Eagle as cover for Hucks, as from what I''ve read Eagle wants to push for a first team place this year

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[quote user="lucky green trainers"]. 

or perhaps Granty thinks  we have enough???

  
[/quote]

 

If we dont sign anyone then this has to be the conclusion;  its clear he can sign more so if he doesnt he must be happy.

As far as shax is concerned when does potential become unfulfilled?  If anything he has gone back in the last two years on all aspects of his game.   All three were a muchness last season,  Doc the best the season before.     Either we need 3 new centre backs or Grant thinks they are good enough.

Either way we are a central defender short,  and need to sign one before the close of the window.

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Like I have said all along... the board had no intention of investing in the team... and has yet again taken more money from the transfer kitty for other activities.

Anybody expecting more than a slight improvement on where we finished last season is living in lala land... and it seems that Munby and Drury know that too with their sickly mesages to the fans.

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The goals ''against'' for the last 4 seasons, tell the true picture........

Maybe we can obtain special dispensation from the FA or football league (whatever)....to allow a dozen or so of Meester Doncazteer''s Green Blazered Trojans of Tenacity, and the True Warriors of ''Eventguard''........to be allowed to stand on our goal line during games - to keep that horrid ball from crossing the line of impending defeat......

But then again, the Green Blazered Guardians of Donksville are probably too busy over the start of the season, controlling the unruly hoards of Hannibal teenies, inbetweenies and forever greenies at the summer outdoor gigs an'' stuff......

Our defence is suspect....but, we''ll go with what we''ve got.............again.

 

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[quote user="Mark Rivers..."][quote user="DIZNAZZA HIZLOMEZ"]

Grant needs to get another... left sided player cover for Hucks.

[/quote]

I have a feeling Grant see''s Rob Eagle as cover for Hucks, as from what I''ve read Eagle wants to push for a first team place this year

[/quote]

It seems pretty obvious that Rob Eagle is not up to the standard required.  Simon Lappin will probably cover left wing.

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[quote user="crafty canary"]Eagle is much too slow for this level. Reasonable crosser of the ball but never takes on and beats the full back.[sn][/quote]Sounds very much like a certain Mr Beckham...Funny how it was ok for him to rely on crossing and free kicks, but Eagle has to be going past the full backs like Hucks does...

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[quote user="Indy_Bones"][quote user="crafty canary"]Eagle is much too slow for this level. Reasonable crosser of the ball but never takes on and beats the full back.[sn][/quote]
Sounds very much like a certain Mr Beckham...

Funny how it was ok for him to rely on crossing and free kicks, but Eagle has to be going past the full backs like Hucks does...
[/quote]

But Beckham is certainly nowhere near as lightweight as Eagle, Beckham has athletisism on his side along with great technique and vision, Eagle looks frail, and IMO from what I have seen of Eagle I cannot see him making the grade.  I''m always ready to be proved wrong though.

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[quote user="crafty canary"]

If Doomcaster and the board think our current central defenders are the business then we are stuffed.......[/quote]

 

(19-July-2007) Dear Mr Doncaster.

Statistics and league tables show (and quite obviously) that since promotion to the Premier League, defensively our (defenders) players at the club haven''t been strong enough or indeed good enough.

While we have added to the squad in midfield and attacking options I see we have added just one defender player to the squad (possibly replacing two departed right full-backs) when clearly centre half is our largest problem area since the departure of Malky. I appreciate that we have added two much needed goalkeepers of potential to the squad, but supporters are doubting the abilities of Shackell, Docherty and Dublin for the forthcoming campaign based on past season/s.

What at the moment is being done to address this situation, as again it concerns me greatly, and I don’t think a clean sheet against either Lowestoft or King''s Lynn really counts as improvement….

I of course recognise that the club will not name specific transfer possibilities, but please, your thoughts on this matter are welcomed.

(20-July-2007)

my thoughts as follows:

 

this season we currently have Shackell, Doherty and Dublin as recognised centre-backs, plus of course Matt Halliday who is a first year pro

 

at right back we have seen the addition of Jon Otsemobor, plus we have Andrew Cave-Brown who is a year older.  Andy Hughes can also play full-back

 

i am not saying for a moment that Peter is not looking to bolster the back line (although i am sure, defensively, we will be stronger with the addition of Mathew Gilks and David Marshall), but rather that other positions have been his priority to date - partly of course due to other issues, eg the departures of Dickson and Earnie

 

i am sure that Peter has plans for other areas of the pitch, but i am equally sure you will understand that i cannot go into those publicly

 

hope the above helps!

 

OTBC
Neil

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So there we have it... Tabloid Bly and Broadsheet Donc, specualtion and the truth, they go together like Mills and Boon don''t they? [U]

Watch this thread drop like a stone....

 

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[quote user="djc"][quote user="crafty canary"]

If Doomcaster and the board think our current central defenders are the business then we are stuffed.......[/quote]

 

(19-July-2007) Dear Mr Doncaster.

Statistics and league tables show (and quite obviously) that since promotion to the Premier League, defensively our (defenders) players at the club haven''t been strong enough or indeed good enough.

While we have added to the squad in midfield and attacking options I see we have added just one defender player to the squad (possibly replacing two departed right full-backs) when clearly centre half is our largest problem area since the departure of Malky. I appreciate that we have added two much needed goalkeepers of potential to the squad, but supporters are doubting the abilities of Shackell, Docherty and Dublin for the forthcoming campaign based on past season/s.

What at the moment is being done to address this situation, as again it concerns me greatly, and I don’t think a clean sheet against either Lowestoft or King''s Lynn really counts as improvement….

I of course recognise that the club will not name specific transfer possibilities, but please, your thoughts on this matter are welcomed.

(20-July-2007)

my thoughts as follows:

 

this season we currently have Shackell, Doherty and Dublin as recognised centre-backs, plus of course Matt Halliday who is a first year pro

 

at right back we have seen the addition of Jon Otsemobor, plus we have Andrew Cave-Brown who is a year older.  Andy Hughes can also play full-back

 

i am not saying for a moment that Peter is not looking to bolster the back line (although i am sure, defensively, we will be stronger with the addition of Mathew Gilks and David Marshall), but rather that other positions have been his priority to date - partly of course due to other issues, eg the departures of Dickson and Earnie

 

i am sure that Peter has plans for other areas of the pitch, but i am equally sure you will understand that i cannot go into those publicly

 

hope the above helps!

 

OTBC
Neil

[/quote]

DJC, you''ve asked the guy for his thoughts and you''ve got them.

He hasn''t said it''s done and dusted and he hasn''t said we''ll with what we''ve got.

His told you what he thinks of the defence, and said that he''s not saying Grant isn''t looking to add to that area, its just that he''s been concentrating on other matters to start with.

Not really much in his response either way to be honest. Its still wait and see!

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To be honest, it doesn''t look great for the season ahead defensively, but remember we still have a month to go; maybe Doncaster is admitting we will start the season with Doc, Shack and Dion allowing room for others to join up once the season gets underway. Who knows? They could really click this season and we could storm the league, I doubt we''ll be as good as 2004 but I''d loved to be proved wrong!

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Bly, I could have posted this on any one of your 19000 threads running right now, but I chose this one. I wish you would stop posting hundreds of tired, repetitive rants against the club, complete with your pretensious, one sentence, sermonising style designed for "maximum impact":

"Where are the signings. Peter. Grant.

We will go with what we''ve got, then?

OK. Peter. Grant.

All. Is. Not. Well. In. Delia''s. Kitchen.

OK. Peter. Grant.

One love." 

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