Zema Abbey offered new deal

[Gromitt 12]

Someone else as cynical as myself thinking the insurance payoff angle if he does fail to gain full fitness. However, suspect payment may be propotional to remaining contract therefore would we really gain anything unless we would also be able to include medical treatment expenses as well.
Anyway wish him all the best either way, if he performs we get another striker, albeit costly for the last two years due to the injuries, without the need for transfer fees, etc. If he does not perform we are not left with having to carry a player long term who does not make the grade.

[YankeeCanary 0]

Saint Canary, the point that you make regarding the purpose of the message board being for everyone to express their own opinion and not hiding behind the "let''s trust Worthy" approach is a good one and one that I totally support. I agree that it appears that''s what my message conveys. However, I would hope most readers always try and look at the context of a message. In that regard, I was not initiating a personal approach against FatMan Fat, but rather responding to what he initiated. He cited his "personal" expertise and methods of managing as to why the Abbey decision was wrong. I called him on it and suggested, in response, Nigel appears to have his own expertise in dealing with the matter. By the way, I believe you may very well be correct in the conclusion you draw, i.e. that Abbey will be gone by Christmas. That does not mean the decision to give him a chance is necessarily wrong for all the reasons that have been cited previously.

[Abbey 4 England! 0]

Abbey is probably Norwich''s best player definetly best striker. About 2 seasons ago Abbey was banging em in, and hes got is best years ahead of in so forget the 3 monthe deal sign him up long term quickly before another prem team does maybe even Sven should be looking out for the big man

[Abbey 4 England! 0]

look here fatty fatman fat Abbey is quality better than hucks and definetly better than Shackell so sign him up quickly on a 5 year deal before another prem team does

[FatMan Fat 0]

From my perspective I think this thread has run it''s course. Other people may well want to continue it but I am bowing out.
However, a few points I want to make -
1) "Yankee Canary" -
Quote, "FatMan Fat, all you are demonstrating in your last message is that you have a fat head."
You claim that you were not intiating a personal approach against me.....I would suggest that these words that you used in a previous post on this thread are pretty personal.
2) "At Last" -
If you ARE working with me you will probably be earning more money than you ever done before; you will be receiving more recognition for your efforts than you have ever received before; you will have more job satisfaction than you have ever had before - can''t think why you WOULDN''T want to work with me ;-0)
3) "Saint Canary" - A voice of reason in what was becoming too personal, rather than some peeps ignoring the point that I was making that Zema''s contract seems unfair when considered against Iwan, Crichton and Sinclair...even Alex Notman - i.e. making management decisions based on a given set of values and standards that apply to all, rather than making "special cases" out of individuals/personalities.
4) "Mathew Bradshaw" - Yours are the best two posts in the entire thread.

Okey dokey, I am off to see what other threads interest me :-0)

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Matthew Bradshaw,

What are you talking about mate?? I think some of us agree that he should be given another chance but he''s by no means the best striker we''ve got.

Are you joking??

[sheded 0]

Just a thought , when a bloke gets a muscle injury , who`s to know if he`s swinging the lead or not ? ....... there ARE " footballers " who make a career out of being injured ........ hey , who among us would say no to an opportunity to draw thousands a WEEK !, for doing , precisely , NOTHING !! ? .......... and this Abbey is beginning to look either far too fragile physically , or a lead swinger ! , either way ......... get rid ........ as for him being better " quality " than Hux ............give me strength ! , ............ every time Hux hits the park he`s kicked at , grabbed, mauled , upended , trod on , you name it ! ......... does he limp off and spend months " recovering " .......... damn right he doesn`t .... he`s a honest pro .........

[blacko 0]

Just a couple of thoughts to put into the melting pot.

The renewal of the contract does without question tell the other players that, if they get injured, they would be given a chance to prove themselves fit again. The alternative of being cast aside would not do the team spirit any good at all.

The other (cynical) suggestion is that a fit player has the potential of a fee if he moves on, although I appreciate he would need to be on a longer contract.

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Just wanted to add my tuppence worth! All this comparison to Iwan is completely circumspect - as far as I understand it, we DID offer Iwan a coaching role, in the academy, and he turned it down because he wants to keep playing, something we can''t offer him. This is completely different to Zema''s case!

I am also of the opinion that Zema will be gone come Xmas, but he may just prove us all wrong - has he ever had a decent run of games in the first team? I don''t think so. And just look what happened with Svensson when he got a decent run of games.......

[alex_ncfc 662]

Matthew Bradshaw,

Straight to the point, do you actually support Norwich? My memory must be rubbish, because I can''t remember that time when Abbey was ''banging them in'', enlighten me! Also, better than Hucks? Riiight, and of course he''s better than Shackell isn''t he, probably the best central defender we posess!...not.

Great joke there, Matty, either that, or go back to supporting Man Ure...

[Dirty Lyle 0]

Morning Temp!

Good point that the Zema situation is different to Iwan''s. The send off he got at the Preston and Crewe games and on the parade could not have been equalled as those celebrations were unique.If he had been given another year and retired at the end of season the fanfare would have been lessened. His leaving added an extra poignancy to the promotion party and the fans treated him like the legend he is - no one who was there will ever forget the fans reaction when he scored his first at Crewe.

The fact that Iwan wanted to continue playing was his own decision. Iwan and the club have parted ways (for the time being) on good terms wioth no regrets. Zema deserves a last chance to prove himself. He must have been frustrated to be continously absent and will be raring to go come pre-season. Give him a shot - if he is not up to the job when fully fit let him go by all means.

Temp, Mrs Temp must be close to the "big day" now. How are you feeling? Nervous, excited, petrified? Make sure you keep us updated...

[chicken 0]

I really cant believe what some people have come on here and said in this post!

I am sorry Fatman but I couldnt give a damn how successful your career is, and thats not an insult. I am sure that you have deserved your successes and worked bloody hard to achieve them.

I dont think the club is handing Abbey a favour. Why would they need to? They have paid his wages still for the last two season whilst he has been out. We all know Worthington can be ruthless, just go talk to Heckingbottom!

No. Abbey has been given three months to show us what he has got left in him and if he can perform to the level he has been able to play to in the past. After all there were a couple of low premiership teams interested in him when we signed him.

For those of you who dont rate him, he has shown signs of a real quality player. He can shoot powerfully and accurately from outside of the area, not something that we are used to having on the pitch. All the sounds that the club has made about him have been nothing but possitive. We cant pass accurate judgement because we cant see the whole picture.

If you look at my "lets get realistic . . ." post then you will see that we dont have many strikers on the books at the moment and we only really have Svenson as an experienced target man. Otherwise the buck is passed onto Jarvis who I am told can play that role, but I have not seen him play. Abbey is possibly an option.

He is certainly no worse than Trevor Benjamin at Leicester and Campbell at Everton.

Give the guy a chance, he has actually recovered quickly when you look at the injuries he has had. GG had just one such injury and he took the same amount of time to recover as Abbey who had double the trouble, that says something.

And like others have said, three months is nothing. It gets him to Christmas effectively, or just before it. Maybe we will launch a new bid for another tall striker then when we are in a better situation to see what we are up against.

[Abbey 4 England! 0]

Alrite i may be exagerating a little bit but having Abbey in the changing room definetly increases the morale the players must look up to him as a legend all the injuries hes had a hes still going strong so i think he should be offered a contract for life, he deserves it

[Norfolk Dan 308]

Fat Man.. I am picking up that you are able to relate your management style to football management... If so.. fancy putting it into practice with a local team and see if if works!!!!?!!?

[sheded 0]

More like a leg..end ......!!! as for him increasing the moral .......... yeah ! like the other players just love seeing this guy lying around ,dragging his wages for doing nothing! as for a contract for life . . . .

[FatMan Fat 0]

Norfolk Dan...I did...and it does.
Managing on "principles" where known values and standards are applied to all the team members, rather than having "special cases" based on personality with different standards for all, works in any form of team management.

[Steve White 24]

Abbey 4 England - the name says it all! Think that you have rather exaggerated the use of the word "legend" - if the word is used in it´s proper context, then perhaps Martin Peters was the last one at this club.

[Peter 0]

After all this is what Rivers has done for a couple of seasons now i.e. pick up money for doing nowt.

For the record I feel the 3 months won''t be long enough and this money could be better utilised elsewhere.

But wish ZA well in whatever he does.