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beelsie

Now this is going to be unpopular

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I,ve posted regularly on these boards, always to support the manager and the board; mistakes and all, in their attempts to bring wisdom and a degree of sense in the control of our finances. Some threads say that there is a player out there at Scunthorpe who has scored 17 goals in seventeen outings?? i dont know if this is so. However, we have on our books a player who can no longer do his duty. Ewan Roberts!!
Correct me if I am wrong, does he still command top wages for his stay on the bench? I''ts often been said that his heart and soul has been in Norwich City football club over these past seasons; I believe he has been paid well for that contribution, perhaps to the extent that he must realise now that he is not capable of commanding his full wages any more. If this is so, does he love his club enough to do as Darren Huckerby suggests for his own prospective contract and take a considerable pay cut, The extra money would allow us to move on and may be inject some new mobile blood into our small squad. After all it was almost this team who were thrashed and outplayed by lower division Northhampton pre-season, is it possible that the playing gap is not as great as some of our subscribers would have us believe. It is quite possible in my mind that a player with youth on his side would set the world alight for a chance in a higher division, he is certainly fit, he hits the back of the net, and he must have two yards on the Robbo we now witness on the pitch for a few minutes during odd games. This post does not detract from the service he has given. We all become redundant at some point in our carreers. Is this the time. I''m serious and i''m ducking.

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No I agree with you Roberts is by far our highest earner on 12000 a week and say if Huckerby is currently on 20000 a week and will take a cut down to 15000 a week this would be like getting a new player on around 3000 a week so I honestly believe this is the way to go with Iwan taking the youth team role.

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Yes, this is the right time. Although last season would have been even more the right time when, for the most part, he was pointless. He dosn''t have the hunger or desire or commitment, and to me that is a lot worse than him losing a couple of yards pace - let''s face it, he wasn''t exactly Linford at the best of times! I can''t explain why he has become so jaded, but he has. But we can''t just discard him for the following reasons -

1, the other players love him
2, He gives us someone to sing songs about when we''re winning
3, It doesn''t set an example to our other players that they will be rewarded for long service. We need players to want to stay at the club, and they need an incentive.

That second reason is rubbish. So there''s two reasons...

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He has a contract with City - we wouldn''t be offering to increase it he he was playing exceptionally well, so



Huckerby is suggesting that he is willing to sign a NEW contract for lower wages

a) he genuinely wants to stay here and is willingly to forego money to that end

b) he knows there is no likelihood of this happening so is deflecting the blame away from himself

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Even taking the ''lower'' figure it means Iwan Roberts last contract was worth nearly a million pounds. Surely this has proved to be a poor investment.
I seem to recall when his first contract came up for renewal his agent David Speedie said Roberts would never wear a Norwich shirt again. Just prior to his next contract being discussed he was prepared to pack his suitcase to join Cardiff. In between he let it be known that if Gillingham had made an enquiry he had to listen. Not much loyalty there.

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Hang your heads in shame, how dare you criticise IWAN (not Ewan) Roberts, and boy do you lot spout some horlicks.

Here is the case for the defence M''lud.

He has performed wonders for this club, 91 goals making him the 3rd highest goalscorer EVER in 101 years of NCFC. The man has scored plenty of goals to help us keep in Div one, so that we could eventually mount a challenge this season to get to the Promised Land. The man who made the majority of Norfolk sing his name after his goal at Cardiff. The man who made you feel proud when he overtook Robert Flecks scoring record. Iwan Roberts the man, THE LEGEND. How can you, how dare you criticise him?


"Can no longer do his duty." Yeah right, he has scored 3 times this season mainly from the bench, just one goal behind this seasons top scorer.

"Should take a pay cut." Why? His current contract is about 2.5 years old and both he and the club were happy with the deal (approx £6k not £12K as stated) when it was negotiated. Don''t blame Robbo, if the club think that he is worth that sort of money then he must be. Hand on heart, would you go to your employer and say that you are not working as hard as you can, I do not want my full wages?

"Thrashed, pre season by Northampton" You''re twisting me melon man, a 1-0 defeat in the Carling Cup is: not a thrashing, not important in the grand scheme, nor is it pre season. Get your facts right if you want to be taken seriously.

Anything is possible in your own mind, in mine you cannot be serious, but you are a complete ducker!

Anyone want a maths lesson? How is Iwan by far our highest earner? You say that Hucks is on £20K and Robbo £12K, that sounds like £8K higher per week for Hucks to me, surely he is by far the highest earner? If we employ Huckerby at £15,000 and Robbo at £12,000 how the hell do we save £3,000? Are you saying that we should sack Iwan? If so we would have to pay his contract up, so how is that + £3k to us? Can someone explain this to me?

Robbo didn''t have a great season last year, but he was recovering from a back injury for some time. To say that he has no desire or commitment is just plain wrong, haw many games has he played, 282, and he has no desire to score 100 goals for City? His pace at Gillingham a couple of years ago was blistering :-)

"Contract proved a poor investment" And over the course of his current contract he has scored 24 goals in 99 games, that’s really poor at one every 4 games, who currently matches that strike rate by the way? And he is not loyal either by signing two more contracts after his tiff?

If you want to slag off our strikers, then try Dalglish, Notman, Nielsen, Cottee, Anselin, Llewellyn, Forbes, Diop. What have they contributed to the club in the same time as Roberts?

I rest my case M''lud.

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Well said! but only in your last paragraph, I have no intention of looking at past failures on the pitch, and there are many more that can be mentioned. Present failures are what can be described as non contributory factors in the present monetary situation. Iwan( thanks for the spelling correction) is not worth 2 grand a week to the club on present form and therefore should, if he has the pride, realise it himself and take a drop ie: drop in form drop in wages Contracts ought to always stipulate no goods no money. Might produce more effort. Hand on heart I was in business on my own account for 40 years and there were times when I did not produce the goods on time or as well as I should. So It was up to me, to look after my customer and say the job took me twice as long as it should therefore I can only charge half the hourly rate. Customer retained, honesty appreciated, came back for more of the same, successful business. In football the customer sale of goods act, an office of fair trading etc, trade descriptions act is not there to protect the consumer, or the employer. Lucrative contracts negotiated by the crooks, that call themselves agents have, by their inflated fees, led to higher gate charges, destroyed football for the masses, and because of these excessive wage demands for players, have reduced the crowds from thirty thousand and more every week watching NCFC play. Would be fans can no longer afford to take part in what was a working and family sport. The prima donnas that now grace our football pitches are the ones who by virtue of their greed brought the game into the sorry state that it is now in. You and other board contributors witnessed what the state of our finaces are in ref: EDP, this AM. It is all down to the men on the pitch whom you seem to feel need protecting; all the way to the bank. You make a comparison between Hucks and Iwans'' wages, you say he did not have a great season last year, sorry, he had a bad back. If I had a bad back and was only able to work at half pace then i would only charge half fees and so-on. To me it seem that these players want the wage protection of employees and the safety net of inflated contractual agreements. Roll on the demise of a few more clubs who can not put their financial houses in order. This will I hope bring a little more realism into the negotiations done by agents, and footballers would do well to realise that if they are strikers and they score goals that this what they are paid for and so what.

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Freddy you dont get me do you - I did not say we save 3,000 pounds I said if we pay hucks 15000 a week it would be 3000 a week more then Iwan''s wages so it would be the same as signing a new player on 3000 a week if we got rid of Iwan and I didnt say that. Also i think you will find 1 were not paying all of huckerbys wages.
2. Im not talking about the loanees if your guna quote me read my letter properly then we wont have a problem hey

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Oh dear Freddy, you are swimming against the the tide and using the old tired defence that Iwan Roberts'' goals kept us in division one. Yes they may have, as did the saves by Andy Marshall, defending by Craig Fleming etc.. You can''t then offer lessons in maths when your own sums are incorrect. Roberts is in the second year of his current contract and during that period has scored ten goals, including penalties, and not twenty four as you state.
Of course the ninety one goals he has scored in nearly seven years include many in the Worthington Cup when we played teams in the bottom division, home and away. In truth he has averaged less than a dozen Nationwide league goals per season. Compare this with Chris Sutton scoring twenty five Premiership goals in one season for Norwich and the legend starts to look suspect. I had the good fortune to see Ron Davies play and by your judgements he only scored sixty six goals but they were at an average of a goal every 1.9 games, nobody called him a legend. John Deehan only scored seventy goals but these were all in the top division at an average of a goal every 2.77 games.
Don''t get me wrong Freddy I enjoyed your e-mail, especially about Roberts'' blistering pace.

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How dare you question Iwan''s hunger, desire or commitment. Iwan should not be playing he should go out whilst people remember the good times, but he will always try his best for the Canary cause, if NW chooses to pick him. Iwan is a LEGEND and lest not forgot he is a bloody nice bloke; a rarity in football.

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Keith you are right to say that we should not question Iwans committment etc - this has never been in doubt, despite Mooks mention earlier in this thread. He has been a top servant of the club and has deserved his place as a club legend.

However all he can offer now is committment - I too would give 100% every second I was on the pitch but I can assure you that you would want me starting the game on saturday either!

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Nice bloke may be, but not honest enough to say to his bosses, I''m not up to it now, i''m going out to grass or i''ll take a big drop in wages and to show my commitment to the club i''ll help to bring the younger ones in the academy on if you think i can contribute to the cause. If you are satisfied with my efforts in this department then let us draw up another contract to our mutual advantage.
I will maintain with due respects to Roberts, that it is bad business to pay more than a player is worth just for sentimental value. Put Roberts in a managerial position and ask him if he would pay a man top rates to produce half the speed with half the effort until he can no longer crawl.

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