The long(?) wait.

[Salopian 1]

We have looked at the playing resources left at Carrow Road, and many of us are worried at what is left. There are no match winners, and perhaps only Marshall as a match saver. Very worrying!One thing is for sure. Survival will be the main objective next year, and to achieve this we shall have to sign one or two above average players as well as some squad players. Promotion next year seems out of the question, baring some miracle signings by Roeder.

My two concerns about the medium term, which I suspect most people share, are two-fold:1) Just how much money will be available for Roeder to spend?  To buy passable players means a minimum of £1 million each, to buy match winners upwards of £2.5 million. If his budget is less than £3 million, it will be a long haul, with an annual  battle against relegation. We used to think that with a good academy we could produce our own team nucleus, and purchase otherwise, perhaps with the small proceeds from the sale of graduates we did not want. This seems a forlorn hope now, as  another batch departs.2) Roeder himself - he has performed a minor miracle in keeping us up, and he found some good loan players. The question is how long will he be here, especially if he is denied money by the prudent board? In addition, while he has shown again his ability to save lost causes, how good is he at assembling winning teams on a shoe string? How good are his contacts? He gained the batch of loanees, but it is to the advantage of the other club for their fringe players to have regular football. How good will he be in the open market for Bosmans and in finding transfer bargains - these are unknown.In summary, I can''t see any better in 2008-09 than marking time, and hope that our scouts produce some good recommendations. This presupposes that GR is able to find a full batch of loanees, some Bowmans and one or two astute purchases.With good fortune, and perhaps some more money pumped into the club, we might be challenging for promotion in two or three years. At the moment Roeder, like Grant before him, is faced with a poorish squad and little money. Grant failed, will Roeder be more successful?

[Polar 0]

lovely to see some optimism in the morning.

[Jonny 5 0]

I''m sure Roeder already knows how much money he has to spend this summer. I think your valuation of 1 million and 2.5 is a little over inflated, I know there is all this money knocking around at the moment, but there are also a lot of clubs in big money trouble. This can lead to some bargins, also add in 5 - 7 loan players who will cost little or nothing depending on the deals and if they are younger players wages won''t be that high either and on top of all that some cheap european players and we can get a decent squad together, providing Roeder can find some bargins out there. Of course it would be better if we had pots of cash and could compete with the high rollers of the Championship, but that has never been Norwich City.

[Stevie Wonder 0]

[quote user="Jonny 5"]I''m sure Roeder already knows how much money he has to spend this summer.

I think your valuation of 1 million and 2.5 is a little over inflated, I know there is all this money knocking around at the moment, but there are also a lot of clubs in big money trouble. This can lead to some bargins, also add in 5 - 7 loan players who will cost little or nothing depending on the deals and if they are younger players wages won''t be that high either and on top of all that some cheap european players and we can get a decent squad together, providing Roeder can find some bargins out there.

Of course it would be better if we had pots of cash and could compete with the high rollers of the Championship, but that has never been Norwich City.
[/quote]

The trouble is our record with cheap foreign players is absolutely shocking and this season has seen us add 3 more names to the list of "foreign failures" in Strihavka, Brellier and Velasco!!

[Jonny 5 0]

Law of averages says we must strike lucky at least once [:)]I trust Roeder''s judgement of players more than most of our previous managers and doubt he will sign players using videos sent to him by their agents a la Hamilton.I also think Norwich''s inability to sign decent foreign players has been one of our weaknesses.

[Canariesworld 0]

I heard Darren Huckerby is now a free agent, I know it''s a bit of a risk at his age but i think he might still be good enough at this level

[BBFF 0]

[quote user="Canaries87"]I heard Darren Huckerby is now a free agent, I know it''s a bit of a risk at his age but i think he might still be good enough at this level [/quote] Magic ;o)

FOOTBALL MUST COME FIRST