Can we compete in the transfer market?

[Stevie Wonder 0]

Does anyone truly believe that we can compete with other Championship clubs in the transfer market?

Already several players we have been linked with (Ramage, Earnie & Connolly) have gone (or are going) elsewhere. Last summer we lost out on Varney & Sharp after apparently having bids accepted.

Despite our sell out crowds and relatively high profile manager I just cannot see us signing any player who is actively pursued by other Championship clubs. Much like last summer, I can see most of our signings coming from outside England or being young loanees from premiership clubs.

Sadly, I can see next season being one of only minor improvement at best.

[Show Me What You Gooot! 0]

No we can''t.

[Joanna Grey 0]

Yes we can.

[Hog 0]

No we can''t

[kdncfc 0]

We should be able to but for some reason we can''t, probably due to the fact we don''t pay well enough, unless something changes this year it''s difficult to see us getting the players we want and we''ll most likely end up with our second choice targets again.

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Salahuddin"]No we can''t[/quote]

Snap!

[Hog 0]

lol

[CanaryOne 0]

We should be able to , sell out crowds ,premiership money ,parachute money,transfer profits, but no we cannot compete with at least half of this division now .To get a good player nowadays you have to pay £2 million plus we just cannot ( or will not more like ) pay that sort of money.Every transfer window we are linked to good players , last summer it was Sharp and Varney but they never arrive , we ended up with a 32 year old from Colchester , this year so far its , Ameobi,Earnshaw,Etherington,Hoolahan,Taylor etc etc will they arrive , something tells me no chance.

[ricky knight 0]

Can we, who knows, will we, NO.

[Dean Coneys boots 1,400]

Alas- it is geography. Ask yourself would you want to play for Plymouth and you get a good comparison. Its just too remote to be attractive to most footballers who have no knowledge of- or love of- Norfolk. Bah,..I have a bad feeling about this summer

 

[ricky knight 0]

[quote user="vicar in green and yellow"]

Alas- it is geography. Ask yourself would you want to play for Plymouth and you get a good comparison. Its just too remote to be attractive to most footballers who have no knowledge of- or love of- Norfolk. Bah,..I have a bad feeling about this summer

 

[/quote]

BS, The biggest cop out for not signing players i have ever heard.

[Mello Yello 2,294]

No, sadly we cannot.

Even against those Football Clubs that attract a smaller attendance, haven''t half the quality and standard of the NCFC stadium, including its facilities and Colney training ground - or the equivalent amount of money raised from alternative funding from non-football business ventures.  

I personally believe that the NCFC finances are not as ''healthy'' as some folk are assuming, and that the ''manageable'' debt is a mill-stone around the neck of this football club.....

I also hope the NCFC Board - will prove me incorrect.....[:|]

 

[Trent Canary 0]

[quote user="ricky knight"][quote user="vicar in green and yellow"]

Alas- it is geography. Ask yourself would you want to play for Plymouth and you get a good comparison. Its just too remote to be attractive to most footballers who have no knowledge of- or love of- Norfolk. Bah,..I have a bad feeling about this summer

 

[/quote]

BS, The biggest cop out for not signing players i have ever heard.

[/quote]

Its not a massive reason, but its definitely a contributing factor. As Vicar says, id have no interest in taking a job down in Plymouth, and im sure footballers have places they would rather be/not be as well.

[ricky knight 0]

So why now, when the roads  are so much better we are now only two hours from london, it never stopped us attracting players  before, just another lame excuse imo.

[Hog 0]

[quote user="Mello Yello"]

No, sadly we cannot.

Even against those Football Clubs that attract a smaller attendance, haven''t half the quality and standard of the NCFC stadium, including its facilities and Colney training ground - or the equivalent amount of money raised from alternative funding from non-football business ventures.  

I personally believe that the NCFC finances are not as ''healthy'' as some folk are assuming, and that the ''manageable'' debt is a mill-stone around the neck of this football club.....

I also hope the NCFC Board - will prove me incorrect.....[:|]

 

[/quote]

 

If this is the case we need to drive the Board out and seek investment from anywhere, bollo# to all this friendly Norfolk keep it in the county rubbish.

[DDD In The Fine City 1]

[quote user="Trent Canary"][quote user="ricky knight"][quote user="vicar in green and yellow"]

Alas- it is geography. Ask yourself would you want to play for Plymouth and you get a good comparison. Its just too remote to be attractive to most footballers who have no knowledge of- or love of- Norfolk. Bah,..I have a bad feeling about this summer

 

[/quote]

BS, The biggest cop out for not signing players i have ever heard.

[/quote]

Its not a massive reason, but its definitely a contributing factor. As Vicar says, id have no interest in taking a job down in Plymouth, and im sure footballers have places they would rather be/not be as well.

[/quote]

Dont forget the WAG''s. Roy Keane said last year he lost out on players cos Sunderland wasn''t near London, Birmingham or the North West

[Trent Canary 0]

[quote user="ricky knight"]So why now, when the roads  are so much better we are now only two hours from london, it never stopped us attracting players  before, just another lame excuse imo.[/quote]

Well if players (Or anyone for that matter) dont consider location in their job hunting/decision making process then fair enough. But I think they do, and for various reasons we dont stack up favourably. In the same way many other ''Out of the way'' cities do. I dont think its a lame excuse, it makes perfect sense to me. I think the main reason we cant compete is down to money, and ill leave the specifics of money alone for now. But location is a factor, like it or not. Maybe not a big one, but still a factor none the less.

However on the flip side its arguably a good thing. We wont get any of the ''Bright eyed boys'' who want to live the highlife, go to expensive nightclubs, and generally want to enjoy the perks of being a footbeller rather than put in the hard work. (Although Chris Martin seems to have found a lesser version of that). The players we do attract are generally decent, honest people.  So its arguably a good thing in some ways.

Agree to disagree and all that

[Camuldonum 0]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen or as your wonderful contributor Arrdee might say: You lovely old boys and girls:

You are all going to wear yourselves down and we are only halfway through May.  You must pace yourselves - you''ll be worn out before halftime and may have to be substituted.

All this happens every year on every board simply because, in my view, we haven''t got any games to talk about but let''s look on the bright side because if we don''t do that we will all be terminally depressed and may not see the start of the new season.

No one knows - and usually no one ever knows - what may be going on behind the scenes at your club or any club.  As a proud member of both The Gutter Press and The Broadsheets (and the difference between them is that you have write longer words for The Broadsheets and they pay less) newspapers are now in Write What You Like Season - some of the stories will be true, may have an element of truth or maybe what are known in the trade as Flyers in which 2 plus 2 equals 4 and therefore it must be true! A few may really be true.  And it''s very easy to write a story strongly suggesting it is true without any facts at your disposal at all - sometimes it comes true and you claim the credit and if it doesn''t then somebody changed their mind (and that''s a follow up story you see).

In football terms many of these stories - I''m tempted to say most of them - emanate from Agents who are themselves in Say What Talks Him Up Season because this is the time they make their money.  So they big up approaches in a constant round of phone calls (often placed by *friends*).

My own belief (and it''s a belief, not a fact) is that Mr Roeder is unlikely to have taken the job with you if he had not had at least some assurance about money available otherwise he will fall flat on his face and it won''t look good on his CV.  Trust me: when you''ve managed twice in the Premier League going down with a Championship side is not a promotion. 

It may well be, of course, that he misses some targets.  Ramage has been mentioned: may be a good player (I can''t say) but it''s a known fact that he wants Premiership wages and that rules out a good many Championship clubs not just yourselves.  Hoolahan''s agent is Irish but I''m Irish as well and I know how he works so the "interests" of various people are being played off one against another - try to remember than in all these transfers the agent is on a percentage plus his negotiating fee so all this feeding stuff goes on with relentless frenzy. 

It may also be that Mr Roeder is after targets that have not been mentioned.  He surely knows the measure of the task before him next season having only escaped by the skin of his teeth this season.

I wouldn''t worry too much about QPR at this stage because (as another poster has mentioned) Leicester City spent enough money to fill a small but stylish brick Norfolk outhouse and they''ll be Home and Away to Colchester and Scunthorpe next season.  My great-great- grandfather, who played for Leicester Fosse, the origin of the current club, might have words to say about that but he''s beyond fretting or as Shakespeare put it: "Fear no more the heat o''the sun, nor the dreaded thunderstone."

I can''t imagine Leicester''s current Manager envisaged his first pre-season friendly being away to Quorn (Unibond First Division South).  It saves on travelling time, however.

At the moment you are still in the Championship, there''s all to play for next year, Roeder is not an idiot (okay, that''s a guess), we are still in May and it''s months before the kick off.

For many, many seasons I have made it a rule not to be depressed until Christmas and I have always followed this.  If I am depressed, I want to be PROPERLY depressed.  Guessing depressed doesn''t do it nearly so well.

I recommend this course of action.  My answer to the original poster is that I have no idea who you can compete with but I doubt that you are going to find out in May.  To me, it is an exciting time of the year: I always think that Colchester (and Lincoln City) are going to get good players in and do well next season.

I hope that Norwich, Colchester and Lincoln City will do that and do well next season but mostly none of us know what the hell is going on even if we think (or post) that we do.  This also includes Sports Writers who are scrabbling to fill acres of space even as I post this with only a few match reports plus analysis plus columnist in sight.

Here''s a question for you: do you know that the nationals frequently employ two different reporters for the same match?

Let''s say it is Arsenal v Manchester United.  The South Edition will carry the London reporters version, the North edition that of the Manchester sports writer. 

If Mr Roeder is still a plonker by Christmas (okay, November if you''re really hard) that''s the time to  begin depression I think. 

Enjoy the nice weather.  I can''t wait to kick it off even if all ours are complete plonkers, which is entirely possible.

Errr...OTBC.  Who knows?

 

 

 

 

 

[Trent Canary 0]

Best post ive read in a long time, very insightful. And your very right, ive had far too much transfer-related debates the last day or two, only another 3 months to go!  Happy days.

[AndyJR 0]

It is a total cop-out.  We got Hucks'' when he had the choice to go pretty much anywhere - We paid up - He came.  If we don''t pay the going rate, then we won''t compete, simple as that.

[Camuldonum 0]

[quote user="AndyJR"]It is a total cop-out.  We got Hucks'' when he had the choice to go pretty much anywhere - We paid up - He came.  If we don''t pay the going rate, then we won''t compete, simple as that.

[/quote]

 

Yes, all that of course.  But if it''s really your club you will go where they take you and you''ll still be there for them.

If that''s not for you I don''t think it is the club for you.  We all wish better of course but that''s not necessarily how it turns out.

(Veteran of seasons in the Conference League)

[Dr. Ink 0]

Interesting comment from the Coventry manager...

"We''re not going to fill a team full of babies because that gets you nowhere. We need a nice combination but we won''t be signing 34-year-old has-beens on £25,000-a-week."

Basically the opposite of we are likely to do! I''m not saying one is right and the other wrong, I just picked up on the comparison with Roedhogs comments about young hungry talent, with the old experienced heads.

[ZLF 274]

We can if we want to

[Joanna Grey 0]

[quote user="AndyJR"]It is a total cop-out.  We got Hucks'' when he had the choice to go pretty much anywhere - We paid up - He came.  If we don''t pay the going rate, then we won''t compete, simple as that.

[/quote]

He loved it here, his family loved it here, it was one of those cases where (for once) the location played a big part in his decision.

[gsr600 0]

simple fact is that depends on the circumstances for wether we can compete on the transfer market,our club has great facilities, great fan base, great attendances so in theory we should be able to attract to the players, but in reality we cant attract the more well known players as basically we have little or no transfer budget, on the transfer market we cant compete with ipswich, qpr, derby, watford as these clubs have money to burn with there owners or parachute payments, simple fact,the other things is, london has great shops, great restaurants, theatres,cinemas, pubs clubs that are a lot more upmarket and fancy then norwichs clubs, as do birmingham, manchester, liverpool, newcastle etc, its very rare that these days you get a player that isnt interested in money and just wants to play and will play anywhere to impress the fans, so if u need to compete you have to offer a great deal more then the other clubs do, and that means high wages, and footballers know this, they can literally hold clubs hostage as if the club really wants them then they will have to pay for them or they will go elsewhere, you can see this in many prem clubs, terrys new 150000 pw contract, do u think he wouldnt of got that if he knew he could go anywhere and get those wages from other clubs in a bidding war,

so simple, a player wants 25k a week, we only offer 10k, yet qpr will offer 25k because they have money, wheres he gonna go,if you were to move jobs and you had 2 offers one from a firm offering 25k a  year and the other offering 40k a year for basically the same job where would u go, and many of you would seriously have to be lying if you said ud take the lower paid job, same principle,so with higher profile players then no we wont compete, but for those that want to improve themselves, that arent well known that want regular football to get them notcied then maybe as proven with evans and bertand, these 2 couldve gone to any club if they had of been higher profile but they were fairly unknown youngsters that did come here for the reason to get themselves noticedso high profile players who have been noticed and scouted by many clubs no we cant competebut quality youngsters that havent been scouted by other clubs that are future palyers in the prem from teams in the prem like evans and bertrand then yes we can compete,

[Salopian 1]

In short, we can''t.  I suspect that there was little money last summer when Grant had to get as many freebies as possible.I don''t usually attack the Board, but I think that prudence could lead to problems before long. Unless we buy some good players, and GR wants a team with 8 who could play in the Premiership, we are doomed to mediocrity. Other clubs in the Championship with money behind them are already signinging players we might have had.Prudence will lead to mere Championship survival next season, and long suffering fans might not be so ready to renew season tickets. There could easily be a downward spiral, with GR deciding that he has had enough. Let''s look on the bright side, and hope that a failure of GR or Board to reveal how much we have in the transfer kitty means thaty we do not wish to alert other teams, rather than sheer embarrassment at hiow little we have.

[ca 1]

No we can''t that is unless  the club advertises to get an investor in like Ipswich did.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="cityangel"]No we can''t that is unless  the club advertises to get an investor in like Ipswich did.[/quote]

No, never!

And not until Squelia and her bloody croonies all sod off, she, more than anyone is holding this club back by blocking certain investors ie. foreign.

And thats damn close to racism in my world!.

[Cottaging Canary 0]

[quote user="camuldonum"]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen or as your wonderful contributor Arrdee might say: You lovely old boys and girls:

You are all going to wear yourselves down and we are only halfway through May.  You must pace yourselves - you''ll be worn out before halftime and may have to be substituted.

All this happens every year on every board simply because, in my view, we haven''t got any games to talk about but let''s look on the bright side because if we don''t do that we will all be terminally depressed and may not see the start of the new season.

No one knows - and usually no one ever knows - what may be going on behind the scenes at your club or any club.  As a proud member of both The Gutter Press and The Broadsheets (and the difference between them is that you have write longer words for The Broadsheets and they pay less) newspapers are now in Write What You Like Season - some of the stories will be true, may have an element of truth or maybe what are known in the trade as Flyers in which 2 plus 2 equals 4 and therefore it must be true! A few may really be true.  And it''s very easy to write a story strongly suggesting it is true without any facts at your disposal at all - sometimes it comes true and you claim the credit and if it doesn''t then somebody changed their mind (and that''s a follow up story you see).

In football terms many of these stories - I''m tempted to say most of them - emanate from Agents who are themselves in Say What Talks Him Up Season because this is the time they make their money.  So they big up approaches in a constant round of phone calls (often placed by *friends*).

My own belief (and it''s a belief, not a fact) is that Mr Roeder is unlikely to have taken the job with you if he had not had at least some assurance about money available otherwise he will fall flat on his face and it won''t look good on his CV.  Trust me: when you''ve managed twice in the Premier League going down with a Championship side is not a promotion. 

It may well be, of course, that he misses some targets.  Ramage has been mentioned: may be a good player (I can''t say) but it''s a known fact that he wants Premiership wages and that rules out a good many Championship clubs not just yourselves.  Hoolahan''s agent is Irish but I''m Irish as well and I know how he works so the "interests" of various people are being played off one against another - try to remember than in all these transfers the agent is on a percentage plus his negotiating fee so all this feeding stuff goes on with relentless frenzy. 

It may also be that Mr Roeder is after targets that have not been mentioned.  He surely knows the measure of the task before him next season having only escaped by the skin of his teeth this season.

I wouldn''t worry too much about QPR at this stage because (as another poster has mentioned) Leicester City spent enough money to fill a small but stylish brick Norfolk outhouse and they''ll be Home and Away to Colchester and Scunthorpe next season.  My great-great- grandfather, who played for Leicester Fosse, the origin of the current club, might have words to say about that but he''s beyond fretting or as Shakespeare put it: "Fear no more the heat o''the sun, nor the dreaded thunderstone."

I can''t imagine Leicester''s current Manager envisaged his first pre-season friendly being away to Quorn (Unibond First Division South).  It saves on travelling time, however.

At the moment you are still in the Championship, there''s all to play for next year, Roeder is not an idiot (okay, that''s a guess), we are still in May and it''s months before the kick off.

For many, many seasons I have made it a rule not to be depressed until Christmas and I have always followed this.  If I am depressed, I want to be PROPERLY depressed.  Guessing depressed doesn''t do it nearly so well.

I recommend this course of action.  My answer to the original poster is that I have no idea who you can compete with but I doubt that you are going to find out in May.  To me, it is an exciting time of the year: I always think that Colchester (and Lincoln City) are going to get good players in and do well next season.

I hope that Norwich, Colchester and Lincoln City will do that and do well next season but mostly none of us know what the hell is going on even if we think (or post) that we do.  This also includes Sports Writers who are scrabbling to fill acres of space even as I post this with only a few match reports plus analysis plus columnist in sight.

Here''s a question for you: do you know that the nationals frequently employ two different reporters for the same match?

Let''s say it is Arsenal v Manchester United.  The South Edition will carry the London reporters version, the North edition that of the Manchester sports writer. 

If Mr Roeder is still a plonker by Christmas (okay, November if you''re really hard) that''s the time to  begin depression I think. 

Enjoy the nice weather.  I can''t wait to kick it off even if all ours are complete plonkers, which is entirely possible.

Errr...OTBC.  Who knows?

Brilliant post Camul, one of the best I''ve read in a long time. Absolutely agree with what you say which is why I rarely get involved in conversations and arguments of this sort at this time of year. My bet is Roeder is targeting players that have not even been mentioned yet, and that''s just the way I like it.

 

 

 

 

[/quote]

[Cottaging Canary 0]

[quote user="Greenwich Canary"][quote user="camuldonum"]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen or as your wonderful contributor Arrdee might say: You lovely old boys and girls:

You are all going to wear yourselves down and we are only halfway through May.  You must pace yourselves - you''ll be worn out before halftime and may have to be substituted.

All this happens every year on every board simply because, in my view, we haven''t got any games to talk about but let''s look on the bright side because if we don''t do that we will all be terminally depressed and may not see the start of the new season.

No one knows - and usually no one ever knows - what may be going on behind the scenes at your club or any club.  As a proud member of both The Gutter Press and The Broadsheets (and the difference between them is that you have write longer words for The Broadsheets and they pay less) newspapers are now in Write What You Like Season - some of the stories will be true, may have an element of truth or maybe what are known in the trade as Flyers in which 2 plus 2 equals 4 and therefore it must be true! A few may really be true.  And it''s very easy to write a story strongly suggesting it is true without any facts at your disposal at all - sometimes it comes true and you claim the credit and if it doesn''t then somebody changed their mind (and that''s a follow up story you see).

In football terms many of these stories - I''m tempted to say most of them - emanate from Agents who are themselves in Say What Talks Him Up Season because this is the time they make their money.  So they big up approaches in a constant round of phone calls (often placed by *friends*).

My own belief (and it''s a belief, not a fact) is that Mr Roeder is unlikely to have taken the job with you if he had not had at least some assurance about money available otherwise he will fall flat on his face and it won''t look good on his CV.  Trust me: when you''ve managed twice in the Premier League going down with a Championship side is not a promotion. 

It may well be, of course, that he misses some targets.  Ramage has been mentioned: may be a good player (I can''t say) but it''s a known fact that he wants Premiership wages and that rules out a good many Championship clubs not just yourselves.  Hoolahan''s agent is Irish but I''m Irish as well and I know how he works so the "interests" of various people are being played off one against another - try to remember than in all these transfers the agent is on a percentage plus his negotiating fee so all this feeding stuff goes on with relentless frenzy. 

It may also be that Mr Roeder is after targets that have not been mentioned.  He surely knows the measure of the task before him next season having only escaped by the skin of his teeth this season.

I wouldn''t worry too much about QPR at this stage because (as another poster has mentioned) Leicester City spent enough money to fill a small but stylish brick Norfolk outhouse and they''ll be Home and Away to Colchester and Scunthorpe next season.  My great-great- grandfather, who played for Leicester Fosse, the origin of the current club, might have words to say about that but he''s beyond fretting or as Shakespeare put it: "Fear no more the heat o''the sun, nor the dreaded thunderstone."

I can''t imagine Leicester''s current Manager envisaged his first pre-season friendly being away to Quorn (Unibond First Division South).  It saves on travelling time, however.

At the moment you are still in the Championship, there''s all to play for next year, Roeder is not an idiot (okay, that''s a guess), we are still in May and it''s months before the kick off.

For many, many seasons I have made it a rule not to be depressed until Christmas and I have always followed this.  If I am depressed, I want to be PROPERLY depressed.  Guessing depressed doesn''t do it nearly so well.

I recommend this course of action.  My answer to the original poster is that I have no idea who you can compete with but I doubt that you are going to find out in May.  To me, it is an exciting time of the year: I always think that Colchester (and Lincoln City) are going to get good players in and do well next season.

I hope that Norwich, Colchester and Lincoln City will do that and do well next season but mostly none of us know what the hell is going on even if we think (or post) that we do.  This also includes Sports Writers who are scrabbling to fill acres of space even as I post this with only a few match reports plus analysis plus columnist in sight.

Here''s a question for you: do you know that the nationals frequently employ two different reporters for the same match?

Let''s say it is Arsenal v Manchester United.  The South Edition will carry the London reporters version, the North edition that of the Manchester sports writer. 

If Mr Roeder is still a plonker by Christmas (okay, November if you''re really hard) that''s the time to  begin depression I think. 

Enjoy the nice weather.  I can''t wait to kick it off even if all ours are complete plonkers, which is entirely possible.

Errr...OTBC.  Who knows?

Brilliant post Camul, one of the best I''ve read in a long time. Absolutely agree with what you say which is why I rarely get involved in conversations and arguments of this sort at this time of year. My bet is Roeder is targeting players that have not even been mentioned yet, and that''s just the way I like it.

 

 

 

 

[/quote][/quote]

Sorry, dunno what happened there so I''ll just spread this thread out some more - Brilliant post Camul, one of the best I''ve read in a long time. Absolutely agree with what you say which is why I rarely get involved in conversations and arguments of this sort at this time of year. My bet is Roeder is targeting players that have not even been mentioned yet, and that''s just the way I like it.