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Stevie Wonder

Thoughts on the signings so far? Who else will be joining?

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As of now we have brought in 5 players; Clingan, Hoolahan, Bertrand, Owusumi & Stefanovic. 2 on loan, 1 freebie and a couple likely to have cost around the £250K mark each.

Personally, I am quite pleased with this so far. All 5 seem to have a bit of quality about them and have been generally well liked by the fans at previous clubs (unlike the Browns, Hughes & Jarretts of recent years). Clingan & Hoolahan both appear to be "passing" players something we desperately need as apart from Fozzie (occasionally) we lack players with the ability to pick a pass and unlock defences. Hoolahan in particular appears to have  atouch of magic about him and lets hope he lives up to the hype. As Roeder has said the young loanee full backs are both highly rated and I for one am glad that they will be plying their trade here next season (assuming Bertrand stays after Jan) - we have excellent competition for both full back positions. Finally, Stefanovic brings some much needed experience to the back four and also seems to be the "leader" we have been missing (I think he captained Portsmouth for a spell). Clearly, at 33 his best days are behind him but you would imagine he will do a decent job for us over the next couple of years. In my view, therefore, we have quality over quantity so far.

Turning to the signings still to come, well who knows? We all seem sure that Bell is arriving but that saga is running on even longer than Hoolahan! Having said that Roeder has said that some of the deals have been knocking around for 8 weeks and this would appear to relate to Bell. Then we have Gow who it has been confirmed has been to the club for a look around and talks - not sure if this one is happening though (equally no sign of him going elsewhere though!). Another one where there has been persistent rumours is Gorkks - could he be one of the "8 week" transfers? Do we need another centre back (the injuries to our 3 centre backs on tour would appear to indicate yes!!)? If he signs does this mean that Shackell is on his way - if we can get Gorkks for whatever his buyout clause is (£250K?) and sell Shackell for £1M it would be good business. A further 2 players linked throughout the summer have been Rigers and Amoebi both of whom would be excellent additions to our squad. The rumours with these players will just not go away and again both fall into the "8 week" transfer comments of Roeder. Rigters at £450K would be good business and would add some desperately needed pace to our front line. One suspects Amoebi may be out of our price bracket at the moment and if he is to join it is likely to be towards the end of the window either on loan or for a knock down price. Rasiak is another who has been persistently linked and understably so in view of our reported interest in the January window. Without a doubt we also need a target man option and he fits the bill. The potential joker in the pack could be Lupoli who would be an exciting signing but it is difficult to see where he will fit into the team unless Roeder is looking at a 4-3-3 system with Lupoli and Hoolahan given free roles behind an out and out striker. Certainly Lupoli''s goal record does not indicate that he will be the answer to our goal scoring problems. We have also been linked with the likes of Carroll and Stokes both of whom are promising young strikers but for me there are issues with both - Stokes has struggled to score goals at Sunderland and Carroll is currently injured and again didn''t set the championship on fire during his spell at Preston last season. I think we can rule Evans out for now - if we are Top 6 at Xmas then they may be a chance of getting him in during January. Then we have another of last years loanee''s Kieran Gibbs where again there are seemingly strong rumours regarding his return - for me this is a strange one as he was rather disappointing last season and if Bell is signing, then I can''t see Gibbs getting a game for the reserves let alone the first team unless the likes of Lappin, Russell and Croft move on? Finally, we have the various trialists - it would seem that the first 2 (the french and Swiss defender) have been crossed off the list which leaves us with Nelson and Makiese and who knows with these 2 as they are largely unknown quantities.

Roeder has said 4 more players may be in over the next week and then his squad will be taking shape. This to me indicates that we may be able to expect further signings beyond this 4. I also do not think that the current trialists are amongst the 4. I would like the 4 in this week to be Bell, Gorkks, Rigters and Amoebi. I suspect they may be Bell, Lupoli, Rigters and Gow. We may well take on one or both of the trialists and probably get Gibbs in on loan with Lappin and Croft departing.

Any thoughts?

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Well thought out... its been quiet on the Gow front recently, no new news stories or anything so it looks like that one may have fizzled out, Ameobi may well be an ongoing thing and run right up until the end of the window. Rumours anout Rigters have been few but he certainly seems to be a quality player and although he played about 15 minutes for us Glenn seems to like him, and if there was a 450k agreement awesome, although Ince probably wants to have a look at him which may explain lack of activity on that front.Bells an interesting one... why hasn''t it gone through if Sky are so sure he''s signed, i don''t see why they''d wait for Glenn to return from Sweden as unlike Grant he hasn''t been overly concerned with press conferences and such like... soo... time will tell on that one.And Lupoli... Glenn denied making a move but why would Fiorentina say we''d bid if we hadn''t... its strange but again time will tell. The signings we have made though seem ok, i''m slightly concerned about Stefanovic as Fulham fans don''t seem to rate him but he could be good as most of Glenns signings have been.

time will tell.

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Pleasant reading Stevie, well constructed.  It''s going to be a very interesting week that''s for sure. I still have a funny feeling that someone has set some cash aside for a last minute raid on Ameobi, where some sort of deal has already been struck, whether with NUFC or his agent I don''t know but it all seems a little strange.  I can''t help thinking that he would have gone somewhere else by now if he didn''t want to come here and play for GR.  Maybe they think that whatever is left when GR''s done his wheeling and dealing will pay his wages??  Only time will tell.  OK, Bell. Not too sure why now as we seem to have plenty of midfielders with Chadders and Crofty who can play wide right, which seems to be his preferred position, unless of course, as you''ve hinted, someone is moving out?  As for Gow, no thanks.  Smacks of a bargain basement squad player, a la Granty regime, who we could probably do without.  Up front I definitely don''t want to see Howard, if rumours are true. As some have said, big lump.  Would much rather see Rasiak who has a lot of attributes.  I think the Rigters trail has gone cold now too but maybe the French lad could do a similar job, so maybe Rasiak and the youngster plus Ameobi if we could still get him.  As for defence, I don''t think we''ll get Gorkks.  He''s QPR bound for the money and if Blackpools chairman refuses to sell him to them it''ll probably go to a tribuneral, not letting him earn etc etc, so we need one more from somewhere for the centre.  The full backs are looking good on both sides now.

So, one more CB please and 2 good strikers plus the French lad. Everything does seem to be coming together and I, like you, am happy with the progress (players bought) so far.  I''m looking forward to Monday night now, but roll on Coventry.

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Stevie Wonder, what an interesting and inciteful thread. Good work.Personally I would love to see Rigters, Rasiak and Lupoli as the strikers brought in with Gorkss as the other defender. Then I really would be excited about the coming season.This pre season has been strange with regards to the unusually high number of rumours which simply won''t go away - not to mention the fact of players we are linked with, failing to sign up for other clubs. Gow, Ameobi, Rigters, Rasiak, Gorkss, Bell, Carroll we have been linked with these players practically all summer, I wonder how many of them we have actually tried to sign?!

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The strange thing is we have been linked with Bell, Gow, Rasiak, Rigters, Gorkks and Amoebi for most of the summer and none of them have moved on elswhere - with the exception of Rigters I think they have all been linked with other teams but nothing has happened! I agree that of these Gow is probably the least exciting bit I would be very happy with any 3 from the list above.

We clearly need 2 strikers at the very least, a keeper and another centre half. I personally wouldn''t rule out any departures yet either. To be honest if we are getting offers in the region of £1M for Shackell, Croft or Russell then I would be very tempted to say yes if we have replacements lined up.

Lets hope we finally get some more definite news tomorrow with a couple of signings.

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great post stevie even if it''s a little too long to read [;)]

i''m more than happy with the signings Glen has made so far

Stefanovic - isn''t up to the pace of Premiership football as his time at Fulham showed but i''m confident he is the dominant centre back we''ve been lacking since Malky left in 2004, he is a leader also.

Bertrand -  we got a taste of him last season where he improved with every game, the kid is going right to the top in my opinion, not only does he have great skill and pace to burn but also he works very hard, the defensive side of his game is good and he isnt afraid to tackle

Omozusi - not seen a great deal of him, but did see him start at Old Trafford in the premiership last season against Ronaldo et al, he looked confident and not out of place amongst some big stars, Roeder and Hodgson both seem to rate him very highly and i''ve been on a Fulham forum and they rave about him, most beleive the loan is great for his development and will enable him to become a regular for them next season, the others are even upset he has been allowed out for the season and wish he was there in their 1st team.

Clingan - seen a few Forest games this season and can back up what many others have said, he is a no thrills player who breaks up play and then uses the ball sensibly, should allow the likes of Hoolahan, Croft and Rusty to break forward

Hoolahan - the signing that has excited city fans most, i believe a few are expecting a bit too much from him, a very talented player who is always a threat to opposition with his quick feet and ability to unlock defences but he is lightweight and can go missing in games like a lot of flair players similar to him. Has a lot of confidence and will chip in with a few goals as well as assists

 

 

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these signings will count for little however if we dont get in a couple of strikers, no use having a solid defence and midfield as well as people like Hoolahan creating chances if we don''t have anybody to put the chances away

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[quote user="ncfc_chris"]

these signings will count for little however if we dont get in a couple of strikers, no use having a solid defence and midfield as well as people like Hoolahan creating chances if we don''t have anybody to put the chances away

[/quote]

Well Lupoli has sgned now. Beginning to look like we might go with more of a 4-3-3 next season.

Still need a back up keeper and a couple of strikers as a bare minimum before the season starts.

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As far as I''m concerned, Roeder is certainly starting to deliver what he had promised.  Those who doubted a) that he had the ''clout'' to sign anyone and/or of that the side would not look any different to last season, and/or that we were pretty-much going with what we had (I''m sure some seriously thought this was likely), were as far wide of the mark as they could be.  Yes, we have had to have patience, but that is the case with all things in life.

So far, imo every player we have signed seems to be good enough to be in the first team as of right, rather than any being makeweights as they can sometimes be.  I hadn''t heard of Omozusi before, but asked my mate who is a actually stretcher-bearer at Craven Cottage, and he had no idea why they were letting him come to us, saying he is a fantastic prospect and the best young player they have and was man of the match something like 3 times in the c9 games he played last season.

Of course the work is far from done - we need more firepower and a better defence, but a very good start has been made.  And Lupoli is a very good continuation of that work.  Yes he hasn''t exactly fired them in for Fiorentina (he hasn''t even played), but they are an Italian giant who have qualified for the Champions League and refuse to let him leave permanently.  That says something in itself.  It is not as if he hasn''t been able to get into an also-ran League 1/Championship side, is it?!  We need to give him a chance, but he has clearly been extremely well schooled so we will wait and see.

With regard to next season, again we obviously have to wait and see how these players can gel into a team - but so far it does seem that all the new players are decent quality and you would hope there is every chance that they can deliver at least a top half finish.  The major concern was that we did a Leicester - getting in a dozen or more players in a side that can''t deliver results - but so far Roeder does seem to be far and away a much better bet for such a task than Martin Allen was for them. 

If we can deliver a few more decent signings, I for one will be looking forward to the new season with a certain amount of optimism which has been missing for several years.

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If we get a quality striker who can get 20 goals at this level, one more centre back to give competition (could be a young loanee) and Bell then I will be very happy.

I think that Roeder will spend a couple of million on someone who he feels is a forward who can give us that all important edge. He is biding his time to make sure he gets who he wants at the best price possible.

In the middle of last season he said that he believed that the way to get promoted was to have a solid team with a great striker. I would bet that he is going to test this theory  by signing Ameobi.

 

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Blackpool fan here. Can I just re-assure you that you don''t have another Mark Rivers on your hands. Hoolahan is a very gifted player and he has a great football brain too, and an excellent attitude.

His abilty to read the game and keep the side ticking are his main assets. If you are anticipating surging runs into the box, great crosses and spectacular goals, you will be disappointed. He only scored one goal that wasn''t a penalty last season. He is neither powerful nor quick. He is also ridiculously one footed. However, he will blind you with skill at times. Quite a few Pool fans reckon we won''t miss him. I really disagree. He may divide your fans though. I think a lot of English fans only see the ''big'' stuff. Powerful runs, shots, big tackles etc.

Hoolahan is a player who controls possession and moves the ball intelligently. A rare footballer. I hope you enjoy him, cos I''m gutted we lost him. £250k? Jesus.

 

Good luck for the season. With Hoolahan and Lupoli, things look good. We''ve got Ben Burgess and Jermaine Wright to look forward to! This Adam Hammill we''ve loaned from liverpool sounds exciting though. Watch out for him in August. Maybe he will upstage Wes.Surprise [:O]Crying [:''(]

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Gow is gone - forget himBoard are doing an amazing job and some of the names still being banded about are amazing.Trouble is we are again light on size. this league needs a Damien Francis type physique and we''re slowly sinking back towards Grant like players who will simply get bullied of the ball. Not quite Worthingtons McV / Notman syndrome thankfully but close.We need athletes, not just footballers

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i wud like to see darius henderson, hes tall and a good target man, and also weighs in with a fair amount of goals, although watford wudnt let him go cheaply

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[quote user="haynes hater"]i wud like to see darius henderson, hes tall and a good target man, and also weighs in with a fair amount of goals, although watford wudnt let him go cheaply[/quote]He''s also just signed for Sheff Utd which might be a problem. £2m!

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If I suppported another championship team and I saw Norwich City signing Lupoli, Hoolahoop, Bertrand and Osmosis I''d be quite jealous, frankly. So from that perspective they''re pleasing signings.Of course from a city fan''s point of view it also brings a smile to my face to see the team that plays in blue from down the road paying half a mil for our rejects. Chuckle chuckle! Satisfied so far.

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October last year i was a very worried Norwich supporter. What Glenn has done since he has been here has exceeded my expectations. He first had the very tough job of keeping us up.  Then gets rid of the shit from the club and brings in some quality players (We are looking a good side now ). Even the dirty scum are more concerned about our signings than their own. Some people in the football world might not rate Roeder but i know 1 thing, If the board can back this management team to the max then the premiership is just around the corner.

Kick off, throw it in, have a little scrimmige..........................................

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Don''t know why everyone is suprised - Glenn hasn''t signed a bad player yet - every single one has most been quality and has improved the squad. None have been overpriced.

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Yeh unfortunately this division is more about physique (see Watford/Stoke) rather than watchable football, maybe Roeder is looking for quality over mass, which should produce more exciting, but at times frustrating, football.

 

On the names front, i dont know a lot about Bell and Gow, but their names have been in the mixer for ages, and i wouldnt be suprised if they have been put on the back burner for the moment. Ameobi imo is out of our price range, and what about this news of Windass possibly leaving Hull for a small fee, could be worth a shot.

Would like to see Rigters but he too hasnt got a great goalscoring record. We dont particularly need a big lad up front, just a strong, McKenzie type lad who also has some speed (think Andy Johnson, if you must).

At the back, well we have enough quality full backs to be content, just one more CB needed, and we should be sorted. Would like to see Gorkss arrive, would be a good coup, he can also score a few.

 

All in all, IMO we should be happy if Roeder can bring in another CF and a CB, and then a couple of fringe players to keep the team pressured.

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We defs need someone more like the yak than johnno if ur talking everton. Ru=igters would be good, but isn''t a proven scorer. I suppose Rasiak would be the best bet there. I''d take a gamble on Ameobi, he could turn out amazing!

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