Four or Five can't cut the mustard!.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

Wiz

We need to strike a balance with our spending. I would LOVE us to have spent as much as West Brom. We would have a better chance of survival I''m sure. But we CAN''T!! We don''t have the money. I''d rather be safe in the knowledge that if we do travel to Crewe next year, we''ll still have some of the the Premiership quality players we have now. Or would you rather we did a Bradford? Gamble everything and lose! Ok Birmingham gambled and won, you might say. However, I''m not prepared to take that risk and the club obviously isn''t either. I''m sure you, like me is desperate for success. But we can''t expect that success in one season. Considering where we were in the post Chase years we have come an astronomical way since then! If we have to take one step back to take two forward I''ll accept that. Thats what West Brom have done, it''s what Bolton did and it''s what our supposed model club Charlton did.

Keep the faith

[mr carra 0]

1st Wiz:

The reason we spent 9 years in teh wilderness is that we were broke and couldn''t buy decent players. Now you''re trying to send us down that path again. The finincial gulf between Prem & Div 1 (as was) is so huge now it cannot be bridged in one go. Charlton (oyr role model) got relegated their first time up while sorting out their debts and only established themselves after getting promotion again. Thats what WBA are doing now - they have money to spend only because they didn''t spend money they didn''t have last time up. We have to have patience - if we keep in financial good shape we may stay up and even if we don''t we should soon get back up again. If we "go for broke" and don''t make it (still a probability even if we do, frankly) we are stuffed for years and years. And your comments on how much we''ve spent are stupid - you are just living in the past if you judge that purely on transfer fees. In the modern game transfer fees are a very small part of what teams spend - it goes on salaries, bonuses etc and I bet we''ve paid plenty of them. i player on £20k per week costs you over £1m per year even if you get him for free.

[bananaman 0]

Ok - let''s use WBA as our specimen in this experiment.

We''ll see how they get on, now they''ve thrown millions of pounds in fees and wages at every player with a "name" in and around the country.

If they stay up comfortably, the spend-thrifts get to say "I told you so".

If they go down, the naysayers win, and let there be no more talk about spending!!!

You must remember regarding B''ham, that Steve Bruce is a very talented manager. Look at what he was doing with his other clubs, so the people he bought were excellent players. I fear that WBA are going down the Leeds/Man City route of reputation players.

We''ll see.

[mr carra 0]

agree with all of that Bananaman, except I don''t see why WBA have to survive "comfortably". If they survive by goal difference on the last day they''ve got their money back.

[bananaman 0]

Ok, staying up is the projected goal then. But to be honest, for the amount of cash they are throwing around, I would expect (and hope) to survive comfortably.

[Al Yellow 0]

Wizard chuckled the first time your light hearted slant on magic was used in your post but there comes a time when fresh material is required. To be honest if this gibberish is the best you can come up with then please go back to playing with your hex''s, magic wand and familiar.

Four games in we''ve played 3 of last years top 5, including games away at the supposed fortresses of Old Trafford and St James''s, in all but one of those games we''ve had a realistic chance of taking at least a share of the points, if not all three, going into injury time. We''ve scored in every game. This is a massive step. Be assured it''s not going to be easy but there are some poor teams in this league and this group of players will pick up results against them.

We have a squad with a experience and talent and there is genuine competition for places. Changes have already been made and players have come in and done a great job, Edworthy for one. People like McVeigh may not start every week but during this sesaon we will need to mix it up, make changes and injuries will happen. I would love a deadeye marksman to fire in 20 goals but if we don''t have the cash we just get on with it and we get behind the whole squad. These boys got us up last year and deserve a chance in a Premiership SQUAD. If you want to see a completely different first team each season take yourself down to west London. Your desire to drop the Celtic fringe worries me, are you a phoney druid?

Blind faith is not something I''ve signed up for but realism is. I''m sure as a keen student of history you will have noted that spending money does not guarantee sucess. As ugly as it sounds the books need to balance, plenty of clubs (Bradford, Shef Wed and the like) have taken a spin on the Premiership roulette wheel and disappeared into the lower leagues.

[mr carra 0]

if only that were true. They''e only spending the sort of cash all other "established" clubs have spent already. Money spent should on;y "guarantee" survival if other teams aren''t spending it. But apart from us and Palace they either are spending it or (like Everton) have done so in the past. Lets face it, if everybody spent £50m three teams would still go down. That''s why this season we are fighting mainly against the laws of economics as much as anything else. The odds are probably going to be against us even if we spend another £3-4m

[Tumbleweed 106]

Well said Mr Carra. At the moment seems to me we either spend no more or we spend £10million. Anything in between will be nibbling round the edges and may not be any better than what we have already.

[bananaman 0]

Hey - Al''Yellow, leave the Wizard alone.

I''m sure he doesn''t care what you think, but all the same I feel that I should speak up. The way he constructs his posts, or how he uses his humour has nothing to do with you.

And moreover, lots of people enjoy the Wizards contribution to NCFC (both magical, and in his outbursts!) so by slating him, you are slating us also. Let''s keep it clean gents, and put the gloves back on...

[First Wizard 0]

Pearls of wisdom from bananaman, many thanks for you generous support my friend. Are you ''gifted'' in anyway?. Of course you''re quite right, I don''t really give a flying **** about Al''Yellow''s thoughts of me or my posts.

But I must say this to him, Nigel is a great manager, and it could just happen that he is starting to get fed up being ''confined'' to begging cash for players. And if the club are not careful, he could just take his undoubted talents eleswhere where budgets are not the sole issue.

We desperately need a new striker. If the board will not/cannot find the money, January may be far too late.

What if Hucks, God forbid, gets injured?.

And promotion from the division one/championship is only going to get even harder next time round.

The choice as they say board members, is yours.

[mr carra 0]

where would he go? Money is tight everywhere these days. Those few teams prepared to spend stupid money they don''t have generally have publicity-hungry chairmen who invariably want flash, high-profile names to bolster their egos. Dour types like Nigel won''t be high on the shopping list of such types. Worthy has never been seriously linked with anyone else since he''s been here (except maybe Sheff Wed - oooh, loads of money!!!)

[Jon 0]

1st Wiz, do you seriously think Nigel will pack up everything he has built here over the last 3 years just because he isn''t given £x for one player, who may not even make any difference? It simply isn''t going to happen and even if it did where on earth would he go, Southampton (internal strife), Newcastle (internal/external strife), he''d be a fool to jack it all in, and he won''t. I''m afraid Wiz some of your comments on this thread have surprised a few people, myself included, and I think you need to look at where we are now, not where you obviously want(expect?) us to be. We are 4 games into our first premiership season for 9 years and already people are slagging off players and demanding changes, not really what''s needed at this stage I''m afraid. Lets enjoy this season and whatever it may bring without moaning and groaning because we haven''t signed some championship striker! We have achieved so much in three years and will continue to do so this year, and IF we go down we have the resources both playing and financial to seriously mount a challenge and return stronger.

[Scotty 0]

1st Wiz - please ignore Al''yellow and don''t let him get your magic balls all in a twist. Your ''gift'' is fully appreciated amongst the majority of forum users here - though we might sometimes doubt your wisdom, we find comfort in it nevertheless. Keep rubbing those balls and swinging that wand. As per my previous post I am not in entire agreement with your views ''who has to go'' but do believe there is ''no place for sentiment'' and am disappointed we have signed no one else as of yet. I will though ''keep the faith'' (love the phrase, just love it!). Hope NW keeps it with the Norwich board too though, as I do think with so much managerial uncertainty going on amongst other clubs, he will be an attractive proposition.

[Al Yellow 0]

I''m more than happy for the Wizard to go back to his hocus pocus, as I''ve said, because the degree of pessimism he is peddling on this particular thread worries me. My message is that we''ve played three of the top five, two of which have been away from the fortress. Performances from players, new and old, have been positive. A few have struggled a bit but we need them, at least in the squad. Coming on here claiming we should have sold people like McVeigh and gambled on spending beyond our means seems, well certainly to me, very odd. Too often fans complain about the players not showing loyalty to clubs, well perhaps the example of showing the guys who got us up that they have a chance to prove themselves in the Premiership is the way forward.

On the board I know many of the high volume posters are treated with veneration. I think the wiz knows my comments regarding his style were tongue in cheek and I hope his reference to people disagreeing with him as being fools was similar. Perhaps the magic man and I were both feeling a wee bit mischievous yesterday. Wizard will you join me in getting behind the whole squad until the window reopens?

[First Wizard 0]

Only too pleased to agree with you Al''Yellow, I was very ''cranky'' yesterday, even worse today with no new signing I''m afraid!.

I fear we will become the laughing stock of the Prem, but of course I will get behind the whole squad 100%. Its the board I''m having trouble with now.