alex field 0 Posted November 28, 2003 We couldn''t afford connelly, shipperley, hulse, taylor etc, these players were all half the reported askin price for hux. We don''t have any money for a big transfer, but as i said in an earlier post we must have some cash available if our squad is half the size of coventry, milwall, derby etc etc. Crouch is a possibility for loan, but with villa in the bottom 3, they''ll probly call him back.Fingers crossed worthy has some more tricks up his sleeve!!Our squad needs to be increased to keep our position ASAP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moules 0 Posted November 28, 2003 Dont know how anyone else feels but I am feeling really negative today about City''s situation Marlon King is Making his debut for new club as is Marlon Harwood its seems all the exitement we felt when the loanness arrived is now ebbing away, because as usual are not building on what we have acheived I am not surprised the players may feel a bit de- motivated they must feel their talents are not worth building on .even Ipswich have secured there man. NW was on the radio today saying next week I will give David O'' Leary a ring sometime in the week there seems no urgency. I still belieive Hucks was ours for the taking but I expect we were as unenthuiasticeabout sorting that out as NW seems to be about Crouch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bomber 42 Posted November 28, 2003 As I also said in an earlier posting looking at some of the results from other games recently this league is there for the taking and anyone with a bit of nonce about them could get promotion. Lets just hope the board have the required drive and ambition to realise this dream because quite honestly with a bit of class in the team as has been shown recently we could walk this league with a month to spare (beware Ipswich though who now seem to be getting it together). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xx 0 Posted November 28, 2003 It wasn''t that we couldn''t afford connelly, shipperley, hulse, taylor etc it was just that none of them wanted to come. That won''t be the problem this time tho: It WILL be that we can''t afford Hucks. I reckon if we could he''d come. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Smudge 0 Posted November 28, 2003 Exactly right Alex, I can''t believe people still think we are in with a chance of signing Huckerby it just is not going to happen. As for Crouch, refer back to O''Leary''s comments when he came here "Its a three month Loan nothing more, he needs to build confidence", thats exactly what he''s done. Don''t be surprised if he is recalled. What does that leave us with in strike options Mc Veigh, Jarvis (to young), Henderson (to young), Roberts (Ok for 20mins) & Rivers (currently out) - Worthy''s going to have to pull another rabbit out of that hat and quick...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 0 Posted November 28, 2003 I think that "We couldn''t afford connelly, shipperley, hulse, taylor etc," is far from true. Connelly and Hulse chose elsewhere without even considering NCFC we had our bid for Hulse accepted and had Connelly not chosen to sign for the Hammers then it is likely our bid would have been accepted by Wimbledon too. It wasnt down to the club not being able to afford them, it was more to do with the club not being given the chance to sign them.I believe that we didnt put in a bid for Shipperley or Taylor. Shipperley may have been good because we need another permanent arial threat up front, but I think at the time the club had been concentrating on getting Connelly. Then there is Taylor, I believe we didnt put in a bid for him. Why? Because he spent most of last season injured and at 35 is that the sort of player you want to sign. I havent heard anything special about him since so I think that one was well left especially seeing that we signed Francis instead. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gazzathegreat 0 Posted November 28, 2003 in reply to everyone, whether they are pro signing hucks, crouch, or whoeveri think we all agree we have to do somethingWhen is the board going to wake up to the fact we have to spend to get out of this division, are they expecting some sort of medal for having a ''nice'' family club and as for the new stand - that will look SO good half empty next season when we are still here because they all hesitated and didn''t do anythingfor god''s sake, huckerby WANTS to stay here, he doesn''t want to go to wigan, w brom, sheff utd, etc etc, all these clubs would love him, despite a lot of fans here and elsewhere suddenly deciding he is just an average player. Compared to beckham and owen, yes he might be, but he is decidely above average in this division.How do the board explain that we are currently in second place, and that with a dip in form for the past 3 games, we could have been top by now!!! This is not all due to hucks, i am not saying that, but a large part of it is. Why can''t the board see this?Do they want to see the likes of ipswich take out place, they were in admin recently, but manage to buy one of their loan players, he may have not commanded the fees of a huckerby, but at least they are doing somethingmeanwhile munby sits silent, and treats us all like mushrooms. As for Crouch, who knows, it is all as clear as mud, why don''t we do something a bit more positive, offer him a full season loan, talk to O''Leary, sort out Harper too, and as for Hucksjust buy him!!! He wants to stay, he is not going to cost millions and command 20 grand a week, come on, he isn''t stupid, if he wanted that money he would still be in man city reserves, he wants to kick start his career, and do it here. Wake up board, before clubs wanting promotion do something about it, leaving you to drool over empty, shiny, new seatssorry for the rant guys, i am just so incredibly frustrated with the lack of action!!! Rant over.Maybe i should go on the 606 rant line!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mook 0 Posted November 29, 2003 People are waiting for our board to fail. People know our club don''t have a good chance of making these signings (even if we were Southampton or the like we still wouldn''t have the cash) but they''re waiting for the board to fail so they can shout on about ambition etc, wave their placards and moan about the glory days, of which there have been barely any.It''s soooo predictable.But to all those people that are CERTAIN we will "walk this league" - how come we''re not winning at the moment??? WITH HUCKERBY AND CROUCH?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gazzathegreat 0 Posted November 29, 2003 well we did today 1-0 hucksand if they had never been here, what position in the division would we be in today, second?no chanceof course southampton could afford hucks and crouch. But we want to be a southampton, don''t we, so we have to bite the bullet and take a chance, for once in our lives we have to take a chance we haven''t had glory days for a while, and i think it is not too difficult to see whylast time, take a chance on a couple of players to stengthen mike walkers squad - no way, chase had built too many stands!next time, martin o''neill, where would we be now if he had stayed? It is painful even to contemplate how we threw that one away.and now, our best chance for years, we (and i mean the board here) stutter for three months over buying our two loan stars, huckerby and crouch. Oh yeah, i''ll be protesting alright, you watch me!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rainbow 0 Posted November 29, 2003 so mate where were you today then! we win, played great, their keeper made outstanding saves and guess what.....the best player we have scored an absolute beauty of a goal.we are only one point off the top thanks to hucks & crouch. as for glory days i was lucky enough to see us beat the following: sunderland milk cup. bayern munich. arsenal 2-3 at highbury. and what about beating man utd at old trafford plus liverpool at anfield in the same season!dam i forgot you have to be in the premiership to expierience glory daysDARREN HUCKERBY IS THE PASSPORT TO THE PREMIERSHIP! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plastic Scouser 0 Posted November 30, 2003 Oh dear, here I am sitting at work bored, doing a bit of surfing, thought I''d read the latest postings on the site and there you go depressing me in a HUGE fashion - Wembley, Munich, Anfield, Highbury...oh what days they were, got me all misty eyed you did - thanks so much!Why oh why is this club not prepared to speculate to accumulate - you never get anywhere without taking the odd risk - and at the end of it all, the amount of Sky money that we would get from the premiership will far outweigh the amount that we would have to shell out for Huckerby, Crouch & Harper.Sorry - got to go away and feel miserable for the rest of my working day - thanks rainbowchaser! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rainbow 0 Posted November 30, 2003 sorry to depress you mate! i am not normally so retrospective but unless our beloved board of directors gets the wake up call and realise that we have to spend what in football terms is a relatively small amount of money then we are all doomed to the mediocrity of nationwide football. i yearn for opportunity to watch us play at highbury, old traf, stam bridge. etc.if we keep huckerby and crouch then thats exactally what we will be doing next season!if we don''t then the only thing i will be yearning for is prozac! HUCKERBY 1-0 CREWE Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Barclay Boy 0 Posted November 30, 2003 Why are you all being so defeatist and negative? Why are so many people slagging off the board right now? Does anyone know what the board is doing at this moment in time, except the board? Do you seriously think the board would conduct business in public? How do you know the board has stuttered for three months? You all know more than I do! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gazzathegreat 0 Posted November 30, 2003 well what have they done, you tell me?if they pull these deals off, i will be the first to say thank you, and i will, be here to see itbut all they have said in public is the usual predictable money related stuff, we haven''t got the money, can''t risk the clubwe have heard it all before, we have been here too long, this season we have the means to get out of this division, if we stay here much longer we will be left without any decent players, how long do you think green will stay after this season if we fail to make the play offs, what about mcv, mulryne, and worthy?that lovely new stand is going to look great, half full - you can call me everything under the sun, and most of you have, i don''t care, all i care about is getting this club back up where we all want it to bei repeat, if they are doing or have done the deals, well great, if not, then the consequences at the end of this season could be dire. We cannot run at 4m losses forever. We don''t need tojust buy hucks and crouch, a new stand don''t win promotion, nor does a fancy restaurant, the board has more than stabilised this club, now it is time to go for itit''s now or never (with apologies to elvis!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Barclay Boy 0 Posted November 30, 2003 I can''t tell you what they have done because I don''t know. And neither do you. Let''s wait and see what the outcome is. Yes, we''re all craving Premiership football; yes, we''ve been out of the Premiership for far too long; and yes, we''re desperate to get back. But at the moment all we can do is wait and see what happens. Can there be any person in Norfolk who loves the club who doesn''t know what the fans want?And as far as the ''fancy restaurant'' is concerned: it does help us win promotion. Income from NCFC catering operations is a crucial part of bringing much needed finance into the club, just as are Golden Goal tickets, the Club Shop, the share issue and all the other money-spinning ventures. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
silver fox 0 Posted November 30, 2003 Whether the board are able to come up with the money or not to sign Hucks and Crouch, will not change the fact that the majority of supporters will still come and watch their beloved canaries. You have to leave the decisions to the board and hope that they are in a position to bring the players we need to this club. I am sure even if they don''t read this message board that they are aware of the impact the loan players have made since they arrived, and will be doing their utmost to find the money.Whichever division we are in next season I will still be coming to Carrow Road to watch my team. Even if we don''t get the loan players I have enjoyed watching Henderson, Jarvis, Shackell, Sinclair and many others coming through the academy. Have faith in the board and I''m sure we will be rewarded with some good news on the transfer front next week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carrow89 0 Posted December 1, 2003 Can understand the frustration but it does seem to be clouding the judgement here. Worthington and the board have always kept their cards close to their chest. Tell me anyone who had advance knowledge of the three loan signings. Any paper talk is that, paper talk. Of course there is going to be a lot of bluff, denials and trailed stories.Who knew we were attempting to pinch Kuqi off our impoverished neighbours. Bear in mind their position is much different to ours. They are still staring oblivion in the face. Theirs really is a case of sit or bust, Ours not so.Of course we are in a strong position. Go back to the start of the season and look ahead to the last game of November. No Abbey No Brennan, No more Notman and having struggled to pick up 2 points out of the previous 3 games. Dumped out of the League cup again by lowly opposition you would not have us 2nd five points ahead of the chasing pack by that evening.Do you seriously think both Worthington and the board aren''t aware of the league position and the possibilities that offers ? Do you also think that constant refering to ourselves as ''three loan wonders'' helps the morale rest of the squad. Do you also think that putting that air of desperation into the equation is a good negoitiating tool. ?If there is money available to buy/pay the wages of any or all of the three loanees a few things have to be considered.Is this the best use of the money player wise. Would a possibly injured Huckeby in Feb be much use eating up all the available resources. How many others and at what quality could we get for the money. What will be the effect on the others and future wage negotiations if one or two are signed at far higher wages.At the moment Huckerby and Crouch are on Premiership wages. We are footing some or all of that. It would need us, Man City or a combination of the both to pay up Huckerby''s present contract. We would then need to offer him a further contract - this will be based on whether he is still in the Nationwide or Premier each season. Not sure how long he has left with Man City but it will take about £600m to buy off his contract till June 2004 and £1m thereon in. Assuming then that Man City are more concerned with getting him off the books. Do we have enough for a ''golden handshake'' they way Wigan might have. Given what the board has done so far it may be time to back them and recognize that when they signed the three loanees they must have weighed up all the pros and cons and would have planned for almost all eventualities otherwise £400k odd would have been a bit of a silly investment simply to secure avoiding relegation by Xmas.So perhaps a little less moaning at the board, a little less challenging each other over our passion for City and a bit more noise at Carrow Rd - otherwise we''ll begin to sound like the habitual whingeing bunch of part timers from suffolk who are never more happy than when they are having a moan.And that would never do ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
irishcanary 0 Posted December 1, 2003 I agree Norwich will always have a good following, but can i remind you that before cardiff we had gates around 16000. If Green, Drury, Mcveigh, Mulrynne and Jarvis all move on in search of premiership football, possibly at the end of contracts, then we will be left with a nice new stand and a ground only two thirds full. I have been a season ticket holder for all my adult life and i can honestly say if the board does not match my ambition, then next season despite what i might feel in my heart i will not renew my ticket. I feel if we sign Huckerby and Crouch then even if we fail to get into the Premiership then the club would have atleast tried and i can ask for no more. Plus Sign them both and filling the new stand wont be a problem Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swindon NCFC 0 Posted December 1, 2003 The decision on these players could make or break our season. This is arguably our best chance of going up in many a year. And it''s not just the loan players having an effect. McVeigh is definitely playing his best football for a long time because he has a quick thinking set of forwards to match his invention. Also look at Mullers, last season the only passes he made were backwards but now with some quality to aim at his talent is shining through.We have some good players at the club but by playing with the loanees it seems to bring out the best in them.By not signing them it shows a lack of ambition but then if we do sign them no-one can guarantee that we''ll be promoted so it''s a tough choice for the board to make.However it wil be a lot easier buying them now rather than looking for replacements for the next 3 months & to replace Macca, Greeno & Mullers when they decide to move on if we don''t go up.By the way sort out Macca''s contract, if it hasn''t been done. He''s a great asset to the club & we need as many of those as we can get. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carrow89 0 Posted December 1, 2003 You are still infering that the decision lies solely with the board. It does not. Again, I cannot see the board taking on the 3 loanees in September if there wasn''t plans for what would happen in December. It is now up in the air. Hardly will make for a good negotation position if Man City, Villa or Pompey know that our fans will not turn up without the signing of these players.As to ambition the club cannot be faulted on that score. But it has to be tempered with the financial constraints it''s under. I hope no one would challenge your support for the club on the basis that you don''t hire an executive box for every game home and away.The South Stand redevelopment was a long overdue upgrade and is an absolute necessity if we go up. Look what years of failure to upgrade their facilities has done to our third world neighbours.On the basis of a good league position (5th) Lord Sheepy began spending money and handing out contracts like there was no tomorrow. There was (though there may well not be for them).The three loanees have been deemed surplus to their clubs as far as Premiership games go. Lumbering ourselves with these players on a long term basis to try to get promoted when we may not be able to afford them in Div 1 and they may not be good enough if we do go up is not good business.Ambition lies better than a one off sit or bust. Nothing would please me more than to see Crouch and Huckeby stay - but on our terms. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eio 0 Posted December 1, 2003 The one point that seems to be forgotten is that if we sign huckerby for 800k or whatever - whats to say we can''t sell him for more in one or two seasons?? He''s a quality player. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gazzathegreat 0 Posted December 1, 2003 It may be significant that several players have now publically stated that they want the loan players to stay, Drury, Greeno, Mulryne to name a few.These three in particular know that with Hucks and Crouch in the team their own ambitions are about to be realisedDon''t the club owe it to them to go for this?Imagine the dressing room if Hucks is sold to Sheffield Utd, and Crouch just sits in A Villa reserves. Wouldn''t like to have to motivate them to play then, would you?Hucks was great on saturday, so was PC - they all were. This is the team that can lead us to the top, to the prem. We deserve it, the club deserve it, but most of all loyal players like Greeno deserve it.He wants it to happen. Now tell me about restraint and keeping within our means!!!We want promotion, if you won''t listen to me, listen to OUR players!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moules 0 Posted December 1, 2003 It dosnt matter if we sign Huckerby or somebody else it was evident to everybody from the groundsman to the chairman that we didnt get in the playoffs because we didnt score goals or look like scoring goals no one is having a go at the board but they must see other clubls are going out on a financial limb to improve their squad we are not talking about going 30million in debt just invest in what we have, Greeno amongst others has stated how important the loannes or similar players are to us gaining promotion how long will he stay around if the club dont try to build on what we have. That bloke more than anyone gives 110% every game he wont feel very motivated if we sign no one will he, and who could blame him.Still look on the brightside if we dont sign anyone we can go for promotion with Roberts that should be a peice of cake ( the mans a legend but we need someone else, Jarvis is going to be great but needs a striking partner) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites