Just a pennies worth or two.

[chicken 0]

I don''t expect people to read all of the way through this or even agree with me but I feel I need to share with people how I feel and what my thoughts are since yesterday.Bryan Gunn: I am still split on this, I say that because the team defenitely improved under Gunn - it just seemed that they did not have enough bottle to carry the pace he injected for the last few games. If Aidy Boothroyd is still interested then I think we should at least consider him. I only say that because I can understand not appointing a manager until the summer but now we know where we are we need someone who given time and some - not a lot - of money can get us back to the championship. I would not grumble about Gunn staying at the helm, I think the players simply didn''t have the steam to push right through until the end of the season - and yelling at them in this situation would not have helped. If anything you look at the loanees and you can see that the likes of Mooney, Gow and Leijer have never played for the majority of a single season in this country - Gow arguably has now but this will have been his first.Finances: What gets to me is the debt we are still in. I know this will sound stupid but if the board would have been more honest I think we could be better off now than we are. By that I mean when we went up to the premiership they could have said " this year we will spend very little but we will wipe out all of the debts, this way any profit the club makes in the future can be spent directly on the team or improving the financial viability on the club." I would have accepted that, I would have accepted the likely relegation from the premiership as a result but it would have meant that we would not have to service the debts that we carry. We keep getting told - and the financial reports supposedly inform us that the club made a proffit last season.I just wonder how much we would have to spend if those debts were non-exhistant. The problem is now are we ever likely to come into the money in the same way to pay of large chunks of that debt so that we can focus on the football? To me it is like winning the lottery, quitting your job, blowing the money on jazzing up your house and going on a wonder holiday only to forget that you didn''t pay off the mortgage!At least then these huge gates of ours would actually see a real difference on the pitch. Part of me hopes that this meeting will decide to go into administration just to see how much of the debt we can get written off straight away but then the other part of me says that we don''t know what we will have in terms of a squad next year in the way of battling back the ten point deduction and then getting enough together to survive after that. On top of that if we did that and come the end of the season realise those extra ten points could have been play-offs or more  . . . . I would be gutted. But what is more important?Players: I do wonder how many of our players will stay - obviously a lot will depend on if any offers come in. If old Camul is to be believed Marshall is being touted by his agent for a move - whether that by him or the club is arguable. If he is on top wages then I can see the club having asked him to look for a move. Either way I will be scanning the Beeb and Sky sports for updates whenever I get a chance.As far as the youth side of things goes I am pretty hopeful of some of the players, Smith, Daley and Adeyemi and ofcourse Spillaine and Martin returning. Looking at it that is like having five new players and we know that both Spillaine and Martin are capable of playing at this level.For me a lot of this season has been about the lack of being able to compete in many areas. First of all under Roeder we assembled a strong passing team who lacked any great physical presence outside of the two centre backs and possibly Patty. Then he brings in Sibierski who looks as though he should have physical presence but has less than Paul McVeigh ever had . . . . . then Lita comes in and for a short time we actually look as if we have a player who can ruffle feathers.If the Championship has a lot of ex-premiership teams in it then it could equally be said it has a lot of ex League 1 teams in it and everyone bangs on about the physical nature of League one. People want to know why we could beat the top teams and not the bottom ones? Because premiership teams are less physical and give more time on the ball. We beat the likes of Wolves because they play football the way we do but we were better, when we played against more physical teams we had nothing to match them with apart from perhaps Russell and then Lee when he arrived but it was not enough. So looking ahead to next season I hope some of our youngsters do get blooded and toughened as a result and learn to carry that on into their careers.The board: It quite obviously needs new direction. After their comments post match on Sunday I am far from convinced by Munby or Delia and Michael. "Oh well that''s football" is far to flippant for my liking, yes we have to accept the situation but we do not have to accept how it came to be and that is what needs sorting out. Munby just seemed to suggest that the board have not done well enough - I think this is a tad obvious. Naive seems to be the word that should be stamped on the board - this season was not good enough, last season was not good enough, the season before was barely good enough . . . . . I think the board can use one "it was the manager" excuse but to have two or three starts to look worrying. Grant and Roeder consecutively and then Hamilton in the past. Worthington who looked like a master stroke is now looking a bit more like pot luck.The thing that beats me is how they gave Worthington little or no money and raised the expectation of being promotion hopefulls, got rid of him when he couldn''t achieve with the cloth he had to cut and then showered Grant in money when he was unproven. As a result we have a team of players of debatable ability on as much if not more money - and the board wants to know where it went wrong?As for Munby saying that having a football person on the board doesnt work then please point him in the direction of Sunderland and Niall Quinn and possibly Wigan and Dave Whelan. Two examples of clubs with footballing brains heavily involved. I don''t think that they need to be involved with the football team directly in such a role as a director of football, I think the just need to be involved in the decision making at the top so that they can ensure that football is kept on the agenda.Fears: Nothing good will come of this. Norwich will become a fallen giant - that the loyal 24,000 fans listen to heavily to the criticism aimed at them for ''blindly following'' when they are actually the ones hold the club up. Without them this club as it is run would not only have been relegated but possibly on the brink of financial melt-down too, and at the worse possibly time with the economical climate. If Newcastle can not find an investor to buy then what chance do we have?

[JuanVelasco 27]

[quote user="chicken"]I don''t expect people to read all of the way through this or even agree with me but I feel I need to share with people how I feel and what my thoughts are since yesterday.

Bryan Gunn: I am still split on this, I say that because the team defenitely improved under Gunn - it just seemed that they did not have enough bottle to carry the pace he injected for the last few games. If Aidy Boothroyd is still interested then I think we should at least consider him. I only say that because I can understand not appointing a manager until the summer but now we know where we are we need someone who given time and some - not a lot - of money can get us back to the championship. I would not grumble about Gunn staying at the helm, I think the players simply didn''t have the steam to push right through until the end of the season - and yelling at them in this situation would not have helped. If anything you look at the loanees and you can see that the likes of Mooney, Gow and Leijer have never played for the majority of a single season in this country - Gow arguably has now but this will have been his first.

Finances: What gets to me is the debt we are still in. I know this will sound stupid but if the board would have been more honest I think we could be better off now than we are. By that I mean when we went up to the premiership they could have said " this year we will spend very little but we will wipe out all of the debts, this way any profit the club makes in the future can be spent directly on the team or improving the financial viability on the club." I would have accepted that, I would have accepted the likely relegation from the premiership as a result but it would have meant that we would not have to service the debts that we carry. We keep getting told - and the financial reports supposedly inform us that the club made a proffit last season.

I just wonder how much we would have to spend if those debts were non-exhistant. The problem is now are we ever likely to come into the money in the same way to pay of large chunks of that debt so that we can focus on the football? To me it is like winning the lottery, quitting your job, blowing the money on jazzing up your house and going on a wonder holiday only to forget that you didn''t pay off the mortgage!

At least then these huge gates of ours would actually see a real difference on the pitch. Part of me hopes that this meeting will decide to go into administration just to see how much of the debt we can get written off straight away but then the other part of me says that we don''t know what we will have in terms of a squad next year in the way of battling back the ten point deduction and then getting enough together to survive after that. On top of that if we did that and come the end of the season realise those extra ten points could have been play-offs or more  . . . . I would be gutted. But what is more important?

Players: I do wonder how many of our players will stay - obviously a lot will depend on if any offers come in. If old Camul is to be believed Marshall is being touted by his agent for a move - whether that by him or the club is arguable. If he is on top wages then I can see the club having asked him to look for a move. Either way I will be scanning the Beeb and Sky sports for updates whenever I get a chance.

As far as the youth side of things goes I am pretty hopeful of some of the players, Smith, Daley and Adeyemi and ofcourse Spillaine and Martin returning. Looking at it that is like having five new players and we know that both Spillaine and Martin are capable of playing at this level.

For me a lot of this season has been about the lack of being able to compete in many areas. First of all under Roeder we assembled a strong passing team who lacked any great physical presence outside of the two centre backs and possibly Patty. Then he brings in Sibierski who looks as though he should have physical presence but has less than Paul McVeigh ever had . . . . . then Lita comes in and for a short time we actually look as if we have a player who can ruffle feathers.

If the Championship has a lot of ex-premiership teams in it then it could equally be said it has a lot of ex League 1 teams in it and everyone bangs on about the physical nature of League one. People want to know why we could beat the top teams and not the bottom ones? Because premiership teams are less physical and give more time on the ball. We beat the likes of Wolves because they play football the way we do but we were better, when we played against more physical teams we had nothing to match them with apart from perhaps Russell and then Lee when he arrived but it was not enough.

So looking ahead to next season I hope some of our youngsters do get blooded and toughened as a result and learn to carry that on into their careers.

The board: It quite obviously needs new direction. After their comments post match on Sunday I am far from convinced by Munby or Delia and Michael. "Oh well that''s football" is far to flippant for my liking, yes we have to accept the situation but we do not have to accept how it came to be and that is what needs sorting out. Munby just seemed to suggest that the board have not done well enough - I think this is a tad obvious. Naive seems to be the word that should be stamped on the board - this season was not good enough, last season was not good enough, the season before was barely good enough . . . . . I think the board can use one "it was the manager" excuse but to have two or three starts to look worrying. Grant and Roeder consecutively and then Hamilton in the past. Worthington who looked like a master stroke is now looking a bit more like pot luck.

The thing that beats me is how they gave Worthington little or no money and raised the expectation of being promotion hopefulls, got rid of him when he couldn''t achieve with the cloth he had to cut and then showered Grant in money when he was unproven. As a result we have a team of players of debatable ability on as much if not more money - and the board wants to know where it went wrong?

As for Munby saying that having a football person on the board doesnt work then please point him in the direction of Sunderland and Niall Quinn and possibly Wigan and Dave Whelan. Two examples of clubs with footballing brains heavily involved. I don''t think that they need to be involved with the football team directly in such a role as a director of football, I think the just need to be involved in the decision making at the top so that they can ensure that football is kept on the agenda.

Fears: Nothing good will come of this. Norwich will become a fallen giant - that the loyal 24,000 fans listen to heavily to the criticism aimed at them for ''blindly following'' when they are actually the ones hold the club up. Without them this club as it is run would not only have been relegated but possibly on the brink of financial melt-down too, and at the worse possibly time with the economical climate. If Newcastle can not find an investor to buy then what chance do we have?
[/quote]

Blimey, im glad you dont expect me to read it ;-) maybe tomorrow.

[Glutton for Punishment 0]

[quote user="chicken"]I don''t expect people to read all of the way through this or even agree with me but I feel I need to share with people how I feel and what my thoughts are since yesterday.[/quote]

I must admit to skimming! There was a lot of it!

[quote user="chicken"]Fears: Nothing good will come of this. Norwich will become a fallen giant - that the loyal 24,000 fans listen to heavily to the criticism aimed at them for ''blindly following'' when they are actually the ones hold the club up. Without them this club as it is run would not only have been relegated but possibly on the brink of financial melt-down too, and at the worse possibly time with the economical climate. If Newcastle can not find an investor to buy then what chance do we have?
[/quote]

"Nothing will come of this" - agree for reasons see below.

"Without them [the fans] this club as it is run would not only have been relegated but possibly on the brink of financial melt-down too" - in my opinion the only reason we are not on the verge of administration is that an astonishing 18,000 season tickets have been sold. Anything less than 14,000 and the club would be ''doomed'' to coin a phrase.

"If Newcastle can not find an investor to buy then what chance do we have?" - the status of club is irrelevant when negotiating a sale. The only things that matters are a willing seller and willing buyer at an agreeable price. Unfortunately we don''t seem to have any of those bases covered at the moment with no prospect of that changing.

[Patches OHoolahan 0]

Interesting post Chicken, your points about teams coming up from league one were particularly interesting to me. I take your point that these teams can be more physical but teams like Swansea and Doncaster have played some lovely football as well, and we struggled against Swansea. i think next year is about finding the right balance, we need both passing ability but also physical presence in abundance. You can pass your way out of league one, as Swansea have shown, however I believe that it is also imperative to have a big striker, and a no nonsense defence. I also think we''ll need a keeper who is confident in coming for crosses, and set pieces, as these play an even bigger part in league one football. Perhaps the most important thing of all though is to have the team organised in such a way  as everyone knows their jobs, and sticks to them, which might lend itself to a manager like Aidy Boothroyd, to drill the team well, making us competitive in every game.

[Fat Barman 0]

I think Patches is both right and wrong!The reason we performed poorly against Swansea was precisely because of the size and strength of Jason Scotland up front and Monk and Williams in central defence - in fact I believe all four of Swansea''s defence were bigger than the Norwich front line (only Alan Lee could stand taller than the full-backs). The fact that they also played some passing football doesn''t negate the size advantage they had over us.Still, the point is moot, as we will struggle badly without beefing up the team for League One. You can carry a couple of lightweights, but need the majority of players to be able to hold their own in a physical match.