Whitbread deal close!

[Mr. T 0]

sorry for another post on this but as no-one has been answering me when i asked if there was any truch in it i found some myself!

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12874_5837402,00.html

will be a great signing who is more than capable at championship level!

[Mr. T 0]

*truth even!

[John 0]

Thank christ!"Skysports.com understands" Thats the sweet line i''ve been waiting for! (Other than us ''actually'' signing him of course) [;)]

[Mr. T 0]

[quote user="Big Bad John"]Thank christ!

"Skysports.com understands" Thats the sweet line i''ve been waiting for! (Other than us ''actually'' signing him of course) [;)]
[/quote]

Ye me too! it''s a shock that the sun could have got something right for once!

[birchfest 397]

Good News if this comes to be! From what I have read, on of the top players for millwall and capable of making the step up next season if all goes to plan!

[The Walking Man 13]

[quote user="Big Bad John"]Thank christ!

"Skysports.com understands" Thats the sweet line i''ve been waiting for! (Other than us ''actually'' signing him of course) [;)]
[/quote]

Same here! Rarely do Skysports get it wrong (unless he''s signing for Northwich Victoria! [;)])

[Hog 0]

Excellent news for three reasons, firstly he is a good solid player capable of a higher division, secondly he may just make the World Cup squad for the USA, giving us something to cheer about (Except for the England match of course!) and thirdly I am due to become a Dad for the first time in April and we had already decided to call him Zak!

[Mr. T 0]

His move to Posh broke down due to his wage demands, really hope the same thing doesnt happen here!

[John 0]

[quote user="The Walking Man walking to Yeovil"]

[quote user="Big Bad John"]Thank christ!"Skysports.com understands" Thats the sweet line i''ve been waiting for! (Other than us ''actually'' signing him of course) [;)][/quote]

Same here! Rarely do Skysports get it wrong (unless he''s signing for Northwich Victoria! [;)])

[/quote]haha Indeed, that was all quite a kerfuffle (thanks go out to newsnow on that one).I feel i may be missing someone obvious here, but does anyone remember the last time we had an American playing for us?

[Mr. T 0]

[quote user="Salahuddin"]Excellent news for three reasons, firstly he is a good solid player capable of a higher division, secondly he may just make the World Cup squad for the USA, giving us something to cheer about (Except for the England match of course!) and thirdly I am due to become a Dad for the first time in April and we had already decided to call him Zak![/quote]

and on the world cup one, should make his peformances improve as he wants a place in the squad, will be a great signing!

[Jim Smith 2,344]

If its got to this stage we must at least have some idea of what he''s looking for. i''d be surprised if we''d not spoken to his agent about terms before utting our bid in.

Very encouraging development. Must be something in this and he is a class above Nelson!

[The Chirp 0]

it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business. Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position. It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson. We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position. Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off. Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.

[Canaries Utd 0]

Does anyone no his injury and is it one that is likely to plague him???

[birchfest 397]

I doubt we would havegone for him if we didnt think we could agree terms... or he would have gone to a different club so I recon fingers crossed he is in the bag! Just got to get Dagnall or Barnard, clear out some of the ''dead wood'' and then we should be set!

[Guest]

[quote user="The Chirp"]it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business. Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position. It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson. We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position. Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off. Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.

[/quote]Aren''t Askou and Spillane going to be out for quite a while though? Obviously we don''t have enough fit centre backs, as we played Nelson and Martin there last home game! Doc''s out of contract in the summer though, so it''s quite possible Lambert might try and cash in.

[Hucka Hucka Huckerby 0]

Well Nelson probably isn''t up to PL''s standards & Askou is out for a few weeks. However, is Whitbread fit? I''ve heard somewhere that he''s had injury problems this season.

[SnakepitCanary 0]

Who would be the first team centre back pairing? I''m really unsure, but I would go for Whitbread/Askou. That''s really unfair on the Doc though. Whitbread and Askou would bring more balance to the defence, with Whitbread being predominately a left footed player.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

[quote user="The Chirp"]it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business.

Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position.

It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson.

We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position.

Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.

Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off.

Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.


[/quote]  If we do sign him he will become our first choice centre half. Askou is out for at least 6 weeks perhaps longer. Docherty in the absence of Askou will be the  no 2 centre back in my view. Nelson has been harshly criticised in my view, he does a job at this level but is exposed to pace and i doubt that he will make the step up to the championship. He would be the one to go but only if and when we get promoted. I do not see Spillane at centre back he has not impressed me there but looked good at right back. He and Martin would be my top 2 in that position releasing osemabor to leave when promotion comes

[birchfest 397]

This is what we want though! Competition between good players, personally this would put Nelson out of the picture if Whitbread is up to the standard. We then let Whitbread, Doc and Askou fight it out in training for the spots. Also as someone has said it will be use full having depth for injuries!

[John 0]

[quote user="The Chirp"]it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business. Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position. It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson. We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position. Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off. Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.

[/quote]Well, personally, i wouldn''t say 4 specialist senior defenders is excessive. I''d rather we don''t find ourselves having to play players out of their position in our back four again this season (therein lyes an example of why we need another anyway), and signing Zak may just assure that.If we want to come anywhere the phenominal standard of defending at Leeds we''re going to have to at least match that, and then also have the quality of players like Whitbread to go along with it.As far as i''m concerned, i''d say this kind of transfer would be ideal, and speculation as to whether we''ll be selling defenders because of it i find quite needless (after all, Lambert did directly point out that he felt he was lacking in numbers in the centre of defence anyway on numerous occasions).

[Mr. T 0]

For me 100% Doc and Whitbread! Askou has been one of our more concistent players this season and has done well but i dont think he''s that good of a defender! may be ok in this league but no more!

[Jim Smith 2,344]

[quote user="The Chirp"]it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business.

Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position.

It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson.

We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position.

Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.

Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off.

Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.


[/quote]

 

Erm perhaps Lambert can see what everyone else can see which is that Nelson is not good enough for when we play the decent teams. It will be Whitbread and Doc if you ask me and then when Askou is fit an interesting 3 way tussle.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="SnakepitCanary"]Who would be the first team centre back pairing? I''m really unsure, but I would go for Whitbread/Askou. That''s really unfair on the Doc though.  [/quote]

It is unfair on him considering he''s the best (and I would suspect first choice) central defender at the club.

He''s also the only one who has significant experience above this level.

 

[Jim Smith 2,344]

 

He has had an injury but was going to play this week for Millwall''s reserves until the game got called off so is presumably fit now (or nearly fit)

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Well, yes - currently the only fit senior centre-backs we have are Nelson and Doherty. Don''t fancy having to rely on players playing out of position too much and I strongly suspect the youngsters are not ready yet. And competition to keep people on their toes is a very good thing, regardless.

Oh and as an aside, despite the fact people say our defensive record isn''t great, we still have the joint-fourth best record in the league - only Leeds, Charlton and (improbably) Brentford have let in less goals and let''s not forget seven of them came in that game. In Lambert''s time in charge we''ve let in 17 goals in 21 games which is not to be sniffed at.

[Hucka Hucka Huckerby 0]

[quote user="Jim Smith"]

[quote user="The Chirp"]it would be one hell of a signing and a real sign that Norwich mean business.

Issue I have though is that i feel we have way too many in that position.

It says to me that Lambert either has a bidder for Doherty or doesn''t have faith in Nelson.

We don''t require 4 centre backs plus three players who can play there (R.Martin, Spillane, Tudor-Jones) and 1st year pros Stephens and Dumic who can all play in that position.

Doc might be a casualty because of the wages he is on are high. He has also played well enough for a championship club to take note.

Or... Nelson is too similar to the Doc and not as good so is being sold off.

Or(!) perhaps Lambert loves having centre backs sat in the stands watching games.


[/quote]

 

Erm perhaps Lambert can see what everyone else can see which is that Nelson is not good enough for when we play the decent teams. It will be Whitbread and Doc if you ask me and then when Askou is fit an interesting 3 way tussle.

[/quote]

[Y], spot on!

[Mr. T 0]

His song has to be the USA chant!

[Nuff Said 5,178]

£500,000 was suggested as the fee in another thread on here. Seems like a lot for League 1. Is he really that good, and isn''t there anything better we can do with the money?

[Rocky Rocastle 0]

[quote user="Nuff Said"]£500,000 was suggested as the fee in another thread on here. Seems like a lot for League 1. Is he really that good, and isn''t there anything better we can do with the money?[/quote]I think he''s out of contract int the summer so there''s no way Millwal could command £500k for him as they''d then loose him in the summer and get nought....more like half that imo.

[The Chirp 0]

[quote user="Rocky Rocastle"][quote user="Nuff Said"]£500,000 was suggested as the fee in another thread on here. Seems like a lot for League 1. Is he really that good, and isn''t there anything better we can do with the money?[/quote]I think he''s out of contract int the summer so there''s no way Millwal could command £500k for him as they''d then loose him in the summer and get nought....more like half that imo.[/quote]I would say 200k plus money on promotion to the champ and a sell on clause.

With regard to having 4 centre backs i think that is too many for a club with our finances. I would rather we went with three in Askou Doc and Whitbread (pretty damn strong) and have fill ins just in case or worst case sign a loan player in a crisis... having four centre backs is a bit of a waste especially when the money could be going to use in other positions.