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Ricardo's report The AGM

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Theres always a decent turnout when things are going well and tonight was no exception as Ricardo joined the assenbled throng in The Norfolk Lounge tonight.Alan Bowkett began with the agenda for the evening and he asked if there were any questions on the accounts. Not one hand went up so I guess everyone was pleased with what they had seen in the report. All the resolutions were passed without a single disenting hand as far as I could tell and that included the re-election of both Bowkett and McNally.Mr Bowkett then took us through the usual slide presentation for the cash flow and profit and loss figures for 2010/11 and how they compared with 2009/10 when we were in league 1. Despite higher income the cash flow moved from -£1.7 mil to -£4.4 mil thanks to higher player costs and bonuses. He stated that Foulgers £2.2 mil cash injection and the sale of £2.2 mil of land had been vital in keeping the club in being to which there was generous applause.McNally then tooks us through some key features of the finances and again big applause for acheiving the 7yr plan in 2yrs. He mention how they were increasing stadium capacity by stealth. It was now 27.3k and they were planning to do a bit more if planning permission was granted.Bowkett then showed us the figures for this year and what was forecast. League income has increased to £38 mil from £5.5 mil and income from commercial and other would be £8.5 mil while catering had increased last year to £4.5 million and was expected to be similar this year. Apparently our catering is the envy of the Premier League. He stated that we aimed to pay down debt this year by £3.6 mil and next year by £6.5 mil. Player costs had increased from about £10 mil to over £20 mil and £8.6 mil had been spent on new players.The basic strategy of club was to concentrate on football and sell off anything not core related. They expected that next years figures would show an £18 mil profit and that there would be cash available for PL to strengthen in January. He also revealed that the board had engaged in the first steps of planning for a 35k capacity stadium and there would be more on this next year depending on our status but it was still a long term aim.We then had an interesting presentation by Ricky Martin about the new youth policy. We had done bugger all about updating our procedures in the last 14 yrs but we were now about to go for category one status in the F.A.''s new Elite Player Performance Plan. We would no longer be governed by the 90 minute rule and could recruit from anywhere. It would involve education in top local schools and football coaching 4 afternoons a week. Total coaching hours would rise from 3.5k hours to 8.5k hours and be on a par with our continental rivals eg. Barcelona Academy etc. It neede one person per season to make the first team to make it profitable.and the board had just given permission to go for Cat 1 status.We then moved to Q & A which was quite entertaining after a stuttering start. There were lots of congrats to the board and PL for what had been acheived but also one or two complaints from the over 60''s who had lost their discounts. (Ricardo had fortunately just moved into the over 65''s so wasn''t affected LOL but his ticket still went up by 70 quid). We finished off with the usual comedy turn who makes me cringe a bit but it was quite funny although overlong. PL seemed to take it all in good part and he gave us a bit of insight into the pressures a manager faces. There was a full admission that Arsenal were simply to good for us but that our survival depended on results against those around us not the top six.Very realistic I thought and a fitting end to the evening.

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Ricardo, we treid to spot you tonight but it was tricky among all those people. Next year can you have the Sunday Times under your arm please?

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A fine report Mr Avocado

I''m very heartened to read the stuff about the youth policy. The youths had been doing exemptionally well previously - more so given how woeful the seniors had been a few seasons back. We have recently produced two fine keepers, plus the likes of Chris Martin, Korey Smith, Tom Adeyemi George Francombe and others.

Unfortunately (on this matter only) we have probably outstripped their abilities by our meteoric rise in the past two seasons. The measures being put into place suggest the club is now working towards producing Premier League quality players.

A massive and far reaching project that again affirms the club is not seeing this season as one of ''forelock tugging gratitude'' before slipping back to indebted obscurity.

We are here to stay is the ''mission statement''. Lets hope all of us are here as well, to see the benefits of this in future seasons.

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This Elite Player Performance Plan and getting listed as a category one academy could be massive for us. It is heartening to know the club are going for it because it''s not cheap. It''s had a lot of bad press from the Championship clubs who are anti and Ricky did say that we shouldn''t believe all the negative claims being made. He said will have to invest a lot of money to become a class one academy and we would have to look towards one academy player making the first team squad each and every year to make it worthwhile.

 

When I spoke to Ricky after he said out of the 40 academies there are now they only envisage less than half becoming category one. So if there were less than 20 throughout the country it''s obvious how massive that would be for our club. I asked him if us PUPs should start finding 20/1 winning naps to fund it and he joked "more like 25/1" But if we get there all us Pink Un Pickers would be Category One PUPs so if you''re not part of it get on the thread tomorrow and sign up to our Elite PUP Performance Plan[Y]

 

 

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What is this PUP you talk of young master Nutty ?

Is it like the pools or something ?

My dad just missed out on winning £100 in the early 60''s, next door won it, it was that close

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The Pink Un Message Board''s Rays Funds For FONCY Thread: -

 

These threads were set up by my good friend Ray Ducker (Arrdee) to raise money for the Academy. Theres a new thread every week where Pink Un Pickers (PUPs) from all over the world unite to try and get a winning line of six correct results from the weekends football fixtures.

How It Works : -

Every Wednesday during the season I start the new weeks thread. The ''Pink Un Pickers'' (PUPs) then select their ''nap bet'' for the weekends football fixtures. On the Friday evening the nominated picker from our PUPs rota selects 6 results from the weeks picks. I then place the bet and post the bet and the odds on here by the Saturday lunchtime.

Have we won? : -

So far there have been 28 winning weeks and the World Cup win in which we have won £1433 for the academy. There have been plenty of near misses too and the ''Pink Un Pickers'' have had a lot of fun trying.

Want To Take Part? : -

Just register with the Pink Un Message Board and post your very best selection on the thread. It''s as simple as that.

 

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Its AGM reports like this that remind me why I kept my Season ticket going for as along as its been mine severel years now and even giving up my rebate, Because I knew that we would return to the good time and I wanted to be apart of it, and I think thats what most of us think, I''m one of the over 60''s too, and find that the D/D payment makes it very easy to keep it renewing season after season, We are the envy of a lot of other clubs fans, the fact that the discount for over 60''s was taken away this season is no surprise if you want Premier league football, It costs money to stay in this league and I applaud what the club has done, and it goes right through to the fans as well this club has for once got unity throughout. (Apart from Wiz that is)       

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[quote user="Kathy "]Ricardo, we treid to spot you tonight but it was tricky among all those people. Next year can you have the Sunday Times under your arm please?[/quote]LOL, perhaps I should bring Snowy the cat on his golden cushion next year.

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A further interesting note on the Academy, i had very recently spoken to friends about our failure to bring through some real quality youth players, it was put into perspective last night when we were advised our 90min radius reached a population of just 2.7m people. In comparison Watford and Palace (i think) could reach an estimated 15.5m people which is over 5 times as many people, although as was mentioned there are many more clubs in that area.

The new Category 1 academy removes this restriction allowing nationwide recruitment, this has to be a massive positive.

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[quote user="pete_norw"]Its AGM reports like this that remind me why I kept my Season ticket going for as along as its been mine severel years now and even giving up my rebate, Because I knew that we would return to the good time and I wanted to be apart of it, and I think thats what most of us think, I''m one of the over 60''s too, and find that the D/D payment makes it very easy to keep it renewing season after season, We are the envy of a lot of other clubs fans, the fact that the discount for over 60''s was taken away this season is no surprise if you want Premier league football, It costs money to stay in this league and I applaud what the club has done, and it goes right through to the fans as well this club has for once got unity throughout. (Apart from Wiz that is)       [/quote]

 

Until the damn cook goes, even less likely now after the 70 max age for directors rule got changed! the old wiz can never have, or feel,  true unity....or true herd instinct.

 

Until a new,wealthy owner appears nothing will ever really change, no matter how well her intentions might seem....have you all forgotten so easily?

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[quote user="trueyellow"]A further interesting note on the Academy, i had very recently spoken to friends about our failure to bring through some real quality youth players, it was put into perspective last night when we were advised our 90min radius reached a population of just 2.7m people. In comparison Watford and Palace (i think) could reach an estimated 15.5m people which is over 5 times as many people, although as was mentioned there are many more clubs in that area. The new Category 1 academy removes this restriction allowing nationwide recruitment, this has to be a massive positive.[/quote]

Norwich have a satelliete centre in Hertfordshire as well, so can get players within 90 mins of that which helps a lot. This is where Korey Smith was found, along with Lansbury before Arsenal whipped him away.

 

Kind of ironic that Norwich went to Hertfordshire only for Wenger to then come along and set up one of the best youth academies in the country. Although it will be good that Norwich don''t have to worry about the 90 min rule any longer, it also means clubs like Man U, Man C, Chelsea et al won''t have to worry about it either - the academy will have to be backed by an excellent scouting network to find the players. Getting one youth team player promoted into the squad a year sounds a massive task, especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team...

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[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="trueyellow"]A further interesting note on the Academy, i had very recently spoken to friends about our failure to bring through some real quality youth players, it was put into perspective last night when we were advised our 90min radius reached a population of just 2.7m people. In comparison Watford and Palace (i think) could reach an estimated 15.5m people which is over 5 times as many people, although as was mentioned there are many more clubs in that area. The new Category 1 academy removes this restriction allowing nationwide recruitment, this has to be a massive positive.[/quote]

Norwich have a satelliete centre in Hertfordshire as well, so can get players within 90 mins of that which helps a lot. This is where Korey Smith was found, along with Lansbury before Arsenal whipped him away.

 

Kind of ironic that Norwich went to Hertfordshire only for Wenger to then come along and set up one of the best youth academies in the country. Although it will be good that Norwich don''t have to worry about the 90 min rule any longer, it also means clubs like Man U, Man C, Chelsea et al won''t have to worry about it either - the academy will have to be backed by an excellent scouting network to find the players. Getting one youth team player promoted into the squad a year sounds a massive task, especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team...

[/quote]1 player a year seems like an almost impossible task, i don''t think there are any top teams currently doing this, perhaps with the exception of arsenal (but wenger barely ever spends in the transfer window). I know it''s nice to develop your own players, at this price it seems a bit stupid, although I would do the same in the boards shoes

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[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="trueyellow"]A further interesting note on the Academy, i had very recently spoken to friends about our failure to bring through some real quality youth players, it was put into perspective last night when we were advised our 90min radius reached a population of just 2.7m people. In comparison Watford and Palace (i think) could reach an estimated 15.5m people which is over 5 times as many people, although as was mentioned there are many more clubs in that area. The new Category 1 academy removes this restriction allowing nationwide recruitment, this has to be a massive positive.[/quote]

Norwich have a satelliete centre in Hertfordshire as well, so can get players within 90 mins of that which helps a lot. This is where Korey Smith was found, along with Lansbury before Arsenal whipped him away.

 

Kind of ironic that Norwich went to Hertfordshire only for Wenger to then come along and set up one of the best youth academies in the country. Although it will be good that Norwich don''t have to worry about the 90 min rule any longer, it also means clubs like Man U, Man C, Chelsea et al won''t have to worry about it either - the academy will have to be backed by an excellent scouting network to find the players. Getting one youth team player promoted into the squad a year sounds a massive task, especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team...

[/quote]

Beth, I''m not sure what the satellite centre in Hertfordshire could or couldn''t do. How I understood it the 90 minute rule was travelling time to and from the club for youngsters between the ages of 14 & 16. The rule for 9-13 was 60 minutes. I think the players we recruited from Hertordshire came when they were 16. Korey Smith had been a schoolboy with Arsenal. Henri Lansbury was at our Potters Bar centre of excellence which was closed when those new rules came in. Roy Massey, who worked at Potters Bar took Lansbury and Jay Simpson with him when he got a job with Arsenal when it closed.

 

My impression is if we get category one status we can recruit kids from all over the country at the start of their development. This would be a massive advantage for us. It would be better than it was before the rules were imposed in 1998 because they envisage less than 20 category one academies. So even if the top club still get the very best we would certainly be in a position to recruit from the top drawer.

 

 

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"especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team..."

Those coming through will have joined us when we were a middling (at best) Championship club. A higher grade academy wil attract ''higher grade'' youngsters and higher grade coaches, as the money will be there.

The current coaching system has been a revelation. How many times have we seen ''average'' players such as Ruddy, Fox, Tierney, R Martin turned into quality players way beyond the level we got them from - even Holt. That is down to both the coaching and the scouting system that identified the abilities and necessary qualities to progress/develop. Imagine that with a good bit more ''ooomph''.

My understanding is that the cost will be, after the grant, around £1.25m a year. Is that such a huge cost ? A player every two years would be enough given the fees we have paid to bring in new players this summer. It also presumes that there are no players that are subsequently sold off to lower league clubs for a reasonable fee or to one of ''the top four'' clubs for a much bigger fee.

When you see some of the average ''carlos kickaballs'' that are brought into other Premier League clubs for fees or £8 -10m then I''m sure 6 or 7 years of this type of acadamy will be a far better long term investment.

So a very reassuring commitment to the future from our club. With Delia at the helm I doubt it will be long before European football, if not the Champions League will beckon.

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[quote user="nutty nigel"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"]

[quote user="trueyellow"]A further interesting note on the Academy, i had very recently spoken to friends about our failure to bring through some real quality youth players, it was put into perspective last night when we were advised our 90min radius reached a population of just 2.7m people. In comparison Watford and Palace (i think) could reach an estimated 15.5m people which is over 5 times as many people, although as was mentioned there are many more clubs in that area. The new Category 1 academy removes this restriction allowing nationwide recruitment, this has to be a massive positive.[/quote]

Norwich have a satelliete centre in Hertfordshire as well, so can get players within 90 mins of that which helps a lot. This is where Korey Smith was found, along with Lansbury before Arsenal whipped him away.

 

Kind of ironic that Norwich went to Hertfordshire only for Wenger to then come along and set up one of the best youth academies in the country. Although it will be good that Norwich don''t have to worry about the 90 min rule any longer, it also means clubs like Man U, Man C, Chelsea et al won''t have to worry about it either - the academy will have to be backed by an excellent scouting network to find the players. Getting one youth team player promoted into the squad a year sounds a massive task, especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team...

[/quote]

Beth, I''m not sure what the satellite centre in Hertfordshire could or couldn''t do. How I understood it the 90 minute rule was travelling time to and from the club for youngsters between the ages of 14 & 16. The rule for 9-13 was 60 minutes. I think the players we recruited from Hertordshire came when they were 16. Korey Smith had been a schoolboy with Arsenal. Henri Lansbury was at our Potters Bar centre of excellence which was closed when those new rules came in. Roy Massey, who worked at Potters Bar took Lansbury and Jay Simpson with him when he got a job with Arsenal when it closed.

 

My impression is if we get category one status we can recruit kids from all over the country at the start of their development. This would be a massive advantage for us. It would be better than it was before the rules were imposed in 1998 because they envisage less than 20 category one academies. So even if the top club still get the very best we would certainly be in a position to recruit from the top drawer.

[/quote]

 

I thought it was a little different to that but with both the clubs being on each other''s doorstep I wouldn''t be surprised if players swapped clubs more than once at a young age for example here is a quote from Lansbury himself:

 

“My mate (Korey) was playing for Norwich one day and I went to go and watch them, and they were short. So I joined in playing for Norwich and they asked me to come along. But then it all split up, the guy who was head at Norwich went to Arsenal, so I went with him there.”

 

Which is confusing given that Korey was with Arsenal at some point (although I don''t know at which ages)

 

The Hertfordshire Satellite was established in 2004 and is just up the road from Potters Bar (when did this close? Is it where Rob Green went as well?) and London Colney home of Arsenal.

http://www.hertssportsvillage.co.uk/football.asp?id=5

Basically the 60/90min rule applies to satellites as well and clubs had to be granted special permission from the FA to be allowed one.

 

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Bet, I think you''ll find Potters Bar closed in 1998 when the new academy rules were put in place. Henri Lanbury was at Potters Bar. A good place to check early careers of our players is Flown The Nest. If you click Henri Lansbury you will see he was with us until the age of nine.  If you follow the Roy Massey link on his page you will see Massey took Lansbury and Simpson to Arsenal when Potters bar closed and the travelling time was introduced. Click Korey Smith and you will see that he didn''t join us until he was 16. As a youngster he was at Arsenal with Lansbury.

 

Beth, all this detective work and info is yours, free of charge. Well nearly. It will cost you a few minutes every week to take part in Rays Funds to help fund our EPPP category one academy[;)]

 

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Beth, all this detective work and info is yours, free of charge. Well nearly. It will cost you a few minutes every week to take part in Rays Funds to help fund our EPPP category one academy[;)]

[/quote]

 

I''ll see if I have £2m laying around here somewhere for the EPPP academy. If not, I should be able to spare some of my (not so) valuable time for the Ray''s Funds. Cheers for the info, always good to fill in some of the blanks in Norwich''s history - could be very exciting times ahead if the academy works out as planned. Barcelona have La Masia, could Norwich get La Little Melton?

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I agree with your last post City 1st except your last para.

I''m afraid the ''With delia at the helm'' bit is not the key. Mr Bowkett most certainly is together with Mr McNally.

You may have been stirring it for some on here, in which case I apologise and will get my coat:)

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It is not automatic that a club is accepted as a Level 1 academy, but from last nights meeting it was said that the pre - board meeting was committed to achieving it,and on that basis I am sure we will.

It is as well to remember that the £2.3m cost and the estimated 18 coaching staff continue whatever league the club is in. This really is an elite status which would help confirm the club at the top level.

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[quote user="Bury Yellow"]I agree with your last post City 1st except your last para. I''m afraid the ''With delia at the helm'' bit is not the key. Mr Bowkett most certainly is together with Mr McNally. You may have been stirring it for some on here, in which case I apologise and will get my coat:)[/quote]

 

By what they said last night I''m sure Bowkett and McNally do agree with that last paragraph so I doubt City1st was stirring it for anyone. I can''t make my mind up if you are "stirring it" Bury or if you really do believe all that anti-Delia nonsense.

 

 

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" You may have been stirring it for some on here "

now who might you have in mind ?

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Bear in mind in relation to the 90 minute radius it covers an awful lot of the North Sea to our East and North so at the moment we suffer an additional handicap.

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Now then Nutty, I am aware you would defend Delia if she invaded Poland :-)

I prefer to just focus on what we do agree on that she is a wonderful supporter of ncfc along with MWJ. I immediately think of her standing in sub zero temperatures at Coventry last year.

Thank you City 1st btw!!

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Yeah I think it is essential for the development and future of this club to have an exceptional youth system and certainly I feel that it is something we need to get on board with now.

Scouting across Europe and North America should be done too. We need to become a centre of excellence and we find ourselves with an opportunity right now to join it and push ourselves forward for the future.

I am sure I remeber that in Philly Man U have a facility that they have invested in as a satellite site. Again this is one of the biggest clubs in the world and we have nowhere near that backing but we can now look at our youth system and take it forward.

Good news.

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[quote user="City1st"]"especially if you consider how many players have made it from our current academy to the Norwich team..." Those coming through will have joined us when we were a middling (at best) Championship club. A higher grade academy wil attract ''higher grade'' youngsters and higher grade coaches, as the money will be there. The current coaching system has been a revelation. How many times have we seen ''average'' players such as Ruddy, Fox, Tierney, R Martin turned into quality players way beyond the level we got them from - even Holt. That is down to both the coaching and the scouting system that identified the abilities and necessary qualities to progress/develop. Imagine that with a good bit more ''ooomph''.

 

 My understanding is that the cost will be, after the grant, around £1.25m a year. Is that such a huge cost ? A player every two years would be enough given the fees we have paid to bring in new players this summer. It also presumes that there are no players that are subsequently sold off to lower league clubs for a reasonable fee or to one of ''the top four'' clubs for a much bigger fee. When you see some of the average ''carlos kickaballs'' that are brought into other Premier League clubs for fees or £8 -10m then I''m sure 6 or 7 years of this type of acadamy will be a far better long term investment.

 

 So a very reassuring commitment to the future from our club. With Delia at the helm I doubt it will be long before European football, if not the Champions League will beckon.[/quote]

 

There is another advantage. Even if it only produces one good player every two years (and there will be some fallow years) that is one good player who is with us and not with a rival club.

 

Years - actually decades ago - the Mail examined the myth about "homegrown players costing nothing" and looked at Arsenal''s youth intake for one year, and followed it through. Virtually all the players fell by the wayside, while the youth academy costs were enormous. And from that annual intake of, say, 20 kids, only one made the first team. But that was Charlie George. Younger posters may need to resort to Wiki at this point. But not only was George worth all that expenditure; he was playing for Arsenal rather than Spurs or West Ham.

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[quote user="Bury Yellow"]Now then Nutty, I am aware you would defend Delia if she invaded Poland :-) I prefer to just focus on what we do agree on that she is a wonderful supporter of ncfc along with MWJ. I immediately think of her standing in sub zero temperatures at Coventry last year. Thank you City 1st btw!![/quote]

I prefer to think of her and the two Michaels as wonderful owners of NCFC. The envy of all but the very biggest clubs. [:)]

 

 

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[quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Bury Yellow"]Now then Nutty, I am aware you would defend Delia if she invaded Poland :-) I prefer to just focus on what we do agree on that she is a wonderful supporter of ncfc along with MWJ. I immediately think of her standing in sub zero temperatures at Coventry last year. Thank you City 1st btw!![/quote]

I prefer to think of her and the two Michaels as wonderful owners of NCFC. The envy of all but the very biggest clubs. [:)]

 

 

[/quote]I reckon you''ve got some saucy pics of Delia hidden under your bed Nige.

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