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So the "Tapping Up" has started. Are we strong enough to keep our best players?

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With Rangers after Captain Holt, and Newcastle amongst others sniffing around Surman and R Martin, it seems like our better players are attracting interest from other teams.http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/norwich_city_s_russell_martin_and_andrew_surman_reported_targets_for_newcastle_united_1_1220039Of course the Ranger''s offer was rejected for Holt, but it was allegedley a very poor offer of about 500K. How strong is the mettle of the club if a serious offer came in for one of our key players? I''m sure that they would take each offer on it''s own merit, and hope that the club would not just sell for a quick buck like we have in the past.Also how will the players react to getting noticed by other teams. I remember Etuhu and more importantly Damien Francis were very effected by tapping up in previous campaigns. I hope our new group of players are mentally stronger, with more of a team ethic about them. I''m sure PL wouldn''t want any player who is not 100% committed.

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This is a serious problem we''ll have in the summer with any of of regular players.  Another teams comes along offering much higher wages and we could be stuffed.

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The timing of this ''article'' is odd.Why come out with it a few weeks after the transfer window? Anyway,no i don''t think players will be unsettled due to said timing.

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I don''t think its a ''serious'' problem to be honest.

There will be interest in a few of our players, but I think there are many factors that means its not going to be that likely that many/any will leave.

For a start, we could very (should perhaps now) easily finish top half, Lambert on the most part, has a bunch of players that work well in a team, aren''t just looking for the biggest paycheque, and are dedicated to the cause. (And I think, for some players, perhaps the kind of players Lambert signs, playing is more/just as important and the money, like it was for Hucks). We don''t need to sell players, we will probably increase the wage budget a bit and offer a few players increased pay (or maybe not).

I''m sure there will be interest, perhaps a couple of players will leave, but I don''t think any/many players will particularly want to leave, unless a club offers them ridiculous wages and/or trophy winning potential.

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My thoughts exactly Herman. When I read it I was like "what''s the point of this article?"

They''re never gonna go on loan so what''s the point when nothing can be done about it. Who cares what other teams think when the transfer window''s shut?

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It goes with the territory I''m afraid.We should be more worried if no other club wants our players which has been the case for a fair few years now.

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At least we know that if any player goes, we will get what we want for him, and not just accept any old offer.

We have to accept that these things will happen. If nobody wants our players, it means we''re probably sitting at the wrong end of the table.

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[quote user="Alan BowCLUCK"]It goes with the territory I''m afraid.

We should be more worried if no other club wants our players which has been the case for a fair few years now.
[/quote]

We haven''t sold any player that we didn''t want to for ages.Maybe that is a guarantee the board have given to Lambert,and any enquiries that have come in  for our top players have been kicked quickly into touch?!

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CMS being the biggest example. But Bennett (E.) who we actually signed, there was a bit going around about us wanting him before we signed him.

But not too many accurate rumours really, Lambert doesn''t announce players he wants to sign, and not too much gets out (don''t remember seeing rumours for players like Vaughan, Pilks etc)

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Lambert and McNally are strong minded and savvy enough to try and curry favour out of newcastle i think.If they want Surman and Russ martin we will swap for Demba Ba in return and 3 million pounds perhaps?

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as long as the board give Lambert the decision on who goes/stays then I can''t see too many going. If they do go then it will be for 100% monetary reasons and not 1st team football (that MOST of our players value more than anything else I believe). Many of our current players have shown and spoken of thier admiration for the manager and appreciate the chances he has given them.....this is still more important to some players believe it or not!

 

other teams will ALWAYS begin rumours to unsettle other clubs int he run-in to the end of season.

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Every player has a price.  If Newcastle came in and offered £10-12million for the pair of them, I don''t think we''d say no.  I wouldn''t want them to go as they''re both important parts of the team, but if the right offer comes in, we would have to take it.  Although we haven''t sold anyone we didn''t want to for a while, I don''t think we''ve really had the players that clubs have been queing up for, until this season. 

 

It should be an interesting summer.  I''m sure our wage budget would have to increase, although i''d expect it to be layered so if we went down the wages reduced. 

 

Also worth remembering, we''ve been doing what Newcastle ''reportedly'' are doing to us.  We signed Holt, Crofts, Whitbred, Tierney, Jackson, Morrison, Fox, Johnson, Howson, Bennett''s etc, all because we offered a higher standard of football, and a better financial package. 

 

I''ll be surprised if we see any major or surprising exits in the summer, but if the right money is paid, then deals will be done.  Our players stock will have risen dramatically this season, Pilks, Martin, Fox, Morrison, Holt, Hoolahan, Tierney, Whitbred and Ruddy would all be worth upwards of £3/4 million, some of those probably upwards of £5/6million.

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To use a old cliche, every player has a price.

Do you think Liverpool wanted to sell Torres or Newcastle Carroll last season? (both player will also now be wishing they weren''t sold).

We aren''t an extremely rich club, and if McNally thinks we have the potential fan base to increase the stadium by how ever much, he might be quite happy to speed up/partially fund that with a couple of high profit sales. I''m sure your average bid, Lambert will have a strong say on it, but if say Newcastle really wanted R.Martin, and bid £5 million, could the bored really say no? Replace him with a 2-3 million player and we''ve made a profit, and have some money in the bank for paying off debt.

I don''t think too many of our players will be looking at leaving, unless on of the actual big clubs wanted them, to be honest, I wouldn''t be surprised if the players expect us (based on Lambert''s continued improvement) to be as good/better than Newcastle next season...

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If a club comes in offering any of our players double or triple their wages (and they can''t be on that much currently) then I would be surprised if they didn''t want to move - so far most of them have only played in the lowers leagues and will not have the serious contract behind that will secure theirs, and their family''s, financial futures. A 4 year deal at a club like Newcastle would do that and we couldn''t compete with £30K or £40K a week offer, and to be honest I don''t think we should commit ourselves to any deals like that.So, I think the club won''t want to sell but we have to realise that these guys need to make as much money in the next five years as they can...but I really hope Martin stays (my favorite player since Gary Holt!)

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I agree that if you want to have a good team you accept other sides will be after your players.

 

But at this stage of the season isn''t this just Pardew trying to unsettle a side breathing down his sides neck and threatening their chances of European football? That''s a double compliment in my book.

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To be honest... big money aside I don''t think any of our players would swap NCFC for another club right now.Close season may be a different thing though.

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luckly for us, the success of the team this season has not been down to 1 or 2 outstanding players getting us into a good league postion or even 3 or 4 players. its been though the team playing well as a team, having great team spirit and a good mangement team behind us this means two things:1. we are less likley to lose the "1,2,3 or4 players that have kept us up, as the whole team seems to be getting the credit equally.2. if we do lose 1,2,3 or 4 players we are not relient on induviduals as we rely on playing well as a team and have no real outstanding superstars. I think PL has proven this by his roatation this year with no outfeild players being guarentied a place in the team. One game its holt/jackson another morrison, one week bennet the next pilks etc etc3. The credit does not go to an 1,2,3, or 4 players and a team of players deemed not to be "superstars, or proven premeir league players" this does mean that more credit goes to the manager though and that worries me more than losing any player. esp with the villa, chelsea and spurs jobs may all be up for grabs come the summer which may mean a manager merry go round and that worries me, not hanging onto the players but hanging onto the manager this summer. bottom line the players are all replaceable the manager is not

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i think any team looking  at our players has to take the lambert effect in to account, players like russell martin and surman would just go back to being ordinary under someone like alan pardew...its no coincidence that so many of our players were going nowhere with there careers until lambert got into there heads [:D]

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I think it is great news, we have not made good money on selling players for years. We will need to sell to still move forward and we will have to constantly build, that is the excitement of football, youngsters coming of age or new signings who can take a place for a player that you wish well.

 

I do think that in a footballers career you are veyr lucky if you experience promotion etc. It can only last for so long before others take notice and I agree the Lambert factor is big. But us much as I like Russel Martin, if a move meant that we could bring in Kyle Naughton then for me it would be a great piece of business. Martin has improved year on year and is consistent, but Naughton can improve at a more dramatic pace and have the potential to be worth very big money. Surman is a difficult one, I can see where he could fit in for Newc. but I also think he is showing his worth here at the moment. The rotation has been godo for the players individually because they have remained fresh and have been able to find a little form and then not have the trouble of maybe losing form dramatically as we search for an elusive win. Which again is down to Lambert.

 

As always these are reports and rumours, nothing wrong with that. It is the reaction of the player on the pitch that is important. A player should be aware that potential scouts are at all games and hence when speculation like this is in the public domain, they will look to see the reaction. Personally I can see both players upping their games amongst this type of rumour and that is the right reaction.

 

But if we had an offer for R. Martin and that could allow us to bring in Naughton I would say that is good business, holding both would be good too. But I do think you cannot hold a player for too long that is being shown interest.

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