The Next Step - Reassuring noises coming from Carrow Road...

[blahblahblah 2]

...regarding the run in and next season.  I must admit that I had been troubled by the thought of the prize money being almost a disincentive to finish high up the table for the negative minded  -  We''re in a situation where players are playing to win extra money for the club, so that the club can make first team players reserves, and put reserve players out of the picture, which the negative-minded might consider a "Turkeys voting for Xmas" scenario.  Thankfully there has been no evidence of negativity - I suppose that footballers consider regular moves to be part of the job.  A good core of players who put the team first, and who can see the value of being part of a constantly improving unit, has been assembled - I guess the question is, are "good eggs" rarer where the money is higher ?  Have Premiership players been spoilt by success / money ?Keeping the team ethic, while bringing in potentially more able players, will I suspect be key to further improvement.  The players who come in over the summer will probably be from the lower leagues again, although I wonder how long we will be able to mine this seam, comments from Paul Lambert back this up, although that may have been to take people off the scent of his transfer interest.  2 seasons ago, last season, the whole management team were able to see the opposition inside and out at lower levels, to plan against their strengths and weaknesses, had to prepare our squad to deal with theirs.  Are there the hours in the day to keep tabs on the better players at the lower levels, while also keeping focused on the games ahead ?The higher we go, the harder it gets to improve.  This summer could well be the biggest challenge so far, as we attempt to improve, while trying to  keep "richer" Premiership clubs at bay for our best players.

[First Wazzock 904]

Good post Blah x3.

I think there are some good players (not lots but some) playing at a lower level, that perhaps the bigger Premier teams wouldn''t go for. Our secret weapon is Team Lambert, that seems to unlock that extra 10%, thus turning a good player into a great team player. I agree that there must come a time when we go for top league experience over untried talent, but at this moment in time it is working well and must have exceeded everybody''s expectations.

[. 0]

I think a few thousand here or there matters very little to these well paid modern players and being ''safe'' now means Lambert will have verry little ammunition to fire. He will be quietly satisfied.I still say that after three incridibly intense seasons without let up, this is the first chance the club as a whole has had the chance to relax. It''s pretty much human nature to stop hunting when there is sufficient food in the store.Eyes are on next season now and this one is merely a distraction.... maybe not for the fee paying supporters though.

[Juggler 7]

It''s been reported in a number of places that our players are amongst the lowest paid in the division in terms of basic pay. I suspect that this will be topped up with a big chunk of the money earned for finishing position meaning the players can be rewarded for performance but only from money earned for the club. This would tie in with the big bonuses paid last season for earning promotion. This would obviously mean that not all that money will be going into the transfer pot.

Signings for next season from the lower divisions will become harder as more teams try to follow the ''Norwich model''. Nigel Adkins and Brian McDermott, if they make it, will probably look to do something similar and I bet alot of Prem chief executives are asking their managers why they can''t find players this way.

It will be harder next season but we now have a good squad to build on so can concentrate on quality rather than quantity.

[Aggy 766]

I think the thing is, the way our squad works, the majority don''t feel as though they are nailed on starters, nor do they think they are nailed on reserve players. Just flicking through the team profiles on the website, and out of those players who aren''t out on loan and haven''t been injured for the most part, there''s only really Lappin who hasn''t featured much at all this season. Barnett has gone off the radar, but the rest have all played fairly important roles at one time or another. So players are always fighting for their place in the team, and if they''re out of the team, their main focus is on getting back into it.

As an extension of the fact that most of the squad has played at least some part this season, you''d think that even people who were expecting to leave in the summer would want to show they can cut it in the prem, in order to attract a higher wage from their next club - if we''re going down the cynical route.

[Bill 1,788]

" agree that there must come a time when we go for top league experience over untried talent"eh ?So where did these ''top league experience'' players get that ''''top league experience'' ... could it be playing in the top league, which means they had to start a game with NO top league experience at some time ?It is football. You do not play a different game in the Premier League. There will always be enough good quality players outside of the Premier League who can play in the Premier League. The skill is not only in identifying those who have the necessary skils and abilityl, but also have the aptitude to fit in with the current ethos of the club.

"...this is the first chance the club as a whole has had the chance to relax"Yep, I can see that from the likes of McNally and Lambert. " There''s a possible £11.2m within our grasp, but who cares. You can travel to Fulham with the same casual, couldn''t care less attitude as the team did last time we played there. Oh, and your bonuses are guaranteed wherever you finish in the league, as are ours"