Underwhelmed

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,425]

Underwhelmed before a ball is kicked in anger.........unbelievable.

[Highland Canary 76]

Yet another thread which soon degenerates into a debate

about the validity, or otherwise, of various posters’ views.  A forum should be about debate of the issues

– those whose views are pessimistic are equally valid to those who are more

positive.

If not ‘underwhelmed’ I must confess to being at least

‘concerned’ about our preseason.  Just

because we finished 12^th does not confer safety for next

season.  Bolton were relegated from a 14^th

spot finish the previous season. Those of us who have followed City for many

years appreciate football is a cyclical business. At some point our fortunes

will turn – hopefully not this season. But our signings thus far indicate we do

not have the financial muscle to compete with many – if any – of the other

premier league clubs. In such circumstances an incremental improvement to the

squad is the strategy thus the club has chosen to follow. A question which is

therefore valid to ask is – have we strengthened our squad relative to the

teams around us in the relegation mini-league?

As has been extensively debated elsewhere, I

would argue that the loss of Naughton, Drury and Whitbread and their

replacements by Whittaker and Turner does not represent the strengthening that many

of us feel is necessary in our defence. 

I also think that we need another striker to support/provide competition

for Holt. I simply don’t believe that should Holt be injured at the beginning

of the season Vaughan (assuming he’s still here), Jackson and Morison have

enough goals between them to keep us in the premier league

[ca 1]

[quote user="colneycanary"]Good post pete and your opinions are shared by many fans I''ve been speaking too. And not posters on here. After being told we''ve got the biggest transfer budget in our history, and then we spend less than a lot of Championship teams. ![/quote]

I''m also surprised we haven''t spent more money too, so far we''ve spent around £4m ish on Snodgrass, Turner and Butterfield plus wages so I''m still hoping that we''ll spend a few millions on Curtis Davies and a few million on another decent striker.

We must have a decent budget as weren''t we told promotion was worth about £90m ??

[hogesar 9,736]

Well at least the PinkUn is managing to travel back in time and get back to what it was so sublime at pre-lambert.

Moaning.I''m looking forward to the new season, but then again there''s a difference between those looking forward to a new season with a new manager in the `best league in the world`.That being, i''m actually a Norwich fan.

[hogesar 9,736]

[quote user="cityangel"]

[quote user="colneycanary"]Good post pete and your opinions are shared by many fans I''ve been speaking too. And not posters on here. After being told we''ve got the biggest transfer budget in our history, and then we spend less than a lot of Championship teams. ![/quote]

I''m also surprised we haven''t spent more money too, so far we''ve spent around £4m ish on Snodgrass, Turner and Butterfield plus wages so I''m still hoping that we''ll spend a few millions on Curtis Davies and a few million on another decent striker.

We must have a decent budget as weren''t we told promotion was worth about £90m ??

[/quote]As hard as this may be to comprehend, when you get promoted someone doesn''t hand over 90 million cash to McNally with a passing statement of "Don''t spend it all at once".I think there''s a little more to it.

[colneycanary 0]

Why the name calling? Just because he has voiced his opinions( that''s what this board is for), you start insulting him? What''s all that about? No wonder a lot of posters are leaving this bored, because they''re fed up of being insulted for anything they right. Just because you don''t agree with him, doesn''t give you the right to insult him! Some people really do need to grow up and stop the name calling. It''s like being back at School!

[hogesar 9,736]

[quote user="colneycanary"]Why the name calling? Just because he has voiced his opinions( that''s what this board is for), you start insulting him? What''s all that about? No wonder a lot of posters are leaving this bored, because they''re fed up of being insulted for anything they right. Just because you don''t agree with him, doesn''t give you the right to insult him! Some people really do need to grow up and stop the name calling. It''s like being back at School![/quote]No, because if it was School, i would have no choice but to point out that you''ve used the incorrect spelling for `write` with the utmost of ignorance....

[ImDrunky 0]

We''re doing good signings, not spending big amount of money on "big" players and not risking financial problems at our club, I''m proud & respect Ncfc for that.

As for pre season, you must be a fool to read anything in that, like someone posted, we didn''t exactly do well in the last pre season we had with Lambert. I''m under no illusion we will be ok this season, I know it will be tougher than before, but I''m going to believe our squad will give it their 100% and i''ll back them all the way, win or lose.

[Gingerpele 0]

The first person to start insulting in this thread Conley was someone who agreeded with the OP. it works both ways. But no, anyone who has a swirly negative opinion on something NcFc has to turn to insults and never lets anyone have a different opinion, how on earth could we let that happen?

Come on, us Delia loving, happy clapping sheep have to drown out any negativity by resorting to childish insults and forceing people of this message board.

Or, that''s a load of rubbish, and the fact is nearly everyone (including me) have to just start accusing others when someone disagrees with you on the Internet. Do you do that in person? I can''t remember ever having a discussion face to face that goes anything like we have on here.

[Gingerpele 0]

Colney of course, autocorrect isn''t always right...

[Branston Pickle 3,683]

Sorry colney, I just can''t see the logic to what you''re saying. We finished last season in 12th place, so certainly didn''t need a massive overhaul, but incremental improvements: with that in mind we have increased the quality/depth by signing Snodgrass and Butterfield, and have replaced the defenders that left - other than Drury where IMO we could do with l/b cover (I''m not sure Lapps is really a long-term PL defender)....clearly work was needed in defence, but is often as much formation related as personnel and I''m sure CH is concentrating big-time on this area (and look at Brum''s record last season).

Massive signings were never realistically on the cards for us this season, but I''m sure there is more £ there and wouldn''t be surprised if something happened before the window closes. But even if not, I just can''t see the need for over the top negativity before a ball has been kicked in anger.

[Brentwood Yellow 0]

I fail to fathom the logic that you''ve got to spend a lot of money to guarantee survival. I also cannot understand the negativity about our current squad, which is already better than last year''s with the signings we have made.

Take ipswich as an amusing example. They had a reasonable season buying within their means. Suddenly became far too big for their boots, and blew their entire transfer budget and more on a load of expensive flops like George, Sereni etc. Completely ignored the way they had gone about business to get them where they were, were relegated and went into administration. Do people actually want us to follow this pathetic model?

Also, to all the moaners, who do you REALISTICALLY want us to buy?

Give Hughton a chance. He''s just arrived at the club.

[lake district canary 0]

Is it an age thing?   Are Colney, Pete, and Ncfc and their friends of an age where they think money grows on trees?    It''s these sorts of posters that if their view becomes too prominent, it will not seem worth posting on here.    Never happy, never got a good thing to say about anyone, no apparent recognition of what is actually happening.  Just a  moronic "durr....where''s all the new expensive players?" "durr....why don''t we win 4-0 every match"    "durr....who can we have a go at next" "durr...."  Durr...."

 

 

I suspect that it is these types of fan who have come along recently, think "whoopee, we''re in the premiership"  "whoopee, we''ve got millions of pounds to spend"  "whoopee, I''ve wet meself"  and then wonder why things aren''t quite as simple as they thought - so their only recourse is to start moaning on, even before the season has started.

 

 

Grow up!   

 

 

 

[Phillip J Fry 0]

[quote user="colneycanary"]Does the board really want us to stay in the Prem? [/quote]

You can''t seriously believe that they don''t.

[TIL 1010 4,789]

[quote user="cityangel"]

 so far we''ve spent around £4m ish on Snodgrass, Turner and Butterfield plus wages [/quote]

Where on earth did you get the £4 million from Angel as all three were signed for undisclosed fees and surely you have no clue as to what their wages amount to.It just mystifies me at times how posters conjure up figures based on rumour and tittle tattle cleaned on messageboards and that wonderful social network called Twitter.

 

 

[TIL 1010 4,789]

[quote user="TIL 1010"]

[quote user="cityangel"]

 so far we''ve spent around £4m ish on Snodgrass, Turner and Butterfield plus wages [/quote]

Where on earth did you get the £4 million from Angel as all three were signed for undisclosed fees and surely you have no clue as to what their wages amount to.It just mystifies me at times how posters conjure up figures based on rumour and tittle tattle cleaned on messageboards and that wonderful social network called Twitter.

[/quote]

Gleaned even[:$]

[Monty13 2,248]

Personally have no problem with people airing their negative views, its their opinion, however it would be nice if some of these opinions were backed up by any take on the available evidence. I''ve got no problem with someone telling me something negative if they have something to back it up with. All too often on this board if you try to back up your opinion with any sort of facts or interpretation of available evidence the the debate either finishes or resorts to being childish.

So with respect to the original poster

"At this stage of pre season I am underwhelmed by City''s progress" - We haven''t made any, its preseason, and as many have already pointed out on other threads are results in preseason are comparatively slightly better than last year when we lost to Palace.

"Not happy with the way Chris Hughton has invested the largest transfer chest available to a City manager or is this just pure bollox?" - Well forgive me but I don''t think the window is slammed shut yet so maybe he will spend more, we usually do our business early but with the change of manager who needs time to assess the squad you would surely be surprised if he had immediately blown all of our budget. If we don''t get anybody else in then your right this will be an area of much debate.

"Not happy with pre season results yes clean sheets are good but only if we can keep these in the Prem it was scoring goals which kept us in the position we ultimately achieved." Well as said above our preseason last year was dire on the goalscroring against credible opposition yet we then achieved what you have said in your line, lots of goals and a 12th finish. All of our main threats are still here so how do you surmise this year would be different?

"Would like to see a couple of loanees of sufficient quality no apparent movement on that front." Maybe we could do with loans, where and why do you think so, who? also how do you know there isn''t movement, loans usually happen later on when managers have started to finalise their own squads and know who can be released. Personally I would rather we buy now in our second year, especially as although Naughton was sensational De Laet was less so.  

"Would like see cover for the Full Backs." I agree and I think most do, Lappin is a hard worker but we lost Drury and ultimately need a Left Back as first choice replacement or cover for Tierney. 

"Would like to see possible added striker options." Yep fair enough opinion, but who? why? as you said we scored loads last year.

"Turner looks solid addition in central defence" yep agree, did very well at Hull, Ok at Sunderland, could turn out to be a great bit of business.

"but is Whittaker a good option as defensive cover?" who knows, have you seen him play? what are your doubts based on?  We haven''t seen him play really and we obviously went in early to secure his signature so the management must think he has something about him.

"Pre Season is a time for looking forward to the new season like a number on this Board I have severe misgivings not enough has been done" It is for us, for the management its trial and error on tactics, and player assessment time, for the players its getting fitter and avoiding injury. What has not been done by a man whose been in the job 2 months, 2 weeks of which everyone was on holiday? Holts got a new contract, we have brought in 4 players. There''s still time for more and nothing competitive has happened

"I hope I''m just being negative and not a soothsayer."

Well you are being negative and as I said I have no problem with that. I just wish some of the negative posters would give some evidence or facts to back up there negative opinions otherwise I can''t really understand why they have them. A messageboard is a place for people to air there opinions but all to often people just say all this negative stuff and don''t explain why they have come to these conclusions.

[Canarygeorge 0]

Excellent post Monty.

[Stig 0]

Mr.Chops, I was just giving an example to which point I would keep supporting Norwich. If it looked like we needed a last ditch attempt at staying up etc etc.

Which we won''t ;] fingers x

[Mahogany 0]

We''ve sign a player who many believe was the best player in the Championship; one of the hottest prospects from outside the Premiership; a defender who moved to his last club for about 6m and is still in his prime; and a versatile defender who has played about 40 times in European competition. All that for around a third of a Joe Allen. Seems pretty impressive to me.

[step 0]

as the saying goes "Think you have just won your case" Mahogany !

[Dubai Mark 0]

Despite the usually trading of a few insults, this is actually a decent thread and just the type of topic that should be discussed. We seem to have a more people than I expected negative after a reasonably decent pre-season, but I can understand their fears. I''m on the more positive side of the fence, and believe we have just enough for what will be a very tough season. But, feel that we could have strengthened the squad a little better and am prepared to wait, as I have a feeling we will see one or two more in before the end of the window.  CH must be given TIME and I too fear that a few will jump on him a bit early if the season doesnt start well for us, and it may not.

[bloodwagon 0]

Wow morty13, that post shouldn''t really be on this board, as its far to rationale, as most will not understand it and some will not read it,Yes i agree with all you said. I couldn''t have put it better myself.

[BroadstairsR 2,202]

I am slightly underwhelmed too, but not quite sure how I can back that feeling up with facts.

I''ll try. I really think we need a class striker and if one isn''t purchased before the season''s start then we could be troubled. Not really a fact, more an opinion.

Fact: Holty is a year older and may not reach last season''s heights.

Fact: Morison remains an enigma so we do not quite know what to expect.

Fact: Vaughan''s fitness prospects are in doubt.

Opinion: C. Martin is not the complete article. There are flaws.

Opinion: As much as I like Jacko, I would not want him as a starter.

Apart from that, Monty is spot on. Opinion.

[Gingerpele 0]

[quote user="bloodwagon"]Wow morty13, that post shouldn''t really be on this board, as its far to rationale, as most will not understand it and some will not read it,Yes i agree with all you said. I couldn''t have put it better myself.[/quote]

Here we go again, more insulting generalisation because of a few idiots...

[ROBFLECK 132]

My main worry is the leftback position, but we''ve done good bussiness in the transfermarket apart from that. I just think everybody''s looking at the signings that teams around us have made... There is certainly some class among them! But it''s no use looking at others and we''ve kept most of the team that finished 12th! But we are not a surprise package anymore, so I too fear there will not be as much goals in our forwards as there was last season!

I don''t feel underwhelmed but I am anxious about the lack of goals...yes it''s preseason, but goals = confidence for strikers.

I''ve got confidence in CH and I just can''t understand people slagging him off, before the season has even started!!! I do think he at least needs to get one more in before the window closes!

[Hog 0]

I''m a little underwhelmed but only because of comments made which gave the impression that we were casting our net further afield for players and had the biggest ever NCFC transfer budget, I think like many these comments instantly transported our summer transfers into the realms of Football Manager. I am still sure that the Full Back situation will be sorted but sadly I cannot see another striker coming....that puts a lot on Holts shoulders as I cannot see the others hitting the 15 goal mark

[Bethnal Yellow and Green 1,589]

Just a little aside but I am surprised with the lack of excitement people have over the signing of Michael Turner - he has plenty of Premier League experience and will really help to make our defence much more solid. He will also provide a threat going forward from set pieces (although that is something Norwich were good at last season).

 

As for lack of spending, I would also imagine Michael Turner is one of the highest paid players Norwich have ever had.

 

Every season for the next 3 or 4 years the main priority is going to be Premier League survival as Norwich look to secure themselves in the Premier League - I''m not sure what some fans are expecting, but I would say we are matching the spending of many of our direct rivals next season, if not out spending them. Who have Wigan, Stoke, Sunderland, West Ham, WBA, Reading, Swansea and Southampton actually added? In my opinion we have done better business than all those teams.

[urdie_Canary 33]

I understand a few of your points, but its pre season and all about getting the fitness up.I would love to see a few proven premier league players arrive, I think this is a must if we''re going to better last seasons finish, as everyone around us is strengthening quality which are proven at this level.

[ROBFLECK 132]

Bethnal, I think MT is a great signing and I am excited by the new season, as for the other teams, I have to say , some of them have made some great signings (too):

Swansea Michu and De Guzman (both class players I assure you)

So''ton: Rodriguez (but overpriced I agree)

West Ham: Diarra is a good player!

WBA: El Ghannasy , Rosenberg, ...

We''ve done good bussiness too...but we''ve not outspent them Iassure you