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YankeeCanary

A Letter To Mr. Green

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Dear Robert:

I write to you at this time because I sense you must be feeling somewhat disconsolate. On the one hand you are being led to understand that you are on the edge of being England''s next keeper, while on the other hand no solid confirmation of that ranking is appearing on the horizon in the form of Premiership teams vying for your services. It''s kind of like being invited to the ball with the rich and famous but no girl wants to be on your arm. Of course, things may change over the coming days/weeks and, if you are recruited into the higher echelon, no doubt you will put your head into a brown paper bag to stop the hyper ventilating. If not, however, I would encourage you to take a good, long look at your current employer. It is both a good club and a good business with an excellent supporter base. The future will be bright for the organization. Now please don''t take these next words too hard Robert as, while they are hard, they are shared with good intentions at their base. You are not England material at this stage. You are only being invited along because the cupboard is relatively bare. In fact, you are hardly Premiership standard. You have a lot of area for improvement and, quite frankly, that improvement can be made at Norwich. It would not be the worst thing in the world to set an objective for yourself of becoming the most commanding keeper in the Championship. Someone who takes total charge of his area and sets out with purpose to ensure that 40 less goals fly by you this coming season than was the case in the past season. If, as this season progresses, you are on track to achieve that performance level then bigger clubs no doubt will have scouts keeping an eye on you while, at the same time, Norwich fans will adore you. Do not fool yourself into believing that you will be missing out on the 2006 World Cup. It''s not going to happen for you anyway. I admire ambition in any person but it must be balanced with good judgement at your present overall skill and dependency along with where you will have the greatest opportunity to play, grow and develop as a goal keeper over the next several months. Whether you believe it or not, I honestly believe Norwich is your best bet and I absolutely am not saying that from a fan''s perspective of wishing you would stay. Good luck to you however you decide to proceed.

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Well said.

Surprise surpise, the keeper who conceded the most goals in the Premiership last season isn''t exactly proving to be this summers hottest transfer target. He''s got no options left in the Premiership and I think it''s about time he publcly commited himself to the club.

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Yankee, why do you think Green is "hardly Premiership standard"?

There has been lots of people questioning Greeno''s abilities on lots of threads on this board, and they all seem to look at the goals conceded stat whilst ignoring the fact he faced more shots than any other Premiership keeper last season. That is looking at a stat out of context. He saved more shots than any other Premiership keeper, and his saves to shots ratio was better than half the Premiership keepers including van der Sar.

I agree that for England, the choice of keepers is a bit thin and has been for a few years. There just isn''t any Banks / Shiltern / Clemence / Seaman, but from who there is Green deserves to be in the England setup. I can see why he believes being with a Premiership club will improve his chances of being in the England squad next summer

Lets face it he isn''t cheap because of his long contract with us. At £3m he is only going to be bought by a ''big'' club, say Man U / Arsenal / Chelsea / Liverpool, and they will want more experience (like van der Sar). I think thats why he is still with us, and will be at the start of next season.

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Im not at all surprised at the lack of interest in Robert either. I am a little bit disappointed though. £2.5 to 3 million would have been a very nice sum of money to add to the old transfer coffers and I believe the 1st decent transfer fee paid into the club since Bellamy''s departure. Still never mind, Greeno''s here to stay for the time being and Im confident that he''ll enjoy a far better season in the Championship.

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[quote]Im not at all surprised at the lack of interest in Robert either. I am a little bit disappointed though. £2.5 to 3 million would have been a very nice sum of money to add to the old transfer coffers a...[/quote]

You sound like your quite happy to keep selling our top boys greeno and bellers of old for good cash.Please remember we used to have a record of being the selling club we dont want it back again.Not to mention what a stupid exercise it would be to flog your quality players as soon as some money gets waved around. Thats going to make us a really big club in time isnt it.I think not

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always travelling, you''ve probably misconstrued what i''m saying. in the case of greeno,it would make good business sense to sell as we have 3 capable keepers to pick from if he goes. in the case of bellamy, i very much regret the fact that we had to sell him. i merely used his name as he was the last player to command a sizeable transfer fee,and not because i would like to see city return to being regarded as a "selling club". i hope i have made my position a bit clearer.

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stephen nobbs - I can''t believe that you think £2.5 million is better for the club to have than Greeno.  The boy is class and worth 20 points a season, far more than you would get from any striker or midfielder.

If Greeno is still here at the start of the season, I for one will be a very happy man and promotion is looking good.  You also find that if one good player leaves, it can lead to others leaving, so fingers crossed.

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[quote]stephen nobbs - I can''t believe that you think £2.5 million is better for the club to have than Greeno. The boy is class and worth 20 points a season, far more than you would get from any striker or ...[/quote]

Sorry to be picky but if Green is worth 20 points a season then it seems that the rest of the squad only managed 13 last season between them. Doubt that Ashton, Hucks or even Shackell would subscribe to that view!

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dicky, this forum is all about different opinions, and in my humble opinion greeno is a good keeper, but not a great one. up to now all the premiership managers would seem to agree with me too. therefore i stick to my original stance of saying he''s replaceable, unbelievable as that may be! nobody is going to change my mind, so we will have to agree to differ on this topic.

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BORING.I can''t believe people are still trying to find new angles to attack Greeno.Its seems we hate players that don''t perform for the club and we hate them when they do. Pathertic really.

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I don''t think anyone''s attacking Greeno.

I think this is called "a healthy dose of reality" and one that I have had to learn this season. Greeno was not as good as I had first imagined he would be, but then neither was Hucks, Drury or even Gary Holt who I thought would do really well!!

Oh well - shows what I know. Anyhow, Greeno could do a lot worse than stay here and learn the game a little more.

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[quote]BORING.I can''t believe people are still trying to find new angles to attack Greeno.Its seems we hate players that don''t perform for the club and we hate them when they do. Pathertic really.[/quote]

Shock!, I agree totaly with you Big A.

Even I, would never have, dreamed this little insult to Greeno up. Mind you, its what you''d expect from Yankee Canary.

He calls it wit, I would call it a hurtful and totaly unwarrented jibe!.

 

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Sometimes your hypocrisy amazes me Wizard. I empathised with how Robert Green must be feeling and provide some reasoned and sensible advice to him    ( the Lee Bowyer incident suggests that some players do read some of the internet input ) whereas you tell him to s*d off, and I''m being hurtful???? May I suggest you drink a pink potion tonight. That colour will fire the ignition on the right side of your brain. Should you decide, however, to engage in some soul searching ( to seek the truth ) you may want to stick with a clear liquid so as to not produce another murky thought.

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Totally agree Yankee.  The simple fact is, that Green wasnt good enough in the Prem - poor defense aside.  He conceded the most goals and so has therefore raised doubts in a few people''s minds.

I hope he stays for another season, because the chances are he can learn an awful lot. If we happen to get promoted at the end, then he has another pop at the Prem.  If we remain in the Fizzy Pop league then fair enough, time to go.  At least then he has a chance of getting back to what he does best - stopping shots from the Binners!

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I don''t understand why people keep basing assumptions on Green last season on the number of goals he conceeded. Maybe you could argue he doesn''t command his area well enough for the Prem and that didn''t help the defence but it truth it was often awful communication and understanding between our defenders that cost us goals! Midfield players not tracking back also contributed to the problems! Green made some teriffic saves and I think without him our goal difference column could have been even more negative!!! Yes he did make some blunders but I don''t remeber that many!

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People refer to the amount of goals conceded last season for the simple reason that it is a fairly important statistic when considering the ability of goalkeepers.  If you took the time to read the post properly, instead of jumping to incorrect conclusions, then you would have read that i actually laid some of the blame with the defense. 

However, Green is a goalkeeper, his job is to stop shots and so prevent goals.  Whilst he made some good saves, his overall game wasnt up to scratch last season.  I think he has the talent and mindset to become a great keeper and would dearly love for him to stay with us.  He simply has to realise that his game must improve to cut it in the prem and so until it does, the likelyhood of a Prem club paying the money that we are rightly asking for him is unlikely.

Defending what were at times substandard performances will not help us! Despite this i will give Greeno my full support, because he is a Norwich player afterall and is usually a great asset.

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Yes I did take time to read the post properly thank you! My post was not an attack on yours it was a general post because I''ve heard so many people on this board, on other boards and at university judge Green purely on goals conceded. Ok Green may not be the finished article in the Prem but he''s better than a number of premiership keepers already and the way to improve in the premiership is to play in the premiership. He is quality in the Champ but there comes a time when to learn more you need to be playing at the top level.

I don''t see how playing against Hull, Crewe etc is going to help him improve for another season in the Prem. He will learn best under challenging and difficult circumstances - not in the Champ which he has already proved he is too good for! I''m a keeper myself and know that by far the best way to improve is to play for a team of standard above the level of your comfort zone because it pushes you to improve!!

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Lets have another look at the OPTA stats;

RankPlayerTeamSaves MadeSave %
1CechChelsea6583.30%
2CarrollMan United5677.80%
3
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    I would never deny that the best way to improve is to be challenged, however when this happened last season, Greeno failed to make the grade.  Whilst Man U, Arsenal and so on provide excellent competition, they are not realistic for Green until he can pan out his major problems - such as not commanding his area properly or coming to collect corners etc.

    My personal opinion is that another season in the Fizzy Pop wouldn''t be a disaster.  If we are indeed promoted at the first time of asking then Greeno has another chance, only this time he will be older and wiser.  Admittedly some of the blame for last sesaons dreadful conceeding of goals has to be put down to what was at times a dire defense. 

    However if a Prem team comes in with a nice offer then sell him.  Greeno can be replaced and it wouldn be fair to deny him the chance to improve his England credentials.

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    [quote]Yes I did take time to read the post properly thank you! My post was not an attack on yours it was a general post because I''ve heard so many people on this board, on other boards and at university jud...[/quote]

    Go and have a chat with andy marshall he said same must play in prem. He did very well didnt he from hero with us to crap no confidence keeper.I wonder if he thinks he made a huge error by leaving us i think he just might offer to play for us now for no wages.Same could happen to greenoif he left us and i think thats why he is staying.

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    Why shouldnt I mention the goals conceded as a negative to Greeno''s previous campaign.  I''ll be damned if doesnt have anything to do with the ability of the keeper.  Whilst i accept that the entirety of the blame cannot lie solely with the keeper, there comes a point when you have to accept that he perhaps didnt have the impact that many - including myself - thought he would.

    Greeno has been great for Norwich and i definitely hope he stays at the club.  I''m only stating the fact that i was slightly disappointed by him last term and i dont care if some official stat says otherwise to be truly honest.

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    Stats are just facts !  trouble with facts  is  they take no account  of   fuzzy things, like  all the factors  that led to a keeper letting in a goal !    like  was the shot " unstoppable "  [ rare ]   , was the keeper  at fault  due to poor positioning , wrong  decision making , too late seeing the ball , unable to hold the ball  , even though  it came to hand ....   and so on , the same goes for saves !   what  was the quality of the saved shot ?  like , my granny could have  saved that with her handbag , drops into the keepers hands , had to leap the full length of the goal .. etc etc

    As has been said many times  , Greeno had a full season in the prem  , and           he blew it !    before someone jumps on me from a great height,  lets not forget that , prior to the start of the season , he  was mooted as an England  keeper !!!  

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    I can see we need a poll here. Is greeno good, bad or indifferent? Myself, I think he is a good keeper, but I''d still gladly bite anybody''s hand off if they came in with £3 million for him.Incidentally, is this thread going to run for eternity?

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    [quote]Go and have a chat with andy marshall he said same must play in prem. He did very well didnt he from hero with us to crap no confidence keeper.I wonder if he thinks he made a huge error by leaving us ...[/quote]

    Yep point taken with Andy Marshall but I believe Green has the potential to be and probably already is a much better keeper than Marshall is!!! Some keepers can make the step up, others can''t - you don''t know until you''ve tried and been under pressure. If you''re not prepared to take the risk then it doesn''t say much for ambition!

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    [quote]Why shouldnt I mention the goals conceded as a negative to Greeno''s previous campaign. I''ll be damned if doesnt have anything to do with the ability of the keeper. Whilst i accept that the entirety ...[/quote]

    Why shouldn''t you indeed! That''s you''re opinion and you''re totally entitled to voice that! I do agree that for goalies the number of goals conceded is really important and Green doesn''t command his area well enough yet which undoubtedly did lead to confusion amongst the defenders and potentially more goals conceded! However having played for a side in a league higher than their ability (College B teams at Durham can be no lower than league 3 out of 4 irrespective of standard!) I do know that it''s very possible to let in loads of goals no matter how good your goalie is! I still think that the way for Green to improve is in the prem - I hope he stays and I hope that improvement is made with Norwich next season!

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