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lake district canary

End of an era.

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The departure of Holt is part of the process that started with his arrival in 2009.   He''s done his job - and what a job - and he was never going to be a Huckerby and adopt our club - so he goes with our blessing.    But what it does show is we have moved on.   We now look forward to a new season, new, upgraded players coming in that will fit in with Hughton''s development plan - and should mean an advancement in the kind of football we will see in the next few seasons.  It feels to me like the end of an era and a step up.  First three seasons were a roller coaster ride. Last season was a consolidation.  Next season will be different class. 

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NewBoy, you beat me to it ;-)

I hope we get some good news too this week, a new striker that can fill the big shoes...

Holt has been a great great player for us and I will always remember his contributions (goals, assists, etc...).

Let''s move on , on the ball City!

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[quote user="TheNewBoy"]We still have Wesley! [/quote]

...........and home many games do you think he will be playing?

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[quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"]We still have Wesley! [/quote]

...........and home many games do you think he will be playing?[/quote]
You tell me where I can find a tardis and I will tell you how many times he plays this season. 

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[quote user="TheNewBoy"][quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"]We still have Wesley! [/quote]

...........and home many games do you think he will be playing?[/quote]
You tell me where I can find a tardis and I will tell you how many times he plays this season. 
[/quote]

I suspect a season on the bench beckons

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[quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"][quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"]We still have Wesley! [/quote]

...........and home many games do you think he will be playing?[/quote]
You tell me where I can find a tardis and I will tell you how many times he plays this season. 
[/quote]

I suspect a season on the bench beckons[/quote]
I think you may be underestimating Hoolahan''s ability. 

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Very true. I''ve been walking around in a bit of a daze today, i still can''t quite believe that the big lad has left. Its been a very long time since we''ve sold a ''key player'' so its a strange feeling! Sammy clinghan, lee croft and david marshall seem like a hundred years ago now.

In my mind, Chris Hughton didn''t feel like Holty would be as integral next season, and Holty didn''t fancy warming our bench and wanted to be closer to his family. I''m certain that Hughton and McNally will get in someone to suitably replace him.

It is a very sad day, but it is the start of an exciting future for us.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/from-the-bottom-to-the-top-norwich-city-striker-grant-holt-steps-down-again-to-move-to-wigan-athletic-8695981.html

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[quote user="TheNewBoy"][quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"][quote user="BigFish"][quote user="TheNewBoy"]We still have Wesley! [/quote]

...........and home many games do you think he will be playing?[/quote]
You tell me where I can find a tardis and I will tell you how many times he plays this season. 
[/quote]

I suspect a season on the bench beckons[/quote]
I think you may be underestimating Hoolahan''s ability. 
[/quote]

Hoolahan is a neat and tidy player in the hole behind the strikers and has been our creative hub but when considering where we are moving to.............

1) Doesn''t score enough goals

2) Too slow

3) Can''t tackle

4) Can''t play wide.

Now if we play Hughton''s favoured 4231 that leaves one place for him to fight Howson for - not clear who would win. If Toivonen finally signs surely even you can see he would be first pick. If we go something like 442 and Fer & Hooper sign there is still no place for him as first choice. I am not saying get rid, what I am saying is he will be a squad player rather than first choice.

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[quote user="lake district canary"]The departure of Holt is part of the process that started with his arrival in 2009.   He''s done his job - and what a job - and he was never going to be a Huckerby and adopt our club - so he goes with our blessing.    But what it does show is we have moved on.   We now look forward to a new season, new, upgraded players coming in that will fit in with Hughton''s development plan - and should mean an advancement in the kind of football we will see in the next few seasons.  It feels to me like the end of an era and a step up.  First three seasons were a roller coaster ride. Last season was a consolidation.  Next season will be different class. 

[/quote]My sentiments exactly (bar the Hughton bit).The ''plucky bunch of nobodies'' have one by one fell away as we have fought our way to the top (division) and stayed there.It is an an of an era. An era where it was us and them. Us challenging against all the odds, against the better favoured teams and the better paid players.It seems we have become them now. The TV money is pretty much a leveller in this league as any variation in money through higher gate money is a far lower percentage of the overall take of most of the clubs we are up against. We can compete on wages and transfer fees. It is up to us now.This was always going to be the case and I''m sure Nutty''s words about it being more fun getting into the PL than being in the PL ring true. however there''s still an awful lot of fun to be had watching some of the world''s finest footballers playing at Carrow Road (and being beaten, and seeing our club playing at the top grounds in te country, on a regular basis.So onwards and upwards.

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Agree 100%  with City 1st. Holty symbolised that struggle. the big fear for me is moving into that Fulham/Stoke/WBA/Newcastle territory where margins of error are small and we now look at buying in established talent. The links with NCFC are tenuous for such players and that is new for us, we have tended to rely on players who become bound to the club, one reason why the Roeder era was such a failure. These last 4 years have been another golden period, this season looks more like the start of the next distinct phase. It is a bit like moving from prep school to big school, excitement tinged with sadness at the passing of that time. One thing is guaranteed, and that is that however much fun the journey to get there has been,  I will never tire of seeing NCFC compete at the top table, welcoming the stars to Carrow Road and sometimes just giving them a little tweak from time to time!

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yep, it''s now the ''big school'' for usthree years of absolute exileration as we fought and scrambled our way up League 1 and finally walked it - stumbled at the off it the Championship but again did the job, just as we did in the first season back in the PL. Absolute magnificent years, not tainted by by seeing some rich persons toy, but being the unfavoured outsiders for each of those seasons, and I dare say we would have overhauled QPR if that season had lasted a bit longerbut it''s now Dutch and Swedish (?) internationals coming in, players with even greater promise and I dare say the same determination as the motley crew of ''old contemptibles'' who saw us through those stunning years (our Glorious History), as I don''t think the mindset of the club will have changed - players who will be looking to have a few seasons with us, rather than a one season mercenary, as one of the most notably things about the last few seasons has been that no one has been sold or moved ''upwards'' - that I suspect is because the players have bought into what we are doing, and have been well checked out before to make sure they will buy into what we are doingso with that school analogy (as above) it certainly is going to seem like a whole new school come August 17th - and a great time to be a City fan

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It is just about maintaining some perspective.  I remember in the summer of 2004 we were wetting ourselves as we signed Danish legend Helveg, Swedish International Jonson and English wonderkid Bentley.  None of them ended up having good let alone great seasons - in fact I think we were all disappointed with their contribution. Although maybe the difference was that we also signed Doherty and Simon Charlton.

 

We have signed loads of players that at the time have been exciting or felt right. All proportional to the circumstances we found ourselves in at the time but Cedric Anselin, Paul Dalglish, Neil Emblen, David Bentley, David Neilsen, Mike Sheron all seemed like the answer at the time. 

 

Who could doubt Peter Thornes goal record in the Championship, a league we were in at the time. Compared to Grant Holt who had struggled at that level and seemed to have found his niche in league 2!

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The end of an era, to be sure, but for the better or not, we will not know until the season starts. Remember, QPR spent a fortune at the same time last season and their supporters were on a crest of a wave with all of the hype and were abruptly brought back down to earth. If we keep our nucleus we should be ok, but too many changes and we could go the same way as them in the destruction of team spirit with jealousies, injury-prone journeymen players only coming for the money etc etc.  Evolution please and not revolution.

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Nathan Redmond maybe? Or Ricky? Olsson? Hmmm,the only journeyman so far is Nash. Who will be third gk. Methinks someone os being overly negative. But why?

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Yes it is , sad but inevitable. I wish him all the best. As soon as his family moved back to Carlisle the writing was on the wall for me and at 32 we probably would have only got another season out of him at this level. On the plus side it is almost a bonus getting £2m for a player of his age

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