SIGN KEVIN HARPER NOW!

[a1canary 0]

I''ve bought this up in another post but it deserves a new thread!

He will complete our side for the final promotion push. The perfect winger can
a) run with the ball
b) cross the ball
c) shoot
d) track back and protect his full back

Obviously we can''t all have the perfect winger who can do all this (Giggs'' crossing/shooting is suspect, Gronkjaer''e even worse) but Harper CAN do all this. Brennan perhaps isn''t so much a runner but he can do everything else so we''d have a great balance to the side and be even stronger defensively. Ok it leaves questions over what to do with McVeigh but it''s all about strength in depth and personally i think he needs a rest anyway like Francis has had.
Harper said he wanted to come, he''d cost very little, worthy said he wanted to strengthen further after the Bradford game, SO GO GET HIM NIGE!
Let Rivers go on loan or sell him if poss (I''ve seen the light with him-or rather the lack of light!).

[Mook 0]

Yup, couldn''t agree more with all your points.

He was quality when he was here, looked hungry and had the basic attributes of a very good footballer.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

We''re also helped by the fact that Portsmouth have brought in no fewer than 7 players in the transfer window, including two midfielders. Must push Harper down the pecking order a bit?

[slackey 0]

I think harper is servicing a 4 match ban at the moment. He got sent off against Derby reserves the other week.

[FatMan Fat 0]

Totally agree...I have said on several occassions that Harper would be a good signing...far better than Barmby, for instance. The one area we NEED to strengthen is wide right. Apart from that I am concerned by the signings that other teams have been making to bolster their squads...The Hammers/Baggies etc.
Harper, and maybe a central defender, would give us the squad to win the League - trust me :-0)

[Mook 0]

This is one of the drawbacks of the fans going Huckerby crazy - we could have had two or three players and their wages paid with what we''ve spent/spending on DH.

Not that I care, cos we''ve got him and no-one else has...

[Cobain18 0]

i disagree on this one, i think that we can reach the premier league without him and once we get there, there are much better players than him. i think even now the wingers of mcveigh and brennan give us a better balance than harper would

[Tumbleweed 106]

If we can lose Rivers and Easton that should be easily enough to pay Harper''s wages, the only problem in letting players go is how much they have left on their contract which can get expensive. I wouldn''t have thought that there would be much of a fee involved for thetransfer itself if Pompey have brought in so many other faces.

[Peter 0]

Precisely how long do these two have on their contracts, if 3 years which is the norm should be off contract in the Summer, if not what idiot gave this pair at least four year contracts. Whoever was responsible should answer because it stinks a little as to why and even more why are they still here.

[a1canary 0]

It''s a tough call though with contracts though. Imagine another scenario...

Summer 2000, Rivers signs for city, performs game in game out like he did against pompey last year and in the play off run in the year before, and the big clubs start sitting up and taking note. He gets big headed and decides he wants out.
But some idiot only put him on a three year contract and he walks away for nothing a la Kenton.
Alternatively, some inspired individual put him on a four year contract and southampton come in and pay us a few hundered thou for him.

See, it''s a fine line between said individual being and inspired judge or an idiot!

[Peter 0]

Agreed but is it really a likely scenario, have we ever seen the best of Rivers ?, is there a best of Rivers ?

What about Easton a shrewd bit of business even if only £2k a week, £100k could be better spent elsewhere.

Inspired I hardly think so!

[Flyin High 0]

Think about discipline though, he’s never had a good record…he’s currently serving a 4 match ban…If memory serves me correctly he saw Red playing for Norwich which was the reason he only played a couple of games during his loan spell. What makes you all think he won’t be missing more matches for this reason if we got him back on a permanent basis?!?

[Carl Cort 0]

Rivers has rarely been given a decent run in the first team. When he has, he hasn''t looked bad at all. People are too quick to slate players like easton and rivers who are on the fringes, which is unfair as without getting a game they are unable to retort and it merely damages their confidence a la llewellyn (a decent enough player who was adversely affected by unnecessary criticism). the longer players spend on the sidelines simply being criticised by the fanbase, the lower their confidence drops and the harder it is for them to prove themselves. positive constructive criticism is necessary, but that is not what we have seen on this board. instead, fans have been making snide comments which have no purpose whatsoever other than to lower the confidence of the players in question. if norwich have a few injuries it will be the likes of rivers, henderson and easton who will have to come in as cover (remember how small our squad is). if they come into the squad in some capacity as they surely will before the end of the season, they wont have benefited from the abuse the fans have given them, and the team will suffer from low morale. we need to support all our squad, no matter what we think of them. if theyre wearing the yellow and green, we get behind them.

[FatMan Fat 0]

Dear God...Carl Cort, WHAT are you on about???? LLewellyn and Easton are/were NOT good enough players for us. Rivers is an enigma...against Watford last Season he was superb, but over any reasonable series of matches he is also just not good enough...all the opposition have to do is clout him hard and hetakes no further part in the game :-(]

[Ali Bunkall 0]

Couldn''t agree with you more Carl Cort. Thats not to say players such as Easton and Rivers aren''t up to it or just plain rubbish. Pointless criticism thrown about willy nily, and achieves abssolutly nothing at all. No one can deny that they would feel pressured if 19,000 odd people were saying they were bad. Keep the slagging off quiet...it will only help.

[Tacklebury 0]

"Rivers has rarely been given a decent run in the first team."

What? Two seasons as our right winger isn''t a decent run? He''s had moments, but out of atleast 50 or 60 games played for us over the last two-and-a-half seasons, only a handful of those appearances have been good ones. We''ve been here before - he can''t cross, can''t defend, doesn''t protect his fullback, and only every now and then does he beat his man. Whilst I agree that slagging off your own players during a game is counter productive, the fact is that Rivers has had plenty of time to prove his worth, and hasn''t really taken the opportunity.

[a1canary 0]

You''re missing the point entirely Peter - anything about Rivers/Easton being poor or decent players is irrelevant because at the time you sign them you don''t know how they''re going to turn out, but you do at least assume they have something to offer (even if they don''t) or they wouldn''t have been signed. So the judgement on the length of contract still has to be made and can still turn out to be sound or awful. Having had our fingers burnt a few years back with players on relatively short contracts walking out at the end of them, there may have been a feeling that they needed to be put on longer ones at the time we signed Easton and Rivers.

Re Rivers, regular posters on here will know i''ve often defended him but i''ve given up on him because of his pathetic fitness levels and his inability to stay fit.
THAT is why he has rarely had a decent run in the team - he can''t stay fit. His ability has become an irrelevance as far as i''m concerned because what use is it if you''re never fit enough to show it.
I heard a rumour long ago that he smokes! I found that astonishing that a professional footballer who has to be 110% fit, esp at NCFC, can be a smoker but it seemed to explain a lot. Does anyone know if it''s true/if he still does?

[Peter 0]

OK Guys I take the point about judgement but other than these two if I am right except for Adam Drury and Chris Llewellyn given 5 year contracts, I am unaware of 4 year contracts handed out by this club e.g. Phil Mulryne or Iwan Roberts needed to be resigned after 3 years.

Darren Huckerby only given 2 1/2 years, Leon McK 3 1/2 what about Matt Svenson ?

Admittedly Rivers having cost £600k, NW might have thought about an extended contract was in order, but if Clint Easton meritted a four year contracr someones judgement was seriously flawed, and I sincerely hope never to see the guy in a yellow shirt unless it is for Watford, because if he is we will be having a serious injury crisis.

I would never barrack a player however badly he played but some players should never be put in that situation, especially since these are supposedly confidence players. Let them bnuild up their confidence elsewhere.

[C.A. 0]

Do you remember his last 4 games for us? He didn''t play well and got injured in 2, then played badly against Derby before getting sent off for a shocking tackle. He tried to make up for this by giving one of the worst performances ever given by a Norwich player against Sunderland. If a similar display was given by young Henderson then he would have been booed off the pitch.
Injury prone, over paid and over rated.

[Carl Cort 0]

The point i was trying to make was that criticising the likes of rivers and easton takes away their spirit and will to perform for norwich. and good self-esteem can make the difference between an average and a great performance.