That's about one in three, which isn't bad. I still wonder where the goals will come from next season, as does this blog: https://norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk...cessity-but-that-doesnt-mean-city-are-doomed/ Not doomed maybe, but not full of hope either.
Josh Murphy Transfer to Cardiff confirmation link below http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/spor...etes-premier-league-move-to-cardiff-1-5557744 seems we are still interested in making Leitner's loan permanent if a deal can be reached with his parent club, hope it comes off, would be a great replacement for Maddison if/when he leaves
I didn't get to see much of Leitner on the pitch. The pinkun just had a live chat discussing him, and there was a feeling that he wanted to try and operate in the same areas as Maddison. As a result, we never really saw the best of Leitner. Anybody on here think similarly based on what they've seen?
I can see where you are coming from Rick if you were hopeful of an improvement on last season on the pitch. Personally, I was already resigned to a couple of years of consolidation and my fear is another period like the 1960's where we just drifted aimlessly in the Championship despite a constant change of Managers and playing staff. The accounts for last season will be interesting and whilst I hope for the best I fear that a further loss will be revealed unless we got all of the money for Pritchard. Even without that our main priority has to be clearing the external debt carried over from the previous season and the sale of Murphy and Maddison should do that and will also reduce the wage bill. We still have the problem of trying to break even next season without the parachute money and that might be easier said than done. If we need, say, a squad of 25 and include in that only Cantwell, Morris and Mathews of the youngsters out on loan last season and also include McLean and the other player we have just bought then that leaves room for only 20 others and there lies the problem. Last season due to the parachute payment we had the flexibility to send players out on loan and help with their wages. This season we will not have the money to do that. Any player who by the end of August has not been sold or loaned out with the receiving Club paying their full wages will have to appear in the squad and we have several high wage earners in that category. This, quite simply, means we not only can't replace them but also makes it difficult to reduce the wage bill. I'm sure that SW and DF would be happy to see the back of Naismith, Martin, McGovern, Jarvis, Wilschut, Oliviera, Franke and perhaps a couple more but I fear that the majority will still be here at the end of August and have to appear in the squad which will restrict our ability to recruit, our ability to cut the wage bill and our hopes of an improvement on the pitch.
The other pseudo-rumour perhaps worth mentioning is that Marvin Ducksch's move to Fortuna Dusseldorf has apparently collapsed. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a queue of potential suitors for BuLi. 2's top scorer, but by the sounds of it Norwich remain very keen. If the player is keen to play in BuLi. 1 though I suspect he'll have offers.
Naismith, Martin, McGovern, Jarvis, and Wildschut are all out of contract after next season. Naismith may go out again. Even if we have to pay half his salary it would be better than paying all of it. I don't know if Jarvis can still play at this level after two years of injuries but I liked what I saw of him two years ago. We may get some use from him and Wildschut (if we can't unload Yanic). All in all, it looks like another year of waiting.
I didn't mean to sound worried, OCF, just being realistic. Things are shaping up, but slowly. My only concern is who will we sell next summer to fund the club? I expect us to be mid-table again.
Of Naismith, Martin, McGovern, Jarvis, and Wildschut, only Naismith & Jarvis are likely to be on high wages, having come from PL club's. Reducing the wage bill won't be as drastic as last season, which should help over the long term. Getting Leitner back would help and Ducksch as well is about as much as we can hope for really. Mid table again is about right, IMO.
Mid table is where I expect us to be CS - about three places below the Binners unfortunately. I see us about 12th with the binmen around 7th or 8th.
IMO, DF is trying to play PL style football in a kick and rush league. If we are to improve, we need to become more streetwise and acquire a pacey goal scoring striker. Maddison and Wes brought cunning and guile, but they also slowed down the attack, allowing opposing defences to settle. Towards the end we went to a 4-3-3 which used the pace we had to catch teams out. I'd like to see more of that, especially with Maddison likely to leave. It would suit Hernandez and probably Buendia as well. Even Wildschut and Watkins would be better in a 4-3-3 or similar. Leitner (if he returns) or Vrancic or Steipermann could be deeper playmakers with Tettey, Trybull or Godfrey providing defensive balance.
Josh gone Maddisson next ,we wont spend enough to buy anyone as decent as Pritchard Jerome or Jacob SrBeny has one goal. The biggest failing last season was scoring goals and we are selling our two best attacking players. There was an argument against flooding England with mediocre continental managers and players in favour of homegrown talent and lower league hopefuls as it harms our National game. If we have a squad managed by a German full of Germans that finishes bottom half that to me is a massive failure . The heart has been ripped out of our club and I believe at this rate we will finish nearer the bottom 3 than the top 6 next term. Project Deutschland I think was partly two fingers up at Brexit voters from Delia as she was a very vocal EU supporter at the time. Fair enough if you have money behind you to hoover up the cream of Europe but these Bundesliga 3 players are not any better than Lg1 home grown talent in my opinion , I would suggest that over half of our squad are here for the money and don't care about the club as shown in the performances .
We currently have a 28 man squad, of which 5 are German and 5 are other nationalities, the other 18 being of British origin. For the first time in years we have developed young players (the Murphys, Maddison, Godfrey, and Gunn) to a high standard and potential England future. That's something we're getting right, IMO.
But still people couldn't wait to see the back of Jerome. Some supporters should be more careful about what they wish for.
Fair comment Duncan, but I'm not sure I can agree with you. Rick, your post #435 is excellent and it is going to be interesting to see if our tactics change more to using 2 pacy wingers.
I think McGovern might be on pretty high wages too. Maybe not PL, but far too high for a second choice keeper. He was enticed as a free agent I believe to be first choice because of JR's patchy form. Midtable increasingly looks like as much as we can hope for. With all of our goals being sold as well as most of our assists and creativity, I am a little worried midtable looks like it's aspirational and a relegation battle probable. Before making real predictions, of course we must wait and see who comes and who goes. But we know we will be weaker in terms of quality, all we can hope for is being better by virtue of player suitability for Farke ball. As you will tell from this post, I'm not optimistic. I'm still unconvinced Farke knows how to play in this division or any at a high level. Webber pulling a loan star or 3, out of the fire is entirely where my hopes lie because we can't afford players that can improve us straight away. I'm not convinced the binners will be better though. MM was a canny operator and got some decent loans in as well as did well with a very limited squad. Not sure the newby has the nouse/experience to do likewise. Player for player we still look better than them, Farke however needs to improve otherwise we'll be fighting out with them for 23rd place! Bah!
