And part of the logic is almost certainly to allow Idah to go out on loan, to a team where he'll get a full season under his belt. Myself, I'd say that looks rather like building for the future ...........
On Monday we will say goodbye to a 33-year-old player who is one of the most intelligent footballers we have ever seen at Carrow Road, who has excellent vision and very good first touch, and has scored 88 goals for us over five seasons. According to many posters, though, he has been disgracefully poor this season, scoring only ten goals and assisting eight others. Soon afterwards, it seems, we are going to sign a 33-year-old player who has scored six goals this season and assisted four, and who is a bit of a thug. We are signing him because our DoF has abandoned all the things he said he believed in when he arrived. For me, this says everything about the direction in which our football club is going.
I am a huge admirer of Pukki, but his heart wasn't there this year, particularly in the second half of the season. Clearly Sargent is going to lead the line next season, but an experienced, grafting SS/AM behind him, able to win headers and lay off the ball could bring a new dimension to our struggling attack. Holty was no shrinking violet as he arrived at the end of his career, but his graft and cunning lifted a demoralised team through two divisions. I have come to doubt Webber's judgement on players, but Wagner deserves a chance to bring in the players he needs on what little budget we have left.
His heart wasn't in it since Smith arrived IMO. And who can blame him since he spent most of Smith's tenure aimlessly chasing balls which were punted over his head? With hindsight, he should have left at the end of last season. He was far too subtle a player for Smith to get anything out of him. As he said in his recent interview, some of the enthusiasm came back when Wagner first arrived. But this was a false dawn and soon we were back to playing the kind of clueless dross that Smith had dished out since his arrival. This is the saddest moment for me of the whole last five years. He was a wonderful player for us, and his leaving seems symbolic of the way everything has fallen apart over the last two seasons. And personally I think it's going to get worse until Webber is out of the door.
The realpolitik of the self funding model when the funds run out. I seem to remember many of us being underwelmed by Teemu's arrival. FLW thinks Barnes on a free could be a good move: https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/c...consider-move-for-burnley-player-the-verdict/
Wagner on the coming preseason: "We have to get our head around what we can adapt, what we’d like to change, and get some ideas on board as well. This is another reason why I like to have everybody together in the next week. I like to have a proper chat with everybody, so they know exactly what I expect from them in the off-season and the pre-season. This will probably not be nice, the pre-season, without looking too far ahead." https://www.pinkun.com/news/23505491.norwich-city-david-wagner-interview-canaries-off-season-plans/
If Barnes repeats Pukki's 5 years of heroics he'll be 38 when he leaves Rick, the funds didn't just run out they were wasted . I like your optimism but comparing a 28 year old Pukki to a 33 year old Barnes is insane
The comparison was intended to compare now and then. Pukki was a bargain on a free who was meant to back up Jordan Rhodes on loan. We had just finished 14th in Farke's first season. Let's hope for something similar in Wagner's second shot.
33 year old strikers are looking for one last pay day usually dropping down a league to compensate for a lack of pace and age . If this is because Webber gambled all our parachute payments on magic beans forcing us to rely on past it donkeys saved from the glue factory then scrutiny should be directed at his failings .
Schumacher has done a fabulous job at Plymouth, hasn't he? Not a single player in the top ten scorers and yet they have got promoted. And a lot less money, I imagine, than either Ipswich or Sheffield. Surely a bigger club will try to snatch him up at some point?
Pretty sure the £10m each we spent on Tzolis & Rashica would have comfortably bought Chaplin from Ipswich with change to buy another one from that list . Not that we are allowed to scrutinise any of Webber's appointments. Recruiting over performing young players from the same or lower leagues used to work out well . Dean Ashton, Ashley Ward etc
