Right, clearly a number of our fans are of the opinion that they feel they need to slam anyone that moves at our club if they aren't totally impressed or inspired by everything that they do. Whether this is because they haven't heard of someone or because they aren't from a country they like, the reasons are sometimes fair but more often than not silly. Let's get a little bit of reality back shall we? First up, Harry Kane. It was a late one but its a great signing. This kid can play, big time. Totally turned Millwall's season around last year. Scores goals, holds the ball up well, decent in the air and on the floor. Bit surprised Spurs let him out but he'll be playing games. Been playing and scoring regularly for England at every youth level and is a striker who can come straight in and make a difference. I read last night people moaning cos we are developing another teams player. Didn't we do that with Naughton? If he's does as well as he did, will anyone be moaning then? I read last night that he must be crap cos they hadn't heard of him. Well I'm afraid that's your problem - no doubt they'll be the same people lauding him from the hills once he's bagged a couple of times. REALITY CHECK: we can't afford anyone top notch. This has been glaringly obvious to most for some time but lets get this into perspective. We have signed 9 players for a combined fee (estimated as many are undisclosed) of £9m in fees alone, plus, something which seems to get neglected on here all the time, we have brought Hughton and his coaching staff for a combined £2.5m. That's a total (estimated) of £11.5m. That is an awful lot of money for our club - I'd go as far to say we probably have about £2m left for January absolute maximum. We were never going to get a Jordan Rhodes or a foreign flair striker like Abdelloeue because we simply can't pay the fee or wages - not this year. Hopefully if we stay up that will change. We are not showing, as many keep saying, 'a lack of ambition' by not signing these players, we have shown massive ambition elsewhere in the squad by signing so many players who all, in some way, improve the team and the overall squad. Overall, its been an extremely successful transfer window and just cos we didn't sign some 'exciting' striker that some have called for does not change that. I read last night people complaining that 'we've signed nobody good'. How short are these peoples memories??? The likes of Grant, Gunn and Roeder signed ****e, Hughton has signed players capable of doing well in the Premier League. We've survived the loss of the best manager we've had for years (possibly ever) by acting swiftly and clinically to get the man we wanted, we've kept our captain and main striker, we've had key players like Ruddy and Surman sign long term deals, we've added better players, more experience and depth to an already decent squad and we've added goals (not taken them away as some would have you believe) by letting Vaughan (no goals and injury prone) and Wilbraham (1 goal and bit-part) go and bringing in goalscoring midfielders. We do NOT have no strikers. We have FIVE plus youth like Loza and the Murphy boys who have flair and ability and will soon be on the verge of being tested in the first team. I can honestly say I think that transfer deadline day is an exciting day, but some of our fans and I'm sure fans of other clubs are way over the top in their demands on such a day. The best clubs will have done their business before this crazy day. Some of the stuff I've read has made me laugh, but most of it has made me hang my head in shame. There is even a group on the internet who have started a 'Hughton Out' campaign based on him not signing a big name centre forward. These people are numbskulls - for heavens sake, this is a big year for OUR club and its important that everyone is pulling in the right direction. The manager needs backing and so do ALL the players. If we are struggling at any point they need support, not abuse. How will that help? Not one position in our squad has become weaker: Keepers: Better competition; Defence: Significantly stronger; Midfield: Significantly stronger; Attack: At least equal to last year, probably marginally stronger if Kane gets goals. We all want the same thing, success for Norwich City, so get behind our team, get behind our manager and lets ****ing do this! OTBC IHWT
Well said Supers, for the record, Millwall tried to get HK back on loan after his successful spell there last year! AvB initially turned them down because he was going to become a first-team player, and only agreed to let him come to us after they signe Clint Dempsey! http://www.newsatden.co.uk/5920-former-millwall-loan-star-makes-loan-move-to-norwich.html?
just to add, this is not a rant aimed at anyone in particular, just the general air of 'discontent' i feel when entering carrow road or reading twitter or even this forum. discontent which is misplaced
Spot on!! improvement in all areas of the squad. Whether Hughton can get the same level of performance as Lambert managed, with his exceptional man management skills, that's a different matter and only time will tell but I'm cautiously optimistic in what was always going to be a difficult season.
also, apologies for my rant on the 'transfer deadline' thread yesterday too - i was so frustrated reading the comments, many of which were way over the top negative
its a terrible thing, it really is, made all the more terrible by sky sports turning it into a hollywood movie each year. thing is, it is exciting in a perverted kind of way! i sat through most of it last night, but it breeds frustration and anger in fans and some in particular never see the bigger picture. it really needs to be scrapped, OR, if they want to keep it, end it a week before the season begins.
I think this transfer window thing is partly structured to create exactly the kind of near-hysteria there has been on this board at times over the past week (and I have been guilty of it, too). After all, it's good for publicity, and the Premier League is a business before anything else.
I tell you what, I was over the bloody moon when I woke up this morning to this news. For one, I was slightly concerned with just 4 strikers and that we had actually bought someone and secondly it was "my name is harry kane". This bloke is beast, so much better than some of the dross we were being linked with plus he doesnt effect the squad amount! Glad the whole saga is over now, and we can now look forward to this season. P.s you do get them don't ya re:hughton out
The problem is people always compare themselves to their "rivals" They overlook that Swansea got a withdrawal from the bank of Liverpool or Southampton and reading are secretly rich as ****. All they see is that we should have signed the player they signed. Personally, I say **** all our rivals. We're Norwich, we've got a good squad capable of playing football and scoring goals (and now with the ability to maybe defend) and we will find a way to beat people because that's what we've always done. OTmotherfuckigBC
Personally i think we have done quite well. We have a stronger squad than last season and again managed to keep our best players. People always seem to want a big name but we dont have that sort of money and in many ways i am very proud of the club for sticking to their guns and not breaking our financial structure therefore preserving the future of our club. To say there is a lack of ambition is ridiculous! We have made 9 signings most if not all of whom are an improvement. All clubs seem to want the big deadline day signing, im sure man u fans wanted a defender, arsenal a dm etc and these are clubs with much more money than ourselves. In many ways it shows we are bring well run, got our transfers done earlyish and were not panic buying by paying hugely inflated fees. Well done ch and team hopefully we can all get on with the football now and have a good season.
Let's agree that as much as it can't buy love money can't buy success Let the other clubs play Fifa12 signing big names with obscene amounts of money, we know we can beat them with our boys! OTBC! Wherever we go proud ti be green and yellow
While I won't condone some of the unfair comments about the players I do understand the fever for signing big names because football is getting barmier with the deadline and the insane money being paid for ordinary players. But to moan, whine, complain about the managers ability after two games and all thJe signings he has made is inexcusable. I was critical of the slow start to the summers dealings but not the amount or content of those dealings. On a personal note, I have agreed with his decisions. I prefer two up front admittedly but thought the balance of the team last week was good and it was down to a poor pass or miss that we didn't come away with a comfortable win and be one point better of than we were last season. I'm sure even if we have a poor season, that CH is the right man and will take us on.
I said it all along, I don't think a striker was as vital as people made out. WE had goals in us last year and although we are now playing a different style I still think we have the players to survive this year. I think Jackson will bag a few, Holt hasn't got started, midfield will chip in. I just don't really understand the panic in all honesty. Although Vaughan going left us thin, I think Kane has easily replaced him, less wages, less injury prone. Also if you look at Kane's record for Milwall not too dissimilar to Vaughans at Palace when we signed him, in fact it's actually better. Regarding transfer deadline day, I actually really enjoy it. Without sounding arrogant, I think it's because I wasn't panicking that I actually did enjoy it. Wasn't nice seeing other Norwich fans panic though but I am sure that Hughton would be back in the good books once Kane has banged in a few.
No need to apologise Supers. It got a bit heated but I think that if you read it again you will see that you got a lot of support. I think a lot of us were getting frustrated last night because we faced going forward with only 3 strikers - in the spirit of the thread I won't explain why I say only 3 - none of whom can play the loan striker role which CH clearly prefers. In fact my last comment before I went to bed referred to the fact season ticket prices would be cheaper for us next year in the Championship. I fully accept that if Harry Kane had been announced 3 hours earlier I wouldn't have made that comment. An excellent signing and he can play the lone striker role if required. The other problem was that in the heat of the day we had forgotten the good business carried out earlier and the number of players we had already brought in. I really do look forward to seeing this young lad perform although - and you know Supers there always has to be a sting in the tail with me - I still think we will struggle to stay up but the dealings in the transfer window have definately helped that struggle.
For me, our transfer window has been this: Best players kept, quality new additions brought in, squad holes plugged, all done without chucking money around like there's no tomorrow, or blowing what you've got on one 'big' signing. To my mind, that's job done.
