It's a very strange thing, isn't it? We spent last season in the same league, we thrashed you home and away, we won automatic promotion, whilst you flirted dangerously with relegation, yet you still have the nerve to question our ability> When are you going to wake up and smell the coffee?
I think the whole country admits very non-quietly that Ipswich are crap I think we proved that when we embarrassed you in front of the whole country Twice...
I was going to write something disparaging about Forest and Ipswich relating to how I expect their seasons to go. However, I have to confess I've not followed their progress over the summer, it's somewhat irrelevant to us. Therefore, any prediction would simply be ill informed, cliche ridden, and ultimately pointless.
Some really thoughtful comments on this thread from our country cousins and florist Back to the op, why should we pay over the top for players who might not give a toss? The top league contains some good players, plus some who are dross We are taking a risk in our transfer policy and I back it -like above it worked last season and who says it won't work again?
I also have great faith in St Paul Why question the mans judgement when 2 seasons in a row, he has shown his selection /transfer/loan policy worksI do not feel the PL should be any different. I think too many teams have shown that throwing money at any given league rarely brings the desired results Often all you get is too many superstars who are more concerned about how much their team mates are on compared to them, than playing for the team If we were to come straight back down ( I don't believe we will) the squad we have is likely to stay together enabling us to go straight back up at the first attempt. I for one do not want any ageing PL has beens, I would rather take the risk without them
Premiership Experience, what exactly is that? We are basically talking about a simple game played 11 against 11 with the object of getting the ball in their net whilst stopping them from getting it in ours and hopefully doing the former more times. Yes I know formations and tactics will greatly influence things, as will the ability of the individual players and how they perform as a team. But does 'experience' of playing in the premiership automatically make you a better player? Was George Best inferior to other players simply because he never 'experienced' playing at a word cup finals? No of course he wasn't. So really what we are talking about here is Premiership 'Class'. Now 'Class' in any sport or profession will cost more and when we are talking about the greatest league in the world, the performers with class will cost a great deal of money, which even with the windfall payments, we do not have. The only ones we could compete financially for are, for want of a better expression the 'lower class' ie the ones that make the better players look 'Class' and for that they still cost an awful lot of money with no real benefit other than they make the best look the best. So the choice is simple pay a lot of money for 'lower class' and possibly fail or pay less for 'good but untried' and hopefully succeed. I know which way I'd rather proceed as a club ILWT - OTBC
Good points, KCK. And to back up what yoy say, look no further than Hull and Portsmouth. Both were relegated quite recently, but it seems neither had clauses in their 'mega-star' contracts to reflect the true costs of relegation. So Pompey were seconds away from becoming extinct, and Hull, for some unknown and completely inexplicable reason, are still playing Bullard an alleged £45,000 a week - to keep them mid table, second tier ! Blackpool avoided this type of mess, as (I think) did Reading when they came down, and that surely is the route Lambert has wisely chosen to adopt. Rather than pay big money for existing 'class', Lambert prefers to develop his own players in that same mould, over which he has far more control, football wise and expense/wages wise OTBC.
Its very important!!! Its that been there and done that factor. Lets say for instance we signed Paul Scholes (i realise hes retired) he has stepped out onto the pitch at the highest level on many occasions. He can draw on experience to not be over awed when we play the likes of Chelski and Arsenal. Were going to be playing some big teams next season, and I just think it would be a good thing if we had at least one player who can guide the others, if not I fear we may look alittle wet behind the ears at times. Abit like Blackpool last season, when they just went all out attack at times. Im not arguing about the transfer policy so far, I think its the right thing to do to not go out and buy aload of self pretentious has beens on too much money. But when you talk about Portsmouth, remember they did spend seven happy years in the prem league and two fa cup finals before it went pear shaped for them. And im not talking about making some huge multi million pound bid for Drogba, but just a couple of prem league players who have been there and done it, its invaluable imo.
Which kind of players could we go for though. If they have to have Premier League experience, be young and hungry, be on low wages, fit into our club by being a team player etc. Surely they (a) would get an offer from a more established club (b) cost a fortune or (c) don't exist at all I see what you are saying but these players cost money and could go to other clubs who would spend the money on them making their wages not so low anymore. Everytime somebody mentions getting these sorts of players in the first response is ..... 'like who' and then nobody can mention a name at all.
Letâs look at some simple maths. The club has said PL can have the bulk of the £37-40M for his playing budget....... Thatâs transfer fees/signing on fees/agent fees and wages. Now the first three are very dependent on who we were to try to sign. The latter is the only element we can make a stab at and even then in all honesty weâre guessing. But assuming a 25 man squad on very conservative (premiership wise) wages of £10-15,000 per week equates to between £250-375K/wk or £13M-19.5M/year. Straight away thatâs made a very big hole even in £40M Add in two or three âlower classâ Premiership players and judging by transfer fees to date you can kiss goodbye to another £15M. Added to the fact their already probably on higher wages because of all that âexperienceâ theyâve got and your probably looking at another £4-5M (assuming £40K/wk) Leaving anywhere between, at best £8M or at worst £0.5M to play with. Suddenly weâve got 3 players less (PL's acquired 6 to date), the rest of the squad are pissed at the wages of the experienced âlower classâ premiership players, team ethic suffers and we still need to strengthen Suddenly the Club's and PL's transfer/player policy doesn't look quite so conservative, as it's the only way to go about this assault in the Premier League without potentially bankrupting the club - ILWT - OTBC
Its very important!!! Its that been there and done that factor. Lets say for instance we signed Paul Scholes (i realise hes retired) he has stepped out onto the pitch at the highest level on many occasions. He can draw on experience to not be over awed when we play the likes of Chelski and Arsenal. Were going to be playing some big teams next season, and I just think it would be a good thing if we had at least one player who can guide the others, if not I fear we may look alittle wet behind the ears at times. Abit like Blackpool last season, when they just went all out attack at times. ------- this is precisely the sort of comment which winds me up! (no offence jeremy...) premiership experience la la la... its all nonsense, complete nonsense. it is in no way at all important! its a phrase which gets bandied about but nobody really knows why they are saying it - they just think they should. the element which people get mixed up on is the difference between experience and class. i'm all for signing premier league class players but we do not have the funds to do so. if we did sign these players, personally i'd question their motives for wanting to sign for norwich! if our players get overawed playing against arsenal or chelsea i don't really care - we aren't competing with them - its blackburn, west brom and qpr etc who we need to beat! i'll use robbie keane as an example. robbie is a player who qpr have been linked to and i've heard one or two city fans claim we should go after. he has vast experience of playing in the top flight and even in italy and at international level. he is also extremely overrated and overpaid and lacks any kind of ambition in the game. would you be happy if we signed him? he certainly fills your criteria. now compare him to who we have signed in his position - james vaughan. james actually does have top flight experience, but not much. he has had injury issues but certainly has immense potential as shown when he was breaking through at everton. he is still young but is a good age, ambitious, a cracking character (if his tweets are anything to go by), and has plenty of current ability. he is hungry (that word is getting used a lot these days!)... now imagine this scenario: you are offered either player, keane or vaughan, for the same price: £2m, and both want £20k a week, which one of the two would you choose? would you choose the arrogant keane or the ambitious vaughan? keane probably has more ability and certainly has more experience but won't have the appetite for a battle, won't guarantee goals and won't guarantee performances. which one would more than likely stay with us in the event of relegation, to strive to get us back in the premier league? now imagine that keane is worth £6m and on £80k a week while vaughan is still £2m and on £20k a week. see what i mean? some people look at names and think that cos they know more about them that they are somehow better equipped - its just not true. what we want to do as a club is brilliant. we are taking young, exciting players and giving them the chance to show that they are worthy premier league players. we really can't ask for more than this unless we want to go bankrupt! please people, think about this crazy phrase 'premier league experience' and think what it actually means. it means diddly when you are all pulling in the same direction and fighting for the manager. these players all have ability - we are going to let them show it off to the world. the very fact that nobody is capable of naming a player who fits the 'premiership experience' criteria who we could get simply illustrates how daft the proposition is! in my opinion, there are so few who i would want at the club its nye on impossible but if you really think we are that desperate for an experienced player, the only option i can offer is jody craddock, and i'd much rather we aim for luke chambers.
after what Paul Lambert has done for Norwich over the last two years, i cannot understand how any Norwich fan could possibly doubt his judgement in the transfer market, tactics etc etc
