Galatasaray reportedly had a scout at CR on Saturday hoping to lure Pukki away. Edit - https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/its-a-huge-concern-norwich-man-catching-the-eye-the-verdict/
I think we should be concerned about Webber. the recent accounts I believe pointed to a £100k salary for him, I doubt his mrs is on more. A PL club like Southampton could: Pay him more than their combined salaries and Offer her a role Offer another cat 1 academy with better pedigree of producing players than ours. Huge budget increase Surely represents career progression, bigger club and budget There is no loyalty in Football, just like the real world, even if I loved my job, if I could double my wages for what looked like another good job, I'd be drafting my letter of resignation toute sweet. I don't think we would countance selling Pukki in January, but if he keeps performing for the remainder of the season, the only way we'll keep hold of him would be when we get promoted, giving him a fat pay rise. The reality of our situation is that even if we go up, there will be clubs who can and will pay more for our best players and we will have a job holding on to them. At Pukki's age he has to be thinking about the next contract being his main chance of a really lucrative pay day. Bah!
Great post as usual General and yes, MOST people would jump at the chance of going to Southampton for more money etc. Let's look at it from a different angle though - SW was instrumental in guidingThe Terriers to the PL - what if he can do it with The Canaries, with only one loan player and bringing in youff players??? Also, could he develop our academy to rival Saints' (which seems to have been quite barren in recent years)??? HOW would that look on his CV???? SOOOO many people chase the £s and live to regret it. I'm backing both DF AND SW to still be at NCFC at the beginning of the next decade!!! Beyond that however ........
OK so he was instrumental in getting the terriers to the PL, but that didn't stop him leaving before the job was done, for in his mind a better job for him. If we paid more it won't have been much more. It seems common wisdom that it was mostly about their scrapping their academy. But given that they were in 3rd place at the time looking good for a tilt at promotion, academy or not he showed no loyalty to huddersfield for the oportunity they had afforded him. We might be a better fit for him than Huddersfield, but Southampton are similar and if they are after him it is presumably because he fits with their vision. And Southampton have the financial clout to go much further than we can. On top of that their board won't have our bunch of ameteurs. If I were in his shoes I would at the very least want to listen to what they had to say. Bah!
By way of trying to keep Webber longer term, perhaps some share based incentive could be devised. If he had a vested interest in our success beyond his own career then maybe he might want to set up roots and one day transition to being a proper professional on the board. Could never happen, delia et al would never relinquish their grip. There is of course a certain ironny to attacking delia et al after they appointed Webber and started the implementation of the DofF model that we are now all lording. Still can't bring myself to be fully supportive yet. But lets see how far we can go under the current model and see if lessons have been learnt when the next key cog moves on. Bah!
Our Under 23s play Atletico Madrid Under 23s in the PL International Cup tonight and I've foolishly organised to go out with some friends (yes - I've got some!!!!) for a meal and I'm the organiser!!! I believe TC will be playing and hope that Idah is fit and able to play.
PD's thoughts on Saints interest in SW - 'Webber had opted to leave a club on the up, who a few short months later were in the Premier League, for a salvage mission in Norfolk. He may have since publicly admitted he did not realise the scale of the job but the attraction of the Canaries proved too alluring. There have been tough times on and off the park in the intervening period, yet the progress is now tangible. To bring in more than £80m in transfer fees, substantially slash the wage bill and construct a squad capable of leading the Championship is why Webber is hot property. Norwich fans would hope he wants to see this through. You could contend he is rapidly approaching the same crossroads he encountered back at Huddersfield. Norwich, it is not unfeasible to suggest, could themselves be in the Premier League next season. Should Webber have an opportunity to get there even earlier he would face another huge career decision.' https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwi...-premier-league-argues-paddy-davitt-1-5779562
Don't like all these stories coming out about players and staff being targets. We really don't have much to fight clubs off with. Even if they aren't true. We really don't want anything to derail the amazing atmosphere at the club/stadium. Galatasaray better have a kitty of £30M if they are that keen on him!
Just watching MOTD2. I heard about the Fulham V Liverpool game. I didn't realise it was from the kick from the goal being ruled out! 1) I don't think he's offside. If that is a Liverpool goal, It would be definitely given. 2) Was the ball moving when Alison takes the kick? It looked like it.
Haha! They are now doing the analysis, and Shearer has just said the ball was still moving. Watching it at normal speed, I could see that, that wasn't right. It was definitely rolling.
Rooney? Question Mark. Edit: F**king hell. Scratch that! Delph is England Captain!? Southgate will pick young players on form!? Rooney retired, and is now picked. Delph doesn't play for his club. He gets picked and given the Captaincy!? What is happening!? Southgate had so much atmosphere and goodwill in the bank. This is a f**king joke. Just make this a charity match for comic relief! This is a warm up for a crucial....Whatever this crap nations cups called.
Think they're giving Rooney his 120th cap and a final 'goodbye' game, Delph no idea why. Friendlies should be about building a team and bedding in younger players. Can't say I'm to bothered about watching it, will give it a miss.
Must be an international break as Football365 take their eyes off the PL top 6 for a minute and ask what's going on at Norwich! https://www.football365.com/news/norwich-city-how-the-f-has-this-happened
Can’t argue with a word of that HQMC and even with ‘gifting’ the Lions a couple of goals on Saturday, the Canaries are still happily ‘chirping’ at the top of the tree and over the last 10 games, we have been conceding at the rate of only 1 goal a game. The clip of us scoring the 3rd goal against the Owls is one of the best I have seen us score and there have been numerous comments as to how good it was. As has been mentioned in various articles this week - we are no longer ‘flying under the radar’, but rather sending out massive echoes and giving other managers a headache as to how to stop us from scoring. DF is going to have a massive selection headache for the game against the Swans, with Hanley TC (who played 90 minutes for the Under 23s last night) and McLean all fit. and wanting to be part of the action!!!! We have 8 games left this year, with the last one being against Lampard’s Derby and I see no reason why we shouldn’t glean around 15 points from them!!!! PS - LOVED the title of the article!!!