I was surprised to see Stacey on the list of free agents. At 27, he's in his prime as Bailey outlines, with his hard training, hard work ethic right up Wagner's wish list. Potentially an excellent signing indeed.
Yes, of course - Lambert and Hughton's first season. My bad, Rob. I still don't think that entitles us to join the list of fallen established PL teams though.
I question the accuracy of this. First of all, as I remember, becoming established in the EPL was not originally part of the "overall project". The objective was to establish ourselves as a top 26 team. "Top 26 team" was explicitly said to involve challenging for promotion when in the Championship, with occasional forays into the EPL and maybe even occasionally surviving for a second season. And despite the two mid-table finishes (2017--18, 2022--23), our average position over the six seasons since Webber took over is 25th. Becoming established in the EPL only became the stated aim at a point well into our 2nd EPL season. Something caused the bar to be raised, unannounced, at the end of the 2020-21 season. We still do not know what that was. My guess, and I mean "guess", would be it was to do with ownership. Relegation and a 13th place finish this season is "failure" only relative to the new objective; in terms of the original project, there has been no "failure". Moreover, the "overall project" encompassed far more than aspring to a certain level in the league hierarchy. The other major objective involved modernising all aspects of the club and creating an EPL club-in-waiting. If you think of the off-the-field football infrastructure (e.g. training facilities, analytics, medical and fitness, Carrow Road pitch improvement, etc.), I defy anyone to say that the last six seasons amount to "failure". Add to that modernising the club administration (e.g. in terms of technology), growing the Community side (the Nest, the initiatives on mental health, diversity and equality, etc.), not to mention the integration of Norwich City Women into the club, and again I defy anyone to say that the last six seasons amount to "failure". Quite the contrary in my view. Addendum: And of course, the hugely important objective I left unstated above, was to achieve all that within the contraints of a self-financing model, without placing the club at financial risk. Even in our current situation, that original objective remains satisfied. As in the case of level in the league hierarchy, though, there has latterly been a change in club thinking. At the 2022 AGM, Zoe Ward said quite explicitly that there was a new recognition that becoming established in the EPL couldn't realistically be achieved under the current self-sustaining model.
Nathan Redmond could be an alternative to Ince, available on a free and amazingly only 29! I imagine wages would be an issue
My reference to failure was that we didn't even come close to a top 26 finish this season. I agree that improving the club's infrastructure is an accomplishment but the important thing now is where we end up next season after finishing in the top 36 last season, 10 places below the target. Not even coming close to survival in the two PL seasons has diminished the club, not enhanced it. The failures in recruitment have outnumbered the successes given the money we have spent. I welcome the pragmatism of the recruitment this window so far, but it's also an indication of how little money we have left. If we do manage a top 26 finish next season then Webber can claim that we have met his original objective most of the time, but if we don't it's hard to see how the 'project has been a success after two consecutive failures. I hope we do achieve a top 26 finish, but I'm not very confident that we will as the competition for places will be much tougher than it was last season.
I think it's more likely that he will be snapped up by Besitkas, where he's been on loan last season, or another Turkish side. It's hard to compare the Turkish league to the top two leagues here, but he has achieved some success there.
Same age as Hanley and just a year older than Gibson but as has been said, CBs do go on longer than other players. Duffy has impressive PL experience, resilience and his heading abilities will be valuable on both sides of the ball. The third year may have pushed the deal through. His WhoScored profile looks pretty good to me.
Let’s hope the Duffy’s move to CR is successful. Apparently he had a poor loan spell at Celtic. So did a certain Timu Pukki who became a legend for NCFC. So, now we have Barnes, Duffy, Stacey and possibly Ince and Sainz. Looks like good business so far?
3 year deal doesn't mean he will be our starting CB for all 3 years, he could be the starter for a year or 2. While doing so he can guide and mentor one of our youngsters - Omobamidele, Tomkinson, Hills or another.
Sorry to disagree, but we were very close to a top 26 finish this season until our key senior players got injured. By now everyone should realise how important Hanley and to a lesser extent McLean are to the team. We got the balance wrong between younger upcoming & seasoned professionals, something the club seems keen to put right this transfer window.
Maybe the 3 year deal is so that if we needed to sell him in his 3rd and final year of his contract (eg due to age ) then we could get a fee for him instead of him leaving on a free
I agree about being close, but once again we were let down by the lack of a fourth CB - lessons not learned and it cost us. If Omobamidele leaves I fear the same could happen again. Every position should have two players and that means four CBs. Sørensen at CB is not a solution and it also weakens us at DM, given how much Hayden was out through injury. I like the players coming in but will those leaving be replaced?
Whilst I agree in principle, who pays a transfer fee for a 34 year old CB who presumably isn't operating above mid-championship level by that point, but is on top-end championship wages? The comparison would be trying to sell Gibson this window, who despite being younger I don't think we'd be able to sell this summer. A 3 year deal is only half the picture of course, we have no idea what the wages are, and whether the extra year helped reduce them. We also don't know what the rest of our CB plans are. Gibson is entering the last 12 months of his deal, Hanley might never be the same again, Omobamidele is clearly available at the right price. Hopefully more additions are coming.
Exactly this ^ After beating Blackburn at Ewood Park on 7th April (the game in which Hanley & Gibson were injured), we were 7th, one point off the play-off places, with 6 games to go. That Sørensen "isn't the solution" is something that only became obvious when put to the test. Prior to that, both Lungi and Byram were thought to be capable of stepping in and doing a decent job at CB. As for having two players for every position, it's an ideal that I don't think any Championship club, never mind a self-sustaining one, ever fully realises. We could, for example, have met the letter of that requirement by denying Tomkinson his loan opportunity. But do you honestly think, Rick, that a pairing of Tomkinson and Omobamidele would have made that much difference?
I know the club doesn't have lots of money to spend (wages in football are totally out of hand), but I like that they are targeting the sort of players that we could see that the club needed. This is both in the position and the character and getting them in early so that they have a full off season. It feels very much like that off season after Farke's first season except this time the Championship I suspect will be very strong this year
At least that would have allowed Lungi to play at DM, which would have allowed screening in front of the defence. Omobamidele also looked far less effective when not paired with either Hanley or Gibson. Experience is crucial at CB and that Omobamidele was made captain showed just how young the side we were putting out was. I hope that the signing of Duffy shows the realization of the need for experience at CB at all cost. I am sure that a pairing of Duffy and Omobamidele would have produced very different results. There's no reason why we couldn't sign a fourth CB who can also play as a FB on loan say.
