Im not saying go straight in with £10m. As i mentioned, I get the whole haggling thing but why bother offering £5m and then when it gets rejected, hardly up the offer at all? I know we don't know for sure that the bids were £5m but Lennon has said the second wasnt even close to £6m! We should go in with a £7-7.5m bid, see what they say, maybe up it to £8-8.5m if rejected, and if we get nowhere, look at other targets. Whatever happens we need to start making sensible offers for our targets rather than take so long they go off to other clubs. Need I remind people that the last time (when Worthy was in charge) we didn't spend money on decent, squad improving players, we got relegated. Last season we did improve our squad at this stage with Howson and Bennett. I know we are talking bigger numbers and better players this year but if we are to survive, we need to have better players and keep up with those around us.
I am not too sure many comparisons can be made from when Worthy was in charge. We have been in the prem a year and have a much better squad then we did then. Of course it can be improved but what squad can't. If we only value Hooper at/or can only afford 6 million why bid more than we think he is worth? Lennon, although he is "disappointed the story was leaked" wants a bidding war or to just keep the player so of course he is dismissive of any offers to the media. The figures we are talking about are huge for Norwich and in no way should we offer what we cannot afford/ or above what we value a player. There are many other players out there and I am sure we are keeping tabs on them even if it is not in the press.
Im gonna stick my neck out here, and say..Hooper is not worth 8 million pounds!! I dont care where you get your evaluation from, that would absolutely smash our transfer record for a player that is half a Dean Ashdon. There are far more cheaper options, and we could quite possibly bring in two or three good players for that. Im hoping we dont meet Celtics ridiculous asking price and move on. Just my opinion!!!
The bid was meant to remain private and you don't know how much the club value a player until you make a bid. You never know, Celtic may have accepted the £5mill bid.
Why are you frustrated?? Be patient man, there's lots of time yet and we as fans don't need to know all the ins and outs with what is going on behind the scenes, and we have no right to know this so I wish people would just have a bit more faith and trust in our management. Why rush? It's ridiculous, almost as ridiculous as saying "we should pay whatever a player is worth to his current team" - no, we should actually be offering what a player would be worth to us, and if that valuation doesn't meet what his club are asking for (for example if Celtic value Hooper as worth £10 to them, which they are perfectly entitled to being in the last 16 of the Champs league as they are) then we say thanks, but no thanks. What shouldn't happen is for us to be held to ransom for any player, our situation isn't that desperate and even if we didn't make a marquee signing in this window I'd be confident that we'll still have anouth this season.
That it is! This is the reason I love the Jan transfer window! The prospect of signing what could potentially turn out to be our very own Papis Cisse or Michu or whoever you want to mention is an exciting one, whether realistic or not. People can say what they want about it but whilst it is a stressful time, it ain't half fun to speculate!
Id say a touch more urgency might be needed to avoid another Harry Kane situation where we miss our target and have to settle for a youngster who wont be bale to lead our line. That is all. Its the fact that Spurs have reportedly joined the race after us having supposedly had two silly bids turned down.
PS I saw this on the BBC gossip page. Hopefully he decides he wants to go to Sunderland and Graham then decides he will come to us! "Sunderland face a battle to sign forward Mauro Zarate, 25, after his agent said the player is happy to stay and fight for his place at Lazio."
Im a big fan of Hooper but im not really sure he will fit into our team as well as someone like Danny Graham would. We dont play anything like the style of play Celtic do i.e get ball wide, get past the wing back and whip a low ball in - where hooper gets alot of goals, i also think alot of prem defenders would cut these crosses out, leaving Hooper somewhat isolated from the chances he gets and takes at Celtic. Graham is much better and holding the ball up, linking play and has proven he can find the chances to score. Please correct me if im wrong? I think the money we have would be better spent on bringing in Graham initially and the rest going for Bridcutt, Davies, Redmond (can challenge Pilko and could also slot in behind the striker to add a bit of pace- play off holt or Graham and run in behind?) and if theres anything left a different Striker. Ideal world thoughts i know
Id take the 4 you mentioned! And Id say we could probably afford them all as well! £5m for Graham, £3m(?) for Bridcutt, £3m(?) for Redmond (damn id love to sign him!) and £1.5m for Davies. That's £12.5m (only £2.5m more than we supposedly bid for just Hooper and Graham). Would strengthen our squad sooooo much! But alas, as you mention Suffolk, it could be a bit ambitious at this stage!
My feelings exactly, every area required to be improved or backed up with a strong player providing competition. You would have to assume with the bids that have been made public that the money would be there for these and they would have a bit of extra cash, as im sure Graham and Hooper wont be the only two players we were looking to bring in. I'll keep my fingers crossed until deadline day, although i do think we should bring in 2 strikers
I think i read on here the other day someone proposing we go for Vydra - well if you believe Sky Sports 5 PL clubs are interested! Could we be 1 of them?
No panic required our guys got 25 pts in first half of season don't care what new ball kickers the others add I back our guys to get 15 in the second half Squad development should be slow and affordable stuff the gossips and pressure to spend only buy what you can afford and what can offer a genuine improvement NCFC has to be there for my boys and their families too hopefully not to be squandered in a false rush of blood to the head IHIT OTBC
