Article: Glad that's over! | Norwich City, Football

And so the window 'slams shut' once again.

Thank god for that! It really is the most awful invention and watching Sky Sports hype and hype and hype about it disgusts me.

Did I watch it all yesterday though?

Yeah I did! I hate myself for doing so but I love my club and I want to see if anything important happens. I wasn't to know at the time, but our business was already complete. I had hoped for two more to add to the signings of Camp, Becchio and Kamara but alas, it was not to be. Curtis Davies was one I had wanted since the summer, but for some reason Birmingham decided that, despite being on record saying they are 'desperate for money', they weren't interested in what I would deem a fairly sensible offer of £2m + Leon Barnett. I would value that deal at around the £3m mark - they wanted £4m. But the beggars decided they'd rather starve. Fine by me.

The Hooper saga (and boy was it a saga) continued until 10pm. We even managed to sneak a 'hoax' bid in there. How embarrassing I found it that almost every reputable broadcasting network and some of the lesser ones too ran with the story based on a 'tweet' by a fake account of a respectable journalist. That, for me, just shows how ludicrous the whole 'last day of the window' was. Some fans were creaming themselves at the thought of us making a £9.2m bid. Others were panicking as it was 'too expensive'. Sky Sports were getting excited, as were the BBC. Hold fire - City have a plane waiting to carry the player to Norfolk to complete the deal, late into the night!

Well actually, they did have a plane lined up. But it was already apparent that it would be flying 'home' empty. We weren't going to be held to ransom and quite right too. I feel our closing bid of £7m was correct but we were also right to call it a day when that was refused. Disappointing? Yes. But hardly a disaster. I do think it was a tad embarrassing that we had four bids turned down - clearly Celtic didn't want to sell - but the club must have had assurances that the player was interested for them to continue their pursuit, and I cannot fault the effort to get him.

Meanwhile, the swap deal with Becchio and Morison is a good one for all parties. Morison has been harshly treated by sections of our support, especially back end of last season, but he has done himself no favours this term and I think a change of scenery will do him good. He's a good player, but as soon as he lost some of the fans it was always going to be hard for it to work out here. He goes with my thanks - his 9 goals pre-January 2012 gave us a great platform and were a huge reason why we stayed up. I think he'll do quite well at Leeds.

Becchio is a player I've always liked. He is not disimilar to Holt, and that is the reason [I expect] that we've brought him in. He lacks pace but is hard working and I think he will score a few goals between now and the close of the season. He should take some of the pressure of our captain. Whether we paid any money or received some as part of the deal is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned - the player swap suits us. I think we've got a better player out of it and one who, like Morison last season but unlike him this, will be determined to prove himself in the top flight.

Kei Kamara is an unknown to me and I'm sure you guys too, other than the glimpses of YouTube footage. I think this is a great deal. Ok, he has been playing in the MLS, so some people will assume he is rubbish simply because of that. Why not give the lad a chance. From what I've seen on the videos he's going to fit into our team like a glove and will bring the one thing our team lacks more than anything - pace. He's very direct, so again, some will not take to him, but Huckerby was direct - people loved him - and I think he could quickly become a fans favourite if he starts off well. Seems like a great character too from what I've read on Twitter and the articles from Kansas City fans who absolutely adored him.

Lee Camp was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned. A freebie keeper, who can put a bit of pressure on Bunn and allow young Rudd out on loan (which has since happened, in a great deal to Preston). Why some fans were moaning about this I will never know. I can only assume they have no common sense as it was a common sense move by our manager.

So overall, I think we've done ok this January. It's a tough time to do deals, no question, unless of course, you're 'Arry Redknapp and have the most deluded and inept chairman throwing cash around as if it doesn't matter. I'd have loved to see a new centre half and another centre forward. I'd also have loved a new, more creative midfielder, but what we have achieved is a few fresh faces to liven up the place who I think will improve the squad, even if its not as much as we'd hoped for. And the best bit of all, we have spent nothing. Nada. Zip. So we have extra money to spend in the summer when prices are more reasonable and we have more freedom to pick and choose who we want. That, is excellent business. Of course, we could still go down. Some will say we should have gambled now, paid big money or face the consequences. But the fact of the matter is, even then we could still have gone down. There were never any guarantees.

In my opinion we've done business the right way and after Wednesday night's very encouraging display in a game I feel we were somewhat unlucky to only draw due to a wonder-goal from a wonder-player, we can now look ahead with a little more positivity.

OTBC IHWT

 

Excellent post Supers. Moro scored some vital goals for us - none more so than the winners at WBA and QPR last season, which went a long way to ensuring our PL survival. I think he'll do well at Leeds and I'm deleighted that we weren't held to ransom by Celtic.

I see no reason why the players that went on an unbeaten 10 game run (wtih a couple of new faces) can't see us over the finishing line and we do have some easier fixtures coming up in March, after the trip to OT, so hopefully we can get a couple of wins then. My guess is that 36 to 37 points will be enough for survival.

Renewed my season ticket yesterday, as I'll still go to CR whichever league we're in!!!!!

 

Me to, and as you, I was sat there until 11.05 watching (although I think I was more interested in the female presenter than the actual transfers! ).

I am happy with the players we have brought in as well. Some doom mongers are saying that we have no top signings as we failed with Hooper, but to me Becchio is on par with Hooper as they play at similar levels and both have good scoring records. Too be honest, of all the ex-Leeds players we have, Becchio was the one I would have preferred first!

People were also hoping for some unknown that will turn out to be our "Michu", well I see that in Kamara. Just because he played in the MLS not La Liga, doesn't make him crap. If he did play in La Liga, these same people will be wetting themselves over him. And they need to remember, HE is NOT American, he is African, so naturally used to kicking a ball than throwing it... ha ha!!!

I feel that even Camp was a shrewd piece of business.

For me, this was a good window, and I will give the players a chance to settle in. Really looking forward to seeing Becchio, and Kamara show what they can do, and I believe they will be able to do a lot. Becchio and Holt up front screams goals.

 

Good post Supers. Pretty much sums it up. So, when will the new players likely feature in the squad? And is Hughton likely to be tweaking our formation now to accommodate them?

 

welcome back superman, you were probably wise to skip some of the madness of the last week on here - a few stiff drinks required alround methinks.
i think the celtic 606 board are buying

 

i think becchio will be available tomorrow whilst kamara is awaiting a visa, so i guess fulham next weekend

 

Supers, you have your finger on the pulse so to speak was the old Van Wolfwinkle deal ever really on or likely?

 

i have no more information than any of you on that! i think we made inquiries about him but i do know that any deal would have been extremely complex because there were three or four parties who 'part-own' him, so it would have been a nightmare to get a deal done. i doubt we ever actually put a stiff bid in for him. shame, because he is a fabulous player who has attracted far bigger clubs than us as admirers, so of course, i would love him here! However, i don't think it was ever a realistic option to be honest. i imagine this place went bloody mental at the thought of van wolfswinkel arriving

 

I really wanted a Wolfswinkle shirt...

 

Here you go, then

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Lot of posts on this subject, so I'll just add my comments from Tipsy's post:

I also agree that the right course was taken yesterday in that 'panic buying' was avoided. I was very worried about paying 8m for Hooper, who may be good, but not that good, and more importantly, unproven in the PL. Graham for 5m was about right, but he obviously wanted the NE very badly (I'm a bit dubious about those who put personal concerns before football). I'm also very pleased with the Becchio-Morison swap, though I was never one of Moro's detractors. I also think that Kei Kamara can bring another dimension to City's wide play and score goals as well. He can play with pace on either flank and at 6'3" is a great header of the ball as well. That makes him a great choice for CHs 4-2-2-1-1 formation. For the loss of Moro, Lappin (though I'll miss KoS!), and Chris Martin, City have gained three very good players, including the security of an experienced keeper as well. It's also great that Declan will get some good experience with Preston. With the solid squad City now have, the emphasis can be on quality in the summer window once clear of debt.

I'll also add that I was more disappointed about Curtis Davies than with Hooper, but Birmingham were just being too greedy. A better chance in the summer, methinks.

 

its good to see lots of positive comments about our actions in the market. i have to admit, when i logged in this morning, i did fear the worst

twitter meanwhile has been in meltdown throughout! we really do have some of the most idiotic fans on this earth

 

Excellent article here on why McNally's stance was the correct one.
By Ian Wilson, ( @Savvy_monkey ) writing for VitalNorwich.

http://www.norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/sitepage.asp?a=307513

 

It was absolutely ****e, I set up the war room at my desk Sky Transfer Clockwatch, Twitter, Pinkun and Newsnow all on the go, 90% of the news being ****ty rumours from twitter.

Is it me or was most of transfer window based on Balotelli? With QPR and Newcastle linked to every player available, I'd rather Sky told everyone it was a quiet news day.

 

i always laugh at the rumour sky sports always report about leandro going to spurs. it happens on the last day of every window yet as far as we know, spurs have never actually bid for the bloke! it really is ridiculous. they try to make stories when there are no stories. the whole window is 99.9% bollocks

 

It only started becoming 99.9% bollocks since the evolution of twitter. Now anyone can make up a rumour on the spot - like that Sunday Times journalist who didn't turn out to be a Sunday Times journalist at all - there are so many rumours flying about that you just can't tell what's true. I said on the transfer thread last night that at one point us, Villa, QPR, Newcastle, Everton and someone else were all linked to Hooper on twitter. Then, after the Hooper deal fell through we were linked with both Darren Bent and Chris Wondolowski. None of that was true!

Good article, btw, Supers.

 

Awesome, loved the Wenger bits