LCFC have a tremendous team spirit which I feel was instigated by Pearson towards the end of last season when they went from being rooted at the bottom of the league to finishing half way up the table. Ranieri has just reinforced that self belief in the players and the signing of Mahrez has proved to be a master stroke. Cromer - we had some very good results early on in our PL campaign and early December, but we have also been on the wrong end of bloomers by match officials, the two most serious that come to mind are CJ's disallowed goal v Palace and Chelsea's 2nd on Tuesday. I'm still hopeful of PL survival (at least until the final whistle tomorrow), but feel that being relegated should be viewed as an opportunity to rebuild the squad and perhaps take a risk with some of our more promising youngsters or sell them. I think players such as Martin, Whittaker and Lafferty should be sold, though I can't imagine any would command a reasonable price. The priorities have to be to shore up the defence and find someone who knows where the goal is when presented with a reasonable goal scoring opportunity, so that the opposition keeper at least has to make a save (as we did in the home game against Stoke!!!).
I agree with you - we've done what's required...but only sporadically. We've had far more troughs than peaks ans that's the ultimate difference between 'sink or swim' in this harsh division. I'll be equally gutted if / when we go down, but like several, can see some positives in the longer term. It would be interesting to see McNally's seven year plan revamped and starting from the season Hughton took charge
When our defence has been so shambolic/gone AWOL on many occasions, we've lacked a player who can regularly score. I'm NOT saying we should have kept Hooper, as he doesn't offer as much to the team as CJ does, but he has had some 'gilt edged' chances to score and hasn't even forced the keeper to make a save.
But firstly, any club who can appoint Ranieri is not short of a penny or two, and I´m sure I read somewhere recently that the King Power Group had a revenue of 2 billion US dollars in 2014. All of which suggests that although they may not have gone on a spending spree to match others at the top, they coúld quite easily do so at any given moment, which puts them in quite a different league to ourselves. Rest assured if they do go on to win the title, they´ll soon start splashing out. ´Fraid people are fooling themselves if they think Leicester and ourselves are on a par with each other.
Spot on RBF and of course the other not insignificant point is our location!!!!! Whilst a player may want to come and play for us, I'm CERTAIN that lots of 'WAGS' would be saying, "there's NO WAY" I'm going to live there - it's miles from anywhere!!" Whereas Leicester is right in the middle of the country.
I´m going to disagree with you there Cromer. I´m afraid these days, without extreme cash behind you, it CAN´T be done. The Walker achievement or anything close to it it, where a financially ´small´ club competes with, and almost beats, the wealthy clubs at the top, will not be seen again. Even the gap between the rich and the not so rich, is increasing with every season, and the gap down to all the others has become a chasm.
I didn't say, hint, or in any way intimate that I thought Norwich were "on a par" with Leicester. I merely suggested that to do what they have done it without splashing out £25m+ (so far!) on any 'superstars' is possible if you have a shrewd, canny - and lucky (injuries-wise) manager in charge.
Yes, but the Club has to first entice the manager, usually with money, and then pay the manager, and I guarantee Ranieri is not on wages comparable to Neil - and what´s more, he certainly won´t be after this season, however it ends for Leicester.
No, can't argue with your last line above Maybe Walker was a poor example, as the top flight was a far more level playing field back then, but Lambert, not that long ago managed to get his bunch of inherited players and those he brought in from the likes of Brighton, Huddersfield, even Colchester to finish a creditable twelfth in his first season back with us. I'd just like to see NCFC 'punch above their weight' once again - like that season, whereas threatening the tenure of now established top 7/8 or 9 is - and will continue to be a bridge way too far for NCFC and clubs of that size and stature. Sadly.
Good point Cromer and when we beat the likes of ManUre and Saints , I think a lot of fans saw 'green shoots' which disappeared more rapidly than I expected. Unless we get VERY lucky with a signing (another Grant Holt perhaps), then I feel mid table is in reality the best we can hope for with the zillions that some teams can spend on players!!!! Who knows, in a couple of years time, we may unearth our very own starlet through the academy (though I'm not holding my breath!!) Not forgetting we've got James Maddison joining us next season!!!
Very true, BH Problem is, unless Alex Neil is Houdini in disguise, Maddison will end up back at Coventry for the season, as will the Murphy boys, etc and we'll effectively be back where we were last August, player wise. As has been discussed, that's one reason why I, personally, wouldn't be too distraught if we did go down, as at least the ongoing development of those guys could be overseen 'in house; rather than at other clubs. Back to the big vs little fish debate, interestingly, there's an article on MFW this week that mentions the very thing we've been talking about, bridging the gap, Walker's team of '92/93 compared to LCFC this season. How uncanny. You and I must be soothsayers, RBF! http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...and-fast-but-would-we-have-it-any-other-way/?
Yes Cromer, I do tend to agree with your thinking re Maddison et al and my only hope is that if we go down, we have to move on some of the players who've served us fairly well for the last few seasons and let the youngsters show what they can do. I'd definitely want to have a new captain and if he stays, my choice would be Naismith!! Thanks for the link Cromer - I haven't checked the MFW website for a couple of weeks!!
The best site to find all articles relating to NCFC is NewsNow's Norwich City page! http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Sport/Football/Premier League/Norwich City
Cromer bor, mention of Mike Walker reminded me of the problem he had with goal scorers, he cured that by moving Chris Sutton from defence to cf. A brilliant decision.
Wouldn´t we all, but in the current climate it is becoming increasingly difficult. I was just thinking that the last time we were here, I doubt a player like Naismith would have cost £8 mill in the Jan window, more like 4 or £5 mill, and as for Grabban going for the same, that just shows how ridiculously prices have spiralled out of control.
Hi Dave, I've taken the liberty of reproducing part of the URL you brought to this thread. Makes an interesting point in my view. Bringing in a young player to make the difference is always risky though. The inexperience at the top-level can cost you a lot of points, as the board are learning with Alex Neil’s inexperience costing Norwich a lot of points. However, it could also be a breath of fresh air and revitalise what is a fatigued Norwich team, mentally and physically. We all know something like this simply won’t happen under Alex Neil. He has shown time and again that he has no faith in young players and likes to rely on the older players in the squad, no matter how many times they let him down. Players such as Nathan Redmond, Josh Murphy, Harry Toffolo and Patrick Bamford are all promising young players that Alex Neil has failed to put any faith in since he took over. Redmond is starting to earn his faith but it has taken Neil seven months to notice he’s a quality player.
