Here we go... --- Manager Lambert: let him go, pocket the compensation, get another in who actually wants a challenge! The worst thing you can do is keep him against his will, we won't get the transfers we require, and it will affect the players seriously badly. Replacement: personally, I would like to see us sign Hughton as our new manager. His record is pretty solid, as listed next... 1) Extensive coaching experience at Tottenham, as U21's/Reserve/Assistant Manager. 2) Newcastle promoted, winning Championship 2009/10, unbeaten at home for the ENTIRE season both in league and both cups. 46 matches, won 30, drew 12, lost just 4!!! 3) He made shrewd signings of both Hatem Ben Arfa and Check Tiote, so can unearth gems. 4) Managed succesfully the massive ego's of Carroll, Nolan and Barton (a job in itself!) 5) Unjustly sacked, while in 11th position in the PL table, to almost universal outrage by fans, pundits, and ex-players alike. Acted with dignity, refused to speak ill of his former club, brought stability to Newcastle, and can be largely thanked for giving them a stable platform to build on, leading all the way to european qualification this season. This article highlights just how highly he was rated...http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2010/12/hughton_sacking_shames_newcast.html 6) Took charge of Birmingham City, who had just been relegated and motivated the players to 4th in the league, a fantastic position, and in the playoffs, lost to Blackpool. When you consider just how difficult it is to bounce back following relegation, this is an impressive acheivement all things considered. 7) Led Birmingham to FA Cup 5th round, where they unluckily drew the Champions-eventual Chelsea, drew the original tie but lost the 2nd just 2-0, a highly respectable acheivement too. --- Holt Keeping a player against his will occasionally works (e.g Tevez), but the majority of the time, it disrupts the dressing room, and morale suffers. 1) I cannot see another club paying McNally's asking price, and it will decrease as Holt gets older, playing in the reserves. 2) I always have believed that Holt's success can largely be attributed to Hoolahan, and largely this season, to Pilkington, Bennett, etc. Rest assured, he (Hoolahan) will not be following. 3) He has had a phenomenal season, scoring 15 goals again will be extremely tough, especially as he won't have us fans cheering him as a hero, but instead new fans who won't be sympathetic should he go on a barren spell. 4) If Holt is Lambert's No.1 signing, we may be able to eek £8m from Villa, this would be a good return for our club, considering for 400k, we have received 60 goals and 7.6m profit. Great investment --- The Dissenting Rebels 1) Fox: unlike Holt, he is a free agent effectively. I would expect McNally to offer him an improved contract, as he is a high calibre player, who adds much to our presence in the centre of the pitch, with his composure and passing ability. Unfortunately, highly likely to follow Lambert to wherever he ends up. Just a shame that he isn't in a contract, otherwise we would have received a few million for him. 2) Lambert (as above) 3) Holt (as above) --- The Current Squad A massive plus is the fact that a large portion of our team is young (24 or younger), having made a series of excellent acquisitions all for £2.5m or less. This means that since they are all tied up in contracts, that any attempt to take them, will require big money offers, influenced also by their age and potential. Players, such as Pilkington, E. Bennett, Howson, Ayala, Ruddy, Johnson, have all doubled or tripled at a bare minimum their original transfer value. We have to accept that at some point, they will each go, but will bring in a good deal of money in return. The sign of a good business investment is appreciated successful contribution (e.g Holt's 60 goals) + profit from sell-on value. GK's: Quite frankly the area of least concern, 3 reliable keepers in Ruddy (although recovering from a broken finger is always a risk), Rudd and Steer. All are young and have bags of potential. CB's: Ayala, R.Bennett (our future pairing), with R.Martin as reliable back-up, and the futures of Ward and Barnett both rightly up in the air (they are not as good as the other 3, that is indisputable, and therefore there is always room for improvement in this area. Expect one to stay and another CB to be signed) Full Back's: Tierney the only regular, while R.Martin can cover. Much depends on Drury's longevity with respect to the LHS, and Marc needs to be fit for this season. Losing Naughton, assuming he isn't brought back, will be a huge blow, as he was able to play both LHS and RHS well, and his versatility was a great asset to have, with Tierney suffering from injury. I would like to see Naughton signed, as I believe he is worth the money, and it is in this position (RB), that the club should have the highest priority for summer transfers. Lappin provides squad-cover too. DM: Fox and Johnson. Understandably should Fox go, we would need a replacement. However, most of us agree that this is an area that would have required another even if Fox stays (especially to be able to play 4-2-3-1, if an injury befell one of them). Bridcutt was a potential target as a holding midfielder. Crofts is still here and could be used more prominently next season, always an option, you know you'll get plenty of effort and dedication, just not always the end product is what is required. CM: Hoolahan and Howson, the latter important in preserving the former's longevity here at Norwich, and being able to use as a luxury option, for the games that suit him (Hoolahan). Wide: Surman offers stability, whereas Pilkington and E.Bennett offer the wing options, plenty of pace, an eye for goal, and a big threat as evidenced this season. Snodgrass would be a wise purchase, if not for competition for the starting places, but would offer a different option to the other 3 players. Strike: Morison will lead the line as Holt is out of the picture for next season, with Jackson and Vaughan (who is encouragingly injury-free and scoring, if he can keep his fitness, he will be a huge asset next season). I'd expect at least 1 replacement, such as Rhodes for rapid development (I believe he is worth the investment, and 2 years down the line, can be sold on for a good profit to a bigger club), and perhaps Pacheco as one for the future. --- Staff 1) Lambert leaving, that's obvious, so replacement as discussed above. 2) Culverhouse, IMO should be retained if possible, he would know these players inside-out and be a great help to the incoming manager with respects to tactics and how to utilise them best. 3) Karsa, forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought he was to do with identifying transfers, well I would expect him to go, but McNally should take that list off him, and insist on a "hands-off our players for x months" deal should Lambert go to Villa and his oxpecker (research buffalo and oxpecker birds if confused) will follow surely. 4) Replace any more staff that Lambert might pinch. --- Finances Extremely better than 3 years ago, rest assured. However, the priority is to balance paying off our external debt, keeping the wage bill (£21m last year, that was a surprise to read!), and investing in new players to help us in our mission to survive in 2012/13. No player or manager is bigger than the club, and McNally should be applauded for taking a strong stance. IMO majority of players in our country don't understand the word "no" and therefore it is pathetic to see them whining on social media sites about how unfair it is, it only damages their own reputation, and removes any notion of loyalty felt by fans. We are not in a position to increase our wage bill by 10k for each player, therefore there will always be players out there who don't fit our requirements, no matter how much the fans would love to see them sign for us. I don't know what disagreement Holt is talking about, but my opinion of him aside, it should be clear at each club that the leading scorer and captain should be the top earners, since they are the role models, and inspiration to the others. This would hopefully eliminate any other players from complaining that Defender X is on £20,000 a week, and therefore he should be upgraded. --- Fans 1) We are still a premier league club until May 2013 at the earliest. 2) We have plenty of young players, who are still keen to play for us, and will cost an arm and a leg to prise away, McNally will ensure that. 3) We will sign replacements, who will contribute to next season in a productive fashion. 4) We are fortunate to have Morison, who scored 9 goals last season, who can step up. 5) Vaughan and Tierney are now fit, and will be like having 2 new players in itself. 6) We are an attractive proposition to all candidates, a club which is one season away from eliminating its external debt, a stadium which is regularly sold-out, die-hard fans who supported their club even on the brink and you know will cheer their heart out for every Norwich player, a supportive board who will try their hardest to find as much funds as possible to ensure your goals, a young exciting squad with bags of potential, and no egos/primadonnas in the dressing room, a raft of future england internationals (e.g Rudd, R.Bennett, Howson), plenty of leadership ability, and most importantly something that money cannot buy, the desire to keep going when all seems lost, and play right until the final whistle. And with that...who wouldn't want to be our manager?
Totally agree with everything you have said. I think Norwich need to move fast and appoint a replacement for Lambert, so that the new manager can bring in new players and get to know the squad.
Finally, another optimist does exist on the Norwich board, the others are like Ostriches, burying their heads in the sand . Transfer requests and resignations offered will never be repaired in full, once a backstabber, always a backstabber.
If Holt is off I would like to see Pacheco come in at the very least, hopefully he'd still be interested after all the silly buggeryness of the last week or so
so much depends on who the new manager is. until he is appointed, we're between a rock and a hard place. one thing for sure, we don't want to fanny about like liverpool and villa did. i hope mcnally gets straight out there and gets his man so we can crack on with the pre-season plans
Terrific article and very well oput together GoldenEye175. I agree with Hughton as the choice and your overview of everything else
The only area that disappoints me is the end of the myth of "all in it together". I never totally believed it but thought we had created a club where the result was important, not who had achieved it. While every club has a figurehead or star, I didn't think the adoration that Holt got was more than the channeling of fans joy into a figurehead. It just looks now as if Holt is believing a lot of the adoration was solely aimed at him. Strikers get that of course but I genuinely thought the tyre fitter taking stick about his weight but silencing his critics with goals in the Prem knew so much of his success was also due to his team mates.
Well written post and I agree entirely with almost everything you have said. (Sorry but can't see Morison 'stepping up') Let's get ready to rumble !!!! ....
We have players ready to shine. Pilkington, Tierney, Howson and yes, Morison. A few additions and we have ourselves a very good squad, the right manager could take these players far.
Good post Goldeneye We have enough potential within the squad, and a fantastic club, ground, supportive Board, loyal and passionate fanbase to tempt a lot of hungry ambitious managers so there is so much to look forward to. If Ayala, Tierney and Vaughan can remain injury free that's like having three new players almost and 2-3 choice signings will put us in a strong position. As Pete Townsend wrote "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" - well if we can get someone with the same desire, fire, ambition and guile as Lambert we're gonna be alright. To quote another rock star (Ian Dury) we have lots of "Reasons to be Cheerful" Up the City !!
Goldeneye! I don't know if you're aware, but the idea of Lemmings deliberately jumping off a cliff is not true! It was made up by the Disney Corporation for the sake of a film! Apart from that, a very good post!
Also...to quote wikipedia: "The popular 1991 video game Lemmings, in which the player must stop the lemmings from mindlessly marching over cliffs or into traps. In a 2010 board game by GMT games, "Leaping Lemmings," players must maneuver lemmings across a board while avoiding hazards and successfully launch them off a cliff." and... "Because of their association with this odd behavior, lemming suicide is a frequently used metaphor in reference to people who go along unquestioningly with popular opinion, with potentially dangerous or fatal consequences." --- Would be quite a spectacle mind you!
I think that Tierney fit, will make a huge difference to our performances. We got by last season, for a significant portion with either Naughton filling in, or Drury covering, but neither are as good as Marc in that position. The Bennett/Naughton pairing The Pilkington/Tierney pairing Both of these were very successful, and I believe that having the P/T pair back will help our balance, and offer a 2 pronged attack on the wings, rather than just the RHS. Did anyone else find that we were lacking for pace somewhat down the left side, compared to the right?
Good point about Fox. At the end of the day we will get compensation for Lambert and a good price for Holt if he is to leave, but we could well lose Fox for nothing!
Just to allay your fears, Fox's name was on the premier league's official retained list for next season, meaning he has accepted a new contract. Only good news today, apart from McNally telling everyone to **** off our players.
