Premier League season, 2021 / 2022

Some reassuring news there, especially the £60m still to come from player sales. Thanks canario.

For those who prefer it in writing:

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/buendia-sale-crucial-to-ncfc-profit-8441064

 

Seems highly unlikely

 

That is exactly as I see it , if anything we over extended in the transfer market and it didn't make much difference.

We are blessed to have hit the curve at the right time on 5 occasions to reap the benefits of promotion to the money league

 

That is now 2 days old with no other sources backing it up, while DF has been talking to the Pinkun about the upcoming games. Why would a Villa Twitter source have such an inside scoop about us?

 

Michael Bailey's article in The Athletic with some useful clarification of the latest NCFC accounts.

 

Interview with Stuart Webber yesterday (27/10/21)

DF is going nowhere. It's great to have a calm competent committed individual at the helm. A big question for me is whether we have the quality of fans to play their part.

 

We were the 11th biggest spenders in Europe?!?! Take that one Talksport

 

It always wants me to sign in, could you copy the text into a post for me please?

 

They might counter with us selling Buendia, but that is the model we have, we might not have made it back to the Prem if we didn't have him last year with the agreement to sell him

 

Just finished watching the whole interview, very level headed from Stuart Webber. You can tell he understands the club and the fan base and knows that things have to improve on the pitch, he talks a lot of sense.

 

Can't just copy and paste it Zog; The Athletic would have justified grounds for complaint. If I have a moment later, I'll précis some of the salient points

 

I've never heard anybody question the "quality" of City fans, not the owners, Webber, Farke, anybody. Maybe you're just worried that a sizeable number of your fellow fans simply don't agree with you?

 

He certainly laid it on the line, contrasting this season with two seasons ago. Minimum target this season is 17th; the club is EPL-ready in terms of infrastructure, backroom support etc; the 11th largest transfer spend in Europe this summer has gone into strengthening the squad; the coaching staff have been rewarded and incentivised with improved, long-term contracts. No hiding place for anyone. Performances need to improve, starting Sunday.

 

I agree completely. He's not criticising fans, he's saying that for this to work it's down to all of us: the staff, the players and the fans. We all need to dig in if we're to get the performances and results we need to survive. As he says, it's far too early to give up. We need a really strong reaction against Leeds to kickstart the season, but Leeds will be saying the same as they struggle for points. The rest of the season begins here.

 

Which is, of course, true 38 times a season at 14.59 approx.

 

True, but if we win this one we could move up a place or two and be only 2 points from safety. That could make a huge difference for the 4 games after that.

 

I think he was reffering to you Robbie, I say with tongue in cheek, and 7,500 miles separating us.

 

I think perhaps he was a little, his reference to singing you must be crap you're not beating us suggests perhaps he is tetchy with the fans gallows humor. He acknowledges that the fans need something to get behind, but there has been so little so far this season. Go a goal down and I fear a toxic atmosphere might ensue.
My fear is that basically Farke is utterly ineffectual without Emi. Even in our Championship seasons our record without him was pretty poor. Has a Buendialess Farke actually got a winning formula? 532 without any off our most inventive players suggests to me not unfortunately.

Bah!

 

The case for Buendia leaving causing our downfall has one flaw - Emi was with us all through the PL campaign when we didn't survive. He had good stats but few goals or assists that year. With a more successful Villa this season his WhoScored rating is only 6.68, below both Normann and Hanley in spite of Villa having an easier schedule to date. I think we should wait until the halfway point in the season before trying to draw conclusions. The key for me is our next 5 games. If we're still struggling where we are after those, then we really are in trouble.

 

One thing that does annoy me is football fans who say that we have no right to be in the Premier League because we have no ambition and don't spend enough money, and then go on to criticise or lament the fact that it is becoming a billionaires' plaything. We're trying to do it the way that they claim clubs should, yet we get trashed for doing that.