This one has popped up on sky sports today http://www1.skysports.com/football/...orwich-eye-Bournemouth-midfielder-Harry-Arter
Adios to 'mad' Marc Tierney. (Sorry if it's been covered) http://www.pinkun.com/norwich-city/...to_sign_norwich_city_s_marc_tierney_1_2202302
No surprises regarding Tierney, such a shame he couldn't find the form from the first 10 games of last season, where he was playing exceptionally well.
Agreed re Tierney. I imagine we'll see quite a few of the lads who clawed us up to the Prem leave this window as CH looks to ship out Lamberts men and put his own in place. Notwithstanding our excellent 11th place I don't think many of us are under any illusions that we don't need to strenthen and if we bring them in we have to ship others out.
i think there will be one or two surprise departures as CH strengthens the squad. until the last two games i would have said Wes could be one of them, but he has re-discovered his best form suddenly, helped by a more attacking set up, and is unlikely to be a departure now.
We are in a position of strength atm. Boosted by the fact that we have not sold a first teamer, who we wished to retain, for the last 3 years! The fact that we have resisted poachers of all sizes should be celebrated. Let's keep hold of Ruddy, because he makes SUCH a difference to this team (money can't buy a defence's confidence) unless a £20m offer comes in, in which case, we could buy a good replacement and still have £10m to spare min.
Goldeneye - I love the bullish outlook but how many offers have we had for first teamers recently? Realistically if Arsenal come in and offer Ruddy £60k/week he or any other of our players will make it their business to force a move and we will have to get what we can for them, same as always. If the like of Arsenal have to sell VanPersie the likes of Norwich will continue to have their best poached as well. Football is a business and players are in it for the money. Being in the Prem and having a fair bit of cash just means that we have to listen and accept bigger offers for better players. Hopefully we will be able to keep the players we want and get some more in besides but just because we are PL does not change our status as a selling club it's just that until recently we've not had anyone that other teams want. Luckily I think that Riddy being out for a while and not being in the England squad may keep him under the RADAR for a bit longer and we don't really have any standout players who the really big clubs would want but just watch and see what happens if the Wolf rocks up and scores 15 before Christmas or Snod kicks on or if Howson spends the whole of the start of next season playing like he has done in the past couple of weeks.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Michu and Benteke, both have had great seasons and could command a higher wage then present, they would also cost a fair bit. If they stay it could be a good precedent for players establishing themselves and not just using it as a spring board to get to the top clubs as quickly as possible. Jack Butland turning down Chelsea was a good move too. at present I can't see anyone other than Ruddy having an offer made which is worth our time, and as keeper careers are longer he will probably value playing time more than the money at then moment.
While I agree with your general point Norfolkbhoy, I think it is misleading to talk about us as "a selling club". Isn't every club in every league in the same situation, where others will covet its good players and it will covet good players elsewhere? What I understand by "a selling club" is a club which HAS to sell one or more of it's best players every season in order to remain financially stable and/or try to improve further. Although people don't like to acknowledge the fact, that was true of City during the majority of our most successful years in the old First Division, i.e. we couldn't have had the success we did without selling at least one of our best players every summer to provide the money to keep us competitive and trying to improve further. In recent years Arsenal have also had to be a selling club because, lacking the huge financial backing of an Abramovich or Gulf Sheikh, and having made the well-justified decision to build a modern stadium with vastly increased capacity, they have been pretty much strapped for cash when compared to e.g. Chelsea and the Manchester clubs. They are now through that period and about to reap the rewards for forward thinking (in comparison with Spurs and Liverpool who are still to build their new stadia). We too are no longer a "selling" club in my sense. We want to enlarge our capacity but, thanks largely to Robert Chase, the rebuilding of Carrow Road was done long since. And with the external debt paid off, and the riches of the TV money, we have the resources to improve the squad and develop our ground, our training facilities and our academy (another huge factor in future success that we owe largely to Robert Chase incidentally) without RELYING on cashing in on our best players. It may still be in our best interests to sell a particular player, even if only because no-one wants players at the club who would rather be elsewhere, but if e.g. Ruddy is happy here and prepared to bide his time, we don't HAVE to sell him whoever comes calling and whatever the transfer fee offered. So in that sense I also agree with Goldeneye: we ARE in a "position of strength" such as, IMO, we have NEVER been in before. (This is strictly O/T here, I realise, so apologies to DHCanary for that).
Admirable sentiment but if he were to leave it would be to a top club and we are talking about a huge pay day. If he stays fit I don't think that there are many places he would go where he wouldn't be no.1 or at least have a decent chance. I can't see him dislodging Hart but Cech is on the down slope and DeGea is not exactly Schmeichal is he? If JR goes he will probably get his pay day and first team football. I seriously hope he he doesn't but I wouldn't rule it out. All players are almost certain to leave if they are offered a huge amount of cash as their careers can be over in a flash if they pick up a serious injury. There are not many LeTissiers around.
I know you think I'm naïve, but a year or too with us playing like he can a big them will bring him in as number 1, the payday would be far bigger then and worth holding on for.
Can't really see which 'Big Clubs' are in need of a keeper. Most of the top teams are sorted keeper wise for a fair few years to come. Chelsea have Thibaut Courtois coming through, who will probably take Cech's place in the next few years. City have Hart who is young still. Arsenal Szczesny who is also young. Spurs now have Lloris, Liverpool Reina. All the keepers mentioned still have potentially 7 years minimum left in them. Obviously things might work out differently but I honestly can't see who would be able to pay top whack for a goalkeeper other than those teams.