I think we have acquitted ourselves brilliantly this window. Bought in 3 players to help strengthen the squad and lost no first team players. While many may be disappointed no "big name" signing was made, I think the club has shown great ambition in the players targeted. Not only that, but they have clearly worked very hard to bring them here. This fills me with great confidence over the summer. If we stay up we will have a decent transfer fund and we are clearly looking at quality players who would bring extra quality to the team and in the summer window would be much more attainable. I am also delighted that the club has not been held to ransom and paid way over the odds for players (unlike some clubs). They have used the clubs finances wisely and clearly are looking after the long term future of the club. Overall there is every reason to be positive for the future, so well done to all at NCFC. Lets finish the season well and push on for another season in the top flight.
~£8m (not spent in January transfer window) £12m (no debt repayments to the bank owed) ~£10m (Summer Budget spent in 2012 to be replicated) £20m at the absolute minimum (New TV £££ for PL 13/14 - No.20 earns same as Man City did last season in effect, i.e. £80m instead of £45m) I make that a sizeable budget of £50m at a highly conservative estimate...of course I wouldn't expect to spend even 60% of that, as I would like to imagine that the remaining 40% would be allocated to the stadium expansion, slight wage increase to say £20-25k a week and to our new Tier 1 academy. Still £30m when we are used to £10m is going to be epic! Transfer record will be obliterated, as the ambition to bid £7m for Hooper demonstrated.
Everybody is getting very excited about the extra money that will come rolling in next season if we survive, but money still has to be spent wisely. Lots of money often means the ability to make bad decisions. Liverpool during the reign of King Kenny were a perfect example, as were QPR under Hughes.
I think the reason we can/are getting excited is that hughton has got the 'knack' of finding a player not just for us but also newcastle. We also know we aren't going to do anything too stupid whilst McNally is about as proven today!
There is no doubt the money needs to be spent wisely. But this was more to praise the ambition shown by the club without jeopardising its future. It is certainly a bonus that there is money there when players are more affordable, and clubs more willing to see in the summer. But I think we can be thankful the club is well run and I don't think we will just throw our money around at substandard players. They will (hopefully) be carefully researched and in the best interest of the team.
That's definitely my biggest positive out of the window I'd have been gobsmacked if we'd paid anything like £8-9m for Hooper, it would have been an enormous gamble and I'm so glad Celtic quite rightly wanted to keep hold of their main man as they head into their biggest games in years against Juve, I'm glad for us he didn't come as I'm not convinced he's worth anything like that, and I'm happy for Celtic to keep hold of him. Win/win that for me. spending
Good management overall! Clearly we had some targets and made sensible bids but didn't get rail-roaded into paying above the odds.
cant believe theabuse mcNally is getting on Twitter from some fans for not spending big. I agree with the OP ambition aligned with common sense! strengthened team particulary in attacking areas is just what we needed. We were never going to get star signings at reasonable prices in January, but I really think it's great that we tried so hard!
Absolutely ridiculous attitude by some 'fans' - McNally and co have done the right think IMO and we'll have the interest to add on to the £8M as well to spend in the summer. It will also give EC and the other scouts to check out other players before we 'get the cheque book out again'!!! Well done to all concerned.
McNally does seem to only ever retweet the negative messages he gets though,which is really annoying. I am sure there are plenty of City fans sending him positive messages echoing what's been said on this thread, but he never retweets them!!
How correct you are! Anyone outside the club would assume, from his retweets, that Norwich fans are nothing more than a feral lynch mob Many people I follow expressed exactly the same sort of sentiments shown in this thread - with which I fully agree
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.
