It was one, small line that almost got lost in the midst of Friday's catch-up chat with the manager.
“There are not that many good players around,” said City boss Glenn Roeder, as he gently scolded the gathered Press for putting one or two potential deals in danger by alerting the world and his wife as to who the Canaries were interested in transfer-wise.
“I've seen more of the papers than I would normally do in the close season and plenty of you have hit the cross-bar and the post with the stabs you've had at them [City's transfer targets].
“Now some of those that have hit the bar will go in the net and others will come back into play, but you're giving away a lot of clues to other clubs…”
He did, he said, recognise that people were just doing their jobs; it is, after all, what sells newspapers and drives website traffic. Speculation.
But the interesting point here is whether or not one of those that hit the bar and didn't end up in the back of the net was Scunthorpe United striker Martin Paterson, who today completed his ?1.3 million switch to Burnley. Much, potentially, to the chagrin of both Norwich and – by all accounts – neighbours Ipswich Town who had mounted an 11th hour raid for the want-away Iron man.
Just as Marcus Evans' men had for Kyle Lafferty, whose big-money switch to Rangers enabled the Clarets to double their bid for Paterson and could yet, according to some, help finance a raid for City midfielder Darel Russell.
Lafferty, I get.
The lad's got something. And I can see that. He's 20-years-old and, crucially, six-foot four inches tall. He has that long, loping stride of an athlete; he has the touch to match. He's one you would pay ?3 million for. He's a prospect; a genuine contender. And at that height, fits the 'look' required for the 2008 footballer.
Paterson, for me, is different.
Now, first things first. I missed both Scunthorpe games last season. So, what follows is based on second-hand reports.
But, by every account, the kid works his socks off. If memory serves, in singing the lad's praises Roeder's remarks last season were in a similar vein – that he covered every blade of grass in the Carrow Road meeting; Wes Hoolahan apart, he gave the best individual performance of any visiting player to Norfolk.
He's 21. So a prospect, age-wise. Height-wise, he's five-foot nine. Two inches shorter than Luke Varney who – like Paterson – was the subject of much Norwich interest this time last summer before moving from Crewe to Charlton Athletic for ?2 million and a four-year contract in tow. On a reported ?17,000 a week.
He was, after all, the third top goal-scorer in League One the season before; a campaign that ended six weeks early, too, with a broken toe.
Luke Varney scored eight goals for the Addicks last season as Charlton's dreams of bouncing back into the Premiership at the first attempt blew up in their faces.
In fairness, it was four more goals than another of Norwich's summer targets, Billy Sharp, managed last season; having had the guided tour of at least four Championship clubs, the then 21-year-old finally returned to the first love of his life, Sheffield United, for ?1.6 million and promptly disappeared.
Another of Peter Grant's nibbles, Southend Romany Freddy Eastwood, managed to grab all of three goals for Wolves after his ?1.5 million switch to Molineux this time last year. He does, like Varney, have another three years to run on his Wolves contract – something Mick McCarthy is all-too painfully aware of having thrown him onto the transfer market this summer. “It just hasn't worked out…”
Paterson, of course, has also just agreed a four-year deal with the Clarets. And while Roeder was swift to cast aspersions on some of the wage figures thrown around by the Press, the one-time Stoke trainee is likely to be a very wealthy young man this evening. Even if he doesn't quite tap the riches that the Addicks threw Varney's way, the boy won't be short of a bob or two.
The point is the one that Roeder made right at the start – that if the East Anglian grape-vine is to be believed, both clubs north and south of the Waveney were involved in the Paterson chase only to baulk at Scunthorpe's ?1.3 million asking price. Plus add-ons and a 20 per cent sell-on. Apparently.
For a hard-working, five-foot nine-inch lad who scored 14 goals in the Championship last season.
Of course, if you're the Iron and their hard-nosed chairman Steve Wharton then you can congratulate yourself on playing something of a blinder given that Burnley, apparently, opened the bidding at ?550,000.
And all for a player that was already throwing his toys out of the pram by slapping in a transfer request and suggesting that were he still at Glanford Park in six weeks time, his mind might be elsewhere and not quite be on the many and varied delights of League One football.
From ?550,000 to ?650,000, you held firm. And watched as the lad's reported desire to stay in the north – coupled with, presumeably, the attentions of both Norwich and Ipswich – drove the price up and beyond the ?1 million mark.
For a hard-working, five-foot nine-inch lad who scored 14 goals in the Championship last season.
With Paterson off elsewhere, you wonder whether Roeder's attentions may not now turn to Andrew Cole; if the various 'sightings' around the city are to be believed this weekend then the manager's quest for goals could end up at the feet of a 36-year-old.
It is worth watching events at The Hawthorns, too, where 34-year-old Kevin Phillips is refusing to budge on his demand for a two-year deal; Tony Mowbray looks equally set on offering only the one.
But, again, it speaks volumes for the sheer dearth of quality players in the lower reaches of the English game that the likes of a Cole and a Phillips are the best that are out there; that at 38-years-old Dion Dublin could still batter players 20 years his junior in terms of his ability as a striker.
All too often, money proves to be the root of all evil and you do begin to wonder; that this time last year Messrs Sharp, Varney and Eastwood had the world and his wife on their heels – the competition for their signatures duly drove both transfer fee and wages up into the next bracket and all three did nothing for their new employers. It was feet up, Havanna out and time to blow big, contented smoke rings into the faces of their critics…
And that's the reality. There's a generation of young English footballers out there who, all too often, don't give a monkeys. Not once the wad's there. That's me sorted, son…
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