• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Hughton unveils three 'new' faces at Carrow Road as some lad called Holt gets the new three-year deal he was gunning for

3rd July 2012 By Rick Waghorn Leave a Comment

Please share

City supporters this afternoon didn’t know which way to turn good news-wise as new boss Chris Hughton unveiled three, ‘new’ players for their delectation and delight – Steven Whittaker, Jacob Butterfield and some lad called Holt.

The 31-year-old City skipper today put a summer of much speculation to bed and got the third year to his contract.

In every likelihood, Holt will now see out the remaining years of his career at Carrow Road and watch his three, young daughters grow up in Norfolk. Which was all he ever wanted.

“A lot of people would have liked to have got it sorter a lot sooner, but we’ve got there in the end – and I’m happy to do that,” said Holt, fresh from penning that new, three-year deal and ending all talk of a summer switch to the East End of London.

A first, face-to-face meeting with new boss Hughton had clearly speeded the process; a few heads were then banged together after both manager and player alike confirmed that it was a deal that needed to be done; the result was today’s announcement – one which was in danger of over-shadowing the arrival of Rangers’ utility player Whittaker and Barnsley’s boy wonder Butterfield.

But to have secured the services of City’s three-time Player of the Season for, effectively, the foreseeable future was always going to be the biggest piece of news this afternoon; the one that would make the Sky Sports headlines.

Now all that remained was to add to his extraordinary goal tally over the last three, remarkable seasons and gun for a fourth, successive Barry Butler Memorial Trophy – if the likes of a Butterfield or a Howson or a Ruddy don’t intervene.

“The intention was never to leave,” he said simply. “You don’t put a transfer request in when I’ve achieved what I’ve achieved here for no reason.

“At the time I felt that I was maybe being unrewarded for what I had done – and I explained to them. I wanted to see my career out here. I’ve had three great years, why wouldn’t I want to stay?

“It was always about securing the family. Everyone knows that I have got three young kids that I want structure for – I want them to stay. Everyone knew that I was settled and I just wanted to make sure that I had that for three years – and that everything was right.”

From an ‘intractable position’ that chairman Alan Bowkett saw on the day that Hughton signed in as boss, someone has clearly rowed back into a position that made today’s announcement possible. Hughton himself described securing Holt’s future as his ‘outstanding priority’ since his arrival.

The manager – just as much as the player – might have made such intentions plain to the board.

In fairness, their position may equally have shifted again since the financial implications of the new BSkyB/BT deal sank in. Either way, it has been done; put to bed; sorted.

“There’s been a lot of speculation; a lot of things have been said,” said Holt. “And a lot of it was nonsense. And when you’re reading it, you are getting annoyed but you don’t want to comment because you don’t want to drag club stuff through everywhere.

“But I’m just delighted to get it to bed, to be honest,” he added. “I’m just looking forward to getting back in next week and getting back to work, as they say.”

And with a firm relationship now established with Paul Lambert’s successor. In a sense, both have looked after eachother – Holt gets his three years, Hughton a huge piece of his jigsaw bedded into his thinking a week before the start of pre-season.

“It’s a good appointment,” the Canary skipper confirmed. “I spoke to him this week and he told me his plans and what he wanted to do – and he told me he wanted me to stay which is the main thing I wanted to hear.

“As I said to Chris [Hughton], well you speak to the board, get it sorted this week and I’ll do it.”

Less than 48 hours later and both men proved true to their word. Was there compromises made on both sides?

“My aim has been reached – I got my three years,” said Holt. “There were things that maybe shouldn’t have been said over the last six weeks, but we’ve resolved them. We sat down, spoke about it, dealt with that and we’ll move on.

“And at the end of the day, what we’re all here for is to keep this club where it is.”

That and to keep the Holt family firmly embedded in Norfolk living. And that’s now a big job done.


Please share

Filed Under: none

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

ryanpearce5 Ryan Pearce @ryanpearce5 ·
3 Apr

If usual tricks = being kicked in the penalty area and not getting a penalty then yeah 😂 #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1642899144267243522 Retweet on Twitter 1642899144267243522 Like on Twitter 1642899144267243522 1 Twitter 1642899144267243522
norwichcityes Norwich City FC en español @norwichcityes ·
3 Apr

Partidazo el que nos espera este viernes 🔥🔥🔥.

Vamos con todo por esos tres puntos #NCFC 💛💚

Reply on Twitter 1642897241835798529 Retweet on Twitter 1642897241835798529 Like on Twitter 1642897241835798529 2 Twitter 1642897241835798529
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
3 Apr

Boreham Wood mocked over bizarre announcement parting with stadium caterers - https://fanbanter.co.uk/boreham-wood-mocked-over-bizarre-announcement-parting-with-stadium-caterers/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #sufc

Reply on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Retweet on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Like on Twitter 1642893716791894019 Twitter 1642893716791894019
norwichcityfc Norwich City FC @norwichcityfc ·
3 Apr

🤝 Connection with the club
📈 Growth of women's team
🏟 Carrow Road fixture

@NorwichCityWFC general manager Flo Allen answers your questions in the latest episode of 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1642889121868783616 Retweet on Twitter 1642889121868783616 2 Like on Twitter 1642889121868783616 18 Twitter 1642889121868783616
norwichcityacad Norwich City Academy @norwichcityacad ·
3 Apr

🏟️ The Under-21s make their return to Carrow Road later this month in a #PL2 clash against Southampton 👊

Secure your FREE ticket for our final game of the 2022/23 campaign ⬇️

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1642886378743537666 Retweet on Twitter 1642886378743537666 Like on Twitter 1642886378743537666 1 Twitter 1642886378743537666
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by