The Daily Mail is as far from my first point of reference as is humanly possible but if it’s telling me that City have finally agreed a fee with Fulham for Ross McCormack then I’m prepared to believe.
For a few fleeting seconds at 6:50 on the morning of July 31, 2016 it became my bible.
If true – and it’s a bold statement to make if it isn’t – then not only does it signal the arrival of one with an extraordinary goalscoring record in the Championship it also, far more importantly, marks the end of some online panic of equally extraordinary proportions.
‘Here we go again, this has got the Brady saga written all over it’
‘Why do we never learn? Same ol’ Norwich’
‘It’s a repeat of the Afobe disaster’
Except, as will hopefully transpire, it’s none of those things. It was the club having a valuation for the player in mind and doing their utmost to stick to it. It was the club being prepared to be patient in order to get the deal done without being stitched up. Or, as it’s commonly known, negotiating.
There are of course clubs out there who had they been in the bun-fight for said striker would have concluded the deal far quicker but these would be folk with far deeper pockets than City’s; the type who would be prepared to, for example, throw £8 million at Tyrone Mings as if it were confetti.
Despite some being of the opinion that there are pots of gold stacked up in the City boardroom, the harsh reality is that every pound still has to work hard.
Yes, compared to many in the Championship we have a parachute payment induced advantage (which was hard earned by the way) but please let’s not kid ourselves that ‘an extra couple of million there won’t hurt’.
It really would.
Any organisation that faces a 60 per cent reduction in income has some serious cloth-cutting to do, even it its staff have contractual arrangements to help soften the blow. For City’s part, players whose contracts have embedded relegation clauses will of course help lighten the financial load but there remains the necessity to run a tight ship.
The first season back in the Championship does, of course, represent the best chance of bouncing back to the Premier League – and if it goes to a third we have every right to start mildly panicking – but still the need remains to juggle the financial stability of the club with appropriately funding a promotion push.
It’s a difficult balancing act and requires decisive, sometimes unpopular, actions, and definitely no room for knee-jerk decisions, like chucking an extra couple of million in the pot just to get a deal over the line.
To some, the club appears the footballing equivalent of Scrooge. But it has no choice.
*If* McCormack arrives we’ll be getting ourselves a striker who has scored 116 Championship goals in 303 games – a goal every 2.61 games for the stattos – and one who scored 23 goals last season for a club that finished 20th; impressive numbers in every regard.
At 5′ 9″ he’s not going to throw his weight around a la Mbokani, nor is he likely to offer an aerial threat, but he will be one with an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time and one who, when offered a chance, will be relaxed rather than tighten up (sorry CamJam).
Think Gary Hooper minus the ‘I don’t want to be here’ demeanour.
If his reported appearance at the Coventry friendly was anything to go by he certainly does want to be here and that in itself would make a refreshing change from those who either arrive reluctantly, because that better offer never arrived, or who run a mile when hear ‘rural’ and ‘no motorways’.
So, while the wait continues, the Daily Mail have reignited hope that was beginning to wane slightly following Alex Neil’s post-Hannover comments, and the bookies still appear convinced.
We just await the white smoke, the singing fat lady, and a picture of him wearing the egg ‘n cress. Then we’ll know.
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Meanwhile off the field, the big news of the week was of course the announcement that the David McNally chair is to be filled, when he’s tied up his loose ends at Wolves, by one Jez Moxey; the rarity of being a footballing chief executive that we’ve already heard of.
That, in itself, suggests that Moxey is not going to quietly slip in under the radar and just keep things ticking over. By all accounts he’s a shrewd, tough operator who is well connected in the game and beyond.
He won’t, I suspect, be seen meeting and greeting supporters on match day on the corner of the River End but he will, hopefully, be the type to get things done and make, if needed, the aforementioned, tough decisions; someone more akin to McNally than his predecessor.
And that has to be a good thing doesn’t it?
Let’s just hope he arrives before October 1, or things could get awkward.
He is a good striker but just look at the way he has messed Fulham around ,bad guy to have in the dressing room ,if Norwich are not playing well and up the top by Xmas he will be starting to cause unrest amongst the team,sad to lose him but we will be o k wirhout him,no player is bigger than the club they play for sadly for Ross he feels otherwise,
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While I have no issue at all with the Club trying to get the best deal possible, I am always amazed while ALL clubs seem to leave it so late before getting business done.
If the MOS report is true, the deal will be done later this week. That means it is highly unlikely he will be available for Saturday. Say, we only draw that one and maybe miss out in May by a couple of points.
It seems we wanted him early, he wanted to go and Fulham, presumably, would want to get a replacement with the money.
It would have been in everyone’s interests to get this deal done much earlier. He could have been in a couple of weeks ago and be ready to go on Saturday.
Sometimes, I simply don’t understand football!
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This is a dreadful deal. Its clear we intend to play with width and that doesn’t suit McCormack, he’s 30 so no resale. £12m, £40k a week, way too much money.
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Maybe Fulham wanted to sign a replacement first, therefore holding up the arrival of McCormack to Norwich ???? . There are numerous issues regarding a transfer of a player, most of what we dont know or hear about. Its not as easy as people think. Too many think its just like playing football manager on the internet. The comment like ” we should just pay what Fulham want” is typical of people spending other peoples money. Thats why there so much debt about today.
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Well it seems WBA are now in the hunt for Brady, the more the merrier as it will undoubtedly push his price up. His sale needs to fund the McCormack deal and give us plenty of loose change IMO
OTBC
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There’s something odd about the Ross McCormack transfer, simply because the buying club isn’t usually given permission to speak to the player until the clubs have agreed a fee between them first.
This suggestions that one either tried to alter the price or the instalment payment plan subsequently.
Of course, there”s little to be gained by finger pointing, especially when there’s still a deal to be concluded, hopefully in our favour.
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Possibly the fact that city get paid the first part of there parachute payment on Monday the1st July have some Bering on this saga ,if reports are to be believed in Fulham wanting payment up front very similar last season in Burnlys pursuit of Andre Grey let’s hope the similarities don’t stop there.
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I don’t quite get the negativity about McCormack.
City simply have to get back to the Premier League, where the income is now 70% higher (yes, 70% higher) than before. With Klose having committed himself to the cause, we have a strong squad with one missing ingredient: a proven Championship scorer.
In a window where Jordan Ibe is worth £15m and Gregory Winjaldum £25m, Norwich paying £12m (wherever we get it from) for McCormack seems to me a no-brainer.
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While McCormack could certainly “do a job”, I thought that was why we extended Jerome’s contract. If McCormack is signed we’ll have four strikers 28+ with diminishing re-sale value.
Lafferty, McCormack, Jerome, Naismith – Four strikers who have never really proven themselves in the Prem. Which is fine, if you’ve got a split between young and old. I’m just not sure I see a clear plan for what happens if…
a) We do get promoted.
b) We don’t get promoted.
Which is mildly disconcerting because it resembles what happened last time we were in the Champ.
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Dave B (9) – Just a couple of points.
1. Naismith isn’t an out-and-out striker
2. I’ve seen nothing to make me think Lafferty is in AN’s plans
3. I believe the current plan is simple and right: Get to the Premier League. Despite our remarkable achievements in 2010-11 and 2014-15, history tells us it won’t be remotely easy. Given our current squad, I can’t see anything better we could do than sign McCormack – 66 goals in the last three Championship years and “the best player outside the Premier League” (Ian Holloway)
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Stewart
(1) He has played as one, although right now he wouldn’t be our ‘man-up-top’.
(2) That’s not exactly reassuring, but ‘okay’.
(3) Get to the Premier League is not a plan, it’s a goal.
As I pointed out, last time we got in someone who could do-the-job, then promptly realized we had no plan and came straight back down. I’d like to think we had more foresight to be planning beyond one year.
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Sorry but I think this is a predictable re run of the Adeobe saga with the same shambolic outcome. If McCormack was coming , surely the deal would have been done & dusted days ago. More likely he will finish up with one of our rivals in Championship like so many of our other rumoured targets. All we have achieved this close season is sign a promising reserve for 2 million & give extended contracts to a defender who cannot defend & a striker who cannot score I love my club , but fear the worst for this season
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Well if the latest reports are to be believed, we’ve lost out on McCormack. Whether or not you wanted him, missing out would represent a massive blow for the club. That would leave us with the following striking options:
Jerome – A proven Championship goalscorer who has lost the faith of the fans.
Lafferty – An unproven Championship who never had the faith of the fans.
Naismith – Is he even a striker? Some thought he was before he came. After watching him play no-one eve. seems to know now.
…… well that appears to be it. All of a sudden people will start wishing Ricky was still about.
On the plus side, at least we’ve got options at left back. Haven’t we…?
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This gets worse by the day. Our squad would appear to be even weaker ,) with little new blood , & the same old deadwood ) than at the end of last season Still , let’s look on the bright side , when Olson & Brady have gone , we we will have Ruddy , Bassong , Whittaker & Martin in defence & CJ to bang in the goals Promotion , you’re having a laugh
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