During pre-season, and even towards the end of last season, it was becoming increasingly clear that James Maddison was going to play a pivotal part in our team this campaign. A product of the Coventry City Academy system, Maddison had earned plaudits during his loan spell with Aberdeen, especially after a belting free kick against Rangers in September 2016.
After returning to Carrow Road for the second half of the 2016/17 season, many fans, including myself, were left frustrated at the lack of game time the youngster was receiving. Whether Alex Neil would have blooded Maddison into the first team frame if the Scot had remained in charge, we will never know. But following Neil’s departure, and with Alan Irvine taking the reins until the end of the season, we began to see just what a special player we had on our hands.
After just a few substitute appearances, including a debut league goal to seal a 3-1 away win at Preston, excitement was building amongst fans looking forward to the prospect of seeing more of Maddison the following season.
Now, given that we are in January and over half way through the season, I think it’s fair to say that that excitement was more than justified. After a match winning strike against Bristol City on Saturday, the 21-year old is now our joint league top scorer, along with our top assist creator. Given that this is his first full season of Championship football, makes above stats even more impressive.
However, now is the time where the young man’s undoubted ability will be stretched even further. The departure of fellow frontmen Alex Pritchard and Yanic Wildschut combined with the dry form of Nelson Oliveira mean that City’s attacking threat will now be even more so centred around Maddison.
A man evidently brimming with confidence at the moment – it’s likely that the expectation on himself will be received with a ‘bring it on’ attitude. Although, an injury or loss of form to City’s prized asset could see what is an already bleak looking ‘goals scored’ column transitioning from critical to severe. And when you’re the most fouled player in the league, surely an injury at some point is inevitable.
And then, of course, comes the inevitable transfer speculation. With one key component of the Norwich City machine having already waved goodbye to Carrow Road, it’s unbearable to think of the consequences if Maddison were to follow suit. But hey, let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it (deep breaths).
As special, talented, priceless (the list of adjectives goes on) as Maddison is, putting the weight of our offensive needs on his young shoulders is not a sustainable way to continue the season. Farke has admitted himself how physically demanding the Championship is, which is especially evident now with the amount of sports science information at every club’s disposal.
It seems as if now is the right time to loosen the purse strings, but not too much and on the right player, just to ease the pressure off Maddison, or even to build a partnership with him like the one that was beginning to flourish with Pritchard. However, spending ‘not too much’ AND ‘on the right player’ hasn’t exactly been our strength over the last few years.
But this time we have no choice. We have to get it right. It’s no secret the precarious position the club finds itself in financially. Let’s not forget, we are only six points off the play offs. It’ll be difficult, but it’s certainly doable. Bringing in just one quality acquisition to share the work load with Maddison will give us at least a fighting chance of making the top six. Otherwise, it’s probable that he’ll simply burn out. Which then leaves Wes, who, as much as we all love him, has showed his age this season in cameo appearances and Vrancic, who is beginning to find his feet in a more deep lying role.
Who knows, maybe Maddison can keep his standard of performance at this exceptional level until the end of the season. After all, he certainly has age, confidence and momentum on his side.
Whatever the future holds for him, it has certainly been a pleasure to watch such a technically gifted player represent our team, who I’m sure will go on to achieve big things in the game.
Enjoy him while he’s here, we’re lucky to have him.
OTBC.
My view is that he will inevitably leave either this month or this summer. The clubs linked so far are Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal and this is a great opportunity for City to get more than just cash in return for this fantastic player. We should be insisting on a part exchange. All the above clubs have exellent acadamies with more exiting talent than they will ever use at under 18, 19, 20 level and these young players whilst not quite good enough to challenge a new £40m player purchase at the above clubs could do a terrific job here. Might even be the making of their career. There must be numerous examples but one recent one was Benik Afobe, released by Arsenal to Wolves for diddly squat he was sold to Bournemouth a year later for over £10m, I think we were in for him at the time but the price was too high.
If we say to lfc, afc, thfc, etc ok the price for Madders is £xm and we would like 2/3 youngsters in addition. Each club will know which of their crops are going to be released and our scouting network/u19,u23 managers should know which would suit us.
We could then only accept the offer which best suits us.
The idea of finding a diamond in league 2 is great but I cant help feeling after watching the success of the England youth teams last year that this is where the diamonds really are and we need to be in pole position to get them.
5
Great article Daniel and I thought what a fantastic prospect Maddison was when I saw him in the pre-season game in 2016 when we played Coventry as part of the agreement to sell him to us. I was fortunate enough to get to several Under 23 games last season, where he played a pivotal role in us beating Dinamo Zagreb and winning 2 penalties. We lost in the semi final, as by then, Maddison was in the 1st team squad. I wonder if Pritchard had not been injured if we would have seen as much as we have of our undeniable talent, but he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands and as you say he has been pivotal in many of our victories and winning the EFL September Goal of the Month an #ncfc player of the month every month since September.
It’s only natural that he is destined for the Premier League and I’m sure every Canaries fan hopes that that doesn’t happen until the end of the season. I thought he had one of his poorer games against Chelsea and whilst you mention us signing a player to take some of ‘his workload’, I would love to see Cantwell being given his chance, but unfortunately we have some really tough games in the next few weeks, so now may not be the time to give him his chance.
0
Great article Daniel and response Ed. I also though Maddison had a reasonable game against Chelsea but certainly not his best and his first-touch against PL opposition for me wasn’t quite there yet. Personally, whilst I’m sure there will be a lot of clamour for his signature, if I was his advisor I would be recommending another season in the Championship to fine-tune and demonstrate consistency. Football is littered with some fantastic talents who have made the step-up too early only to languish in the reserves and then ultimately end up back where they started in a few years. Some folks have drawn parallels with Jacob Murphy but Murphy had amassed a lot of experience at Championship and Division 1 level before taking the step – can’t help but things that Maddison needs the same.
As for the here and now, a big shout out to Vrancic for his performance on Wednesday. Finally we are beginning to see his quality not just on-the-ball but rapidly improving the defensive side to his game. Another who I suspect who could play the no.10 role but I think with his greater range of passing is better suited to a deeper role.
OTBC
3
Watching Maddison has been the only real highlight this season.
The dissapointing aspect is that when he is inevitably sold, hopefully in the region of £20 million, the money will only be squandered In subsidising the current owners hobby.
The need for new owners with deep pockets has never been greater.
7
Tiresome, John, utterly tiresome.
You’re probably right though – after all look at how much they “squandered” on Redmond, Brady, Pritchard, Maddison and many others ….
Look, we all know that the desperate attempts to consolidate our place in the PL led to the arrival of the likes of Van Nistleroy, later attempts to stay there brought us Naismith, and a final attempt to get back meant we paid a silly sum for Wildschutt. We get that.
But apart from anything else the characters who identified those particular targets, and presumably gave advice that their fees and wages were reasonable, have long since gone.
Those deals are probably the main reason we have the new structure – one which should provide a more effective way of rubber-stamping what the manager wants, and leaves negotiations in the hands of somebody whose full focus is on the football, rather than everything from corporate hospitality to crowd safety.
Unless of course you believe that what really happens is that Delia gets her laptop out, has a scout around Football Manager, and then tells everybody else who to sign, how much for, and what to pay them….
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It’s obvious the current owners cannot afford to finance a championship club so unless you are content with league 1 football change is essential.
Where is the joy in seeing your hopes constantly dashed by their intransigence?
The new system you talk about is hopefully they final throw of the dice in trying to run the club on a shoestring.
5
Yes @John, I feel the time for D&M to be in charge is over and we need someone who has the progression of the club at heart and not see owning it as ‘a hobby/toy/etc’ and not keep selling our star players.
Exactly @inside right – one hack is already saying that PL clubs should be sending scouts to watch Lewis and I’m optimistic that we’ll see several more of our Under 23 squad make the step up next season.
6
The tiresome thing is the suggestion that Delia & Michael are somehow enriching themselves or failing to spend available money on the squad. The challenges now facing us stem directly from the Board overspending on the team. Our wage bill remains high for the Championship, despite the cuts.
Our situation would be depressing if financial resources correlated closely with success in the Championship. It doesn’t. Most clubs promoted in recent years had neither parachute payments nor a mega-bucks owner; plenty of other clubs have had those things, and not succeeded.
3
If wages are going to be capped as low as some are reporting, then the club is going to have trouble keeping anyone of serious merit. If Lewis keeps performing well (as an example) and a funded Championship club comes in and offers £20K a week, he’s going to walk. And more after him.
Without trying to sounding like Robbie Savage, players by and large go for the £££. They are not interested in whether the club they are playing for has its heart in the community or not, money will always talk and it is money NCFC do not and will not have going forward.
As John F says, deep pockets are required.
4
Not tiresome. Just good common sense, it’s painfully obvious that we are destined to become a feeder club for lesser outfits with proper backing.
The truly tiresome aspect is that some people are supporting this shift.
6
Think you probably meant to reply further up Chris, but what’s “tiresome” is lines like
” the money will only be squandered In subsidising the current owners hobby.”
implying that all the funds are swallowed up by the owners personally and perpetuating the idea that we’ve never made a decent purchase.
3
I don’t think that was what John meant Keith. I feel he was alluding to the fact the money will simply be used to fill the black hole that is filled by the ownership,at other clubs in our division. Thats the frustration which is exacerbated by little signs that Farke has got a handle on team matters and that the support are starting to fall in love with the players.
I’m a realist, I don’t expect, nor do I desire a wolves style hammer to crack a nut approach to gain promotion. I do demand however sufficient funding to ensure that this team is allowed to,grow together and that we keep our best talent for at least long enough for us to see the benefits on the pitch.
3
A very good read
City has always been a selling club and trying to live with the big guns of the Premiership has put us in the situation we find ourselves in, even when we had more than one season in the Premiership the club spent as if yhere was no tomorrow.
Player expended and got big signing on fees complete with higher salaries, Supporters expected better quality players and didn’t give a toss how much it cost the club as long as it looked good on paper and again forget tomorrow.
The board are as guilty as the manager’s thet recruited, allowing them to sign untried and tested players for over priced fees it is like other clubs noticed city were interested and added a couple of zeros and we bent over backwards to pay said fee.
Liverpool, Spurs and a few other clubs were looking at Maddison but were unsure how he would develope city paid double what any of them were prepared to pay plus add ons now for a change city might just be the ones to come out on top.
The Team now needs to prove it isn’t a one man team and somehow step up to the plate for Sheff U on Saturday it is a mighty ask and Wilder will be looking to turn city over for their home loss, lets not have a hangover and rid us of the tag ACN use more of the development squad try either Abrahams or Fonkeu for the last 10 to 15mins.
4
City have been, and will be, generally a selling club. However, for 16 out of 18 seasons in the 70s and 80s (ie. pre D&M) we were a top flight club, which still sold it’s best talent. The main thing that worries me at the moment is the “plan” for “talent” to come through from the academy just to be sold 2-3 years down the line. There doesn’t appear to be any plan for talent to come through and stay at City. D&M require between £15m and £25m to balance the books as they stand, if the expenditure is reduced as is happening at the moment with wages being lowered then we will only compete with Div 3 sides and below…..
3
Not necessarily Beccles. How did Ron Saunders ever get us to the top flight in the first place? How did Worthington manage it after several years of pretty ordinary stuff? How did Lambert do it immediately after getting out of league 1?
In none of those seasons were we any way near the richest club in the division. They all did it by building a squad making best use of the limited funds they had available, and by good coaching, tactics and so on.
Why shouldn’t that happen again?
Did you see what Farke achieved against the reigning league champions on Wednesday night? Who can seriously say at this juncture that he isn’t capable of doing what some of his predecessors have done and building a squad capable of taking us back where we – and Maddison, Lewis, Cantwell et al – want us to be?
7
Because the vision of the club, as confirmed by Stuart Webber, is that we will have a pathway from the U18s, through the U23s to the 1st team and then onto being sold. As we have seen in the accounts, there is a chuffing great hole to be filled every year.
1
To be clear, there isn’t a “chuffing great hole to be filled every year”. At the moment there is, because we’ve continued to spend every penny of income on the squad and that income is dropping rapidly (ie parachute payments). That situation finishes next summer.
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Maddison has been a joy to watch and is clearly our most valuable asset.
But the likes of Zimmermann, Trybull, Raggett, Godfrey, Murphy, Morris, Thompson, Matthews and of course Lewis and Cantwell have some serious talent between them. When did we last have such a promising group of young players?
So I am optimistic that we have a lot to build on and add to.
3
Indeed @Richard, we do have some VERY talented/promising players waiting in the wings and although he’s only 18, I’d add Middleton to that list. I’ll be at CR on Monday evening to watch our Under 23s take on Bournemouth Under 23s and hopefully continue their winning ways.
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