It’s guest blog time again, and it’s the return of Anna Say who takes a look at what the pending Emi transfer says about where we are as a club, and if that needs to change…
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As I sit here reeling from the news that Norwich have sold one of the best players fans have seen at Carrow Road in recent history, I’m left wondering where does that leave us now?
I will be honest and say I am getting tired of Norwich being a stepping stone club that players use to get elsewhere. Why does it seem like such an unrealistic dream to hope that one day we become the destination instead of just a step along the way?
The fans have been conditioned to believe that Norwich cannot keep a player of a certain quality. Well meaning fans will say ‘oh he’s too good for us’ and ‘he will go to a top club’ or, the one that really frustrates me, ‘we’re holding him back if he stays here’.
It is an attitude I have never and will never understand and that is in no way their fault. The blame for that attitude must lie with the club. They have created this restrictive belief that has placed a firm marker on how far Norwich can go, leaving us with little to no hope of going any further.
At the moment it seems as though the Club’s ambitions lie no higher than simply being financially stable and while, yes, that is important, I want to look higher than that. I long for the day when Norwich become established in the Premier League and start looking up instead of down. But will that day ever come? How can it when the moment a player reaches a certain level they are straight out of the door?
I am told that I just have to be realistic because it’s who we are. Time and time again I am made to feel like I am in the wrong for wanting more than this.
The club in recent years has prided itself on the fact that it has an open relationship with the fans, saying they will be honest as long as the fans know that sometimes they will have to take the bad with the good.
This could be a good time to stand up have some accountability and explain the decision.
The fans know that every player has their price and that in this day and age players do not stay still for very long, however when it is the best player at a club it suddenly becomes a lot harder to take. A little communication now would go a long way and stop fans from feeling like the club has shot itself in the foot before they have even kicked a ball.
Selling such an important player feels unnecessary. The pressure that this team and Webber will have on their shoulders will be like nothing they have experienced. Success becomes more of a need than a hope because if Norwich fail then fans will look on the Buendia sale as the deciding factor, regardless of whether it truly impacted it or not.
Our Premier League campaign this time round was always going to carry more weight. Last time the club claimed inexperience and they could get away with using naivety as an excuse. The players they brought in were some of the biggest failures fans had seen for years – a failed risk because of lack of funds – but now they have the experience and the money behind them, so they can no longer hide behind excuses,
Keeping a newly promoted team in the Premier League is an understandably difficult job for anyone, let alone a self-funded club, but selling the best player who most fans and non-fans alike believed was the key to staying up has already made that job significantly harder.
But the club has faced bigger challenges than this and just about come through them unscathed. Maybe this is just another challenge to overcome.
Football is forever changing, and we must change with it. I only hope this will finally be the time that Norwich will also grow as well as change. If the sale of Buendia means bigger and better things for the wider team then it will be understandable, but this is a big if.
It feels like a monumental risk, but we can only wait and see whether it was a risk worth taking.
The decision is not one that Stuart Webber would have taken lightly surely, knowing that every move he makes after this will be heavily scrutinised. While the club may never find a Buendia replacement it leaves room for new favourites and new characters to fill the void. I only hope they can be kept a little longer this time.
Moving forward, the club now needs a clear sign of intent. It is incredibly important as it sets a precedent and can be a clear sign to the fans and the outside footballing world of how much belief they have in themselves and how they will approach the season.
The message needs to be that this time around Norwich refuse to be the weak link. Selling Buendia does not seem like a great start, but all fans can do is wait to see what is waiting for them in the rest of the transfer window. Surely it goes up from here?
My desire for more will never change, however, the rational part of my head tells me that fans must try to look forward and wait before casting judgment.
Since Webber took over, he is yet to sell a player to the detriment of the team, and something tells me he is not ready to start doing that now.
A huge transfer window awaits. With twelve weeks and a good amount of money, Webber has a chance to soften the blow; to strengthen the team, and to potentially get us to the point where we might one day be able to say ‘Emi who?’
Disappointing? Undoubtedly but all clubs are the same to varying degrees. Could Man Utd hold onto Ronaldo, or Liverpool keep Suarez? When a player outgrows his club it’s inevitable they will move on.
Hi Annie. You’re not wrong in wishing that we could keep our best talent and build on it..but if we’re going to get to that stage it’s going to take a few years for our self-funded club. It was only a few years ago that we were dangerously close to going into administration and if it wasn’t for SW coming in at that time we wouldn’t have a team to support. We have to have faith in the scouting system which has unearthed a few gems recently including Buendia. The fact that we’re now looking at players in the £8-10 mil bracket is testiment to their achievement. We now need to invest the money from Emi to build a squad capable of staying in the league and then build. Treasure the moments of magic from Emi but in the short term we’ll have to get used to losing some of our best.
Hi James do you really think for one moment the Emi money will be spent on new players?
If so I would think that will be a first.
Great article Anna. I think you perfectly reflect the inner struggle between raw emotion and reason that we’re all going through right now (well certainly I am!). It is totally heartbreaking to see Emi going, feels like Madders and Godfrey combined. And as a CB myself, I was a huge fan of Godfrey.
I think you’ve summed up the only positive in it perfectly in that Webber has yet to sell anyone to the detriment of the team. Here’s hoping he can keep that up!
For what it’s worth, I think it would have been a bigger risk to keep Emi. I imagine with the £15m that we’ve outlayed on making the Gibson and Giannoulis deals permanent that we’d otherwise have a very limited budget left. Can’t forget that Emi was part of the team that failed to show up for the last 10 games of our last prem season, we need more steel in midfield if we want a better crack at it this time. It’s just a shame we can’t get that and keep Emi but, whether people like it or not, that’s where the club is at.
Agree, we could not have played this season with Todd, Dowell and Buendi – we would have been too lightweight.
I would say it is inevitable up to a point but under the self funding model it is unavoidable. It is what NCFC have done for years, The club sets it’s own ceiling. The only way we can buck this trend is to either get a mega rich owner which I am not against personally or we get a great crop of players together. We are not alone. Every time a small club does well in Europe the vultures come in and pick off the best names. We do it to other smaller clubs too. Without more physical players we will be swept aside again so provided we get them I can just about live with it.. I do think we have to start questioning whether the current model has taken us as far as it can. You cannot buck the trend forever.
Agree, the minnows of Amsterdam, Ajax, had all their jewels removed in short time not so long ago!
It is what it is, and now more than ever this is the best we can hope for for NCFC and we should be proud that we are a self funded club. We never will be a big club and as each season passes then those with history, large stadiums and backed by billionaires will occupy the premier league spots ( add recent additions Leeds and Villa ). And, still there are not enough slots for failing big clubs to gain access to the premiership. Change our financial policy and the risks are huge – it’s a big no thanks from me. We are a championship club whom if run in a similar manner in the future will flirt with the premier league. We will never establish ourselves in the top flight, the best we can hope for is to fall in the bracket of your yearly relegation battlers Burnley, Brighton, Southampton, Palace etc. And mark my words, they will be fighting again next season along with the three promoted teams to survive. Not sure I fancy a survival battle year after year. Big clubs that have been in the top flight whom begin to falter ( add Arsenal ) will not be allowed to fail. Strangely enough, our best chance of establishing ourselves in the premier league would have been following the formation of a European Super League, but that’s another matter. Until there is some kind of shift in the financial balance between clubs then we are stuffed ( along with many other clubs ). As for Emi, he was good enough to stick around, help us gain promotion whilst adding millions to his value and has every right to move on. Increased his salary x 4 ( allegedly ) adding millions to the NCFC coffers. Good luck to Emi and thanks for the memories. That’s life, that’s reality and don’t forget how much we are envied by many clubs world wide for the way our club is run. I think if we have got any concerns it should be who will replace messrs Webber and Farke once they have gone which, regardless of how we fair will probably be at the end of next season. OTBC 🙂
Very naive article I think, sorry! Football is and always has been a food chain -like life itself. Whatever we may think Villa are a ‘bigger Club’ than us, just as we’re bigger than Bournemouth, Brentford, Burnley, or Palace. Thats just how it is.
And all power rests with players and their dreadful Agents. Its impossible to keep a player at a club if his heart is set on a move. I reckon SW did a great job getting the fee for Emi that he did. After all, as above, he hardly set the Prem alive 18 months ago.
Buendia has approximately 10 years to reach for and play at the highest footballing pinnacles. As well as blinding skills, and personal ambitions, he also has a family to fend for.
The city of Norwich is – at best – something of a feeder town for London’s Square Mile, and is – in general – a place of parochial wage structures and affordable housing, with it’s pubs and restaurants selling good ale, great food!
Tickets for home matches here are around half the price of tickets at Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, et als. Club wages and transfer pots are consequently lower than the loftiest of the land – who expect to rub shoulders with the best football clubs in the world.
NCFC is probably quite lucky that it’s current owners both chose to create their lives in the area, in two industries which offered them the opportunity to excel – ‘cos there ain’t queues of billionaires waiting outside to pick up the baton!
The gate at Carrow Road is just over 27,000, and the only way to increase it would be major building works, or at the very least, removal of the current floodlights allowing perhaps another 2-3,000 fans to come off the waiting list and sit in the corners. So we sell every now and again to freshen the bank account. If we didn’t, it would not take long for dandelions to frequent the stands, tumbleweed to blow across the pitch.
In your article you imply NCFC should have stopped Buendia from leaving – sounds like lobster pot theory to me – a trait that Norfolk is very prone to, but I do not think Canary fans are those kind of rodents, do you?
We’re in the Prem, Emi helped get us there, enjoy it, support the Club, they will stay there for a while I’m very sure of it!
OTBC !!
Great stuff, Anna. Realistically we are left with the only true refuge for a football supporter – ‘hope’.
Maybe… one day….
Love your passion in this article but I think that this is our reality. My one hope, other than PL survival, is that our youth development continues and they get a chance in our 1st team. EMI has been exceptional and in a class of his own. Pukki has been the goal scorer any winning team needs but it is the rate of progress and development of the academy players that will eventually move us on into a different phase. If we always have the next player chomping at the bit to play, it will push the current holder of which ever shirt number or position to be at their best. In turn their value increases and, more importantly, our performances stay at a higher level. Perhaps we choose to sell an assets in order to invest in an expensive ‘hot prospect’ worth £15m as opposed to £5m. Ultimately there will always be Man Us and Cs or even AVs to poach our best, we just need to keep the supply chain rolling.
On another note, doesn’t Ben Godfrey look awesome as part of a back 3! Hope he gets a manager that will continue to develop his career as Ancelotti did.
Many people trying to justify this as a good deal, i wonder if they’ll still think the same in a year’s time.
Having developed the player we are happy to ask for a percentage of his eventual worth (in add ons)
Looks like Villa are the stepping stone cub in this case.
Let’s face it, with the selling culture in our club, we will never be an established PL club.
£35m in the bank is far more important than staying up.
Others were not sold as soon as promotion arrived. This time not only have they sold the best player I’ve seen in the city shirt, but have vastly undersold him.
Ben White as defender has been quoted as worth £50m………….
Hi Anna, thanks for the article. I enjoyed.
There are 2 issues here, in my opinion.
1) It isn’t the club, it is what football has become. Players now earn wages NCFC cannot afford, period. It isn’t because we are self funded, it is because players earn too much.
2) It’s Little Old Norwich. The problem is not the myth, NCFC are not a small club by any stretch, it is the reality is that Norwich is a small and unfashionable city that is isolated. Young players, frankly, get bored of the Prince of Wales Road and the elder players often have roots elsewhere.
The gold plated solution was personified by Paul Lambert. Get players for whom NCFC is the pinnacle of their careers, with young families, that see Norwich and Norfolk for the wonderful place that it is, and who will happily settle here and be incredibly loyal to the club in return.
DW and SW have to balance revolving the youth accordingly. But likewise Hanley, I hope, and McLean, join the ranks that make this permanent for their careers.
I have to agree with Dan i’m afraid Anna.
I think the days of an “established Premier League Club” without bucket loads of money are well and truly gone.
I am sure years ago supporters of Charlton, Stoke, Blackburn, Coventry etc all thought the gravy train of EPL would never end.
I actually did during the Brown/Stringer/Walker years.
I can still remember how gutted I was to lose David Cross and Graham Paddon. Since then there have been scores of sad departures.
You will always get in every supporter base those that believe we should be qualifying for europe every season, it is just unrealistic.
But i’m afraid Anna look at the players Arsenal have sold over the years Cole, Van Persie, Fabregas et al. They are a selling club.
Look at the managers we had between Nigel and Lambert and the resulting outcome. That’s the key for clubs like us. We must get the right appointments in the crucial roles.
Webber and Farke have performed absolute miracles and Emi departure was sadly inevitable once the player’s mind was set.
Initially I was shocked by it being Villa but as i have said on here earlier they are really going for it, proven by the fact they are now after Ward-Prowse at Southampton. I would be amazed if they are anywhere near the relegation mix.
A discussion for another day is our ownership. I know nearly a decade ago they definately looked for investment and from what I gather rather hurt that no one was interested in such a well run club.
Since then I do not know but like Martin Penney said yesterday I just hope Delia is not heading offers of investment at the pass.
Now city are suppose to be getting £33/35m as a first payment for Emi and all other fee’s, bonuses will come when clauses are met.
We are also told that communication is very important but again these communications only go so far as in what they think we should know and how to put a spin on bad news.
6 weeks ago SW said his first priority was to get DF to sign a new contract no up dated communication on that so is there a possibility that some German club are in talks and we will only find out once he has left along with all the backroom staff followed by Aaron’s, Todd to the blackforest only time will tell and a late breaking news communication from SW.
With everything else that’s going on I had forgotten about Daniel’s
“new” contract talks Alex.
That is my big worry, that we lose Farke. Everything else would pale into insignificance.
I have seen nowhere stating that £33M or £35M is the first payment, as in all up-front. This is the guaranteed payment and I fully-expect that it will be paid in instalments as is usually the case.
Hi Anna
A good reader and I agree with all you have said.
Cities future will always be decided by our present owners and sorry to say they have truly gone past their sell by date and broken so many promises.
The happy clappers says they have saved the club from bankruptcy on numerous occasions but sorry they were the ones that took the club to that level it was only by luck that they got the right people in during those times that saved the club.
There promise was if someone comes in who can do a better job then we will sell, but the not for sale sign has been up ever since a failed back in the 90’s.
Many clubs have been taken over by financial institutions and prosper in the premiership, others get offers of investment or take overs surely city must get the same offers but the mantra is no one is interested I wonder why.
Being a supporter since 1959 many players have been sold to keep the club afloat and there is always the doom and gloom merchants saying that’s the end but the club survives thankfully.
Emi was one of the reasons city did so well last season and loved the responsibility he was given, juts like when Maddison was here other players took a step back and left it to him, once he left city were predicted to suffer a relegation but SW and DF found another star for us in Emi.
Can luck strike twice or do we have a talent at the club yet to be unleashed only time will tell.
I am not a fan of self financing and neither am I on relying on a Billionaire funding the club but going forward I know which one is the preferred option come in Dereham’s own Billionaire Mr Dyson
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay Safe and Keep Healthy 🙏
Norwich City have achieve another first! Unfortunately it the fact that a Championship club has never sold their best player between being promoted and starting the following season in the Premier League. Sadly, the implications of this unique occurrence are rather bleak. When a club earns itself the position of being on the brink of success the last thing they should do is self-sabotage. If they do there can be no success. There can only be inevitable diminishing returns taking the club further and further away from that position of being on the brink of greatness. There are only so many bites of the apple (however rotten it is).
Fantastic article.
Fully agree with the first part of this article and refreshing to hear it said. “Conditioned” is the right word it brainwashed. The reality is this suits our owners as they cannot really afford to own a premier league football team. I don’t believe they are that bothered if we stay up as long as we dip into the premier league tv monies pot every so often to keep things ticking over. Self funding” just means they out nothing in and we are reliant on occasional player sales.
Villa are a slightly bigger club in terms of support but 3 seasons ago we were ahead of them in footballing terms. Since they they have made themselves bigger through their ambition and yes through finding wealthy owners. We continue to make ourselves small and impose a ceiling on ourselves which means we will never build a top flight team around this crop of talented players we have.
Delia said it all when she said Max “will be a top player but not with us” or words to that effect. This could be our last opportunity time really grow the club and establish ourselves back at the top level but Farke and Webber each have a hand tied behind their backs.
We was never going to keep emi sadly I would love to see us stay in the premier league with out emi but it’s going to be a hard job but I trust stuart webber and Kerian Scott have already planned for this from what I have read we can not send Daniel to war with out a gun again its unfair and not fair to our fans or the players quality is what its about we just have to trust stuart and Kerian Scott to get this sorted 💛💚