The gamble to buy young inexperienced players lies squarely with Delia as there is a need to unearth Maddisons to subsidise her continued ownership.
Without parachute payments the self funding model collapses.
Delia should have sold the club ten years ago when Lambert succeeded in retaining premiership membership.
Her continued ownership is like me buying a Bentley and expecting the neighbours to pay the running costs.
If you can’t make progress after twenty six years of ownership it’s time to move on.
How can you call a club with a £60 million deficit well run? We are currently having to sign free transfers.
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1 - as already noted it’s a gamble to buy any player whether experienced or not. The idea that buying experience somehow buys you something guaranteed is hardly something I need to point out as nonsense. Good practice is you buy young and sell at peak or not at all. To argue that this practice is somehow a mechanism for retaining ownership is bizarre and looks to me more fuelled by dislike of Delia which has gone beyond rationality. Looking at your turnover most pundits would say that is the only choice you have and has nothing to do with ownership.
2 - the Bentley analogy is amusing I suppose. In what sense would Norwich be a Bentley rather than a Ford? Your owners failure, if there is any at all, is not failing to keep you in the EPL so much as failing to build the revenue bases from which you might move to a different model whilst appointing a succession of managers few other clubs would touch. The lack of progress isn’t staying in the EPL by burning through money you will never have. A club your size will at best achieve half a decade in the EPL before financially you’re better off out of it.
3 - take your £60m debt and then look at current debt in the EPL. You want new owners and “investment” but what you’re inviting is actually debt which at minimum will be double what you have now and a crash of the sort we’ve seen too many times. So yeah, you are very well run and will hopefully one day appreciate that.
4 - I find your defence of Farke touching. You’re the highest level he’s managed at. His “success” elsewhere might be politely characterised as being half decent at National League North level or Scottish League One with all due respect to those levels.
If you care to look you will see Farke managed in the top flight in Germany and doesn’t have a bad record.
It seems to me that you just enjoy arguing for the sake of it which I find tiresome.
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‘Investment’ = throwing your personal resources into ‘my’ club without any expectation of return…
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There was a period when the Bundesliga was rated one of the best European leagues. Consensus now is that it’s heading to SPL levels i.e. a couple of dominant clubs and the rest mired in increasing mediocrity. Amusingly part of the decline is attributable to their much vaunted ownership model. It’s not a hard argument to make that Norwich in the Championship was the highest appointment of his career in reality.
So yeah, he managed a resolutely mid table team into… mid table and was sacked off one year into a three year deal. They made a brilliant start that year but faded rapidly as soon as the opposition realised that, whilst he had a theoretical defensive mid, they didn’t play that role and could be ripped apart through the middle. Weirdly the same issue he had at Norwich. As regards making the case he’s a good manager not given the tools to keep Norwich up I suspect most would see that you’ve not made a compelling case.
The idea that someone enjoys argument for the sake of it is bizarre. I’ve never met that person and I’m not that person. We’re here for discussion and there is joy in finding common ground where there appears to be none. If you had made a compelling case against Delia and for Farke I would support that stance maybe with comment and maybe not. If you post on the net in a discussion forum and the arguments have obvious holes in them then in the name of discussion it ought not to come as a surprise when people respond.
Shades of Bielsa and Leeds since then - open motorway right through the middle of the team. Mike you are not giving me any optimism for the new season 
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I’m not your man for mindless optimism at the start of any season 
My team enter the new season in our finest fettle for two decades. We’ve been built for league one and any signings will have to be seriously good to be anything other than squad cover. Most pundits think we’ll easily finish no lower than a play off place. My inner voice will be pleased with halfway up the table.
I think Leeds fans will be pleased to see a continuing commitment to attacking football. Some improvement at the back (how much worse could you be?) is surely inevitable but who knows.
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I know Bielsa is revered. I’ve been to Leeds, I’ve seen the murals. I get it. But… from the moment they played in the PL, it was pretty obvious that defence would be the issue and that it would end in tears.
Is Farke the man to fix it? Sorry Leeds pals (sincerely), but I’m going to have to go with a no.
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Unless Leicester surprise us it does look like being a season when none of the three drop outs will be heading straight back up. Will be interesting to see whether the likes of Middlesboro, QPR and the three promoted teams are in the mix.
Right, we’ll have no more anti-Delia posts. Not after this…
I’ve just read the Grauniad’s story, which includes the recipe. The deep-fried jam sandwich, first made at Eric’s in Holt, is available at Yellows bar and grill at Carrow Road. It’s said to be better than a doughnut. I’m in!
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse!
It’s also been reported in the local paper that she’s not going to retire.
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One of the more bewildering aspects of her tenure was that she retired from catering at Carrow Road. I suspect @JohnF is at the point he sees the deep fried jam sandwich as a clear attempt to kill her critics
It’s easy to underestimate the impact of great match day catering. We’d go to Kiddie every year for those pies whilst a trip to Preston in the Paul Heathcote era left you dribbling as did the football under Moyes. Sadly only available at the Macron Stadium in Bolton nowadays.
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The Mighty Whites make their first serious signing in Ethan Ampadu, incoming from Chelsea.
He’s a handy player, happy in both central defence and midfield, and I think he’ll prove to be a decent signing, especially if we can hold onto Tyler Adams, as they’d be a slick midfield pairing.
However … … … he has spent the last three seasons on loan at, variously, Sheffield United, Venezia and Spezia from Serie B … … … each of whom were relegated at the end of his loan periods.
Anyway, let’s hope he’s just the first of several astute signings to get us back on the road to the Big Boys Club again.
M.O.T.
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A genuinely interesting signing.
As a Wales fan I was led to expect big things and… have never really seen that. He’s been poorly used by Wales and yet accrued forty odd caps. His sub appearances haven’t inspired and his club career has been equally bitty. Then he was recently used in a Wales game as a defender from the start rather than as a sweeper, defensive midfielder etc. I thought he was very impressive indeed.
That said. He fits the Farke mould i.e. theoretically versatile player often played out of position but decent on the floor. Is he a midfielder? Not for me. Is he a defender you could build a promotion team around? Genuinely don’t know.
I hope he gets a decent run and shows everyone what he can do. At this point I remain to be convinced what it is.
Ethan has had an excellent footballing upbringing and is an excellent player his father Kwame played for and was part of the coaching staff at Arsenal taking their U18 squad to 2nd place during the 2016/17 season.
He hasn’t reached the highs many thought he would so far in his career but this is an excellent move for him and for Leeds.
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Wasn’t expecting to wake up to a 4-0 pre-season win against LA Galaxy. Two first half goals disallowed too. I know they’re not very good but they’re also mid season so I’d have expected their superior fitness to have been a key factor against us but… apparently not.
I read it was the Galaxy’s B team, nevertheless, super scoreline!
Yeah but it was also our B team for most of the match
“Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal have made a world record £259m bid for Paris St-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, reports the Press Association.”
Speechless!!!
That’s put Norwich out of the bidding.
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