CONFIMRED - Norwood to Brighton

[TBM]

What are our friends over on the Brighton forum saying about this transfer?!

I'm guessing most are saying we're bitter etc etc

[The Royal Forester]

Whether, or not, he is a good player does not concern me about Norwood leaving. What is really beginning to concern me, is the fact that apparently he couldn't wait to get through the door and go to a club also in the Championship. With Ollie, Tish and Robson-Kanu (all told by JS that he didn't want them to leave) all eager to jump ship, how many more are thinking along the same lines? Is it just for better wages or is there something going on that we are not aware of, or is it that some players think they have more chance of playing in the Premier League with other clubs? If the latter, then maybe we should start to wonder why.

[Jano]

Probably something similar to what Derby fans were saying when they signed Blackman and look how that's turned out. A big fat meh from me.

[TBM]

Stam:
"Players, together with their agents, can make things very difficult for a club. - Oli wanted to leave"


Yeah, he was rubbish anyway - never liked him

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

He may have been expecting a new contract offer being tabled given that he was entering the final year of his current contract...with this not forthcoming and the offer of a guaranteed 3 years from BHA..probably this was a factor in his desire to leave..?

[Maneki Neko]

Whether, or not, he is a good player does not concern me about Norwood leaving. What is really beginning to concern me, is the fact that apparently he couldn't wait to get through the door and go to a club also in the Championship. With Ollie, Tish and Robson-Kanu (all told by JS that he didn't want them to leave) all eager to jump ship, how many more are thinking along the same lines? Is it just for better wages or is there something going on that we are not aware of, or is it that some players think they have more chance of playing in the Premier League with other clubs? If the latter, then maybe we should start to wonder why.

Any impartial observer would say Brighton are far more likely to go up.villa are a massive club. Both probably paying more than us. And from our point of view, any player from prem/anton era has to be removed from our wage bill.
Thats it

[Lower West]

I've seen nothing to suggest that this year will be any better.

At least this years transfer activity has a cohesion about it. Secondly the players genuinely want to come here. And it's not for the money. More likely a chance to prove themselves.

[facaldaqui]

Whether, or not, he is a good player does not concern me about Norwood leaving. What is really beginning to concern me, is the fact that apparently he couldn't wait to get through the door and go to a club also in the Championship. With Ollie, Tish and Robson-Kanu (all told by JS that he didn't want them to leave) all eager to jump ship, how many more are thinking along the same lines? Is it just for better wages or is there something going on that we are not aware of, or is it that some players think they have more chance of playing in the Premier League with other clubs? If the latter, then maybe we should start to wonder why.

They may just think "I'm getting nowhere here, and a lot of the same crap players (not me, of course, I'm great) are still here and likely to fail for the same reasons as before. Also, Brighton is beside the seaside."

[Ian Royal]

Whether, or not, he is a good player does not concern me about Norwood leaving. What is really beginning to concern me, is the fact that apparently he couldn't wait to get through the door and go to a club also in the Championship. With Ollie, Tish and Robson-Kanu (all told by JS that he didn't want them to leave) all eager to jump ship, how many more are thinking along the same lines? Is it just for better wages or is there something going on that we are not aware of, or is it that some players think they have more chance of playing in the Premier League with other clubs? If the latter, then maybe we should start to wonder why.

Any impartial observer would say Brighton are far more likely to go up.villa are a massive club. Both probably paying more than us. And from our point of view, any player from prem/anton era has to be removed from our wage bill.
Thats it

Norwood was signed post Anton. One of the first signings funded by the Thais

Don't blame him for leaving. Crap football, club in disarray, under appreciated by the fans, a manager who's openly said we'll struggle to finish 10th, or Brighton, who missed autos by a whisker.

[Gunny Fishcake]

If he doesn't want to play for our club good riddance , he's not that good anyhow

[Royal Ginger]

I've seen nothing to suggest that this year will be any better.

At least this years transfer activity has a cohesion about it. Secondly the players genuinely want to come here. And it's not for the money. More likely a chance to prove themselves.

You may be right, but i have my doubts. I think they may be here for Stam's celebrity and because people owed Brian T a favor. Yet to be convinced by the quality either. Not saying Van Den Berg, Mendes or Gravenberch are bad or Beerens is washed up, but without being able to put my finger on it, they don't have the positive feeling of McShane, Quinn, and Vydra.

[Victor Meldrew]

So the only two of our players that I really liked have gone (no, not Kanu, Tish).
It doesn't feel as bad as when Neil Webb, Osborn or Gylfi left but surely we could have built a side around these two?

I agree with Brendy that as soon as a player who is any good leaves the reaction is often "well he wasn't that good"-my take on Norwood is that our managers were not capable of getting the best out of him and he will probably be better with better players around him.He looked good at the Euros.
I also agree with the earlier poster who pointed out that Bridcutt is available and would be a very useful addition.

Danny Williams and Quinn are fair Championship players but the remaining "talent" as they were referred to earlier are very much unknown and unproven and neither Williams nor Quinn have very good fitness records.

As others have said on other topics this is surely a survival/consolidation season and those good old Premier League days feel like a distant memory and way beyond our reach again at the moment.

This is not the sort of news that we wanted IMHO ahead of our first game of the season in a couple of days' time.

Tbf At this stage last season Tish was in the "unproven" (still is to some degree) category you're bemoaning above whilst Norwood was hardly a lock in for a starting berth given how Clarke had used him sporadically at the end of the previous season and sidelined him for the bigger cup games. Also would anyone really have predicted the impact (albeit short term)Blackman would have had before last season started?

I think it's a case of accepting this is where we are right now and embracing the fact that we'll have new favourites to enjoy watching each season....................................................Before we sell them to our rivals

Let us hope some of the unproven come through to be proven-just allow me to be disappointed that two of my favourite players have gone.
I still think that Norwood could have been better used by the managers as an orthodox midfielder rather than the quarterback nonsense.
If he was made to play in that role it is quite understandable that he might want to leave which appears to be the case according to our Jaap.

[blueroyals]

Gunter, HRK, Norwood - since they've been in the team the club has regressed for several seasons in succession. They might not be the problem but they're certainly not the answer.

[tmesis]

Not saying Van Den Berg, Mendes or Gravenberch are bad or Beerens is washed up, but without being able to put my finger on it, they don't have the positive feeling of McShane, Quinn, and Vydra.

Maybe it's because you haven't heard of them, and so you've gone into Andy Townsend mode and decided they can't be any good because you haven't heard of them.


Norwood was capable of being a really good player, but he was also capable of doing next to nothing. He's just one of those players whose best and worst are a long way apart. I'd rather have him in the squad that not have him, but maybe it'll give Evans a chance to show why he was so highly rated.

[Royalwaster]

Totally depends what they paid us really - given that it went through so quickly, I'd say it must have been decent money and not just £1million. If it was decent money, I'd not be too upset ... if it was just £1million, it's a joke.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Thanx Ollie for staying with us through the Euros....helped keep me a bit more interested than what I would've been otherwise.

As a Reading player? You came, you scored, you bored, you left.......pretty non-descript tbh

[SCIAG]

Gunter, HRK, Norwood - since they've been in the team the club has regressed for several seasons in succession. They might not be the problem but they're certainly not the answer.

Fair enough wrt. Gunter and Norwood, but the same was once true of Dave Kitson, Ivar Ingimarsson and Glen Little.

It's not true of HRK, who has been "in the team" since the days of Brendan Rodgers. He played more when we got promoted than in either of the last two seasons.

[BonBoh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBVElNJ4z_Y
This is the game last season where the rot began... at lowly Rotherham. We had been on a brilliant run of four successive victories but were so lucky to get a point. Rotherham were the first team to work out our weak underbelly, namely to press higher up the field and attack our defence through the middle because Norwood didn't like it 'up him'. Norwood shows both his good and bad sides in this game. His good side is definitely his pass to Blackman who goes on to score but just look at his defensive skills as the ball goes past him time and again as Rotherham attack the centre backs.

Fulham did the same the next game. Look at how many balls went straight through the D on the edge of our box. Their first goal (look 00:48 - 00:54) , Norwood puts in a pathetic tackle (as do some others). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beQcoEOEazs

After those two games we became cannon fodder in the league. Yet we still played the same system and players. Madness.

[SCIAG]

I didn't go to either of those games so I can't comment, but I don't think the highlights show what you say that they show, except for Fulham's first goal.

Statistically, Norwood is one of the best midfielders in the league defensively, and has been since before he joined us. Maybe that's because teams target him so he gets lots of opportunities to tackle, but I can't say I've noticed that happening.

I also don't think it's true to say we used the same system and players all season. In fact, I think a big part of the problem was that we spent too much time dabbling with different set-ups rather than sticking with the one that worked. We used 30 players.

[genome]

I'm still not over that fcuking Fulham game.

I distinctly remember walking away from the ground feeling like our season had completely changed.