AGM 2008 Questions for Lee Clark and Neil Doncaster
The following are notes from memory of what responses Lee Clark and Neil Doncaster gave to the various questions that were asked. I apologise for not saying who asked what question, or repeating the often long statement made with the question, but I assume most readers are more interested in the repsponses.
LEE CLARK
On the current injuries:
“Matty Pattison and Arturo Lupoli are not as bad as we first feared and they could be in for the weekend, Dejan Stefanovic was back in training with the physio today and will be joining in with the group tomorrow and Wednesday.
It's good news on John Kennedy, for a couple of days after the injury we thought it was a similar injury to Gary Doherty which would keep him out for three months. We thought that would be the case, but he could be back within four weeks - it could be three.
David Bell wants to be involved, believe me he wants it more than anyone, but Glenn will not rush players back. If the physio says three weeks then the player is out for three weeks, Glenn wont try and get him back quicker.”
On the loan system:
“The loan players last season made a huge impact and helped keep us in the Championship. The loan system is out there to be used, don't knock it. It has worked for us and I make no apologies for the loans because I think the players we have brought in are very hungry, young, potentially Premiership players and they wanted to come to Norwich City.
There have been four or five occasions where we tried to sign players either full-time or on loan and they have preferred to sit in the reserves at their club. Where is the ambition in that?”
On scouting and “rough diamonds”
We have shaken up the scouting here. We had technology that wasn’t being used with statistics on players of all ages around the world. We can now find out what they’ve done on our laptops. We use that on potential players and on the opposition.
We use our contacts, and Glenn has asked his friends for reports on young players in Brazil and South Africa as well as our own people.
Yes we hope to find a “rough diamond” and we will but we also want Norwich boys. Danny Mills was the last Norwich born player, I think, to play regularly for City, but there must be more and we need to get them.
On youngsters and the Academy:
“When we came in the first priority was the first team, but we know we have a job to do with the Academy. It is near to my heart because I’ve been part of the youth set up at Newcastle. Some of the attitudes were wrong – on the pitch and off it. Most of the players that have left or gone out on loan needed a new start, and they were not what we want to see at the club in the way they apply themselves. The exception was Joe Lewis who went because we were well off for goalkeepers – Marshall one of the best young goalkeepers in the country – Steer and Rudd tremendous prospects. We couldn’t keep them all and the offer from Peterborough was too good for where Joe was at that time, and yes he’s done well.”
On Chadwick and Lappin:
“They’re not in the top 16 at the moment. Luke Chadwick is a very good player with a good pedigree, but at the moment he is behind Hoolahan and Croft. Lappin is a very nice player but again there are others ahead of him at the moment.”
On Otsemobor:
Very very good young player, but he sometimes loses concentration and that’s not good enough, so he must concentrate for the whole game.
On the fateful last game in the Premiership for City:
“It was my last game for Fulham, after I had been there seven years as captain, we couldn't move any higher in the league. If we won we couldn't change our position, no matter what.
Our preparation that week was that this would be the toughest game of the season - they are fighting for their lives, we could be getting kicked from pillar to post come Sunday.
Dean Ashton missed a chance after about 12, 15 minutes to make it 1-0 and it was goodnight, Vienna. The towels were thrown in, the white flags were out. It was the easiest Premiership match I have ever played in.
There were so-called superstars in the team that day who actually went on to do not bad, but they didn't do the fans justice that day. I can guarantee that. That was a pathetic effort to try and keep the club in the Premiership. You go down with a fight and that didn't happen that day. It was an unbelievable turnout and they let the club down.”
On how that affected his philosophy:
“Since I have come to the club you can guarantee one thing, the teams that myself and the manager will be involved with for Norwich will never be lambs to the slaughter like that.
It terrifies me. I have never been involved in relegation and it terrifies me, that's why last season was a roller-coaster.
Some people think it's just there with you for six weeks in the summer, but it's there for the rest of your life. You have to tell your kids and your grand-kids. They will ask you questions and I don't want that stigma.
That was the driving ambition for me last year when I came here to help Glenn and work alongside him. You never want to go through that scenario.”
On how he nearly signed for City:
That was under John Deehan at the time, my contract was running out at Newcastle and I hadn't decided what I was going to do and negotiations took place between Norwich and Newcastle United.
I don't know what the stumbling block was but I don't think they could get the money Newcastle were looking for, which was £3m or more.
On his management style compared to Glenn’s:
“I like a joke, but I know when to be serious too. Yes there are times when Glenn tears them apart that I have to be positive but I know how to stay a manager, and I know how to be serious, it is serious.
I’ve been lucky to work with great managers and I have learned what I need to be a successful manager. Keegan, Souness, Tigana – who taught me the continental way.”
On Newcastle:
Well I can’t afford to buy them!
Newcastle are a great club and I am a fan and it hurts. You’ve got people running the club who can’t even get themselves a base in the area so how can they understand what the fans feel.
I’ve played for Keegan and he loved the wheeling and dealing when we were one of the big clubs. He was never going to accept someone else buying players for him.
I scored a last minute equalizer once that saved Graham Souness’ job and I must have had 22 texts from friends saying I should be ashamed that I had saved his job. That’s how strong the feelings are.
NEIL DONCASTER
On budgets:
“City have cut the players' wages bill from the original budget of £10m to £8.5m, but the break even point is £5m on gate receipts and other income.
The harsh reality of life in the Championship is that you cannot break even without either cutting the wage bill to the point where you are not going to compete or without support from directors. There are things that can happen, but broadly it is about being supported by directors.
If we are challenging and there is a real need to press on a little bit more to get into the top six or beyond, you strain every sinew and borrow every pound you can to have a go. If we are in a situation where Glenn wants to spend more, we have to look very, very carefully how we do it."
On investment in the Club:
"Delia and Michael have made it clear their happiness to bring in other people, whether that is on a shared basis or owning the whole thing. They are not precious about it. There are some people who think they are desperately clinging on - that is just not the case. They are totally open-minded in doing what is in the club's best interests and I hope that you can trust them and trust the board to make those judgments and hopefully move forward. But please don't believe there is a queue of people lining up desperate to give us their cash, because that isn't so."
On sales and marketing director Andrew Cullen
Andy is to join MK Dons which is a personal disappointment. Andy probably feels he has achieved all that he can do here and that MK Dons are where Norwich was when he came. It is good timing in that he has brought our sponsorship deal in and we have sold all our season tickets again. He wouldn't be replaced immediately as the young team he has assembled will report directly to me, and we feel that they will build on what has been achieved.
On job cuts:
"As you say Leon Blackburn has left and I will not give details on that, and yes effectively two positions have been replaced by a new one. Some other positions have been made redundant that people in this room will not have heard of, I don't rule out more, that would be wrong as our staff will read reports of what I say but I don't anticipate many changes going forward.”
On the departure of the Turners:
I accept that people were not happy with the statement that Roger Munby made. I am not able to add to that as it is not for me to say why they left, but I can say that they are both Norwich fans through and through.
The loan is due for repayment in certain circumstances – change in ownership, promotion to the Premiership, or I believe in ten years, so that does not give us an immediate problem, but clearly they will not be investing any more money.
On Peter Cullum:
I can’t really add anything to what you have read. We don’t do business in the media, we do not turn away investment, and you may not have heard all the facts. Maybe one day I can add more but at the moment I cannot.
On the LSE land and the loan to buy it:
That was a long term decision and there is no urgency to do anything with it. Yes the original loan requires a repayment of £2.5m in December but we are talking about this and it is unlikely to impact us.
On whether any non-footballing employee was worth over £150,000 a year:
“I can’t answer that. That is maybe a question for Roger or the other directors at the AGM.”
On PR (1) – Darren Huckerby:
We had to go along with Glenn, that it was unfortunate that we were not safe before the last home game and we must not be distracted from achieving that. Dion was different as he made the announcement, but the Club would not, as Glenn wshed.
On PR (2) – Neil Adams:
What is there to say? We restructured and Neil left, we have now restructured again and Neil is back. (amusement from round room) No but what could we at Carrow Road have done differently? We announced what had happened.
On PR (3) – Peter Cullum:
We do not do our private business in public, whatever other parties might choose to do
Drag the football to play with it
