My answers for what they're worth.

1. Indeed this summer has been uncharted territory for us regarding the quality of the signings made. For me any of Van Wolfswinkel, Hooper and Fer have the potential to either be amongst our best signings ever, or completely flop! Hoping for the former obviously and the quality of the two Dutchmen is not in doubt, it's just whether they "gel" with the others and adapt to The Prem. Redmond has been the one who has hit the ground running (at considerable pace!) this summer. Could be about to burst on to the Premier scene! That said, I think when we initially since RVW was the point at which I was most excited, if we sign Quagliarella that might top it though.

2. Delia is pretty much untouchable as far as Norwich fans are concerned, as with Kenwright she is a fan through and through and has keep us afloat over the years. For all the flack she gets you can't fault her commitment, sitting in the roofless away end at Fratton Park in the January rain confirmed that for me. That all said, she is more of a figure head, McNally is the one driving the club forward - loosing him would be a catastrophe for us! But, clearly after 2 successive promotions and 2 seasons in the top flight, yep the Canary nation is pretty chirpy at present!

3. That "word on the street" is a concern. We have undoubtedly strengthened over the summer but we should stay grounded as that doesn't necessarily translate into automatically finishing a few places higher in the table. We're only a few injuries to key players from being in trouble, everyone else in our part of the table (Soton, Swansea, West Ham, West Brom, Sunderland etc) have all spent a fair wedge too. Plus, as much as I admire his transfer dealings many of us are still to be convinced by Hughton's tactics, at times last season we were diabolical and were lucky to finish as high as 11th to be honest. I think if things click early in the season and we can get points on the board top half is not unrealistic, but I would settle for consolidating around where we finished over the last 2 years, ideally with some sort of cup. As ever anything above 18th would suffice when all said and done though.

4. Clearly loosing Moyes and the stability he had brought makes Everton more of an unknown quantity. On balance before a ball is kicked, you'd have to say from a neutral point of view your probably a shade weaker than previous seasons. That said, the squad is littered with quality players (particularly if you keep the two main men), so it's still one of the more difficult games of the season I'd say, would still expect you to be in the top 7.

5. Leighton Baines and a flirted with Kone but didn't pick him in the end.

6. First game of the season is probably the hardest game to call regardless of the opposition! If we are missing Bassong that will be a big blow for us. Assuming he's fit I'd take a 1-1 score draw, possibly 2-1 home win if we can get into a good attacking rhythm. If he's not fit, I'd be fearing it'll go the other way.

Good luck for the season post Saturday!!

OTBC

Posted By: TOKYO_BILL on August 15th 2013 at 09:08:40

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