Adam Forshaw Norwich City exit shows tricky nature of transfer market

Actually, that’s a bit disingenuous. The midfielder did make nine appearances for Norwich City. The facts are he signed in August, didn’t play in the league after the end of October and was gone by mid-January. It certainly wasn’t a successful signing by the Canaries.  

Forshaw isn’t a bad player. He went straight into Plymouth Argyle’s starting XI on Saturday and played 84 minutes in a 3-1 win over Cardiff City but it didn’t work out for him at Carrow Road.  

If recent experience of following Norwich City has taught us anything it is that anyone climbing through the transfer window must beware of the booby traps.  

It’s been less a window and more like a transfer revolving door for the Canaries over the past few seasons. So many players have come and gone again without making the required impact.  

Yet here we are again. January is drawing to a close and the twice annual concern and clamour is back. Why haven’t Norwich City signed anyone? It is understandable. There is no such thing as the perfect squad. Even Pep Guardiola is regularly pictured telling off his Manchester City players. Clubs only get two opportunities a year to improve their options. We would all like to see the next piece or two of the complicated yellow and green jigsaw that is Norwich City’s Championship squad arrive at the earliest possible opportunity.  

This month felt like an opportunity for a glimpse into Ben Knapper’s approach to life as a sporting director. Improving the club’s success rate in the transfer market is one of his main tasks. It is for that reason that his first new recruit will come with added scrutiny.  

If a player does arrive at the club this month it has to be one who will actually improve the starting XI. There is no point bringing in an extra body simply to make up the numbers. David Wagner already has a surplus of fringe players who rely on cup runs or an injury crisis to get a place in the team.   

Making the right signing is easier said than done. I was one of those who saw Forshaw’s arrival as sound business. He was a free transfer, with bags of experience at Championship level for successful clubs like Brentford and Leeds. How could it not work? I certainly expected to commentate on him more than nine times.  

Here lies the ultimate football challenge. Every single new player arrives without a lifetime guarantee. A youngster from foreign shores or a lower league always feels like a gamble.  

However, Forshaw joins a lengthy list of sure-fire hits who never took off in Norfolk. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been following City, you’ll have your own list of experienced players who have done the business everywhere they’ve been… apart from Norwich.  

How about Steve Walsh, Tony Cottee, Peter Thorne, Neil Emblen or Graham Stuart for starters? Bone fide heroes at some of the clubs they played for. None of them could do it on a cold Tuesday night in Norfolk. Or a sunny Saturday afternoon for that matter. Some had injuries or other mitigating circumstances. It just goes to show how hard it is to find a signing who can hit the ground running.  

Norwich City’s pleasing win over West Brom has helped to breathe more life into a Canary campaign that, for all its issues, is not beyond recovery. Taking seven points from a possible nine against Southampton (H), Hull (A) and West Brom (H) means the play-offs do actually feel like a possibility again. With the right addition or two now Norwich City could get that extra edge to crack the top six in May.  

It must be tempting for Knapper and for David Wagner too, whatever they might say publicly. Can they recruit the right one? Don’t ask me. I predicted big things for Adam Forshaw and assumed that Jonathan Rowe would be a promising squad player who might get the odd start this season.  

Sometimes that missing piece of the jigsaw is right under your nose. A coach’s ability to bring the best out of what he already has can save you millions and fair bit of disappointment in the transfer market.  

City’s superhero... 

Not all heroes wear capes but somebody has to wash them for those that do.  

Pete Dye is a name that a lot of Norwich City supporters might not know yet he’s on the pitch before every single Canaries game.  

He’s the club’s kitman and can always be seen quickly gathering in eleven tracksuit tops once the team has lined up for the pre-match handshakes. Pete is a great bloke, one of those who always seems to be smiling. He has often gone out of his way to source shirts and other items for local charities and good causes.  

We often run into him at service stations on the way back from away trips. While the players regularly fly on long trips he will always follow behind, several hours later, with their kit and all sorts of other items packed in his van.  

Last week’s trip to Bristol Rovers was a prime example of the hours that a kitman has to put in. We had just gone on air with the Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Norfolk at 6am on Thursday morning when Pete got in touch. He was just leaving the training ground at that hour having driven back from the FA Cup win over Bristol Rovers, sorted the boots out and put the kit onto wash. I’m sure it was all nicely prepared again when the players rolled up for training later on Thursday.  

David Wagner calls him ‘a machine’. Pete will get to run out before big crowds at Elland Road and Anfield this week. But his work won’t be done until well into the small hours of the following day.