THE transfer window is open, and no doubt Peter the Pointer (PTP) is now facing up to the harsh realities of trying to lure players to a failing Championship club.

THE transfer window is open, and no doubt Peter the Pointer (PTP) is now facing up to the harsh realities of trying to lure players to a failing Championship club.

Despite the stick the fans have got for being too negative this season - you can bet his major selling point will be the attendances we get.

Because aside from the “Premiership” facilities at Colney; that's about all we've got to boast about at the moment.

A defeat against Tamworth today and you would imagine we'd struggle to get Zema Abbey to sign for us, but hopefully, it has not come to that.

The Man has noted we are being linked to a host of Scottish players as the rumour mill kicks into gear.

Grant has a lot more kudos north of the border, so it's only natural I suppose.

Whether there are any decent players in Scotland these days remains to be seen, but if we can hoover up another Gary Holt in his prime then great.

Aside from that The Man would like to restate his desire - one that I think most fans share - to see us sign players from the English lower leagues.

Pampered Premiership reserves and others marooned in Championship second strings (ask yourself why) simply don't fit the bill.

We need a couple of whippet-keen players who have shown the determination to make a career for themselves - rather than being handed it. We were linked to a kid at Shrewsbury this week - good, that is exactly were we should be looking.

The days of signing international captains from Inter Milan are long gone…

Wolves have just signed a winger from Grays, and the s**m got one from Accrington Stanley…now we have blown most of the cash this is what we need to do.

I know it's not always that easy, but you get my drift: necessity is the mother or invention.

Are supporters going to be more inclined to get behind a guy who has spent five years battling his way through the ranks at Macclesfield or some loanee from Fulham?

No contest.

In a sense, as Norwich fans we have been spoiled by previous innovative generations.

We used to work miracles in the transfer market: Townsend, Linighan, Bowen, Bruce, Watson, Gunn, Crook, Culverhouse…the list goes on.

More than anything the future of this club over the next ten years will be dependent on us getting our transfer policy right in the next 18 months.

Fritter away the latest remnants of the Premiership cash - and in that I include the sale of Earnie at some point - and we'll be left to rely on our youth team for inspiration. If recent years are anything to go by - that could involve a very long

wait.

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t WHY CAN'T WE PLAY AS A TEAM?

ANOTHER trip to Selhurst; another truly miserable afternoon.

Despite the fact we were running rings around Palace for the first 20 minutes - I don't think there was a right-minded Norwich fan present who expected us to get anything.

Lo and behold… A corner: 1-0.

Our 2005/6 Player of the Season falls over: 2-0. Say goodnight nurse…

As each game passes, The Man's opinion over which area of our team needs the most work changes.

You watch the Southend game and you think it's the midfield, then at Palace the defence takes centre stage as our most failing department.

It appears the three sections of the side find it very difficult to all play well on the same day, which is a problem.

Looking for small mercies, at least under Grant we are having a go away from home - the mentality has definitely changed, if not many of the results.

We're a poor side, so we can't expect to pick up too many points away from the Carra, but at least we are now attempting to shoot at the opposition's goal, which was a seemingly exotic tactic abandoned under Worthy.

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t IT'S SUNNY SIDE UP FOR PTP

THE Man has been a miserable sod this week.

A combination of rubbish weather and returning to work served to severely dampen his spirits.

“I just wish I could get away from it all” day-dreamed The Man.

Clearly this is an emotion PTP shares as the Press revealed this week that he had bought himself a bolt-hole in Dubai - along with the likes of Tiger Woods and Ernie Els.

Ex-Celtic player Derek Whyte is flogging gaffs out there and PTP has swooped. Whyte told the Daily Star: “We have a company which is involved in building properties and selling them to footballers and others. Barry Ferguson, Norwich City boss Peter Grant and Newcastle defender Craig Moore have all bought homes from us.”

I assume the two golfers mentioned above shelled out a fair bit more than PTP, but you would assume he has still got a decent pad. There must have been numerous times when Grant was on the touchline wishing he could escape to sunny Dubai.

t THERE are various mysteries in life - why doesn't Tarzan have a beard? Why is a carrot more orange than an orange?

Who wrote the scouting report on Dickson Etuhu? You can now add the official man of the match award against QPR to the list. It was given to Safri, who had a decent game, but it should clearly have gone to the Double D. In fact, it was probably the most one-sided man of the match display since Iwan Roberts stamped on Muscat in that home game against Wolves.