McNally keen to keep hold of key players

01 July 2009

Norwich City chief executive David McNally wants to keep hold of coveted midfielder Sammy Clingan - but accepted summer departures at Carrow Road are inevitable.

Championship trio Coventry, Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday have all been heavily linked with a Carrow Road raid for the £1m rated Northern Ireland international.

Canaries' assistant boss Ian Butterworth recently revealed the club had received inquiries but McNally insisted the 24-year-old is not poised for an imminent exit.

McNally expects Bryan Gunn's squad makeover to move up a notch ahead of the League One countdown with the club's senior players returning to pre-season training this week.

“We recognise that Sammy is a very good footballer,” said McNally. “Until such time that there is real news about Sammy we can't go into that further but we would like him to stay at Norwich City. I don't expect there to be any change over the next few days. In an ideal world you would have your players signed and in place for the first day of pre-season but we don't live in an ideal world.

“With the amount of change we've had at the football club over the last few months it's entirely reasonable to accept that this is a work in progress. We have identified areas of the squad that Bryan would like to do something in terms of improving certain positions. However, we can't get away from the fact that we are in a very difficult financial situation and we need to cut our cloth accordingly. That would suggest there will be players joining the club but equally that players could be leaving the club. Those names could change but rest assured we have plans in place to help Bryan and his management team.”

Talented young trio David Stephens, Dario Dumic and Sam Habergham became the latest members of Ricky Martin's academy set-up to graduate to the professional ranks earlier this week. McNally believes the club's youth policy holds the key to better times ahead.

“It's important we continue to develop players to help us get back into the Championship and then ultimately the Premiership,” he said. “We're not playing at this - those players have been offered deals because they are good enough. If the club had been in the Championship this year they would still have been offered contracts. It certainly isn't a PR exercise. They are talented players who have shown the right level of ability and it is absolutely essential for us to support the academy and to develop more young players behind these.”

City's new chief executive remains bullish over Gunn's bid to lead the club back to the Championship at the first attempt.

“We've had a lot of discussions with Michael and Delia and Michael Foulger, as well as Bryan of course, in our desire to help Bryan try and shape a squad that is very competitive at the top end of League One,” said McNally. “It's a busy period and we are coming off the back of a very disappointing season - no-one is getting away from that fact but as far as we are concerned the new season has started. Everyone behind the scenes at Norwich recognises that the new season starts now and we all want to try and do something positive to change the league status of this football club.”