Norwich are
IMO, a good challenge for anyone looking for a decent game.
In 7.02 they start with a decent amount of money and one or two star players - Huckerby and Earnshaw. However, they also have a large amount of rubbish which needs to be sorted and replaced ASAP.
I normally sell Mattieu Louis Jean, Andy Hughes, Youssef Safri, Mark Fotheringham, Luke Chadwick and release Peter Thorne. I keep Dublin until I can be sure he's replaced. Typically I get £350k-£400k for the lot.
I also don't keep David Marshall; he was very, very disappointing in pre-season and Paul Gallacher wasn't. I got rid of Marshall and brought in Joe Lewis as a capable back up.
In my latest game, I also sold Robert Earnshaw; I got £4.5mil from Portsmouth for him.
This meant I needed reinforcements all over the field but had a good sum with which to do it (roughly £6mil). With that money, I replaced Earnie with Stephen Elliot from Sunderland; they accepted a £2.5mil deal with 50% sell on clause. I partnered him alongside John Sutton of St Mirren for £120k, with a deal in place to sign Steve Brooker from Bristol for £500k should Sutton have signed for one of the other Championship sides that had gone in for him. In my game, Sutton signed for me so I cancelled the Steve Brooker deal.
I brought Richard Duffy in on loan for the season (a very consistent performer who Portsmouth are willing to loan out with a minimal wage contribution) and Alan Wright from Sheffield Utd as back up for Drury on a free with 50% wage contribution.
Derby are willing to sell Lewin Nyatanga for £900k and I always make this transfer happen by offering above what Lewin wants. His combination of pace, tackling, marking and concentration at such a young age is unrivaled in the Championship, and he does go on to be a decent Premiership back up (currently, in my second season, Boro are about to sign him for £2mil which is a nice profit).
I complete my central defence by signing Chris Hogg from Hibs; Hogg really is a steady performer who you could guarentee a decent performance even if the rest of the team capitulated. Best of all, he cost me £90k.
The central midfield positions were filled by bringing in Kilmarnock's James Fowler (£85k and Danny Szetela (£250k). Szetela is a superb attacking midfielder who had a pretty much guarenteed first team place and James Fowler and Etuhu competed for the remaining place. Simon Lappin also provided cover.
I made no change to the wingers I had, using McVeigh as back up for Croft and Jarvis and Lappin as back up for Huckerby (I had a period where Jarvis and Hucks were injured, and Lappin did admirably as my left winger). I also renegotiated Huckerby's contract to get him down to £9k a week; giving me a little more wage budget to play around with.
This left my squad looking like this;
GK: Gallacher/Lewis
DR: Duffy/Colin
DL: Drury/Wright
DC: Nyatanga/Shackell
DC: Hogg/Doherty (Doherty initially started as Nyatanga's partner only to loose his place because of stupid errors)
MR: Croft/McVeigh
ML: Huckerby/Jarvis/Lappin
MC: Szetela/Etuhu
MC: Fowler/Lappin
FW: Elliot/Jarvis
FW: J Sutton/Brown
I won the Championship by a couple of games (more to do with my competitors poor form than my exceptional form). I hope this gives some people a few ideas as to players to target when starting a Norwich game.
Norwich City - The Budgies 
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