A BUSY and challenging summer lies ahead for the Canaries in the transfer market - and that's just the way Manager Glenn Roeder likes it.

This week's news that nine players will not be having their contracts renewed leaves City with a major rebuilding job required as Roeder moulds his squad for the 2008-09 Championship campaign.

The City boss is already working hard on bringing new players in, as he told First News: "You are not going to get everyone that you want for many different reasons but we have spent certainly since Christmas gathering information on certain players, watching them as well, trying to learn about their character because I don't want bad characters here.

"I want people that I can rely on, people you can go to war with and who fight hard when they wear the shirt and of course play with the quality that we need them to at Norwich next year to have a successful season. Whether they're all here on the first of July, when we start back training is probably unlikely but that will be the same for all clubs.

"As far as I am concerned after a very difficult six months, it is exciting times certainly for me and that is how I feel about attacking the next couple of months and bringing in new players that I hope our supporters will like. Hopefully amongst those new players, there are a few new heroes to worship.

"The main thing is that we are in the Championship next year and it's going to be an exceptionally strong Championship, stronger than this year but it's going to be a Championship with lots of exciting football and I'm looking forward to being part of that - and only want to be part of that if we are successful and playing in those top six places from early on."

Roeder said ideally he would be looking to bring in a blend of youth and experience, but refused to be drawn as to who might fit the bill.

"I don't want to let anyone know my intentions and my thoughts about who the players are I want to bring in because I don't want to alert any other clubs to our interest in those players. I want to target them, sign them, let you know who they are and hopefully leading up to the start of the new season our supporters will grow in confidence that the new squad - and it is going to be a new squad - will be one which means we can attack the Championship with success."

Asked if the end-of-season clear-out had left him with 'too big a job' to find replacements of the required quality and quantity, Roeder commented: "Firstly I like a big job and my opinion is that the younger players we let go, they needed to move on. I don't feel they had anything to offer a Norwich City team that has to challenge for Premiership football.

"Maybe one or two will find a Championship club at the other end, whose expectations at the start of the season are just to stay in the Championship and our expectations are a lot loftier than that, rightly so and I want it like that. At the end of the day, the quality of the player will make the difference, so each and every one of them tried their hardest while they were here but I didn't feel they hit the standard that we require to be where we want to be next year.

"I hope they continue their football careers but it will be somewhere else. It is not a nice part of the job but I am not paid to be nice, well not all of the time anyway."

One crucial factor will be the finances available to Glenn and his staff as they peruse the market for the players they would like to attract to Carrow Road.

Roeder said: "I feel that the Board realise, like I do, that we have let go a number of players and those players have to be replaced. The Board realise that it does cost money and there is not a bottomless pit, I understand that. They are being very supportive to help me to get in the amount of players that I require and the players that I want to have enough quality in my opinion to see us at the right end of the table.

"You'll never get me to talk about figures, that would be really poor management, because you don't let clubs know the amount of money you have available to spend. If you did, when you try to buy any of their players, they know how much money you've got in the kitty and accordingly they will be altering the price to try and get as much of that money as possible. You've always got to keep those cards close to your chest and I will certainly do that."