Wes’s season started well but drifted away, I guess like most 35 year olds. He still has the ability to spark that bit of magic that most do not, but this increasingly comes at a cost defensively. One more season, probably his last, is worth a shout, even if it’s as a bit part and to pass on to the younger generation.
Archives for 2016
Guest blog – Is now a good time to blood a new City fan? Perhaps a low base is an ideal starting point
My own first game was fairly inauspicious. Aldershot at home, 1984, the start of the glorious Milk Cup run, and a tepid 0-0 draw that left me with not one memorable passage of play. But it didn’t stop me falling in love. 32 years of season tickets later I’m still here. Just.
No anger. It’s beyond that. Now all I feel for my club is a sense of detachment and indifference
The quotes emanating from the dressing room about a collective desire to work harder and turn it round seem entirely at odds with the displays on the pitch; displays that are littered with individual mistakes and which suggest a general lack of conviction and endeavour.
Promotion? At the current rate something far more damaging and painful awaits this football club
Defensive ineptitude and vulnerability prevailed. City’s resurgence was short-lived, the termination of which once again derived from the failure of individuals to successfully conduct fundamental jobs and to take responsibility. It’s become something of a Comedy of Errors now.
A question for Delia: Is your vision of the future still valid? And if so what of Dr Goretex's next generation?
Alex Neil is so past his sell-by date it is beyond belief. He is kept in situ and the silence from the boardroom is deafening. The majority of NCFC fans – including myself and I am sure most, if not all of the MFW writers – have been patient for so long. The guys at Archant likewise.
Hate to say it, but told you so – AN’s inability to firefight when the chips are down is his undoing
My biggest fear when he was employed was that he didn’t have enough experience to fall back on when things got tough. His ability to deal with tough times, when things go against you, where you’re not meeting or exceeding expectations were, when he was first appointed, a complete unknown.
United against a common enemy. Sadly, that enemy is now the board of Norwich City Football Club
In the five weeks since the AGM (a very long time in a crisis), we’ve heard nothing from the board. I can imagine and understand their unwillingness to get embroiled in unsatisfactory debate – but silence is even more unsatisfactory. But what won’t do are platitudes.
Same old, same old as City lose yet again but the Board still fiddles as Carrow Road slowly burns
That David McNally and Alan Bowkett were not best buddies is well known but while it lasted, and before it imploded, that volatile dynamic drove this club forward. From the brink to the Premier league in three seasons. It wasn’t cozy, we weren’t particularly nice and there was collateral damage aplenty along the way but it was fit for purpose.
Not accountable for the Canaries’ current woes? For that reason Alex is running very low on sympathy
In every coaching course I’ve undertaken, there has been one fundamental message: the key responsibility of the football coach or manager is to create an environment where the players will flourish. Something that Neil is clearly not delivering.
1976. Bondy's under pressure and fans asking if City have what it takes to survive amongst the elite
Dave Stringer and Big Duncan are primed, ready and as good as anyone in the country at dealing with the sort of centre forwards we are used to seeing every week, the likes of Alan Woodward, John Hickton, Mick Jones and Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, all sinew and elbow, the very best that English centre forwards can offer.
Martin P's on an Xmas tour – from Big Dunc to McVeigh via Huckerby, Ward and the Manics
“There is a circus in the town – where George Burley is the clown”. Again, far too rude to detail, but I used to sing it with gusto. A true NCFC original and I absolutely loved joining in with it.
It really is now time for the change. Nothing will improve under Neil – I am now convinced of that
After Villa, I wrote that Alex Neil had earned a further chance to put things right. Well, quite frankly, he’s blown it. I’m not screaming for Gary Rowett or any other individual – certainly not Roy Hodgson, anyway – but something has to change.
After Villa and Huddersfield it’s time for hard (re-)evaluation. My open letters to Neil and Moxey
“You’ve been under intense pressure for the past twelve months. The way you’ve conducted yourself has been, in my view, admirable. But being the proud man you are, you may be the last to recognise that a break would benefit you.”
Outwitted and outplayed – yes, Huddersfield were impressive but Moxey and co must act now
The uninspiring and unstimulating duo of Robbie Brady and Jacob Murphy were fundamentally oblivious to their important defensive duties, steadfastly refusing to track back and therefore leaving City exposed.
No spark, no invention and outplayed by a side who had a plan. Plenty for Delia, Michael and Jez to ponder
When out of possession, with Huddersfield’s manager David Wagner being a disciple of Jurgen Klopp, it came as no surprise that were exponents of the high press – worthy ones at that – but still City had no answer.
Onwards and upwards? A win over the Terriers and things will be going in the right direction for City
Many of us thought last night’s team selection appeared too defensive on paper. I don’t care – it worked. Winning ugly? To an extent, but I would settle for this level of performance in every game right now. We need those points and it really doesn’t matter how we get them.
Two home wins on the spin and, roared on by a lively Barclay, City deliver a timely and gritty good'un
It wasn’t the beautiful game of course, it rarely is in the Championship, and I’m doubtful if the neutral watching TV audience was wholly enthralled but to those draped in yellow it offered up something very different to the fare we’ve become used to – even when comparing it to the Brentford romp.
Two massive tests. Live on national TV. And a make or break four days that may decide City’s and Alex’s future
Scenes were toxic at Oakwell. Such obvious aversion from City’s loyal following must surely go some distance in relinquishing Moxey’s seemingly oblivious stance towards our pain. The fans want change. City need change.
A flawed team selection at Barnsley and therefore time to roll the dice? Or is essence of the old Alex still there?
To my mind nothing before this season raised serious questions over Alex Neil’s ability, or the desirability of our keeping him. I was with the majority of Carrow Road in acclaiming him at the end of the Watford game in May.
Seven defeats out of eight and more away day misery for the Y'Army but it's as you were for Team Neil
The mix of a manager who has lost his way, identity, mojo [delete as appropriate], who is picking his team with one eye on the fans’ reaction to it and a bunch of players who only perform when the track is flat, not spinning, and has even bounce, is toxic in the extreme.