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High time for me to stir the pot a little as Delia returns to her second passion

5th July 2007 By Mick Dennis Leave a Comment

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Delia Smith has started filming her new television cookery series and, at the same time, Andrew and Sharon Turner have begun stirring things up at Carrow Road.

So, as the Turners scrutinise every aspect of the football club's business, and Delia apparently turns her concentration elsewhere, are we witnessing the end of one era and the start of another for Norwich City?

The short answer is 'No…' But the longer answer is certainly significant for the club we support.

Delia is definitely making a substantial commitment, in terms of time and effort, to her new TV series and the book which will accompany it. That's the way she does things: with enthusiastic engagement and concentrated attention.

That was why, when she and her husband decided, 11 seasons ago, to take on the task of rescuing and then reviving Norwich City, Delia pledged to spend at least three days a week at the club. It was usually more than that and the other days ? those spent working in London ? also frequently involved Norwich City business and so less and less time was given to her own business.

When people try to assess how much money she and Michael have given “our” club, they seldom factor the couple's lost earnings into the equation. But when Delia and Michael were working hard to haul Norwich back from the brink of bankruptcy, she was at the absolute zenith of her earning potential.

Delia's 'How to Cook' books were being bought for every young person leaving home to go to university and 'lifestyle' satellite TV channels were burgeoning. Yet she repeatedly rebuffed blandishments from publishers and television executives to concentrate on sorting out Norwich City.

So what are we to make of the fact that now she is writing and filming again? From conversations I have had, I can report that Delia and Michael are NOT about to ride off into the sunset. Their passion for Norwich City remains all-consuming.

They are not on the verge of selling their controlling interest to the Turners or anyone else.

Yet, having approached the Turners about joining the club, Delia and Michael know they have to let Andrew and Sharon conduct a detailed inspection of the set-up. And that is where it gets very interesting, because Andrew and Sharon are challenging the fundamental tenet on which the whole of the game is organised in England. They simply do not accept that football clubs have to run at a loss.

Norwich expect to lose ?5 million in this new season. The Turners say that is unacceptable.

Well, it can do no harm at all to challenge people at Carrow Road to do better. Perhaps, like the rest of us, the staff have been flattened by the utterly dispiriting experience of the last two seasons. Perhaps, in coming to terms with the fact that Norwich are, once again, becalmed and marooned in the middle reaches of English football's second tier the staff, have become fatalistic.

Realism is one thing, defeatism is another and the Turners obviously won't tolerate the latter. If Norwich are becalmed, they say, “Row harder!”

OK. Fair enough. But this is where I pick fights with two of the contributors to this website and with the Turners.

Firstly, I'll take a pop at Malcolm Robertson, with whom I have been friends for more than 30 years. In his first column of the season on this site, Malcolm vents his understandable frustration at the departure of Robert Earnshaw and says: “To get just ?3.5 million for a proven goalscorer is daylight robbery. We know now about the clause in his contract, but how was that allowed to happen? Not one of Norwich's finest hours…”

Without the clause, which pitched Earnie's get-away price at precisely ?3.5 million, he would not have joined us. That might be a horridly galling truth, but it is the truth.

OK. Now let me have a go at Rick Waghorn (a dangerous tactic, since he owns and runs this site). In his column about how Norwich won the Football League in 2004, he makes the case for having nice, family chaps in the team. I couldn't agree more. But it took a bit more than that.

When I was driving around Sunderland at about 10pm on May 4th, 2004, hooting my horn and singing “Champione! Champione!” at the top of my hoarse voice, I was not especially thankful that the players were mostly monogamous. But I was giving praise for the events of Boxing Day 2003.

That was when the board clinched the signing of Darren Huckerby, gave a bold signal that Norwich City were giving it a real go and created a momentum created that carried the team onward and upward.

So here is where I fall out with Sharon and Andrew Turner, because no matter how many bottoms they kick at Carrow Road and no matter how much extra effort and efficiency they squeeze out of the staff, they will eventually reach a Huckerby moment ? when they have to decide whether it is right to take a punt on an expensive player.

You see, every business whiz who gets involved in football arrives with a zeal for efficiency. When Peter de Savary bought Millwall in 2005, for instance, he grandly announced that he would “maximise income on non-match days”. Reading's owner-chairman, John Madejski, told him, wearily, “Yes Peter. That is what everyone says and what everyone tries to do.”

I recall as well a conversation between to multi-millionaires with whom I once shared a table at a rugby dinner.

Chris Wright, the chairman and founder of the Chrysalis music and radio group, was then the owner of Wasps and QPR. Nigel Wray, whose Burford group owned the Trocadero in London's Picadilly, also owned Saracens RUFC and a big stake in Watford FC.

I concentrated very hard on which knives and forks to use at that dinner, and nodded sagely as they talked about seven-figure transactions. And the theme of their chat was that neither of them could afford to give away the amount of money that was needed to make a real impact at their football clubs.

The Turners will find, after they have set new targets and goals for everyone at Carrow Road, that they are beset by the same old problem that has floored everyone else in the game ? that good footballers cost an obscene amount of money to purchase and retain.

Then the Turners will have to decide how much of their own money they are prepared to invest ? in the knowledge that “invest” is usually a euphemism for “give away”.

Meanwhile, Delia is filming much of her new TV series at the football club, seizing another opportunity to publicise Norwich City.

And while we wait for the Turners to decide the level of their involvement at Norwich, I for one am relieved and delighted that Delia and Michael remain insanely passionate about the cause.

They saved our club, have shown courage in the way they have nurtured it and it is a better place because of their continued presence.


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Filed Under: Column, Mick Dennis

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blakleyfreddie Freddie Blakley II @blakleyfreddie ·
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Good game this week @NorthCarolinaFC. @GMclaughlin_ the ref was blind. All the penalties they did to you she didn't call waa a shame. Louis Perez has talent. And cannot wait to see what he does this year. I got one word for you.....RAAAAFFFAAA @rafaduizit. #ncfc

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gwelham18 Gareth Welham @gwelham18 ·
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Next season Ipswich do the double on us #NCFC

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gleeder1 Graham Leeder 🔰 @gleeder1 ·
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If Webber's job title was 'Operations Director' then he could rightly be proud of the training facility at #ncfc , however he is Sporting Director which also emcompasses recruitment and for that reason he can't be given any more transfer windows. Time to go. #webberout

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ncfc_cam cam @ncfc_cam ·
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I mean this is a very hot take 🤣

But whilst on the subject, I’d be intrigued to see Daniel at a big club with big players.

I’d argue at #NCFC his system and tactics were only flawed because the personnel wasn’t good enough. With the right players, it’d be special.

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ncfc_adam Adam @ncfc_adam ·
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God twitter’s a depressing place when #ncfc lose. Even worse when that lot are doing so well

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