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For my money, the Canaries have probably got the right man for the job. Eventually.

31st October 2007 By Charlie Wyett Leave a Comment

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The board of Norwich City certainly took their time. Far too long, in fact.

But in terms of finding a man who can get the team out of the terrible position they find themselves in, Roeder is a good choice.

When things start hotting up down at the bottom come March and April, I genuinely believe Norwich will not be among those clubs staring League One down the barrel.

It's pretty obvious there were not too many options in terms of bringing a new man in.

My top choice was Paul Ince as I feel he could have not only guided the club away from the bottom of the League, but taken Norwich forward.

Probably due to the fact he has only just arrived in the land of the concrete cow, Ince was unwilling to leave MK Dons having already completed a short spell at Macclesfield.

Paul Jewell was many people's top choice and he was my No2, but on reflection, he has always needed plenty of money to throw around.

He did well at Bradford, although the club nearly went bust, while his wheeling and dealing at Wigan was thanks to JJB Sports. His only stint without much cash was at Sheffield Wednesday and that was an absolute disaster.

Phil Parkinson, having done well at Colchester but badly at Hull, was clearly considered but the board was understandably unsure over snatching Alan Pardew's No2 for a second time.

With Martin Allen maybe too much of a risk, and the rest of the candidates pretty ordinary, Roeder was the obvious appointment.

His first ventures into management with Gillingham and Watford were pretty average, but he was relatively inexperienced.

He did well to take West Ham to seventh in the Premiership in 2002, but after spending big on some average players – ?5.5 million on Thomas Repka from Fiorentina and ?5 million on Don Hutchison – the punters in the Bobby Moore Stand became a bit restless.

In fairness, Roeder's squad was still small and he was forced to play an inexperienced Jermaine Defoe up front on his own for much of the season.

On April 21 2003, Roeder collapsed in his office with a brain tumour, events which obviously put all this football nonsense into perspective. The club went down, despite Trevor Brooking's best efforts, and Roeder – having recovered – was sacked at the start of the season.

As most will remember, Roeder started off well at Newcastle even though he didn't want the job on a caretaker basis or full-time.

Seventh in his first season was impressive, although the problems started when he was in charge permanently.

He did sign Obafemi Martins and Michael Owen, but was let down badly by an appalling defence – some poor luck with injuries – and after a just one win in 10 at the end of the season, Roeder jumped before he was pushed.

So, in the past, Roeder has been able to make a positive impact on teams but has struggled after this.

Norwich is obviously in a less pressurised environment compared to both West Ham and Norwich, and I still think Roeder could flourish in Norfolk, long-term.

In the past, he has had several issues with the national Press both in London and the North-East.

But with the local media at Carrow Road enjoying a far closer relationship with most of their managers in the past – compared to other clubs – I do not think Roeder will have any of these issues.

Roeder is popular among players – which is obviously important. This current mob needs someone to lift them, unify them, and to get them playing again.

The team needs to have respect for their manager, and unlike Grant, the players are unlikely to find themselves slagged off in the Press.

The new man will bring in three or four loan players and the team does need them.
A central midfielder and centre-back, without question. Also a right back, as Otsemobor is good going forward but – against half-decent opposition – can stutter defensively.

Surely, the team will then slowly crawl up the table. I'd settle with a draw against Ipswich on Sunday, and they certainly won't fancy it.

But as I said earlier, I find it strange the club took so long to come to a decision.
Why three weeks? Why the need to interview so many people?

It's hardly the same as the landlord of the Duck and Duck interviewing bar staff, not knowing what they're going to get when the candidate stumbles through the door.

And, it was hardly a surprise that Norwich would possibly have needed a new manager. Surely after the results against Charlton and and Wolves, and the unrest in the dressing room at that time, it was blindingly obvious there was a chance the club might need to recruit?

So, that was another three weeks before the QPR game, making it a total of six weeks when the club should have been sorting it out.

I wonder whether had an appointment been made in the week after the trip to Loftus Road whether that would have had a positive effect on the recent results. Probably.

So, I just hope Norwich do not find themselves down at the bottom come May, wishing they had made Roeder's appointment a few weeks earlier.

Hopefully, it won't come to this, because I don't think there are too many of us who have ever really fancied spending the weekend in Hartlepool…


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