The thing is, of course, there are 11 games left and 33 points to play for.
And yet no-one who was at Carrow Road on Saturday will really believe that City have the quality, spirit or fight to get out of the mess they find themselves in.
The team look like dead men walking; the management looks out of its depth; and the board evidently lack ideas, money and options.
Our great club stands on the edge of the abyss and there appears little to stop the rot.
Sad, sad days – so sad that Stan has heard some supporters pining for Chase (well, a ?6 million debt was better than a ?20 million one, and those years proved to be the glory years).
Stan would not go so far… but there are a few things he wants to get off his chest.
Most obviously, Norwich – as a club – are victims of both football as it currently exists and the ineptitude of a whole host of board members, managers and players past and present.
First, look at the current league tables. Now, there are the odd exceptions to what Stan is about to say, but football is not an exact science and exceptions will always serve to prove the rule.
The bottom half of the Championship and, increasingly, League One, are made up of teams who have been promoted to the Premiership only to be chewed up, spat out and left to die with their finances f**ked and their fans bitter about dashed expectations, rising prices, and dressing rooms clogged up with over-paid journeymen who really do not give one iota for the club they belong to.
By contrast, the top half of the Championship is mainly made up of teams in their first (and, occasionally, second) year down from the Premiership, battling it out alongside those long-standing Championship teams yet to have their 'turn' in the promised land.
When they do, as Hull, Stoke and West Brom will no doubt soon find out, they will in all probability find themselves – a couple of years down the line – in a similar position to ourselves: washed up, financially broken, and looking to reach historic low-points rather than unprecedented highs.
That said, we are also victims of our own inadequacies. At the top, the current board's tenure in power has brought decidedly mixed dividends.
On the one hand, the steadying of the post-Chase ship, the pre-Premier League Worthy period, and the hard work done to retain the club's roots in the Norwich (and Norfolk) community should all be remembered and commended; as should the genuine love for the club exuded by Delia, MWJ, Munby et al.
On the other hand, a series of bad appointments and bad decision making, an inability to bring renewed investment into the club and, most seriously, some inept financial management (micro and macro) has helped lead us to where we are today.
As it is, Neil Doncaster – for Stan presumes he is responsible for such things – looks set to become our own version of Sir Fred Goodwin, presiding over insane agents fees and ill-judged contracts, while spinning New Labour news-speak (prudence with ambition) and retaining a mantra of good business practice while all crumbles around him.
In the real hot seat, Stan sees Gunny succumbing to just what he feared.
The bounce was short-lived and his lack of managerial experience looks to be becoming readily apparent.
This may be unfair, and Stan hopes Gunn, Butterworth and Crook remain at the helm as we try to rebuild our club in – most probably – League One.
The squad inherited was fatally flawed, lacking depth, quality, at least two key defensive positions, a recognised striker, and being built around a continually revolving door of loanees here today, gone tomorrow and, if the rumours are true, as likely to come up with such rallying cries as 'Well, I'm going back to the Premiership so what do I care…' as they were to add anything of substance to the Canary cause.
Even so, recent performances combined with the new players brought in and the unwillingness to change a starting line up that looks increasingly ill-judged, have begun to take away from the brief sense of togetherness and renewed spirit evident in the first handful of Gunny games.
Come the end of the season, and more players are likely to leave than come in, meaning man-management, training routines and an effective youth policy will become the qualities necessarily coming to the fore.
Stan just hopes that the new gaffers are up to it.
Finally, on the pitch, it would go way beyond Stan's word count to list the poor signings and disappointing players to have graced our hallowed turf over the past five years and beyond.
On Saturday, Stan and his pals looked at our squad and found in Clingan the only player that really could be described as an all-round footballer with genuine potential. Crofty and the Doc could make a claim for their respective endeavour and commitment.
For the rest, their flaws at least rival their capabilities.
If Marshall's failure to command his box is usually countered by his evident ability in other departments, then the rest of the team lack – to a man – at least two of the following: experience, quality, young legs, physical prowess, confidence, commitment and a sense of a clear role in the team.
This is a team with gaping holes in it, most obviously at the back and up front. As a whole, it is the sum of its parts: an ill-balanced hotch-potch of men thinking more about getting out of Norwich than getting Norwich City out of its current plight.
Consequently, Stan will travel to QPR with more dread than hope, knowing full well that he will still be here holding the Norwich banner long after the likes of John O, Fozzy or Wesley have cashed in their earnings for garish holiday villas on the continent.
OTBC.
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