Norwich City Independent Supporters Association and the Canaries today effectively came to an armed truce as the distrust and the division prompted by the club's relegation to League One continued to make for a poisonous summer.
After last week's 'emergency' meeting at St Andrew's Hall attended by some 400 fed-up City fans, NCISA today issued a public Press statement in which it laid out its latest thinking.
In particular, it urged all season ticket holders to reclaim the rebate that came with relegation – a move that could force the club into finding upwards of ?600,000 this summer should its 18,250-strong season ticket base all demand a refund of up to 20% on the cost of their season ticket now that they were being 'sold' the prospect of watching Yeovil at home next season.
It is an issue that is likely to prove a huge headache for the Norfolk club – particularly given the already stretched nature of its finances.
The fact that supporters are already asking whether or not their rebate could be re-directed towards the club's FA Academy – or channelled into the coffers of the Norwich City Supporters Trust as they look to bolster their share-holding in the club and, thereby, gain greater leverage with the Board when it came to demanding a supporter's representative on the top table – all makes for a logistical nightmare.
And a potentially divisive one if the club's season ticket holders are given no alternative but to either waive their right to that entitlement in the desperate hope that, for once, their money will be slightly better spent or else demand up to 20% of their outlay back in the fairly certain knowledge that this will continue to imperil the club – and its many innocent employees – financially.
As for the re-appointment of City boss Bryan Gunn – another very large bone of contention among significant sections of the City support – NCISA condemned the move as 'hurried'.
Having been given a near-unanimous 'Thumbs down!' at last week's public meeting after failing to reverse the club's demise in his 19 games at the helm, today the Canary goalkeeping legend was given a chance to prove his worth. Albeit with a warning – that fans will 'expect success from day one…'
All of which left Gunn and his coaching team little or no margin for error in the eyes of NCISA and their supporters; their patience having 'worn thin'.
“The committee believed the directors were aware their decision would cause discontent, but decided to gamble that fans would still get behind Gunn at the start of the season,” read the statement.
“Recording the fact they were unhappy with the directors' actions, NCISA said they will nevertheless be encouraging all fans to unite behind the manager and players at the start of the new season.
“However, they are warning the club that following a number of years of failure, the patience of supporters has worn thin. Fans will want and expect success from day one.”
Last week's exit of both club chairman Roger Munby and chief executive Neil Doncaster nipped two of the most obvious demands firmly in the bud – some 48-hours before any show of hands on the St Andrew's Hall floor.
And whilst last week's meeting did register an overwhelming vote of 'No confidence!' in the three remaining members of the Carrow Road board – Delia Smith, her husband Michael Wynn Jones and Banham Poultry boss Michael Foulger – without an alternative owner or investment vehicle waiting in the wings, demands for further heads to roll at board level will, as ever, prove difficult to push through.
The hope, presumeably, was that the rump of the board might feel that their card was marked.
Whether the club's promise of fresh faces – and, ideally, further investment – at board level will still the current level of anger and accusation is another matter.
Certainly for whoever is finally charged with the role of chief executive there is an awful lot of soothing balm required to get any vestige of 'togetherness' back in place ahead of Norwich's new life in League One.
The other big, big requirement is for Gunn and Co to start shipping new players into the building as opposed to ushering more out. Carl Cort was the latest in that ever-lengthening line as his short-term contract was terminated six weeks ahead of schedule after an injury-hit spell at Carrow Road for the one-time ?7 million marksman.
Without a new signing to talk about, the conversation continued to focus on the board and their particular part in Norwich's downfall.
“In relation to the vote of 'no confidence' in the directors of Norwich City FC, NCISA felt this sent a very strong message to the board that 'rank and file' supporters are unhappy about the running of the club and very unhappy about fans' opinions being ignored,” said today's statement.
“NCISA felt there is a need for all fans' groups to meet regularly and work towards greater unity. To that end, NCISA will be contacting other groups and bodies associated with the football club to arrange a meeting.
“NCISA also felt that at a time when the club's standing has reached its lowest point for almost 50 years, the feelings of supporters are still being sidelined.”
As much as each and every supporters group would like to see one of their own sat at the boardroom table, in reality having a 'Supporters Director' who then relayed each and every piece of news back to an expectant and demanding fan base is a nigh-on impossible task to pull off.
In fact, for the individual concerned it will probably prove to be a near thankless task – trying to be all things to all men in the bear-pit of football club politics would test anyone. Particularly in this Internet Age.
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