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League One experience was 'enjoyable', says Delia, despite her concerns for the future of football

21st May 2010 By Tom Haylett Leave a Comment

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City joint majority shareholder Delia Smith has admitted that she enjoyed the League One ride, praising the attitude of the players that ply their trade at that level.

While most board members would relish a season in which their team romps to the title, you get the impression that Delia genuinely enjoys the gritty side of football and there was plenty of that on show in 2009/10.

And you only have to look at the two clubs she mentions to appreciate that the cookery queen is in touch with the grass roots end of the Football League.

“I have really enjoyed being in League One,” she told former MFW columnist Charlie Wyett in The Sun. 

“Obviously I didn’t enjoy the 7-1 defeat to Colchester on the opening day, which was shocking.  But I went to clubs I had not been to before.  I really liked Hartlepool and Exeter.

“In League One, all footballers seem to be really, really up for it.  But in the Championship, you sometimes get left-overs from the Premier League who don’t feel like it on a certain day.”

Delia did have some harsh words to say on the state of football though, with the financial crisis engulfing the game continuing the threaten clubs up and down the country.

With more and more teams struggling to pay the bills and changing ownership every other month – yes, I am talking about Portsmouth – she feels that the country is “letting the game go”. 

And in her most revealing interview for a while, the 68-year-old admitted that she can’t see the situation improving any time soon.

“Fit and proper persons in football? Don’t make me laugh.  I had a letter and it said ‘Are you a fit and proper person?’  

“The letter said ‘No or Yes’ and I ticked the ‘Yes’ box.  It would probably have been good fun if I had ticked ‘No’.  It sums things up at the moment.

“It is pretty sad that we are the country that invented the game of football and we are letting it go.  Football is such a wonderful part of being British and it is a shame a lot of the money which has come in from Sky is being wasted.

“I really don’t see the financial situation getting better, unless a miracle happens.  The situation is getting more and more ridiculous and silly.  It is very sad.  Football is in great danger.

“Young people cannot afford to go in the Premier League.  You see matches on TV with swathes of empty seats – it’s not looking good.

“Everyone is drifting along in football.  Now we have a change of Government, maybe they will look at the effects of the Premier League and see that it is destroying one of the last vestiges of community that is left in this country.  Football is very healthy for kids – I call it a safe drug.

“If someone in the Government can understand how precious this is, at a time they are trying to stop knife crime … we have the highest incidence of drugs in young people in Europe.

“If the Government can think of the well-being of the game, they should intervene and should threaten to regulate football better.

“I think it’s happening in Germany and over there you can watch Bayern Munich for six quid.  Over here, it is all over the shop.  One idea should be a rule that not all TV money can be spent on players – a percentage has to go on infrastructure.”

Despite the improvement in relations between the Norwich board and the club’s supporters – with last summer’s ‘re-jig’ and the League One title charge going a long way to repairing the frayed relationship – Delia continues to insist that her and husband Michael Wynn Jones will step aside if the right investment can be brought to Carrow Road.

At the end of the day, they have the club at heart – not even the biggest cynic can deny that – and the couple will do whatever it takes to ensure a bright future for the Norfolk outfit.

“If someone comes along with new investment and will be right for the club, we won’t mind.  We’d still come along and buy a season ticket.

“Our enthusiasm has not diminished in any way.  It is fantastic.  We’re still working very hard.”


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