• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Where there’s sanity, there’s stability; where there’s stability, there’s likely to be success. Simples.

30th August 2010 By Rick Waghorn Leave a Comment

Please share

For many a reason, I haven’t been paying religious attention to what’s what in the Championship of late.

I’ve only been dipping a toe in the water, so to speak.

I did, however, catch The Championship highlights on the Football League Show on Saturday night; I did have an interesting conversation with my cousin in the midst of his 50th birthday celebrations this weekend.

The subject matter was the state of the league this season; how it’s shaping up and – more importantly – the basket cases that are passing through it in 2010-2011.

Like Portsmouth. Able to muster just four substitutes this weekend.

Like Crystal Palace. Fresh from administration and just about to hand Edgar Davids a ticket to the capital’s flesh-pots.

Like Middlesbrough. No Newcastle-like swift return to the Premiership; pressure mounting daily on Gordon Strachan to take them back to the ‘Promised Land’ before all the kids are flogged to the highest bidder.

Like Bristol City. Coppell disappearing within a week of the season starting. And all with someone having the cash to flash in front of David James’ nose.

Like Hull. Premiership bubble burst; Nigel Pearson off to hospital with ‘chest pains’.

And so you can continue…

But what’s interesting – if the table doesn’t lie a mere four games into the season – is those teams that, even now, look as if they may do OK this time round.

Millwall, Norwich, Cardiff, Ipswich, Leeds. And, I suspect, QPR.

We’ll leave them to one side for now; Neil Warnock remains a special case. In many senses.

But the *really* interesting point to those early runners and riders is that – at managerial level – all have a semblance of managerial stability.

Indeed as much as the whole Ridsdale-new stadium-Bellamy combination might stink of classic Championship madness, the fact remains that Bluebirds boss Dave Jones is – I suspect – the longest-serving manager in the second tier.

He’s been in charge for five years. He arrived in South Wales in the summer of 2005. He knows both his squad and the club inside out.

His managerial ethos this time round will be a tweak here, a twiddle there. It will not be wholesale revolution.

And is Bellars a risk? Nah. The boy’s from Ely. As in the Cardiff council estate; not the one with the cathedral. Half his mates still live there; he won’t let them down in a hurry. It’s a magic move as far as Jones in concerned.

Kenny Jackett has been at The New Den since 2007; Simon Grayson has got his feet under the table at Elland Road… ditto both Lambert and Keane in East Anglia.

Yes, behind the scenes the finances still trouble; down the road and the question lies heavy in the air as to just how much club owner Marcus Evans is prepared to commit this summer.

But, to a large extent, both Lambert and Keane now have squads very much of their own making and to their own liking.

A settled manager has a settled dressing room; a settled dressing room tends to then produce more ‘settled’ performances; those that are new and unfamiliar are measured by the handful, not by the dozen.

Everyone knows where they stand; be it player with manager and, indeed, supporter with manager. For those managers that are still in a job after 12 months are, invariably, those with something to show for it.

A promotion in the case of Messrs Grayson, Jackett and Lambert; an FA Cup run and a play-off final in the case of Jones; a ‘name’ and a presence in the case of Keane.

Therefore, they have the confidence of the masses; the support – by and large – of the ‘terraces’.

That helps build a ‘club’ – that sense of ‘togetherness’ that Nigel Worthington would constantly allude to; even if it left him in the end.

You sense Strachan hasn’t got it at The Riverside, for example. Boro could be next on the managerial merry-go-round; by the same token, Alan Pardew’s exit at St Mary’s will – in every likelihood – condemn Saints to another year in the third flight of English football.

Punters and players aren’t daft; they can smell a ‘stop gap’ appointment a mile off; a boardroom appointment designed to do little more than keep the show kinda on the road; just don’t rock the boat… ask too many questions. That’s what a Pompey want.

The Championship is – as ever – a basket case of a league. Home to the Premiership’s dispossessed; those for whom relegation really is the descent into the abyss.

Norwich – to their great credit and considerable fortune – have plumbed those very depths; they have been there and left Southampton and Charlton to it.

Their momentum is forwards and upwards; as it tends to be when you let most managers manage for longer than the nine months that has been the previous norm.

And, of course, there are exceptions to every rule. N Warnock being the principal example. With money being little or no option at Loftus Road, you’d expect our Neil to be able to build a Championship-capable side with his eyes closed; they won’t be far away.

And nor, I suspect, will Norwich. Provided all concerned keep it steady as she goes…


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Rick Waghorn

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

jgraver7 James @jgraver7 ·
32m

Norwich have never shown any interest in developing Tzolis. Just like with the Smith appointment, we became a club only focused on short term. By all means sign potential but you have to know if they are ready and plan their development to make sure it goes smoothly. #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1619829821294673920 Retweet on Twitter 1619829821294673920 Like on Twitter 1619829821294673920 Twitter 1619829821294673920
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
35m

Police cop goes viral amid condemnation after grabbing Portsmouth fans by the neck - https://fanbanter.co.uk/police-officer-goes-viral-amid-condemnation-after-grabbing-portsmouth-fans-by-the-neck/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc

Reply on Twitter 1619828987387068417 Retweet on Twitter 1619828987387068417 Like on Twitter 1619828987387068417 Twitter 1619828987387068417
postedbycallum Callum @postedbycallum ·
37m

Tzolis 🇬🇷 #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1619828608666845186 Retweet on Twitter 1619828608666845186 Like on Twitter 1619828608666845186 1 Twitter 1619828608666845186
samgibncfc1 samgibncfc @samgibncfc1 ·
42m

Would be the most Norwich thing ever to get Tzolis back when we need a winger just to send him back out on loan #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1619827245337706497 Retweet on Twitter 1619827245337706497 2 Like on Twitter 1619827245337706497 3 Twitter 1619827245337706497
pcraske66 Paul Craske @pcraske66 ·
43m

Hardly ringing endorsement if Tzolis being sent back to #ncfc is it?

Reply on Twitter 1619826932950138881 Retweet on Twitter 1619826932950138881 Like on Twitter 1619826932950138881 1 Twitter 1619826932950138881
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by