There’s a particularly memorable and well-known sequence in Monty Python’s Life Of Brian that I keep referring back to whenever I mull over the season that has just ended and it’s ultimately sad denouement for all Norwich City supporters.
Only it’s not so much what have the Romans ever done for us, as for what has the Premier League ever done for us.
And yes, I grant you that it has, over the last three seasons, considerably heightened interest and opinion in our club. It’s increased our media coverage tenfold and given us all the opportunity to see some of the world’s leading teams and players at Carrow Road. It has generated and heightened an all-new worldwide profile that includes regular and free streaming of all our games to our homes. It has given fans the chance to visit some of English football’s greatest stadiums and created the very real possibility that some of the games brightest young stars, from both home and abroad, might seriously consider displaying their talents for a season or two in the old yellow and green. But, apart from all that…what has the Premier League done for us?
It’s brought us previously unimaginable financial riches and security.
And that is what, for me, our relegation keeps on coming back to time and time again. Not the football. But the fact that we’ll miss the money.
And, personally, I’m not particularly comfortable with that.
I can take or leave most of the Premier League’s peripherals.
The heightened media interest? Won’t miss that; won’t miss the running joke of being last on MotD nearly every week; won’t miss Lineker’s snide little asides and his mates running through a goal or a move that we make by referring to the shirt number rather than the players name. You’ve seen it and heard it before.
“Yes Gary, this is where Norwich breakaway to score. The full-back knocks it down the channel, me laddo out wide runs on, looks up, hits it into the middle and there’s the number eleven getting on the end of it to pull one back.”
I won’t miss the chance of seeing some of the world’s top teams and players at Carrow Road. Indeed, why would that be an attraction at all? I go there to see my team play; they are my commitment, the reason for my presence and the focus of my support. If, as they did back in 2005, Manchester United choose to put Rooney, Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy on the bench then that suits me just fine. Let them underestimate us, especially as such a casual disregard might come back to haunt them.
Which it did. Sod footballing celebrity, I just want us to win.
Great teams, great players, great stadiums? Whatever. You could pop down to your local on a Friday night and see a covers band play for the price of a pint or spend upwards of £100 to see The Rolling Stones perform, albeit as little specks on the horizon at the O2. I know what I’d prefer. Glamour, celebrity and big names? Or having a good time with your friends and people who actually care about what they are doing?
It’s a no brainer.
And what about that chance to see some of the games leading young lights joining us and gracing the Carrow Road turf for a season or two as their value doubles, trebles even, before they get a move to a big club, or even, heaven forbid, a “big, big club’ and all that it brings them?
I was happy for the likes of van Wolfswinkel, Fer and Redmond to maybe see us as a stepping stone when they joined last summer; give us a season or two, lots of goals and memories before moving on to bigger and better things – fond farewells from us matching their gratitude and thanks for the opportunity.
But wait a moment, a “stepping stone”? For one Dutch striker who will remain nameless (he is our record signing and likely to remain thus for probably even longer than Jon Newsome was), his move here has been more of a millstone than a stepping stone; one which he has placed in a rucksack and gone swimming with.
All the hype, the hope, the glamour, the “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” posters. If Ricky moves on in the summer, it’ll be disappointing, of course – but will I be gutted in the same way I was when Robert Fleck left or Chris Sutton, Ruel Fox, Robert Green or Dean Ashton? No.
In fact I think I was more disappointed when Simon Lappin departed than I ever will be if Ricky departs for pastures new because Lapps was about the football. It was about the fact he cared, that he refused to let his head drop, that he was a character and that he was, clearly, a very popular figure in and around his team-mates.
Remember his goal against Scunthorpe? The joy and pleasure he got from scoring that goal was almost as much, if not more pleasurable to watch than the goal itself; that and the reaction of his team-mates.
It’s like a game of football suddenly broke out and there were all these blokes in yellow shirts having some fun for once.
But of course, there is a catch to all of this.
Yes, there are elements of the Premier League that I won’t miss. The prices, the stupid kick-off times and the fact that the viewer at home’s considerations seem to be regarded as more important than those who actually go to the games.
Also I’ll not miss the arrogance of those who have the privilege of commentating on the game. Was it Shearer who said, after Chris Hughton had been fired, “what do they expect down there?”
We expect a fighting chance Al, if that’s OK with you?
It was interesting, I thought, on Monday to note that, after West Brom had relieved Pepe Mel of his managerial responsibilities at The Hawthorns (this after he managed to keep them in the Premier League) that there wasn’t a Lineker or Shearer quote about the Baggies to be seen, no “what do they expect down there?” about them.
And I won’t miss being regarded as a “customer”. I’d much rather be thought of as a fan. Think of the away-days to come; think of trips to Brighton and Bournemouth next season. How many of us will regard those as a weekend long jolly which is interrupted by a game of football on the Saturday afternoon? Quite a few I suspect. Not so easy to do when you’re due to be in Newcastle on a Sunday afternoon or similar.
It’ll be nice to focus on the football again for a while. Get back under the radar and not have to see Liverpool or Manchester United shirts in the home ends or read yet another tiresome cookery pun relating to our joint majority shareholder – except, of course, she’ll inevitably be referred to as our ‘chairman’ in it.
So bye bye Premier League, hello football.
But here’s that catch. Because, despite all of my misgivings, all of the cynicism, all of the things about the Premier League and modern football that I distrust and despise, I will, from day one of the 2014/15 season be wanting us and willing us to win every game. Willing City to succeed at every opportunity, to take advantage of every situation and yield to no-one in our quest to win the Football League Championship; a very realistic and attainable goal and one we should all, from the club boardroom downwards, be aspiring to do next season.
So we can all, as one, this time next year gather as an ocean of yellow and green outside City Hall and joyfully, excitedly, chant the legend.
“We are Premier League”.
Football eh? Bloody hell.
I absolutely agree 100%.
Goodbye Business League, where the Stocks and Shares in New York dictate a Managers future.
And lets be welcome back to a sporting League where proper Football is played.
Yeah well, I for one want the premier league back
Ed – agree totally: but I still want us back ASAP!
Your disdain for a crisp-fronting son of Filbert Street blazes off the page! It will be interesting to see how much attention the Foxes get on MOTD next season. Shearer I have more time for as he’s not so dazzled by the celebrity lights as GL and was a better striker. Danny Mills escaped your wrath but to his credit, his willingness to put his crown jewels on the line and try to play a role in shaking up the system for the betterment of the national game is admirable even if you don’t agree with the FA commission proposals.
I think the vast majority of neutrals wanted Liverpool to win the PL as they have a British manager and a core of young, English talent. Man City are a disgrace – 2 of their 100+ goals were scored by a son of these isles. Greg Dyke to his credit alluded to this travesty.
We (NCFC) have very little to boast about from 2013-2014, but we can at least claim that our top scorer(s) was (were) British (at the expense of our ‘fleeing Dutchman’)..in a time of UKIP-fever, that may sound xenophobic but genuinely isn’t. The sooner the foreign-quota/fair play stuff kicks in, the better for our game all round.
I’m a West Brom fan. I agree with just about everything you say about the EPL – and must admit that after heaving a sigh of relief about the Baggies avoiding relegation this season, I then felt a pang of regret that we hadn’t gone down. Hoping for the odd 1-0 win and, at best, an away draw now and again really is a bit of a soul destroying way to “enjoy” football.
One issue I have with your article: there might not have been a “what do they expect down there?” quote from high-profile footie pundits following the removal of Pepe Mel as head coach of Albion, but that was only because it was an open secret that his tenure had been a farce (no fault of Mel’s) and that his fate was sealed several weeks before the end of the season. However, there was plenty of that type of comment when his predecessor, Steve Clarke, was sacked. At that time Albion fans’ responses were pretty similar to yours: we know who we are, and we just want a fighting chance.
Have a good season next year. I suspect we’ll be swapping places next May!
Well, West Brom’s prize for avoiding relegation is… another season spent fighting relegation. It’s truly better getting promo toted than being promoted. I think WBA had it right when they were yo-yo-ing. That must never have been boring!
As for the point in the article about money – I have never understood this. In what way are we ‘going to miss the money’. Personally, my season ticket is the same price it seems which ever league we’re in. All I can see is that the money goes straight in the players’ pockets. So the players will miss the money (presumably), but will the fans? Doesn’t everything get cheaper in the Championship, not the other way around?
Yes, I want us back in the Premier. Although I do think better football is played in the Championship.
The Premier is more about money, where the big 4/5 teams have the cash to cherry pick the best players from around the world (not very sporting).
At least NCFC is debt free.
There’s some selective memory at play here. We’ve been in the Championship before and it was by far bed of roses. If I remember rightly we went through countless managers, mostly terrible, our finances rotted until we were in great debt, our players were poached, we saw scenes akin to the last days of Hughton, and inevitably we were relegated.
We think it’s going to be different this time because we’re bigger, we have more money, and better players, and a shot at a big name (okay, medium name) manager. Ironically, all thanks to having been in the PL and the prospect of returning there.
There’s plenty of teams and fans that have been in the PL, dropped to the Championship and are dying to get back. I dare say far more than are happy staying put.
As the Baggies fan said, the sacking of Mel was a different kettle of footballing worms – it was after the season had ended (not with 5 crunch games to go!) and to be fair, he had zero reputation in this country (and little in his own) unlike Hughton who, like or loathe, is a respected figure other than with a hardcore of our own fans.
Why not Di Matteo to have a shot? The Baggies sacked him mid-season when he was on a near 50% win ratio – extraordinary decision unless he had ticked off the hierarchy as did Malky at Cardiff. He got them promoted the season before – that’s credentials for you. Chelsea then dropped him after winning the CL! What’s the guy done wrong?
Pepe Mel has more time now to work on his third novel!
Dave (9) don’t get me wrong-we may have dropped out of the PL and all that I, personally, don’t like or enjoy about it-and there will be lots to enjoy next season, no doubt-but I still, as the end of the article emphasises, for all that, want us to get back in the bloody thing again!
Chase is better than the footballing catch I guess!
Dave B (8): You’re making me schizophrenic – I alternately agree and disagree with you, usually with violence. This time I agree; that’s the message of our history, and everyone should read and take in what you say.
I’d only throw in one factor which might make us more optimistic this time round: David McNally. On previous occasions we couldn’t say we had one of the best Chief Execs around.
Quote :- Yes, there are elements of the Premier League that I won’t miss. The prices, the stupid kick-off times and the fact that the viewer at home’s considerations seem to be regarded as more important than those who actually go to the games.unquote.
Television is spoon feeding the game and football in general will feed off of it until one day it will eat itself.
The chasm widens ever greater – not only between the top 4 in the PL and the rest but between the PL and Championship. Until a manager can drag an unfancied, also ran club from nowhere to the top without being bank-rolled by billionaires, football will never have a magical feel to it again – call me an idealist if you like. With the limitless resources afforded to them, the likes of Pellegrini and Mourinho are not fit to buff the metaphorical shoes of a Brian Clough or a Don Revie for example.
We sadly live in a pale-imitation of what the game should be championing.
Ed – fine, impassioned article which alludes to many of the ills of the top flight and the remorseless quest to feed from its trough.
What’s to be done? Who is to save us from this endless cycle? Not the likes of Lineker and the other MOTD millionaires row for sure. While the guys at the top are making a mint, it’s going to be the sound of Status Quo rather than the Clash that rings round the grounds of 98% of the country.
“Chase is better than the footballing catch I guess!” – not if the first name is Robert presumably?
(13) I disagree that the chasm between PL and Championship is widening. 2 of the 3 promoted sides quite comfortably survived after all. I would argue the bottom 10 this season (from Palace down) were much the same – workmanlike, low on real quality, relegation-battlers. Which made our failure all the more galling.
Personally I never gave a monkey’s what they said about us on MOTD, because I don’t respect their opinion. Their so-called analysis has been derided by serious football fans for a good while. And of course we were often on last. We played some terrible football this season.
As for playing in the Football League this season, I’m just determined to enjoy it. Relegation isn’t a death sentence. Football does exist outside the Premier League. And I think people underestimate the benefit of the last 3 years. Its not just about money, its about experience. We can’t be complacent, but with decent showings against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea still fresh in the memory, we should have the confidence and guile to take the Championship by storm next season.
Like the afforementioned Mr. Chase would say – our first chance is our best chance. Bring it on!