Here we go again then. High expectations. Disappointing results. Shrill voices raised in angry denunciation and … me, defending another manager.
Yet let’s do it differently this time. Please.
I seek not to revive old arguments or open new wounds. And, just as I think the knee-jerk response of some to call a Norwich manager a clown or clueless is unnecessarily destructive, perhaps my natural instinct to see the positive is blinkered too.
So lets all strive to be open-minded this time – me included – in the hope that we can have a sensible, temperate debate about the club we all care about.
There are some non-negotiable givens, though.
Because I have been closely exposed to the workings of other clubs for more than three decades as a professional observer with privileged access, I believe that ours is a well-run club owned by exceptionally good and caring folk.
My day-job doesn’t make my opinion worth more than anybody else’s but it has left me unable to feel anything but gratitude and admiration for Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones. And, in recent years, it has made me understand and appreciate the considerable achievements of the current board.
So when I saw Delia and her mum, Etty, watching the under-21s triumph against Spurs, I thought: “Marvellous.” Etty is well into her 90s. She had a new hip in the summer, suffered a serious set-back during her recuperation, battled back to full(ish) health and just would not pass up the opportunity to spend a fresh autumn evening watching City’s youngsters.
And then, this weekend, when I called in (to flog a spare ticket) at the gathering organised by the Northern Canaries in Sheffield before the Wednesday match, it was utterly magnificent to see four board members drop in too. Delia happily posed as the extra in a hundred selfies, David McNally spoke with complete candour to anyone who had a question, Stephan Phillips fretted about the match and Michael Wynn Jones plonked himself down at a table with fans and enjoyed his pint.
I do know a couple of other clubs whose directors would have done something similar. AFC Wimbledon, in which I hold a share, were founded by fans and there has never been any “them and us”, only “we”. Similarly, Portsmouth’s current manifestation, forged in grim adversity, is “in the hands of the fans”. Supporters on the board do, indeed, drink with “ordinary supporters” before games.
But that’s it. I don’t think there are many or any other clubs where the owners and directors believe it is important, valuable and fun to spend time with us plebs. I don’t find that patronising, I find it affirms everything I feel about our club. Compare it, for instance, with Ipswich, where the owner won’t allow TV cameras to capture his image – if he thinks they have got even the back of his head in shot, he bullies broadcasters into destroying that bit of coverage. No, I can’t imagine him popping into the Walkely Cottage, Sheffield, for a natter with the fans – either of them.
So if you think Delia and Michael are crooks or charlatans of some sort, or that they don’t really care or understand, then you and I will never agree and I can’t be bothered with you. It would be like trying to reason with nutters who swear Elvis is working at the Vauxhall Caravan Park on the Acle New Road.
If, however, you know that Delia and Michael have always striven to do the best for the club, then that is a proper starting point to consider the work of Neil Adams, whom they appointed in the strident belief that he would be the perfect antidote to the poison which seeped into the club as we fought among ourselves about Chris Hughton.
So let’s look at some of the criticisms Adams is facing now.
“He has no plan B”. This is an unthinking barb based on what was perceived about the last bloke. NA’s plan A is 4-4-2. It brought defeat at Wolves and so he switched to plan B: 4-2-3-1. He used that deployment until Cameron Jerome came on at Cardiff and made an immediate impact. After that extraordinarily exhilarating triumph NA wanted, understandably, to accommodate Jerome as well as leading scorer Lewis Grabban and so switched back to 4-4-2. At Hillsborough he went to plan C – a midfield diamond. And, at Hillsborough as we have at other games, he tinkered with the formation during the game. He does have more than one plan. It’s just that they’ve all stopped working!
“Playing a diamond on such a wide pitch was a blunder.” OK, that one could be right. But we can’t know, because we don’t know what would have happened with another formation. My view is that we went with a diamond precisely because it was a wide pitch. A flat 4-4-2 would have seen the midfield stretched thinly across the pitch and so would have left scant cover in front of the centre of the defence. Starting without “wingers” blunted our threat but presented an obstacle to the opposition too. We’ve been appallingly vulnerable to counter-attacks and if Adams decided it was necessary to be more solid for once, then I’m relieved.
“But we attack so slowly.” Yep. But there’s a reason. The German senior team and other national sides (under-20s and so on) subscribe to the theory that, if you win possession, the opposition will drop back behind the ball in under 10 seconds. So you should launch a quick attack in less than 10 seconds. If you can’t, then keep possession safely in your own half and then build slowly until you can deliver a probing pass. We can’t get going in under 10 seconds because the opposition is usually already organised, with two ranks of players across the front of their area, when we start our attacks. It’s impossible (and, according to the Germans, wrong) to bomb forward into that lot. You won’t find a way through.
“The opposition manage to attack us quickly, though.” Yep, because we’ve got nearly everyone pushing up in attack. This is where I think NA’s approach has been flawed. If we play 4-2-3-1, the men in the three are always attack-minded players and at least one of the men in the two (usually Bradley Johnson and Alex Tettey) is encouraged to join in the forward surge. Martin Olsson is expected to provide the width on the left of forward sorties, Cafu or Whittaker gets down the right …. and there’s very few bodies left to defend. If we play 4-4-2 it develops into a 2-2-6 at times. Whichever formation NA adopts, it involves throwing as many forward as possible and leaving Michael Turner and his centreback partner lonelier than an Ipswich fan at midweek away game.
“Neeyul is inexperienced”. Yep. So was Mike Walker. So was Jose Mourinho when he started, come to that. But NA has a well-honed football intelligence, a genuine affinity with the club’s traditions and culture – and a support mechanism of coaches and sports science. He is clearly learning on the job, but there is no guarantee at all that someone else would have led us to four consecutive, soul-lifting away wins.
“But it’s all gone pear-shaped since we won at Blackpool”. There are folk whose friendship I value and whose opinions I respect who believe this, but I disagree. I don’t think performances have been at all bad. But then I don’t think the earlier performances were as convincing as we allowed ourselves to believe.
If Grabban’s penalty at Fulham had been a millimetre lower… if Jerome’s best effort at Wednesday had been a tad firmer … But then, if Daryl Murphy had not squandered a point-blank header at Portman Road… if John Ruddy had not quite conjured that match-changing save at Cardiff.
As the cliché goes: “If” is the biggest word in football. But there are some certainties. One is another cliché: in the Championship, anyone can beat anyone else. We knew that before the season started, forgot it when things were going well and have been forced to remember it in the recent run of poor results.
The good news is that everyone else is learning it is true too. We’ve only taken three points from the last five fixtures but nobody has broken clear. We’re still in the pack, and the next good run we put together will lift us through those whose turn it is to falter.
Another certainty is that we do have a formidable squad. I know this because that is the assessment of our opponents. Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe told friends that “Norwich will walk this division once they get going properly”. He said it after securing a draw at Carrow Road. Or how about this appraisal, from the EADT: “… a visiting side clearly a level above in terms of pace and quality on the ball”.
One more certainty. The players are confident and united. According to one insider who doesn’t always report positively to me: “They are a really good bunch, most of them; completely sure they have enough wins in them to be in the promotion mix; sure the goals will come again.”
So, like the indefatigable Etty, I’ll keep supporting. See you on Friday night.
I’ll be there too on Friday cheering the team on. I am not so sure that we do have as good a squad as even the measured comments of the writer claim. It is made up of those players who failed in the Premier League and some players like Jerome and Grabban who do not have a record of consistency over the years and are of an age when they are unlikely to evolve into really top players. That does not matter if they get into a pattern and tempo of playing that can sweep away our opponents but this has not happened so far.
Lambert brought in may players who were there to do a job but were not long term prospects – Ollie Johnson, Ayala , Crofts and Zak Whitbread all played significant parts in the phoenix like rise of the Canaries but were let go when they could not improve the team further.
What is lacking is the sense of urgency shown when McNally and Lambert got the ball back in play to enable City to get a late goal.
O’Neill showed what he could do on Saturday. How many others have showed such quiet competence and focus in the last few weeks?
I’m not sure that reasoned debate and football fans are “natural bedfellows”.
One thing is for certain, for all our faults at the moment, and there are a few, the situation is nowhere near as bad as some make out.
I’d much rather be dominating possession, even if our play is rather predictable at times, and creating chances, than relying on the odd counter attack as many opposing teams have done against us this season.
Spot on! Good to read an article that blows the river end style kamakzi football out of the water.
Agree with Rob g, an excellent piece Mick
We also will be there Friday travelling from Cardiff as always
OTBC
I’ve known, liked, and respected Mick Dennis ever since he, Simon Thomas, and I were subject to the slings and arrows of the disbelieving Philistines, at Sky Sports News.
Mick and I strongly disagreed over Chris Hughton, to the point where we just agreed to disagree.
But on the subject of Neil Adams, I believe we are as one.
Once we had lost our grip on the Premiership, and with it the likelihood of Neil Lennon inheriting Hughtons mantle, I became a staunch supporter of Neil Adams.
I still believe that had the board acted sooner on Hughton, we would have maintained our top division status under Adams. As it was, he was handed a poisoned chalice.
Adams’s rebuilt forward line hit the new season like an advancing storm.
The total antithesis of the Hughton era, and with this ruthless surge to the top came an expectation for the remaining 30 games of the season as being a simple matter of how big, no huge, our final points and goals tally would be as we rightfully re-claimed our rightful place at footballs top table.
That storm surge has faltered, and with it the idiots that populate the message boards start calling for managerial change.
Neil Adams is the breath of fresh air that our club needed.
Other Championship managers, quickly came to recognise that special tactics were needed to be evolved, to protect themselves from Adams’s ruthless East Anglian hoardes. That tactic was to throw up a solid wall of defence, 10 or even 11 deep, and invite Norwich to blunt their swords on that defensive wall, whilst sneaking out for the occasional guerilla attacks.
The results of the last 6 games proves the value of these tactics.
These managers are all professionals in their own right, and have proved that.
Norwich’s sword whilst still raised has been blunted by the almost impenetrable walls it has stormed.
The huge confidence of our marauding attack has been temporarily dented.
This is not the time to call for the managers head. It is now that he has to show his worth and craft.
He is relatively inexperienced, maybe lacks the foxlike craft of some of his opponents, but everything is there in Adams.
The passing will become sharper.
The running off the ball cleverer and more creative.
The defence will not be sucked too far forward, and the forwards will re-find that extra 1% that is the difference between glory and failure.
We have slipped from our original high standards, but it’s a blip.
I’m convinced of that.
Oh Mick. Loves to stir the pot and then cry foul. And what have we here? Yet another autopilot piece about good football people which seeks to draw battle lines, rather than just talk football. Every. Single. Time.
For what it’s worth, I back Adams. But I don’t have to scream “fight!” to make the point.
The trouble is Mick, you said all the same last season and look what happened then. You continuously blamed the fans. Then, even after we sacked Hughton, when the board came out and said they’d have removed him at christmas if they could, you couldn’t admit how poor he was. Rather than saying “I was wrong” you kept repeating “I lost that argument”, as if Hughton was the right man all along and it was our fault we couldn’t see it.
I don’t think we should be changing Adams, but to come out and defend every possible criticism is nonsense. We’re not scoring enough goals and we’re not winning games. It’s not really debatable, it’s not been good enough. The proof is in the pudding, not your words. They don’t get us more points.
I think it’s perfectly healthy to debate our current state and discuss how things could be improved. Trying to shut down all criticism of a manager /team is not healthy. It has the attitude of “I’m right, you’re all wrong”. We should be discussing how the team can improve, not why it doesn’t need to.
I do sometimes wonder if contributors like Mick go looking for the most outrageous message board post, or deranged Canary Call contributor, for evidence that Norwich supporters are about to storm the City Stand and chase Delia and Etty out of East Anglia.
We’ve been on a poor run. This has prompted some supporters to question team sections and tactics. It happens – get over it! Some comments have been a bit exaggerated, but no more than the ‘thank you Neyul for bringing the great times back’ stuff which accompanied our early season successes.
We are blessed by the fact that we are not run by a foreign megalomaniac and his entourage who have no ties with the city or even the country..for now.
It sure is interesting to see how two English managers in the PL (Sam Allardyce and now Alan Pardew) have seemingly come through a period of fan-hate on a similar level to which a Hughton or a Moyes were subjected. Patience is indeed a virtue but one seldom apparent in modern football fandom or ownership.
We’re in a sticky patch but so are other teams who started the season well. Let’s not sharpen those clappers before Christmas at least.
Phil, Dave B, In this piece I do, most definitely ‘talk about football’. I go into specifics about football. I talk in detail about tactics and formations. I don’t draw battle lines. I don’t try to stifle debate. I accept some criticism of NA and add some of my own. I suggest what I think will help improve results. I say my natural instinct to look for positives might be wrong.
I had asked folk to read it with an open mind. It’s a shame some can’t.
Dave B (7): did you just the same article I did? The one that started ‘Let’s all strive to be more open-minded this time – me included – in the hope…’ How many of last season’s ‘outers’ ever adopted a balanced tone like that?
And did you also notice the bit ‘This is where I think NA’s approach has been flawed’? If that’s defending every possible criticism, it’s a defence worth of Aston Villa.
By the way, I don’t recall Mick blaming the fans last year (apart from a lunatic fringe) and I don’t notice him doing it this year either. With Mick, I suspect some readers see the name at the top of the column and decide what’s going to be in the article. Pity, because he’s a pretty good analyst as well as an advocate for the (many) good things about our club.
PS I sometimes disagree with Mick, as he knows…
@11 Stewart. I most definitely did read the article.
“He has no plan B”. This is an unthinking barb based on what was perceived about the last bloke.
“Playing a diamond on such a wide pitch was a blunder.” OK, that one could be right. But we can’t know, because we don’t know what would have happened with another formation.
“But we attack so slowly.” Yep. But there’s a reason.
“Neeyul is inexperienced”. Yep. So was Mike Walker. So was Jose Mourinho when he started, come to that. But NA has a well-honed football intelligence,
“The opposition manage to attack us quickly, though.” Yep, because we’ve got nearly everyone pushing up in attack.
“But it’s all gone pear-shaped since we won at Blackpool”. There are folk whose friendship I value and whose opinions I respect who believe this, but I disagree.
—-
In short.. “here’s a criticism. yeah, but”…
Dave B (12): It’s not only Mick’s article you didn’t read very carefully – you don’t seem to have read my comment either…
Brilliant, Dave B. You list my remarks very selectively. In the one about the opposition attacking us quickly, I say that’s because of NA’s flawed approach. Come on, be as fair as I’ve tried t be. We support the same club.
Great piece! Didn’t agree at all with your defence of Hughton but Neil Adams warrants our patience. Frustrating as recent results may have been, so what if we don’t get promoted this season, or next come to that, just so long as when we do, we are sufficiently prepared and geared for the Premier!
Mick, I always enjoy your measured, realistic assessments of the way things are, but I think you’re jumping the gun a bit.
From what I see and hear, the Norwich fans are optimistically 100% behind the Board, Manager, Team et al. There will always be the odd nutter who thinks we should be winning the Champions League every year (God knows even the most expensive team in the world {Man City} can’t do that!!
Your ‘It would be like trying to reason with nutters who swear Elvis is working at the Vauxhall Caravan Park on the Acle New Road’ says it all.
For all we know, the Adams-outers could be nothing more than disaffected ex football fans who can’t really kick the habit. Don’t waste your time winding them up, Mick. For them, Elvis lives. Stick to what you do best: writing great football articles. OTBC
BTW Congratulations on getting your usual fury of response!!
Excellent article Mick. thoughtful and thought provoking. We all support the same club and need to keep things in perspective. Well done.
I think this is a fair article, unlike some of the overly defensive writing (and performances) of last season. The pressure stems from all of us knowing that this season presents our best chance of bouncing back to the prem and the fear that Neil is still inevitably learning on the job. That’s clearly not his fault. I wonder whether a replacement for the Joe Royle role should be higher on the agenda?
I find it an interesting article with some good points in response to some of the common criticisms. I’m not sure the way it is written necessarily opens up debates as it is could be perceived as closing down arguments rather than starting them. This is particularly apparent when bookending the article with certainties. I can’t argue with the first one though – we have daily reminders of how lucky we are with our majority shareholders who I wouldn’t swap with anyone.
@14. Sorry Mick, in my haste I copied one more than I should have, but still for the majority I think my point holds.
I’m not against anyone being optimistic. Do I think Neil can turn things around? Yes. Does that mean we should be without concern for our recent form? Absolutely not.
For me optimism is thinking that one last lump up the field from Ruddy can end up in the back of their net. There is however a line where optimism becomes denial.
Last season, when our supporters were being refunded for the football they travelled to see. When letting in a goal meant no hope of securing a point. When us winning a corner was more likely to result in the ball in our own net than our opponents. To come out and suggest things were going to turn around based on almost zero evidence, that was denial.
On top of that all those that could see the obvious, whether you like how it was worded or not, were treated like lepers. Even though, inevitably, most people’s predictions in Nov were spot on.
I can even see it again in this post…
“So if you think Delia and Michael are crooks or charlatans of some sort, or that they don’t really care or understand, then you and I will never agree and I can’t be bothered with you.”
You’ve either got your audience horribly wrong, or you’re making things up, because I’ve never seen anyone say Delia or Michael are crooks or charlatans on this site. I don’t think it would get approved as a comment because it’s that ridiculous. But yet it’s suggested, why? To put spotlight on the laughably extreme views, rather than the reasoned ones.
Whether you like it or not, your have a position of privilege. You have greater access to the board, insiders, the media. You get the scoops. You have earned this position and I do not begrudge you it. But please understand this, when someone is on the inside and the appearance is that their livelihood relies on not upsetting the apple cart and staying there, their messages can and will be viewed through the lens of someone who is not impartial, or even possibly purposefully aligned with the club. Whether you are or aren’t impartial, I can’t say, but that’s the position you put yourself in. If you can’t see the position you have placed yourself in you may be being ‘optimistic’.
To make matters worse (in my opinion) you are the president of the supporters club yet are quite happy to post articles stating why we as supporters shouldn’t expect too much. That again appears like there’s a conflict of interest and I’m not sure who you are representing. I know it’s done jokingly, but within this article you put Delia on a pedestal and refer to the fans as plebs. Sometimes things are said as jokes to hide the truth.
But remember this, the fans will be here long after Delia, Michael, David, and Neil have moved on. As president of the supporter’s club you should be intimately aware of that. At the least you should be impartial, if not representing what the supporter’s want, which is to see this club being successful and winning games.
Which is why a post that more often that not heads off criticism for the manager, who hasn’t won at home since mid August, to me indicates something is amiss.
Dave B: I’m sure this is getting tiresome to most readers, but much of what you say is so unfair that it would be wrong to let it pass.
To pick up just two points:
1. You are incredibly selective in your ‘facts’. Last season, when we had a decent home record, you constantly banged on about our bad away results. This season, with four away wins under our belt, you manage to describe Neil as a manager ‘who hasn’t won at home since mid August’. You’re consistent in finding fault, but not in the standards you use
2. Criticism of Delia and Michael is not made up by Mick. To an extent on this site, and much more widely on the messageboards, they’ve been described as hypocrites hanging on to power. Mick has every right – and arguably, a responsibility – to refute that. (By the way, you’re exonerated from this one – it’s one part of the cynics’ agenda that I don’t recall you ever supporting)
The point of Mick’s article is that Delia and Michael’s integrity shouldn’t be up for debate, but everything else is. We’re all concerned about the dip in results, including Mick. He has opinions about what is & isn’t the problem, as we all do. While he disagrees with some criticisms, and explains why, he respects the other view. (I’ve been trying without success to persuade him of the virtues of video replay, for instance, but we have a civilised debate.)
Mick shares the passion we all do to see Norwich winning and being successful. If he pointed out last year that it was unrealistic, with our resources, to expect to be in the upper reaches of the premiership, that seems to me common sense rather than telling supporters not to expect too much. He says he’s trying to be fair – I think he can sustain that claim.
We could sack the supporters instead of the manager. That would be different.
To be clear, my livelihood doesn’t depend in any sense on my supporting the majority shareholders. What I write on this website is of no import to those who pay me for writing and broadcasting.
I was a fan long before I got to know the majority shareholders. I came to their attention because I kept slipping NCFC references in my column in the (London) Evening Standard. During subsequent decades, I have, when asked, given advice on stuff I know about to the club I care about, and always kept confidences and secrets rather than chase cheap scoops, so a mutual trust and friendship has developed. But it’s not unquestioning on either side.
My presidency of the Supporters Trust came from an invitation. I’m proud of that honorary role. If members of the Trust have any problem with views I have expressed, they’ve not raised that with me.
Additionally, I am a trustee of the club’s Community Sports Foundation. This is the most rewarding aspect of my relationship with the club. It came about because I have been doing voluntary stuff for and with the Football Foundation for many years and so I have knowledge and experience which is useful to the Foundation (I hope).
Finally, I don’t think I have ever criticised or blamed Norwich Fans en masse. With a wife, two sons, several in-laws and lots of close friends who are avid supporters, it would be risky madness for me to do that, even if, for some bizarre, illogical reason I wanted to.
I do disagree with some hyper-critical, abusive fans occasionally. They disagree with me and those they brand “happy clappers”.
This article was a genuine attempt at reasoned debate. With the exception on ‘no plan B’, which is palpable nonsense, I’ve discussed current criticisms. I don’t agree with some, and in the case of others I think I understand the cause of the problem. That’s not shutting down debate, I don’t think. Was I supposed to agree with views I don’t share? I was just putting a counter view. That’s what a debate is, surely.
If Dave B or anyone else wants a friendly face to face chat, I sit in the Community Upper and so arrive and leave via the roadway/footpath which goes past Yellows.
Finally, Stewart Lewis is not my son!
OTBC.
Erm…I was only joking.
Cheers, Dad.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Never has an article and its responses so illustrated the decency, intelligence and entertainment value of this website. Well done everyone involved. We must avoid the mud-slinging of last season.
Mick, I would love to come chat, but I am sadly one of the global canaries that rarely get to a game (my next trip back is during the international break, urgh), and can now no longer watch the games of TV (urgh, again).
From my viewpoint every time the club is undergoing a drop in form, a manager under pressure, a relegation, a new manager’s first difficult period, you write a post that (almost completely) deflects criticism and protects the status quo. If you think I’m being unfair I’d suggest going back and looking at your articles over the last 12 months. It’s all there. To me the content you write doesn’t align with a club that saw their worst football in a decade, were relegated, lost a vast amount of income, and are now struggling at home in the league below.
The biggest danger our club has encountered in recent times is not difficult, poor, or inexperienced managers, it’s not disgruntled fans, or drops in form. It’s a continued disconnect between the board, the media, and reality.
How about a discussion on why we don’t list anyone as an assistant manager, or a lack of experience across our coaching staff at this level, or what our finances will look like if we stay in The Championship? When are you writing those posts? Because they’re just as important to the success of our club as one game’s 4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2.
Having finally been able to read this article and all the comments, which were rather hijacked by Dave B, I wanted just to add my thanks to Mick, whose articles I always enjoy because they do add more insight about those that run the club, and I for one feel very indebted to a couple who care deeply about the club, and who have not gone the foreign route.
I also found Mick’s comments on the style of play, and some of the problems Adams various formations have run into insightful too; it doesn’t matter whether I agree with all the points or not. What I did want to add is that my respect for Neil Adams continues to grow. I like the fact that he is direct and honest, and doesn’t hide the fact that he is obviously learning too. The fact that he is learning means that I believe he and the team’s performances will improve. It’s important to me too that he also care’s deeply about the club. Since we had the other Neil last night too, the angry one, glowering on the touchline, who many felt was a better choice to be our manager, I am glad we have Adams not Lennon. And that’s simply because I have more confidence in the quality of manager that Adams will become.