In some small enclaves of the Canary Nation they’ll be celebrating today. From those same pockets came the bile and hate that prompted David McNally’s ‘resignation’ tweet on Saturday evening.
However, for the rest of us it’s an inglorious end to a boardroom reign that took us on one of the most thrilling footballing rides imaginable.
Forget Leicester and their rags to riches via the deep pockets of a couple of Thai billionaire businessmen story. Forget Southampton and their League One to Europa League via administration and a billionaire Swiss businessman fairytale.
We did it the hard way; the right way.
Under McNally, and with Alan Bowkett riding shotgun, we dodged the bullets of numerous financial institutions and all that League One and the Championship could throw at us, and emerged four seasons later as a debt-free, efficiently run Premier League football club. And all without the aid of a cash-laden safety net.
Creditors were paid every penny they were owed, the tax man was beaming and we, the fans, were treated to Premier League football for four seasons out of seven.
Yep, it was a roller-coaster alright and and, yep, if we were to add them up (someone will) the disappointments probably outnumbered the highs but when you’re Norwich City at the very top table that tends to be the case. And the good times were really good.
McNally’s arrival, when we were at our lowest ebb, was the end of ‘lovely little Norwich’. And in fairness to Delia and Michael, by appointing him they had identified that that had to be, and needed to be, the case.
He didn’t take long to bare his teeth – as Bryan Gunn and that long, lonely train journey back from Yeovil will testify – but it was a move that changed the direction of Norwich City forever. He knew who Gunny’s replacement was going to be, it just so happened the man himself and his then employers were yet to find out.
When Paul Lambert was tipped the nod he jumped at the prospect. Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling was obviously less enamoured but in a very public game of brinkmanship there was to be only one winner.
And for the second time in the space of a fortnight we witnessed a ruthless streak that had been missing from Carrow Road since the early seventies. No longer were we going to be push-overs. No more ‘dear little Norwich’.
This was how things were going to be.
Lambert, along with Ian Culverhouse and Gary (what did he do?) Karsa, were but one planet in a whole line that aligned perfectly. At one end, McNally and Bowkett ensuring that the bank manager and tax man were kept at bay, at the other Team Lambert, and in between a snarling Grant Holt in his absolute prime and Wes Hoolahan’s dancing feet.
For the Yellow Army, who’d been suffering an Ipswich Town-style famine, it was dreamland. Magic dust everywhere. And it was a dream from which we were only awaken when Mr Lambert’s feet started getting itchy. ‘The most impatient man in football’ had ambitions beyond those which Norwich City could deliver.
He departed amidst a similar furore to which he arrived. McNally was unhappy. On his scale of success, losing a manager whom he wanted to retain registered as a failure.
And, although we didn’t realise it at the time, in Premier League terms that was almost as good as it was going to get. Chris Hughton in his first season usurped Lambert by one league place but by then the magic dust had long since drifted off into the ether.
And for a season the McNally mojo did show signs of abating. The appointment of Neil Adams as Hughton’s successor, first as a temp and then on a permanent deal, suggested his decision-making was either being superseded in the boardroom or was off-beam.
But when City’s bid to bounce straight back to the Premier League threatened to derail, out came the cape and the McNally of old swung back into action. Alex Neil was his man – even though most of us hadn’t heard of him – and the months of January to May of 2015 are now the stuff of Canary legend.
The summer of 2015 is sadly where the story starts to unravel. Poor recruitment was clear for all to see and as the summer window closed with City minus any significant reinforcements in defence and attack, the first questions of McNally’s tenure started to be asked.
Having made himself part of City’s executive football board, McNally – along with Neil, head of scouting Lee Darnborough and technical director Ricky Martin – became culpable for not only errors of judgement in the boardroom but also those of the footballing kind.
And a failure to land a top class centre-back (or two) and a striker who could score goals were ultimately to contribute to his downfall.
He had flaws and mistakes have undeniably been made, and not just around our inability to successfully recruit, but without him one suspects the travails of the Championship would have been our staple; four seasons in the Prem just a distant dream.
Quite what happened between him departing Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon and issuing that tweet on Saturday evening will probably remain a mystery, but for another to be issued a few hours later which denied the content of the first may just have been a ‘take 24 hours to think about it’ scenario. Who knows.
But it’s an ugly, ungainly end to an era that transformed our club forever, and I hope against hope that the odd timing of his departure is in no way related to the moronic abuse that was fired his way after Saturday’s game. That would be a sad end.
Let’s also not forget that there will be folk at the club (and who have since departed) who won’t be upset at his departure. His abrasiveness was not something to be enjoyed if you were on the receiving end, neither always was his style of management. But it worked.
And for that we will, or should, be forever grateful.
He’s scared the s**t out of us at times – but not as much as those on the opposite side of the table. He dragged us up from the depths when the depths looked sure to win. He even played a part in a goal. And he’s been at the helm as we, together, embarked on the ride of a lifetime.
Good luck Mr Mc and thank-you. It’s been fun.
That board better have something up their sleeves , or we’re buggered!
It does appear that some strange things are happening. Delia’s nephew, Adam Bowkett, Ed Balls and now DM. I hope this doesn’t mean the club is going to tear itself apart which may result in long term exile from the Prem.
The McNally/Bowkett years have given me some of the greatest times in the 40+ years I have followed City; the promotions at Portsmouth and Wembley outweigh by a huge factor the disappointments of relegation.
I hope we don’t return to the nice little Norwich model of a club being run by well meaning amateurs.I’m grateful that, due largely to DM and AB’s financial expertise, we have a club able to be anywhere near the Prem; I’m certain fans of plenty of other clubs would love to have been through what we have in recent years.
It seems certain we will be watching Championship football next season; it is absolutely certain that on the morning of 15th of June I will be waiting for the new season’s fixtures to be published with excited anticipation. OTBC
Here, here, Gary; he will be sorely missed.
I am quite sure that a man of his character would not resign because of abuse from a few morons. Maybe he was considering resigning because he thinks he’s achieved as much as he can here at L’il Ol’ Naarwich, and relegation and abuse has forced his decision.
I will be watching his next appointment with interest – my money’s on one of those sleeping giants in The Championship or Div 1. Or possibly the re-born Rangers.
For sure, without D McN, the value of our stock has plummeted. Let’s hope our standing in the league does not suffer similarly. A few weeks ago we all accepted relegation and life as a yo-yo club. Now I’m not so sure about the yo-yo bit – maybe our string has just broken………….
Well said, mate. It is simply frightening how many people seem to think a CEO’s job is straightforward. Essential to a well run business and that is our football club. Spare me the dodgy middle Eastern money, the unpleasant ego-inflated chairmen and the massive overdrafts. McNally has done an excellent job – but of course no-one is perfect and the article draws attention to this. Good luck to his successor and God help us all in the Championship!
I do hope it wasn’t the morons who made him leave, I suspect not as he always seemed made of sterner stuff. I think that he, as a fundamentally honest and honourable man, has fallen on his sword for the reasons you state. He made himself responsible for the, lack of, signings and he brought AN in. He sees it as his responsibility and failing and so has walked…I don’t suspect a man of his calibre will be unemployed for long
Plenty of people have been calling for this, let’s hope it’s all they wished for. For my part I wanted to see as much stability as possible and the club pulling together for a really tough championship season- which we should be capable of winning. I look at Norwich as frustratingly not good enough on the pitch but I recognise how close the club got to going bankrupt and how well run it is now. Let’s hope we can emulate Burnley, we cannot afford to miss the riches of the premier league for long
OTBC
Great article as usual Gary, personally i think DM probably realised he could take the club no further ,but also I think there are other Board Members who should be taking a long hard look at themselves as to whether they are in that same category,its clear something was amiss before all this with the departure of Alan Bowkett, and at the end of the day yet again after another spell in the Premiership they have fallen short of what’s required, any other Business and that’s what Football is these days, if you have failures like this they would have been found accountable. I think the dead wood within the club should not just finish with DM.
I have nothing but praise for Mr McNally, in my honest opinion i think he’d had enough of being undermined by the board which he was part of. The owners are happy for partial success on a shoestring budget but to stay in the PL you can’t do that. That model of business/football club has long since died and you have to invest in the playing staff above all else as it those which garner the success.
“Blinkered”, “yellow and green” sunglasses it may sound but i want to continue to watch good football but with some finished product and our beleaguered football team simply doesn’t have that.
OTBC
I wasn’t persoal fan of Mr Mc, after some abasive phones and emails with him, but there is absoutely no taking away what he did for the club and the area at the same time. The foot the club is on now has one hell of a lot due to him. I wish him all the very best, as long as it is not with a rival not so far away.
Perhaps the time was right for some change but whether that Mr Mc I am unsure, I certainly believe there are other areas that need to be looked very closely at. Or a long long time of championship football lays ahead, and I hate myself for thinking that maybe some of the board wouldn’t be too unhappy with that
A very fair piece.
Dear me. 2016 has turned out to be a shocker.
The worry has to be was McNally Alex’s only ally in the upper echelons? If so, further departures and destabilisation could be imminent.
What a long time 12 months is in football.
I’m genuinely worried about the future of the club! A poor appointment (like Doncaster) could be fatal and I have little faith in a board minus McNally to find the right person.
It’s a crucial time for us and we need to get it right if we want a chance of returning to the Premiership any time soon.
I like most fans was aghast when the summer window closed on such inadequate business. Why just a year after relegation had we not learned anything? All the time we played a pathetic game with Hull when we should have snapped Brady up and then focused on further strengthening.
Most of us thought we were right up against it with the squad we began the season with. Why did the club give us all the chance to say ‘we told you so’? We never wanted to do that. A decent striker and at least one central defender and we would have stayed up. The games against Arsenal and Utd just show the fine margins. We would have stayed up. This relegation is so needless and that’s what makes it so upsetting. What is in store now, a quick return or years in the wilderness like those south of the border? Time to pray.
TBH I think his failure to recruit a decent recruitment team merited a departure albeit much more dignified. Ricky Martin and co clearly need to move on too.
Bewildered as to his ridiculous tweets – pay yourself that much you need to act a whole lot better. Never liked his desire to fleece the fans of every penny (over priced play off memorabilia being a prime case) or taking a bonus despite relegation whilst asking fans to stump up for the academy.
Despite that he did a lot of good too. Not the saint some make him out to be though and for me he failed this year to guide the club effectively.
Good post Gary.
I’m sure the actual timing of his exit has nothing to do with tweets.
Fascinating things must have been going on in the boardroom recently, dating back to Bowkett’s unexplained departure two weeks after the AGM.
One thing to remember is that without Grant Holt’s goals (a Bryan Gunn signing) we would probably not have risen up through the leagues. Ultimately it was the team’s Premier league windfall which then allowed the debts to be addressed.
How a club with a £100M turnover could have an insufficient recruitment team and be unprepared to deal with such a crucial last summer transfer window is hard to understand.
Good read as usual Gary, I am truly distraught at this turn of events, I fear we will becone lower to mid Championship unless Delia can find another McNally. I really am absolutely gutted!
I’ll always back the team but at my age, I fear the glory days are over!
OTBC
Excellent article Gary sums it up nicely. People seem to forget the mess we were in before he came. We have been heading for relegation since start of year so it should come as no surprise to anyone.lets hope we can regroup for a promotion push next season otbc
Enough of the “the board will be happy with championship football”. Such nonsense.
Seven years ago after relegation to League 1, Delia sat in front of the NCFC Supporters Trust and told us she no longer knew what to do, she’d tried everything and had run out of ideas. “We are fans who happen to own a football club”, she said.
We told her to get football people in to run the club. And she did, to her credit. And didn’t we have a good time because of it, as well as some upsets, but by god we’re not back in league 1 on the brink of collapse again are we? Far from it.
No one is deliberately making the club relegated, no one at the club wants that to happen, they are all trying their best. But sometimes that isn’t good enough. So we as fans need to grow up and accept we are still one of the best 20-odd teams in the country and we are sitting on good money that in the right hands will get us promoted again. West Brom yo-yoed for a few years and accepted they may need to do that to get stronger. We can do it too.
This sounds to me that the recriminations have started within your club. AN is now coming out blaming recruitment to save his own skin and your CEO departs in bizarre circumstances from which his tweeting was done with possibly a drink or two in hand?
Its never dull following a relegation (which isn’t confirmed yet by the way) and we should know!
Cheers for that Mick (19) – Twist that knife why don’t you!
McNally sacrificed himself for Neil. He knew the fans would want change and saw this as the perfect opportunity to jump so Neil’s departure wasn’t needed. I just hope he hasn’t jumped still holding the plug from our yellow and green lilo. I am worried about our club, genuinely. Players will vanish and the board need serious help in making premier league quality decisions…I dare not think it through!
Disastrous news from the club. Fulham have never recovered from losing him and I fear we won’t either. Chief execs of his caliber are very few and far between and we must hope for something of a miracle in finding a new one. Three teams were always going to be relegated this season, and guess what….same next year! If it weren’t so tragic it would be laughable that people are so surprised it should be us.
“Sign a top quality striker and a centre back and we would have stayed up” Really? Which ones? Suppose they got injured (Klose) turned out to be crap (RVW) or lost form (Bamford) or any other infinite variety of problems. It seems bizarre to have to state the obvious but football is a sport….and sometimes people lose! In losing McNally though I fear the damage could be far greater than one relegation…..I hope I’m wrong.
Leicester have spent less than us you moron. Their first team cost 23M. The fact you compared our achievements to theirs is laughable.
So on the day Burnley got presented with the Championship trophy after rebounding straight away with similar personnel, we face the uncertainty of doing it without someone with a very successful record. Personally I find that worrying, but I now wait to hear from all those wanted him out as they clearly had more of an idea than I have about what goes on behind the scenes. In addition to that, I’m sure they’ve also identified a list of possible replacements which will be shared shorty.
Smiffy (23) – Cheers for that. Actually, I was referring to Leicester’s (and Southampton’s) success in turning themselves from debt-ridden to affluent; not their success on the pitch (which clearly doesn’t compare to ours). But it’s fine – have been called worse.
There are people commenting here who probably know more than I do about the inner workings of the club, but two things have sprung to mind. Firstly, the comment above re the Board members and how big a part they played, in the failures at the higher level; and secondly the idea of one that suggests that McNally will have gainful employment elsewhere soon enough.
Gary and others have mentioned ruthlessness as central to the way McNally operates. Much like a previous manager with an ambitious streak, someone with that mind-set is highly likely to take an opportunity should it arise. I will also be curious to see where, and when, McNally is next settled in a new job.
It could be that another business wants their books balanced but are willing to ‘incentivise’ him better than the club is willing to. Given that he’s done that part for Norwich (and was primarily brought in to do so?), it could be that the new man or woman is better placed to improve the footballing side of things, perhaps through having more extensive footballing contacts (just a thought, and one born of a desperation to find something positive more than anything else).
Smiffy (23), wash your mouth out and have a lie down.