“All political careers end in failure”
Enoch Powell’s observation highlights one of the interesting similarities between the worlds of politics and football.
When we think of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson, do we remember their stellar, trophy-laden careers in club management? Or is our abiding image their failure to meet our expectations of delivering success with England?
It’s the second, of course. Perhaps at some point we might examine those expectations, and question whether it’s actually realistic to expect England to swat away Johnny Foreigner and win every tournament going. But for the time being, the verdict is simply that those managers failed.
With or without a brolly, they’re all wallies.
Most managers finish their career being sacked. For every Alex Ferguson – not that you can find many of them – there are far, far more who don’t choose the time and manner of their retirement.
Whenever it happens, the departure of Delia and Michael from Norwich City is likely to be in average (or worse) circumstances rather than happy ones. Though I hope there’ll be recognition of what they’ve done – in their case, saving the club would be no exaggeration – I doubt it’ll be all roses and fanfares.
Before going any further, let me stress this isn‘t a piece about Delia and Michael’s current stance and decisions. That’s for other articles and other days.
There’s an interesting twist, though, to leaving the spotlight. In sport – and even in politics sometimes – absence does seem to make the heart grow fonder. Our disdain for ‘boring’ Steve Davis and ‘brat’ John McEnroe during their playing careers has turned, with the passing of time, to affection.
Closer to home, while David McNally was in post I wrote a number of pieces here in praise, or defence, of him. The great bulk of readers’ comments were negative, often vehement in their attack on me, McNally or both.
Whatever dog’s abuse is, I got it.
Social media during last week’s AGM couldn’t have been a greater contrast. It was no less than an outpouring of love for our former CEO: “You saved us before, David – please come back and save us again”.
So much so that a little push in the other direction is called for. Like Delia and Michael, David McNally did things for Norwich City that warrant our admiration and eternal gratitude. But he wasn’t without fault.
In the case of McNally now, and Delia & Michael in due course, there’s justification for retrospective praise. While the heat of frustration leads fans to nastiness like “the two dotty old pensioners”, I genuinely believe there’ll be a time when we look back on Delia and Michael’s time at City with nostalgia.
It doesn’t mean they got everything right. It means their hearts were in our club, and they put their money, time and energy where their hearts were.
I was working in London, though known to colleagues as a City supporter, at the time of Delia’s “let’s be ‘aving you” episode. Norfolk friends were worried for me, expecting me to be roundly taunted. Not so. The main response from colleagues who supported other clubs was “wish our owners cared half that much”.
In other cases, though, absence doesn’t just make the heart grow fonder – it seems to befuddle our memory and judgement.
With expectation of pushback, I’ll say this: there’s been nothing in Kyle Lafferty’s 20+ Championship appearances for Norwich to justify the clamour for him to start games.
No – his big appeal seems to be that he hasn’t been in the team for a while. The same thing has happened with a number of our defenders, including Russ, Ryan Bennett and even Steven Whittaker. The longer they’re out of the team, the less we remember what we didn’t like before and the better we imagine them.
Perhaps we should call it Becchio Syndrome (though from some of the things I’ve heard about Becchio, I’m surprised he ever got as close to the first XI as he did).
So how will Alex Neil’s career end, in football generally and more immediately at Norwich City?
One way or another, December will be crucial. Either the team will produce some results and confident performances – almost certainly that way round – or there won’t be change and he’ll be looking for another job.
Unlike some fans, I can envisage either scenario. And it was interesting, on Saturday, to hear an informed but fresh perspective.
If I can’t make a game, I’m in the hands of Radio Norfolk. Having been critical in these columns of one of its presenters, let me praise the excellent Chris Goreham. On Saturday, though, the main interest was his fellow presenter and Canary legend Mark Robins.
While being polite to negative Canarycallers – including one who labours under the sad misapprehension that we’ve received £250 million from the Premier League – Mark held to his view: Alex Neil is an outstanding young manager who should be given time to get it right at Norwich.
That’s a view I’ve heard from several quarters, mostly from folk who know their football but aren’t tied emotionally to our club. It doesn’t mean they’re right, but it’s interesting to hear. Especially when angry fans say “anyone but our blinkered Board can see…”
Whatever transpires, one thing’s for sure. Neither Alex Neil nor any other manager will be allowed to become an expert as once defined by the Nobel-winning physicist Niels Bohr:
“An expert is a man who has made all the possible mistakes in his field”
Maybe-we shall never know as AN seldom says what his long term aims and objectives are in terms of type of team and style of play.Good management is a combination of good coaching and good man management and in both he appears to be lacking at present.
My worry is that by the time he “gets it right” we will be in Div 1 (or worse) with a half full ground!
Mark Robins is a member of the Manager Mutual Support Club. Many supporters know more than him about the current situation.
Alex Neil an outstanding young manager? Is this the same person who can’t organise and drill a defence? Who has wasted millions on players who almost all have not performed, who makes erratic team selections, has poor use of subs and any Plan B. I could go on ………..
Having read the headline and then the full article I’m jot sure what the point of your piece was Stewart.
What Mark Robins misses is that we live in an age where time isn’t on anyone’s side. The bigger the prize and the greater the cost of failure means change has to happen when results are going against you. Any club suffering five straight defeats would be looking to change and rightly so.
As for Kyle it comes down to a player that appears to show the capability for desire and graft which will always win over fans just as Bradley did when he was here. All managers complain about the lack of characters these days but choose skill over graft.
You can have all the supposed premiership talent in the world but remove the heart and engine of a side and your left with nothing.
Come on Stewart, don’t be coy, what have you. Heard about becchio?
I take Pabs point about manager support, robins did labour the point somewhat. With so many of Neil’s signings nowhere near the starting eleven during an injury crisis perhaps a direct question to robins about why that might be would have been pertinent.
Jarrolder shares the concerns of a large number of supporters about the direction of the club.
Regarding the point about David McNally, I was mortified when his resignation was accepted with such relish. At the time he was a convenient fall guy to heap 100 per cent of the blame for our failure upon and defect it from Delia smith and her husband who yet again came up smelling of roses. Forget Johnson, Redmond, even Gary holt, if I could wish for any return to the club right now it would be Messrs mcnally and bowkett and that is not with the benefit of hindsight.
3 – Zico: I think the headline is making some analogy with the Euro referendum but I don’t really see any relevance to that either … can you explain Stuart? How about telling Delia “the (majority opinion of) customers is always right.?”
I think the “outpouring of love” for McNally is overdoing it. I’m not sorry he has gone, though “Jez” has yet to impress me either …
McNally is a curio. He was the only real ‘professional’ in a board amongst amateurs and that showed immediately. He set the ground running and initially seemed he could do no wrong.
However, when you are the only professional in a board amongst amateurs you end up – by accident or design – doing almost everything yourself. This was McNally’s undoing.
Some of the reason we are when we are is because of him and some fans have short memories. He should of been sacked for misconduct after his behaviour on the night he ‘resigned’ but the board decided it would be easier to pay him off and my sources told me that the board had no hesitation in doing so – i.e, they made no effort to keep him.
Moxey has yet to show fans whether he can fill the hole created by the whole McNally affair and as every day goes by his CEO role seems one of comfort, which is exactly what this club doesn’t need.
NCFC is not a great place to be right now and the club have made and are still making basic fundamental mistakes, but that’s the Smith and Jones way and we have no enforcer in McNally anymore.
Should we be happy for that?
If left to the fans our team would currently look something like
Ruddy, Bennett, Klose, Olsson, Tettey, Canos, Pritchard, Murphy x 2, Wes and Jerome. Playing a sort of 3-1-5-1 system I guess.
Based on how many fans at the time Neil Adams left, it would be managed by Neil Lennon.
Which is why, with the headline in mind, I have always liked Mencken’s quote:
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance”
Somehow, Alex Neil has gone from a deserved manager of the month to a complete flop in a matter of weeks. He’s not been helped by having 3 or 4 experienced players – Olsson, Brady, Klose, and Naithsmith in particular – who seem to want away, or at the very least whose agents want them away.
It’s awful luck that the two biggest injury losses, Pinto and Howson, are players who seem happy to stay and give everything. Likewise the moment Thompson was ready to make his mark he too succumbed.
I do not think that AN has himself caused our recent problems, but of course it’s up to him to find a way round them.
The guys who want away simply think they are too good for this league; and they’ve suffered relegation pay cuts (something fans are totally in favour of, without considering the fuller implications for morale). I doubt if their wish to depart has anything to do with a dislike of AN, or the club as a whole.
Put it another way, I can not see that a new manager will suddenly persuade them to give their all, certainly not before the transfer window closes.
I am more concerned though that whatever happened with Becchio – a misplaced sense of entitlement to a first-team slot I assume – has happened again with Canos and perhaps even Pritchard. Something’s clearly not right.
I don’t agree with those who think they should be played simply because they cost a lot of money. They need to show at Colney what they can do, like everyone else. But if they haven’t got the hunger to do that it’s very worrying long term.
Not so much an outpouring of love Darren, just a realising that McNally was the only sane voice on the board and his departure has left us in total and utter disarray. McNally certainly didn’t get everything right but he got a lot more right than any of the current board members. I genuinely fear for the clubs future under this lot.
Quoting Enoch Powell is a rocky path to take and I wouldn’t call McClaren and Hodgson’s careers as trophy laden, but otherwise very good article.
I think David McNally got more things right than wrong which is all we can ask of a CEO or chairman. You could say the same about Moxey at Wolves. He’s only been here 4 months, so far too soon to judge. Some are already blaming him for everything and don’t like his hair or smile – I despair.
Sure they get paid very well but in many ways it’s a thankless task – little praise when it goes right and most of the blame when it goes pear-shaped. Bringing in new managers or players is a bit like Russian roulette.
Most seem unhappy that we haven’t got rid of those who’ve been through two relegation campaigns – ironic that Robert Chase got vilified for getting rid of too soon (although very different financial landscapes). Difficult balance to strike. Chase also presided over the most successful period in the club’s history – worth remembering.
All empires crumble eventually and maybe we’re seeing that start to happen with Delia & Michael’s. It will be tough for them to let go but am convinced that they won’t do anything which would damage the club.
Like some of the others above, I’m not entirely sure how the headline relates to the article, but one thing I do know – if fans opinion was to be binding, we’d never get anything done. As the saying goes “a camel is a horse designed by a committe”, and judging by the various opinions expressed on message boards, and on radio vox-pops, we couldn’t agree on a team or a playing formation. There needs to be clear and strong leadership and at the moment the one person in a position to give that is Delia. All those clamouring for “outside investment”, linked to replacing the manager need to realise that such investment can’t come without Delia and Michael’ agreement (they own the club), and also that the choice of replacement manager is somewhat limited by who would be available. Be careful what you wish for.
To be fair to Stew, the headline was partly mine, so apologies if it’s a tad misleading. My bad.
Thanks for everyone’s thoughtful comments.
Perhaps I can make two things clear. First, I have no special knowledge, interest or ulterior motive. I’m just a fan, like everyone else, trying to figure out what’s best for our club.
Related to that, I understand and respect what seems to be the majority view right now. With the exception of a (very) few commenters who seem to me factually wrong or wholly unreasonable, I’ve no complaint with anyone’s opinion and I never intend to abuse or accuse them of bad faith.
Zico (3): You’re right, for sure, that time isn’t on anyone’s side these days. Have we perhaps gone too far with that? I’m pretty sure that Ron Saunders, who had awful runs of results in his first two years at Norwich, wouldn’t these days be allowed the third one in which he took us to the top flight.
Chris (4): While stressing that my knowledge is second-hand, some people I trust tell me Becchio admitted he wasn’t too bothered about playing; he was on good money and happy to see out his time. I don’t think AN was too impressed.
pab (5): I don’t know if you were following it, but there really WAS an outpouring of love for McNally. I could give you a dozen quotes along the lines of the one in my article.
Darren (6): I’m really not close enough to comment on Jez Moxey, other than to say he didn’t come with the reputation of being a yes-man.
All: Despite Gary’s noble comment, the headline was basically mine. I hope the club will always pay attention to fans’ issues and feelings (as ours seems to be doing about for instance “Safe Standing”). But if they’re genuinely concerned for the club and acting in good faith – as I believe ours are – I think owners have a right to follow the course they believe is right.
In this case, time will tell. If results and performances don’t pick up, we’ll have wasted some time.
Thanks again.
Many companies employ change agents, change managers, change [insert title here] to shake up a failing business. I saw it first hand in book publishing where an MD was brought in to revamp the business from a print to a digital model.
They let people go, they shake up the status quo, they make enemies and in the end the business doesn’t resemble what came before. Often it takes 3-4 years.
That’s what I saw happen in my industry. That’s what happened with McNally.
However, those people are also not the ones for long-term empire building. They get bored and go off the boil and need to move on. If McNally had left after 3 years I suspect he’d go down as unquestionably our greatest CEO.
Unfortunately he didn’t. Instead we ended up with a club that allowed said MD to resign to a fan via Twitter, then unresign via Twitter, then we let him go at the cost of over a million quid. Let that sink in for one moment. Our club paid someone a million pounds to leave despite gross incompetence.
I have know idea if our current CEO is the empire builder we need. I suspect we could do with another McNally, a year one McNally that is. Not year four.
The problem with the current situation is that time costs money. It would be great to have a young successful manager who stayed with the club for many years of success and established us in the premiership ala Southampton etc. However our willingness to allow AN time to learn his trade has already cost the club several millions with relegation and could cost even more should the current decline continue. Also, assuming he was successful, would he stay with the club or follow the example of Saunders, Bond and Walker when the big boys come calling? He showed no loyalty to Hamilton after all. So, we shouldn’t be too concerned about him as he will soon find another club to continue his learning process. (although there has been little sign of it here). As for the comments from the hugely successful Mark Robins, he like many others talk about this young talented manager without giving any evidence to support that claim. His record over the past twelve months hardly backs up that does it. So, for the sake of the club, a change is required and the best candidates have already gone. Technically the club belongs to a fan, but it really belongs to us all and so our views should at least be considered.
Cyprus Canary (14): My comments about fair points from others applies to you too!
My only question would be about last year. With the failure to sign AN’s key targets before the season – esp in central defence – we really didn’t have a competitive squad. AN made some errors, but are we sure that he cost us millions (i.e. another manager would certainly have done better)?
Dave B (13): Your charge of gross incompetence against David McNally seems to me disproportionate, to say the least. In places I’ve worked, you’d be summoned to justify the accusation.
An “outstanding young manager” that hasn’t got anything out of his players for weeks and has the demanour of a man who’s ran out of ideas. Apart from a few wins this season, we’ve been on a woeful run of form since last October/November.
If fans/pundits think AN is an oustanding young manager then I’ll have some of what you’re on.
Dave B, insightful and thought provoking comment regarding McNally, a short term McNally blowing through the corridors like a hurricane before departing to his next gig would be ideal. I suspect the reference to incompetence relates to the resignation to some oaf on wretched Twitter, not any way for a man in his position to behave. As for the pay off, despite his resigning from the post is clearly the price the board had to pay to make sure the skeletons remain in the closet.
Stewart. I’d say responding to a tweet with a public declaration of resignation was disproportionate. Farcical even.
Hence the gross incompetence.
Keith B. (7). Excellent comment: spot on.
Democracy does not – and should NEVER apply to football.
The only reason that it applies to the way the country is governed is that, poor as it is, no one has yet come up with anything better.
“While being polite to negative Canarycallers – including one who labours under the sad misapprehension that we’ve received £250 million from the Premier League”
You’re right he was incorrect. It’s over 300m. I estimate 315m.
This data is not 100% consistent between all sources I’ve seen. In fact this may be conservative…
Season ending 2017 – 25m (parachute)
Season ending 2016 – 66m
Season ending 2015 – 15m? (parachute)
Season ending 2015 – 66m
Season ending 2014 – 55m
Season ending 2013 – 46m
Season ending 2012 – 45m
That is ignoring gate receipts, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. In 2015/16 NCFC reported over 100m in revenue.
The guy had a very good point. Where did 1/3rd of a billion pounds go while we still managed to have a Championship level squad?
Dave B (20): Thanks for those stats.
I should have clarified: the caller claimed that we received an additional lump sum of £250m (ie over and above normal receipts) for the two promotions. He was taken in by the newspaper headlines of promotion being worth £120m or £180m – figures we’d have only received, in tranches over 3-4 years, if we’d stayed up.
He took no account, for instance, of the first tranche of 2015 promotion money going on deferred wages and bonuses.
You’re absolutely right that we eventually received most of the 2011 promotion dividend, because of the brilliant work of Paul Lambert and Chris Hughton in keeping us up despite restricted spending. On squad strength we were, of course, the bookies’ favourites to go down in each of those seasons.
Cheers
Stewart my belief is that had we replaced AN last January then we would indeed still be in the premiership. I even made that point at that time. Sadly he seems incapable of a change from his favourite (only) formation and was not tactically aware enough for the premiership. Now, if I could see some signs of learning taking place I would say give him some time but there are none. Hence my position that change is required. I think that is a fair opinion.
Cyprus Canary (22): Can’t really argue with that.
Despite everything, I do suspect that we’d have stayed up had Timm Klose not been injured at Palace. But we’ll never know.
Dave B (20): PS Happy to lend you my NCFC Accounts, if you don’t know what’s happened to the money.
At the time of our 2011 promotion to the PL, of course, we had crippling debts. I’m not sure what Alan Bowkett contributed in later years, but he did a brilliant job of re-scheduling the debts and assuring creditors that McNally would turn the club around. I’m not sure he’d have succeeded if he’d said McNally wouldn’t be staying long.