In the Norwich City low ebb league table autumn/winter 2016 is right up there and is giving the Glenn Roeder era a real run for its money.
I can see it, you can see it, 25,000 others can see it, yet all the evidence suggests that those with the power to do something about it cannot. Or maybe don’t want to see it because it involves being ruthless, tough and decisive.
Either way, after having suffered three hammer blows in the form of Reading goals we were dealt a fourth with news that in the few minutes between final whistle and post-match interviews Alex Neil had been told by the board to “keep going”.
No wonder he gives off the air of someone whose not about to have the rug pulled from under him. And that can’t possibly be healthy.
Football’s unlike a ‘normal’ profession, I get that, but for most managers it’s one that’s infinitely more precarious than those who tread the nine to five path. Right now for Alex it seems less precarious.
For him to have under-delivered in such an obvious and glaring way and yet not feel any form of heat from above is a luxury enjoyed by very few. Paper boys who literally fail to deliver are on thin ice, so too chief executives of major PLC’s whose share prices are on a downward spiral, and almost everybody in between.
Yet the manager of Norwich City FC who has overseen eight defeats in the last ten games when armed with a squad that originally had aspirations of top two is told “carry on”.
And remember… “promotion, promotion, promotion”.
Quite frankly, right now it’s the opposite end of the table that is of more concern.
We’re in free-fall with little evidence of it being arrested. And it’s no exaggeration to suggest the current trajectory is hurling us headlong toward an end-of-season relegation scrap.
Yet the Board are not for turning. And for the first time I do find myself genuinely questioning their ambition.
I’ve listened to and read the ‘little Norwich’ and ‘no ambishun’ arguments hundreds of times but have always been of the view that Delia and Michael want to see this club be the very best it can, yet their clear loathing of the Premier League (“all that Premier League money washing into people’s pockets”), as evidenced in the Henry Winter interview, has altered that view.
I don’t doubt for one second that they’re true supporters who have the welfare of their club at heart – that’s a given – but I do wonder if they now perceive the second tier as its natural home.
Why else would they preside over this decline and do nothing?
Whether Ed Balls, Jez Moxey and co have that same belief is open to debate, but the ruthlessness, professionalism and drive that typified the McNally/Bowkett era appears to be drifting off into the ether. Right now we seem to be re-entering an era akin to that presided over by one Neil Doncaster – and we all know how that ended.
That David McNally and Alan Bowkett were not best buddies is well known but while it lasted, and before it imploded, that volatile dynamic drove this club forward. From the brink to Premier League in three seasons.
It wasn’t cozy (ask anyone who worked at Carrow Road in that era), we weren’t particularly nice (ask Colchester Utd chairman, Robbie Cowling) and there was collateral damage aplenty along the way (ask Korey Smith and Chris Martin), but it was fit for purpose and enabled us to compete at the top table. We really gave it “a right good go”.
Like all good things, especially when you’re a provincial club with a stadium that holds less than 30,000 and has no major investment, it came to an end but from a financial perspective the club was set fair to establish itself as one of the best of the rest.
Yet now that good work is gradually being undone before our very eyes.
We’re in the middle of some parachute payments that give us a massive advantage over most of the Championship. Next season those payments are still there but in a reduced form. The following season they disappear.
If we’re still a Football League club in 2018/19 then we’re back to square one, Or, to put it another way, stuffed.
By then it’s fair to assume that Tom Smith will either be the major shareholder or at least sitting alongside Auntie Delia and Uncle Michael and we’ll be poorly funded also-rans with similar prospects to that lot down the A140. Minus any of that external investment that MWJ so despises we’ll be back to 2008 and it won’t be pretty.
Unless, of course, in the meantime something extraordinary happens; extraordinary in the sense the club can add to the talents of Maddison, Thompson and co to build a new, energetic, hungry squad, and the coaching/recruitment takes a very sharp upward turn.
But I don’t see it. Not with Team Neil in charge, and not with the return of the softly, softly approach in the boardroom.
We’re treading a very perilous path right now. I’m just not sure the Board realises it.
Well said .. as it is. sadly that is enough for me, what Chase couldn’t do, relegations couldn’t do, but the thought of going backwards under this regime I cannot face anymore. no renewal this time round. I cannot plough anymore money into the club that is heading back 20+ years. The Cooks ambition does not tally with mine what so ever doesn’t even come near it. It is her plaything and I am not paying anymore for her toys. She has had her money back plus some . It will end 53 years of going to Carrow Road and away games. Sad sad day ..
We have been told often enough “be careful what you wish for”. But could it be any worse than this?
You’ve absolutely nailed this Gary. The lack of leadership and sense of direction from the Boardroom is frightening and there seems no sense of urgency as to where we’ll be, from a financial perspective, in eighteen months time if promotion hasn’t been secured. Beggars belief.
There were times when I didn’t like McNally but always thought Bowkett was a good man when it came to handling the banks during a time of crisis.As a double act they were great, until they knew they had taken the club as far as the Smiths wanted it to go. Delia was pretty hopeless before they arrived, and looks pretty hopeless now they have gone. She has always worn her heart on her sleeve and the Henry Winter interview was another example of not thinking things through before opening her mouth. Not sure how she goes back on the nephew bit. But I do think AN will get the bullet very soon as it becomes obvious to Delia that she is now every bit as unpopular as her manager. A new man at the helm will paper over the cracks for a while. As for Moxey and Balls,they need to show they are capable of earning their salary and status by communicating with fans. And not with flannel please – fans are not stupid. They have a lot to do to win over the respect of supporters – frankly they are not in the same league as the pair that came before them.
There is a lack of leadership and direction running through the whole club. The board want to take the ‘high road’ and wait for things to come good, Alex keeps offering excuses and saying he can’t literally head the ball for his players, the team look at each other and play like little lost children.
The financial tipping point for fans will soon be reached, in the Chase days at least you only lost a small sum for watching a team implode, these days £30-£40 is thrown away and it won’t be long until the ‘sold out’ signs are gathering dust in a bewildered chairmans boardroom.
There is only one thing to do when the board can’t see what they need to do – make those protests loud and clear at Carrow Rd and if it takes throwing season tickets at the manager then so be it. The stunning lack of leadership from Neil and the board here means there aren’t any other option.
Leadership is as much about knowing when to admit you’re wrong and Neil needs to understand the damage he’s doing to the club as much as anyone else.
As for the board – there is a time and a place to stick to your principles. Now is not one of them.
The reasons for our appalling run are pretty straight forward – and were on show for all of us who attended yesterday’s game. Atrocious defending was once again at the heart of our problems. Having looked by far the better side for the opening exchanges a free kick delivery into the box (pretty much Reading’s first opportunity of note) and a header from two yards beating both Bennett and, criminally, Ruddy and that was 1-0. When a penalty is saved (not that it ever is by Ruddy) and rebounds back to the taker that is unfortunate but when it hits the woodwork and bounces back into open play it was no surprise that our defenders were second to the ball – 2-1.
Then we have our manager who made what was surely as stupid a substitution as you are ever likely to see in taking off Oliveira who was the best player on he pitch for either side and had scored a cracking goal. I am a fan of Gerome (although not the way he stomped off at the end without acknowledging the supporters) and seeing his energy and intelligent running alongside Oliveira would have given us a real threat up front – something we can’t have too much of given the porous nature of our defence. The fact that AN is as attached to his formation as a limpet to a rock is well documented but this inflexibility is costing us dearly. To be controversial why not take Bassong off for the last 15 mins? He is always out on his legs at that point and, true to form, was labouring in the centre circle for Reading’s third goal.
Finally, to the bloke a few rows back from us who was berating the supporters for calling for AN’s head and then not backing the team I respectfully disagree. I have never been one to boo the players or manager and I thought the support yesterday was really strong and vocal even after we went a goal down with a rather fine rendition of the Huckerby song amongst others. However THAT substitution changed things both on and off the pitch and not for the better. Beforehand and in the lead up to the goal in particular the players and fans were as one – playing with pace and verve and cheering to the rafters, the substitution changed all that. The supporters and the players tried to rally after that decision but failed on both counts and more gifts from the defence sealed our enevitable defeat.
Make no mistake, Reading were really not very good and were certainly no Huddersfield but five or six attacks yielded three goals. Poor stuff.
Very well said Gary. It must be clear to all that our club is moving backwards at an alarming rate. It’s not just that the top two places are completely out of reach but the playoffs will soon also become a distant dream. So much for Moxey’s “Promotion, etc” If that truly was the Board’s aim then why haven’t they taken the necessary steps to seek to secure it. I’ve wanted AN to succeed but it’s clear with each successive post match interview that the man is out of his depth and must go to save our season from being a complete disaster. For me one of the worst aspects of this is that AN has spent good money on buying decent players who have either been loaned out or are simply benchwarmers. What a fiasco.
I guess AN has to wait to be pushed in order to secure compo because on the evidence of his NCFC career he won’t be operating at Championship level again for a long, long time.
Bring back McNally to get the club on the right road again.
Good article.
Things a so bad now, even Mick Dennis would struggle to put a spin on things.
I’ve never been a fan of Delia as I’ve questioned her motives, her severe lack of business acumen and being fit for purpose for a PL/Championship Club with a turnover of our size. Seeing what is happening to NCFC is pure comedy and heartbreaking all rolled into one.
As I have stated many times, NCFC are a professional club run by amateurs, so should we be so surprised by current events???
It never should of been this way, but “Team Delia” have led a charmed life and been given far too much goodwill by the fans. I’ve never seen the attraction.
I’m in business with a healthy, profitable company that doesn’t live beyonds its means and knows it’s place. However, we much above our weight and you have have to make tough decisions for the best interest of the company to move forward. NCFC are not capable of doing this.
NCFC is caught with its trousers down as even the layman can see that the board is flawed, with majority shareholders not fit for purpose.
How much longer this all lasts depends on the paying fan. Enough is enough and a total boycott of matches has to happen, because the club has the best and most loyal supporters any owners could ever wish for, but they are being taken for fools.
Time for action.
9 Bracken. Remember McNally was the person who identified and appointed Alex Neil ….. He looked at his stats and thought a great season at Hamilton in a micky mouse league was enough evidence to appoint him here.
McNally also failed to arrange a recruitment team when promoted to the Premier.
Sadly the whole Club has recently been hopeless from top to bottom.
I was all for giving Neal the opportunity to put things right after the first three or four defeats in the current run, but I’ve come to the conclusion that he just doesn’t know how to. I’m afraid the time has come for him to go, one way or the other.
If the board have any doubts about the fans feelings, they should just check the ticket sales for the 3rd round cup game against Southampton. I’ve just done a quick check on the club web site, and the availability of seats in almost every block in the ground is “Good” or “Very Good”, with the latter rating applying to the whole of the Lower Barclay, which ought to bring it home to the board.
At this rate, that game is going to do a very good impression of Portaloo Road, apart from the colour of the seats.
Hard hitting piece, Gary. Factual and honest.
The owners may well eschew the riches that constitute the Premier League, but it goes with the territory – it’s a football club, after all!
And I bet if you did a straw poll around the stadium on match day, they’d rather see us lose by a cricket score in the top flight than lose to the might of Brighton, Reading, etc by a similar scoreline down here.
Just because the owners have stated they have no ambition doesn’t mean the supporters don’t – what part of that do our owners and board find so impossible to comprehend? 🙁
Thankyou for your throughly written article..many many points truely brought to light….I’m a Norwich boy through and through and Norwich has always been my team since I was a child, it was family. But I live over seas and only get back every 5/6 months . A relative of mine workd behind the scenes at carra road iin the 70/80 early 90’s he scouted the likes of fashnue, Chris woods, steve Bruce and more..he would be turning in his grave also I can see him now sitting in the dug out with John Bond looking down shaking their heads together and wondering what the hell is going on with our beloved club…
I for one was never a fan of AN.There is only a slight chance the cook will see the fans view if fans boycott matches and don’t renew their season tickets, I know for sure my family are not and that’s 50+’of commitment down the S… pan…..
To the faithful all the best in 2017.. peace and goodwill ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Great article. Reluctantly, I think Neill should go. We have known for 2 seasons that we needed to defend better and yet Klose, our main defensive buy is on the bench (because he was ‘bullied’ off the ball at Brighton?) and the defence looks ready to fall apart in every game we play – the first goal conceded against Reading was a shocker and we’ve been conceding goals like that for 2 seasons now. I think Neill’s man-management is shocking (though obviously I don’t know the inside story). What has happened to Pritchard £8m – from hero to zero – why? Canos (cost £2.5m rising to £4m) – never in the squad. Olivera looks good and Murphy has made progress, but why take your main scorer off? We seem to have a massive midfield and no defence.
Neill has lost it. We need someone in to get this squad working to its full potential.
It’s difficult to know what to do as a fan – I hate booing our team and shouts of Neill out – it makes for a terrible atmosphere. I don’t like criticising Delia and Michael after all they’ve done and know there’s no guarantee that new owners would be able to sort it out (plenty of examples out there). I regret the loss of McNally and Bowkett, who did so well for us. Neill did get us promotion and deserved a chance in the prem). But we need direction and leadership and there appears to be none. I just hope there is some clear thinking behind the scenes and that we can get someone in very soon to give some reasonable quality players clear direction and leadership and address the obvious defensive frailties in the transfer window.
Excellent piece Gary and certainly no sane person will argue with the sentiments. The lunatics have well and truly taken over the asylum again and the club has become a laughing stock again.
The much discussed times interview was a declaration of war by smith and husband, the club will be taken down a path of their choosing, we won’t like it, but it’s her toy.
The loss of McNally and bowkett has set in motion a rapid decline as balls, moxey and the nephew are poor replacements for men of that calibre.
9 defeats in 11 is quite simply put a total and utter disgrace and any supporter willing to countenance and defend such a statistic is unworthy of the name.
It’s hard to understand what game smith is playing with the club. Yes, we know she despises the premier league money, the foreign owners, the business of football, the fleecing of supporters (although not averse to a good fleece herself).
Norwich city is being sacrificed in her one woman (plus a doting husband and wimpy nephew) crusade against the tide. Queen Canute if you will.
Some “supporters” still prefer to be run (down) by smith and co. And won’t hear a word as the club is dismantled in the name of smiths weird quasi political dogma.
on Saturday Norwich city are again wheeled out in front of a television audience probably expecting a laugh at our expense. They will more than likely get it as well.
It does afford an opportunity to land a blow on our tormentors. A live tv audience hearing anti delias rhetoric on the tv won’t sit well with lady gaga and the gang. This really isn’t the time to put on a green and yellow,wig and look like some streotypical goombah and clap the award of a corner as if it was of any use to a team which never takes advantage of such. Then we have the visit of Derby and Southampton. The message should be loud, clear and growing in intensity.
It really is time for a change. From where I’m looking at it I cannot see any appreciable difference between the smith clan and the Venky bunch besetting Blackburn other than their nationality. Why, there’s even a rubbish Scottish manager taking dogs stick on the touch line as the team slides to another defeat.
Rubbish foreign owner, rubbish British owner. What’s the difference? A sabatouer could hardly do a better job of crippling the club.
If the malaise is allowed to continue unchecked, the club will quickly go bust and be sold from under smith whether she likes it or not. And that might just be the best outcome.
Great article Gary, and some fine points made.
Where do/can we go from here?
Jim (11) is right about the Southampton game; i feel that is where (finally) the tipping point may come with large numbers of empty seats. Having been a supporter for 55 years and current season ticket holder, it’s the first home game for years which I will not be attending by choice.
AN has spent spent and seemingly wasted millions of our monies, and for what?
Expensive players either not in the squad/warming the bench/out on loan – delete as appropriate.
A fixated 4-5-1 formation, which in this division gets you so far, but then your opponents get wise. Obviously you then have a plan B and/or plan C to compensate – unless you are a stubborn Scot whose plans B and C just happen to be the same as plan A….see substitutions in recent games.
I will always be a Norwich fan/supporter, but whether a paying one is now very much in the balance.
It is sad to see the demise of this great club in this way.
O T B C
I wonder what Moxey really thinks of all this? He must of known he was getting in bed with a bunch of amateurs? Or did he?
I would actually like to see us go for jaap stam !!
Darren (17): Back in 2009 Delia & Michael recognised their amateurism. Putting the club ahead of their pride, they swallowed hard, appointed a professional CEO and let him get on with the job.
Over the years they delegated more and more authority to David McNally. I’ve no reason to think that’s any different with Jez Moxey. It’s therefore him we should look to for leadership.
Yes, Stewart, but what constraints is Moxey under? Those placed by the owners. Hopefully, they’ll listen to him and hopefully he can make them aware of how bad the situation is.
I agree with all comments posted here as well as the article. I’m 44 and have supported Norwich all my life and have attended hundreds, possibly over a thousand games in my lifetime. I was born in Norwich, my father introduced me to the team from the first hour of my life (along with my twin brother) and I have now kept the tradition going and made my 7 year old son a supporter. I invest a lot of both my time and money in Norwich City (we live in Derby) and attend high home and away games ( both Saturday’s and mid weeks) but now enough is enough ! I will not fork out both my time and money now on this club whilst this manager is still in charge. And that very much pains me to say that as NCFC has been my love for all of my life. I doubt I will watch on NYE and am currently watching Derby County win again (see what a change of manager can do Delia ?), and my son no doubt will soon be wanting to support the Rams, and, to be honest, who can blame him !!! At least at his young age he doesn’t fully understand the state of our club at the moment and what an embarrassment it currently is !
Stewart (19) – Disagree.
If you own something, in times of true hardship you have to get your hands dirty or sell the assets on to someone already wearing the right gloves. Stop protecting Delia with surreal snippets of information from nearly 10 years ago. It’s pointless calling in a retired firefighter with half a hose.
Did I hear it right? Did AN state he was not concerned about the criticism.
If that is so , that’s a good enough reason for him to go.
If he does not care, then do we need him for even one more game?
Shame we missed out on Steve Bruce, turned things around a Villa, and would have do so here.
Jeff (22): I’m just stating a fact, not trying to defend anything.
As I think you’ll see in my next article.
Lets not forget – which many seem to have done – that McNally guaranteed Neil his job regardless of relegation. Arrogance of Neil goes right back to last spring. No CEO should have tolerated Neil’s clear lack of progress as a manager which was very evident to some of us months ago. Moxey has picked up the baton lit by McNally.
Alex Neil, please just resign.
This crisis is not the result of 10 games but years of accepting failure.
It took a relegation and a whooping to get rid of Bryan Gunn. it took a season and a half of poor form and near relegation before hughton was sacked. We couldn’t even “not hire” the temporary Neil Adams, despite no first team success and we didn’t actually sack him. Alex Neil has kept his job through bottom of the form table results.
We’re a shambles and the only period we bucked the trend started with Lambert’s arrival and left with him.
Spot on Dave B.
Stewart (19). McNally and Moxey could not be more different. Ask the staff at Carrow Road who they respect out of the two. If you’re looking for leadership, then I fear you will be disappointed.
Can anyone tell exactly what Mr Moxey has done since he has been at Carrow Road ? He seems like a deaf and dumb version of the invisible man to me ?
30) I’d imagine Mr Moxey has done exactly what he’s been told. Plan for Championship life.
It just needs someone to put their head above the parapet to show there is leadership and a plan at the club…..this is the statement I think Jez Moxey should read out at a special press conference (given that there is apparently no move to replace Neil), which would then be open to questions to Moxey, Neil and Balls.”The Norwich City Board fully backs Alex Neil in his efforts to turn round the bad run of form over the last two months. We believe we have the right manager, coaching staff and players to get Norwich City winning again and climbing the league table. This can only be achieved if we all pull together as one, backed by our wonderful loyal support. We have the January transfer window in which we will be proactive in trying to strengthen the squad in the push for promotion.Let’s begin the New Year with a ‘Do or Die’ attitude throughout the whole club, which will result in Norwich City achieving promotion to The Premier League……any questions?
An excellent article. The problem goes much beyond AN. The whole board is rotten to the core. There is no ambition just a complacent acceptance. Houghton is proving at Brighton that with the proper backing he is a good manager – he never got that here. Neil Adams, a lovely guy who should never have been put into the ‘hot seat’.
AN continues to show an amazing naivety but one wonders to whom he is accountable among the directors. What exactly does “Young Tom” know about the finer points of driving a football team forward? Come to think of it what do Auntie Delia, Uncle Michael and the rest of the merry men know about it either?
For any potential investor looking to take on a football club, Norwich would be an attractive proposition & it doesn’t have to be bad. Look at Southampton, a very similar club to our own and look where they are now.