Okay, sit up at the back and listen. This is an MFW history lesson 😉
“Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
Any reader who recognises the quote as being from King Henry II of England and referring to Saint Thomas a-Becket, later referred to by one Geoffrey Chaucer as “the holy blissful martyr” and the subject of the pilgrimage to Canterbury in his famous Tales can go to the top of the class and give out the pencils.
Unfortunately for our politically-ambitious Saint, who had been a close friend of King Henry at one point, a group of Knights wishing to reinforce their loyalty to the King took their Sovereign at his word, crossed the Channel, and hacked poor Thomas to death close to the main altar in Canterbury Cathedral. Much hand-wringing followed from Henry, who felt a tad guilty at the gruesome death of his old buddy and had a severe attack of conscience wobbles.
That was in 1170; over 800 years ago. No prizes for maths students I’m afraid.
So, some 800 years on, I at least can see a parallel with Norwich City
Delia’s version of King Henry’s quote is surely: “NO-ONE will rid me of this meddlesome priest”. One disaster follows another, there have been more false ‘dawns’ than at a dodgy drag show and there is no sign of any imminent change, apart from the exit of the left flank on the playing front in this awful January transfer window. Archant reports that Martin Olsson could go for as little as £4million. Oh dear, oh dear oh… dear.
Nelson does something just plain daft. I’ve seen the highlights, I don’t care what the provocation was, you don’t rabbit-punch an opponent, particularly when you’re wearing black gloves that show exactly where your hands are and what they are doing. Silly, silly man.
So, another excuse for another defeat, eh, Alex?
Of course, Jonny Howson limps off, Russell Martin fails to get anywhere near incoming crosses and Steven Whittaker, who at this rate will be our left back until the end of the season, might be okay going forward but struggles to defend.
Which neatly cues my next point. Who’s up next? Paul Lambert’s Wolves. I saw quite extended highlights of their game with Villa and they break at such pace poor old Whitts will be cut to ribbons. As will the centre-back pairing, whoever that happens to be on the day.
We ended up against the poorest team in the Championship – the table doesn’t lie – with Wes, Alex Pritchard and Steven Naismith on the pitch at the same time. Come on Alex Neil, how could that ever work? If we don’t get some physicality into this squad and soon we are in deep doo-doo.
This season is shot. Gone. No play-offs. No Wembley dreams. And as for automatic promotion, my sides are reluctantly splitting. We won’t be relegated. That’s the only upside.
I don’t always watch the Channel 5 Highlights show all the way through, but I did this weekend. The sheer exuberance of Leeds, the grit and endeavour of Preston and the way Fulham knocked it around for fun made me consider how proud I would be to support any one of those sets of players. Not our lot, I’m afraid.
Southampton is largely irrelevant.
I can see things getting a little bit raw when we host our second-best set of footballing friends – the Wanderers from the Black Country. The warning signs are there, they are seriously quick on the break.
I guess Alex Neil is getting his excuses ready now. I hate losing to Wolves, I really do.
But when or if it happens (choose your own projection) I fear matters could turn a little toxic at our favourite football venue.
I don’t have a Wolves-supporting friend, but a good mate supports Villa, and he said they are starting to look a bit special. The clubs largely share the same local media and the rivalry is obviously intense. He reckons that with our paceless defence (I don’t include you Olsson, but you’ll be gone by then) they’ll just hit us down our left at every opportunity. Ivo Pinto is quick enough but the threat won’t be on his flank.
Which brings me back to my medieval theme – King Henry II lived a long and apparently largely satisfying life, but always regretted his words about friend Thomas that led to his demise.
Maybe it would be appropriate if Delia decided enough was enough with Alex Neil before the Knights come charging into the Cathedral with their halberds and broadswords? With their favours in yellow and green.
Because the peasants, let alone the knights, are in the process of becoming revolting. We don’t want to be because we are basically loyal, but we are fully capable of being truly revolting.
M’Lady: increase our season ticket tithes just now and you might be in for an empty harvest.
I hope we give Southampton a really good go. It may be “largely irrelevant” in the grander scheme of the future of our club, but as our league season is over, it is now hugely relevant – I would love to welcome Arsenal to Carrow Rd. and you can bet the Saints will put out a few reserves, so let’s go for it! Hopefully, if only for his own job preservation, Alex will agree, but what sort of line-up that translates into when the supposed 1st team are so brittle is anyone’s guess.
The stench of death circles around carrow road like a teenage girl in primark. I wish Delia decided enough was enough for her own tenure because she has already destroyed her legacy by hanging on in there too long.
Our problem seems to be that, in contrast to Thomas, our Priest isn’t troublesome enough to the Monarch. Apparently he’s a lovely man, as well as expensive to replace.
So while most clubs model their approach to managers on Henry VIII’s approach to wives, we hold fire. In this case, to an indefensible and damaging degree.
Sad times.
What a disaster at the weekend and more importantly the season. To add insult to injury the season tickets are going up. One of my friends from the Top of the Terrace has received his renewal documents, his ticket has gone up by 7%!!.
Let hope they use the increase to pay Neal off!
Pinto is a great athlete but he is a poor defender.
Our Board are so clueless it will be interesting to see what happens to Season Ticket prices. Sadly the Club will soon be more reliant on ticket sales to stay afloat than it has been for a long long time.
1 – Chris. If AN is not sacked after losing to bottom of the table Rotherham there is no chance that he will after a loss at Southampton. I can see AN saving a few players for Wolves at home.
We may be stuck with Alex Neil until at least the end of the season I think, because if they had any inclination for change they would surely have acted before the end of the transfer window. The atmosphere at Carrow Road may indeed be toxic if we lose to Lambert and his team but will that have any effect? I thought last season was such a wasted opportunity but I really fear for the future of the club now.
The season has turned into a total disaster. In fact it is so bad we console ourselves that we shouldn’t go down this year. Frankly next year we will be very worried about retaining our championship status. The club needs a radical rebuild of the manger, coaching, playing squad and second most important in my mind, the recruitment team.
What’s really sad is that we actually have quite a few young players who we could blood this season. It may at least salvage something. And yet Toffolo goes to Scunthorpe, Rudd shipped out to Charlton, Madison won’t get a sniff of the team, Canos looks like not getting a sniff of the club. Carlton Morris is supposed to be really keen- no sign of him. Or Godfrey. The Murphy twins are at least in the set up, as well as Pritchard who is still young himself.
It would take someone of blind optimism to think this season will end in another Wembley glory day. With that in mind I would love to see a manager bought in with a record of bringing through youth players- could we raid the Dutch leagues? Although thinking of RvW maybe not, but you get the point.
In the meantime a recruitment team worthy of the name looks to ship out the dross we have and bring in players to compliment those young hopefuls and actually move the club onwards. So at the end of this season we are ready to move for the players we want early in the window.
I suspect what will really happen won’t resemble this. Nevertheless, OTBC
Can someone please rid us of the meddlesome cook?
If AN is retained, relegation is a possibility and it should not be dismissed.
As I’ve said countless times, the club didn’t want to go up this season and that is confirmed by the continual and desperate retention of failing manager.
This is way worse than the ‘Chase Out’ days as it has took 20 years for many fans to see what board we really have and how utterly incompetent they are.
#1 Chris II: I agree it could become relevant, probably a clumsy original statement on my part as I am so frustrated with the Championship situation I find it hard to look beyond the League just now.
I’d like to see Arsenal as well. I just don’t think we’ll get much at St Mary’s, although if we did happen upon a good result it might put a bit of fire into their bellies because, as you rightly say, the season is otherwise over.
Thank you for your comment.
I have never been one for criticising managers and wanting them out. I had a letter to the editor of the EDP published in support of Chris Hughton a week or two before he was showered with clapper cards and abuse and the Carrow Road door knob hit him on the a**e on the way out. I have always given AN my full backing, even though we have not played well since Wembley other than in brief glimpses. But I think the phrase “end of an era” is absolutely right. Our players are at least as good as Huddersfield, Barnsley, QPR and I suspect every other team in the league. We are nowhere near as good as a team though. Every footballer makes mistakes. Look at Paul Pogba’s performance yesterday. But the frailty is with the team, not the individual errors of the players, and that responsibility falls squarely at the feet of the manager and the team captain. I have known two or three of the first team players professionally over the years. The start of our current ‘era’ began when marmite man (McNally) signed Paul Lambert. The players I knew were absolutely clear about him and why they had that winning mentality. He was ruthless in expecting nothing but 100% commitment and effort, and if he got that he was pleased even if the result was not positive. Sadly, the mentality seems to have gone with him. There is one man still glowing in it though, and he needs to be the example to all of those other players and the manager as to how we will get out of this mess. The whole time on the pitch I see him thinking to himself “I want the ball”. If he gets the ball and loses it he’s like a jack russell until he gets it back. Wes Hoolahan is an exemplar of fortitude and passion in a city shirt (notwithstanding him having a hissy fit and wanting to go to PL’s Aston Villa). A tireless, never-say-die mentality. If AN could instil that in the whole team we would make the play-offs. But seemingly he can’t, and neither can the team captain. Pritchard has similar tendencies to Hoolahan. Canos, in the brief appearances he has made, has too. But I see so many of the other players like rabbits in headlights every time the ball might come near them. Where did Russell Martin go to, the one I used to watch bombing down the wing and crossing with confidence under PL? The one who now wants to get rid of the ball as quickly as he can. He’s the captain and not showing a captain’s performance anymore. Remember Beckham? That’s how you do it. So, under AN and this board, the era looks to be over. Our best players will leave and we will join the ranks of mediocrity. The likes of Fulham, Cardiff, QPR. Those relegated with no realistic hope of promotion for the foreseeable future. I am afraid the team’s performances and mentality are AN’s responsibility, and the mentality, lack of inertia and resolute absence of aspiration of the club rests with the board. I have never felt so pessimistic and disenfranchised with the club since I first sat in the stand as I do today. Someone, anyone, show there’s more to you than your last pay cheque. I don’t really care if players make mistakes, as long as I see them doing everything they can to get the ball back and do something with it. Years ago I saw Juventus go behind following a catastrophic individual error. Two other players ran to him, put their arms around him, one of them kissed him on the neck and they never let his head go down. They went on to win, with the ‘offending player’ making good. What I see on the pitch with our team is closing ranks, heads going down and ‘offending players’ lacking the confidence to have another go. I’m afraid to say that AN seems to lack the capacity to get the best out of this team and I cannot foresee the rest of this season being any better at all than the first half. There is no noise coming from the board into the public domain to suggest that they want the club to climb and achieve. Nothing at all. All that comes from the club is that they are happy with how things are going and have no intention of making any changes, other than putting up the ticket price for the Southampton match and freezing next season’s ticket prices, which are remain extortionate for (a) the championship and (b) the quality of entertainment, or lack thereof, that we endure each week. Mugged off is the only way I can feel about that!
“We won’t go down”
You had to go and say it. Although, I agree, it’s highly unlikely. But if current form persists, things could get spicy. I wonder if Gunn is available to take charge should AN be sacked.
#3 Stewart: Yes, Henry VIII would have had his views in this situation, had he have sported a yellow and green doublet.
Cromwell and Cranmer have honourably departed with heads intact (this time round) while the newcomers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are crucial to the will of the Monarch.
Cardinal Wolsey remains.
Looks like I leapt forward a few years there and mixed fact with Shakespearian fiction, but you’ll know what I’m getting at.
Worrying times.
The era that is about to end began when McNally hired PL. The PL ‘era’ was successful because of mentality. A winning mentality put into the team by a manager who knew how to do it. Running through brick walls for him was the message, and so they did, and if they didn’t they were to never tread the turf again. Ruthless and mean, but fair and reasonable. And he didn’t care about individual errors unless the offending player failed to redeem himself by working his socks off and making it right. This is not about individual errors. All players make them. Pogba is a case in point yesterday for MUFC. It’s not about the errors, its about the team, and AN appears incapable of injecting the team with the requisite tenacity, resilience and fortitude to keep their heads up on the pitch regardless of what is going on around them. I am afraid that the buck stops there regarding on-the-pitch turgidity and lack of team spirit. If only they all played like Wes. Always looking to get the ball and produce something. How many of the other players can boast the same? And then there’s the board. An invertebrate corporate body who doesn’t have the moral integrity or ownership to show the fanbase some respect by at least disclosing something about its direction and motives. From the outside all we see is a board with no ambition, no drive, no character and no aspiration for anything other than obscurity. And for that, my friends, we get mugged off with unchanging season ticket prices, exorbitant cup match prices and not even platitudes. Nothing. The apparent quietly-beating, seemingly almost dead, heart of the board symbiotically being replicated by the quietly-beating, almost dead, heart of the team. The manager is there to put life into the team, and belief, but he is incapable. I’m afraid it really is the end of an era and the board’s vision for the new era is seemingly an entertainment vacuum with no aspiration for progress. This season I am contemplating not renewing. Surely there are better things to spend such a lot of money?
#11 and #14 Darren S: you should be writing on here, not me.
Utterly fantastic comments and your passion burns through like a bright light in the depths of a dark night.
Thank you very much for your observations, they are greatly appreciated.
Best stuff I have ever read, honestly.
However, I’ll let you down at the end. I’m Renewing – the Smith clan will not stop me from supporting my team!
#12 Dave B: I overlooked your comment briefly:-)
We won’t go down – only 15 points to gain for safety. We’ll manage that. Just. And that will be about that.
If anyone likes a bet, my feeling is we’ll finish below the unmentionables. I know, but the next time I pass Corals I’ll ask them for the odds!
The plain fact is smith cannot afford to run a professional football club in the top two divisions of English football.
With that in mind I can see where she is coming from. Drop down to a level where the costs incurred are minimal and the club can survive on the occasional sale of a player from the academy.
Voila. No nasty agents, no horrible foreign owners to mix with, players on comparatively low salaries, enough limelight to keep her in the public eye without the aspects she cannot be bothered with. The nephew will be handed a little old happy clapper haven, where old women knit during the game and wig wearing goombahs bray and applaud home draws with Cheltenham.
We deserve better, we demand better. Enough of being a ‘community club’. Let’s just get back to being a proper football club and remove the element that would be better served spending it’s time watching croquet on the village green.
Martin – interesting data point, over the last ten games we’ve averaged 1pt per game. So assuming your 15 pts is correct then yes, we’re currently be fine as there are 20 games left.
Which makes it more shocking that we’ve given up on automatic promotion with so many games left in the season.
Now that we know we season ticket holders can “enjoy” another year without any increase in cost (although our exorbitant prices are based on being in the Premier League), AND it seems AN is here until at least the end of the season……can we possibly expect to see some of our suppposedly talented youngsters given some game time, and maybe, just maybe a variation on set-up different to our very staid (and found out!) 4-2-3-1?
Everton surely showed the value of youth yesterday when they out-played Man City.
I guess that I will renew for next season, since surely it cannot be as dour, drab and uninspiring as this has been so far.
O T B C
It’s interesting the point about Delia’s legacy. It has gone. It no longer exists. Stubbornness and arrogance will potentially I fear lead to her and MWJ being utterly demonized when this catastrophic mess eventually ends with their exit very reminiscent of the last days of Robert Chase.
As for passing things on to “Young Tom”, the words poison and chalice spring to mind. If he had any sense he should be making every effort to tap up his old pals in the civil service to get his old job back.
I like many other fans always saw Delia and MWJ as honorary lifetime presidents when the club was passed on to an investor that understood the realities of modern football which they very clearly do not. This will clearly not now happen. In many ways very sad but unfortunately utterly self inflicted.
#19 John: I doubt he’ll use the youngsters – it’s not in his mindset. Such a shame. When you’re 19 or 20 you don’t care that much about the filthy lucre – you’d rather be playing, whatever. Fat chance under AN by the looks of it.
#20 Paul: A fine post. I could not agree more.