A lot of people won’t want to hear this, but I can’t help but feel the current City crisis has gone too far into the realms of self-indulgence and hysteria.
Am I happy with how things are going? No.
Is it anything we’ve not been through before? No.
Does it warrant the almost complete meltdown on social media platforms? No.
A quick look at our history shows that we’ve always been a club that flirts with the top flight, only to be caught out by financial limitations and drop back down again.
This cycle has been almost continuous in modern history. I believe that the longest ever stint in the top flight has been nine seasons and that was quite some time ago.
The odds of a newly relegated team going up at the first time of asking are one in four.
So is it about time we all just sucked it up and dealt with the reality of the club we support? Yes.
That’s not to say people’s fear and anger are not justified, they are, it’s been hellishly frustrating, but we just need to get our heads around our reality.
Has this period resulted in a huge missed opportunity? Yes.
However, we’ve missed bigger opportunities than this in our past. The Chase era with finishing third in the Premier League and European football was a much bigger opportunity for club to build upon, one which was indeed thwarted for nothing other than personal greed – something I’ve seen thrown, I think incorrectly, at Delia and Michael.
For all of their mistakes (which we all make by the way) I do believe they’ve been well-intentioned. With the current owners’ relative lack of financial clout I’d suggest we’ve been punching well above our weight in recent seasons.
The much lauded David McNally and Alan Bowkett did lots of good during that spell, but the reality is, for all those who are slinging mud at Moxey and Balls (to differing levels of deservedness), the club is now dealing with the legacy of the former’s reign in particular.
There’s also a politically motivated element to lots of the criticism, something I’ve got no time for and hold as mostly irrelevant. I’m not sure Ed’s politics make him a better dancer than chairman, it’s more he’s had zero experience of it.
I’m far from a Moxey fan, I have a family member who is a season ticket holder at Wolves and he has little good to say about him beyond him being a good business man, but in truth he’s just dealing with what he has come into: a club that was relegated last season, a club with no money for transfers without selling, a club that has owners whose wealth is mid table championship level.
They’re not his decisions, they’re the reality.
I actually liked David McNally, he did some truly great things, however to ignore his part of our current plight is not something that should be overlooked. He ran three of the worst transfer windows the club has had; the last summer promotion window being the absolute worst, possibly the smallest spend of a promoted team I’ve witnessed.
McNally set up the recruitment structure and hired the people. It was on his watch and we’re dealing with the consequences.
I’ll judge Moxey after he’s been here for a few seasons, if he lasts that long – to judge him any earlier just isn’t a balanced view. I do have an outside hope that, as both at Stoke and Wolves, his reign ended with new owners. Perhaps that’s why he’s here (maybe wishful thinking).
The truth is both men have had to work within the confines of a club with far less funding than its peers. Whether fans like it or not, football clubs are businesses and they operate in a highly competitive market.
Without extra funding to compete, I don’t believe long-term success was possible for either. We don’t have enough funding options to go into debt so we have to live within our means; something that is incredibly difficult to do in such a competitive market. It leaves restricted transfer budgets, wage budgets and pushes you down the pecking order.
Those who know me and have perhaps read some of my previous articles know I’m not Alex Neil’s biggest fan. I never bought the “bright young manager” PR from McNally. That being said, given where we are at the time of writing this article I can see the board’s logic in keeping him for the season.
It is probably too late this season for a new man to come in, review the squad and make the necessary changes. Also as cash is a scarce resource the reported two million is a luxury we can’t afford. A new man doesn’t guarantee any change in fortunes. It’s risky.
My frustration is that this should have been dealt with in the summer. The Barclay chanting Alex’s name at the end of last season was bizarre for me and, although I admired it in many ways, I didn’t join in, It gave the message loud and clear to the owners that we wanted him to stay.
On balance, the logic that he’s got us out of the Championship before wasn’t flawed.
We tried to follow the Burnley model of keeping the manager and players in post. It just hasn’t worked, which as the statistics show was the most likely outcome. So we shouldn’t be surprised.
The truth is hindsight makes experts of us all. I’ve always believed managers get too much credit when things go well and too much stick when it does not. Get things right and you’re a genius, things start going wrong and all those genius moves were luck and your bad decisions were the real you.
There is history of odd manager sacking timings though, which I suspect are due to the owners disagreeing with the other board members.
Having kept faith with Chris Hughton through January, to then sack the guy just before the end of the season made very little sense. To then replace him with Neil Adams made even less. And then giving Adams the job after he’d been relegated with those players felt like setting the guy up to fail and a cheap option.
And that gets me back to finances, which I think is the crux of why people feel so strongly. I hold both Delia and Michael in high regard, as all City fans should. I’m grateful for what they’ve done and wish them nothing but happiness, but I feel the best interests of the club now lay away from them.
Their succession plan fills me with dread.
It is this plan that has so many Norwich fans terrified for our future and has led to the strength of feeling and outpouring of anger. I just wish it was better mannered.
I actually admire the principle of their stand against modern football, I really do, but I think it will harm the club the purport to love and contravenes, in my book, the ethos of Delia and Michael’s article in The Times.
Unless we find owners with more financial clout, irrespective of the dangers that come with that, then Championship football should be the expectation. Anything else is a bonus. That’s the truth of it, no matter how bitter a pill that may be to swallow
Therefore, it seems only logical to me that the best outcome for the club would be to find a well-intentioned owner with more money to invest in order to move us forward. I’m under no illusions as to how tough a challenge that is, but the other option has been so ably demonstrated by Ipswich over the past decade and more (particularly last night). It’s not for me thanks.
How we do that is difficult, I do not want to see a return to the ‘Chase out’ days, but feel like it’s almost inevitable as fans are left with little choice when such change is needed.
I feel like managerial changes and players are almost a side-line as without a change at the top, I struggle to see how the club moves forward. Times have moved on since Lambert’s day and Championship clubs are far wealthier.
I would much rather Delia and Michael had a change of heart and sought new owners, I totally respect though that they own the club – it’s their choice – so therefore the only choice we have if we don’t agree is to demonstrate, which ends up harming the team, or not to go.
Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!
On the subject of players, I’m not as upset by some by Martin Olsson leaving; he’s wanted out for a while and for me has been a shadow of his former self since the WBA snow debacle. That being said, we do need a replacement.
If we are able to get a decent Championship left-back and Henri Lansbury, for example, then it’s good business. If not it’s potentially catastrophic.
I also think, despite understanding the logic of keeping Neil, that the right call is to move him on. All but the most optimistic of fans have given up on this season, so get a new man in, give him time to assess the squad ahead of what needs to be a huge rebuild in the summer and we go again.
Chins up everyone – everything will turn out for the best,
OTBC
Just where exactly have you been for the last 18 months? It’s unbelievable anyone could be this myopic and patronising based on blatant evidence. What exactly has to happen for people like you to wake up and stop patronising people? Unreal. The club is heading into an unknown period and comparing it to historical events is ludicrous because we had hope and sway. Back comes good old MFW.
“I can see the board’s logic in keeping him for the season.” You need to see someone about that. Apologist nonsense.
Jeff – for someone with such a low opinion of MFW you ain’t half quick to respond to each article. I think you love us really. 🙂
But – serious point – your contributions to the debates are healthy and appreciated.
Thanks Jeff. Perfect response.
One telling observation Craig, seemingly overlooked, or ignored, by many – the legacy issues arising from the watch of the previous regime.
To be told that some of the current squad are difficult to move on because of our relatively high wage structure by Championship standards – the result of four out of the past six seasons in the Premier League – is telling. It suggests that someone – a Board collective perhaps – took their eye off the ball.
Two quick questions Jeff.
Do you disagree we should sack Alex Neil?
Do you disagree we need a owners with more financial clout?
There’s quite a lot pointing to that Gary (5) and whilst the buck stops worth the manager on the field, it stops initially with the CEO off.
It then heads to the owners, eventually.
I thought this was a very good article- I agree with a lot of it but not all. Firstly, we very clearly need a change of direction and manager. We have a number of young, promising players, we need a manger known to have a record of bringing through young players. Secondly we need to be scouting players to compliment and improve those young players who are good enough.
I don’t agree that Delia needs to be hounded out of the city. I look at what has been tried and see every penny, and more, put at the disposal of first Hughton and now Alex Neil. Millions has been squandered on signings that I was initially excited about but ended up being useless. RvW, Naismith, Pritchard, Lafferty (wages), Brady, even Klose has not set the world on fire. That’s not the fault of the board, they back the manager too the hilt and now successive mangers have got it very wrong. A different board would have actually done exactly the same thing. Possibly with even more money, but I’m guessing not that much more than we actually spent.
What this does speak of is a real failure of recruitment and a failure in the appointments of backroom people especially those tasked with bringing in players. I am also disappointed that more young players aren’t coming through- although delighted to see the Murphy boys paying.
None of these failings are because of Delia, although she needs to pull the trigger at the right time- Hughton far too late and Alex Neil should have gone after the Brighton debacle.
There is no doubt Norwich have serious problems at the moment. New thinking is required. But I am very much one of those who thinks be careful what you wish for and that actually there are a lot of really good things about our club- even accepting the flaws too. The great frustration for me is that we should be doing so much better with the players at this club. We absolutely need changes, but trading the entire club to pieces seems wrong to me.
OTBC
As I read this article, I was bracing myself (on Craig’s behalf) for some robust pushback. Prompt work, Jeff.
Personally I’m delighted to see the article, as a bit of rationality and a counterbalance to some of the undoubted hysteria.
But it doesn’t mean I agree. If we can sometimes criticise fans for lacking realism, it’s surely the Board who are lacking it now. They say they’re committed to promotion, but it’s been obvious for three months that AN is a block rather than a key to it.
This season is our best chance to bounce back. Unlike many clubs who come down, we didn’t need a firesale of ur best players; we have one of the strongest squads in a relatively weak Championship, and we got off to a good start.
If we now persist with AN, we’re throwing away a good chance of earning far, far more than £2 million.
The wider ownership issues? Let’s just say I don’t think they’d be under such scrutiny if the team was doing better.
#1 and #2 Jeff: I think Craig is being a little too kind to the Delia regime as well, but all of us on the MFW team offer opinion pieces, nothing more and nothing less. It’s our raison d’etre.
#6 Craig: I cannot answer for Jeff, but my responses to the questions you pose would be: I do not disagree; and, erm, I do not disagree!
Well Mr. Bailey, you have one supporter who’s in agreement, that we might just as well stick with Alex Neil for this season, now we´ve come this far.
People have mentioned Rowett and Hodgson, as the two most likely to follow, if Neil should get the push, but come on, be serious. Hodgson is at best, a move sideways, and he wouldn´t have been linked to a club like ours at all, if he hadn´t been chums with Delia. Rowett, actually, I think would be a backwards move, unproven even at this level, Neil has at least shown he can get a club promoted out of this league.
Looking beyond those two.
Firstly, who is available. Secondly, who would be better. Thirdly, who would come and work with no money available. Fourthly, who would come, with barely two weeks of the window left, and fifthly, who would come, full stop?
My potential list is not very long.
Interesting read before work and I thank you for it.
However I have to take issue with the general tenor.
You make many relevant and pertinent points Craig and have good understanding of the current situation. Yes, you are right Neil should go. Yes, you are correct about the bizarre Hughton/Adams fiasco. Yes, you are right about the stupid love in after the Watford game; a simple quiet filtering out without acknowledging the poor season would have sufficed. You are also correct to be terrified by Smith’s plans to pass the whole shooting match to her nephew. Anybody who isn’t worried by that prospect needs to take a look at themselves.
Why though, like so many other commentators, do you feel the need to apologise before saying anything critical about Smith and Jones? Every statement, every recounting of some crass decision, ludicrous public behaviour, I’ll judged interview, dreadful appointment etc. etc. comes with a caveat pertaining to events twenty years ago, when football changed forever.
Simply because an individual once did some good doesn’t entitle them to a free pass for life. You stick the boot into Robert Chase like a seventies Barclay regular with aplomb yet Smith gets away with a eulogy. If the culmination of the last twenty years of Smith’s reign were laid at the door of Chase I suspect you would have a different story to tell.
The political aspect is a red herring (no pun). However lacing of the board with her politico-leftie luvvies-actors et al does the club no credit. For all their faults, Chase and South, both politically active, never attempted to foist their opinions on the supporters. Football is apolitical, or it should be. For ninety minutes on a Saturday my only concern is beating whoever is set before us and if Genghis Khan, Idi Amin, Leon Trotsky and Pol Pot are in the stands cheering every City goal then I don’t give so much as a hoot, I would however place myself between them and my kids.
With every proclamation decrying people as “pant wetters” – truly a moronic phrase – or patronising call to accept what is happening because we deserve no better just makes people more angry. This isn’t Upstairs Downstairs where we should all tug fore locks for lady Delia and Lord Michael and be ever so humble in the presence of our betters.
People need to decide whether they are indeed Norwich City supporters or whether they are Delia Smith supporters. Is the cuddly celebrity circus with poor results and the soft image akin to a W.I. cake bake what you want from your football club? Our approach on and off the pitch screams ‘soft’ in the way it did before and after Lambert and McNally, who brought a hard edge.
8. Paul – I agree with you, mostly, but with the best will in the world, Delia won’t last forever. Maybe Tom will have lots of ideas for new investment, I just fear for what that means in the current and future climates. Totally agree change not without risk, look at Juve’s new badge!
9. I agree Stewart, when you’re winning nobody looks much further, to be clear though I wasn’t suggesting we should stay with Neil, more that I can see why they did, as you rightly point out being able to see somebody else’s point of view doesn’t mean you agree with it.
10. Martin – then I think we’re all broadly agreeing 🙂
11. George – the timing, league position and finances certainly make it difficult!
12. Chris, I broadly agree with you. One of the many good things that McNally was part of that I mentioned in brief here, but have mentioned in more detail in the past, was to remove the little Norwich tag. Paul lambert was a big part of that. It doesn’t mean that DM didn’t also make mistakes, he did.
Hard to disagree that I’m probably softer on Delia than Chase due to her personality, however, I’d like to think I’d abuse neither, well at least not these days, I don’t speak for my much younger self, who was less tolerant! Which probably explains that too, thinking about it.
I guess I was just trying to make my point about needing new owners politely.
This is an interesting piece – some I agree with, some I do not, but it shows how many Norwich fans bought into the Delia ‘myth’. I was never one of those – I saw it as sheer opportunism and nothing more.
The club has suffered greatly in her tenure as its potential has been unnecessarily limited. Not all she and the board has been bad, but they have been wasteful, extremely naive and above all, amateurish. This type of ‘management’ – and I’ll use that word loosely – has no place at a club such as Norwich City. But She and the board up to now have got away with it, because you were all charmed/fooled or whatever you like to call it.
Just because people think you care, doesn’t mean you are any good at your job and what we are seeing is a culmination of years and years of sheer unprofessionalism of the highest order.
Nothing will change until the paying fan decides enough is enough. Until then, keep hoping for change that will never happen because we’ve condoning this shambles for over 20 years.
12 Chris your input is the best on this article.
#17 Craig: in my honest opinion, you are quite correct to be softer on Delia than Mr Chase. Two entirely different characters.
A good friend of mine who was a Radio Norfolk producer and I had the pleasure of sharing a table on a Liverpool Street to Norwich train with Mr Chase. It was the night we were playing Arsenal in the League Cup and he kept trying to give us tickets. I already had mine and David was not into football period.
As soon as he figured out we were journalists, he retreated into silence and ignored us for the rest of the journey.
Ironically that was probably around Stowmarket.
As much as I despise what Delia is allowing to happen to our Club, she is no Robert Chase.
I just wish she realised she could depart with some love and cred intact before it is too late. The other gentleman possessed elephant hide and I am proud of the minor role I played in his departure.
I don’t feel the same abrasive antagonism towards Delia, but waking up and sniffing the beans is long overdue.
“A quick look at our history shows that we’ve always been a club that flirts with the top flight, only to be caught out by financial limitations and drop back down again.”
Actually, the more money we’ve had in the prem, the poorer we’ve performed.
Interesting article, Craig. With regard to your early ‘meltdown on social media’ comment, I think you’ll find that twitter, facebook and football forums were far less prevalent in the days of Chase and Worthington, so it’s ridiculous to even mention that – there’s no meaningful comparison.
And re your comment #13, about Tom Smith, I have no idea if you’ve met the guy, but the Times article gave me the distinct impression that he was being ‘groomed’ purely to preserve the status quo – that will pervade for evermore if the Smith family are too greedy, self-centered, stupid or simply myopic to realise that without external investment, NCFC cannot compete any longer and will be stuck in an Ipswich-esque rut for all eternity 🙁
Good point Dave B (21). When we have had money, we’ve generally used it very badly which again highlights the lack of nous of the board.
Dave B/Darren (21/23): Yes, to a degree.
As ncfcpaul pointed out (8), we’ve generally backed our manager to the hilt. I gather we signed virtually every target on Paul Lambert’s wish-list. We backed Hughton to buy RvW, Adams to buy Lafferty etc.
For me, the valid criticism of the Board relates to summer 2015 when Alex Neil submitted his targets and – for a variety of reasons – we failed to get most of them.
#24 Stewart: there were two rather large targets on the Paul Lambert wish-list that the Board made no attempt to sign whatsoever, because his request was turned down flat.
Both (strikers) went on to enjoy excellent seasons in the PL for other Clubs and, indeed, one remains a “face” in the PL to this day.
The Board would not speculate to accumulate, and although there were many reasons behind Lambert’s departure, this was certainly one of them.
22. Jon – That was my point really, many things seem to have a heightened sense of drama in the social media age!
I agree on the succession plan, I wholeheartedly believe it needs to change.
21. It’s funny that isn’t it Dave B, I think that’s why going back to hungry players that see us as a step up with something to prove may do us well in the longer term.
23. Darren, it does, but I also wonder if it’s about that transition and the type of player it attracts, Lambert’s era was all about lower league players proving a point, Hughton then tried to sign a different type of player, better on paper, but the hunger element was lost. I spoke to David McNally about Fer and RvW for example and he said it was important that the club signed, “nice young men” as well as good footballers, I think I said back I don’t care if they’re nice, as long as they’re good!
24. Stewart, Summer 2015 was shocking, that’s for sure!
25. Martin Presume they were Benteke and Bony?
#29 Craig: Benteke correct, the other I understood to be Michu. There were loads of circs around PL pulling the plug, it wasn’t all about money.
The hunger element has to return. It’s a necessity. But with this lot in situ? I doubt it!
Martin (25): I knew about Benteke, not Michu.
A large exception, I agree. There was also a defender, who’s still around the top two divisions.
#31 Stewart: funny old world – I don’t have a clue who the defender you refer to was:-)
Martin (32): I heard Steven Caulker
One of the best debates ever seen on MFW.
No taking sides, but looking at the different points of view is what it’s all about.
Truth is, none of us truly knows what is going on at management level. We only know what we see on the field of play, and on that we ALL agree, awful.
Good article, and counter balence to the tendency of late to over react. My only disagreement is I do not want to see AN out. As with CH, I would review at the end of the season. Politico luvvie lefties? In short Delia and Michael are everything I have wanted in owners – loving the club, putting their money where their mouth is, and not interfering with the football side. I do not agree wuth everything they have done. I did not like McNally, but they appointed him to do a job and in part he did the job to a large extent. Football is full of ‘hard’ people, give me a change from the right-wing haters anytime. I never saw Genghis Khan on the terraces but I did help get rid of the overt racists (and Mr Robert C).
Politico leftie luvvies? Balls? Fry? Tom smith?
Red herring as I said before, politics and sport doesn’t mix. You didn’t like McNally? That staemement alone says all we need to know. The man saved the club. Properly saved the club when it was in the third division and bottom of it to boot.
You keep worshipping the cult of celebrity, ignore plain facts and figures and the results staring you stately in the face. There really is no point in arguing about it.