In keeping with Alex Neil’s half-hearted (but partly understandable) attitude to last night’s FA Cup Third Round replay I’ll keep it brief this morning.
But having commented on so many away-from-home disasters it’d be a shame to pass on one that didn’t fall into that category.
A 1-0 defeat to a Premier League team courtesy of a 92nd minute winner sounds on the face of it like a valiant effort and in many ways it was, yet however dressed up it was also another defeat, another early cup exit and another fruitless away day for the gallant 1,000 plus who made the trip.
But what amounted to a Southampton XI v a Norwich XI was not without its positives, the most notable being an excellent performance by Ben Godfrey who, for once, was handed some first team stripes while playing in his favoured midfield position.
That the lad made hay was hopefully noted by Team Neil who talk of ‘young and hungry’ but have so far done precious little to promote it.
Defensively there appeared to be no major ricks albeit with a back five you’d expect there to be fewer gaps to fill, but credit where it’s due and it took the addition of Nathan Redmond and Oriol Romeu for the Saints to finally find a way past a stubborn City defence; not an adjective I’ve used too often (as least when describing our back-four).
As an attacking force City were clearly limited – that’s how they were set up to be – but still they offered the odd threat, mainly through triggering counter-attacks via the pace of Josh Murphy but chances were virtually non-existent and Kyle Lafferty offered little by way of quality service.
And that was pretty much it. So ends City’s interest in the cups of 2016/17, and you could argue so ends City’s interest in the season 2016/17.
From hereon-in it’s going to take something extraordinary to make something of what has been a rotten season, the only sniff of anything out of the ordinary so far being at the wrong end of the spectrum.
While on the face of it the eight point gap between City and sixth place Sheffield Wednesday may appear do-able over the remaining 20 games, is it really when your team has for the most part flitted between dire and dispirited?
Naturally we all hope it’s possible and Alex Neil can somehow galvanize the spirit of 2014/15 into the 2016/17 version but there’s little evidence of it happening, hence the talk of it being season over.
But we have hope. That’s it… just hope.
Alex meanwhile continued his unhealthy trait of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time when, in conversation with Chris Goreham, he alluded to his players being better suited going head-to-head with Premier League rather than Championship opponents.
I’m fairly sure he didn’t mean it exactly as it sounded – for a start there’s not a scrap of evidence of this being the case – but given the sense of self-importance that some of his squad appear to have it’s really the last thing they need to hear, especially with Paul Lambert’s Wolves just around the corner.
But it is what it is, and it certainly says something that my heart wasn’t broken by being knocked out of the FA Cup by a 92nd minute winner. I’m just not sure what.
“On the Ball City…”
The season is over. We may be only 8 points off the play-offs but there is no reason to believe that we’re going to be good enough to put the kind of run of form together to challenge. I don’t think we’re going to be bad enough to get into a relegation fight either. So the only interest will be to see how the senior management evolves and how the crowd reacts for the rest of the season.
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Another sorry night for NCFC and a sad indictment of what modern day football and the FA Cup has become. We need inspiration and it just isn’t going to come from Alex Neil or Delia & Co. I fear for the future, I really do.
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Pause the video as the cross comes in for their goal, all 3 CBs ball watching and drawn to near post, leaving two men on left WB, who does nothing to let the CBs know he’s got two with him.
8 City players Vs 4 Southampton and we didn’t get near any of them. I know it was late, but it’s still woeful!
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Inteestring about Godfrey, he may think he is a midfielder and was signed as a midfielder…however, Alex said last night he sees Ben as a right sided centre back – hence playing him there in the 23s.
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Hopefully the Wolves match will be a cacophony of ‘There’s only one Paul Lambert’ and ‘Sack The Board’.
The way the club is ‘run’ – and I’ll use that word advisedly – NCFC deserves absolutely nothing and deserves to go down with the boards toxic mix of ignorance and ineptitude.
It has to get worse before it has a chance of getting better I’m afraid.
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Respect to the 1,000 plus City fans who made the journey to the game.
Michael Bailey summed it up perfectly afterwards – if ever there was an advert for playing extra time, plus penalties, in the first match, this was it.
I almost hate saying it, but the FA Cup has been devalued by the clubs irrespective of what the traditionalist may tell you.
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“Sack the Board” Darren (5) or do you mean “Sell the club”?
Sacking the Board simply leaves the owners running the club entirely by themselves.
But the thing is, if you really mean “Sell the Club” please suggest a profile of the person/people whom you would want buying it.
Presumably multi-billionaire status would be one requisite? What else?
Fans of the club or does that not matter?
Knowledge/understanding of UK football, or can we manage without that?
In for the long term, or just to make a quick buck?
British owned, or at least actually here in the country?
Dictators looking after their own interests – if they want to change our colours to blue and white they will – or happy to take into account the fans, even if that’s against those interests?
Aiming for a place in the Champions League; if not, what?
I can understand a lot of people wanting Delia and Michael to sell up; the only extended period of success under them in 20 years has been when McNally was CEO. The one earlier Prem season under Worthy was a false dawn. But I cannot see anyone saying specifically what they want instead.
Finally, I’ll give you name. If Tony Fernandes had bought us instead of QPR, on the day he took over would you – without any benefit of hindsight – have been genuinely delighted? Honestly? A lot of people would; I wouldn’t.
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I think the owners are running the club by themselves. If you can see one dissenting voice in that boardroom kindly point it out.
Clearly we need somebody who can actually afford to carry out the duties of an owner.
Fan ownership is rare, the days of a local used car salesman or builder running the club he used to watch while perched atop an orange box are long gone.
The colour change thing is just a myth. It’s only happened once, briefly, only to be reversed a year later. It wont happen.
Are our interests being looked after now? Really? How?
Ownership is dictatorship, be it a Malaysian rubber plantation owner or an ageing to cook, as we are finding out, if indeed we didn’t already know it. We are being dictated to right now, are you saying because it’s Delia smith issuing the diktats despite the fact that we “won’t like it” is fine?
Champions league? Red herring. We’ve no ambitions there. Ironically, twenty years or more ago, had the champions league been running, under the previous administration we would have been in it. Let that sink in a minute.
It’s absolutely correct to attribute the only period of success in the last twenty years to the stewardship of McNally, brought in to rescue us from a worse financial position and league position than anything chase ever achieved.
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Keith B (7) – you ask many a fair question, based largely on the past failings at other clubs, all of which suggest reasons not to change.
However, is being repeatedly told we’re lucky because we have genuine fans owning the club actually sufficient to make this Club the best it can possibly be? Many fans are currently questioning this and there seems a disconnect between the Board and fans as to the best way forward.
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Keith (7). If you want to look at a Dictatorship, then look no further than Smith and Jones. Ever heard of the ‘Delia Veto?’
To keep the failing status quo is no argument. They have failed. The club is a shambles on and off the pitch and that cannot be considered acceptable in any business, let alone one with the turnover it has. The current situation is a disgrace.
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Fine Darren (10), so what is the answer, what kind of owner do you want to replace them with?
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With nothing much to hope for this season promotion wise and no cup run, then surely the time is here to blood the youngsters. As many as possible please Alex Neil. I for one could back that wholeheartedly and I think the crowd would like to have a reason to support the club in something meaningful rather than watching a bunch of halfhearted dispirited senior players going through the motions for half a season. Try it Alex there’s nothing to lose, it’s been your mantra hasn’t it “build for the future”.
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Keith (11)
Ideally, an owner or owners that would invest, have a professional board and would not interfere.
That is one option, but there are several.
The facts are that Smith & Jones have failed the club and failures must go. Failures do not act the the best interests of NCFC or its supporters.
The is a better future out there for this club than the hapless amateurs that grace our board at present.
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We come again to the central flaw. You can’t sack owners. Talk to fans of Cardiff, Hull and Blackburn. If the owner wants to stay then there is nothing to be done except walk away. Saying “Smith and Jones have failed the club and failures must go” is irrelevant ranting. Unless that is you have the money to make them an offer they can’t refuse.
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Chris (8)
Tony Fernandes hasn’t had much success in football but he doesn’t run rubber plantations. He established Air Asia one of the biggest and most successful budget airlines in the world.
I think it is short sighted to see foreign ownership as necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps Norwich are in danger of being too insular, which let’s face it we in Norfolk are quite good at.
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Andy, I wasn’t referring to Fernandez, or any particular foreign owner. Just a generic stereotype so often used by the insular people that you refer to. Incidentally, the most fundamentally insular people in this whole fiasco are not Norfolk folk, but a Welshman and his half Welsh wife from Surrey.
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Chris (16): Technically, you’re right: Michael was born in Wales.
However, he didn’t live there long. His father was a Norfolk village vicar, his mother taught at Diss Grammar School.
For better or worse, he’s one of our own.
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