In what’s been something of a train wreck of a season, many will look back and try to pinpoint the moment where it all went wrong.
Meekly surrendering a winning position at Newcastle, perhaps? Capitulating at Rotherham when there was a real chance of moving back into the play-off places with a series of what looked like winnable fixtures to come?
For me, it came off the pitch, on an evening in the Gunn Club back in November when City held their latest AGM.
There have been some moments at past AGMs which might be described as seminal, not least of which was the massive show of hands against Barry Lockwood’s re-election as a director towards the back end of Robert Chase’s reign as chairman.
Lockwood, a quiet, unassuming businessman from west Norfolk was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time – the fall guy for a regime that didn’t just split opinion, but defined it in very passionate terms.
The vote that night sent a powerful message that reflected the opinion of the vast majority of fans at the time, delivered as a coup de grâce by the shareholders. Lockwood survived thanks only to the shareholding power of his fellow directors, but the die was cast and in a matter of months the board make-up was changed and the club started to re-invent itself.
Fast-forward 20 years, and the City board has found itself under greater scrutiny than at any time since Chase departed. The levels might not have been comparable to Chase’s time, we certainly haven’t seen mass protests in the streets, but the seeds are unquestionably there.
Chants of “Sack the board” have begun. Fans are arguing amongst themselves. Empty spaces are beginning to appear in the stands as season ticket holders don’t bother to turn up in spite of having paid for their tickets. It’s been very much Norwich City’s modern day version of the Winter of Discontent.
And it’s going to take an awful lot more than a new manager to sort this particular mess out.
Yet, for some reason that fan anger and frustration didn’t filter through to the shareholders back in November. We’re not talking about a lot of institutional investors here. We’re looking at normal, real fans – most of whom will have bought in when ITV Digital went belly-up and every club in the Football League was desperately trying to scrape out whatever cash they could find in the bottom of the barrel just to survive.
7,000 fans bought in – massive by anyone’s standard. The best part of 1,000 of them were in the room on the night. So why on earth, given the opportunity to vote against the re-election of, particularly, Jez Moxey and Stephan Phillips at a time when it was already clear the season was heading in the wrong direction, were less than 20 people prepared to put their hands up?
One shareholder asked the directors who were up for election to justify their presence on the board. Moxey’s reply was predictably bullish and frankly arrogant – “I’ve been a football CEO for 18 years so I’m great” was the general message.
It sounded hideous and wholly out of keeping with the previous ethos of our football club. Phillips claimed he had the very important job of chairing the Remuneration Committee – the very same committee that set the criteria that allowed David McNally to collect a bonus of several hundred thousand pounds in the season we got relegated and, presumably, also sanctioned and ratified Ed Balls receiving a very sizeable payment for work done between McNally’s departure and Moxey’s arrival – money that he apparently didn’t want but Michael Wynn-Jones insisted be paid.
Throw in a relatively recently commissioned new directors’ lounge in the former Main Stand offices and an expensive rotating scoreboard and one might reasonably ask whether the Board and Executive were happily watching whilst all around them was merrily burning.
Add in worsening fan relations, in a steady decline since the departure of Gordon Bennett then Andy Cullen, and it was certainly time for another pertinent message to be sent that the natives were restless. Instead, what the board got was effectively a ringing vote of confidence to carry on acting in exactly the same way.
On that night, the shareholders short-changed every fan who wanted better for themselves and better for their football club. They had the chance to send a massive message that things had to change, and quickly. They utterly failed to do so, and delayed the change we’re now seeing by what might be a critical few months.
Thankfully, it seems the directors themselves have finally worked out that the football club is dysfunctional in so many areas, and initiated that change themselves. What the structural review concludes, and the actions taken from it, now need to form that seminal moment.
There mustn’t still be jobs for the boys on the board, or ludicrous expenditure – and most importantly, the fans have to feel part of their club again, not a commodity to be fleeced at every available opportunity.
When we were relegated to League 1, nearly everyone stuck with the club and season ticket numbers and attendances actually increased because every fan felt wanted and valued as an individual. No-one in their right mind would think that would be a conceivable scenario should that happen again.
Those who aren’t up to the workings of the modern game need to move on – and in that respect it’s quite possible that Delia and Michael need to look very closely at whether they would now be better served taking a back seat and handing over to Tom Smith.
To do otherwise would do their generosity in keeping the club going and caring about it so much a disservice and it would be terrible if their legacy was destroyed.
There can’t be a place for people like Stephan Phillips, who appears more bluster than substance and offers little or no football experience.
If, as is widely expected, the role of Director of Football is created it needs to be filled by someone with significant management experience at a high level of football.
Ricky Martin is a nice guy who achieved a massive amount during his time with the Academy, including at the time of that wonderful FA Youth Cup Final win over Chelsea. But he has absolutely no experience of management at first team level. He deserves a position somewhere in the club appropriate to his skills, but the next appointment is critical and needs to be someone else.
This is, in short, a critical review that will shape the future of the club for many years to come. Sentiment can no longer can into it. Jobs for friends and confidants can no longer continue. Decisive action is needed. Change is not optional.
Ship up, or ship out.
It needs to be recognised that Delia, Michael and Michael Foulger own the best part of 70% of the shares in the Club – which means they can out vote any show of discontent, should they so wish.
In recent times we seen the CEO virtually running the whole show – perhaps that’s slightly unfair to the “behind the scenes team. However, there seems to be an inkling that this is likely to change away from this position. Surely a step in the right direction?
The Board can be up to eight strong – the balance between owners and football related members really should become more balanced. Whether this will change through the pending review, I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I agree with most of it. This should have happened the first time we went down to the he champ, but it didn’t and we are where we are. As I said a couple of months back, there will he changes ahead but I suspect this will be a sugar coating. An extra job here or there to disguise the mess they have created. I also believe their legacy is already destroyed based on not listening to offers. That is bureaucracy; a completely unacceptable position to be in in my eyes.
Let’s hope they suddenly find an incredible footballing and business brain and make the right decisions, because we need it.
Ps. Ricky ‘shake your bon bons’ Martin is known as the total opposite internally.
PPS. The board are still failing at the same games. If you don’t want Rowett, at least notice fans wanted him in, interview him and then say he chose Derby. The inactivity screams of further ineptitude, because you’re giving the majority of fans a caber to hit you with. If they knew how to play these games they’d instill far more confidence about their ability to be in the same pool as sharks.
the big question for me is. how long has this restructure been planned ? Has it been going on for weeks without a whisper or is suddenly become vital because of the toxic atmosphere, a failing manager allowed to struggle onwards, by a failing board ?
It seems as at times the club is just on a circle round and round we go almost always arriving back the same messy point.
Ricky Martin’s name crops up again, how the guy can even be considered for any other promotion in the club is way beyond me, the guy never played league football and hit the heights of such teams Downham Market, Diss Town, Great Yarmouth Town, Wroxham, Histon, Mildenhall and Diss, before moving to Soham. Now I struggle to see how he could even be technical Director at premier or championship level. THis is where the board have got things so wrong.. He is a nice guy lets fit him in.
The board are at another cross roads a far more hostile one than when dropping to L1 . they must get a vast majority right and make professional decisions not those based because he well thought of or liked
The board are a comfy, parochial group rapidly heading towards the first division due to their refusal to recognised the need for new owners with the investment and ambition to establish the club in the premier league.
After twenty years of Delia’s ownership the club should by now be a Southampton not a “little Norwich”.
Time to sell and not inflict us with family dynasty.
I fear that the appointments will be made largely on who would make agreeable company at a dinner party. I can’t see this board appointing another McNally/Bowkett type partnership with a testy, aggressive manager.
Very good piece.
I’m not looking forward to the restructure announcement, because my gut feeling tells me it will be even worse that what currently exists. Plus no CEO either and nobody to challenge the majority shareholders.
It will test fans resolve even further as we head further to tin pot parochialism.
How sad. All of this could have been avoided if the board had sacked Neil in Jan 2016 when he was floundering out of his depth. Now we must all look forward and get it right this time. Rowett and Warburton have gone which may be a blessing if we really are going to change the structure. A DOF with lots of experience and slightly younger up and coming head coach would set a sound foundation for the future. People with a track record of developing young players and a sound tactical knowledge. Get it right Smiths , don’t rush it and then fade into the background and let the experts do their job.
An excellent article and some excellent comments.
I can see ‘Woy’ coming in as DOF, but PLEASE not as manager, as he’d insist on keeping the likes of Martin, Whittaker etc to the detriment of Godfrey. Efete, Ramsay etc. As has been said, this time the Board HAS to get it right or else we’ll be in league 1 with no McNally/Lambert/Holt to whisk us up the divisions.
I await ‘the statement’ with bated breath!!
Good piece Rob.
Surely the worrying thing has to be that AN was sacked with no forward planning as to who his replacement was to be. I wonder if the new set-up has a place already marked for Mr Hodgson as DoF, which would unfortunately reek of an appointment for an out of work friend. Presumably that would mean that he (Hodgson) would have some input as, to the next manager, and now that both Rowett and Warburton are out of the equation, surely they cannot be contemplating elevation for Ricky Martin?
What a shame that whilst football at the top levels has changed exponentially over the past 20 years, our beloved owners are still sticking to those principles they had at the time they took over.
Hopefully we’ll get a surprise when the new football manager is announced (I wonder what fans of Huddersfield/Wednesday/Reading etc thought when their current incumbents were announced), but I’m not holding my breath.
O T B C
@John, your first sentence is the one that concerns me most. Usually you’d expect to know who your next manager is – or at least have a shortlist in case the first choice is snapped up in the meantime – and this should apply even during times of success. It’s basic succession planning, but sadly the Directors don’t seem to be too big on that at the moment. It really begs the question of what point there was to removing Alex Neil when they did, other than to avoid a bigger bloodbath at the Blackburn game. That didn’t exactly go to plan either, did it? There’s no question they need help, and the restructure should be throughout the Club, not just on the football side. I have the utmost respect for everything Delia and Michael have done, and for that reason I’d never vote against their re-election at an AGM (although others are fair game – you might have guessed I was one of the 20 or so to vote against Moxey and Phillips), but they are too far out of touch now and need to hand the reigns over to nephew Tom as a starting point.
Rob – Maybe you read my recent comment following James Finbows piece on 9th March where I questioned the last AGM and, in particular, the back-bone amongst the 1,000 odd supporters/shareholders who attended?
I’m not a shareholder but I am a supporter and season ticket holder. Those above referred shareholders who have the privilege of being able to attend the AGM’s have indeed let the rest of us down. Either that or they were to a man far too short-sighted to recognise that the problems on the pitch are equally attributed to the incompetence of the current board as they were the manager.
Those 1,000 or so shareholders who attended last November clearly cannot be trusted to do the right thing next time.
#11. Rob Emery – what is it about favourite nephew Tom Smith that gives you any assurance that he is a credible choice to take over? What you have said surely contradicts the substance of your article above, does it not? Even Delia and Michael shouldn’t be immune to a vote of no-confidence. I too respect what they have done for the club over the years, but as directors they have made no-end of poor judgements and have proved time over that they do not possess the skills to run the club day to day. They could easily remain as owners and shareholders without acting as directors. In my view the directorships should be carried out by an altogether different set of individuals than those current. To that end, and if I had been at the AGM I would have given a vote of no-confidence to each and every one of them.
Fair questions, but rather than focus on the 1000 shareholders from November, at least they were AT Carrow Road that night. Where were the other 6000?
@Jonny, I’ve never met Tom Smith, but I hear from those whose opinions I’d trust he’s got his head screwed on and very much relates more to the modern game than Auntie & Uncle. There’s a saying “Don’t let perfect get in the way of better”, so in this case he may not be the complete answer, but certainly a move in the right direction. Giving him more authority to lead and autonomy with Delia & Michael leaving the board with the gratitude of the majority of fans would drive the Club forward at this stage, in my opinion.
Why not vote against them at the AGM? Well, because it’s a bit of a political game. Voting against any Director is pointless in the sense that the majority shareholders can always overturn the show of hands. That arguably makes voting against them the most pointless exercise of all. Voting against others who have not contributed to the Club sufficiently, and are possibly just there for the perceived glory, sends that message loud and clear and makes Delia & Michael think about what the make-up of the board should be.
@Gav, I think we need to remember that these 7,000 shareholders probably mostly bought in because they wanted to help the Club survive. The vast majority of them, some of whom may not still be alive, were never interested in the administrative and/or political side of it. I hold shares in a number of companies, but it doesn’t mean I’m necessarily motivated to troll around the country attending AGMs. The several hundred that do attend, year in year out, are those who retain the interest and might be motivated to try and initiative change. That’s why it’s so disappointing so few are prepared to put their heads above the parapet when they’re clearly unhappy with the direction of the Club.