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Only people who can sort this mess out are the Board. The rest of us have to suck it up and accept it

15th March 2017 By Martin Penney 20 Comments

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Back in the Middle Ages when even Wes Hoolahan was a young lad, French forces had a banner called the Oriflamme. Once raised, it’s meaning to the opposition (normally the English) was simple: We take no prisoners – either we die or you do.

Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt all come to mind.

As soon as that flag was hoisted it meant one of two things. Either, we’re strategically in the muck but want to die with glory for the sake of our King, or we’re really, really going to do you lot in. Stuff the ransom money, we want blood. Your blood. All of you.

Versions of it were used as late as Waterloo, when the Old Guard (wait for it) were annihilated by Blucher’s tardy troops.

But our supporters’ version of this against Blackburn on Saturday was more like a damp squib than the Oriflamme.

Chants against Alan Irvine for taking off Alex Pritchard? Sorry, it had to be done. It was Pritchard or Wes. Three at the back with a temporarily disabled Ivo Pinto or bringing on Bassong as part of the trio? No ta.

That’s not to say D Block of the Upper Barclay didn’t argue about the choice. We did. Vociforously amongst ourselves until half time.

After a very poor Blackburn team notched their second, a brief bit of anti-Board shouting started up. Three minutes later, CJ equalised and the noise ceased.

Taken in isolation a 2-2 draw when we’ve played around 70 minutes with ten men is not a bad return.

Blackburn were in no way a good side, and if some of our gas tanks could have miraculously been topped up I feel we would have held out for a 1-0. It didn’t matter anyway.

I am hardly known through my scribblings on MFW as an afficianado of the Board, whether individually or collectively. I am still in tune with my long-held views, so Jeff, Chris and others I love to hear from: I haven’t deserted you.

And no, I wasn’t convinced by Russell Martin’s recent comments. Not in the slightest.

However, I really feel this is the time to cut Delia and co a little bit of slack. Recent columns from Mick and Stewart point towards the fact that they are trying to do things properly this time and I hope they are correct in every single move they make.

The only people who can sort this mess out are the Board. The rest of us cannot by definition be involved, and like it or lump it, we have to accept the situation and live with it.

They have a lot of important decisions to make and indeed crucial appointments must be made. I too am hearing good vibes about young Tom from some quite disparate quarters, although being me I am still deeply suspicious of him – mainly through his family connection and lack of significant backstory – but please, pretty please, give him a chance.

I will if you will, as it were.

Oh, I nearly forgot about Napoleon’s Old Guard. Loyal and efficient to the end, they chose to die for Bonaparte at Waterloo rather than live (as they envisaged it) in some form of imagined shame.

Several of our old guard don’t have that ethic and the quicker they are shown the door the better.

Let’s get some players in over the summer who would fly a yellow and green Oriflamme. For Norwich City.

This week could possibly be the beginning of a successful future, although as Joe Strummer so rightly and poignantly said, the future is unwritten.

Please Board get it right this time. Please. From all of us.


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Filed Under: Column, Martin Penney

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Comments

  1. Phil Scott says

    15th March 2017 at 6:38 am

    A good history lesson. The problem being that history tends always to repeat itself in some form or other!

    Reply
  2. darren says

    15th March 2017 at 8:38 am

    The board have so often got it wrong and in its current state is most likely to make a howler. I don’t see any evidence that they will make the right moves, but I’m here to be proved wrong.

    I still maintain the board have been given a way too easy ride over the years and we are all in our own way partly responsible for the shambles.

    The board were too nice and the fans were too nice too. If we want progression at Norwich City Football Club, that has to stop – now.

    Reply
  3. Michael D says

    15th March 2017 at 9:08 am

    With the more obvious managerial candidates now gone, the Board does need to take its time and get this appointment/ these appointments right now.

    And there is no point in now just looking at those managers hanging around the UK market now, since there is no-one very inspiring. So we need to cast a wider net. Even if Roy Hodgson isn’t keen on having a more permanent role, I hope he can help with some more inspirational suggestions.

    As for the Oriflamme, the last real reference to it seems to have been at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, anything else following being mere imitation… Perhaps we need some more original inspiration now!

    Reply
  4. martin penney says

    15th March 2017 at 9:44 am

    #3 Michael D: re the Oriflamme – imitation is the key word, agreed.

    Apparently a couple of Napoleonic Sergeants had homespun replicas of it in their backpacks at Waterloo, and unfurled them before they met their chosen end.

    I don’t know for certain, after all, I wasn’t there.

    A bit like us showing the inflatable Canaries we all managed to lose along the way, I guess:-)

    Reply
  5. Stewart Lewis says

    15th March 2017 at 10:02 am

    Nice piece, Martin.

    I’m slightly less sceptical than you – at least about the Board’s intentions – but your call is fair.

    Inflatable Canaries would surely have put the fear of God into Napoleon and his troops.

    Reply
  6. Don Harold says

    15th March 2017 at 10:05 am

    Joe Strummer also pointed out that power is in the hands of the people rich enough to buy it.

    So, until someone comes along with enough money to buy power from Delia and Michael we have to entrust them with our club. I trust them more than I trust lots of the richer owners of many other clubs, I just wish they would appear to have more oomph.

    Reply
  7. Ian S says

    15th March 2017 at 10:15 am

    Bryan Hamilton, Peter Grant, Glenn Roeder, Bryan Gunn (temporary and permanent), Neil Adams (temporary and permanent)….do you trust them to get this one right? I hope and pray I’m wrong and they find the right man. I’m not too hopeful though.

    Reply
  8. Stewart Lewis says

    15th March 2017 at 10:51 am

    Ian S #7: Yes, but also Mike Walker, Nigel Worthington, Paul Lambert, Alex Neil to replace Neil Adams (even though he doing best of the relegated teams) – not to mention Alan Bowkett, David McNally. And getting £10m for Leroy Fer…

    Fair to call it a mixed bag.

    Reply
  9. martin penney says

    15th March 2017 at 10:56 am

    #6 Don Harold: Good to hear from someone who knows his Strummerisms.

    Mr Mellor had an atypical background – born into relative comfort and became a champion of the disenfranchised. But he did it with reality and dignity.

    My favourite line was from Clampdown: “Taking off his turban they said is this man a Jew”, which really says it all about preconception and racism.

    But as this site is almost strictly football, I will end by agreeing that the Oomph appears to be sadly lacking.

    Thank you.

    Reply
  10. George says

    15th March 2017 at 11:33 am

    ” The only people who can sort this mess out are the Board”

    Nonsense! – others who ought to have been sorting this mess out, well before now, and who should still be doing so, are the players. If they had, then Neil would still have been in a job, and no-one would have thought of moaning at the Board.

    The Board are only doing what they´ve always done, trying to run the Football Club in as good a way as possible. No doubt they´ll come up with the best candidate they can, for the job. If only the players would do their jobs in the same way, we might get somewhere.

    Reply
  11. Stewart Lewis says

    15th March 2017 at 11:43 am

    On reflection…

    …if Wellington’s troops at Waterloo were (as he described them) the Scum of the earth, I guess they wouldn’t have had inflatable Canaries

    Reply
  12. Ian S says

    15th March 2017 at 11:53 am

    Stewart #8 – Mike Walker was already in place before the Smiths came in, and even you would admit his 2nd spell was poor. It’s not a mixed bag, it is largely a failed track record with a couple of outstanding appointments (Paul Lambert & Alex Neil).

    Reply
  13. Daniel says

    15th March 2017 at 12:17 pm

    I think it’s fair point to say that the Board have had a mixed bag with their decision making over the years. One name I’ve hardly heard mentioned is Ryan Giggs. After watching his interview with Sky in November, I do believe he would be a great fit for us. I know most will say he has no experience but then neither did two of our most successful managers in recent times; Paul Lambert and Alex Neil. He would command respect from all players from the start. His record speaks volumes. He played 20 years under the most decorated manager in British football. Certainly someone the Board should be looking at.

    Reply
  14. Ian S says

    15th March 2017 at 12:34 pm

    Daniel #13 – Paul Lambert had managed nearly 200 games before he joined us, he certainly had experience!

    Reply
  15. Stewart Lewis says

    15th March 2017 at 12:36 pm

    Daniel #13: “No experience”? Certainly true of Giggs, but Lambert had managed for 4 years, and Alex Neil for 2 years, before we hired them

    Reply
  16. Daniel says

    15th March 2017 at 1:14 pm

    Ian #14, Stewart #15 – My apologies, I should’ve clarified what I meant. I meant experience at our current level. Neither had it when they arrived.

    Reply
  17. martin penney says

    15th March 2017 at 1:57 pm

    #10 George: Yes, that’s a fair point in its way, but from hereon in it IS down to the Board and I try, like all of us, to deliberately avoid nonsense if at all possible.

    The players under Alex Neil did what they did or didn’t do.

    Not a single one of them has a relevant say on where we might go from here. Not even Captain Russ, unless there’s something in the pipeline I’m ignorant of.

    Reply
  18. martin penney says

    15th March 2017 at 2:09 pm

    #13 Daniel: Ryan Giggs might well be out there, but I’ve not seen many overtures towards him from clubs to welcome him into management.

    I reckon he would be one heck of a risk and there are a couple of reasons he may not be quite such a good “fit” for us anyway.

    Reply
  19. George says

    18th March 2017 at 8:53 am

    Morning Mr. Penney, sorry this is a little late, but I wanted to get back to you. ´Nonsense´ was perhaps slightly harsh, but the point I was making was, that the board have relatively little influence when deciding on the next managerial appointment, they can only choose the best available, in their opinion. Just how successful he becomes is entirely in the hands of the players. We´ve seen it so many times, managers who are cream of the month in September suddenly get the boot in December, simply because the players stop performing, results dry up, and he has to carry the can.

    I´m afraid I disagree with you when you say that not one single player has a say on where we go from here. They have very much a say, in fact they are the only ones who will decide the shelf life of the new manager, and also where the Club finds itself, a year or two years from now.

    Reply
  20. martin penney says

    19th March 2017 at 12:29 pm

    #19 George: I appreciate your viewpoint and thanks for the ‘Mr’:-)

    What I was trying to say is that the players cannot influence (or surely should not be able to influence) the Board’s choice of a new manager – or Director of Sport and Head Coach, as we now understand the set-up to be.

    Once these people are in place, the players will have every say. I just meant they can’t choose who the Board will appoint.

    If we make the right appointments and the players as a collective are behind them then we should be okay.

    If not, we’ll have the same debate next season!

    Thank you for your comment.

    Reply

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