Owing to essays on separatist terrorism in 1970s Spain and atrocity propaganda during the First World War, my contribution to MFW over the past few weeks has been limited.
The timing’s not been great. Such work has coincided with a South Yorkshire capitulation, a West Country display of ineptitude, and the eventual P45 of Alex Neil.
Alan Irvine has been rapidly propelled into the vacant managerial hot seat, laudably accumulating four points in the last week. The club has undergone a fundamental restructure. And remarkably, after such recent and considerable turbulence, City sit a paltry five points off that critical sixth place.
How? In a season characterised by individual incompetence, defensive vulnerability and relentless away day gloom, City have no right whatsoever to even be challenging for a swift return to the Premier League.
We’ve witnessed our team disintegrate at Birmingham, Brighton, Barnsley, Reading, Rotherham and Burton, yet the hope somehow still remains. It’s a crazy game.
The point remains that this current squad does not possess the sufficient character, hunger, nor Championship efficacy to warrant promotion. It lacks leaders, responsibility-takers and players with something to prove. And for the vast majority of this thoroughly underwhelming campaign, it has lacked adept management.
But things have changed. The new and innovative business model announced on Saturday morning represents a significant turning point from our club, terminating the seemingly outdated and recently ineffective traditional system and implementing a refreshed, overtly modern continental structure. Although many may have their doubts, such a reconfiguration was exactly what this drifting club needed.
The additional position of a Sporting Director was the most notable aspect of the transition. For too long, City have been recruiting relentless mediocrity, scouting and subsequently signing players who are not equipped with the requisite ability to progressively take the team forward.
All five of our current centre-backs – the forgotten Michael Turner included – continue to delineate their serial sense of fragility, while other individuals such as Steven Whitaker, Michael McGovern and Kyle Lafferty appear to have no long-term future in Nelson’s County. Further change is imperative.
The announcement made pre-Barnsley only constitutes the beginning. The appointment of a savvy, shrewd and ruthless operator in this new position remains vital, with the later arrival of an expectedly youthful and forward-thinking Head Coach possessing equal importance.
The two must immediately forge a fluid, interactive and progressive relationship, uniting in their vision for the future of the club and ardently striving collectively to achieve it. It’s a tough ask.
But it’s doable. The board are now faced with two dichotomous choices. Ask swiftly, appointing a Sporting Director and manager before within the next fortnight before we travel to Aston Villa and continue to seek sixth place, or allow this season of unabating misery to peter out and launch a slower rebuild before August comes.
My preference? Act now.
We must be decisive. Yes, this group of players have so frequently manifested their inability to compete at this level, and yes, we do appear completely incapable of winning away from home, but we must not neglect the notion that this squad has received poor management. While these players may not be the bunch of Premier League starlets they once perceived themselves to be, they should be achieving so much more.
It’s axiomatic that Newcastle, Brighton and Huddersfield represent the best this league has to offer. But what about the Leeds, the Readings, the Sheffield Wednesdays and the Fulhams? What actually differentiates them from us in terms of the talent inherent to their squad? Not a lot, I would argue. Instead, the respective likes of Gary Monk, Jaap Stam, Carlos Carvalhal and Slavisa Jokanovic have managed with impressive ability.
Alex Neil did not. Under his leadership, City became an outfit fundamentally unable to defend. Although we have often appeared slow and lateral in possession and going forward, the shortcomings of our season lie at the back. Conceding 56 league goals is as comical as my donning of a teletubby outfit last time we played Barnsley.
So I have a blueprint for the board to follow. Be ruthless, appointing a new Sporting Director within the week. Following this, appoint a manager who possesses the ability to achieve some form of immediate impact, instilling this underachieving squad with renewed notions of determination and desire. He must be a motivator, a figure who can inspire.
Make this duo of appointments before our trip to the West Midlands next Saturday. Provide the loyal following something to be optimistic about, a cause to believe in, a reason to be loud and proud and support a team whose season remains far from over.
New managers can make an impact. Players naturally enhance their levels of performance upon arrival. They can function as a substantial catalyst for change. That – I think we can all agree – is something that City badly need.
We all know that Alan Irvine is not the man to pioneer a late play-off push. He is not in contention for the job. All he represents is a form of continuity from Alex Neil, as denoted by the weekend’s conspicuously average showing against a profligate Barnsley. If a new man is appointed by the beginning of April, we can have rational reason to believe.
So please, board. Don’t let this season fade out into one of unremitting mediocrity. Be bold. Act quickly and give the fans a cause to unite behind with eight crucial games remaining. Our run in is hard. But I – amongst others I’m sure – believe that the right appointment could inspire something special.
My recent reading taught me that propaganda was central in fostering enhanced British morale in times of conflict. Exactly one hundred years on, shrewdness and decisiveness from Ed Balls and co could have equally triumphant consequences.
OTBC
Why not have it all? Get the sporting director right by taking sufficient time. Meanwhile ask Hodgson to be caretaker until the end of the season, thus giving added impetus to a possible promotion push. This would give time to get a coach in place once the sporting director is appointed. We can’t afford to rush the appointment of a long term coach. Roy Hodgson should surely command respect.
I think we should all focus on the positives and the best thing to come out of this season. Spikeball.
I agree with you Will. It is certainly possible to have already formed a strong opinion on who the best candidate might be. If we haven’t interviewed any already then it would just illustraite what a useless bunch of ditherers we have on the board. In that Interview I would hope that they would also have sounded out the candidates ideas for a head coach that is available or one that is not, both with well reasoned argument as to why they in tandem could take them forward.
Of course there in lies the problem, arguably the best available candidates have been snapped up as we dithered, so is it now prudent to wait til the summer? Write off the season? Maybe, maybe not.
But could we consider asking Pardew for example to take on the role till the end of the season? We could obviously dangle the carrot of the full time job, if he did well. We could pay marginally over the odds knowing that we wouldn’t need to pay to sack him at the end of the season. Surely worth a punt for new manager bounce?
But I don’t expect anything approaching dynamism or competence from the board so unfortunately we’ll be likely stuck with Irvine till the summer and who ever we finally get in will have less time to assess the squad (Obviously Pardew temporarily will also have this draw back) and will already be starting on the back foot.
But you must live in hope, maybe Irvine can remind them all of the even more inflated salaries they can once again receive if they show a bit of fight and get us back to the promised land?
Bah!
Matt, the notion that City would be somehow undeserving of promotion, I find odd. Being where we are and still in with a shout of making the playoffs is as much a reflection of how poor the Championship is, even having regards to our obvious failings.
Irrespective of where we end up, radical changes are required to the playing staff over the summer.
I don’t think putting anyone in temporarily will help the team or the club in anyway at all. The new people need to be in place before the next game. This would give the fans something positive to get behind, the new people time to assess the squad and then use the summer to make required changes. As for the playing staff, yes I agree there are some players that need to be on their way but the majority have the ability but need a strong leader to motivate them both on the field and off!
Good summation, Will.
Your studies will have shown just how important dynamic leadership is at all levels. Our complete lack of it in the boardroom; at Costa Colney; in the dressing room; on the pitch; and even on the terraces is apparent in the total lack of enthusiasm and drive.
Last season, the squad was quite capable of staying in the Prem, given the right direction and inspiration. Those same players this season should have seen us flying high in the Chump. But too late, we failed to identify the basic lack of inspirational leadership and tactical nouse within the coaching team. It’s not too late to turn it around – look at the table.
And those ‘difficult’ fixtures are not a disadvantage, they are actually an advantage. We can beat anyone if the motivation is there, and that motivation can only come from whoever we appoint as Coach / SD. Without that, our first team squad will continue to amble around without a care in the world – and considering most of them are still on Prem salaries well past their sell-by date, who wouldn’t?
A crazy game indeed, but my money’s still on a top 6 place – if we can quickly find someone with a tactical mind and a big stick to change the players’ attitude to the Bootiful game.
OTBC
Will, you have implored the Board to be both ruthless and bold. There is nothing in their recent history to suggest that they are capable of this, any more than the players on the pitch will successfully defend the back post often enough to stop us losing heavily against some of the better teams we have yet to play.
My usual stance is to grasp any straw of optimism I can but I have no hope for this season.
“Be ruthless, appointing a new Sporting Director within the week.”
Yeh, as easy as that. Us fans demand it, so it must be possible. And make sure it’s someone who will sign us two centre halves, a defensive midfielder and a couple of strikers within days of the transfer window opening – we don’t want one of those clowns who leaves all the wheeling and dealing until the last few days of the window do we?
Will, you clearly haven’t got the foggiest idea of what it requires to make this kind of appointment, and how long it can take.
Actually, you’re a bright bloke so I think you have really, but you’ve conveniently ignored it for effect. Carry on in that vein and once you graduate you’ll make a very good journalist. I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s a compliment or an insult….
Ed Balls has suggested that there are a lot of people interested. What would you like him to do? Make a quick decision, or consider all the options thoroughly?
The Board almost certainly have a good idea of who they want, as you would expect, but they will surely also consider people who apply directly to them that they may not have thought of previously.
I don’t think the recruitment of either Sporting Director or Head Coach will be done in the McNally poaching Lambert manner, so negotiations are likely to take a while.
It assumes too that anyone the Board has identified for the SD role is interested, and then able to move freely – they are very likely to have at least 3 month notice periods. Oh yes, you can get round that with some cash, but it all lengthens the negotiation process even further.
“Be bold. Act quickly…” you say. It’s a lovely soundbite, and I guess most of us would agree with the first part, but in reality the two do not have to go together.
The new structure will only succeed according to the ability of the individuals chosen for those top jobs.
Will – you give numerous reasons why we should give up any hope of success this season. I think the result away to Villa will disappoint those over-optimistic fans who still haven’t learnt from too many away day disasters.
Agree with much of what its said in the piece. Trouble is, wanting the board of NCFC to be bold and reactive is everything that they are not – and that will not change.
This so called new structure – which hasn’t happened yet – will take the club longer than it should because of the very nature of who they are.
When it comes to appointments – you tap the person up and pay the fine. That’s how it goes. With Norwich, we have a open process but football isn’t like that anymore and we play the ‘nice’ card. As John Lydon said – ‘Rules are for fools’
I saw a Vera Lynn complication on T.V the other day. Maybe somebody can buy one for Delia Smith, because we’re living in the past in the way we conduct ourselves. It’s all fluffy kittens and mirrors.
Not sure it’s an issue of boldness.
Once the Board identifies its key target(s) for those positions, I’m sure they won’t sit back and prevaricate; they’ll try to get those targets signed up as quickly as possible.
But practicalities (as mentioned in comments above) are likely to force delay. Also, Ed Balls has made clear that the appointments will be consecutive: SD first, then HC (with input from SD). That makes a lot of sense.
Meanwhile, we haven’t seen Alan Irvine in charge of an away game. Can he inspire a performance of more conviction than our travelling fans have become used to this season?