Several people suggested I copy and paste the piece I wrote on Sunday morning that reflected on the Villa defeat.
Having re-read it, it really would actually work, even to the extent of bemoaning the McGovern/Bennett double-act and their collaborative role in at least one of the goals.
Try it. It’s here. Scary stuff.
So, I can’t promise anything particularly original in what follows, but here we go.
That City finished up second best to one of the division’s best sides was no surprise – the gallows humour of the Yellow Army had kicked in the moment it dawned on us that the next potential humiliation was to be played out on Sky – but I didn’t expect them to reveal yet another new, innovative way to lose a football match.
To concede three goals in the space of seven and a bit minutes from a position of strength was going some even by Norwich City standards, even though the capitulation had an all too familiar ring to it, but to watch it all unfold live along with the rest of the nation was excruciating.
Most of the implosions have been revealed to the wider footballing public on a 30 second highlight reel. Not this one. Every missed tackle, every stray pass, every defensive lapse was played out in all its ‘glory’ for the delectation of anyone who’s not part of the Canary Nation.
It was humiliating – there’s no other way to describe it. And not remotely fun to watch – for us.
Quite the opposite in fact. And one can only wonder what was going through Delia’s mind as the cameras zoomed in for a close-up following the third goal.
The board typically copped most of the flak – and even with a new structure in place there’s clearly some serious soul searching needed from the very upper echelons over the way this club is to be funded – but to focus on the board alone deflects unreasonably away from a set of players who are in far too many cases are unworthy of the shirt.
Some will point to refereeing decisions not going City’s way while others bemoan the lack of fortune on the road, but none of it washes when trying to explain away twelve defeats outside the comfort of Carrow Road.
Yet a simple analysis of Huddersfield, both at Carrow Road in December and last night, portrays the headline differences between the two sets of players: one hungry, vibrant and energetic, the other arrogant, self-entitled and listless. The 5-1 aggregate score is a fair reflection.
And there’s nothing that Alan Irvine or Russell Martin can say to make it right. It isn’t good enough, hasn’t been good enough all season, and won’t improve while the current group of players is still a thing.
There have been worse City sides, and we’ve collectively been through worse as a club, but seldom can I recall watching such a spineless, dejected and dispirited collective wear the yellow shirt – and yes, in that I’m including the 2008/09 ragtag collection of loanees and rejects cobbled together by Glenn Roeder.
Those who deserve and have earned a Norwich City future are in the minority but my biggest fear is the summer overhaul of which we all dream will be unachievable in just a few short months, and along the way there’s also the fear that those we wish to keep hold of will be attractive to others. Given the club’s pending financial position we’re bound to be in ‘willing to listen to offers’ territory.
We’re entering troubled waters and I really hope Stuart Webber is fully prepared for the maelstrom he’s about to walk into.
While a new shape to the organisation has offered hope when there appeared none, to get it right at the first attempt is a big ask. And upheaval of this kind takes time to settle even if they do get it right first time.
2016/17 can’t end soon enough. 2017/18 can take it’s time too.
Excellent read again Gary. You are right to highlight that shambles of a “team” also the role of the clueless referee who could easily have sent off two Huddersfield players in the first half for offences which have sent many a city player for an early bath. But Gary, the Board. The Board.
Quite right Gary.
I could repeat my Monday piece almost verbatim as well, as I predicted would prove to be the case.
Where is the pride?
Alan Irvine seems to have shouldered arms. A degree of respect to him for that – he must know more about this bunch than we could ever imagine.
When he said he didn’t want the job I now believe that was no feint. He meant it.
A good article.
City have been unlucky this season, especially in midfield where an apparent abundance of decent players has been undermined by injury. The only stand out performer has been Jonny Howson, and he has been deployed in different roles to fill gaps.
What we can see after the long series of embarrassing performances is that a number of players are not good enough. McGovern is a decent shot stopper but is not the commanding figure that Ruddy is when on form. Ryan Bennett is a wholehearted player but is not the reliable centre back around whom a good defence can be built.
Tetley has never been a good passer of the ball beyond ten yards and last night stood out on the radio Norfolk commentary as giving the ball away far too often. Lets see what Maddison or Godfrey can do there.
The Murphys are good players but with Wes and Pritchard in the team they can be overwhelmed by the power and strength of many Championship teams.
Three or four new players (lets not forget Louis Thompson) could make a lot of difference. And a prolific striker would transform City’s decent approach play into goals.
Let’s use the rest of the season to blood some younger players. OTBC
There’s no doubt that a clearout will take longer than social media will want to allow, and reality is that whoever the incoming players are not all new recruits will work out – no club every manages that.
However I wouldn’t write off all those currently underperforming.
The likes of Bassong, Dorrans, Mulumbu and Naismith certainly need to be moved on. They are all past-it Premier League players acquired when we were in that League (or on the way to it) who were no longer considered good enough for mid-table clubs. They are, as far as I can see, the kind of player drawing their substantial wages without bothering to earn them. They are also experienced pros and probably cast a long shadow in the dressing room.
But the likes of Pritchard, Wildschutt and Madison as well as the Murphys, Godfrey and Thompson (assuming he recovers fully) still have the talent that will surely bloom if/when the overall atmosphere becomes more positive.
It really does come down to who the new head coach is. He will have to use a fair number of the current squad – half at least, possibly more – certainly for next season. So he will have to be capable of getting considerably more out of them than we’ve seen in the last few months.
Perhaps the most telling comment from Alex Neil, prior to his departure, was that most players already knew where they stood for next season. Seems like some are playing as if they don’t care and I’m sure the two are connected.
Norwich City’s problems were always bigger than Alex Neil. It has often been said – including me for many years – that NCFC is a professional club run by amateurs. Occasionally, we have had people on the board that are better than that, but now the board are a dead end.
There have been so many mistakes this season it is hard to know where to start. Personally, I was worried in the summer that the club – and Mick Dennis I recall praised them for this – decided to keep almost all of the failed relegated squad.
Archant’s Michael Bailey hit on this early on. We had an ageing, failing squad with nothing to prove. And on very healthy wages for the Championship. This was – and still is – exactly what you do not want to get promoted. But as the said journalist hinted at some weeks ago – Is that what the board actually want?
NCFC claim they want PL football – They don’t. It is just smoke and mirrors for Championship mediocrity. It’s been a long held view of mine and some people are finally coming round to it. This season above all shows how not to run a football club, especially one with false claims of PL aspirations.
Nothing has a chance of changing while our board remain. In short, if any Norwich fan supports our board, then you support failure – and you’re getting your just desserts.
As Chris (1) said, The Board, The Board.
They are not fit for purpose.
This whole thing is plain rancid. The board have reduced our club to a simmering cesspit of shame (how very sibilant of me).
I am at a loss as to why people ares till turning up to watch games. It’s masochism served up by sadists.
Release Alan Irvine, he deserves better and with his vast experience knows we’ve gone. Get the under 23 / academy staff, Richard Money, Halajko, Hucks to take temporary charge for Saturday onwards until new appointment made.I think playing the youngsters, in what will be a toxic atmosphere at Carrow Road come Saturday, would be detrimental. A couple may be, but let the spineless, overpaid bunch of individuals that have let down the 26250 + fans that show up every home game see the season through.
Leadership is what’s required from top to bottom. In the board room, Manager, Captain. We’ve some decent players at the club but the dressing room is toxic and resentful. For the first season ever in my memory,(and i’m 60), we have no crowd favourite so they are all expendable.
I’m not bothered about us getting back to the Premiership, no it’s much deeper than that, I just want ‘my club’ back and to get excited again. The apathy has increased to the point where I’m not bothered if we win, lose or draw and I never imagined I could ever feel that way,anyone else feel the same?
The hope is after our low point and relegation to League 1 in 2009 we embarked on the most exciting period in the club’s recent history…. bring it on!
#5 Gary Field, It was bad man management for AN to say that the players already knew where they stood for next season.
Pride should tell them to prove the manager they were still needed at the club but we all know that human nature works in most people the other way, I have worked on contracts where people knew it was about to finish but just turned up and did very little as they knew they would still get paid.
If certain players are hoping to get transferred out of city don’t they realise other teams watching their performances for city might think twice before signing them or even it could effect their current value to other teams also their own negotiations in the amount they get paid.
City should now get the head coach in so that they can make an assessment of the players that are at his disposal for next season and even those that are out of contract just in case he want to keep any of them.
AN should never have sold Bradly Johnson.
Great article Gary, as was Sunday’s, and (am I really saying this??), eloquently put Jeff.
I’m worried that Mr Irvine last night seemed to attempt to absolve himself from any blame for the inherent weakness of character in the squad. has he not been in a position of authority for some considerable time with the first team to at least have tried to instil some into them?
Has anyone any idea why Pritchard was subbed last night? He seemed to be the one bright spark who played at a similar level to Huddersfield, and could have got us back into the game. Presumably it’s to get used to warming the bench again in preparation for Hoolahan’s return on Saturday.
O T B C
Darren (6) “We had an ageing, failing squad with nothing to prove. And on very healthy wages for the Championship. This was – and still is – exactly what you do not want to get promoted.”
Yes, that is true, and it is probably why so many relegated clubs fail to bounce straight back again. The trouble is, as we’ve found with Lafferty for example, nobody else wants them at that wage, so all you can do is eat up the parachute payments whilst running down their contracts.
Our frustration and anger is more than understandable.
Just to say the situation would surely be worse, and our anger even more justified, if the club weren’t taking action.
Perhaps it’s not come as soon as some would like, but the club is changing literally from top to bottom. Stuart Webber’s appointment as Sporting Director will completely change our recruitment approach and mechanics. The new Head Coach (largely determined by Stuart) will oversee a big change in playing personnel and – we hope – mentality.
#8 Colin M: the trouble is, we have our leadership. Some of us don’t like it, but others, albeit in diminishing numbers, appear to virtually worship it. This leadership will not allow itself to be dislodged; far from it in fact.
I have long pleaded for the new set-up to be given a chance, and I stand by that view.
And as I’ve probably said before, I won’t criticise something I haven’t seen.
@Stewart Lewis
“Perhaps it’s not come as soon as some would like, but the club is changing literally from top to bottom”
Not the very top.
Dave B #14: Chairman = new since last year. Chief Exec = position re-structured, Sporting Director brand new. Clear plan, already happening, for transition of Delia/Michael roles and assets to Tom.
Sounds pretty far-reaching to me.
#14 Dave B and #15 Stewart: I think here we hark back to Stewart’s excellent recent article about negotiation.
I understand Dave’s observation, and also Stewart’s response.
Only time will tell what Tom will do with his ‘inheritance’.
I suspect Auntie will be on his shoulder like a parrot for as long as she is able.
She has every right to do so, for good or ill.
Let’s PLEASE give the new look a chance.
However, I’ll be the first one on at them if they screw it up.
Direct action by the fans is what is required. We have to get the message home now. How can any fan enjoy going to games to watch that shambles every week & just blindly stick with it, is beyond me. Those fans that don’t cancel direct debits are endorsing everything the board does. Come on, they are taking you for mindless leamings that just follow, come what may. If you really want change, vocalise it at the games, boycott matches, take action, don’t just sit there, ACT NOW.
Stewart (14) Balls was a poor replacement for Bowkett and we lost two CEO’s in short time, so the structure in my eyes is designed not to challenge the board. Stone is a good man by all reports, but is not going to make any waves. Healthy businesses need to be challenged.
While Webber appears very competent, you feel that – quite rightly – he will use Norwich City as a springboard for a bigger club, so what happens then?
This seems like the last throw of the dice and while everyone hopes it succeeds, we are still lumbered with the majority shareholders who are the root of all problems. Passing the club down to Tom is just naive in the modern world. If the club wants to be a consistent PL player – which I do not believe it does – then it needs significant investment, but that isn’t going to happen unless Tom has magic money tree.
While I do not expect next season to be worse than this one, the club is not set up for where it claims it wants to go unless we get a Lambert Mark 2.
Championship football is here to stay. We all better get used to it.
BenB #17: It’d be nice to let off steam, but what exactly do you want?
Sack Alex Neil? Done
Not replace him with easy option Alan Irvine? Done
Change our recruitment system root-and-branch? Done
Increase professionalism on the Board? In process
The only thing left, I’d have thought, is to force Delia & Michael to sell to an outside investor – assuming there is one – regardless of what that new owner would do to the club.
Is that really what we want?
darren #18: Bowkett was brilliant for us in 2009-10, using his knowledge of the City (ie the investment community) to re-negotiate our debts and give McNally time to sort out the mess.
That apart, on what basis do you say that Balls is a poor replacement?
Stewart #15. No, no, no. Delia does not have the resources to get us, and keep us in the Premier. The world has moved on since she last helped us out; the trouble is, Delia hasn’t. She is the majority shareholder but will not sell. Tom, when he gets the shares will presumably have his hands tied as to what he can do (even if he wanted to). It seems that as long as we are debt-free, nothing else matters. Any business that wants to improve needs to invest and, dare I say it, take a calculated gamble or two. That clearly isn’t going to happen with our majority shareholder. Whilst that attitude prevails, ie safety-first, take no risks, etc the culture throughout the club will reflect this. Now this will apply to the playing staff who just don’t have that cutting edge, and dynamic approach to the game that is needed. How long has the term “Costa del Colney” been around? For that Delia must take a great deal of the responsibility. That is why, for NCFC to prosper, Delia has to relinquish her shares to someone who can (WITH due diligence) get the club we all love back on track. And that DOESN’T mean just keeping it in the family.
– “arrogant, self-entitled” is a good description of some of the ‘fans’ on here and on the other messageboard. They may well just get what ‘they deserve’ when our current owners do go. I’m not interested in Boards. I don’t have a strategy for running a football club. To me its always been rather a lottery. In truth no one knows if Webber is going to be any better than a Crookie or a Butterworth (despite the job title). So please name YOUR Board, and outline your ambitious business plan and investment strategy; and please include outcomes and timescales.
Tony #21: I didn’t say Delia & Michael represented the ideal ownership for us. That would be a benevolent investor with no personal vanity, a willingness to put vast sums of money into the club without strings, and deep concern for the club’s values and traditions.
That’s to say, like the owners of …. er, give me a minute.
Yes, of course it takes money to establish yourself in the Premier League. But the people who complain our owners’ resources can’t keep us in the top flight are often the same who say “we should never have been relegated” last year. You can’t have it both ways.
Speaking of which, I don’t think people talked about “Costa del Colney” under Lambert. If Delia’s responsible for lax times at the training round, then she must also be responsible for the focussed times there (personally, I don’t hold her responsible for either).
@21 – Tony Moore. The only reason why the Club became debt free was because it has spent four of the past six seasons in the Premier League.
Virtually all Championship clubs are loss making and the “debt free” status isn’t likely to be maintained for very long (assuming you believe we actually are – I don’t) if we stay at this level beyond a season or two.
Debt Free?
This only due to the fact that the Smiths and other BOARD MEMBERS don’t want the club to pay back personnel loans and garantee any over spend by the club.
The club is in a situation where we don’t know what is owed to individual board members which is private information.
Also what garantee’s are with the banks.
Another possibility is what is in the loans made by the board as in interest back dated on money’s if the club is eventually sold.
Being a very old supposer and season ticket holder till I moved from East Anglia until these are made clear I can’t see possible investers wanting to get involved they would be put off by possible clauses that would mean them payiny millions over the odds to get the club, Another reason they don’t want to consider selling as all the underhand dealing will surface.
@25 Alex B – the previous loans to D&M and Michael Folger were repaid last summer. Unless they’ve made further loans this season (unlikely) there’s nothing unknown, as you suggest.
Stewart (20) Bowkett was brilliant and was more of a loss than was given credit for at the time. It seems once he sorted the finances out, his role was unnecessarily diminished. He did stand up to board and I believe he realised that he had no influence, so decided his future lay elsewhere.
While Balls is a life long fan, I would of preferred a more low-key appointment who just got on with the job instead of being a ex politician turned celebrity. However, I have it on very good authority that Balls had the foresight to see that Neil was not the man to take Norwich forward last summer and wanted him replaced, but Delia would not have it. So Ed was in an awkward situation of being the Chairman of a football club employing a manager he didn’t want. That would of been a resignation issue if I were in his shoes and I would of had a lot more respect for him had he did.
#27 Darren: I try not to deal in rumour, but if it’s any consolation, I have heard the same as yourself – again from a “good source”.
It might be the same one, though I doubt it, he he.
The truth is out there, but in this case we are exceptionally unlikely to discover it.
Darren #27: Hard for us (let alone other readers) to be trading whispers of what we’ve heard from sources.
For what it’s worth, though, the things I’ve heard about Bowkett don’t align with your view.
I hadn’t heard that story about Ed.
If it helps Gary, the rest of the nation were watching Chelsea-Man City so perhaps things aren’t as bad as you think. However, it was pretty bad for me as an exiled fan whose technology let me me down. I had the embarrassment of having to walk into a pub in Gloucester cap in hand to ask for one of the screens to turned over so I could have the game on. Fortunately (?) they agreed so after displacing a couple of unimpressed Chelsea fans I managed to watch the game with 35 minutes gone. The capitulation was entirely expected but still tough to watch, luckily most were still focused on the Chelsea match to notice!