I can’t have been the only Norwich fan who sat awestruck last Sunday evening as Manchester City knocked three second-half goals past Tottenham with mind-boggling ease.
It reminded me of Mayweather v McGregor back in August; City danced around their opponent for a while, even making you question if it actually was a fair contest. Then two quick jabs, from Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling, before Spurs could even catch their breath, Sterling had knocked them to the floor.
Everything they do is so perfect, so precise, that you even wonder whether the England winger meant to miss the ball to set himself up for the Blues’ fourth. It certainly makes you consider whether, like Mayweather in his career, they will go unbeaten this season.
But, if you cast your mind back to last year, City, and in particular Pep Guardiola, were seriously called into question.
Despite finishing third – a perfectly reasonable effort – they struggled to beat the better teams, losing to Chelsea twice, and taking just one point from both Spurs and Liverpool (the remainder of last season’s top four). Supporters and pundits questioned whether Pep could actually deliver dominance in a league with more than just a couple of teams with ambitions of the title. He has answered those questions now.
Much, of course, to Jose Mourinho’s annoyance (although to Jose’s credit, he is always annoyed). As has been well-documented, Mourinho has won the league in his second season at every club he’s been at – Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan and Real Madrid. He has typically been pretty successful in his first season too, although he did fail to win the league on his first attempt with Madrid, Chelsea (the second time) and Manchester United. He improved all three teams the second time around though, even if United won’t be winning the league this year.
You probably know where I’m going with this.
Much closer to home, Nigel Worthington won just 34 points from his first 26 games in charge, up until the end of the 2000/01 season (a figure Norwich are roughly likely to attain from their first 26 games this season). Even the following year, City took a modest 58 points from their opening 39 games, before that remarkable seven-game run that took us all the way to Cardiff. Despite losing that day, we never looked back. Worthy took a struggling team and turned them into champions.
There are not currently any great calls for Daniel Farke’s head. The Barclay were even singing his name during the match with Sheffield Wednesday but there are serious murmurings of discontent, especially on social media, with supporters questioning why the board and Stuart Webber are seemingly sitting idly and watching this season pass us by.
It is really, really frustrating, but there isn’t a whole lot they can do right now, other than sack the manager, and they definitely shouldn’t do that. (For the record, I’m sure Webber is working round the clock to ensure this upcoming transfer window goes better than the last one.)
Eighth place and 70 points greatly flattered Norwich last season. The mood around the club was fairly toxic, and, even though we had a great home record we were still outplayed by the best teams at Carrow Road (Huddersfield and ten-man Fulham spring to mind as particularly humbling). And I’m sure I don’t need to remind you how bad City were away from home – we won two games on the road between October 2nd and the end of the season.
Farke was given his first manager’s job at Lippstadt 08, in April 2009, but only led them to promotion from the sixth tier of German football in 2012, before getting them immediately promoted again, in 2013. (In the interest of full disclosure, they were then relegated but when Farke was appointed the club was fully amateur, whereas the German fourth tier is semi-professional and features many of the largest club’s reserve sides.) Following that he led Borussia Dortmund II to second place in his first and only season.
This isn’t to say he’ll ever get Norwich promoted but the likelihood is drastically decreased if he’s never given a reasonable chance to. Short-termism is hardly a modern phenomenon in English football, but we’ve seen this week how it results in Swansea sacking one manager every December, amongst a host of other clubs who discard coaches with the kind of apathy Nelson Oliveira currently displays most match days.
Of course, improvement over last season has been limited/non-existent but with the turnover of players and change in playing style, things were always likely to get worse before they got better. We at least got a sneak peek at what the new, improved Norwich City would look like, for eight games anyway. Tomorrow night, is the ideal time to start showing that again.
Performances have already picked up against Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds but the next four games present a real opportunity for our season to get back on track: Brentford at home tonight, followed by Burton and Birmingham away and Millwall at home. I’m not suggesting we will win them all, but we can.
If not, there’s always next year. We’ll be much better then, I promise.
NB: I was delighted to read the other day that the club are starting an LGBT+ team for next summer. Even if we don’t have a club to be too proud of on the pitch at the moment, we should all be immensely proud of the club’s off the pitch efforts for equality.
Merry Christmas!
Hi Jack
This has been an excellent read and a great summary on how you think the project is progressing.
I am all for the current system to continue and try to be optomistic that Farke and the team will show more of what has been seen in the last few game with a bit of luck in taking the chances created.
I can’t see Delia and Hubby leaving their plantational PASTRY TOWER and go to the bank to loan any money for recruitment but then we can all wish or dream for something really special at this time of year.
Thanks Alex! Your kind words are very much appreciated.
I doubt there will be too much investment in the future but the whole point of this recruitment model is to find good value abroad. If they can do that more effectively that would certainly help. Webber managed it at Huddersfield so we know he can.
You are of course correct in the selection of examples you have chosen but closer examination will show it can work both ways. City stuck with the failing Neil and were relegated costing the club millions in the process. Palace changed manager and survived, Everton are on the upward route etc etc. The financial implications are so great these days sometimes a “bounce” from the change is worth it in the end.
I don’t think we are in that position yet and I am trying to be patient but Farke’s success in “amateur” football counts for nothing now. The next few games will be crucial in my determination of the way forward. I would expect a minimum of 8 points to keep the project on course. I do want the project to succeed but when the manager gives his appraisal of how games have gone I sometimes wonder if iFollow are showing the same game. I remain patient but worried.
You are correct too Cyprus Canary and obviously there is no formula for success. I’ll stick to my belief that Farke will come good for now but there is every chance that I am wrong of course! I too would hope for at least eight points from these games but don’t really see us getting promoted this season anyway if I’m honest. Stranger things have happened though.
Jack – You’re very brave to promise that next year will be much better given that this year’s £30m parachute payment won’t be repeated.
Stop worrying about parachute payments; currently 2 of the top 10 have them.
Of the rest several are not being bank-rolled any more than we are, including that lot down the road and the “failing” Alex Neill’s current employers.
Agreed. I’d imagine there are few professionals who, when given cheaper, poorer quality tools, do a better job.
Well there seem to be quite a lot in the top half of the Championship managing to do exactly that right now don’t there?
I have to agree with Keith here. Plenty of clubs in the Championship this season are proving that you don’t need a big budget for success. We had a whole collection of players on big money last year and it got us nowhere. Money helps but only when spent wisely. You can get promoted on a shoestring in this division, as has been proven many times.
Having said that, we could of course do worse. But I believe we have the right man to take us forward.
The Norwich City board are the antithesis of Trigger Happy. Even when the time does come for the button to be pressed, Delia can use her veto – which she used on occasion – potentially costing the club many many millions.
I’m not calling for Farke to be sacked yet, but if we get very little from the Xmas/New Year period, then it’s going to be harder to justify him remaining as head coach.
Farke employment smacked of The Peter Principle. We all want him to succeed and he seems like a nice guy, though ultimately that does not matter. Football is a results business and the fans aren’t getting the results, though my theory from last season of the majority shareholders wanting Championship consolidation and nothing more looks to have sadly come true.
They not only don’t want to eat from the top table, they despise it.
Should we happy to remain at best a permanent fixture in the Championship and nothing more? I can’t see how that is going to change for the better under the current set-up, so it is very much a case of going through the motions.
Robert Mugabe was ousted at 93, so there is always hope.
There is no chance of Farke being sacked now, and no justification for it either, which is the point that Jack is making.
Farke’s employment does not smack of the Peter principle whatsoever because at the moment it is untested as to how far Farke can go in his career. And I’m not sure who you think is only ‘going through the motions’. Neither Webber nor Farke have given any indication whatsoever that that this is what they are doing, nor Steve Stone for that matter either.
We might have not got the results we would have liked so far from this season, but City have not been standing still that’s for sure. It’s not only about the first team; one only has to look at what is happening with the Academy and U-23 team to see that a great deal of changes have been made. Football may be a results business but this season has always been from the beginning about investing in the future, which is why Farke is going nowhere this season. Next season will be the time to judge him more fully, not this one.
It is rumoured that the Smiths have be known to frequent the local bar after games to talk to home supporters in the not to distant past.
If they did it after recent games they would have gone home knowing how they felt about the no investment story.
How anyone that runs a business can close the doors to investment without seeing what is on offer completely baffles me, one day when they really need some help it just might be to late.