Christmas time, mistletoe and whine. Yep, it carries on unabounded.
We thoroughly deserved that win on New Year’s Day, we really did.
As Gary has mentioned, Tetbull were superb – I actually think Alex Tettey outshone our first goalscorer – and Josh Murphy had an excellent game. And as for that sublime reverse from Alex Pritchard to James Maddison for the winner – wow! It looked brilliant from the Barclay and must have been even better from the River End viewpoint.
Steve Morison’s strike was something of wonder and/or conjecture – he sure never did anything like that for us. His celebration didn’t rekindle the love I never had for him. Maybe we should have kept Mark Tierney instead but that’s another story altogether.
We fought back, closed them down and played the entire second half like we meant it. Which we did and it was refreshing. Millwall couldn’t – and didn’t – touch us, despite the hoofing, huffing and puffing.
Yet another poor referee offered little protection – not even to Millwall’s George Savile, the only member of their outfit who wanted to get the ball down and play football. I’d like him in our side, but I guess it won’t happen.
So, three great points, and back onto the whines. Or just one in particular in this case.
The great selection debate about Burton. Daniel Farke made a very strange call indeed. Half a dozen changes, then bring on Pritch and Madders in the last 20 minutes to mug them. It didn’t work, obviously.
But very, very many people have suggested that Farke had this selection imposed upon him in order to save our “top shelf” for Millwall.
Not to exact revenge upon them for the 4-0 drubbing but to ensure The Smiths were not booed at the end of the game.
To me – as much as I despise the Delia regime (see previous columns) – this just does not ring true.
I cannot imagine a head coach in the land who would let anybody interfere with his team selection in this manner.
So, I’ll file that one with Roswell and its space aliens, the JFK murder and the strange case of Sonny Liston before his rematch against my all-time hero, Muhammad Ali.
In other words, a load of Jackson Pollocks I don’t believe in. (I know very little of American art, but have an understanding of rhyme).
Anyway, a massive and heartfelt Happy New Year to all our readers and writers.
And as for Cliff Richard, he should have cut Move It and stopped right there.
***
I’d just like to sign off with a short but sweet tribute to John Faulkner – Mike Walker’s assistant coach in two incarnations. I only met him two or three times, but he was a lovely man indeed.
Hi Martin Happy New year to you and a god analysis of the Team Farke.
I god shot down the other day by saying Burton wasn’t a bad as people make out and that city seem to have bad games against them.
With the bad run that Burton was on as well as city’s win against Birmingham I would have gest that Farke would have expected a better result but as it says ACN. Burton are proving to be a few clubs bogie team just look at Sheff Wed better them than us.
Now a Question
1) Will Naismith be loaned to Kilmarnock
2) will Martin go to Glasgow Rangers
3) Will City sign Onel Hernandez
4) Raggett back to Lincoln for the rest of the season
5) will city finish above Ispshite
Bliimey! I actually agree with you Martin, on both the “undue influence” theory, and especially the Cliff Richard point!
The view of all three goals from the River End was excellent. Morrison’s “worldy”
I believe the expression is, was unstoppable, and I don’t believe Gunn had any chance with it, despite some people thinking he could have got to it. Trybull’s goal was great, not least for the assist from the Millwall centre half, whose push on Tom ensured he got his head to it, and Maddison’s goal was brilliant for Pritchard”s pass, delivered instantly when Maddison called for it, with just the right pace on it.
Thanks for the comment Jim – we have been known to agree before:-)
That push on TT only became clear to us Barclayites via Screeny McScreenface after the event but you’re absolutely right of course.
There’s no better feeling than leaving the ground certain that we deserved the win!
“…as much as I despise…”
Shakes head, and awaits the next non-win…
Not too sure what you mean with this one – I’m just being honest with my opinion that I despise – perhaps dislike would be a more sensitive word – the way Delia and MWJ run the club.
My beliefs always take a back seat as soon as the players cross the white line. C’mon, they have to – whatever you might think about situations off the pitch you surely still want the TEAM to prosper.
I guess you think I’m going to do a ton of bricks job on Delia the next time we lose?
That’s a little unfair in my opinion, but possibly the greatest thing about MFW is that we offer and welcome a vast spectrum of opinion.
If you’d care to expand on your comment I’d be happy to hear from you.
Thanks for reading.
Despise is far too strong.
And there are far too many people, unfortunately, who do just seem to await the next bad result so they can carry on with their own personal agenda.
I’m struggling to see what exactly they have done wrong this season anyway. We asked for wholesale change, got it, and cheered it. Now, obviously, things aren’t going as we would all have hoped so far but I fail to see how that is the owners fault.
And, being the glass half full man that I am, I refuse to write this season off yet.
Yes Derek, “despise” is far too strong a word as I’ve already owned up to and deserve to be criticised for.
Writing as we do, things are cracked out quickly and sometimes the head should rule the heart but it doesn’t always work like that in the heat of the moment.
I could complete a novelette on what “they” have done wrong this and every other season in my living memory. But this is not the time or place for those thoughts.
If you wish to continue to believe in the owners and their future intentions for NCFC you hardly need my permission to continue with your views.
Thanks for reading and posting.
Maybe your questions should be on Andy’s school report piece Alex, but I’ll have a go anyway!
1. If humanly possible but where the cash shortfall in wages is coming from I know not. SPL sides (not even my beloved Hoops) cannot afford that kind of cash. My guess is we’d have to subsidise a deal to such an extent that it would barely be worth it. But if, say, getting a small loan fee and £10k a week is considered better than nothing, it could happen.
2. Impossible to say as Rangers have apparently not made an official approach as we speak. I’d guess there’s more chance of this one happening than Naismith to Kilmarnock.
3. Beggared if I know. We can limp on to the end of the season with Josh and Yanic Wildschut anyway, so instinct tells me this one’s unlikely.
4. No. Danny Cowley appears to have given up – he stays with us as a Marcel Franke replacement or goes to one of the Bradfords of this world. I’d like him to stay as he could well be needed as a staple next season when the inevitable happens and Klose is sold off in the summer.
5. Ha! Fulham gives me hope that we might…
I know I’ve got three out of five right – it’s the other two that worry me:-)
If you want a New Year whine, or two, how about some goals down the Barclay end for starters?
As for the Steve Morison wonder strike, hard to tell from the highlights, but I did wonder at the time, he seemed to be retreating from a very deep position, towards the half way line, before playing the ball – was he offside?
I can’t remember the last goal scored at “my end” Gary, I really can’t.
As for any issue of offside, no-one really appealed that I could see and Mr Lino wasn’t interested in any case. Good point though, but I guess the distance from which he hit the shot rather ruled out any other Millwall player “interfering with play” so any decision would have been against him alone..
Like you say, it’s impossible to tell from the highlights. Or indeed from 100 metres away in realtime!
Quite happy with the goals being at my end, Gary!
As for a potential offside, you could be right. I wondered at the time, but that linesman wasn’t capable of making any sort of decision. He missed an absolutely clear penalty, when Maddison was flattened just inside the box, and made a couple of corner/goal-kick errors as well. Pretty averages for officials these days!
Agreed again Jim – the officials were uniformly dreadful. For Millwall also I’d venture to suggest, particularly when Tetbull met Savile, a really decent footballer.
Maddison rarely receives any protection. The way he plays riles DMs and defenders, who appear to think he’s a flashy little so’n’so and put the boot in accordingly. He gets a kicking most matches.
Luckily he’s a tough little bleeder – there’s something of the Craig Bellamy about him imo.
Totally agree re Maddison ‘getting a kicking’ with little protection from referees Martin, but it’s something he’s come to expect and he just gets on with the game. Some other players would do well to follow his example.
@Jim Davies. Your comment re officials is an interesting one. I don’t go to too many games nowadays, but it’s just as well the officials aren’t sponsored by ‘Specsavers!!!’
To back up your point, you only have to look at how referees in the PL got decisions completely wrong at the weekend. I think Man Utd would have had a penalty with most referees, whereas I’m certain VERY few would have given WBA one in the match against Arsenal.
The sooner we get a TMO (ONLY for penalty/red card decisions) or whatever they’re going to call it, the better.
Ed, two years ago I thought Bobby Madely was a very good referee, but every time I see him now, he is making huge mistakes. Be interesting to see how things shape up when they start to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which I believe will be experimented with in some of the FA cup games this weekend. (Mind you, Bobby’s little brother is even worse!)
I don’t understand the disliking for Steve Morison.
He was here at the same time as Grant Holt, so obviously found it difficult to get a consistent starting place in the team.
His nine Premier League goals in one season is certainly not to be sniffed at, and his strikes against Arsenal and Blackburn were particularly impressive too.
Agreed. Fair enough.
Hi Martin
On the 5 questions I can see city trying to come to an arrangement with Naismith to get his salary of the books which might allow either Rangers or Kilmarnock get him.
EDP has said that Martin has been told to find a new club if that is so whiy did they take up the 1 yeat option in the summer.
CJ is worth more than the £1.5m quoted in the papers
Oliveria is pkaying only for himself to get a move don’t think he is or has been a team player.
Germany club has said both Webber and Farke has talked to them and Onel Hernandez about a move.
With a couple more players going out on loan city will be short of numbers.
Farke hadn’t seen Martin play when that contract was extended had he? And potential replacements hadn’t been signed either, or certainly not proved themselves. If Martin had gone then, and they had run into trouble with one of the incoming moves, they’d have rightly been slated for being short of numbers.
Actually if he does go it begs the question as to who is the back-up for Pinto, unless it’s thought that one of the CBs can play at right back.
Happy New Year!
Agree with most of what you put in your article, I have to confess that at half time after watching Morrison’s worldy sail past Gunny Junior’s outstretched arm I had the overwhelming feeling of oh no here we go again!
However, on reflection the team did not play that badly in that first half and were a little unlucky not to have scored, both Nelson and Josh Murphy had really good chances. The second half left me with some hope that we are capable of being competitive and progressing up the league by playing much more on the front foot rather than the frustrating tippy tappy sideways backwards style of the first half (and much of the season). I have to mention Tom Trybull for his fantastic performance, he was my man of the match. Also worthy of note was Jamal Lewis from the 1st time I saw him play at Lowestoft in pre-season I believe he has everything to be a very good footballer and it seems JM seems to play better when they are paired together on the left.
However, we should not get too carried away wiith the wins over Birmingham and Millwall, these are not great sides hence their league positions and with the next 6 or 7 fixtures will be a huge test all of these teams are above us in the league. However, if we can keep the 11 who played against Birmingham and Millwall fit and in form (perhaps with a couple of transfer additions) I think we can pick up points…..hopefully!
Finally, a question with regard to your comment ‘….as much as I despise the Delia regime’, what type of owner would you like to replace them with?
Thanks John as always.
Ha! I’m always hamstrung by my views on this issue but I’ll be as brave as Gary allows.
I would ideally, and I stress the word ideally, like to see somebody – anybody – come into the Club who didn’t run it as their own personal social society.
I have no desire for NCFC to continue as a drinking/dining club for those of a certain persuasion. I’m a massive Celtic fan so I reckon you can guess my standpoint but I do not believe in politics – it pen and inks the club out. That’s Delia’s bad, not mine.
Replacing The Smiths with somebody who really wants to ingest NCFC with some vim would be my answer.
Exactly who? Oh my friend, I cannot answer that one. I only wish I could.
Your disdain for the current boardroom setup is very clear. However, I find myself feeling fairly ambivalent about the whole Delia out debate, over the years I’ve heard it all before. But, I also find during my travels to our away games many supporters of other football clubs are not happy with their lot with regard to ownership. Cynically, the one common denominator in an ownership debate is usually how well a particular team is doing on the pitch. For example, Swansea, West Brom, Stoke, Newcastle, Everton under Kuman, in the premier league and say Birmingham, Sunderland, Hull, QPR, Ipswich (on and off) and ourselves in the Championship none seem to be particularly happy bunnies. Need I go on?
With regard to our present members of the board (current and former appointments) I have to agree that the likes of Stephen Fry, Ed Balls and Nephew Tommy I fail to see what they bring to the table. However, at least Messrs Foulger, Phillips and Stone are experienced business people and I have to say that includes Delia and MWJ who now have over 20 years experience!
With the benefit of hindsight, I put our present predicament down to a player recruitment department that was not fit for purpose. As we all know the club is hamstrung by the acquisition of many (below) average overpriced players during our stay in the premier league and we are paying the price due to long contracts and high wages. I guess ultimately, responsibility rests with the owners, however, my take is that they were led down this path by others. I don’t recall any fans (myself included) saying at the time the club should not go on a spending spree to try and stay in the Premier league, in fact, what I was hearing was ‘at last, the board is showing some ambition’!
Unless some investment is found I still believe that our current path is the only one open to us.
Is Delia’s and MWJ’s time up? Well logically that time must be approaching, due to advancing years if nothing else.
What sort of new owners would I want? To use a cliché, be careful what you wish for! But in terms of credentials, I would take a DS & MWJ 2.0, ie. people who are genuine fans of the club but with much deeper pockets!
OTBC
That’s probably one of the best comments I’ve ever read so I’ll put my cards on the table:-)
First of all re recruitment: spot on. We’ll gloss over Hughton and RvW – buy someone and play him in a system he cannot possibly shine in. Ho hum.
But yes, I was excited by his signature at the time.
Not so about the money Alex Neil frankly was allowed to waste. Steven Naismith and Yanic Wildschut? Fifteen million quidsworth of alarm bells going off in supporters’ heads across Norfolk and beyond. Desperation at best. Add in the unfortunate Matt Jarvis and a couple of others…
…and as you say we are still paying the price. Big time. Neil cannot repeat this financial seepage at Preston; maybe he has become a better manager for it.
Your references to other clubs are pretty much on the money as well. Which leads me to my inevitable conclusion.
I know they’re not perfect and I know we beat them in the Play-off final that now seems light years ago, but I twice had the good fortune to meet Middlesbrough Chairman Steve Gibson. Now he is what I would call a “football man” through and through and he retains justified respect from a vast raft of their supporters.
Maybe it’s my working class origins, maybe just a gut feeling, but I have never ever gone for Delia and Co and what I consider to be their somewhat fey approach to absolutely everything.
Did Steve Gibson ever get pictured in a Sunderland scarf? No he bloody well didn’t ‘cos he never ever wore one in the first place.
Did he do an interview with The Times that included the immortal line: “The fans won’t like this, but…? Course not.
Someone like that is who we need. A REAL supporter, not a pretender who it suits to adopt a yellow and green scarf. If that person happened to be loaded, it would obviously help:-)
Finally, champagne socialism has never appealed to me and I don’t want it at our football club. In the interest of fairness, I wouldn’t want any form of Toryism shoved down my throat either.
Keep politics out of football. We don’t have racism or homophobia at Norwich so why should we have that millstone round our neck?
Rant over and, once more, a brilliant comment from yourself.
Thank you Martin for your very honest reply.
Good call regarding Steve Gibson, sadly as you look at other clubs, finding an owner like him would be less likely than finding rocking horse s**t!
My worst nightmare would involve ending up with characters like Mike Ashley, Marcus Evans, the joker who bought Hull, Flavio Briatore, Ellis Short, Vincent Tann even the Glazers at Man U, and this lot is straight off the top of my head!
Sorry I’ve been rambling I think I’ve just made the same point in the above! But for every Steve Gibson, Steve Parish?? Sheikh Mansour there must the 20 more who would be a complete nightmare.
I know that’s not necessarily a strong argument for not making a change, we would have to be very very lucky to get it right!
Worryingly (and I might do the guy a great disservice because I know nothing about him or his background) I believe as it stands Nephew Tommy is set to inherit our world!! ;-(
OTBC
I was as surprised with the Burton selection as anyone but I must admit it hadn’t even occurred to me it would anything to do with saving the owners from being booed. I felt it was much more likely that he wanted a strong performance at home as that would be the best way to get the fans back behind the team. Maybe Farke should have kept the vast majority of a winning side, but I remember he got stick for doing that against Arsenal which led to a significant downturn in results.
I think that’s the sensible version most of us accept Dave. However there were several comments floating around offering the other view
Now Chelsea’s a game where I don’t mind if he does rest half a dozen of our finest!