OK, let’s get this first bit over with.
The changes at Norwich City a year ago were far more radical than the club had ever made before; more radical than most clubs will ever make. In the wake of that, an up-and-down first season was inevitable.
The good and bad of this season – and there’s clearly been both – have been dissected on this forum and others, and don’t need repetition. (Actually, they might need repetition if they weren’t accepted and acknowledged by the club – but they are.)
Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke are trying to build a new team. We’ve seen some of Stuart’s skill in that regard, but the financial constraints and challenges are also well known and discussed. Stuart and Daniel have willingly taken on the task; that’s good but doesn’t make it any easier.
It’s been a transition season, end of. As we move towards the third of the four transfer windows Stuart told us it would take to create their squad, we hope it’s a transition to better things. Some fans find grounds for optimism, others for pessimism about the seasons to come.
We’ll have to wait and see.
So, let me break with my usual approach. Instead of encouraging people to look at the season in totality, as I normally do, let me reflect on some individual bits.
To start with, my most and least favourite moments of the season. Often a tough choice, this year they’re as clear as James Maddison for Player of the Season.
The low point was August 26 at Millwall, watching our team disintegrate in the face of the most predictable opposition in the league.
Having a pre-match drink with fellow MFW columnists Gary Field, Robin Sainty and Anita Byrne-Phillips was always going to be a pleasure. I just didn’t realize by quite what a distance it would be the day’s highlight.
Even with my famously sunny disposition, I couldn’t argue with those leaving the ground saying, “carry on like this and we’ll get relegated”.
Fortunately, we didn’t carry on like that.
The season highlight is equally clear, though it only brought us a point. It wasn’t just a stoppage-time goal against Ipswich; it was the manner of it. Grant Hanley chasing a lost cause to the byline, the most delicate of turns and crosses for Timm Klose’s thumping header.
Cue mayhem: Harrison Reed off the bench like Usain Bolt, Angus sprinting the length of the pitch, 25,000 City fans going crazy, Hanley giving it big to the Ipswich section. It doesn’t get better than that.
Actually, it almost did. I’m not a malicious man, but some of the social media follow-up from City fans to their Ipswich counterparts was priceless:
“Two minutes of hope and expectation, then it all suddenly ended. Now you know why your girlfriends complain”
While those are the most vivid memories, the season has given us other lowlights and highlights.
The sterile home performances before Christmas tend to blur into one, while the painful away performances are now thankfully rare enough to stand out individually, QPR being the recent one.
On the other side, I won’t in a hurry forget sitting on a paddlesteamer in the middle of the Mississippi, with intermittent internet connection, following the endless latter stages of our gutsy wins at Middlesbrough and Reading. Incredible to think they happened within a month of Millwall.
And I’m pretty stunned at the quality of some of our signings, given how little Stuart and Daniel have had to spend on them. If Tom Trybull had stayed fit, he’d have been challenging for second or third in Player of the Season. If Mario Vrancic continues the adaption he’s shown to the demands of the Championship, he could be a stand-out next year.
If we could somehow engineer a deal to keep Moritz Leitner beyond the end of this season, I’d dance a Wes-worthy Irish jig.
Speaking of which….
We’ve now had it confirmed that this is the end of Wes’ time as a Norwich player. Yes, some of his late substitute appearances have been sparky enough to prompt calls for a starting spot. In hard reality, though, when he’s started this year – home to Burton, away to Bolton and others – he’s struggled to make the impact he used to.
As with Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, though, this isn’t the time to talk about recent decline. It’s time to celebrate the fantastic contribution he’s made to our club – through thick and thin, in three divisions – and the pleasure he’s given to all of us who love football and its skills.
He’s shown us the beautiful game, and we want to say thanks. Unlike one or two of his predecessors, Daniel Farke ‘gets’ that kind of thing. I reckon we’ll see Wes playing a role – maybe a significant one – in Saturday’s game.
Still thinking of Wes and football skills, a final thought. We all know City’s passing has to be more incisive next season. But fundamentally, is a passing game any recipe for success in the Championship? Or is it, as many say, better in this division to lump it forward?
Norwich are apparently third in the table of most passes made in the Championship this year. The two ahead of us? Wolves and Fulham.
Knowing Wes’s character, it came as no surprise to read his heartfelt wishes to our club and Daniel Farke in his open letter. All that was missing was an Irish blessing:
May good luck be your friend, and may trouble be a stranger to you.
Perfect.
An excellent read for a gloomy morning.
I agree with your highlight of the season – it was even more satisfying than James Maddison’s screamers and the finish from Josh Murphy against Villa.
The Moritz Leitner issue will be interesting as there are the usual factors to consider – money, an agent and the wishes of the vendors. A little like trying to buy a house you know you can’t really afford, perhaps?
I won’t join you in your jig but would be thoroughly delighted if we could somehow sign him.
We are in the midst of transitioning from a cheap skate club with a decent chance of going up and staying up for a bit to an even more cheap skate club that will see promotion as a massive achievement with absolutely no chance of staying up.
The board will see is as the perfect opportunity pat themselves on the back for doing it on a shoestring, as long as we don’t head for league 1 or administration.
Great.
Top of the morning to you, Jeff. Nice to see the cloudy weather hasn’t dimmed your sunny outlook.
As always, an enjoyable article.
Tom Trybull is an interesting one. Clearly a highly effective player when fit… but is he one of these players who is injured more often than not. I’m concerned that may be the reason we were able to get him in the first place & that this could be the norm.
Twenty years of ownership and we have arrived at this summary.
Time for a change at the very top is long overdue before we get used to accepting avoiding relegation as an achievement.
Wes should have a word with the owners and point out how you can leave with dignity.
A good précis of the season I certainly agree with the Ipswich equaliser, what a great moment. Wes has been great but all careers come to an end. I wish him well. Finally, cheer up a little bit John F
I try to remain cheerful but watching our clubs decline makes it very difficult.
The prospect of life without Maddison and the money being wasted propping up our owners inability to fund the club only exacerbates matters.
It is very hard to put a positive spin on this season. Some changes have been necessary, but on the whole it is difficult to see how the club can progress forward from its current position, which suits some more than others.
Unfortunately @JohnF, I don’t envisage anything changing much at ‘the top’ in the next 20 years, as D&M appear to have pretty much said that their shares will pass to their nephew.
Money doesn’t always bring rewards – just look at the bottom 4 clubs in the PL – Swansea, Saints, Stoke and WBA and how much money they’ve had lavished on them by wealthy owners. Saints, in particular, have also earned quite large sums of income from sales of star players.
We have an interesting few years ahead I feel.
Ed, I think you’re right – the succession planning has been laid out (irrespective of personal views about how it was done) and is highly likely to be implemented.
It will only be altered if D&M have a change of mind, which seems highly unlikely, or the mood change of the Canary fans base shifts significantly from where it presently is – which seems equally unlikely in the foreseeable future.
Are you happy that we are using the Auxerre experience in 1996 as asuccession plan in modern day football?
JohnF, my personal happiness is irrelevant here. As an aspiration, or ideology, it seems sound; however, of much greater relevance is the consensus from within football that academies aren’t really fit for purpose in terms of providing a pathway for young players to first team football.
Have you seen where Auxerre are now!
I suspect we are not far from the King like ascension to the throne by the lucky nephew. Nepotism and a continuation of the dynasty of failure won’t sit well with the majority. Then, finally, we will see long overdue change.
How one can gloss over this seaso as ” highs and lows” is beyond belief. Has nobody realised yet that our home form is in fact worse than that which Roeder and Gunn dragged us into the third division with? With the squad available it shouldn’t be beyond the wit of a decent manager to eke out a top six finish in this league, given the large amounts of dross above us in the table.
The trepidation felt by a huge proportion of the support is laughed off by those who cling to hope, without any basis in fact or evidence that things will improve.
Come August, a repeat dose of this turgid fare and continuation of this cycle of struggle will not be tolerated. You’ve had a year off – now deliver.
Spot on Chris,
You’ll soon be told to cheer up!
? perfectly happy John, apart from with the state of Norwich city FC.
How the flying feck is this nepotism?!?!?
Where will your assets and belongings go when you pass on? To a random nobody, or to your family?
When you hypocrites wake up and realise that DS & MWJ are doing nothing different to what you would do yourselves, the better we’ll all be.
Therefore, is it better to get Tom Smith involved now, so he can be up to speed for when it happens, or is it better for him to come in cold and take control with no experience?
This is the first season in a long while where we’ve finished slightly lower than par.
You chose Norwich City. You therefore accept the bad, as well as the good.
If you can’t accept the inevitable small pains or you’re not prepared to get behind the club, you shouldn’t be allowed to embrace the highs (eg) of Wembley.
I’ll be very mild here. I wouldn’t follow anything that Smith and Jones contrive, merely because they contrive it. Which pushes me out of your sightline.
Tom Smith? It’s at that point I give up.
I’m no hypocrite, merely an NCFC supporter who writes a bit.
Super. When do I get put in your will then?
Firstly, there’s a rule that no one person can have more than 50% (I think) of the shares. That’s avoided by Delia as they split it between husband and wife. Which in itself is a bit dodgy. But, assuming they are continuing to use this work around, Tom isnt going to be the only recipient.
Who else is? His wife? What are the ramifications here?
David, your statement that no one can own more than 50% is simply wrong and your claim that joint ownership is some sort of wheeze to get around this is completely inaccurate.
Okay Gary. I have read this on hear countless times and not once have I seen anyone suggest otherwise. But if this is the case I stand corrected.
Sorry to throw you under the bus Gary, but…
https://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2017/12/19/it-can-be-done-they-are-out-there-you-just-need-to-want-to-find-them-in-the-first-place/
“When the time comes for Delia and Michael to call it a day, her nephew Tom will be the recipient of their shares. Quite how that fits with the ‘no one shareholder shall hold more than 51% of the shares’ is probably a debate for another day but – and I stand to be corrected – Delia and Michael currently circumnavigate this rule by their c76% shareholding being split between them both.”
Is hardly a bus, Dave. That was how I understood it, but Gary F has a far better grasp of governance issues than me. If he says it’s not the case, then I defer to his better judgement.
Interesting take on things. Allowed to enjoy Wembley? That’s my choice, nobody else’s.
Mind your language.
Conditional support is an interesting take on things too.
Language was perfectly minded, thank you.
Play nice guys … please.
Well said Chris. Well said indeed. I just wish a few more folks understood the reality..
The fact that Tom Smith was under qualified for roles he has been given by Delia et al within the club, when if advertised internally or externally would have better qualified candidates is the very definition of nepotism.
With that said I agree with your point in so far as to learn the business it is a sensible move. It is also no different to countless other businesses that have Father/mother, son/daughter teams and continuity.
The biggest problems with this are:
– Tom has no obvious wealth of his own so leaves the club in the poor house and makes ongoing decline more likely.
– Learning from Delia et al is not getting up to speed, it is like being taught geography by a flat earther!
Finally it is an arrogant notion reminisent of the board that what ever slop is served up we should just accept it because there have been good times before, we live in a world of choice and a poor product that ignores its customer requirements will soon lose its customers. The disappearance of the ST waiting list should serve as the first shot across the bow that Smith inspired mediocrity may see Binner like decline.
Bah!
Excellent post containing many fine points, General.
Thank you for defining the meaning of the word nepotism as well.
Your assertion that Tom Smith wouldn’t win roles within the club on merit is, I’d suggest, pure prejudice. Very attractive to Chris, clearly, but unfortunately that’s not a measure of being accurate.
Have you actually met Tom, or studied his experience of managing in challenging situations? Please tell me if that’s what your view is based on – I’ll back off my questions.
You’re right, of course, in saying that one thing he doesn’t bring to the Board is money.
Great read – very balanced. More like that please. It’s all well and good having a range of opinions but the overly negative ones bring out the moaners in force and make MFW avoidable.
Highlight for me was the Brentford ‘meg by Maddison – and also what a great away day ground.
Lowlight was taking my entire band to QPR (the drummer, a Canadian, having never been to a football game before) only to stare dumbfounded begging for the final whistle,
Never dull supporting city.. unless you’re watching them at Carrow Road.. arf arf! Here’s to some new signings and some more goals next season! otbc!
Care to elaborate on the band situation Hillary, just out of interest? Several of us who contribute to MFW are musos in one sense or another!
The only Canadian drummer I’m aware of plays with Rush. Surely, it couldn’t be…
Martin, I cannot say too much for now but we’re a young(ish) fledgling bunch, playing a sort of post-punk akin to early Wire, GoF, XTC etc with more modern stuff..
Cut my teeth in the Ferryboat in the early 00’s, God rest her soul.
I’ll keep an eye out for your pieces and let you know how it’s getting on, but I find a love of NCFC and music aren’t mutually exclusive!
I used to play in a band called the Bedsores in London. Not post-punk, maybe even proto. 1976-78. I was the lyricist and was so nervous while singing on stage at sh*tholes like The Wellington under Waterloo Bridge in London I had to have an old “Top Twenty” Woolworths type of electric strapped across me just to keep going. Physical and mental security needed.
Our real guitarist Dave said I played “interference guitar” as on a couple of occasions I plugged myself in by ‘mistake’.
I was the Richey Edwards of my generation.
The Ferryboat was something – last band I enjoyed was Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats at the Waterfront last year.
That’s enough music before Gary (quite rightly) cuts it off. Cheers.
Nope … very happy to facilitate this music chat; we are careering toward the close season after all. A music piece with a slight hint of footie will make it through the sub from May to July … promise.
Highlights of 2017/18? Jamal Lewis’s goal at Chelsea and Timm Klose’s equaliser against Ipswich. Otherwise completely forgettable.
I remain to be convinced by the “skill” possessed by Stuart Webber – let’s see where we are on February 1, 2019, and if the next two transfer windows have not gone well I think that season-ticket renewals for 2019/20 could be, um, interesting.
And to whoever wrote the headline – every season is “historic” in its own way: 2017/18 is the only Norwich City campaign which began at Fulham on August 5 and will end at Sheffield Wednesday on May 6. “Historic” is a much overused word – and not one which sums up this sorry campaign.
“Historic” was my choice of word. Not to describe the fare on the field – as the rest of the headline was supposed to make clear – but as a pivotal point in City’s history. Whether it eventually works or not, the changes before this season were unprecedented and will get a special page in any future write-up of our club. Hope that makes some sense.
Any excuse to post an “historic” West Wing clip… https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvb1e4-YgRE
Totally agree with the highlights, New Poster. rare heady moments in a nonentity of a season. A few narrow away wins put an occasional warm glow on a sturdy evening but that was counterbalanced by the appalling run of home results,
Highlight at carrow road remains the unexpected and completely out of character thumping of Aston villa, I’d dearly love another unseen goal glut, or what passes for one u dear farke this Saturday.
Season ticket renewals in twelve months time will require a great deal of thought. With no pressure to buy from lengthy waiting lists it might suit people to pay on the day.
This would have the twofold benefit of weakening the boards position and potentially missing the midweek visits of the likes of burton or Bolton.
Stew, it says much about just how bad Millwall was if the pre-match drinks were the highlight of the day!
My memory of that afternoon is particularly painful (although the Southwark Brewing Company was a highlight) as I was wearing a pair of incorrectly sized shoes (marked as 8s, actually 6s) that I’d bought without trying on so that I was in agony by the time I got back to Kings Cross!
Robin: I think that’s called adding injury to insult….
2 highlights for me. Hanley v little 1p5wich obviously, and Nelson in the 94th minute at Molineaux is still providing me with opportunities to have a dig at Wolves fans. I can’t be bothered with the lowlights, too many to mention.
You say: “an up-and-down first season was inevitable.”
Maybe, but was so much down and so little up?
Every new manager generally has to contend with a squad full of failing players from the previous incubant/s, otherwise why would he have been hired? What we did, was hire someone with literally no experience of the English game, from a fairly lowly position having proved very little in his managerial position to that point. For me that served to compound a difficult situation with many more issues.
Much as I want Farke to succeed, I have seen little evidence thus far that he can do so any time soon. In chosing a head coach who needed to learn the English game, arguably he still hasn’t, we continue to set back the chances of promotion or at least challenging for it. Farke may have thought he knew what he wanted for his squad, but that could now be 1 or 2 windows behind, having found out more about the true nature of the championship.
Looking at individual highs or low; for me its hard to beat the Chelsea game and equaliser and the Arsenal game in general. Two great performances against the odds. A number of Maddisons goals and Murphy’s screamer were also great.
For the lows; Selling Pritchard and with him I think went our last lingering hopes that we might gatecrash the playoffs, I so wanted to see him play and in tandem with Madders, we might just have made it, Millwall away obviously and two minutes whilst behind to the binners.
For me it would also be each and every time we set our team up and got the balance wrong. Too often we carried no threat because we were too defensive following the Millwall debacle and since we have tried to open up and score more, we have exposed our weak defensive underbelly again that to my mind has only been sorted by unbalancing the side with too many defensive numbers.
The second set of lows relates to 99% of our attacks, they have been built so slowly that even a CB pairing of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles could see them coming and thwart them with relative ease.
The other high is the championship itself. I love the Saturday 3pm /Turesday night relentless march, coupled with the belief that any individual game is winnable. Too often we didn’t look good and had also ran written all over us, but we still won matches, some against good oppostion. The bad again was performing against those we might expect to beat at the foot of the table.
Bah!
Thanks for the comment, and points understood. No getting round the fact that we’ve lost 15 games this season. But we’ve also won 14 – so have things really been so badly out of balance, given the complete upheaval and far lower budget this season?
My question for those saying we should have easily made the playoffs with our squad and budget this year would be: then what on earth do you think last year’s far more expensive, experienced, well paid and settled squad should have achieved?
I’ve seen enough bad to have concerns about next year, and enough good to have hopes. As I say, we’ll have to – and I think we should – wait and see. Cheers
Last season was ruined by the boards ridiculous stance over Alex Neil. Alan Irvine picked up the squad and guided it to eighth place having improved both performances and results.
Had Neil not been allowed to sail merrily on in his winless ways top six was a distinct possibility. Given the paucity of the play off pack we would have had a punchers chance, Murphy, Nelson, Pritchard, Maddison even Naismith all ended the season strongly. Huddersfield won the play offs without winning a game, struggling by an awful reading side on penalties in the final. It was there, if the club wished it.
Basically I reckon Irvine gave the squad a bit of freedom of expression they were denied under Neil and the guys responded. To a man, virtually.
I know I shouldn’t say this but yes, we should have gatecrashed the playoffs. As you say, we could have done just that with fair weather and a good wind behind us.
And I definitely know I shouldn’t say this but I will. The usual suspects do not want PL and we are stuck with that attitude. It is intransigent, immovable and will not be altered. Flat cap beats flashy suit. Except when the would-be flat cap types have more dough than you or I could shake a mucky stick at. It’s awful.
Restructuring, self-funding, whatever. Alan Irvine didn’t want to know.
Good luck to Stuart and Daniel. I still believe in them.
But it’s funny that as they walked in, Alan Irvine walked out!
Martin, didn’t we read that Irvine wanted to be closer to his family and manage in the north – that lasted long, he is further south at WHU.
Possibly saw what was coming so got out and didn’t SW say he wanted him to stay.
Very true Martin. You don’t have to be particularly good to get into the top table as Cardiff Are proving. You don’t even need to be particularly good to,stay there, reference Huddersfield and Brighton.
Can honestly say that’s the first time I’ve seen or heard anyone suggest that you don’t have to be particularly good to stay in the Prem.
Martin, Irvine wanted the manager’s job, but wouldn’t apply for it (he’d said that he’d never applied for any of his previous managers, always been offered them) and, I suspect, didn’t want to work within the proposed set up either.
Ha! I posted below before I read your comment.
I wish Stew would stop creating all this controversial stuff:-)
It’s not only about balancing wins vs loses. Look at the nature of our wins, lots of 1-0’s, too many dependant on a moment of Madders magic, not a systemic breaking down of the opposition. (Of course in facilitating the Madders magic you could say the system was working)
As for making the playoffs, I genuiinely think we were a good manager away from being able to, assuming Webber gave them roughly the same squad or one tweeked slightly more to their liking.
The trouble is, who is that good manager? Could we get him? would he be happy to be a HC? Of course it would not have been easy, the championship never is.
With that said, last season was certainly one of under achievement, of course we can never know, but had Irvine taken over in January, might we currently be bemoaning relegation from the PL again after a lack of investment?
“I’ve seen enough bad to have concerns about next year, and enough good to have hopes. As I say, we’ll have to – and I think we should – wait and see. Cheers”
That’s were I’m at too, just in a slightly more half-empty sort of way.
Bah!
Hi Alex – it was all smoke and mirrors really.
Irvine didn’t want anything further to do with us and turned around to go down South. It was his right to do so after all.
He simply (if you can ever get inside the mind of a man you’ve never met) read the signs in the sand and said no, ta. And I don’t blame him. Yeah the candle flickered while he was in situ and maybe it will again under Daniel Farke.
Trouble for me is Farke seems like the ideal man to sustain NCFC in the Championship. No ups, no downs. And that’s what the Smiths want, God bless them.
Carrow Road: the grave of ambition.
Great sum up. enjoyable. I admit my jury is still out on the new regime, I fear that new regime will still need the precious cash. We have to face the fact that we are blessed with a board that have neither money nor the will to put it into the club. Which leads me to ask, are they happy with life in the 2nd tier and a lil ole Norwich ? I don’t know
I remember throwing my pocket money into the blanket that was walked round the cinders, many moons ago, perhaps that will come around again. Only now it will come from my pension pocket money. Why that cropped in my grey matter . I’ll work out later.
The only thing I am certain of is we have gone round full circle with the stowmarket duo hold the shares more than once and we seem to end up at the same place. A journey of highs, Lows and the same mistakes. I will give them credit for trying something new, I do fear it might be too late, but it would have been a little better to have more of the coffers left, to give them a slightly better chance in the transfer market .
I wait for the Summer sales to start, I do have a feeling that we might be underwhelmed , far more than anything else, given the departures that many forecast. One gone already in the Irish Master, A place in a team for Wessi’s type of footballer is becoming scarce .
Gunn, Reed, Leitner , Maddinson Tettey, perhaps Klose, some think Hanley and Zimmerman also: I can see Murphy and Lewis Offers flowing in also . But we will see.
As to Alan Irvine, he did say for definite, he wanted to be more than a bibs and cone man, he didn’t cannot recall anything about going north, and that Golf was mentioned too. he said this in one report “I have made it clear I have never applied for a job in my life,” he said. “I won’t start at my great age. If the phone rings this summer, and Norwich don’t want me here, I have a decision to make. If not, I’ll play golf and tennis.
Jamal Lewis at Chelsea for me.
I’m looking forward to next season. I believe it will be a busy Summer at Carrow Road and that, by the end of it, DF should have something much nearer to “his team”.
I am firm in my belief that Borussia Dortmund don’t hire useless coaches so I am fully behind this project. Although QPR away tested me that weekend!!
There’s nothing coming down from the Prem that should worry us, nor coming up from League 1.
A full pre-season with DF’s players, start strongly and even Martin might stop wasting his breath arguing for the Board to go.
This is “Happy Clapping” to the extreme! Either that or a Troll has infiltrated MFW. To blindly support whatever Farke does just because he was at Borussia Dotmund is crazy. Additionally to berate people for disagreeing with the BOD leads to the Dictatorship we have currently. Costa Del Colney may have gone but Costa Del Carra seeps from every pore of the Stowmarket Two. EVERY transfer we make in the summer has to work due to the lack of investment in NCFC from the owners, if we had some additional investment from anyone we could afford to make the odd mistake.
Exactly. To label anybody that doesn’t blindly adore Delia smith and all her family and her works as “adjitators” or simply moaners is puerile. There is an ongoing debate to be had with regard to the direction of the club, its financial situation, it’s status and its ownership that will exercise the support for a long time to come. Like it or lump it.
Let’s all hope farke starts next season well.
Regarding the comment relating to teams not having to be particularly good,to,stay in the premiership, Huddersfield and Brighton are the perfect embodiment of this.
If you need further proof, Sunderland for several seasons scraped by – often at our expense.
There are several very poor sides in the premier league, then won’t all be relegated.
My take is that Huddersfield and Brighton staying in the Prem suggests they are, or have become, half-decent sides. Sunderland, I agree, were the exception. The suggestion that it’s not difficult to stay in the Prem doesn’t stack up IMHO.
Fair enough, we will have to agree to disagree as to the efficacy of those two sides. I will add however that they will stay up having scored very few goals and amassing very few points nod in my humble opinion are benefitting hugely from Stoke and Southampton making a royal pigs ear of it.
Remember, Reading were a penalty kick lottery away from promotion last season. The cream isn’t always found at the top.
Yep; agree to disagree
In recent years the bottom half of the Premier League table tends to be very tight for most of the season. There’s a perfect example of this right now – five points currently separating Bournemouth, in 11th, down to Swansea in 17th position. Does this make them all poor teams?
I think they are probably all well matched teams who all have to play a much higher caliber of opposition each week. They are all from Bournemouth down as good, if not better than any thing the championship has to offer (Perhaps a over funded Wolves, Newcastle or other runaway winner excepted)
Trying to survive in the PL often brings about a survivalistic type of football that we also see in the championship. It often is to the detriment of the style of play and inspite of at least having better players on paper the gap between the championship and bottom of the PL appears closer than it really is.
Bah!
I think some of it is the fact that the big six have become ever more dominant and hoover up all all the points. You really don’t need 40 points to stay up anymore, but that doesn’t mean that teams in the lower reaches of the PL are any worse than they were in the past.
Good piece Stewart. Well balanced, thoughtful and even giving a bit of hope. As almost always and predictably highjacked by those adjitating for change of ownership.
Thanks for all the comments.
As far as Irvine is concerned, I think there’s an important factor that hasn’t been mentioned. A year ago we committed ourselves to a new structure with a Sporting Director and Head Coach. Personally I think it’ll be a rapidly growing trend that we’re in the forefront of. But it’s a distinctly different set-up & chemistry from the traditional Chief Exec/Manager structure we had before. Not all – in fact, perhaps only a minority – of traditional British managers would feel immediately comfortable with the different set-up.
Much still rests on the success of us early adopters. Fail and many clubs will stick with tried and trusted. The game awaits the next generation of managers who will accept the lesser control of the set up. That is of course if they are indoctrinated into it rather than the status quo.
Bah!
That is a very fair comment I cannot argue with.
By God I hope this new structure works. It deserves to and at least so many of us agree it must be granted more time. As ever, let’s see what transpires…
Hear, hear, Martin
As any true supporters, we all want next season to start off well.
The transfer window is really important this year more than most, we have already been associated with another free CB from Germany that we are supposed to have tried to buy in January.
I would presume SW and Farke have already made a list of possible recruits to complete the squad with the returning loaned out players.
Too many players that I would like to retain at the club will be leaving or are rumoured to be, but transfers are in the hands of others and us mere moral supporters can only hope they get it right. Without any outside investment, it will be difficult but we have to hope that SW and Farke can find a couple of gems.
All the moaners that harp on about sacking Team Farke have to realise he is working with one hand tied behind his back and I just wonder what he and SW could do if they have some money to spend, and as Shakespeare once said, ‘that is the question’ – and I have no answer to that.
We all reaslise that he had one hand tied behind his back as anyone in the job would do, but Farke with his lack of knowledge of the British game, or of football at this higher level had his other hand tied back there too.
Whether Irvine, wanted the job as HC, or whether he would have overseen a better season is now mute. But I fancy he would have done, even under those same restrictions, if nothing else because he knew the existing players, new the division and British football. Whether long term it would have been a smart move, we will never know.
Webber I believe in Farke still has much to prove, I do agree that he must be given the chance next season.
Bah!