One of the most gripping Group Stages in World Cup history is finally over, but it refused to go without a fuss. Just before it bowed out for good, 2018’s first phase claimed an almighty scalp and hurtled off into the distance before anyone had quite realised what it had done. All things considered, however, […]
Archives for June 2018
Our family: fractious and overwrought at times, but bound by a fierce and shared passion
Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern – like bad wallpaper P.J. O’Rourke Norwich City forums, even ours, fit the description painfully well. A visiting Martian coming to MFW (as he no doubt would) might be forgiven for missing that we’re drawn together by a powerful, shared passion – in […]
Mo’s finally in the house! With the midfield starting to take shape, now for a striker (or two)
There’s still plenty of work to be done in this transfer window and without doubt we’ll all breathe easier when we see some strikers through the in-door, but there was one player in particular whose signature I felt was essential to the success of City’s campaign and that was Moritz Leitner. When he originally signed […]
Tangible improvements needed as the Daniel Farke era enters its second season
The buzzwords that accompanied last season were ‘transition’ and ‘patience’. Yet, these need to be exchanged for ‘progression’ and ‘entertainment’, as Norwich supporters demand tangible improvement on what they consumed last season. With the sale of key protagonists in Josh Murphy and, perhaps more notably, James Maddison, the mood amongst the supporters is unsurprisingly pessimistic. […]
WORLD CUP 2018 – ‘Power Rankings’ : Round Three
Normality has been somewhat restored in the last few days, with wins for Brazil, France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany, just about. But Argentina’s comprehensive loss to Croatia means the first giant could still be about to fall – and as such La Albiceleste have plummeted down the rankings. If one team goes down, another must […]
Remember those heady days of being linked with, but not signing, Toivonen, Alderweireld and Koulibaly? Weird eh?
I didn’t watch Germany v Sweden live – a family meal for once took precedence over football – but a break for “some fresh air” did permit me and my son the chance to escape for five to catch up on latest score. You know what I’m going to say… BBC Sport: Germany 0, Sweden […]
It’s all about recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. Good luck Mr Webber!
‘Positive recruitment leads to positive policing’. I was sat in a hot as hell office in New Scotland Yard as PC Tony De Souza and I knocked out a press release. That phrase meant nothing to me but after I’d grudgingly agreed it could be the intro and our “jackets” were off, Tony and I decamped […]
Birmingham away it is on opening day. And so it begins…
And so it begins again, this time at St Andrew’s. For the traditionalist football supporter, fixture release day earmarks the beginning of the season, and as they scan the list for certain games, with personal or historical meaning or just through curiosity, that feeling of excitement is pertinent as they scan for games where collecting […]
Madders outgrew us in super-quick time but the money must be used (and spent) wisely
Thud. Thud. Thud. Followed by wheeling away doing the aeroplane celebration, innocently singing It’s Coming Home as I heard it on the radio in the car. That is one of my first real footballing memories. It was the summer of Euro ‘96 and I was kicking a ball against the side of the house Dad was […]
It may have been brief, but the Maddison star shone brightly while he wore the yellow and green
I go back a heck of a long way with Norwich City transfers out. At 60 years of age I guess that’s only natural. I was gutted when Flecky was sold and really disembowelled when Mr Chase dispatched Chris Sutton through the door to Blackburn for £5 million despite his pre-sale denials. Similarly, I did not want […]
WORLD CUP 2018 – ‘Power Rankings’ : Round Two
Russia kicked off proceedings last Thursday by trouncing Saudi Arabia, despite apparently being the worst Russian side ever, before Germany deservedly lost 1-0 to Mexico (they were lucky to score nil) and Brazil and Argentina were rightly held by Switzerland and Iceland respectively. All this means that of the top seven in this week’s ‘power […]
Josh out, Marley out, BBC Sport nonsense about Godfrey and the latest suitor for Madderz
Those of you who tweet (I appreciate a lot of you don’t) will be familiar with the conundrum that arises every time a City player is sold. To continue to follow or unfollow. Of course it’s daft, but for me there is no dilemma to be had. Once a City player becomes an ex-City player […]
WORLD CUP 2018 – ‘Power Rankings’ : Round One
And so, it begins… well almost. Before a ball has been kicked, this is how we rank the 32 teams. You may consider this is pure nonsense (we specialise in it). Feel free to disagree, in fact we insist. 1. Brazil A nation desperate to right the wrongs from four years ago, when the Seleção were […]
City in detail 2017/18 – Part Three: Formation, formation, formation
In my final analysis piece based on the information generated from last season, I wanted to look at the formations and tactics employed by Daniel Farke and reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Farke made a statement when he joined that he wanted to establish a way of playing that everyone would recognise as […]
WORLD CUP – ‘Power Rankings’: An intro…
It’s been a long four years. Since Mario Goetze poked in Germany’s winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final, we’ve had two general elections, voted to leave the European Union and seen a reality TV star elected as leader of the free world. Norwich, meanwhile, spent a season in the Championship just to make […]
City in detail 2017/18 – Part Two: The Engine Room
In my last article I looked at the goals that Norwich scored and conceded last season which gave us a glimpse into who is helping create goals and who was responsible for letting them in. Now it’s the turn of the defensive midfield area: The Engine Room. Daniel Farke employed a variety of formations last […]
£10m for Josh, say £20m for Madders but we’ll still be scratching around for frees and bargains
The Romans were well clued up. Even Monty Python acknowledged that. They had a double-headed God called Janus, a household deity who was capable of both good and evil. Which neatly brings me to the sale of Mr Joshua Murphy. No messing around, to get ten million quid for him is brilliant. A great sale […]
City in detail 2017/18 – Part One: The Sharp End
In part one of three, Andy takes one final look back at the stats of last season… ****** As regular readers will know I love a bit of analysis. And as year one of the Farke era has drawn to a close, we aren’t going to rip the plans up and start again as we […]
Football has eaten itself. The bubble will soon burst and the vultures are circling
I’ve been thinking about writing this article for some time and simply not found the time, but the situation at Aston Villa gave me the final push I needed. I’m finding myself more and more frustrated with the way money is impacting the game I love. It’s felt to me that it’s been spiralling out […]
So, what was it that made you fall in love with the beautiful game in the first place?
It’s a cliché question. Why do you love the game? But it’s a good one. We all have a reason why we love the game. We may not love the game right now but there’s a reason why we all fell in love with a ball being kicked around by 22 players for 90 minutes […]