• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us
Against the odds, City find form and harmony – and the opposite elsewhere. It’s all rather paradoxical

Against the odds, City find form and harmony – and the opposite elsewhere. It’s all rather paradoxical

10th October 2018 By Stewart Lewis 21 Comments

Please share

How quaint the ways of paradox
At common sense she gaily mocks

Readers of a certain age and schooling will instantly recognize The Pirates of Penzance. Gilbert’s paradox, in that case, involved contracts and birthdays, but he might just as well have been talking about football.

In particular the past few weeks of Norwich City FC.

By general consensus, the game at Ipswich on 2 September was less than a classic; in truth, it was a game between two poor-looking sides. But for Mo Leitner’s strike, we might well have lost it, no doubt unleashing a toxic mood among the City faithful.

Even the draw did little to lighten the mood. We had five points from the first six games, and now faced a visit from Middlesbrough and a series of away games. It looked worrying, before the hammer blow of Grant Hanley’s injury.

And yet. We’ve garnered thirteen points from the six games between the international breaks, and it could easily have been more. The last two games, Derby and Stoke, could have delivered four points – maybe six – rather than one. Performances have got better and better.

After Ipswich, I wrote begging for more time before we made judgements. I thought our performances were better overall than our results and could see some spirit among the players.

I can claim credit for that, but not for much else. I thought we should give more time to Farke’s new players and tactics, but I wasn’t certain that results would pick up.

If you’d pushed me, I’d have said that any revival would depend heavily on Grant Hanley, Onel Hernandez, Kenny McLean and Jordan Rhodes. Yet three of them have missed the entire period through injury, while the other has been on the bench.

Paradox indeed – and perhaps an element of coincidence. But not a lucky one.

Daniel Farke’s signings this summer – plus the players he welcomed back from loan – were designed to give us more options, especially in attacking roles. In the pre-season game at Luton, three players stood out: Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell, and Marco Stiepermann in an advanced midfield role.

In other words, it wasn’t a happy chance that the selections since Ipswich have clicked. Some may not have been Farke’s planned pick for Middlesbrough, but all had been groomed and prepared for the roles into which they’ve slotted so well.

Thomas Edison put it elegantly:

“Good fortune often happens when opportunity meets with preparation”

We’re rightly heartened by the team’s recent performances. In turn, they’re heartened by the kind of support we showed at the end of Saturday’s game. It’s a better feeling all round.

That said, let me defy my “happy clapper” reputation with a big word of caution. If we were in danger of letting negative feelings get out of hand in September, we may be in danger of letting positive ones get out of hand now.

The Championship is a tough league, where plenty of clubs have either deeper resources than Norwich or a fierce physical resilience to the kind of football we play. Just because we outplayed Stoke doesn’t mean we won’t struggle to beat Millwall, Rotherham or Bolton.

To stay around the top six, we’ll need to carry on working as hard as we have, and find ways to make our play a bit more penetrating. We may well be able to do it – we certainly have more options than last season – but it won’t be easy.

In addition to the regular articles on this site, I hope readers are enjoying our match previews based on chats with opposition representatives. Many of them are articulate and insightful; some are disarmingly honest about their clubs.

I’m thinking of the Villa fan I interviewed last year. It’s fair to say he wasn’t taken by the Steve Bruce mystique. Yes, Bruce had presided over several promotions – but he’d had just as many relegations, and often achieved less than you might expect from the resources at his disposal.

So he won’t have been too shocked at Bruce’s dismissal last week. What may have shocked and intrigued him, as it does us, is the Great Cabbage Incident.

Why and how did a cabbage get thrown at Steve Bruce by a frustrated home fan? Did he take a cabbage to the match with the express purpose of throwing it at the manager if the game was going badly? If so, why a cabbage?

Or was it an impulse action – having done some grocery shopping en route to the game, did he reach for the most suitable missile among his various foodstuffs?

Did he go home to an interesting conversation…

“Did you remember to get the cabbage, love?”

“Yes, but….”

All rather bizarre. Paradoxical, you could say.


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Stewart Lewis

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John T. says

    10th October 2018 at 7:57 am

    Another good article, Stewart. May I add another note of caution? Football is a game of such fine margins, especially, it seems, in this season’s Championship. Games are decided by a goalkeeping error, a refereeing decision, a lucky deflection. Whilst I can see the possibility of City challenging for a top-six spot, a run of bad luck could easily see us back in a lower mid-table position.
    It was heartening to see the positive attitude of the fans during and after Saturday’s defeat. (Although a man sitting near me continued to jeer every sideways pass and demand that the ball be hoofed forward). But would that positive attitude survive a series of disappointing results?
    On another topic, what should we read into Steve Stones’ departure?

    Reply
    • Stewart Lewis says

      10th October 2018 at 10:10 am

      Thanks for the comment – very true.

      I don’t have inside knowledge about Steve Stone’s departure (though I’ll be writing a piece about his NCFC contribution later this week). It may be that there’s less to be read into it than some are speculating – sometimes it’s simply the right time for a person to move on.

      Reply
  2. martin penney says

    10th October 2018 at 8:32 am

    Hi Stewart – a very good early morning read, thank you.

    I’m in a strange place on the “happy clapper” debate. When we’re on the pitch I back us to the hilt but I tend to be much more negative about the ownership as you know.

    I’m frankly stunned about the Steve Stone situation. His departure, for reasons as yet unclear confounds me. Maybe we’ll find out most of the truth sometime soon. I hope for his sake it’s because he has got a better offer from elsewhere as I always found him genuine and impressive. Very unexpected, at least to me.

    Your cabbage outro was truly fit for the Savoy.

    2
    Reply
    • Stewart Lewis says

      10th October 2018 at 10:11 am

      Thanks, Martin.

      I’ve been struggling to find decent cabbage puns….

      1
      Reply
  3. Tony Brown says

    10th October 2018 at 10:19 am

    Very pleased the performances have apparently improved, after the games I saw at Reading and QPR, who on the day were both truly appalling, I wasn’t so sure. I still see too much sideways and backwards possession and runs at the front being ignored again and again. So hopefully as you say, things have moved on since then, but by design or accident born of necessity? It’s taken 60+ games, so I’m not convinced by Farke’s philosophy, or lack of. But I’m happy to give him 3 years, so it’s barely half time.

    3
    Reply
  4. Alex B says

    10th October 2018 at 10:48 am

    Cabbages and Kings
    “The time has come,” the Walrus said,
    “To talk of many things:
    Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
    Of cabbages–and kings–
    And why the sea is boiling hot–
    And whether pigs have wings.”
    Sorry Stewart gad to get that in from Lewis Carroll.
    Maybe the supporter was thinking Taylor the Turnip and Bruce looked like a cabbage we will never know.

    Yes after a successful September we need to be careful not to get carried away there are always surprises around the corner and the reference is along came city but let’s not stop dreaming of just what might be coming at the end of the season that’s what football is about dreaming of a happy ending.

    Wether Steve Stone was pushed, poached or left for a new challenge we will never have the full picture as there will be an NDA, so now we have a 3 person committee instead running the club and the strange part to that is it is really a 2 to 1 committee as Steve Webber has his wife along side him but that seem to be usual as she worked at Liverpool abd Huddesfield when he did.

    So the committee could lose 2 members if webber decides to leave or is sacked but it makes a very unbalanced committee in my eyes an the EDP was saying it is nade up of as follows
    1) Commercial Manager
    2) Contracts Manager
    3) Director of Football
    Where is the financial Director or Chairman are these pisitions now redundant in the new setup, just as it looked city were getting a bit of stability it all changes again, I just hope this isn’t the Smiths proving who has the power at the club because this could come back to haunt them big time.

    3
    Reply
    • Stewart Lewis says

      10th October 2018 at 12:28 pm

      I was thinking of that verse too! The Walrus and the Carpenter is pure brilliance.

      I could find a way of sneaking in Kings and Pigs to go with the Cabbages, but couldn’t quite find a place for the Sea being Boiling Hot. Must be my upbringing in Yarmouth….

      Reply
      • Alex B says

        10th October 2018 at 2:27 pm

        Same here Stewart went to Greenacre school and once read the jabberwocky

        1
        Reply
    • Mike Reynolds says

      10th October 2018 at 12:54 pm

      Chairman – Ed Balls

      Finance Director and Company Secretary = Ben Dack

      Reply
      • Alex B says

        10th October 2018 at 2:30 pm

        Sorry wrong title not chairman
        Norwich City Managing Director Steve Stone leaves Carrow Road

        Reply
  5. Alex B says

    10th October 2018 at 11:00 am

    Joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones added: “It has always been part of our vision for the club to create a dynamic team both on and off the pitch.

    “With the talented and dedicated managers and staff we have, we feel strongly that shared leadership is now the best way forward to achieve this.”

    As I mentioned previously maybe this quote shows just were the power lies and they didn’t like Steve Stone getting to much praise for all his hard work to turn cities finances around

    3
    Reply
    • martin penney says

      10th October 2018 at 12:47 pm

      Hi Alex – I should really wait for the fall-out before I make an informed comment but I will say this: nothing corrupts like absolute power. A borrowed phrase I know.

      Just as we’re starting to look good on the pitch this happens.

      It could only occur at NCFC.

      Steve Stone has quit for a reason – but will we ever know the whole truth? I doubt it.

      3
      Reply
  6. Gary Field says

    10th October 2018 at 11:22 am

    Stew, the five points gap between Forest, in 5th, and QPR, in 18th, illustrates perfectly the fine margins of City’s current situation.

    As for Steve Stone, I guess we’ll never know the full version. What’s critical isn’t so much the explanation some feel they’re due, but how Zoe and Ben step up to their new roles.

    2
    Reply
  7. hillarybriss says

    10th October 2018 at 12:49 pm

    Score more and everyone will be happy. That really is the bottom line. I can’t help feel we’ve had our rub of the green prior to Stoke with goals coming via deflections, penalties etc. Not that I can complain but we really need to start putting them away and Pukki was only going to last so long. This is where the gulf of resources + quality at this level = goals becomes apparent between us and the other nearly rans a la Dwight Gayle. Im not a fan of squeaky butt time and goals for has been apparent problem last season and it’s eking into an underlying one this.

    Reply
  8. David Bowers says

    10th October 2018 at 1:02 pm

    A fair post Stewart. Cautious optimism is certainly in order.

    For me the critical next steps are:

    1) Finding out the real state of the finances. With the MD leaving shortly before the financial results are due to be released, are we seeing someone jump ship early or pure coincidence in timing.

    2) Hanging onto the core of our team through the next two transfer windows. Maddison got us through the last pickle, but if our non-staff costs remain anywhere near as high as previous years (and we did just lay a new pitch), a deficit surely remains.

    1
    Reply
    • Stewart Lewis says

      10th October 2018 at 4:10 pm

      Fair points, Dave.

      It’s a bit worrying how ofter I agree with you these days….

      Reply
  9. JohnF says

    10th October 2018 at 1:14 pm

    I’m happy with the way City are currently playing but am concerned about the new committee structure following Stones departure.
    A business should always have one person where the buck stops regarding finance.
    The new structure is an ideal situation for buck passing.
    This may prove to be a cost saving too far.

    Reply
    • Michael D says

      10th October 2018 at 3:38 pm

      Yes, I agree. The ‘new’ structure screams temporary. It is definitely unstable as it is, and I’d love to know the reporting lines within it. Ben Dack as Finance Director obviously reported to Steve Stone before, so assume he will report to Ben Kensell now. The Pink’Un described him as being the COO previous to this, but the club’s own website only describes him as being the Commercial Director. And how does Zoe Ward become part of that triumvirate, with its obvious family implications?

      We really have now replaced a structure that made a lot of sense with something that does not!

      1
      Reply
  10. Jim Davies says

    10th October 2018 at 3:40 pm

    I don’t see why Stone’s departure should have any influence on what we do on the pitch. Most professional footballers would walk straight past members of their board if they met them in the street, as would happen with most employees in most companies. The faces in the boardroom are unfamiliar to most supporters, with the probable exception of Delia, and it’s the same for most of the players.

    I’m not sure why Canaries fans love a conspiracy theory so much. I suppose it’s because we don’t want to be seen to be too happy, in case something goes wrong.

    Don’t get carried away with what’s happening in the background, just give your full support to what’s happening on the pitch (as we did on Saturday, despite the result).

    1
    Reply
    • Cyprus Canary says

      11th October 2018 at 9:33 am

      What happens in the background soon has an effect on what happens on the pitch.

      1
      Reply
      • Stewart Lewis says

        11th October 2018 at 11:45 am

        It didn’t stop three of our most talented young players from signing long-term deals with us.

        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

@NorwichCityMFW latest

Tweets by @NorwichCityMFW

#NCFC LATEST

fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
34m

Astonishing video shows steward take no shit fighting with Birmingham fan - https://fanbanter.co.uk/astonishing-video-shows-steward-take-no-shit-fighting-with-birmingham-fan/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #swans

Reply on Twitter 1560152012716531719 Retweet on Twitter 1560152012716531719 Like on Twitter 1560152012716531719 Twitter 1560152012716531719
thisismccann Michael McCann 🇺🇦 @thisismccann ·
38m

#NCFC are back in action tomorrow night with #Millwall in town - can the Canaries build on a first win of the season after seeing off Huddersfield in my midweek ⚽️📺🎙? You can still catch the best bits on @SkyFootball #Norwich #EFL #football

Reply on Twitter 1560151071103881217 Retweet on Twitter 1560151071103881217 Like on Twitter 1560151071103881217 Twitter 1560151071103881217
pinkun The Pink Un @pinkun ·
40m

🤔 Is now the time for Josh Sargent to kickstart his #NCFC career?

In his latest column, @chris_sutton73 explains why he believes the #USMNT forward took a step forward on Tuesday night👇🔰

https://app.pinkun.com/9216296/content.html

Reply on Twitter 1560150363931648000 Retweet on Twitter 1560150363931648000 Like on Twitter 1560150363931648000 1 Twitter 1560150363931648000
norwichcitylive Norwich City Live @norwichcitylive ·
1h

Dean Smith's verdict on 'underrated' #NCFC star after first win vs Huddersfield Town

https://www.norfolklive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/dean-smith-underrated-norwich-huddersfield-7477276

Reply on Twitter 1560144464936546306 Retweet on Twitter 1560144464936546306 Like on Twitter 1560144464936546306 Twitter 1560144464936546306
radenjack4 RadenJack @radenjack4 ·
2h

Ghost Mug, Halloween Mug,̖ #Halloween #Coffee Mug, Ghost Coffee Mug, Gift For Here 🎇
#euronextparis #fundamentalanalysis #allthesours #s04e10 #siliconvalleyhbo #ncfc #costoflivingcrisis #puckfair22

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1282943713/ghost-mug-halloween-mug-halloween-coffee?t=1660799596

Reply on Twitter 1560132705878061057 Retweet on Twitter 1560132705878061057 Like on Twitter 1560132705878061057 Twitter 1560132705878061057
Load More...

Copyright © 2022 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by