The incredible march of time dictates that pre-season training for Norwich City (and doubtless many other clubs) means that it’s all back to Colney within a week. Not you Nelson, but everyone else will reconvene to face a serious medical and physical analysis of how they have behaved on their holidays.
Sports science in the modern world dictates that every single one of our squad, including the under-23s, will be assimilated, monitored and, if necessary, instructed to do some extra off-ball work or lose a couple of pounds. Or a kilo in new money.
All will have been given a personal plan to maintain themselves in the proper way over their break. Not all will have stuck to said agenda with complete rigidity and that’s for sure. The wheat will be smiling and the chaff groaning, but within a week all will be sorted.
Daniel Farke and his fellow coaches would not settle for anything less.
Iwan Roberts has famously written about the benefits of getting a bit of pre-season bulk off. I’m sure very few of our contingent would disagree.
We are lucky that the hub of our squad are obviously young natural athletes and I don’t see too many problems arising on their collective return. Certainly not in this particular pre-season anyway as there’s so much at stake for all concerned.
Mayor McLean’s MD 20/20 empties will already have long been consigned to the recycling bin.
I have some personal experience of this situation, albeit on a colossally lower level.
A Sunday side I played for tended to party together as well as play and train together.
One matchday, my mate Chris and I struggled out of my Austin Healey Sprite (remember them?) on the North Weald airfield car park. Manager Cooky (not our MFW Steve) took one look at me, the regular left back, and said something like:
‘I know what you lot were up to last night and most of this morning so I’m playing you in a different position today, Marty. You’re running the line. Or walking it if you’re not capable of running. Don’t get changed and here’s your flag.’
Cruel but fair – I think the first header would have killed me that morning and Cooky recognised that.
Our crop of professionals will not have an issue like that to cope with I am sure.
This week will be key in terms of recruitment. Every head coach in the land would like to have any new faces in situ before the start of pre-season training and Daniel Farke will be no exception.
My hunch that there would be another one through the door imminently came to fruition with the announcement of the arrival of Swiss international, Josip Drmic on a free – a more Stuart Webber signing you’ll struggle to ever find.
Gary G made an excellent take on the David Turnbull situation on Sunday. So he’s gone to the Bhoys and good luck to him.
However, I think we’ve probably dodged the proverbial bullet there and I’m not disappointed at all that he’s gone to Parkhead. After all, a 19-year-old who pretty obviously wants to stay in Scotland and has an apparently twisty-turny agent?
Nah. He’s not for me.
So while us MFW readers and writers can generally eat, drink and be merry throughout the summer and beyond, our footballers will very soon have to get down to brass tacks.
Sure they’re amply paid and enjoy plenty of downtime.
But their self-discipline has to be absolutely spot on at all times which is surely difficult for any youngster, let alone a professional footballer with – let’s face it – cash on tap.
We seem to have a great squad in that respect and long may it continue.
And as for tempus fugit – in just over five weeks time it’s Liverpool. At Anfield.
The Premier League kick-off will be here before we know it.
Morning MR P a nice jog along article. to loosen the muscles. There is no Grant Holt to keep us guessing who ate all the pies, to be fair he soon got back to shape.
It doesn’t seem that long ago we were standing near City Hall watching the new mayor’s inauguration, and consumption of some beverage.
From some of the images my lad showed me from instagram of a few of the players, there will not be much to worry about. For them anyways. Just got to get my mind ready for bit of a bumpy ride as the circus gets ready for the off. Where every pass, kick and spit will be dissected before our eyes, by a team of ex-players who didn’t fancy the hard work of being a coach/manager, rather taking the money on a easy gravy train on Sky, BBC , Amazon or in my case just BT and some streaming
Also getting the right words together for when the said TV companies experts, relegate us before the round thing has been kicked, while slotting us last on all highlight shows.
But still I have the hopes and dreams that we will force them to eat some of their words, not just to eat them, but to ram them down a throat or two in certain pundit quarters.
Do we love it, ? Yea some of the time . Are we looking forward to it all ? Yea Despite the oblivious defeat here and there .. I will still be saying City til I die
Hi N…etc
Yeah we don’t have an obvious Holty equivalent this time around. He was never a slim Jim, but the way he played he didn’t need to be.
Of course we’re all looking forward to it, albeit with maybe a dash of trepidation.
You make some great observations – the only thing I’d question is that with our undoubtedly entertaining style, will we always be last on MotD? We don’t really do 0-0 draws (I can only immediately think of Hull away last season) so we may be further up the running order, for good or ill.
Thank you.
what happened to my handle I don’t I normally do not have to enter anything..
canarylad. ps I did email editor as you previously said
Sorry Lad, I couldn’t tell you – Gary’s our techy guy, not me!
Anyway give me a mail a couple of weeks before any give Cup game and I’ll sort you out – presuming we get a home draw:-)
On a free, Josep Drmic is worth the gamble. He has been something of a sick note, but if he can be coaxed back to his best all will be good. Dug out some videos and studied him…pacy, with good initial acceleration, for that half yard. I have learnt from the past…will not be adding a Drmic shirt to my Wolfswinkel dish cloth collection, and to be fair, no fanfare under this regime. Steady away, as promised.
Hi Peter (I mean Cobwatch)
Drmic is indeed worth what I hope will prove to be more than a gamble. Knowing Stuart Webber and his passion for due diligence as we do I would like to think his “injured” days are behind him.
If Louis Thompson can prove his fitness I would suggest we don’t really need a new DM, so to me that just leaves cover for Max at RB to acquire.
Plus there’s all the rumours surrounding the GK issue to resolve. If we get the lad Mair from Aberdeen and McCracken goes the smart money is on Oxborough going out on loan, in which case we will definitely need a number two for Krul. I can only see McGovern as number three.
He reminds me too much of Mark Bunn to have that much faith in him:-)
Thank you.
Marty,
The playing days of yesteryear, Sunday morning football after a Saturday night out. My preferred position was midfield general, I seldom moved far from the centre circle. Most of the other players were equally hungover, any opposition players who were unfairly fit and lively were given a few hard tackles to slow ‘em down. Why did we do it? Crazy days but happy memories.
Ha!
My reference referred to Stag FC, a pub-based side in the Harlow League in the early 1980s.
Landlord Bobby had a penchant for Saturday night lock-ins.
What you didn’t need in my case was a speedy teenage RW taking the juice (by being keen and sober) so occasionally the old hackles went up and underhand tactics had to be employed.
It backfired for me when playing against Ilford Fireman for our Sunday afternoon Press Gang side. I brought this guy down on the edge of the box when he was clean through. He called me a James Blunt, kneed me in the ribs and broke three of them in one hit. He was sent off and I was sent to Whipps Cross.
Crazy days and (often) happy memories indeed!
Ta.
Great read on a soggy morning Martin before braving the elements and heading off to my allotments to witness the gastropod damage.
I loved your reference to McLean and his ‘orange juice’ and as you say, the recycling bin will have conveyed any evidence of his consumption to some recycling centre!!
On to football matters – from what I’ve seen of a video clip, we have a first class challenger/back-up to Pukki and it does indeed seem as though SW has ‘pulled another rabbit from the hat!!’ Only time will tell if ‘Matron’ is going to be kept busy next season with our latest recruit.
I’m sure the pundits (and Karren) have us ‘nailed-on’ for relegation – especially as SW is trying to assemble another ‘cut-price’ squad – whilst Villa are aiming to follow the more traditional ‘spend, spend, spend’ route. We’ll have a good idea as to which has been more successful, by the time we’re all saying that we shouldn’t have eaten so much by the time we sit down and watch the Queen’s Speech just over 6 months from now.
IMO, I’m confident that we’ll give a good account of ourselves and I don’t envisage that DF will change his tactics too much and the fans I’m sure will get behind the team in any event/run of defeats!!!
Hi Ed
Mrs P has various veggies in our City garden but we don’t worry too much about the gastropods as a pair of greedy Jays frequent said garden and tend to “do the business” for us.
Ms Brady does indeed seem to have a down on us, but I couldn’t give a proverbial monkeys. Her opinion and she’s entitled to it
You’re quite correct about Villa of course but if they drop through the trapdoor I wouldn’t like their wage bill in the Championship.
If things do go a little awry for us – which they will, certainly at times – I’m sure our active fans both home and away will stick by the lads.
Thanks as ever.
Question on Villa.
The FA were going to hit them with the FFA book if not promoted surely if that is the case then any breaking of the rules should be up held by the Premiership
Hi Martin (do we call you Marty now?)
I was pre-season training with BP in Harlow many years ago, and took my seven year old son along. It was a very well until they got us doing sprints – goal line to six yard box, turn, sprint back, pause, sprint to the edge of the penalty area, turn, sprint back, pause, half way line next, etc, till it was a full length of the pitch. At this point, the player standing next to me said “that’s not a sprint, it’s a f****** marathon” under what breath he had left, instantly repeated in a loud voice by my son, which earned him a clip round the ear. All good aerobic and calorie burning stuff – trouble was, straight away after training we adjourned to BP’s social club to restore everything we’d burned off.
Don’t suppose it would be approved of by the modern professional regime!
Hi Jim and what a small world.
I never actually played football at BP, although I used to play squash there on Monday evenings with somebody I shouldn’t really have been playing squash with. Or any other games we played together either. She was the wife of a Harlow Town Director who had a senior role with BP at the time who was most interested in his secretary, which allowed time for a young man to learn a few “tricks of the trade”.
The bar was so ridiculously cheap it was almost embarrassing.
Back to your training comment: ours always started with a lap of the pitch, then it was all the traffic cone stuff – where did they acquire them from – they were full size and real!
We were supposed to conclude with a further lap of the pitch but a lot of us (including me) passed up on the privilege.
Thanks a lot.
Hi again Martin
I also played squash at BP, but only the game with a racquet and ball, not the additional squashing you were obviously getting!
I was a computer service engineer, based at BP, but employed by another company (ICL then, now Fujitsu), but was allowed to join the social club as an associate member. The only draw-back to that was that I wasn’t allowed to get the player of the year award, (which I obviously should have!) as that could only go to full members.
Great place to based though, and I lived in an adjacent estate called Silvestors.
Ha!
I was Sports Ed on the Harlow Gazette at the time and was just 22.
Most pubs in newtown Harlow were named after butterflies and moths – as in the Painted Lady, Small Copper and Willow Beauty.
Glenn Hoddle’s local was the Shark (managed by his psychic friend Irene or Eileen, can’t remember). Linda Lusardi frequented the Marquis of Granby in the Old Town of an evening, which was the sportsdesk’s pub of choice. More for the original Space Invaders arcade machine than a site of the lovely Linda. When dusk descended I either went to cover a game or buggered off home to Theydon Bois asap.
Except for a summerful of Mondays of course!
I don’t remember Silvestors tbh but I can recall the old town quite well as in Harlow Town Director Alan Howick (no, I was never connected with his Mrs) who was an absolute gent despite being an estate agent. And the Chequers, plus the Green Man (landlady Peggy). And Passmores School – one of my journo colleagues also played for Burnt Mill staff.
That’s yer lot before Gary G gives me a rollocking for turning MFW into MNS as in my nostalgia writer.
Cheers.
Reece James on loan from Chelsea would be the perfect signing imo.
Adding more pace to our holding midfield while adding cover for RB too. Tough to get that over the line though I’d imagine with all the Chelsea shenanigans going on
Hi Dan
Shenanigans is the word. Man Utd and Newcastle in particular also come to mind!
Reece James would be an admirable addition and we have one PL loan option left although I don’t know what (if any) kind of relationship we have with Chelsea.
I certainly would endorse that choice – good shout.
Thank you.
Hi Martin
A good read.
Transfers will always be a bone of contention with all supporters and Turnbull and his agent used city to get a better deal at Celtic, no one can blame him for that but it shows a lack of ambition or was he worried he wouldn’t cut it in the Premiership.
It seems Patrick T have blocked the move for an U23 player city tried to sign and there manager reported as saying another season in Scotland and he will go for Mega millions he lives in hope I think.
Well we now have a second back up striker with Srbeny but it is being reported that Rhodes is still at city training so is this an on going says, Bruce and the club wants him out but are holding out for the family jewels one to watch.
So Frank who wanted to try his luck in the Premiership has gone back to Germany on a permanent deal.
I agree we need a top class GK to push Krul and lots of rumours about a Romanian and a young German but personnelly would prefer one that will not take time to adapt to the Premiership if required to step in but then some take to it without much ado.
I read a story about pre season at spurs and Bill N use to take all the First team on the first day back for a road run around Chesham with other staff placed at cross rds so no one cheated and took a short cut any that finished after him had to go round a second time, just like Saunders at Hemsby sand dunes both ex Army PTI’s
Onwards and Upwards
OTBC
Hi Alex.
I would think that of all positions a keeper would require less “adjustment” than anybody else.
Under Daniel Farke any incoming GK would have to have to be adept with the ball at his feet. Krul is pretty good, although he has his moments, of course.
The Jordan Rhodes situation is a strange one. I think if Wednesday dropped to below £2million we’d take him, but if not I sincerely doubt it.
But if they don’t intend to play him they just might. We’ll have to wait and see.
I knew Ron Saunders had an Army background but didn’t realise Bill Nicholson was of the same ilk.
A PTI and Jimmy Greaves – that must have been fun for neither of them!
Thanks mate.
Just some info Martin – Nicholson joined the Durham Light Infantry on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. As a professional footballer, he was sent on a Physical Education course and was made a sergeant-instructor, training new intakes of troops throughout the war. During the Second World War, he was a guest player for several clubs including Newcastle United where he played on 19 occasions.
Lovely piece Martin, stirred a few memories particularly the reference to the Austin Healey Sprite. I had one of those in flame red, went like ++++ off a shovel but the only problem was it did fly off the track quite a lot and I had to keep adjusting those wire pick ups. Well I couldn’t afford a real one in those days but I’ve made up for it since I’m pleased to say with a series of motorbikes and sports cars and I’m trying to grow old disgracefully. Happy days at CR and Colney, bring it on.
Hi Bob
Great to have a take-up on the car comment!
Around 1984 I was getting married and acquired a company car so the Sprite had to go. My uncle Pete bit my arm off so he could pose down his golf club in it.
Unbelievably he’s now about 85 and still has it to this day. It was an old G-plate so I’d guess 1969. It was BRG. Pete’s big mistake was to get a cheap rear wheelarch weld and allover respray on it, which frankly it didn’t need.
It ended up more olive drab than BRG. Not my problem! Pete’s probably too tight-fisted to leave it to me in his will, but it’s amazing this car has been in the same family for some 45 years.
Twin SUs. OMG!
Because I’m an eejit I’ve had MGBs, Spitfires, several MX5s, a TR6 and some others I’ve forgotten. Best ever though was an Alfa Spyder which was the most enjoyable car I’ve ever driven. Tinworm killed it off. My mate’s quote: “nothing left to weld to. £100 for the engine and Webers?”
These days Mrs P and I share a Corsa and a seriously-chipped Fiat 500 convertible. One of the two I enjoy driving very much.
Thanks for a comment I enjoyed reading very much.