Saturday 26th August 2017: Millwall 4 Norwich City 0.
The worst game I’ve ever attended as a Norwich City fan (Note: I’m only 21).
While Russell Martin was the scapegoat for the result, I was shocked to see 6ft 3in Marcel Franke being bullied by Lee Gregory and ex-City forward Steve Morison. The game and the all-too-easy nature of all four Millwall goals proved to be enough for Stuart Webber, who reacted by signing Newcastle’s Scotland international Grant Hanley for £3.5 million.
The big centre-half didn’t start straight away for City, having played only 16 games in Newcastle’s Championship romp the season before. His first City appearance was against Ipswich away where he came on for the last 25 minutes and, while looking rusty with the ball at his feet, it was clear the passion Hanley was going to show, throwing himself into every challenge as City saw out a narrow 1-0 win.
The derby performance clearly impressed Daniel Farke as Grant then featured in 27 of the following 32 games, and although City slumped to a mid-table finish, Hanley’s dominant performances were indicative of a player more than capable of performing in England’s second division.
The most memorable moment in the Scot’s first season was his assist against the old enemy at Carrow Road. With City set to lose their unbeaten streak, Hanley chased down a long ball into the corner and whipped a majestic cross onto Timm Klose’s head to spark bedlam.
A month later, Hanley scored his first City goal in a 3-2 win over Reading and ended the season as runner-up to James Maddison in Player of the Season.
In the summer of 2018, Farke decided to give Grant the captain’s armband, his natural leadership traits becoming evident to all in his first season.
Hanley started the first six games of the 2018-19 season as City struggled. A thigh injury ruled the skipper out of the 1-0 home win over Middlesbrough, which became the turning point for the season. But, despite not playing for over a month, the club still awarded Grant a new five-year contract, again showing his importance to the squad. There was, however, no place for City’s number 5 until the 5th January 2019 in an FA Cup third-round fixture against Portsmouth.
The former Blackburn man understandably looked rusty and only lasted 15 minutes when he received a red card for wiping out Ronan Curtis as last man. As City went on to win the Championship title, our captain would only feature for a minute away at Bolton and on the final day at Aston Villa when he lifted the trophy at Villa Park.
And then to the Premier League…
Due to injury to Christoph Zimmermann, Hanley was able to start the first three games of the PL season, looking rusty and scoring an own-goal against Liverpool before putting in solid displays in a 3-1 home win over Newcastle and an unfortunate 3-2 defeat to Europa League champions Chelsea.
But groin and hernia surgery at the end of August again stunted a positive start to the campaign for the former Newcastle man and he didn’t start again until the home fixture against Wolves.
The man from Dumfries started in all of City’s festive fixtures and again performed well alongside Christoph Zimmermann due to Ben Godfrey’s injury. He was unlucky to be dropped when Godfrey returned from injury for the 1-0 win over Bournemouth, but still played an important role in the last 12 minutes of the game as Ben was sent off for that late challenge on Callum Wilson.
Grant deputised for the suspended Godfrey in the desperately unlucky defeat away at Spurs but again looked more than accustomed to life at this level.
It was fitting that for all of the bad luck and narrow defeats, that Hanley would get his first goal of the season in the FA Cup win over Burnley, powering in Mario Vrancic’s free-kick. He was again on hand to deny Burnley a chance of getting back into the game as City got through to the fifth round of the cup for the first time since 2012.
When Hanley first joined I knew of his pedigree as a ‘head it, kick it’ kind of player who would be more than suitable for the Championship. Injuries and bad luck made it appear he was going to be fourth choice centre-back at the beginning of this season but is now not the case.
For me, he has been City’s best central defender this season and deserves to start alongside Ben Godfrey when the former York City man returns. I feel they will complement each other. While Hanley’s main strengths are his physicality and aerial domination, he has adapted to Farke’s style of play and has looked fine with the ball at his feet, perhaps unlike last season.
One final point I wanted to make is around Hanley’s character throughout his time in Norfolk. Injuries and bad luck have hindered positive starts in a couple of campaigns and then, when fit again, he has been unable to reclaim his place. Other players would have moaned at being unable to get back into the team but not Hanley.
Farke and Webber have repeatedly commented on what a good influence he has been in the dressing room, especially at the back end of last season when he was able to guide through the young squad as a man with previous successes at Blackburn and Newcastle.
I really hope he is able to get back into the Scotland side and continue his positive form for years to come.
Very good read Jacob. I’m surprised how quickly fans turned on Hanley as for a long time he played with an injury. Apart from Klose he is our best centre back as he attacks the ball in the air and is quicker and technically better than he is given credit for.
His positioning is better than Zimmermann’s which means he stays on his feet and doesn’t have to dive in to make spectacular but risky blocks. I’m always surprised when he doesn’t get the nod over Zimmermann but this may be due to the fact that defence appears to be a bit of a Farke blindspot.
Hi John, thanks for taking the time to read the article and comment. I completely agree and feel Zimmermann has struggled this year with a disrupted pre-season with his first major injuries here. Farke seems to trust Zimmermann and Godfrey the most but that could be a whole different story next season with inevitable departures!
Yes Jacob, a good read, Putting to one side the debacle that is Norwich City’s defence we might conclude that it has been breached once to often to be considered worthy of repair, too much damage already done, our strategy may well entail a rebuild next year, not necessarily starting from scratch but definitely deconstructing before rebuilding. Soon Godfrey and Aarons will go and who knows, Jamal Lewis might fancy a change, it maybe that Tim Klose has seen his day and can no longer be relied upon due to his unfortunate record of injuries but every dog has his day and out of the rubble Grant Hanley has something of the phoenix about him, he is the antithesis of, for example, of Nelson Oliviera, his attitude and commitment speaking volumes. Sales cash will come in handy if it is not all spent on social trinkets and anomalies but who, from our foundations will become pillars of replacement ? well, we might start with Hanley, who to my mind, commands increasing respect. I have a sneaking suspicion that Phil Neville would agree, recalling his astute observations regarding the team in general, sticking to it’s principles. I was there for that Millwall game, it was not one for the faint hearted, just ask Russell Martin’s brother, he’d had enough by half time as I recall. I am still only 63 but I’m struggling to remember a worse game that the carnage that was the Lions den and as my mind wanders I find myself looking to the future, call it pragmatism if you will. Loved that goal at Turf Moor.
Hi Dave thank you for taking the time to read the article and leaving a comment. I completely agree with all of your points, especially as I think at least half (Godfrey and Aarons) of Farke’s most trusted defence will be gone in the summer. Reading a through articles from Grant’s time here he just comes across as a very passionate man who loves playing for our football club which I feel is becoming increasingly rarer in the modern day game. I’ve had a couple of other results which have hurt more which I have been at, like Newcastle away under Alex Neil but I think the Millwall game is the worst defensive performance I’ve ever seen from a professional team and hopefully one we will never have to see again! As you say let’s look forwards and hopefully get 3 big points away at Newcastle!
I just opened up Pandora’s box, it yelled ‘Craven cottage’ at me. I shut it very quickly, replying, we’ll have none of that thank you very much and strangely enough it kept very quiet after that.
Great read Jacob. I’m also a huge fan of Grant Hanley – gets on and does his job effectively in a no-nonsense kind of way and Norwich always look more robust and balanced with him in the team in a similar way to Alex Tettey in midfield. For me what he brings to the side is real leadership and in Norwich’s situation you really can’t have too many leaders in your team. Ben Godfrey undoubtedly has immense potential and arguably is our best all-around centre-half bringing pace to the back line and real ability to carry the ball forward. Playing alongside Hanley or Zimmermann really brings the best out of him, providing a reassuring presence.
Hi Jon, thanks for taking the time to read the article and leave a comment. Yes very good point on the Hanley and Tettey similarities and, as you say, you can never have too many leaders in the dressing room. Yes you do miss Ben when he’s not in the team as his ball playing ability is vital to the way Norwich play and he himself has said how much of an influence Grant has had in his development whilst at City. I hope and look forward to hearing more of the same from future young talents like Famewo and Bushiri just to name 2.
Hi Jacob
A good read.
Hanley when at Blackburn was continously mentioned as being on his way to top 6 clubs and for some strange reason it never happened and he turned up at Newcastle for about £8m then wasn’t fancied by Rafa so a bit of luck for city.
Zimmermann seems a nailed on starter when ever fit just as Godfrey is but for the run in I personally would like to see all 3 given a chance to help the relegation fight.
You mentioned my name sake Alex Tettey it will be a sad day when he departs Carrow Rd but city needs to be prepared for that day and I would like to see him get another year possibly with an option of another depending on injuries.
Last wish for this transfer window would be Rhodes in
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Hi Alex.
I reckon your namesake is well worth another year. But nothing beyond I’m afraid.
Depends if he can find a sinecure in a different league I would guess.
Soon on to the ODIs!
Can’t wait for the ODI’s
Yeah Tettey will hopefully get another year with his knee’s just hoped it could be longer as he would be a big sad miss
Hi Alex, thanks for taking the time to read the article and leave a comment. Yes I remember Grant being linked with a host of clubs in his younger days so we probably shouldn’t be too surprised to see him stepping up at the top level. I’ve always had the feeling that if we had 4 fit centre backs this season we would’ve seen more of 5 at the back, look at how effectively Wolves play it for example, I personally feel like that could really help. I would also like to see Tettey for another year but I do have a feeling the transfer of Melvin Sitti might see the end of Alex but I hope I’m wrong!
Melvin Sitti what a name for the supporters to cunjure with next season.
We have now agreed to buy a 19 year old Left back from Coventry so will this see Lewis off to Crappy Palace before 11pm tomorrow
Certainly prefer Hanley to seeing Bennett returning, (speculation), but not much to choose between any of our centre backs to be fair. The Prem hosts some of the worlds best goal scorers and centre backs. A City team are never going to include such players so leaders like Grant Hanley and Chris Zimmerman are crucial to the team and squad.
Your article got me thinking about how I would feel about any one of our key players leaving, most odd we are bottom place but think the squad looks as good as we’ve ever had but somehow its so hard for us to win. I’m convinced our problem lies between the ears, we’ve taken so many sucker punches this season, we get up and fight on but are dazed and keep losing narrowly on points. We do have the quality to go on a winning run, starting Saturday. We will probably be 10/1 to beat Liverpool two weeks Saturday ……………..bet G H plays in that one.
Hi Colin, I completely agree and feel so frustrated with the fine margins this season which have stopped Norwich from being comfortable in this league. There is a part of me that just remembers Leicester being bottom of the table and, similar to us, were just on the wrong end of results but when it clicked they went and got 7 wins from their last 9! Not saying we will do that but I do hope and feel we can give ourselves the best chance to fight until May.
Hi Jacob.
I agree with the rest of us – a very good read and assessment of Grant Hanley.
Sure I understand what GH brings to the team but I do feel Zimbo’s been dealt a bad hand this season with his injury caused recklessly by Sebastien Haller at West Ham [disgustingly going unpunished] followed by having to play alongside Ben Godfrey, which he is used to, and then Grant Hanley, which he is not. I hope he doesn’t miss out after Newcastle when Ben is back.
Like Farke my first choice would always be Godfrey and Christoph but that would seem unfair on GH so what do you do? Who’d be a manager, ha.
I would imagine next season it will be Zimbo and Hanley with possibly Famewo and Bushiri stepping up. I’ve no problem with that but I don’t see either Godfrey or Klose here next term – for very different reasons of course.
A very good article.
Hi Martin,
Hope you’re well. Thank you for reading the article and leaving a comment. I agree with the comment about Zimbo, I feel a disrupted pre-season and then that horrible injury because of the Haller challenge has left him playing catch up in a league which is so unforgiving.
With Klose it will be so interesting to see how he can respond from this latest inury and he will be a remarkable athlete if he can get back to his previous levels but I’m unsure!
I do think we might see a new cb in place if Godfrey does depart but I’m sure it’s going to be a very interesting summer for the club in many different ways.