A friend of mine recently boasted about completing a job application and when asked for his religion, he’d put down ‘football’.
He didn’t get an interview.
But in the same way that people choose to label themselves according to their religious beliefs, when we tell people we are Norwich supporters, it becomes less about what we do (i.e. watch football) and more about who we are.
Part of our identity, which we reinforce through wearing the club’s colours and crest.
Mention any club and it will invoke some form of preconception about its supporters, whether that’s plastic glory hunters, beer-drinking hooligans or long-suffering masochists. Views that will be linked to the identity of the teams they support.
To those looking in, we are the yo-yo kings. Too good for the Championship; too poor for the Premier League, both financially and in terms of ability; destined to spend eternity in some form of footballing purgatory between the two divisions, alongside Fulham.
Those closer to the club will know that it is built on strong principles and values. A club that is trying to combat the short-termism that exists in football through the development of a stable and sustainable operating model. One that embraces inclusion and diversity and works tirelessly to embed itself within the local community.
There’s so much to be proud of but ultimately the metrics on which we are judged are points and league positions and sadly, when mixing with the elite, our approach simply doesn’t seem to work.
The praise and accolades that accompanied our Championship titles, replaced by widespread disapproval and ridicule.
Promotion to the top flight feels like getting an invite to a Black-tie dinner.
Last time around, we turned up in jeans and a T-shirt, grabbed a few canapes and a glass of fizz, busted out a couple of moves on the dance floor, before seeing ourselves out the door. This time, we’ve gone to the trouble of putting a tie on and hiring a cheap suit but find ourselves standing in the corner alone, whilst the other guests wonder what the hell we’re doing here.
The collective resolve that ran throughout the club and support for doing things ‘our way’ is wavering and it seems that the club is going through something of an identity crisis.
Without wanting to reopen a debate that has played out countless times already, nothing illustrates this better than the failed sponsorship deal with BK8.
In purely financial terms, it was a no-brainer. The most lucrative deal on the table, which would have unlocked the ability to strengthen the squad further. The associated cost of the deal was to alienate a huge part of our supporter base.
The decision to sign and subsequently revoke the deal, alongside the fierce debate that followed, is indicative of a club that is struggling to stay on its chosen pathway. One that is increasingly conflicted between sticking to the masterplan whilst adapting to the top flight.
But it shouldn’t be a surprise, because the pursuit of financial advantage to the detriment of core values lies at the very heart of the challenge that the Premier League presents, whether that’s sponsorship deals, ticket prices, the tenure of managers, or changes in ownership.
If we, as supporters, struggled coming to terms with the marketing strategy of a betting company, how would we cope with a takeover bid financed by a country with an appalling record on human rights?
But it’s not just off the pitch where our club is facing an identity crisis.
Since Farke’s arrival, we have been treated to some breath-taking football. A possession-based masterclass from a squad built around gifted technicians.
Sure, we’d have regular defensive howlers and still can’t defend a set-piece, but it mattered not when 65 per cent of the time we were knocking the ball around like prime Barcelona.
Despite coming up against better players, it seemed as though we were still prepared to go toe-to-toe against the best. Who can forget the plaudits we received for playing through Man City’s press in what remains the solitary standout performance by Farke’s men in the Premier League?
And yet, just like Alex Neil before him, the pressure and scrutiny that comes from being outplayed and on the wrong end of results week after week, has brought about a change in approach.
The desperate search for points has forced a change in formation. An attempt to create a solid defensive platform on which to try to build some form of forward momentum. It’s an entirely sensible thing to do and yet we currently find ourselves looking completely devoid of attacking intent whilst utterly fragile at the back.
But more importantly, we don’t look like ‘us’ anymore.
The footballing principles on which this team has been built have gone and the players who were recruited to carry out a specific game plan look increasingly lost and lacking in confidence.
Ultimately, we have to decide who we are as a club and the value we place on being in the Premier League.
When we identify ourselves as Norwich supporters is it more important to us that we have top-flight status or that we have ‘poor millionaires’ who are genuine fans running the club? Do we care enough about what logo sits on the front of the shirt, if that shirt is being worn by a striker who can bang in 20 goals a season?
I don’t know what the answer is. If I did, I’d be submitting my CV in to Carrow Road.
I probably wouldn’t list football as my religion though. That doesn’t seem to work.
Do we care enough about what logo sits on the front of the shirt, if that shirt is being worn by a striker who can bang in 20 goals a season?
Indeed. Political correctness gone mad.
But it’s okay to be sponsored by a brewery that sustains alcoholics.
I think you totally missed the point Jim, What was being advertised was pure mysoginistic filth which degraded women and used soft porn to sell their wares. I don’t see any breweries doing that. The end product of both companies have direct links to addiction and neither is a desirable partner however the manner in which it is portrayed in front of children is unacceptable in one case.
Well said Steve
Our problem is we cannot go the extra mile in recruitment Farke wanted Ajer he was deemed to expensive and went to Brentford , we got someone on loan .
We also wanted Armstrong again to expensive we got Josh Sargent .
We also needed a big defensive midfielder we couldn’t find or afford one ,we got someone on loan .
We needed to replace Buendia we got a 19yr old who will be brilliant back in the championship I’m sure.
They geared up with what they thought would be better but with one eye on going back to the championship .
That’s why I don’t think they will sack Farke because he gets us back up as sad as that is !!
How many years do we have to yo yo before we can compete in the Prem , How much ridicule can we take lol .
I used to go when it was standing in the barclay and we played in the old 1st division and we were a good footballing side with good wingers ,strikers and keeprs lol ,Mark barham ,Dale Gordon ,Ruel Fox, Louie Donnawa ,Mick Channon ,John deehan , Robert Fleck ,Kevin Drinkell , Chris Woods ,Steve Bruce ,Dave Watson , Andy Linigan , David Williams .
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US !
What great players. We had a really competitive squad then with title winners, FA Cup winners, etc. It is sad that we have relied on young loanees and relegated Bundesliga players now (as an upgrade to the second tier of the Bundesliga!).
The Premier League happened, Jim….
110% Agree with you Mike the world gone bonkers 😉
Never mind BK8, we needed an Arab state sponsoring us. Funny how soft porn or whatever is unacceptable but mercilessly torturing, beheading and murdering people is fine (seemingly protected by anti-discrimination laws!). No, we need a dictatorial regime to get us out of this mess.
I really don’t care what sponsors are on our shirts as long as its a great deal and will help the club,certainly BK8 was was fine in my eyes
The problem now is our club is run like some sort of community centre where it caters for every easily offended minority group rather than the most important thing which is first and foremost a football team
That’s what we used to be but now I would suggest that a winning team is someway down the pecking order.
“BK8 was was fine in my eyes”
So you need a trip to specsavers. How can you condone mysoginistic soft porn to your children if you have any?
The problem with being a yo-yo club for me is, quite apart from the fact the player churn at the end of this season, if we go down, will be enormous (reckon eight out easily, maybe ten) then, even if we do look good and take our place at or near the top of the table, what will there be to get excited about?
We’ll have gone up, amidst much praise and delight twice just to be battered twice and sent back down again. Will the excitement of another promotion chase be tempered by the dark grey cloud that always accompanies it?
I know the chase is considered better than the catch but you at least have be after something worth chasing. At the moment it feels we’re running after a tiger only to bite his ear when we get hold of him.
There seem to me Steve that there are too brands of Farkeball, the one when he first came which could be slow and ponderous to the cavalier Farkeball of that first Championship win.
I was always a fan of Farke but it wasn’t until Middlesborough (2018/19) at home I could fully see what he was trying to do.
Farkeball only works if the tempo is kept up. I have supported City for over 55 years and the best football (bar the late eighties, early nineties side) was that 2018/19 season.
And it was Brentford Manager who said last season that we are the “Manchester City of the Championship” and at times last season we were that good again.
There needs to be a massive look from within the club at how these brilliant sides can walk the Championship and yet in two successive EPL campaigns look absolutely awful for the majority of the time.
We know there have been huge mitigating circumstances, but how much have we brought on ourselves.
Our planning for this time seems, from the outside anyway, to be more disjointed than the 2019/20 EPL season. And lets not forget the worse defensive injury crisis in my time as a City fan at that time two years ago.
I have calmed down from Saturday and sadly it looks extremely likely that we will get relegated. But I still think, If he wants to, Daniel Farke is the man to get us back up.
I know many on here will disagree and I totally get that but his record in the Championship shows he knows that division so well. The EPL ? that’s another question
I think the truth is that it was Buendiaball rather than Farkeball. We all know what it is like to have a player better than everyone else – you are just desperate to feed them to allow defence to turn into attack with one moment of skill. Now it is mainly pass, pass, panic, lose possession. And I think it boils down to that simply. We have to adapt as you can’t recreate what we had without sufficiently able players.
I think the black tie function analogy is a great one. I’ve always admired how Norwich has tried to stick it to the man by maintaining a strong core sporting principles. However, it seems this season the off field principles have outweighed the on field ones.
Trying too hard to garner an anti establishment identity when the establishment is too strong will always end in tears. Sometimes you have to swim with the sharks or at least have a paddle.
I’m not saying we should sell our soul to compete, but any sizeable cash injection to assist in our main identity (a football team) should be paramount and not the voices of the principled or easily offended.
The BK8 deal as a great example of that. I’m sure (or hope) that due diligence was done prior agreeing the deal? So why did it take the uproar on social media to bin it and not the due diligence?
Yes, the moral high ground was reached and NCFC can have a voice now in certain quarters but at what cost to our claimed primary aim?
It was a small amount financially in comparison to other richer clubs but to Norwich it was a huge amount, and what damage it did do to the recruitment plan? We will never know.
It’s great to have principles when you can afford them but in this case I’d say not.
Club identity is something that is drifting away from me. As an East Anglian it was a no-brainer to follow Norwich with a nod to the many non-league clubs in this area. If I grew up in Market Harborough it would have been Leicester, it I grew up in Eastleigh it would be Southampton, if I grew up on Dartmoor it would probably be Plymouth and these are clubs that I identify as being similar to us. Do I feel that the way we do things is unique or even something I always agree with? No. I do like the fact that some people try to give a feeling of everyone welcome, I do like the fact that some volunteers promote the club in the community but I don’t think we have the moral high ground in terms of how we are run and I don’t like the way we are being herded into one way of viewing the club and anyone who sees things differently needs to go elsewhere. I think another relegation could be quite a tough thing for the club to recover from and we could face a repeat of the late 90s or 2005 to 2010, with the real face of Championship football raring its head but I keep getting the feeling that there are fans who feel that the club has to be exactly how they want it to be with an idealistic vision and if we end up watching dreary lower Championship/League 1 football in 3 years time to the sound track of self appointed fan voices saying how noble we are then it probably would be time for me to move on to those fore-mentioned non-league clubs where fans like me would actually be welcome. The next few months are critical for me. Not in terms of whether we stay up but whether we look to consider what the club really is for all fans not just a select few