So our choice as new head coach has finally put pen to paper and it’s Dean Smith from Aston Villa, who was out of work for exactly one week, almost to the hour.
The initial debate surrounds ‘was he our first choice to replace Daniel Farke?’
No, he probably wasn’t as after Farke’s dismissal last Saturday Dean Smith was still employed by Villa until the Monday. But I guess Stuart Webber’s ears pricked up and sounded him out alongside Frank Lampard and possibly Kjemil Knutsen of Bold/Klimt.
There is no tangible proof that I have seen of the latter connection, but I feel it would have been a potentially exciting appointment. It wasn’t to be.
Moving on, some folks are already saying that Smith is a “safe” appointment like Chris Hughton was assumed to be when he was brought in to replace Paul Lambert. Safe but slightly underwhelming. However, pause and listen to Mr Smith himself:
“I want players to go and express themselves, and give them options for what they can do, but also give them ownership of their game. There’s no right or wrong in the way the game is played.
“Old school? I hope I’m not! I don’t feel like I’m an old school manager in any sense of the game. I don’t think you can be, because the game moves so quickly”.
Now Hughton has never been quoted in these terms and therein lies the difference.
Will Dean Smith and his mucker Craig Shakespeare be able to keep us in the Premier League? They wouldn’t have signed for us if a guarantee of that had been part of the deal. I can think of far worse options to bring us up yet again from the Championship should the inevitable happen.
Shakespeare is Iago to Smith’s Othello and that is never a bad thing. Think Lambert and Cully, if you wish.
While Knutsen was my favoured option, purely in a sense of the excitement of the relatively unknown really, I am more than reasonably pleased with this appointment. Particularly as we avoided which for me would have been a huge banana skin in the shape of Funtime Frankie Lampard who would surely have used us as a stepping stone to the inevitable ‘something better’.
Lampard’s ‘personal history’ is all over social media for those who wish to read it. I don’t personally but anybody who has ever opened a tabloid newspaper will not have been able to escape it entirely, including his political views which would most certainly have clashed with Delia’s. Before anybody starts on me, I’m centre-left so don’t follow either’s point of view.
Would he have been happy here if television wife Christine Bleakley had decided to stay in London or one of the couple’s Mediterranean properties with their children? I couldn’t have seen them being content with The Last, Benedicts or Galton Blackiston’s latest upmarket venture, wherever that is right now.
The Kam Lee Chinese takeaway or Junkyard Market would certainly be out of the equation.
We had a lucky escape there in my humble.
I felt the need to ask my Villa mate Pat Moore, who helped me out with the MFW Villains previews a couple of seasons ago, how he thought Dean Smith might do at Norwich City.
Subtle as ever and without holding back on his views, Pat said:
“He’ll probably still be $hit with your team. I did think he was a bit harshly sacked at Villa. We’ll see how Stevie G gets on!”
And thus spoke the gentlemen’s barber.
As prominent Aston Villa fan and one of my all-time musical heroes Geezer Butler said when one of his mates told him the DJ Tim Westwood was the new Villa manager [he meant Tim Sherwood]: “That’s a surprise but I s’pose we’ll have to give him a chance”.
Geezer’s spot on. That is exactly what we will have to do with Dean Smith. Give him a chance and a good one to boot.
I also asked Pat if Villa had any songs about Dean Smith we could borrow.
He said we could try this one but would have to create our own lyrics to suit it:
Morning Martin great song choice if we are to adopt it can we have the saxonophists at the front of the Barclay upper left hand side of the goal.
Hi Andy
I’d forgotten exactly how good that track was.
That’s a good idea about the sax guys btw 🙂
Cheers
Not quite sure about the Iago reference. Didn’t he basically shaft his boss out of what Coleridge called “motiveless malignity”? Maybe avoiding tragedy references altogether might be wise!! So long as it doesn’t prove “A Comedy of Errors!” Or “Much Ado About Nothing.” Think I will settle for All’s Well That Ends Well”.
Although an et tu Brute moment with Farke’s sacking I feel!
Hi Sue
I never did the play at school – I just knew they were friends and had no idea they had a big old falling out, which can happen in any walk of life, of course!
As for us staying up this season I’ll reference Wordsworth, who once called for a *willing suspension of disbelief*, a theme Conan Doyle took on with his writings about, erm, fairies, elves, theosophy and things like that.
The Comedy of Errors has been performed many times at Carrow Road of course, often starring those actors at the rear of the stage.
Thanks – nothing like a bit of Literature first thing on a gloomy November Monday 🙂
I was with you Mr P, Knutsen ticked a few boxes, but what I read on the Norwegian press web sites no contact was made, but with Zoom or any other widgetty gadgets that I have never touched, who knows.
Just thankful that Frankie boy turned down what he wasn,t offered, if correct he did that seems little up yourself to me.. I had already seen Frank Lamperd’s Norwich City, on a couple of headlines. Managing a side that all outside of Norfolk say is doomed, was outside of his scope, different to showering after a game and going home to the Missus.
Smith being old school, hardly sounds right to me, old school would be knocking planes out of the air. Over Carrow Rd. I watched Smith,s address to a group of people, where he spoke on Culture, Cannot imagine Big Sam,, Pulis or Bruce on that subject.
As I said in Gary,s comments, any manager or player is a gamble, so many aspects that can go wrong at another club that once went right. Football is littered with gambles that didn’t work out, we have had a few in my time .
I see Smith little more than safe hands, when compared to Hughton, every club he had been to since us, all say the same things. I don’t hear That about Smith from his previous clubs.
Time is the only test, yep there is a bounce with new manager that can happen, just that we need a bounce and half dozen rebounds. Happy that we don’t have Eddie Howe either, he has a lot to prove outside the South coast, so hoping a smaller bounce is seen up north.
I am not cracking open a bottle of brown ale just yet, but have plans to buy a few in in forward thinking.
The appointment could have been a lot worse that’s for sure, could it have been better ? Who knows from those who were out of work we have the best we could get. Could not see many mangers leaving their positions , heading to City. Like the Southampton guy (can’t say his name let alone spell it) or Knutsen, who is a big fish in a smaller pool.
Happy for now, there was or is so far, no shambles to wade through, like in North London. Accept what we are given and get behind him and the team. Enjoy for a few seasons before the other D Smith’s plans eff it up again
Hi Lad
Obviously I agree with you as you largely do with me, but I will add that I think Dean Smith was the best option amongst those available – in his case unexpectedly available.
These are very uncertain times in many ways, but we have to hope for the best. As for the more long standing DS, we all know the problems, but so will our Deano, believe me, and he’s not coming here with eyes wide shut.
I haven’t had a brown ale in years, apart from the odd *journey into space*!
Cheers – see what I did there 🙂
5 points adrift with 27 to go is not insurmountable but we will need a few changes to the lineups. Hopefully a strong manager and an understanding coach will be the combination to bring Cantwell and Gillmore through and solidify our defence. At least he knows how to use subs!
I think it is a sensible appointment.
This is a first— me being optimistic!!
Hi Cyprus
The more I hear of Dean Smith – and indeed Craig Shakespeare – the more I feel optimistic as well as I don’t think we could have made a better choice from those available.
There are many folks more pessimistic that yourself within the NCFC community I can assure you!
Cheers
The timing was wrong for Knutsen, he wasn’t going to move until their season ended, so maybe that was just another smoke screen, much as I believe Lampard was. Whether Webber had some inkling that Villa were about to move on from Smith we’ll probably never know, nor whether he had someone else in mind.
Lampard was handy to keep the press occupied, while the Smith negotiations were going on in the background.
Anyway, Smith won’t have to do too much research into Southampton for his first game in charge, since they were Villa’s opponents in his last game there. Now, can we just buy Emi back for a couple of million?
Hi Jim
Yes the Emi thought crossed my mind as well – but there’s no way that would be for a couple of million as we both well know 🙂
You’re quite right about Knutsen – who would walk out with a title within their grasp, let alone the length of their contract?
Webber has always done well with smoke & mirrors, to be sure.
Cheers
Well Smiffie’s the new boss regardless of whether he was first choice or how it came to pass. Like you say we have to give him a fair chance and I think he’s as good as we were going to get. He’ll not have a magic wand but I think he’ll have a trick or two to help things along and I wish him and his pal well, it’s certainly got me interested again.
Hiya Cutty
That’s the trouble when it’s in your blood – you just can’t get rid.
I’m sure we all wish Smiffy all the best but according to Pat he prefers to be called Deano – I wonder if the Barclay will adapt *Geno* for him…
Cheers
I have to agree that Lamps ould have been a poor choice, but at least the bookies have made their pound of flesh ‘ out of the rumour.
I feel that Smith was harshly sacked, but the players couldn’t adapt to not having Grealish in the team, though I feel that given time and being played in the right position, Buendia may be able to partially fill that void.
As expected, a lot of fans are feeling very underwhelmed by SW’s decision, but all we can do is get behind Smith, the players and the team.
I’m sure that the internet will be incredibly slow around 2pm on Saturday,, when the NCFC starting 11 is announced!!!
Hi Ed
Ever seen a poor bookmaker, etc etc?
Of course we’ll get behind Dean Smith – he will be expecting that as much as I am.
As for those feeling underwhelmed I don’t choose to accept the gift of social media, but the folks I know personally have very few qualms about the appointment.
Cheers
Never seen a bookie on a bike nor a farmer neither for that matter
You haven’t met my mate Swampy [Nigel] who farms chickens and runs Broadland Eggs in Coltishall then. He’s never passed a test in his life and pedals around the village in overalls blue or orange, depending on his mood of the day!
I don’t know any bookies.
I’ve always considered Smith as good as, if not better than Farke so ‘m happy to see him in place.
Three questions:
1) Grealish was obviously key to Villa for the last 3 seasons; did his ability help gloss over managerial shortcomings?
2) How much did Smith lose when John Terry moved on? Much as I’d hate to see such an obnoxious fellow as part of City’s management I suspect he might have been pretty important to Villa and not adequately replaced
3) Farke acquired several attacking players such as Hernandez, Placheta, Tszolis and Rashica. None of them really seemed to “train on” as they say in the racing world. Can Smith do better? To have any chance of survival we have to create more; having one or two develop into players who can put defenders on the back foot would be a good start.
I was tempted to buy one of the last few tickets for Saturday but have a booster jab on Thursday, so you can be sure sod’s law would kick in and give me a bad reaction before I even set off.
Never dull is it!?
Hi Keith
I’ll at least try to answer your questions.
#1: Certainly possible and you could almost say the same about DF and Emi.
#2: You’ve probably got a good point there but you make a better one with the word *obnoxious*. I’d want John Terry here no more than I would Joey Barton.
#3:I get the concept of *training on* in the racing context. especially as you have mentioned four speed merchants. Let’s see what DS can do as clearly none of them are suited to *over the sticks*.
I’ve had two covids & a flu this year [booster booked for December 9] and I can assure you I’ve been confined to the sofa for 36 hours after each and every one of them.
You’ve probably made a wise decision.
Cheers
Anyone who thinks Dean Smith is the same type of manager as Hughton hasn’t been watching. His teams at Walsall, Brentford and Villa have been built on attacking and entertaining football-maybe with a few extra crosses into the box. I’m happy for him to be here and that, at last, his dream of being Todd Cantwell’s manager has been fulfilled.
Welcome to the Pleasuredome might have been apt as his welcome song, but Geno is brilliant.
Hi Don
Certainly Smith is nothing like Hughton which I’ll quickly agree.
I don’t know the lyrics to Welcome to the Pleasuredome but maybe the Barclay boys will make something out of Geno.
At least Frankie didn’t go to Wicklewood.
Cheers
The best option in the end. At least we’ve ended up with somebody who has achieved something as a manager.
Smith’s teams have always been entertaining to watch which is more than can have been said for Houghton.
The Lago reference was probably more applicable to Culverhouse and Lambert.
Hi John
Yes, Suencfc picked me up earlier on my lack of knowledge surrounding the plots, sub-plots and finer nuances of Shakespeare. My bad!
I did namecheck Lambert and Cully but didn’t realise how closely that was related to Othello and Iago at the time.
But in that particular case. we’ll never know which one of them brandished the dagger!
Cheers
Hi Martin
O’Kelly was Dean’s go to man at Walsall and Brentford but had a falling out with someone at Villa and resigned I just wonder if he might be added to his backroom team.
As others have said JT proved a good defensive coach maybe he might turn up to advise our CB for a few days.
JT not my cupa tea but if he could solidify our defence I could live with that for a short period but he looks to be enjoying his new hobby on Twitter.
As I said yesterday this idea of a short list so soon after DF had gone was more a available wish list and Smith’s name would have been on it but with Working in the remarks column.
Well the deed is done and Deano flys back to the UK to start work on Wednesday according to Sky so I presume Craig Shakespeare will be insitue to get plans for Saturday up and running.
Can we expect big changes from the Brentford game I really doubt it too soon and a winning team, as Hanley got over his injury and Kabak his virus all will be revealed on Friday.
Q&A will be interesting today.
Fat Frank will still be looking for his next job Rangers gave said they aren’t interested in him according to Sky his opportunities are slowly disappearing.
Hi Alex
I’m not personally considering what happens to either Frank Lampard or Glasgow Rangers – the only thing I know for sure is that Paul Lambert won’t be applying for the Ibrox gig.
I’m like you in that I don’t want John Terry anywhere near us and he’s pretty obviously not the type of guy Delia would entertain so I think we can rest easy on that one.
Even I can appreciate certain aspects of Delia sometimes 🙂
Cheers mate
I like a good 80’s Rock Band, so since we are turning into ‘The Smiths’ let’s just sit back and enjoy the new manager ‘bounce’, I bloody hope so anyway.
I’m generally happy with Dean Smith, Webber has done well I’d say given the current availability. I’d say Villa are worse off with Gerrard and we are better off with Dean Smith, only time will tell.
Hi Colin
I suppose with the way Villa seem to perceive thingsStevie G was a good and quite probably natural appointment for them.
I’m no real fan of the 80s in a musical sense although I liked a bit of Ultravox, Pet Shop Boys and maybe even Japan.
Bowie and Springsteen kept the decade ticking over for me!
Cheers
There’s another Smith at Norwich. Maybe when a Smith out chant goes round each can believe in applies to the other.
And to quote the bard,
Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me.
aka, Kenneth Williams in Carry On Cleo!
I thought *Frying Tonight* was quite a good one too.
What a unique character Kenneth Williams was. In just about every way.
Hi Bernie – loved that one.
Strangely my Red Top says just this very morning that Kenneth Williams’ original woollen robe he wore in *Carry on Cleo* is expected to make some £1,500 at auction.
The buyer might want to sew up a couple of two-inch gashes in the top of it though..
Cheers
At last we are there Martin.
I am not at all unhappy with Dean Smith’s appointment, although what really happened this week I wonder if we will ever know.
To sack Daniel Farke with such haste last Saturday and here we are over a week later and our brand new man was actually employed at the time of Daniel’s sacking. Bit strange ?
Now either the club changed their minds once they knew Smith was available or the work done to replace Daniel before last Saturday night was not as far forward as we all seemed to assume. Or the club lead us to believe ?
I haven’t been happy at all on how this has been handled but we are where we are and at least there is a way forward. Some people seem to think Stuart Webber has played a blinder, while others like me suspect he may have got a bit lucky. All irrelevant now.
Super slim Frank as I see him, was a real strange one for me. I just couldn’t see him working within our financial restraints. I think he would have done a much better job than a lot of fans think, but I do see Dean Smith as the better option.
Smith has worked with a sporting director before, his record at Walsall, Brentford and Villa is mostly excellent. And I think we can excuse his start to the season at Villa as they were trying to find the best way to play after losing their best player. Which all sounds quite familiar around these parts !
Bring Craig Shakespeare with him is another sound decision. A lot of EPL experience there which could be invaluable.
We may not survive this season but we have some sort of chance and if the worse does happen we have what we need to make another good go of it in The Championship. That is another big tick as I wasn’t convinced Daniel, by his own choice, would have been here for another Championship fight.
Dean Smith also surprised the board/interviewing panel with his in depth knowledge of our players. All these are big pluses.
So now on to proper football next Saturday. Thank god.
On another note I agree with John F that the Othello/ Iago reference applied to Lambert/Culverhouse as well. Though I do wonder who was who after Lambert well and truly threw Cully under the bus at villa !
Great column Martin. OTBC
Hi Tim
I think Dean Smith’s availability threw a bit of a spanner in the works. Maybe Webber had the fast track on that but, as you so rightly say, we’ll never know.
As for Deano’s knowledge of our players, rumour has it that after securing the services of Buendia he was after Todd as well and was also interested in Milot Rashica around the time we signed him ourselves.
I’m really looking forward to Saturday now – the atmosphere will be electric.
Cheers
Dean Smith became available and was affordable. So a good fit. He has a decent CV.
I don’t know the immigration rules but I suspect it would have made getting a foreign manager tricky.
Smith will know a lot about many Norwich players from the scouting of Emi. Interested to see his first team both tactics and personnel.
Maybe Emi on loan in January. Now that would be great.
OTBC
Hi Colin
Yes the work permit rules continue to confound me as well.
I’m not going all political here but surely if anybody has proof of income and thus self sustainability in a different country then surely they should be welcome and by paying tax be entitled to the sae rights as the indigenes?
Maybe I’m reading too much into it.
Emi on loan in January? No chance 🙂
Cheers
Farage, et al had the mantra of British jobs for British people. From my reading that remains the underpinning principle. However, I agree with you.
Good analogy with the Hughton appointment, Martin. Let’s just hope Smith has more attacking intentions!
Hi Chris
I look at it this way – nobody EVER had less attacking intent than Chris Hughton!
Cheers
Hi Martin, good luck with the jab!
Nothing to be pessimistic about, you can’t steer a ship looking backwards, and we have a manager with a solid career/success record.
I think its a very good appointment, and Deano will have his eyes unswervingly focussed on the potential Premier League 81 points still available to us. If Smith and Shakespeare get a 50% return we will stay up – which I still believe we will do!
It will be great if he can motivate Todd Cantwell, for the club and for the player, if the lad wants away he’ll want to deliver some show-stopping matches to attract buyers, will he not? Its an open chance for Gilmore to impress as well, and time for the squad to put their best foot forward – and the fans can help big-time with that.
I would say we need one more out-and-out striker to support Super-Teemu, and I can’t help thinking we should retrieve Hugill from his slow death at WBA, he is a physical presence up front.
All to play for against Southampton on Saturday!
COYY !!
Hi Kev
I don’t worry about jabs and stuff, it’s just the temporary aftermath, really. But like so many things in life it just has to be done.
What transpires with Cantwell and Gilmour will be most interesting. The talent is there for sure but can we harness it? At least now we’ll have a good chance to find out.
Yeah, bring on Saturday!
Cheers
Well Martin we went for prime steak and we ended up with sausage and chips I’m happy with the appointment a steady Eddie with a decent record couldn’t watch the lumphard show every week see you sat🤗
Hi Kev
Seems to me more like a case of a lobster thermidor being ordered at The Ivy in London by somebody who doesn’t know what thermidor sauce constitutes to a geezer who could walk into any balti house in Perry Barr or wherever and would know exactly what he was getting.
At around 10% [if that] of the price of course.
Mind you I am a bit biased – I love Asian food above everything else.
See you Saturday indeed.
Cheers
Well put Mr. P.
I guess it just goes to show how swiftly things can change. No way would Webber have pulled the trigger on Mr Farke if he didn’t have a replacement lined up. However, Villa then did their thing and the whole scenario changed.
Like you. I really thought it could be the Norwegian guy, which would have fitted with Webber’s previous “out of the box” thinking, or another relatively unknown from Germany…..and whilst Lampard was apparently contacted, no way would the lights of Norwich and Norfolk have ever been bright enough for him and his family. He did a decent job at Chelski when they couldn’t sign anyone, but when he took over at Derby they were average, and when he left they were still average. I wonder how much their financial woes were impacted by the cost(s) of his loan signings??
Dean Smith was someone who initially totally underwhelmed me. However, given the outpouring of only good things about him from Villa fans, I wonder if Webber has really pulled another rabbit out of the hat?? It seems that he was almost solely responsible for Grealish’s progression to a 100m man….if he can do half as well with Cantwell then let’s face it, he will have been a great success for us.
All we can do is get behind the team who are on the pitch, as well as those off the pitch.
3 points on Saturday will be a great way to start!
O T B C
Hi John
I suspect our links with Germany have gone along with Daniel Farke. There’s only an injured Zimbo and Lukas Rupp left now. We’re unlikely to hear *all the Germans* sung at Carrow Road again, which is of course a shame in its own way.
I don’t know Derby central myself but I sometimes went to relatively nearby Alfreton for work and cannot imagine how Lampard coped with the area if he ever actually lived there. No problem for Dean Smith, me or quite probably yourself of course, but Frank would have expected the bright lights. There were none.
Apart from the PoW Road punch-up zone we simply don’t possess bright lights, big City in Norwich, which is probably one of the best things about Norfolk to me at my ever advancing age anyway.
Saturday will be a good experience – I honestly cannot wait.
Cheers