Oh dear, oh dear… City, City, City…
Sigh.
Sadly, the chance for a turnaround was the two games after the two wins when Norwich failed to win either. That’s where the confidence and belief COULD have come from. Now the (very possibly) record-breaking lack of goals is coming to the fore.
Close season? £60M appallingly spent. Might as well have spent nothing, City would still be bottom with a nice wad tucked in Delia’s moneybelt.
Imminent January transfer window? I suspect very little money will be available – short of selling three players. But who’d want them? AND every club around Norwich will be spending in January – and far more than City.
I am unable to create any sort of cogent argument for Norwich staying up. Ironically there several terrible teams in the division this time around, but Norwich won’t finish above them, because they’re worse.
I’m very much fed up with us being the joke club. Financially we are a bottom half of League One team. That’s the truth.
Sadly, what all the critics are saying is more or less true. We don’t belong anywhere near the elite. We are punching ludicrously above our weight. That cannot possibly last. The direction is inevitably going south – funnily more or less to where Ipswich are.
It’s so depressing. I’m off to watch the snooker. Or Bake Off. Or anything else…
Ultimately it’s so sad as prior to Delia and Michael taking over we were not only threatening to be part of the elite, we were part of the elite (21 out of 24 seasons in the top flight, two Champions League equivalent finishes, a cup win and two cup semi-finals).
Why are we not still there and how did fourth division clubs like Brighton and Brentford (and recently Bournemouth and Fulham) overtake us?
The bottom line is ‘self-funding’ has a ceiling. We’re currently above that, trapped in the crawl space – shortly to come crashing back down into the through-lounge.
However – there is hope, something to cling onto, something to get excited about…
We have a new badge! (Which probably cost as much as Sam McCallum! – It’s one success story after another..)
Boo-hoo.
Cheer me up, someone!
Unfortunately an accurate assessment of our situation.
It is becoming more and more apparent that our owners have taken us as far as their assets permit and now is time for a change at the top.
Chase achieved far more success than Delia and also left the club with assets in the form of adjoining land.
Is it not time for fans to make their disapproval of the current situation more obvious to our apparently unaware owners?
Hi Chris
A spot on article in every single respect.
If we recall Gary’s piece on Wednesday, the one by Don H and myself yesterday and yours today we only differ in style and detail. Four of us, surely, cannot be wrong.
Can I cheer you up?
Well Halle Berry and Michelle Pfeiffer came to see me the other night and said that they can’t wait to meet you. Fiction is all I can manage right now 🙂
Thanks Martin – aren’t we all spot on!!? Great stuff all as always. Perhaps if we didn’t have better times to look back on, this would seem a golden era?
– ‘If Berry and Pfffeiffffer came round ‘ere, I’d say, ‘Oi! Berry and Pffffeifffer’ haven’t you got films to make? Me and Vordermann are trying to have a quiet cup of tea on the sofa and watch some snooker…’ (Apols, to The Fast Show)
I’d ask if they could play cdm or a goal scoring no 10
I went to a lecture once from a well known author and psychologist who specialises in happiness. He recommended waking in the morning and thinking of something bad that could have happened and hasn’t and being grateful and happy for that. The example he gave was a raging toothache. Imagine how awful it would be and then feel happy that you are toothache free. Imagine you woke up and found you were mid-table in League 1 and had just lost 2-0 to Barrow.
I hope you spelled waking right. These pyscho analytic types are all Freudian based on sex as the cause and answer to everything. 🥳🥳
Chris, you left out, Britex, COVID, climate change and the demise of the NHS. Oh and the energy crisis and immigration. Does that little chap with the sandwich board, The End Is Nigh, still hand out leaflets near the market place? Merry Christmas.
Thanks HC. I am indeed the sour-faced wretch in threadbare coat and holey shoes hoiking my sandwich board of depressing truth around the streets of the Fine City. As above, I suspect the problem is we’re old enough to remember better times so don’t view our current moderate success with any optimism. In many ways I feel like the old horse, Boxer, in Animal Farm who the youngsters don’t believe. Perhaps eventually every generation gets to be Boxer and now it’s my turn.
Agree; it looks bleak at the moment but:
1) Both Normann and Rashica should be back from injury soon. Both were playing well and looked like growing into what is demanded of them at this level. Both have the ability to score/assist.
2) Leeds
3) The contrast between the last two games was agonising, but there were mitigations on Tuesday with COVID and exhaustion.
4) Newcastle
5)Dean Smith knows how to survive at this level. He rates the players and deserves our support. Call me foolish but I go to the games thinking we can get points.
6) I hate what’s happening at the moment, but at times like these I believe we really need to look after ourselves not get too high or too low. And in that respect Football stands as an excellent metaphor for life.
I love your optimism sue it’s now 2wins in 36 and alot of those games were with better players than we have now can’t see it improving much like to see us battle for 90 mins every game not 5or ten mins here and there love to see us do it but all past and recent efforts tell me it’s unlikely want to see the passion when wearing the shirt missing for me with several of these players keep well 😄
Thanks Mystic, but my point is really that we should be neither overall optimistic nor pessimistic and just take it and life one match and day at a time. These are troubling times and football should overall be a blessed relief not a source of trauma. My mother introduced me to NCFC. She was the wife and daughter of fishermen. Her favourite expression in challenging times ( eg losing one nil in 1959 to Luton) was,’Never mind; worse things happen at sea’.
Here here👍
Thanks Sue. I agree on all counts. Thanks for cheering me up!
Oh goody, another MFW article deriding our ownership. Full of inaccuracies as ever. “Funding bottom half of League One”. Yeah, every bottom half of League One side is paying £80m odd in annual salaries to their players.
Must remember to look up the definition of the word “supporter” over Christmas.
Some actual informed journalism would be welcome, rather than constantly berating the owners for not being wealthier and/or not being able to find a benevolent Norwich supporting billionaire.
Can we have a new record for 2022? No, didn’t think so….
Thanks sgncfc. I didn’t say ‘funding’ I said ‘financially’. If you look at the owners wealth list on Wikipedia, it lists about 58 or so (can’t remember without looking again) clubs out of 92 (the other’s are left blank. Delia and Michael come in at 57, only one off the bottom. That translates as bottom half of League One. This stuff isn’t picked up out of the air, it takes a bit of research and thought.
As for ‘new record’ perhaps try reading some of my previous articles, including a desperately positive one called ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ from a couple of months ago. I like to write a variety of styles and content from statistical, polemic, humorous, positive, constructive, historic and predictive. Thanks for your comment.
I can almost hear your teeth grinding as you thank me for my comment.
“Research and thought” hasn’t taken you very far if you then can’t translate what you discover into a cogent argument. I appreciate that you’re finding very little to be positive about currently but surely if they are the 57th wealthiest owners, sitting 20th is pretty impressive? But it’s irrelevant how wealthy they are when they don’t now actually have any money at all invested – we are, very publicly, self funded.
You say a number of really quite ridiculous things in your article – your sychophants might not choose to call you out on them, but you have a platform of influence and you should therefore be accountable somehow. We are not “going to where Ipswich are” and we are clearly not “financially at the lower end of League One” even if if you think we are based on nothing much.
Last season this model produced “the best ever Championship team”. We have more internationals in our squad than 17 of the other PL teams. You claim we have “appallingly spent” £60m – that’s just rubbish. We clearly have a stronger squad than last year – maybe it’s not strong enough, but the team that ended against Villa was a Championship team due to 8 first team players being unavailable.
By all means compare us to those clubs we are trying to compete with and bemoan our situation but it’s hardly the fault of the owners that Aston Villa can bring a £30m striker off the bench; that Leicester’s bench were valued at £150m when we played them; that Liverpool’s reserves are worth more than our entire squad.
Given then that we are the Man City of the Championship, how do you think supporters of Peterborough or Wycombe feel about the broadening of the gaps between the leagues?
Norwich is one of only two or three clubs trying to compete without billionaire owners. Surely that is commendable, even if the billionaires are making it harder every year. We haven’t reached our ceiling. Burnley and Southampton are also effectively self funding now, as are Watford and for this season at least, Everton.
Forgive me for asking, but when was the last MFW article in praise of our model?
I think you’ll find that Mick (Dennis) and Stewart (Lewis) are almost always supportive of the model and the owners. Not sure where this suggestion of an ‘agenda’ comes from. There’s no editorial steer whatsoever… every blogger is given carte blanche to express their view as they see it.
And I’m afraid I strongly take issue with your “anti-Farke sentiments” comment. Simply not true. While no manager/coach is above criticism, most of the columns and columnists were always supportive of Daniel and grateful for the positive impact he had on our football club.
Self funding is a marketing term.
We are “funded by everybody but the owners.
TV money, sponsors, the fans. Anybody but the owners.
When you realize the first two (tv and sponsors) are temporary and that our club has only a stable income of approximately 10% of our outgoing a, you realize how tenuous our model is.
Hi sgnfc
Just a couple of points about MFW if I may.
Ours are largely opinion pieces for the simple reason that NCFC are highly unlikely to offer us a mindbending exclusive. Archant don’t have that privilege either as the Club’s media team spouts what it wants and there is nothing else they will add. Ever.
Fair play to them as they are part of a business which we all support whenever go to a game and that has long been the way of the world. Even somebody who goes into the Fan Hub or the Club Shop is conscious they are being ripped off but all football clubs are the same so why should Norwich City be any different?
MFW *journalists* have a fair old bit of collective credibility which allows us the established right to write about matters the way we see them.
Course you don’t have to agree – it’s what we’re here for!
“MFW *journalists* have a fair old bit of collective credibility which allows us the established right to write about matters the way we see them.”
Wow. I’m afraid I have no idea where you think your credibility comes from – from a few articles on blog site? In that case, I guess we’re all “journalists”.
MFW seem to have developed a very negative agenda. It wasn’t always like this. Last year during the charge to the title there was a little praise, though not much. The transfer window at the time looked successful but your anti-Farke sentiments soon came to the fore and now we seem to have wasted that £60m (which was actually only £35m but don’t worry about facts).
I genuinely can’t remember the last time I read an article on this site which indicated that any of you get any pleasure from belong a Norwich City supporter. If you changed your moniker slightly to MFN you could call it Moan For Norwich.
I think that’s quite sad. You are part of a media with influence. As social sites prove, it is easy to be negative and it crosses the ether much easier and more quickly than positivity – just look at the comments you get agreeing with your every word.
It’s a shame because there is so much about our club which is good. I’d rather celebrate that and compare us to all those other clubs who would like to be where we are (whether it’s in the PL or the Champs)
As for our writers Mick Dennis is an industry legend and folks like Gary G and myself aren’t really too far behind although in my case I couldn’t always write about football to earn a living so turned my hand to other things. Why? It paid more. Much more.
It’s what, sometimes, you have to do.
*A few articles on a blog site*?
That is where you have it horribly wrong.
MFW has actively helped a couple of young journalists on their career paths. With enormous success in one particular case.
Feel free to criticise me for anything I might write but questioning my credibility is going a little bit too far.
There are at least three writers on MFW who are far better than me and you know what – we all do it for the love of football and NCFC.
Us writers are not paid and nor would we expect to be. No tooth grinding from me in NR3, I can assure you – keep commenting cos none of us care if you sometimes disagree. 🙂
I agree Martin that MFW is the most fair forum for Norwich City discussion I have come across.
There is no agenda.
I know because I don’t get pilloried when I ask the question, get rid of Delia ….how ?
We all want The Great Team to be challenging at the top half of the EPL but at 63 I am old enough and ugly enough to know I don’t always get what I want.
I love the debate on here.
Many admire Delia and Michael on here, I do, but like perhaps the majority of city fans we do feel time and £££ has changed football immeasurably since Delia and Michael took over.
And that may mean a changing of the guard.
But anyone who was around during the Chase era should know D & M are not the second coming of Mr Chase by any stretch of the imagination.
The ironic thing is that those of us that write on MFW appear to be pretty accurate in our predictions about large or small detail well before it unravels in reality.
I have had frank disagreements with the editor of MFW but neither I or anyone else has ever chastised the model of how the club is run. We sure point out the very real realities of doing it on a club of this size and its limited depth of resources, but I suspect Dean Smith will prove to be an evolution of that model back to a more ‘traditional’ management structure and he should be given the same time to prove himself as his predecessor.
SW has a lot to learn and he’s learning it. Delia and Michael give their all when the reality is that nobody else will buy the club from them.
And DF and or SW are at fault for this current scenario.
I’d have Tettey, Vrancic, Stieperman and Hernandez, Zimbo and even Rhodes or C Morris over their replacements this season. I think S&S will know precisely who they want in January and they’ve probably already lined up quite an overhaul. It will possibly be too late this season but unlike DF, I expect to S&S to build a viable template for the future, where the ‘model’ of the club will evolve into exactly what we all hope it to be.
Anyone reticent to the cause needs to carefully analyse that Villa team and recognise which players S&S should take credit for, be it appropriate signings or academy development.
DF & SW slept walked into engineering this squad and it is staggeringly unfit for purpose, but with limited affordability in January, the structural and tactical tweaks we’ve already seen will give us a better understanding of our future,
I’m sure MFW writers are any more accurate in their assessments than anyone else tbh, Mike. They’re all just opinions. Those who vehemently disagree with us may well have it nailed and we (usually me) have it wrong. No right or wrongs… just opinions.
Have you actually stopped to consider the fact that the multiple crosses in agreement aren’t “influenced” at all, they just happen to agree with the sentiments.
It’s great to have a site that isn’t toeing the club line where clappers jump on any dissenting voice.
This site routinely posts in-depth analysis far beyond any other Norwich site I visit. Others largely reprint what they’re told unquestionably. Even when what’s being said be the club is clearly outrageously wrong.
I’d throw the the “Norwich City Supporters Trust” in that bucket too.
Gary has never once asked me to edit something out of a piece, told me he agreed or disagreed with one. He takes pieces from THE FANS and publishes them. That makes this site, to me, the most credible of the lot.
It’s all very well complaining that we don’t have any money, but unless you can point the club in the direction of a benevolent financier, who genuinely has the interests of the club at heart (like Leicester’s owners), then it is what it is.
D&M have made their investment with comparatively limited funds, and none of those who we aware of who wanted to invest would have done us any good – the Italian crook Di Stefano and the guy at QPR being two we know about. There may have been others, but I certainly haven’t heard of any Arab potentates coming in waving cheque books and gold bullion. Maybe you know different. In the meantime, we will have to live with it.
I very well remember the pre-Delia days, and I for one was glad to see the back of Robert Chase, whose dishonesty over the Chris Sutton transfer is only exceeded by our current Prime Minister. In those days, the First Division and subsequently the Premier League were a much more level playing field, and the disparity which has grown with the increases in television money since BT and others joined Sky in throwing cash at the league has hugely affected the way things have gone.
I’m sorry if I haven’t cheered you up, but I guess you’ll have to man up and live with it, or switch your allegiance to a money-bags outfit. I don’t think even our near neighbours down the A140 would suffice.
AS above Jim I’m keen on the ‘living within our means’ mantra, it is entirely sensible. I just wish we had more means. For a long time I thought Norwich might be unattractive to investors for various reasons, but now that clubs with far less profile, history and prospects have been picked up left right and centre by (often multi) billionaire owners, it makes me wonder why we’ve been left behind?
“Living within our means” is clearly the right way to go, and like you, I would like more “means”. It’s just that I’m not sure where or how we get them, while still ensuring we can still have a club with the sort of standards we believe in. What we need is a local billionaire with an interest in football, and Norwich City in particular. The only one I can think of might be James Dyson, but he went to Greshams, and is probably more interested in rugby as a consequence. He also supported Brexit, and then promptly moved his manufacturing to the Far East, so he probably doesn’t fit the “benevolent billionaire” profile.
Of the clubs you mentioned in your article, Bournemouth and Fulham are both currently in the Championship, and although they may come back up, they’re likely to end up as yo-yo clubs as we have. None of us are ever likely to “do a Leicester” and neither are Leicester likely to do it again.
Thanks JohnF. Sadly, it does seem the case. I genuinely like living within our means – I think that’s a healthy way to proceed – I just wish we had more means!
Chris, I can give you some words of cheer, you like me and a few other MOGs can view the world and see the problems but tongue in cheek have a moan but stick with it. We pick up our muskets and carry on with hopes of better times, we are veterans. We‘ve enjoyed the gold amongst the dross and know that someday things will improve, keep a troshin and ignore the righteous. Again Merry Christmas.
The fact that we keep getting to the Premier League, an achievement of some sort in itself, shows that the current model is not without merit.
My own view is that it is possible under this model to survive in the Premier League. However, it is very difficult. What money is available needs to be spent extremely well. You need a bit of luck with signings as well as quality scouting.
For me we could have recruited a little more short term. Sargent and Tzolis, both in the 19-21 age bracket, are not experienced enough to do the job required in the here and now. We needed a few more in the 24-27 year bracket, like Giannoulis and Normann. I’m not advocating signing 30 year olds but to spend £20m on two young guys like that has been a blunder in terms of giving ourselves a reasonable chance to survive.
For me, it is the recruitment strategy and the scouting primarily to blame for us being uncompetitive. The financial of course make it difficult. But what money we did have has not been used well.
Hi Chris,
Fair article I would say! What is frustrating is how wrong we have got the transfer market on both our recent promotions. When you have little you must spend it well. We seem to miss and never have the players with the physical requirements to compete in the top league. Our midfield has been weak for years and we are shorter than every team. I accept they are very fit and work hard, but at times it feels like we turn up to an F1 race with a Citroen Saxo. Cheers!
Some of these problems can probably be put down to a strong commitment to youth? Not criticising, just observing, over the years we have had a sprinkling of experience, my personal favourite being Mick Channon.
Who does Citroen Saxo play for?
Well Chris this has stirred up a hornets nest.
I agree with most of your article.
However saying that pre- Delia & Michael we were top 5 in the top league three times in 6-7 years, won a cup and had two FA Cup semi’s is totally correct.
But that leads the reader to surmise that this must have been a wonderful time with the best owner we ever had.
Whatever revisionist history any of us try that sadly was far, far from the truth. I know I was there.
I never want to see those scenes again. But that man had to go. I am of course talking about our former chairman Mr Chase.
If he had stayed I would expect us to be playing in the third or even the fourth divisions by now on a regular basis. His plans for Norwich City would have ruined the club but saved himself.
Norwich City’s best ever seasons were in spite of the owner not because of him. That accolade for the clubs success is shared by Ken Brown, Dave Stringer and Mike Walker. And the excellent youth academy at that time.
Too many “high profile” City supporters fall into this trap time and time again of think that get rid of Delia and its the land of milk and honey. No on can guarantee that.
I have said on here before that I think Delia and Michael have generally been a force for good at the club and I know that’s not a popular opinion, but have they made mistakes ? Yes and b….y big ones.
But it’s not just their mistakes that have come to us being in this awful situation it’s time and the changing face of football. You are correct absolutely Chris in that Self- Funding has a ceiling and I am afraid that has become apparent a lot sooner than we all hoped.
I want Delia to consider the best interests of the club and listen to offers from outside. Genuine people like at Leicester. But even if she does there is no guarantee of a return to our glory days.
Those seasons in the late eighties early nineties were fantastic, what a team we had. But compare our fortunes with Ipswich Town since those heady days.
We have still had some excellent seasons under Nigel, Paul Lambert/Ian Culverhouse and latterly Daniel, far better than anything Town have enjoyed.
You need to be a billionaire to succeed now and for me that is sad. But it’s a reality.
But lets not look back with rose coloured glasses.
I absolutely agree with your comments regarding the Chase era. We had some great managers, and the flow of cash within the game was significantly different at that time. It’s finding a safe pair of hands to succeed D&M that worries me.
Your last line Jim is my big worry as well.
It goes straight to the the heart of the problem.
The new owners could be the Second Coming or in it for financial exploitation.
Owners are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get 😂
Cheers Tim and Jim. We all want the best. I love Delia & Michael’s almost homely connection to the club, but just wish they were state-level loaded!
We don’t have a stronger squad than last season. Two key players were Buendia and Skipp and they have gone. We have a deeper squad for sure but the best XI is a bit weaker than the one from last season. The model was slightly amended last season. We made an operating loss of over £20m as we had a high wage bill because we kept one or two high earners who in normal times would have been sold. Covid income impact only covered part of that loss. You seem to think that a supporter has to agree 100% with the actions of the club. This is a bit like saying that a British person should be 100% behind the government regardless of who is in power. Ultimately self funding means we have to earn money on the pitch by winning matches and winning promotion. If that cycle ever stops then we face difficult choices. It is arrogant to think of us as the Man City of the Championship as we were not the best team to have ever been in the Championship. A comparison with the reality that a club like Arsenal faces is fair enough. In they can’t afford a prolonged period out of the top 4 in the same way that we can’t afford a prolonged period out of the top flight. If we face life without parachute payments the cost cutting would be severe
This is the reality that some are seemingly incapable of grasping. Without the bi annual excursion into the top flight to accumulate the cash things will rapidly go downhill.
Where do these people think the money is coming from to fund the thing? Unlike the majority of our peers, we don’t have the luxury of being underwritten. I genuinely fear for the clubs future if we continue on the current course.
The analogy I use is that of someone from a lowly background earning a 6 figure salary in the City working with colleagues who inherited millions. If he loses his job he can survive on the parachute money of redundancy and sell a few assets but at the end of the day he faces disaster if he doesn’t get a new job at the same level
PS. Thanks everybody for all your comments. Things aren’t that bad in the big scheme of things. We’re rated in the top 20 clubs in the country through performance. We’re solvent. We have a beautiful location and loyal fan base. We’re not being exploited by Initforthemoney Global Co. Ltd.
In a way, I feel bad for wanting more…
Best wishes and happy Christmas all!