Shambolic… woeful… outclassed… pitiful… pathetic…
Take your pick.
Personally, I’m inclined to hone in on ‘outclassed’ because the one thing that wasn’t lacking yesterday was effort. No one stopped running, no tackles were shirked and the heads didn’t drop on the pitch as they did off it. But my god did City come up short. So vast was the gulf in quality, it felt like two teams playing two different sports.
Yes, Arsenal are a good side and, pound-for-pound, are always going to be better than us, but for that gulf in quality to be so pronounced and so obvious was hard to stomach.
The deficiencies in this team – at least when playing in the Premier League – are too numerous to list, and would take us way beyond a thousand words, so I’ll spare you, but suffice to say it doesn’t need someone with a UEFA Pro Licence to see that this team has nothing like enough goals in it to be competitive.
Nowhere near. Not even close.
EIGHT goals at almost the halfway point of a Premier League season. Eight.
For that particular stat, I’ll call on another of my five opening adjectives – pathetic.
The onus placed on Teemu Pukki to deliver goals is, quite frankly, ridiculous. So too the way he is asked to lead the line with so little support; usually being asked to grapple with two or more defenders for loose balls and scraps. To have left him so high and dry and with so little by the way of challenge has to be a failure of the recruitment process.
It was clear from the disaster that was 2019/20 that the squad needed to find other routes to goal when playing in the Premier League but, as it’s transpired, not one had been discovered or added. We hoped that Milot Rashica would chip in as he did with Werder Bremen, that Christos Tzolis would kick on and even that Josh Sargent would challenge Pukki for his place. But no.
In fairness, we were quietly excited at the prospect and not too many people questioned the logic behind those signings at the time but in the Premier League said trio have produced not a single goal and just one measly assist between them.
In fact, don’t bother looking too closely at any of the stats. I’ll save you the trouble: they’re horrific.
By any given metric, this season has been rotten, not to mention embarrassing – two more adjectives I erroneously missed in my opening line.
As someone pointed out on Twitter… we’re currently the San Marino of the Premier League – an analogy that’s impossible to contest.
But how the hell have we ended up here?
How can we go from being so imperious in the Championship to being so abject in the Premer League in a few short months?
Of course it’s literally a different league and, of course, there are leagues within that league, which means you find yourself up against clubs that are, financially, in a different stratosphere to us, but we have to question why we’re sooo far off the pace.
And I know we’ve been dealt a crappy hand as a result of covid-related absences and injuries, but others have struggled similarly and been forced to play games without it ending in total embarrassment.
As things stand, only the England cricket team can challenge us on that front.
But, returning to why we are where we are, I guess, looking back, the rot started to set in when we failed miserably to fill the voids left by the departing Emi Buendia and Oliver Skipp. Realistically, there was never a question of retaining the services of either but, equally, there’s no disputing they were the two key components of last season’s title-winning team.
Take either out of that team and we don’t win the title. I’m not sure we even get promoted.
So for neither to be replaced, either like-for-like or with players of differing qualities, was never going to end well. As it happened, the closest we got to an Oliver Skipp was a Mathias Normann who, in the end, had a skillset that was nothing like the Tottenham man.
Normann is a fine player, probably our best, but not the rock-solid, dependable shield to the back-four that we needed.
Neither did Webber deliver us a team with more energy, physicality and size. He knew it was desperately needed, even spoke of it, but within the constraints of his budget was unable to bring in players who, aside from the technical aspect, would make us less likely to be bullied and harder to play against.
Yesterday, as in most games, City were lightweight, powderpuff and very easy to play against. A box that never got ticked.
That we came up short in that regard before a ball was even kicked was – in hindsight admittedly – another failure of recruitment.
In terms of cash spent, the quoted £50 million was by some way a record for this club and put us up there with the big spenders of the summer, but, let’s be honest, it was a net spend of around £14 million. The large bulk of it was funded by the Buendia to Villa sale – as is the wont of a self-funded club.
And in terms of salaries paid, our pot will be one of the lowest, probably the lowest in the Premier League – another factor that made Webber’s job in the summer doubly difficult.
And why is our pot the smallest? Well, it’s because we’re what we self-describe as the only ‘self-funded’ club in the top two divisions. A noble aim by the noblest owners in English football, but it’s becoming ever more apparent that, as hard as we try, it’s a model that’s completely at odds with being competitive in the Premier League.
Time and time again we convince ourselves that next time it will be different, that this time we’re better prepared and that lessons will have been learned from last time, but nothing changes. In fact, we’re getting less competitive as the seasons go by.
Alex Neil’s class of 2015-16 was better than this team but missed out on safety by five points. Even Daniel Farke’s class of 2019-20, who came up short by 14 points, picked up the odd good win with the odd good performance prior to Project Restart.
Despite being essentially made up of Championship players – most of whom proved themselves not good enough for the Premier League – that team was equally as competitive as this one, yet was still miles away from being good enough.
This squad and team has been carefully and deliberately re-jigged and re-vamped, yet still resembles a ragtag of decent Championship-level pros who have been thrown together after just a couple of training sessions.
No obvious system, no obvious plan, no obvious strategy, that ultimately results in games, like yesterday, when it appears a lower division outfit is being taught a harsh lesson by a team from two or three divisions higher up the ladder.
And none of the above is intended as a slight on Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare. The best-prepared game plan will be undone in seconds when the players are not good enough to implement it. Yesterday’s lasted six minutes.
S&S must surely, in a quiet moment, ask themselves what they were thinking when they said ‘yes’ to Webber.
As a club, we’ve been on a thrilling ride since Webber and Farke teamed up in May 2017, but any success in the Championship invariably ends in gut-wrenching disappointment when we bang our heads on that glass ceiling pitched just below 18th place in the Premier League.
The current model, however we try and spin it, is never going to smash through that glass.
Not for the first time, those at the top need to ask themselves what they want this football club to be.
***
While you’re here…
In these difficult and trying times, MFW too is struggling. Generating income streams through ad revenue is a challenge across the globe and we have taken our own hit.
As such, we become increasingly reliant on the good people whose generosity extends to supporting us through a monthly Patreon subscription. For these kind folk we are, and will forever be, eternally grateful.
We appreciate times are hard for all of us, and every penny counts, but if any more of you could see fit to help us in this way, we’d be so thankful.
We also recognise that we have not expressed our gratitude sufficiently for the kindness of our existing donors, and so there’ll be some exclusive content on its way by way of a small thank you; something we intend to make a regular feature.
So, once again, thank you. Without you, the readers, we would not even exist. Please stay safe.
If anyone is interested in taking a look at our Patreon page, it’s here. Happy New Year.
Gary
A well written article, that sum up our club.
It bring out the fact that the net spend was only £14m, nothing in PL terms.
Having said that, a spend of £100m , would not have helped if those funds had been given to those who spent the quoted £50m so un wisely.
Let face our rightful home is the championship, why ever bother with promotion, when it always a step to far for any “self funding club”
No one likes to be wise after the event but I felt like rather a lone voice in being against the sacking of DF at the time. Having spent years inculcating a style of play throughout the club from youth team upwards and having got us promoted twice where was the logic in getting rid of him? I think S&S look like decent replacements and good football men but there is zero chance of them (or anyone else) keeping this team in the Premier league, the players are nowhere near good enough.
Getting humiliated week in week out is damaging the club from the supporters through to the board and all aspects of the club from youth teams through to first team.
Finally, quick note for DS, the reason we were competitive against Man Utd (as it continually mentioned) was that they were truly terrible, most lower half championship clubs would have beaten them on that day at Carrow Rd.
We’ll said, my thoughts entirely.
The damage will be evident in years to come when the younger generation support successful teams rather than City!
The most honest and appropriate article I’ve read on this site for some time Gary, thank you.
It’s true to say that “self funding” was a noble endeavour that’s been well and truly proven to be totally ineffective at the highest level of professional football.
I’m certain our owners have the best interests of the club at heart but surely they can now see that if the club is to establish itself in the premiership changes at the top need to take place.
Certainly investment doesn’t necessarily bring success but it’s a certainty that without it the club will never attain premiership status.
Sport is only a viable entertainment if it’s competitive and I’m afraid that the number of people leaving Carrow Road early yesterday, myself included as I could no longer bear to see the club I love being humiliated, demonstrates that the majority of fans are reaching the end of their tether regarding “self funding”.
Hopeless.
Here’s just some of the losses to nil so far this season: 7-0 (once), 5-0 (twice), 3-0 (thrice), etc etc.
Beyond hopeless. Utterly embarrassing in fact.
Being in the Premier League is a chance to increase your club support and extend your reach around the world. But who in their right mind outside Norfolk will want to support Norwich on the basis of this season and 2019/20? (Such a shame as the distinctive almost unique kit is so memorable and a peg to hang any interest on). Already even if Norwich get promoted again in the future potential fans will be put off with the legacy of ‘that hopeless embarrassing lot? No way. I’d rather follow Rotherham or MK Dons.’
And the problem isn’t that the league is so hard to compete in, else Brentford and Watford would be sitting on 7 and 6 goal tallies at this point. And they’re not, are they?
All but relegated at Christmas.
It’s so awful it’s not even pitiful.
My recommendation: Chuck the season in, take the 3-0 automatic sanctions for not playing the games (the goal difference and points tally won’t be any worse), board Carrow Road up, and send everyone on a long holiday – while the rest of us look forward to the battle to stay in the Championship next season.
Yes, this is my grumpy face.
Webber knew the score when he signed up, so much for his 5 year plan.
Seasons greetings Gary,
Wow your words suggest anger, frustration and anxiety at the way the wheels have collapsed and fallen of bus NCFC. Reflecting on your previous articles when you have looked for the positives in the team’s failure to produce a result this one suggests patience is in very short supply. Wearing your heart on your sleeve is all well and good but in reality, unless there is a drastic change of direction, the team and its back up is never going to compete on a level playing field with our cash rich illustrious neighbours. I feel sure Weber and co secured the best they could for the money available; after all if you “pay peanuts you should expect ……”!! and peanuts is all we have!
Whenever we have gained a place at the top table the final outcome is the usually the same with very few exceptions. Let’s just try to enjoy the odd win or draw for the rest of the season, regroup for next season and go again. You never know we might have a good run in the FA cup but then again we might ……
Hi Phil… and the same to you and yours.
“I feel sure Weber and co secured the best they could for the money available; after all if you “pay peanuts you should expect ……”!! and peanuts is all we have!”
100% this. Wise words, my friend.
I don’t really agree that they did secure the best they could or certainly that they secured what we needed. The £15m on Tzolis and Sargent for example would have been better spent on a robust defensive midfielder. We didn’t need Williams so wasted a loan slot. I accept the financial constraints make recruitment a challenge at times but what I find unforgivable is Webber saying we needed bigger, more physical players and then signing the complete opposite and not signing a CDM at all. Tantamount to negligent in my view and at the heart of a lot of our problems this season (as it was last time).
Exactly Jim
A heavy defeat always creates a feeling of despair.
However, Arsenal are a top 6 side and realistically it was always a question of how we could keep the score down
Having said that, even if we do pull off the great escape we are likely to have the worst goal differences in the league, so at the and of the day, apart from the psychological effects, not much difference between 0-1 and 0-5.
Yes, it was a poor performance, but IMHO the match should not have gone ahead. It did because the number of COVID cases were not significant enough. However, that simple metric does not tell the whole story. It does not include those who are symptomatic but COVID negative, or those who have had COVID: from personal experience, coming out of the isolation period is not the same as getting your fitness back.
I believe that prior to this COVID intervention, Dean Smith had the the current squad playing the best they ever had in this league, and he has the nous to get us playing that way again once this lunacy is over.
We need 8 wins to stay up. Tomorrow, should be one of them, but not sure we have a fit enough squad..
The blame is not all Webber’s.
OTBC
Getting even more embarrassing now to be a city fan,what others associated with the club feel i dont know.One thing is for sure is that Smith and Jones have done their bit,now its time to sell up,start afresh,new ideas etc.Lets face it they’re not even rich enough for a league one club anymore.Footballs changed, for better or worse,but little ol Norwich keep plodding along,getting lucky enough to get promoted,sell their best players to fund the wages for another season,repeat and repeat.This self funding model will soon go t#ts up,we’re running out of top assets to sell for a start and when it does where will the money come from then to fund the club?Not Smith and Jones as they are paupers in the football world.But as long as auntie Delia keeps the fans on her side nothing will change,isnt she lucky that alot of Ncfc fans have no ambition to become an established epl team like herself.,most teams fans would have put pressure on the board by now,but we are little ol Norwich,we just bury our heads in the sand and hope the problems go away and by some miracle we start winning again.Not going to mention anything about the summers recruitment,except to say it was bloody AWFUL!
Hindsight is a wonderful thing when it comes to those summer signings. We were all full of hope that among them would be the new Buendia (and be fair, when he came from the Spanish second tier, it was a case of “who?” Yesterday we were outclassed, and Arsenal could probably put out a reserve team to beat our first choice side, but as Smith said, individual errors contributed hugely. Kabak twice, with the first goal and the penalty, Williams not getting near his winger and allowing him to come inside onto his left foot twice.
Having suffered through MOTD, I think we might have had a penalty when the Mayor was heaved back by his shirt collar, but given that set of officials, including the VAR lot, it was not going to happen. (It was significantly more of a pull, than the Aarons on
Ronaldo incident). The score was only 2-0 at that point.
Unlike some, I stayed till the end. I never leave before the final whistle.
When you start comparing NCFC to the England Cricket team you know you are in trouble. This is such an unlikeable team. We even have the Russell Martin role filled by the Mayor. Promising a reaction that never comes. The truth as you point out is that without proper funding we cannot compete. I saw a list of Webber’s signings this morning and with a few exceptions it didn’t make good reading but he has been limited to taking punts on players with poor injury records and cast offs from bigger teams. The yo yo is about to break. There are very few saleable assets, our mercenaries don’t care and the likes of Rashica and Kabak will not be turning out on a wet Tuesday night in Rotherham. We are stinking out the Premier League. I may be in the minority but I would take money from some oligarch if it meant we could compete with the rest rather than occupy the high moral ground on the way to financial oblivion. The model has failed. We need to recognise that. Take the best bits of it like the promotion of youth and the development of Colney and try something different.
Gary the sole blame is laid at Webbers door he had money and he spent terribly as are his loans usually .In my opinion we bought Angus Gunn for next year in the championship I don’t believe we ever believed we would stay up . I know we are not rich club but I feel sorry for Delia and Farke the way Webber spent what he had his bullish attitude just shows how ignorant he really is . The sooner HE is gone the quicker we can move on . And yes maybe we do need more money but that is something the club needs to consider very carefully .
Don’t blame the employees, blame the owner!
Owners set the budget that limits the employees options.
Great article Gary! Nail and Head come to mind.
Unfortunately Norwich City have owners who do not want their “little club” to become successful?
If they did options to buy the club would have been made by now?
The Norwich faithful for decades have had to put up with poor leadership and poor management on and off the pitch.
People may argue that Smith and Jones saved the club but I remind you that when Geoffrey Watling sold his shares it was on the provision that the situation with Robert Chase could never happen again!
That situation has happened and we are now dancing to this tune of Self funding, aka we have no money but the supporters will have to lump it as “WE” want to be owners of a football cub!
Personally I find it selfish to the fans who want nothing more than this fantastic football club to be successful!
Good Piece.
I said before the season started that I couldn’t see where the goals for coming from, but even I thought more than this! My prediction of Sargent being the new Alex Notman is looking pretty good I’d say.
The largest problem with the self funding is not primarily that it doesn’t work, is that so many fans bought into it. We have owners whose ship sailed so long ago it was made of wood. In essence, some fans have got exactly what they deserved. No pressure has been applied to Smith & Jones and we get the consequences.
The club is drifting into at very least Championship mediocrity and possibly further adrift. I had a text from my Palace supporting friend who was concerned what team they were going to put out because of COVID issues. ‘It doesn’t matter – put anyone out and you will win – it’s as simple as that’
I really feel sorry for Dean Smith. He’ll try to shake it up in January, but what can he really do? The soul has been completed sucked out of the squad and it shows that you take a couple of key players, plus some disenchantment elsewhere and everything falls apart with Smith & Jones with their underwear down respectively.
The future is very bleak indeed.
Good, honest but a very sad article see halfway through the season. Thank you Mr G.
It was, without doubt, we said after the 1st relegation that the squad was not good enough for the prem, but stormed the championship. Changes made but huge questions of are this new group any better. well with just a half-season gone, the written answer is in letters as large as City Hall tower, NOWHERE NEAR.
Who is to blame, where do we start, try the Owners, Self Funding, the rest of the Board, the Scouting Network, The Sports Director, Farke (yes he had a say in transfers) Players (they may be outclassed but fight should be in all.)
Although what player with any amount of savvy is going to turn down a chance to play in this league. clearly believing that they are better than they think, because a Prem club comes calling sweet talking.
I even question how they would fare next season the championship, I really dare not ponder it.
So take your pick, for me this is the final straw of the Stowmarket Duo’s reign, we have gone round and round in circles under them, seemingly always ending up with a disaster. This time it feels more than just a relegation that is on the horizon, I have lost hope of anything better under this regime or that of nephew Tom which will be the next step down the ladder.
I didn’t expect to beat a top 6 team, but 5 flicking nil with 2 Shots on Target: 3 corners. is more than poor it is pathetic. I like Mayor Kenny, but hellfire, have we not heard this all before. There must be a pool of statements pinned somewhere they are allowed to take a pick fro
If our coaches decided to jump ship, I for one would not blame them, I believe you could have Pep or Jugen here and the end result would be the same. The old saying rings true. “You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ea
Totally sums it up Gary.
Because of Covid worries I didn’t go yesterday; the first time in almost 60 years when I’ve elected to miss out!
Consequently I too have just viewed MotD….there were only 6 games,so 12 teams to view. 11 of them appeared committed to their particular cause, playing with pace, intent, and defending as if wearing the shirt meant something to the players. One lot looked a bit like a Sunday morning outfit, who couldn’t really give a stuff – I’ll leave the readers to decide who they might be!!
Pitiful and embarrassing don’t even come close. We have defenders who cannot defend; we have NO midfield, and those who play there cannot defend nor create any meaningful chances; consequently we have forwards who never look like scoring.
Surely basic coaching tells you that if you’re against a left footed winger who is on the right, then you ALWAYS show him the touchline….the number of times Williams failed to do such a basic thing was ridiculous!
Oh; and we still have VAR against us…..if Aarons/Ronaldo was the supposed nailed on penalty, then Lacazette/McLean should also have been given…..but that really is clutching at straws.
With the loans returning, and (I suspect) Krul and Pukki departing, this lot will really struggle in the Championship next season.
Ipswich here we come……………..
O T B C
A late change of work plans meant I only saw about half of the game on a mobile phone screen – hence the lack of my usual report. What I did see looked like men against boys. Misplaced passes and too many long balls coming straight back at us. In mitigation to the purchasing strategy, we were of course missing our 2 most capable signings in the form of Milot Rashica and Matthias Normann. Would they have made a difference yesterday? Probably. Would it have been enough to allow us to compete? Probably not.
If self funding is to be derided, then its incumbent on these critics to put a more ‘successful’ model in place, and to weigh up the advantages and the downsides. I’m not sure how wanting a foreign money bags take over somehow equates with ‘ambition’. More like hand back control! Appears to me self funding is bold and ambitious. It is easy to be ‘ambitious’ with other peoples money and other peoples blood sweat and tears.
We are jaded after some yo-yo years, but if you look at the wider picture over the history of the club (or the history of WBA for instance), 5 relegations from the top flight is hardly multiple. As I’ve said over and over again, we have no right to be any highier in the divisions than any other conurbation, a la Stockport, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Lincoln etc etc etc etc
I don’t think 8 million is peanuts. I think Everton got Gray for about 1.7 M. Watching the Nottingham Forest era again and knowing the era has long gone, I still feel the skills of Peter Taylor were not unique. Neil Adams team can scout and search, and gems can be found, well, that’s my ambitious thinking anyway. Humbleness, teamwork, guts and belief are not just values of old. . .
Hi Gary
An excellent read.
The Levy/Lewis at Spurs would tell you they are self funding as the owners chase investment to fund the club not the supporters ie Ground Naming.
Embarrassing city or is it the 9wners that are an embarrassment to the club sitting in their ivory tower sprouting how much they love the club but are they really killing the supporters love of the club, every ex player pundit hangs his hat on another bad day at city.
At the AGM it was mentioned that investors keep knocking on the door and 5hese are past to the majority share holders who turns them all down as unsuitable to their model of self funding.
Webber must have a job for life taking all the rubbish he has to take for the owners lack of supplied funds and they praise him for the work he has done, he has stopped all the flak being blamed on them.
Too many people like the idea of having so called celebrity owners take Wrexham as well the only true celebrity owner that had success was Elton John and he flashed the cash.
25years of standing still no attempt to increase ground capacity all we hear is that it’s being looked at and it’s to expensive until we are a long term premiership club it’s never going to get cheaper.
We are in the 21st century with owner stuck in the 50’s and I am not sad to say it’s time to go put your shares up for sale and go back to Stowmarket
We can’t say we haven’t had any success under the smiffs 5promotions yes I know and relegations when most teams can’t get anywhere near it who have spent millions more then us and are in serious trouble .what disappoints me most about this season apart from not getting players in with abit of premier experience is that we are still playing players that weren’t good enough last time round and have not got atleast two more strikers find that really short sighted .as for yesterday totally outclassed again 30 to 40th minute we got stuck into them they were rattled should have been like that from first minute . Like to see Williams and Gilmore go back as we are goin down and give some of our players abit of experience thought Williams Was pants yesterday unfortunately he wasn’t the only one .my friend a big villa supporter said when Smith was appointed that he hadn’t got a clue spent a fortune only stayed up by var fiasco against sheff it’s and went 11 games without win last season 9 losses in that.looks like hes got a point to me the lack of pressing a worry far to much space given to opposition and lacking in ideas and sorreson on the bench yesterday after recent performances a strange one.
Telling it how it is Gary. As I made my way to the stadium yesterday I was hoping to be met with “match cancelled” notices. Sadly none were forthcoming.
The stench coming from carrow road this season is hard to ignore. It’s the stink of failure and decay. Webbers remit is to find players for future profit, in order to sustain the self funding pony. Hence the likes of Sargent and tzolis emerge as 18 million quid of the buendia dividend.
Any sensible strategy solely aimed at on pitch success and garnering results in the present day would be looking for experienced older heads, potentially with little or no resale value. Therefore the main reason for this shower are the architects of this self funding thing. The owners.
Many have serious doubts that next season will be a happy one. Moulding this poor squad into a successful team capable of promotion is going to be a hard task. Particularly when the same tired old bollox about having no money are trotted out ad nauseam. Failure to re again a place at the top table to fill the coffers will bring the smith regime down. As someone has pointed out, the family silver has mostly been flogged off to meet the bills.
So again, I issue a plea to the ownership, make serious enquiries into obtaining some investment into the club, leave no stone unturned. Give Norwich City the chance to compete with its peers. We simply y cannot afford to play the poor relations forever.
Yesterdays game was the culmination of the self funding policy, an embarrassment. An insult to 5e paying public. A humiliation. The clubs reputation is being crapped on and it impacts our city, our county and the image of Norwich both nationally and internationally. We aren’t admired for our stance. We are loathed and derided. It’s sickening.
The performance of the team this season overall is disgusting. And it stems from above,
An excellent article and a sobering assessment of where we are. I have always supported the club in the decisions they make, and I am hoping against hope that we will be in a better place in 6 – 8 weeks time, but if we are not, then, maybe, the Board needs to look at changing tack and deal with the elephant in the room.
I’m drafting an article to say the following: I believe it is possible
To be successful with this model.
The problem is that we go about it the wrong way. People throw their toys out of the pram over immoral advertising…. They won’t publicly say that Dowell, Placheta or Idah wouldn’t be successful at any other Championship club unless they play in a squad capable of carrying their inadequacies….99% of fans argued we were infinitely better as a team than that of 2-3 seasons ago but now 99% have revoked their opinion. We were so adamant that DF was tactically brilliant, that we were blinkered by glaring tactical inadequacy…… we rarely think outside the box…. If we knew Emi was going regardless then bloody well rebuild without him, ditto Cantwell…. Don’t think he’s going to change from an abject left sided midfielder in 4-2-3-1 to a world beating #10. Call the spade a spade. Don’t go thinking Gibson is a revelation, or Gianoullis, when Andy O made alight of Gibson’s absence and Sorensen and Quintilla both kept Gianoullis out of the team…. In the Championship.
But most of all…. To make this model work…. AND PAUL LAMBERT PROVED IT VIABLE…. bloody well buy the right players for a survival scrap. People thought I was an idiot for throwing names like Hourihane, Grimes, Flint, Clucas, Morison, Livermore, Meite into the mix but the fact of the matter is this…. Norwich is a dull, boring place for a youngster. But ask Ruddy, Martin, Drury, Holt, BJ, Eadie, Huckerby what a glorious place Norfolk is should you prefer to raise a family rather than drive a pimped out RR and you get the right type of players.
We need warriors who will match the sweat and blood of Krul, Hanley, McLean and Pukki. There’s nothing wrong with a sprinkling of youth, personified by the attitude and ability of Aarons. Williams and Sorensen in particular, but we need charisma, determination, fight.
You give the right players the chance to have a last hurrah in the Premier League, make them valued and give them that responsibility and opportunity to go out on a high, and they rarely fail to deliver.
But nope, we don’t want journeymen. We like to think we can go toe to toe with technical flair and prove we can upset the Apple cart our own way. And no, we mustn’t upset anyone by calling a spade a spade along the way.
It’s crazy. S&S know what they need to do here, but it’s basically a last ditch stab in January or it’s a complete rebuild 2-3 years in the making…. And that means Pukki and Krul won’t be around. We will suddenly realise what a bazaar appointment Angus Gunn was compared to other Championship keepers like Bentley at Bristol City for example. Or does anyone think Dowell is anywhere near John Swift or Philip Billing? Or Tom Cairny? Or Elias Chair? Do fans honestly think that Aarons puts in as many crosses into the box as Adomah does at QPR? or that Rupp is a match for John Fleck? or Sarjent or Idah anywhere near as effective as Charlie Austin or Scott Hogan, let alone Brereton or Mitrovic? Are there honestly fans out there that think Tzolis or Rashica will offer half of the output of better Championship wide players?
SW has absolutely crucified us with his recruitment and S&S have got a 50/50 chance of recovering it in January, but otherwise….. oh Lordy….. we aren’t competing next season. Not by a long way.
This might read like an angry rant but it really is not. The sad thing is, we the fans don’t shout enough in this touchy-feely day and age. We accept what we are given from on high and we are thankful for our lot. Football isn’t the be all and end all that it is elsewhere….. for us it’s just a game. We will still fill the stands week in week out.
But nothing typifies my life as a City fan as this: I went apoplectic at Christano Ronaldo after his scream, which I heard in the top of the River End, earnt that cheating prick a penalty. But do you know what? 20,000 out of 28,000 didn’t even leave their seats. Instead, the stewards asked me to leave because I was upsetting those sitting passively around me…. “Oh well, Max did touch him after all and would you mind sitting down and stop screaming for us to sing a song to get behind the team”? I can’t even go bananas at a football match anymore because that’s just not the Norwich way.
Anyway….. what the hell was wrong with Gianoullis and Sorensen? Why didn’t they play against Arsenal? Anyone? Both were superb against Utd.
Very thought provoking stuff Mike
Yeh we were woeful but consider the facts:
We’ve our key players out.
Arsenal are flying at present.
No strength in depth.
It was Boxing Day
We haven’t had a goal threat all season.
Today marks the half way point of the season. From game day one our challenge was to finish 17th, one look at the table suggests that’s looking unlikely although still achievable.
The PL is not competitive for any clubs other than Chelsea, Liverpool, Utd, Man City and Arsenal and rarely has been in its 30 year history, (just 2 exceptions). These same clubs will occupy the top spots again this season come May. They also dominate our two major cup competitions.
City have won the next highest domestic achievement, The Championship, on several occasions to our absolute delight creating fantastic memories that can not be taken away.
We are in one hell of a fight and go into every game as huge under dogs so let’s not be surprised. I get the despondency, I don’t want to watch either, but please don’t give up on our lads, it’s not their fault, it’s greed and the unfair distribution of wealth ruining the beautiful game for all.
Happy New Year.
The self funding model does work. The proof of that is the fact we’re in the Premier League in the first place. Almost all Championship clubs are spending far more than they bring in. Beyond their means. And yet we can succeed to gain promotion against clubs spending enormously more. As has been pointed out in other comments, we’re buying the wrong type of players. We should have gambled on one Tzolis or Sargent to develop, not half a team of them. There are players in the Championship and League One that genuinely could do a job in the Premier League. And wouldn’t cost fortunes or demand excess wages. Farke has taken the fall but its been blindingly obvious all season that the players aren’t good enough, Again. Some serious questions need to be asked about how on earth we thought we’d bought a tank this Summer.
Bang on