I didn’t go to Charlton on Sunday but was aware in the days leading up to the game that a Delia Out protest was planned by a small group of City fans. This was confirmed when a picture of said group with said banners appeared on Twitter.
I trust it’s not being ageist to say that lads and lasses involved were of the younger generation because they were.
It also became apparent as the afternoon unfolded, that a small group of fans, accompanied by a drummer (it may have been the same group), were singing songs of a similar theme, as well as songs colloquially described as ‘gallows humour’.
Typically, this was not well received by the majority.
Some have accused them of being the ‘Football Manager generation’, others of them being of the generation that wants everything now, while some have gone route one and told them to grow up.
But, while I don’t (anymore) have sufficient fire in the belly to take such a stance, part of me feels their pain and shares their frustration. I don’t necessarily agree with the route they’ve taken but I don’t suppose for one second, however young and fearless, that any of them took the decision lightly.
Not since the Chase Out campaign of the mid-90s has there been a single protest aimed at the club’s owner(s) and not since the Worthy Out movement of the mid-Noughties have we felt the need to raise the collective head so high above the parapet.
It’s not something that occurs on a whim.
Others may disagree, but I see us as a resilient, hardy bunch who can take on the chin almost anything that’s thrown at us. And we have had to endure our fair share. For all the jubilant ups there have been an equivalent number of heart-wrenching downs, especially when we hit the refined air of the Premier League. We don’t compete – not properly.
And that’s why I just can’t get as angry as some over the banners, the drum and singing at The Valley.
I accept Dean Smith’s assertion that the negative chanting and gallows humour probably don’t have a particularly positive impact on the mindset of the players, but equally, these folk travel far and wide to follow the Canaries and, in the Premier League, have been dished up an absolute load of rubbish.
The negativity and black humour is only a thing because they have nothing to get behind and support. Missed tackles, stray passes and half-heartedness are not going to rally the faithful however cleverly it’s spun and whatever the perceived mitigation.
Sunday was slightly different from the average Premier League away day because it was one where we weren’t faced with teams who were technically better than us – the angst came from playing against opposition from two tiers lower but who still, for long spells, were better than us.
Away trips, like tonight’s, are simply seen as unwinnable before a ball has even been kicked. In a two-horse race (three if we include the draw) you can get 9/1 for the City win, while West Ham – who let’s not forget are not even part of the big six – are 1/3!
The Yellow Army will still travel in numbers and still with hope in their hearts because that’s what they do, but knowing that it will take a turnaround and upset of extraordinary proportions for City to even get a point from the game.
So forgive us if we’ve all become a little disillusioned and cynical. Setbacks and disappointments have become our norm. Misery is now our default setting.
In the cyclical world of football, this is hopefully only a phase and there will be happier times ahead but in the here and now there’s no escaping how disheartening this all is.
So, personally, I think we should cut the Delia Out brigade some slack. Ultimately, they’re hurting, as we all are, and whether their angst has been directed in the right direction or not, they felt the need to do and say something.
They see a club that’s reached a tipping point; a club that has again reached its glass ceiling under its current funding model; a club that has potential to be better than it is; a club limited by its lack of funding.
And, like most of us, they want to see the club they love being given a chance to fulfil its potential.
There’ll be those who’ll not thank me for penning this piece but to those people, I say I salute you. To have been able to watch what’s unfolded in #NCFC world since August and still not feel any sense of gloom or cynicism is quite something.
To me, it feels like something needs to change, or else we forgo any daft notions of making it to the Premier League and competing. It feels like a discussion that should take place, even though it won’t.
The young ‘uns can see that too.
Hi Gary
I’m glad you wrote this with a sense of perspective because that is exactly what is required during the situation we are currently enjoying, or in my case enduring.
Cards on the table I am a seasoned veteran of the *Chase Out* days, remain proud of my active participation in his demise and feel no shame whatsoever for the understated role I played at the time. If you wish to call facing the Met Police mounted branch and their horses understated of course. I was pretty much an agent provocateur behind the scenes who worked the front line as well in order to show solidarity. None of us were awarded medals 🙂
But that was then and this now. The times have changed and I cannot see myself physically protesting against an 80-year-old woman who could be somebody’s mother or grandmother. I met Chase twice and spoke with him once for over an hour so I feel it fair to say I disliked the fella.
Delia I have met as well and felt no similar dislike. She may well have her head in her own socio-political cloud but I found it impossible to react negatively towards her.
I am not alone.
She knows this, trades on it and doubtless thrives on it. She possesses thick skin.
To me she is driving our beloved Club into the dust but she will not see it that way.
Disparaging as it might sound, a few vocal kids with a drum will not even touch her soul so this time around I think they are wasting their time with their half-ar$ed attempts to dethrone her.
Have you ever tried to take a yellow and green trainset away from a spoilt child?
Bring back the old days of a proper rebellion says me 🙂
I along with a departed mate, founded the Worthy Out, after Chase Out and, up to that point, I had never felt like having to act to do anything of the kind.
We organized a couple of protest matches with police approval I add. Had posters and stickers printed (with funds raised) After a couple of protests I felt that we had got our message over and the two of us left it to others, we were in late 40/early 50.s hardly a younger supporter at that point.
The crap, and abuse I personally had thrown at me was not good, even one woman threw very hot coffee over me, inside after the protest. Of course reported her and she was ejected from the ground.
We said at the time of the Worthy Out, we should carry on but changing focus onto Doomcaster and the Stowmarket Duo
I fully understand what and why the protest was arranged, and support that to an extent. It will need a lot more to budge them , then it will be kept in the family. This club is their toy and we pay for the privilege of attending, cheering and buying merchandise. No more than that.
In my opinion drums gives nice atmosphere, bombs and firecrackers basically opposite.
If after Chris Woods madness, Newcastle comes and buys Cantwell and they could easily pay 50 million if you just ask then Newcastle is going to rise Norwich chances to avoid relegation a lot more and give financial security. Chris Woods to Newcastle is win-win to both Norwich and Watford already.
Ha ha ha! I am a fan of your posts 1×2 and your opinions on the NUFC offers for Woods and Cantwell and the consequences, possibly for the good of NCFC, are bang on. Great comment accurate comment, funny comment. Well
Played!
Hi Gary
A well penned article and said with feelings.
Like you and many others we always thought Sunday would happen and personally wondered what the media would make of it.
Sadly most came out on the Jones side when will they realise that it’s their lack of funding or finding investment that is at the base of all cities problems.
Many can’t or will not see the wood for the trees and are mesmerised by a TV Cook who pronounced many times about sell by date and she has out lived hers at city far to long.
I would hopefully have wanted to see the owners sell up and move on without splitting the supporters but can it be from little acorns of protest we see a mighty Oak grow of protest.
All we hear is that the carpark is empty of potential buyers why would we see interested buyers when they tell everyone no investment need we are self financing and the not for sale sign is up.
Maybe and I hope not if or when city gets relegated then a shining light moment happens or we could become the next Derby with Mike Ashley trying to buy the club.
Hi AlexB
Not sure the car park is quite empty, I remember and buggar if I can find the quote. But someone in the financial dept at Carrow Road said: ” they have had a lot of offers of buying and investment, each one is scrutinized and given to the board (or something very close to that.
What the scrutiny is exactly is anyone’s guess, perhaps That they have to be Fans first.
Hope somebody has better memory and searching skills than me
It was mentioned at the last AGM and after they have been assessed the ones worth a second look at are passed on to the Jones to make a final decision on now that smells of Turkey’s voting for Xmas to me
Thought provoking article as ever, thanks Gary. I’m not going to pretend to agree with all of it but can certainly at least empathise with those bits that I don’t.
I’m going to sound like a happy clapper here, which I’m not, just trying to find some positivity in what is currently a pretty grim time to be an NCFC fan. I think the fact that we’ve reached our ‘glass ceiling’ again is in many respects something to be proud of. Ultimately being the best you can be is about all any of us in life can aspire to, so for that I applaud the Club’s employees. I think most of the other clubs in the land don’t really know where there glass ceiling is because they haven’t been able to achieve the levels of success we have in recent years, so I don’t think this is something to be sniffed at. Even if it does inevitably end in some less pleasant times…
For what it’s worth, I do think survival in the prem is possible under the self funding model. But probably only for a season or two as you tend to need a high success rate with transfers and more than your fair share of good fortune with injuries etc. Not something we’ve had in our last two attempts or something you could regularly rely on.
I’m not going to suggest that we couldn’t raise our glass ceiling with further investment, although that’s not something I’m personally a supporter of. Ultimately I think we’d find a new limit pretty quickly, it won’t be that much higher than where we are now and may well come with significant ethical implications. And there are no guarantees that we’d regularly test that limit. Just look at all of the other clubs who you and others in this forum regularly point to who have greater means than we do but have lingered in the Football League for many a year.
For me the game is broken and the levels of money involved and disparity are key to that. I don’t think anyone (even those involved at the weekend) really wants to be protesting against owners essentially just because they’re not wealthy enough. Deep down they have the best interests of the club at heart and, as fans, will also be hurting at the performance on the pitch of late. As you’ve pointed out yourself, they’ve given us as many highs as they have lows. And we could have been a lot lower.
Good response, Tom. I agree it’s the game and not Norwich City that’s broken.
It’s just that along the way, our sojourns to the Premier League are getting increasingly grim.
Was just looking at the only way we could break the cycle tbh – which I agree is not especially palatable.
Cheers for commenting.
I think WHU is a really interesting benchmark. They’ve spent stupid money, are a mega rich club, but Antonio (like Jamie Vardy, Dele Ali, Grant Holt), he came through the non league route. Guys like Creswell didn’t cost the earth…. Like Tyrone Mings at Vila….. came from Ipswich, Mark Noble was an academy product made captain over an entire career and Then of course, is the sickener…. Jarod Bowen…. Who we refused to pay Hull City for, by a matter of pennies: “nope, we won’t pay that”. So close, so far.
Yes it’s a sad situation with this league these days where it seems to become more and more money orientated but it always has been to a degree hence the chase out protests and yeah why shouldn’t the youth of today express their rage at was has to be one of the most embarrassing seasons after the one before last time we were here . Writing and moaning doesn’t cut it as we all know action is needed to make the people with their heads in the sand to stand up listen and to counted until then we can’t move on .
Belle Ciao Norwich City .
This morning YouTube recommended I watch the highlights from Wes Hoolahan’s last game. I loved that guy so of course click play I did.
Immediately the video showed the starting XI and I paused to study it.
This was a transition season of players waiting to be sold, the unwanted, and the old, plus the freebies Webber had picked up. A team that finished mid table Championship. The lineup was:
Gunn
Lewis
Klose
Hanley
Reed
Vrancic
Leitner
Murphy Hoolahan
Maddison
Oliveira
Subs: McGovern, Pinto, Husband, Trybull, Hernandez, Srbeny
We’re now four years on and is our team any better? Comparing this to what we have now, can you tell which just had 70M worth of players purchased for it? Can you tell which was a mish-mash of squads, and which had five years of strategy poured into it?
I can’t and worse still, I think the 2018 squad would beat our team today.
So I feel a lot of empathy for those willing to voice their opinions at the match. It takes guts to vocally want change.
We are rudderless in our ownership, rudderless at Director level, and rudderless on the pitch.
Bang that drum.
The team of 2018 would absolutely spank the team of today. Try saying that on here in July and you’d be laughed at!
This balanced and good article is about our supporters and their relationship with the owners. For me, and I pen this carefully, a lot of our problem as a club is that so few of our fans are true football people, and so many fans are happy to plod along. Half of them aren’t even overly passionate or emotional on the way up or the way down.
And for me, footballing foresight has been no better exemplified than by those summer comparisons 6 months ago where some argued with others that the crop of 2021/22 were tactically a mile off those of 2018. Now, in hindsight, it’s a different opinion.
Our situation isn’t about Delia and Michael, it’s about utterly crap recruitment from DF and SW and chasing a tactical template that was never viable, with our budget, in the Premier League.
Gary’s final paragraph says “ it feels like something needs to change, or else we forgo any daft notions of making it to the Premier League and competing”. I don’t know what else can be changed than a change of management which occurred. S&S now need the time and backing that DF had and I hope they get it. Sacking DF was only half of the evolution, the other half is a squad overhaul to remove the DF tactical legacy which was never fit for purpose at this standard.
I am presently underwhelmed by S&S and if I’m honest, DF would be getting more out of this squad. But before the first 4 match bubble burst with S&S, I saw enough tactically (without results) to believe it’s the right change to make. It’s likely too late this season, next season might be a season to early (because the likes of Krul and Pukki will not be as effective beyond next season), but I sense the next chapter is slowly being turned.
And I personally remain certain that I’ve got no interest in a billionaire owner, watching popstars on £100k per week, prancing around with a consequence of my season tickets costing thousands, instead of hundreds of pounds.
Hopefully there will be a compromise somehow!
The fans with the drum has an absolute right to do all their negative chants. I’d say no more than 4 others joined in those..
We all joined in the rare positive chants they produced.
And, significantly, I think, on Facebook, (where they coined the name ‘City Elite’ for themselves, apparently without irony) they chose to illustrate their call for support from others by using a video of them celebrating the goal.
They claimed they’d helped the team ‘get over the line’. I think they made the goal and win much less likely by being so abusive for so much of the time.
You say….
“Others may disagree, but I see us as a resilient, hardy bunch who can take on the chin almost anything that’s thrown at us”
Quite right…..I disagree
Ha! Fair comment.
What I was trying (and failed) to say, is that there are plenty of other fanbases who would have been less accepting of our Premier League fate(s) than we have been.
Boris Johnson thinks he is above the laws that govern the rest of us. Yes he admits I went to the said party, but as a kind of observer really he says !!!
Novak Djokovic is even worse he sees his elevated status as beyond us mere mortals. He actually believes flouting Covid rules that in his mind do not apply to him at all. Get into Australia easy ! just lie. All the time, self isolating, no party time. Plus a trip to Spain.
EPL players going to nightclubs unvaccinated and spreading the virus with a “who cares we are rich and young and do not give a stuff” attitude. And matches get postponed.
Prince Andrew continues to dodge the authorities by using technicalities rather than prove his innocence like some low life criminal.
The one factor running through these individuals is the sense of entitlement the ” we are right” and “you are all wrong” brigade and to a certain extent that is Delia’s thinking regarding Norwich City FC.
A kind of benevolent fundamentalism.
Now I 100% agree with Martin Penney in that I know Delia Smith is not in the same ball park as one Mr Robert Chase. And unlike the Chase out era I would not demonstrate in pushing Delia and Michael out of the club.
And although it may seem unfair to label Delia with the likes of Boris, Novak or Prince Andrew there is a similarity in her thought process and that is that her way is “The Right Way” ” The Only Way”
No thought that other opinions are just as worthy and have merit, no thought that Geoffrey Watling didn’t want this dictatorship and no thought that time has moved on financially in the EPL.
I still applaud Delia and Michael for what they have done for the club, especially her determination that unlike Ipswich Town (Twice) we wouldn’t go into administration and leave local businesses with little choice but to go bust. She is rightly proud of this and so much else in her stewardship of the club.
But too the Delia out brigade while I share your point of view to a fair degree please do not make the situation we are in worse, by affecting the team.
Dean Smith needs everyone on the same page particularly next season when he deserves a fresh start not encumbered by a Delia Out campaign.
An I even bore myself with continually saying this, and that is getting rid of Delia will not mean a guaranteed return to our old late eighties early nineties days of EPL and European success.
There are billionaires owning Third Division sides whose fortunes have not improved.
But I do believe that we now know enough to say that self-funding will not work in the EPL and it is time to listen to other ideas and opinions.
Just an open mind, that all we need.
.
Tim if dean smith wants to have a go at our fans for having a bit of fun celebrating an imaginary goal because we not scored one for 5 games he should use that to get them players going saying look your own fans are taking the pi$$ out of ya come on ,but no he decides to turn it on the fans well dean if you don’t like I for one would be glad you left because your appointment was a knee jerk reaction from a clueless lawnmower man .
Demonstrate against Deli by all means.
Demonstrating “for” something (such as a pay increase for example) makes more sense though.
So, demonstrate for someone who is desperate to be part of the PL show to:
1 Buy out Delia, Michael and any other shareholders who want to take their riches
2 Provide a massive sum of money to the club itself that can be spent on the squad
3 Spend said money on top players, such as £25m on a 30 year old New Zealand International
That should help our cement our place in the top 17 for years to come. Or not as the case may be….
A good read Gary as per.
For the second time in three years “self funding” has proved totally incompatible with the running of a Premier league football club. No surprise there.
The next question should be just how much longer will it be viable in the championship? That’s the real fear. How far are these people prepared to allow the club to decline to suit themselves?
Football is broken. Most of the time money is needed and lots of it to compete at the top. If financial fair play was properly thought through and applied then there would be better competition. I love watching the football played by Man City but it is mainly against teams that don’t stand a chance at beating them. The thrill of sport is having a fair chance of winning. Long gone are the days of Oldham, Barnsley and Carlisle being in the top flight.
Delia is the majority shareholder so in a simplistic way her way is the only way. I would hope she listens to her advisers but at the end of the day her view prevails. If she does not want to sell then she has every right to that view. Just as the protesters have evry right to their views.
I have no problem with people putting forward an alternative voice as long as it doesn’t cross the line into personal abuse, and It does feel like things are seriously stagnating, if not unravelling, from top to bottom. I think it would have been a lot easier to take this season had the side been reasonably more competitive, even if they were still struggling which was always going to be likely.
Have to say though, I do wonder why Webber isn’t being called out more ahead of the players and directors after this shambles of a season? I think (like with McNally) he’s peaked in his first couple of years and then gradually lost the effectiveness that was showed on first arrival. What was going through his head last summer with the incoming transfers, god only knows.