And tonight, live from Norwich, it’s The Blame Game. Apologies to Nicholas Parsons but I cannot use the original title of Sale of the Century as Norwich City have very little to sell. So The Blame Game it will have to be.
I’ll take an insipid although not entirely inept display against West Ham at the London Stadium as an expected given for most of us. Some readers will think we might have scraped a point if Adam Idah’s effort had beaten Lucasz Fabianski while many, many others will be grateful that the Hammers didn’t run up a score that Ben Stokes or even Steve Smith would have been proud of.
Right now it seems as if nobody has enough fingers to point at those they wish to blame for our current, abjectly miserable, situation.
On the very day that Daniel Farke and his team of assistant Eddie Riemer, coach and analyst Christopher John and fitness chief Chris Domogalla all signed on at Russian Premier League outfit Krasnodar there are those of a Yellow and Green persuasion out there questioning whether dispensing of their services was the right thing to do.
A couple of social media gladiators have said that Dean Smith got the tintack at Villa after five straight defeats so what are he and Craig Shakespeare still doing at Colney after six losses without scoring a goal? These guys have a point, which is more than we’ve managed since my 64th birthday on November 27, 2021.
Then on to the next target for the pointing finger. Recruitment. No beating about the bush, it’s been the worst I can remember since Chairman Chase let Dave Stringer spend £150k on Dean Coney. Stringer didn’t want Coney, he was all we could afford. That was the season we were nine points clear at Christmas at the top of the final Division One table of course.
We have spent some money this time around, but on what? It’s like a litany of wastage really and not something I am looking forward to pointing out but in the interests of accuracy, I’ll have to document it.
Angus Gunn, Christos Tzolis, Milot Rashica, Josh Sargent. That little group adds up to something well north of £30 million in itself. And then we have the loans of Billy [can we believe the hype?] Gilmour, Ozan Kabak, Brandon Williams and Mathias Normann. Normann has been pretty sound but was brought in with what was surely a pre-identified medical condition. As for the others? If you think they have been decent investments I’m happy to discuss them with you in the comments section 🙂
The finger seeks out a new target: one Stuart Webber. Did he influence Smithy and Shakey by selling them a non-viable project or is that far too harsh a view? Does Webber believe in self-funding himself? Probably as he took on his role knowingly when he joined four years ago. Is he a Svengali, an Alastair Campbell or even worse a Dominic Cummings?
Webber has been so quiet recently that it’s hard to come up with a definitive answer.
The final finger to point is at the joint majority shareholders as in Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.
I do not think I need to reiterate my thoughts about these people. MFW readers know what I think ad nauseum but I’ll leave it thus: when somebody doubtlessly well-meaning thinks they know what is best for everybody and are steeped in intransigence, we will have to learn to live with them as they are the one thing we can do bugger all about as they do not recognise that it is time to quit in an honourable manner as many of us would probably like to see.
Genuinely I hope it doesn’t turn nasty for the Smiths on Saturday as they deserve more than that, even if only in humanitarian terms.
I have run out of fingers to point with now which means that the kitman, stewards, hospitality staff and all us wonderful fans are innocent.
Unfortunately, The Blame Game will be a popular show this season – pun intended.
Me? I know where the blame lies:
Please don’t apologise to Nicholas Parsons; I had the exceeding mispleasure to meet the man in his prime and he was indeed something Of The Century, but it certainly wasn’t ‘Sale’ I’ll leave that there.
Buying Dean Coney was the biggest mistake City made in my lifetime. What a chance to make history wasted. We genuinely could have won it that year. Just that little impetus and a few goals from a new striker halfway through the season would’ve been enough. And we got dear ol’ DC.
Congrats to Josh Sargent on the new addition to his family btw. I genuinely hope his hard work earns him some good things although they look unlikely from current evidence to be goals.
So Farke and the lads have got a new job? Absolute best of luck to them. I hope they succeed. Would be interesting if we ever get to see him in European competition. Best wishes all.
Hi Chris
I met several from the Parsons era like Frankie Howerd, Johnny Speight. Alfred Marks and Barry Cryer but never NP himself although I did bump into Anne Aston once at a party, which certainly was an unexpected pleasure. She was gorgeous in real life.
I’ll take your verdict on NP as gospel as I never encountered him.
Special day for Josh Sargent yesterday – it certainly changes your life as he will discover pretty damn quickly. Max as well – 150 appearances at 22 is quite incredible really.
I join you with the best wishes to Daniel and his colleagues. They will all remain in our hearts and that is for sure.
Cheers
Cheers Martin. I’m a big fan of Frankie Howerd, a complete one-off. He had his foibles mind you – was he OK?
I’ve put the tale up on MFW before but I’ll briefly reprise it.
When I worked on the Ilford Recorder for a while he appeared at the Little Theatre with his *unscripted* shoe SuperFrank which was incredibly popular with students at the time.
Me and Solly the photographer caught up with him in the nearby churchyard where he was reading through his script.
He took a real shine to Solly and invited him to his dressing room. He didn’t have the same level of appreciation for me but was pleasant enough to speak with nonetheless.
Solly returned to the Recorder offices rather more quickly than I did.
I hope that’s a reasonably diplomatic reply 🙂
Thanks Martin. Yep, that fits within the bounds of known data. Ta. Best wishes. Always very readable, MP.
Too true – the bit about Frankie Howerd anyway!!!
Martin I like you I’ve never met you mind but I seriously can’t believe you actually asking this question . It is so unbelievably obvious whose to blame and that is the fraud that is Stuart Webber an ex groundsman who has never been a footballer . This man has seriously squandered 60 million quid and the squad is in a worse state for the sake of it . It is so unbelievable Delia needs to act now to at least try to save themselves from the enormous tide against them .
If I knew then what I knew now Martin I would never of protested against Robert Chase we were known as a good footballing side we qualified for Europe for Christ sake . Alright we sold players but we also bought good players .
Alas what we have become 🙈🙈🙈
I agree, Jim. Like or loathe Robert Chase he presided over City’s most successful period. The 25 years since have been pretty dismal in comparison. Infrequent 2nd division successes (literally) aren’t in the same league.
There were some great times during the Chase era too, for sure.
If only personal greed had been replaced by a thought for common good.
Chase was lucky is as much as Arthur South with both Bond and Brown recruited good youth players that mature as he took over and he could sell and reap a few successful seasons, but he had trouble with managers in both O’Neil and Walker refusing to buy players to go to the next step if he had on a couple of occasions city would have been a Premiership fixture instead of championship
The Dean Windass incident brought this cauldron to the boil.
Hi Jim
Best call it journalistic license my friend. I largely blame Delia myself as she has overseen some really dumb appointments in her time but when it comes to squandering other people’s money Webber has proved to be in a league of his own.
Maybe I’m dumb too – I was convinced by Webber for a couple of years but now we can see the emerging picture it is clear that the idol has feet of clay.
Growing up in London I rapidly became aware of terms such as *spiv*, *chancer* and *charlatan*, later followed by *Arfur Daley* and *Del Boy* of course.
I don’t regret my part in *Chase Out* but understand exactly what you mean as in: would we have bothered if we knew what was coming down the tracks?
Cheers
Agreed Martin, Gunny is/was a true gent and a very nice guy but so are my mates Marty, Trev and Nick but though they love the club massively I don’t think that qualifies them to manage Norwich City Football Club.
After managing City Bryan went on to work for a telephone company. I can’t see Klopp rocking up at Carphonewarehouse after his time at Liverpool. Enough said.
Peter Grant another really nice guy but was allegedly having management lessons.
Glenn Roeder has since sadly passed away so I will just say he rocked the boat, and not in a good way. He thought he was remaking The Loan Ranger +s.
And as for Brian Hamilton… Think Mike Bassett.
So Delia’s record of appointments is as you say poor to say the least.
Gunny is indeed a top fella who really shouldn’t have been coerced into taking over from Roeder in the first place.
The only other City managers I have met are Ken Brown, Mike Walker and Dave Stringer. All nice guys indeed – when they’re off duty anyway 🙂
Hi Martin
To me the blame gain goes back much further than this season it all started 25 years ago when 2 people were lauded for saving the club when in fact it was Geoffrey Watling who then made the error in selling to quickly to an egotistical TV cook, could he have done better that we will never know.
Below the owners are a board of yes people who never utters a word even at the AGM if they even attend and just bask in being a part owner of a football club.
Now we have SW and DS/SS
Webber has seen his blossoming career slowly evaporate around him due to covid-19 but once looked about as the next Daniel Levy in his transfer dealings it has all crashed after poor recruitment, but is it all down to him.
In our first season in the premiership he acknowledged poor recruitment and sited that the first payment from the EPL had to pay bonuses, get players off wages and sign players without EPL experience.
This time a similar situation bonuses, players paid off and many 1st choice candidates not interested in the project also late arrivals, then the biggest decision to pay off the coaching team.
This self imposed financing system doesn’t work for a simple reason we don’t generate enough income to cover out goings or to bridge the gap to recruit earlier in the windows.
I will only say Webber is under a lot of pressure to get things right but with the best will in the world selling before buying leaves you open to being ripped off.
DS/SS
A conundrum or two many Villans are saying he was good for the club others were glad to see the back of him he also has similar views from Brentford.
At Villa not 1 but 2 Billionaires hold the purse strings and he spent their money with abandon ie Buendia, but after a good start it all turned sour and like Farke got the boot along with Craig Shakespeare.
Many rumours abounded about who city wanted but SW flew into panic mode to get Dean Smith saying he was always someone he wanted and moved heaven and Earth to get him, I would suggest a big fat bonus on staying up or a similar one if promoted got the job done.
My 1st question is would we have been any better off keeping Farke we couldn’t be in a worse place could we.
My 2nd question is why is Cantwell still at the club no offers I would presume, now will city take up the option on his contract just to push up any fee we might get or just cut the umbilical cord come the summer as another season of no show is too much.
Hi Alex
Without Sir Geoffrey the Good Lord alone knows what might have become of us.
I cannot recall what Mr Watling’s motivation was for letting Delia in but he must have felt it was the right thing to do at the time.
Interesting you use the phrase *egotistical TV cook*. A very good mate of mine was a producer at Radio Norfolk and although he sometimes had to fill in by broadcasting he really didn’t like it as he was happier behind the mixing desk. David Line had no ego whatsoever.
For many people a little bit of fame can go to their heads. Some believe the publicity while others don’t. I’ll reserve my judgement on Delia in this respect although I will be the first to admit that she forged a terrific career for herself from a very low starting point.
But all things must pass as George Harrison once famously said while making a few million quid for himself. I can’t avoid the cooking link but she is well past her *sell by* date although she refuses to acknowledge it, which leaves everybody else in some kind of jeopardy.
I’m not being drawn out on Todd Cantwell beyond saying the quicker we get rid the better. Such a shame but for whatever reason he isn’t willing to turn out for us.
Cheers
Can’t agree with Dean Coney being the worst ever signing.
May I put forward Drazen Musinic and I think he cost us £300K on the back of a super 8 film watched by Bond .
Bloody shame we can’t get in a couple of streetfighters like Trevor Hockey..He’d walk onto the pitch and give the ref his name and number before the kick off . Saved time during the game.
Perhaps they could sign up Henry Weston to help with motivation .
Hi Bernie
I really rate that Henry Weston geezer. I sign about six of him every day.
Cheers [hic]!
Alex B – I’m sorry but Stuart Webber is the Sporting Director, but the buck stops with him! He had 60 million he spent it atrociously since the other recruitment guy left he has exposed the shameful recruitment people. So sorry, the Sporting Director has to go.
Hi CanaryJim
My point was that those above him could have stopped him..
Being Sporting Director he still has to get full approval of the spend.
Maybe with this new analysis we might do better
Alex, the trouble is that Webber has what The Clash referred to as *Complete Control*. Technically only Delia and MWJ are above him in the hierarchy and they know as much about football as I do about crochet.
I’ll leave the knitting to Tom Daley as he’s demonstrably good at it 🙂
You’re right Jim but please keep in mind that we are talking Norwich City here.
We’ll never now exactly why Kieran Scott and Ben Kensell left, of course.
Once again Mr P; hit, nail head.
Never in years of following NCFC can I remember feeling this ambivalent about the club; never have I gone to/followed their fortunes with the ethos that if we don’t lose by at least 2 then it’s a bit of a moral victory.
To hear all the Talk$hite pundits predictions come so sadly true is really, really hard to take.
And what’s next……at the end of this month I give you season ticket renewal time. I am seriously considering if I wish to bank-roll Delia’s vanity project any further.
Recruitment seems to be the biggest problem; if they were still using the same algorithms and stats which found Buendia, how come we’ve been ripped off for a shed load more dosh and ended up with Sargent and to a lesser extent Tzolis….the former will hopefully be better at parenting than he is at football.
Between them, the board and SW have made us a total frickin’ laughing stock.
O T B C
Hi John
Yes, the concept of shared blame which I should have mentioned in the article.
We were *ripped off* several times in the summer and quite who the eejit was who brought in the recruits I’m not sure but the buck stops with Webber.
It reminds me of buying a car without an MoT as in *more bl00dy fool you*. Certainly Werder Bremen saw us coming as I suspect PAOK Athens did too.
My personal recent vanity project has been the purchase of an AC/DC Zippo lighter and a can of fuel. But that cost less than £50 and hurts nobody but myself.
Cheers
Afternoon Martin.
Excellent question, who is to blame for this debacle.
I was thinking of blaming my mate Marty, his no shows at the last two EPL away games could well have been crucial. Sorry Martin there was some unwanted sarcasm in there.
Just say NO to sarcasm.
But in all seriousness that is where we are, six league losses on the bounce and no goals, 16 against.
Dean Smith will soon learn that us Norfolk Folk deal with disappointment with hefty dollops of sarcasm or dark humour. It’s just the way we are.
Examples, like it is an Urban Myth that Dean Coney’s only Norwich goal was scored with his arse.
Or that he was so slow we may have to get planning permission.
We are a team that in 1993 beat Bayern Munich in Munich but then lost at Bradford City. It doesn’t come more ACN than that.
Another was at half-time against Southampton, I was in the river end when someone noticed Josh Sargent was warming up, quick as a flash one guy in front of me said “no prizes for guessing who is coming off”, laughter ensued and first half “Passenger” one Mr T Cantwell duly didn’t appear for the second half. I even said sarcastically on here that I thought it was Noel Catwell.
Now all the above can be hurtful and it is long said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but we have to show our displeasure in some way and all this is better than booing the team and players all the time.
Over the years at many a game I have been to some players are having ‘mares but I still used to shout encouragement to them although 99 time out of 100 they couldn’t hear me. I was still getting behind my team.
Take our new loans manager Andy Hughes, by his own admission not one of the most talented players we have ever had at the club but that boy tried his heart out every time he put on a City shirt and I loved that.
So is it the fault of Daniel Farke, Stuart Webber or Michael and Delia ?
The answer to me is a bit of all of them.
Now I am very pro- Farke but questions still persist in my head regarding Daniel’s EPL record which is in truth awful.
Stuart Webber must also share the blame along with his recruitment team, but let’s not forget they did have a lot of success with players like, Emi, Teemu, Mario, Grant etc earlier which resulted in 2 Second tier Championships.
Now we had achieved only 3 second tier championships before that in over a 100 years of history, so 2 championships in 3 years I think at times is underrated.
But deep down Stuart will know this summer’s recruitment has been woeful.
Finally everyone’s pantomime villains Michael and Delia. I wrote a big reply on here yesterday criticizing their intransigence. So I won’t repeat myself.
But to me although there are doubts about Daniel at this level he would be the first to say he was given a pigs ear to somehow conjure up a silk purse on both EPL seasons.
And Michael and Delia, no not for the absolute truly awfulness of this season. Lambert and Hughton kept us up while Delia was here.
They are responsible for the almost messianic belief in self funding but Brentford and Sheffield United didn’t spend much, less than us this season, and both did/will manage one year in the EPL.
This season’s recruitment is mostly to blame, by a fair way. Whether that is just SW only he will know.
Long term then as I say D& M do have questions to answer.
Canaryjim, I thank you massively for protesting against Robert Chase just as I did.
I assure you we would not be anywhere near European football or the EPL had he remained. Probably enjoying life with Notts County, Oldham etc.
Just Jerry Goss and Rob Newman left at Carrow Road, that is all I can say as I do not want to be sued at my age 😂
HI Tim
I must admit that I am often Captain Sarcastic. Snobs call sarcasm the lowest form of wit but I’m yet to be convinced by that particular argument unless Oscar Wilde originated the observation – in which case he was right!
Once again I agree with you but if Rob Newman and Grant Holt pi$$ off to West Ham it’s for a reason and most likely a very sound one,
You are right about Coney’s goal but I’ll cheerfully confirm that Andy Linighan put one in from his frontal pubic region following a miscleared corner against Crystal Palace. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and I bet he didn’t either.
iI read your comment yesterday – keep ’em coming 🙂
Cheers
Martin I am not saying I support Delia at all ,it’s a long time ago now when someone paid for Darren Huckerby my point back then times seemed better. Now it’s gone so lifeless limp stale very stale and she hasn’t got a lot of room left . I agree until she goes the club can’t move forward and if she really cared she should see that and do her best to find a far richer successor . But I still say the Sporting Director must Go firstly .
The guy who paid Huckerby’s wages was, I think, director Michael Foulger of road haulage fame.
What a gesture and oh boy how it paid off!!!
I believe it was a businessman from Diss. Carl was his name.
Yes you’re right – a guy called Carl Moore. There’s a great article on the net about it. I just searched *who paid Huckerby’s wages* and bingo.!
Sorry I can’t send a link remotely.
thiought there was another guy from the Diss area, seem to remember he was involved in printing. Think he stumped up £250K. Might have that wrong you know how the grey matter starts to go down hill, just like out club
Perhaps I have got wires crossed. but seem to remember the chap on the pitch , someone will no doubt correct
Foulger challenged us season ticket holders over the reduction for league One prices, If we didn’t claim the refund he would match it.
Hi Lad
That explains my recollection of Foulger. I just linked the wrong guy to the wrong deed if you see what I mean.
Thanks for clarifying 🙂
🤣 he later reclaimed the full amount.
Jeez! I didn’t know that, I really didn’t.
Tim ball pmsl 😂😂😂 just say no to sarcasm very funny .
I guess Delia is choking the life out of club very slowly .
Bit like pot roasting a house cockerel I guess.
Not much to add but this. Self-funded business model, careful with the pennies, always looking for a bargain in the lower leagues. But what strikes me is with the admission of not being prepared for the massive step-up the last time from the Championship to the Prem and the fact that we seem to be even more underbaked this time, there was a year in the middle as well. Combined, we are looking at 3.5 years to plan and build some solidity within the squad and frankly, it’s been time wasted. I’m coming to the conclusion that even with the buzz words and PR/Marketing that pushes out “we’re the plucky Norwich City” message, it’s just that and maybe we’ve missed something as in ‘there really is no there, there’, i.e. no real ‘plan’. There was a focus on youth (Gilmour, Williams, Tzolis, Sargant, Kazak) but it’s getting found out very quickly. Of the experienced heads, specifically Normann and PLM, Normann has really injected some fire but after yesterday’s performance, but PLM has one speed (slow) and highly questionable decision making- another questionable recruitment from France. To me, it comes down to Stuart Webber and I’m not buying that he’s the genius he’s been made out to be.
Hi Ennis
Yep I’m with you all the way there, particularly with regard to PLM who has impressed me so little that I didn’t even include him in the original article but he certainly cost the thick end of £5 million.
As I’ve said in other replies the blame does indeed have to be shared.
Thanks – good comment.
Folks – I get that feelings are runing high. but any name-calling or unpleasant comments when referring to NCFC officials/players will simply no longer be tolerated.
I’m done with amending/editing/softening comments. In future they’ll simply be binned and I’ll think carefully about posting any future comments.
G
Please folks leave out the vitriol as it discredits our site as much as it does yourselves.
We at MFW really value your comments – nobody more than myself who replies to every single one of them. Guess why? I enjoy it cos I love to hear what other people think.
C’mon, keep it clean.
A brilliant piece Martin and I have to say, some fantastic responses.
Nothing is ever black and white. The blame has to be shared out pro rata. Perhaps a pie chart would be helpful. The main culprit could help us by baking said cake.
I must admit I thought that this stage would have been reached long before now. Farke and his promotions staved off the inevitable for 4 years. Self funding is a selfish con, a structure that imposes failure and a glass ceiling on our football club and is now dragging it through sh1t, more sh1t than Chase ever oversaw.
The huge backlash against this record busting season from hell is about to engulf the clubs hierarchy and anyone else who gets in the way. A few individuals at the club who have been critical of the support while failing completely to do their jobs may regret their actions.
Its a shame and its so unnecessary. On a number of occasions the chance to step aside and allow the club to grow and thrive have been spurned because auntie knows best. Woe betide anyone who disagrees.
This is no way to run a professional football club, let alone one which is so well supported and whose place in the elite gives so much pride to Norwich folk.
Hi Chris
*This is no way to run a professional football club*.
Everybody knows that apart from two people and their remaining acolytes but I cannot see what we can do to rectify the situation just now. Dynamite itself couldn’t do this particular job and the Smiths are here to stay.
I’m reminded of that USA for Africa recording that ran alongside Live Aid’s *Do they Know it’s Christmas* when, I think, producer Quincy Jones said: *Leave your egos at the coat check* to the incoming artistes. He even put up posters to that effect in the dressing rooms and it seemed to work.
Thanks – great comment as usual.
Marty, we‘re hurting and the blame game kicks in. But looking at it rationally we have a club with limited funds and no billionaires queuing up to invest. So the self funding, family friendly ethos which is fair enough. Next the old style management system which apart from Lambo had become a real pain. The new Director plus Coach system seemed logical and began to produce results, we won the Championship in style. We were so good there was hope our heroes would survive in the Prem, it was a real disappointment when we didn‘t. Back to Championship and again we won in style, once more into the Prem and this time we bought new players, sticking to our self funding ethos. It hasn‘t worked so no option but to change the coach. What next? Get rid of Webber, will that save us? Find a billionaire? Dream on! Only one option, moan, groan and give Dean Smith time to rebuild and encourage our players as best we can, some of them deserve our support.
Hi Cutty
Absolutely accurate from start to finish and I agree with all you say.
Your final half a dozen words would have benefited from a bold/italic option but we don’t have one of those in the comments section!
Cheers
Martin – If you are blaming Delia and co then really you are blaming yourselves. They only took over because of the Chase Out mob (it would not have happened otherwise) so you get what you ask for. It all seems to come full circle in the end. But somehow you miss this obvious point out in your analysis. I was very happy with NCFC in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and would go back to those days in an instant. And I would have kept Farke – we are trying to play hoofball without the equipment.
Hi Tony
Everybody has their own opinion on a topic such as this, hence the article really.
My first ST was 1989-90 and I’ve kept it ever since although I went to several games in 1988. The point I am making here is that I saw very little of us in the 70s and 80s so apart form the three Wembley matches these were not halcyon days for me.
I feel the same as yourself about Farke, believe me.
Chase had an aura about him that Delia does not and almost for that reason alone it was enough for *all right thinking people* to peacefully persuade him to quit.
Je ne regrette rien.
Thanks – good comment.
Andy linighan what an underated player he was I used to like him , bit like David Williams he always seemed to have so much time on the ball legend in my eyes .
Dave Williams had one exceptional swansong season for us in the late 80s and was in line to take over from Dave Stringer if Mike Walker had turned the job down.
Think it’s worth noting that Smith, Wynn Jones and Foulger have been on the board now since 1996. When John Major was still the prime minister. Football – at any level – has changed massively since then, but not our most influential directors! How many other businesses in an ever-changing industry would stay unaltered at the top for so long?
I’m interested to see how the club tries to sell season tickets for 2022-23 on the back of this campaign. Personally I think we might just get past Derby’s 11 points, but our 21 of two seasons ago might be pushing it. If so what’s going to be the theme of the renewal package? Join us as we try to get it right yet again, say Stuart Webber & Co? No thanks.
To be fair to Smith and Wynn Jones – an increasingly seldom-used phrase, I’ll grant you – the fact that promoted clubs can’t get much of a foothold in the Premier League isn’t altogether their fault. City’s survival in the recent past depended on the failings of other clubs: QPR and Blackburn being particular examples. Clubs now don’t run out of money in the same way. And then there’s the billionaire factor. Who can compete against Newcastle now when they plunder their relegation rivals for a short-term striker fix? Not us. We’d struggle to sign someone from Stockport (who may well be back in the league next season) at the moment. I imagine that Burnley plucked a release figure out of the air for Chris Wood because they never seriously imagined it would be met.
We might make the top six next season simply on the back of another year of parachute cash. But looking at the line-up at West Ham the other night I felt it wouldn’t trouble the likes of Forest, never mind a side with realistic top-four PL ambitions. On and off the field I think there will be such a hangover from a second disastrous relegation campaign in three years in 2022-23 that we could easily fall well short as we did in 2006 and 2017. And then with only a season of big money left and no chance (after 2016) of being able to pluck potential talent from the lower reaches of German or Spanish football we’ll be in financial trouble, and looking down again rather than back up.
All because of a data-driven recruitment team’s failings last summer.
Personally I don’t know whether I’ll renew for 2022-23 unless there’s some significant change at the top. I also haven’t forgiven the club for its ticket membership schemes, a concept which certainly won’t be needed next season unless the very unlikely event of Ipswich getting promoted comes to pass. All those “loyal” fans with no previous ticket history who signed up in 2019-20 and 2021-22 will now melt away as they won’t find the prospect of an afternoon in Rotherham or Hull very alluring.
Phew, rant over.
And by the way, after many years in journalism can I say I know more than one person who said that Nicholas Parsons was an extremely difficult interviewee.
Hi One-time, if I may call you that!
A terrific comment that would be worthy of an MFW article by itself.
Guest blogs are available by arrangement with editor Gary, hint hint 🙂
Probably like yourself I have met many showbiz and football *faces* over the years and can say I found very few of them to have been objectionable. Tbh I was dreading meeting Sir Alex but he turned out to be absolutely wonderful and a real gent. At the other end of the scale I met Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning but both were very pleasant and certainly nothing like their on-stage personas.
I can only think of two who were really up themselves but MFW cannot afford libel lawyers so I won’t identify them.
Cheers
A couple of seasons possibly getting muddled in the main article…I’m pretty sure Norwich were never nine points clear under Dave Stringer in 1988-89. From memory, we went eight clear after beating Wimbledon 2-1 at Carrow Road under Mike Walker in December 1992.
Hi Trevor
You are quite right of course. Mea culpa, or my bad as they say these days.
Thanks for putting me right 🙂
Hi Martin and everyone, thanks for the great article and comments as usual.
I don’t blame anyone. We’re on the wrong end of a cosmic “heads I win, tails you lose” game. It’d be more satisfying to be able to indulge in righteous rage, but we are not to enjoy even that tidbit of satisfaction.
Examples: I don’t think Pukki has the physical tools to carry us to PL survival, great striker, just not physically blessed enough for this level, it’s an unforgiving world. So do you play him anyway and go through six game goalless streaks, or bench him and possibly never score another goal again? At least we know he’ll give us a few.
I do question the recruitment, but we recruited for Farkeball which seems to be all Farke can coach, so the strategy seemed to be to upgrade some of the pieces for the second attempt, and on paper I think that was actually done. Last time, I was personally frustrated with Farke’s inflexible approach that clearly wasn’t working. This season, to his credit, when the season began poorly yet again, he did change things, but the result was our 5-3-2 that perversely built upon our positions of weakness (CB, CM, striker). And that made the recruitment seem silly as players sit on a bench unsuited for an unexpected system and not getting an opportunity to grow into a team. But should he have stuck with the system we recruited for that was doomed to fail?
The 5-3-2 was the same conundrum. Do you play that knowing you’ll never score and therefore never win but at least you are competitive and can pick up the occasional 0-0? (Oh happy days, those back to back 0-0’s!) Or do you play the tried and true 4-2-3-1 that’ll pick up the odd goal but will lose every time? How do you pick?
The results were so bad that I felt like Farke had to go, but again, are we better off for doing it? We lost our beloved proven Championship coach, but we’d have never stayed up with him. But here we are anyway. Does a right decision exist in that scenario?
Even the “ultimate” question has started to feel this way. It would be a great heartwarming story to do things “the right way” as a self funded club even though undoubtedly that means bumps along the way. But the results are so historically bad that it isn’t really a viable option. Meanwhile, the Saudi ownership of Newcastle is so distasteful that I cannot hope for a new ownership solution either. What is the way forward here?
I have only been a Norwich supporter for ten years and don’t have the background (I’m an American) so forgive my naivete. Anyway, I find it troubling to see people questioning the “Chase out” movement. From what I’ve picked up, that is “cultural bedrock” and these are truly tough days if such truths are being questioned. For what it’s worth, I’ve been an American football fan for several more decades and I’ve never experienced this level of weariness in sport before. It seems like something has to give. Maybe it is a British thing, that is after all what the stereotypes would have you believe, but this feels worse than a dreary cold January rain. I hope I am not confirming all of the American stereotypes.
On a positive note, I’ve been a longtime reader but have never commented and I want to thank everyone for really bringing joy (I myself am a sarcasm fan but this is not sarcastic!) to being a Norwich fan. I love the debates and intelligent commentary (a standard I know I am falling short of) and before Championship games were available in the US, this is how I kept up with the club for our “down” years. So thank you everyone!
OTBC, it must surely be up from here! (Which is what I thought two years ago. How can we be worse?)
Hi Julian
What a great comment and thank you for your kind words about MFW.
There are quite a few Stateside Canaries supporters and at least three USA-based fan clubs that I am aware of so there are probably more.
When I lived in Coltishall my local pub the Kings Head was a hotbed of NCFC support and an American guy I knew pretty well was a latter-day convert to the Canaries but evolved into a *real supporter* – I don’t like to use that phrase normally but it’s perfectly appropriate in this case.
Frank’s greatest claim to fame is that he went to college with Mark [?] from the Electric Prunes and was surprised that I even knew who they were!
My son worked two summer seasons in a lobster restaurant on Catalina Island and reckoned he had a fine old time. Never been to the States myself.
Thanks for a very interesting comment.
What a brilliant comment……and welcome!!
O T B C
I didn’t see this until I’d replied to Julian.
Well said mate 🙂