Some MFW readers have children while others don’t. It’s the way life works out and many people, like Delia Smith very recently, declare to the media that they simply don’t want offspring as they would not be confident of being a good parent.
That’s fine by me. My own issues, now in their early thirties, would be the last to suggest I was the best Dad in the world and looking back I think they are probably right although I was never in any way a bad father, which is a completely different scenario altogether.
Delia claimed that she sees the 26,000 of us Norwich City Football Club supporters who attend Carrow Road for home matches as her children. If I were either woke or PC I would find that remark deeply offensive. But I go with the flow and live in the real world, as cra.ppy as it can be at times, particularly just right now.
You always hurt the one you love is one thing but fighting off outside investment has been going on for far too long now, Ms Smith.
So Delia…
With you at the helm we cannot establish ourselves in the PL. There’s no guarantee we’ll re-emerge from the Championship next season and when parachute payments end – which they soon will – your self-funding concept will be flushed permanently down the WC.
You might firmly believe that you know what’s best for the rest of us but you really don’t.
We want a better Club than you’ve ever been prepared to allow us to have.
I am not one of your adoptive children and never will be.
Can I challenge those of you in favor of a changing of the guard with these questions.
What are you prepared to give up to get the investment you hope will lead to Norwich being an established PL club? The relationship between owners and fans, game atmosphere, stadium naming rights, club reputation for fairness? Not that any of them or all them may happen, but my point is that there is usually a hidden cost somewhere along the lines.
Secondly, how much richer do the new owners need to be to guarantee what you are looking for? Honestly even with brand new owners there will be budgets and living within our means. Given that most Championship teams have owners with wealth far in excess of ours, money below the billions level doesn’t make a difference. And don’t get me started on “ambition”
Finally, say we do become an established PL team, are you happy being 17th season after season? How long before you hope for new even richer owners?
My view, ambition and money helps but cannot replace a good strategy and cannot replace reputation or genuine effection for the club and community.
Finding new owners is will not be a cake walk
Game atmosphere? Like the atmosphere during Saturdays game? Relationship between fans and owners? Don’t need one – I’m more interested in the 11 o the pitch than celebrity spotting the directors box..
Club reputation? We’re a laughing stock in the wider football world and our model is loathed and derided. We’ve been fielding the abuse all season.
All were asking for is to join the rest of football and take them on head on. Being poor relations to the likes of brentford doesn’t appeal.
Hi Chris
Yeah the atmosphere evaporated just after the half hour mark and NEVER returned – why would it FFS?
I don’t understand why Brentford are suited and booted while we’re still in cast-offs from Les Mis.
Oh hang on I do, don’t I Delia?
Cheers
I do believe that the vast majority of those who want change know full well, finding new owners will not be a cake walk. But given the past and present, any new owners are not being looked for .
The present incumbents are happy to stay put despite the fans
Hi Lad
They are happy to be here – but how happy are we to have them here?
Don’t worry – I can’t politely answer my own question either 🙂
Cheers
Hi Belgrade
I get what you’re saying and you can challenge any one of us on MFW whenever you like – there’s no need to ask first!
Yes of course there are hidden costs. That suits everybody doesn’t it?
As for ambition I’ll choose to relate to cars. I’ve had several flashy ones over the years [still got one] but I never acquired one to live it’s life on the driveway.
Your best point is about being 17th every season in the PL. No I would not be happy with that but I would so much rather going to see Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs than I would Stoke, Blackpool and Birmingham.
I rarely mind losing. It’s the entertainment I crave in my latter years.
Thanks – good comment.
Hi
Well not sure where to start.
Our owners have no ambition and openly admit they can’t afford to invest.
Not sure what the market value is of their combined holdings but if the sold the would make a tidy profit.
Naming rights could have got us a new City Stand to increase capacity that would have again help in transfers and self funding.
No one is asking for an Abramovich type owner but it would be nice just for once not to be the poor relation in both the EPL and EFL.
Plus an owner that doesn’t treat the supporters as if she is doing them a favor owning the club
Hi Alex
It’s been a long old day on MFW and it’s by no means over yet!
Nothing any of us says or does can remove the Smiths – something or somebody has to convince them that their time is up.
Can you do it? No.
Can I do it? No.
Can anybody do it? Highly unlikely.
So we’re stuck with ’em mate.
Cheers
Stadium naming rights are largely meaningless as fans will continue to talk about Carrow Road in the same way we talk about the River End despite it having been frequently renamed. I’m not sure what would impact upon game atmosphere more than what happens on the pitch. The point I would question is about the relationship between owners and fans. I am a shareholder and as a result I go to the AGM and hear from the Board which includes the owners. I go to many away matches and will on occasion see a Board member outside of the ground walking to the match (usually Tom Smith who looks like a genuine fan looking forward to the match). However, this is the limit of that relationship and for the 20k to 30k who go to matches and maybe another 10k who avidly follow the club, even that link isn’t there. Personally I’m not sure that it does need to be there. I like the fact that the Board appoint people to do the talking but I’m not sure that the relationship between the club and the fans is very strong compared to other clubs. There is a fan “board” elected by us but its too early to judge its impact. So there is little to lose and in most cases change happens so we shouldn’t be so set on opposing change. For me the big thing is that we are always only a couple of bad years away from financial problems. Failure to win promotion next season (assuming we are going down again) would cause major issues. We need some source of funding to see us through bad times and that probably answers your question about how wealthy any owners need to be. If the club runs out of cash then ownership change will be forced upon us. There would be no chance to pick and choose who buys as it would be down to administrators who might be happy to see us sold to asset strippers. We need to act before this becomes an issue. By the way as a fan since 1970, I am happy with 17th every season, I’ve lived through that kind of thing in the past. Between 1975 and 1980 we would finish in the bottom half of the top flight nobody craved the excitement of relegation in those days
Hi John
The River End will always remain just that to me as well.
As for NCFC-supporter interaction I gave my tiny shareholding to the Canaries Trust a few years ago now – a wise decision.
I’m on the same timeline as yourself and my halcyon days will always remain roughly from 1989 to 1993 although there was a brief later upsurge under Lambert which I must admit I enjoyed immensely,
I’m not into US politics but I think Sleepy Joe and Delia have more than one thing in common. When I can no longer go to a game for 90+ minutes without dozing off I will have the common sense to quit altogether!
Cheers
Nor am I Martin but I can boil an egg .its time for a shake up with owners and probably manager I know he inherited this team but his previous stints at clubs doesn’t fill me with confidence didn’t push Brentford on when things looked promising and got sack at villa after spending £200mil . Something has to change to take us forward not downwards see you Thursday or not might need a pint or two to get me through that game 😉
Hi Kev
I’ve been known to boil two eggs simultaneously, allow them to cool and put them in a nice salad Nicoise. Delia never toughed it out at a previous incarnation of the Hotel Wroxham and that’s for sure. I did, fool that I was.
No chance of me being there on Thursday, it will be my mate Don again.
Cheers
Hi Gents I am not sure she is a qualified Chef/Cook or ever worked in a busy kitchen.
I did 3 years at the Star Hotel in Great Yarmouth and during the season helped out at their other hotel the Goods on the seafront that catered for bus trips and Saturdays was arrival day and Fish and Chips for everyone happy days
I know of one thing I did that Delia didn’t. A summer season as a KP!
I concur with all of your writings here Mr P , I have never been nor intend to be in what little time I have left. Being honest I didn’t want her in this Football club in the first place. Time to go .
Hi Lad
I’ve been caught out a little with the early timing of this piece although I wrote it halfway through last week – you’ll know what I mean 🙂
If Delia and Michael are 80 and I’m worried about my imminent demise at 64 I think they must have private access to cryogenics!
Cheers
More like pickled in all that Red wine they drink.
I’m probably more pickled than them.
No hangovers and at least in my case all faculties are permanently enabled – once you’ve retired and your responsibilities diminish what’s not to like about that lifestyle?
Oh, hang on, I have to take an urgent call from Mundesley Medical Centre…
I have had a season ticket for 20 years and am now asking myself what the point of renewing is.
If – unlikely as I think it is – we were to bounce back next season I am at a loss to see how our survival hopes would be any better in 2023-24 then they have been these last six months.
If we were to fall short of the top six – as we did in 2016-17 with a squad that should have reached the play-offs, minimum – then we’ve had it in 2023-24 and onwards with this set-up. And thanks to Brexit – another bonus of being in control of our own destiny, apparently – there will be no plucking of talent from the second divisions in Germany and Spain.
And all those people who are happy to see a winning team in the Championship, apparently, will soon change their minds once we fall away in the same manner as 2005 to 2009 (9th, 16th, 17th, 22nd) and 2016-18 (8th and 14th). We only got out of those slumps thanks to inspirational managerial appointments. Does lightning strike three times? I’m not so sure.
No, if we don’t make the top six, and teams like Wigan or Middlesbrough do, this misplaced yearning to enjoy seeing a few wins again will soon be replaced by more widespread bitterness.
I was less than impressed by the season-ticket renewal pack message. Carefully scripted words from Messrs Smith and Hanley, plus a bland “Update from the club” written in pure corporate PR-speak. All dripping in an expectation that we are all going to renew no matter what.
No, going to matches is fast becoming a chore. I’d rather pick and mix a few fixtures next season. If games don’t sell out this season it will be easier to pick up casual tickets in 2022-23. This season has made the prospect of a Tuesday-night winter visit from Reading not exactly alluring. And remember next season sees a five-week (three weekend) break in the Championship for the World Cup, plus a very early start at the end of July.
I would love to say I had an answer to the question of where NCFC go from here. Like you, Martin, I have met DS and it’s very hard to be outright critical of her love for the club, but something has to change. At the very least I would be happy to see the departure of the Webber-Ward axis. Mr “others pissed millions up against the wall” has done just that himself, and his pursuits of Kilimanjaro and Everest though laudable do rather smack of a Smashie and Nicey-style “doing a lot of good work for charidee but actually wanting to talk about it” to deflect attention from what’s happening on the field. And whoever keeps coming up with ticket membership schemes can also go. It’s worth noting that despite refusing to pay to join this tawdry exercise I still managed to get a ticket from the club for the in-demand trip to Brentford.
Hi O-t a s-t h
Hope I got that right!
I got the ST renewal package too and as we’ve got a woodburner I knew exactly what to do with it even though the glorious Norfolk County Council discourage us from burning anything that might be potentially toxic.
No way am I getting dragged into a debate on Brexit but I understand exactly where you’re coming from as will many of our readers.
I worked for a mega business for 20 years and the last thing the HR department would have done back in the day would have been to appoint a married/declared connected couple. I had no personal views then and have none now but the practise remains a little bit unusual even today.
The Smashy & Nicey reference was top dollar. I loved Harry Enfield and the Fast Show too – who didn’t at the time I guess!
Thanks for a really good comment.
While I understand and applaud the passion, and disappointment, of all of the contributors here and in other articles/comments, I’ll say, and have said a number of times, this is a business and people who own and operate a business like this are, in my mind, gamblers of the worst sort -those who a.) have money they think they can afford to lose and b.) think they are the smartest person in the room…always. Honestly, our opinions and voices, even with the appearance of caring, don’t matter (and honestly, why articles that start with “I’m not one of DS’s kids” and rapidly evolves into slating the ownership and management of the club aren’t terribly enlightened.)
We compete in a league with an overall economic model that is broken, certainly grossly uncompetitive, and appears to be rapidly changing which adds more risk to the large amounts of risk that already exist and requires resources well beyond NC’s abilities.
So, we have the big 6, maybe 7 adding Newcastle. We have an upper tier -those clubs with millionaire backing measured in the 100’s of millions (Leeds, Watford, Everton, West Ham, Palace(?), possibly Burnley, Southampton, who else). These clubs will spend 10-25M on a player. We can’t. Will a new owner who comes in have that same ability? Given the basic economic realities of NC (reach, target market, stadium size, etc,) will the new owner be someone who has the ability to go spend 100m on players at the end of each season? Doubtful.
The bottom line is that we really can’t consistently compete year-in, year-out in the Premiership. We can’t attract the type of money that it requires on an ongoing basis. Abramovic pumped 1.5B into Chelsea, Man Utd 1.0B in transfers in the last 5-7 years. (and you have to wonder about their egos).
Yes, I’d rather watch Spurs instead of Milwall but I don’t think it’s going to be feasible in the short-term nor the long-term due to the amounts of money required and finding someone who has more money than sense. If it’s the Championship where we realistically sit (Top 26?!) then I’d rather have that than a winding up order from the taxman…
Hi Ennis
This was originally supposed to have been part of a larger MFW article but just happened to appear this way out of currency. No outro either – I usually sign off with a piece of music. A very poor football writer’s trademark if you like but hey-ho.
Slating the owners, yeah, maybe. But I did at least try to justify adopting that attitude.
In a crazy kind of way I agree with very much of what you’ve said. The trouble is that we cannot compete with the Smiths at the helm. Or indeed quite probably without them 🙂
Thanks – I enjoyed reading your comment.
Hi Martin, I have noted that you are about the same age as myself so will probably see where I am coming from. As a young boy football was an opportunity to go and see a game , at the time it was at Palmerston park home of QOS as much as I loved my football it also helped me distract from the stress and worry of losing my father for a few hours, in those days I would say it was a working class game when teams could compete against each other and was more enjoyable. I moved to Norwich in 1974 and have been watching City since, seen some really good teams and players through the years. Being a bit nostalgic I used to watch football whenever I could in the good old days when we had the European Cup, Cup Winners Cup and Fairs Cup which was a straight knock out competition then, days when a Scottish team could win the European Cup where all of their players came from within a 20 mile radius of Glasgow an achievement that will never happen again ( hard to say being a Gers fan, but true ! ) Moving back to the present I agree that if Delia and Micheal are not prepared to accept any investment in our club they should go as the current way we are being run can only go so far as the last few years have proven.. It is sad to see that money rules our great fame, would love to see Norwich as a regular premiership side but the league is no longer competitive, fair or enjoyable. I have renewed my season ticket for next season but the state our country is now in at the moment with excessive energy, fuel bills etc getting extortionate I do think this might hit Norwich’s season ticket sales. The amount of money some football clubs are receiving and paying players these days is disgusting … it is no longer a game that fans can afford or enjoy. For people of our age the love of the game is ebbing away !!
Hi Martin
You’ve made some great observations there and I’ll pick up on a couple of them.
Of course it’s no longer a working class game which has slowly but surely ruined much of it for me but those under about 45 would have no recollection of how things used to be so I don’t blame them for buying into the money/media merry-go-round.
Your line about Glasgow used to apply to most of our big Cities. Norwich hasn’t been a big city since the 14th century which is a major reason why we have always failed to attract any ambitious players in their early 20s.
I’ve renewed my ST yet again as well, but with far more reluctance than usual.
I’m thoroughly Celtic btw 🙂
Thank you for a great comment – appreciated.