Let’s face it, most of us Canary supporters are down in the dumps right now as many of us feel like we’ve been befuddled, bemused and even downright cheated at the extreme end of the emotional scale as this season’s non-events have unfolded.
We have been left with a squad within which there is no constituent member to love rather than tolerate. That extends to the ownership and management as well of course.
Can it really only be a few years ago that many of us gathered outside City Hall to watch Kenny McLean temporarily “borrow” the Town Crier’s tricorn hat and announcement bell with a bottle of MD 20/20 in his free hand?
In just a short period of time, Kenny has lost a fair bit of the love so many of us had for him on that day. Right now many Norwich supporters [not me, to be fair] groan when his name seems to be first on the teamsheet.
But right now Kenny remains with us as does Tim Krul, who has an admirable streak of character within him. Grant Hanley surely demands respect from all of us too, although I don’t see him doing stand-up any more than I could.
As for the rest, apart from Zimbo [more of him later] there is nothing personally endearing about this current crop. Nothing at all.
The days of Daniel Farke are gone and however he will be rated in the future for his NCFC tenure he had that wonderful natural gift of understated charisma from the very beginning. His fluency in English was punctuated by the use of words such as *topic* and *greedy*, which he didn’t quite get right but we all loved him for it.
His match day style of attire was never for me with the kind-of parka, baggy trousers and middle parting. That’s a geezer’s view as a few ladies I know thought he looked “kinda cute”.
The post-victory waves and the “Farke’s on a Horse” song will stay with many of us forever.
Dean Smith cannot match Farke in this respect and probably would not even wish to. There’s nothing of the media or supporter entertainer in him.
Looking back at the players of the Farke incumbency I have some great memories that could not possibly be replicated by this current lot and I’m sure MFW readers will have others similar that I have forgotten, but here are a few of mine.
- Zimbo cheerfully going into his local school and helping out the teachers. Sure he has preparatory qualifications and education is obviously a passion for him – and one I bet he works in when his footballing days are finished.
- Todd Cantwell [yes I know] representing NCFC in a gaming competition during lockdown and speaking very happily about it. He also gave away Christmas presents in his home town of Dereham to anybody and everybody who posted yellow & green balloons outside their houses as recently as three months ago.
- Jamal Lewis demonstrating how grounded he was a year after breaking into the first team by completing a course in accountancy for his future benefit. Not many ballers do that.
- Jordan Rhodes earning his own song despite playing a bit-part role. Surely we all sang “Jordan Rhodes is one of us”?
- Jordan Hugill having a cook-off on Zoom against Emi Buendia during lockdown. Absolutely hilarious.
- Emi [in the days when he loved being amongst us] attempting to sing his own song on social media!
- Onel Hernandez and his declared love for Argos. Probably my favourite media moment.
- Oliver Skipp’s look of sheer disbelief when an unselfish Lukas Rupp gave him a tap in at Birmingham. Priceless!
- Tom Trybull’s wife publishing “The story of Tommy T” about a pigeon she considered had shared a metaphorical journey with TT.
- Mario Vrancic’s hairdressing tips for all that were interested. Just the photos – his life story was far more interesting.
- Alex Tettey for just simply being Alex Tettey with his commitment, huge smiles and occasional on-pitch dancing.
So what are we left with?
Very little in terms of guys like these I’m afraid. And that cannot be for the greater good.
Bland, vanilla, taupe, call it what you might. But this lot seem to have no ostensible character at all and that doesn’t bode well for Norwich City. At least for now. I’m sure there’ll be some more along soon.
Another great piece Martin.
Looks like we have thrown away our chance again. The big boys show no mercy. We thought we had a big thing coming and could taste the sweet smell of success..
However the Duchess said ‘Let me introduce you to the family’. What a strange little girl! They were all lies and deception.
Something better change, but it will take longer than 5 minutes.
Get a grip of yourself Simon……..
Hi Simon
Ha!
Don Harold is our resident MFW Stranglers fanboy and I’m sure he’ll be along soon – seems like you’ve beaten him to the punch though!
NCFC certainly needs to Straighten Out.
Thanks – nice one 🙂
If Norwich City are now going to be in their own ‘post Hugh Cornwell’ phase, it does not bode well. It was never the same and he never came back.
Hi IR
I only saw them once and in the early days with HC of the exotic recreational habits – they were great, they really were. I only posted this vid cos I was amazed a band could replace somebody like Cornwell with such a good fit.
You could be referring to Farke or Emi with your aside – I’d love to know which!
Cheers
The Guts of the team ripped apart, yea the line was kept from Timm, Grant and Teemu. which people say is important. While I agree important as it is, those who were drafted alongside these stalwarts, we equally vital. They had to learn each other’s play movements etc.
None more so the Emi and Steiperdude, along with Zimmo, (who can forget the header while on the ground) Tetts, not blessed with some of the skillsets of others, but made up more with his reading of the game and passion They would run through brick walls and often did.
From one of the most attractive footballing sides in the country, we resorted to an almost invisible shadow. We are where we are because of money. the first summer there was none of the stuff and last summer the stuff was wasted on substandard players nowhere near up to the job.
Something was wrong to turn a local boy (one of ours) to want to turn his back and get out, I am no lover of him (for what he put my daughter through at school and nothing was done, a case don’t touch the Lords anointed.. sorry still rankles)
Onel allowed to leave, one of the few who could scare the crap out of defenders and still could, Hugill may not be a prem quality but he could have been the perfect sidekick to Pukki, as Idah was to become.
We go on about how we didn’t replace Emi and Ollie, but we did not replace Mario, Marco, Tommy Jamal and in a smaller way Moritz. Failure of transfers is not just confined to this crop : Heise, Roberts, Amadou, Duda, Drmic, Srbreny, Farhmann, Husband,Passack,Franke and in a small way Jarvis. That is rather of lot of misses that stand out like a boil on the nose amongst a small amount of hits.
There is why we are here today, with no character, no identity in the team and a manager who we expected far too much from in the short space of time. A case of here you go Deano, make a silk purse out of this crop of pigs’ ears.
Hi Lad
Yeah I’ve got you – I’m still surprised why Dean Smith took the job in the first place because no sacked manager is ever short of a few bob. He must have known precisely what he was walking into and retrospectively is probably regretting his decision.
I couldn’t recall a precise memory of the Steiperdude when I wrote this [I think I created that term 🙂 ] but I agree he was full of character.
Onel? I’d love to see him back but for his own sake he is probably better off with the Bluenoses in our second City. At least he gets to play every game.
Anybody who has ever been to school knows what little scrotes can be like. I’ve never had any serious trouble myself or with my children either but I really should have reported a couple of things I saw as an adult. The Norfolk school concerned would have politely told me to Foxtrot Oscar and not waste their valuable time.
Thanks for a very explicit comment.
A bit late to the party, but surely you remember Stiepi having to wash Daniels car!!
Better late than never, dp3.
Yes I do remember it and Marco even had a picture taken of him in action with the sponge and bucket – probably borrowed from Colney, or it would have been in the old days!
Cheers
Completely agree with much of what you say CL. So much of what we have been missing this season is that ‘heart and soul’ character and leadership that players like Vrancic, Tettey, Trybull, Steipermann, Hernandez, Klose gave. Ripping the heart out of the team has proven catastrophic much like when NCFC were promoted under Worthington and Iwan Roberts and Malky Mackay were jettisoned.
This season the transfers have been odd and I remember SW/DF saying that the plan was to replace Emi with a group of players that possessed individual components of his skills. In reality this has meant several very average players. For me the signing of Gilmore is the epitome of the odd transfer approach – they had tried with the midfield metronome approach with Leitner (and Trybull and Vrancic to a lesser extent), but couldn’t find a place in the system or formation that could employ him and bring defensive solidity. So why bring in Gilmore to play the same role?
I think the relative transfer successes over the past three seasons have been limited – even last season in the championship. Other than Skipp and Gibson (both loan) many of the other signings seemed very odd. Quintilla (loan) looked off the pace to start with and once injured never really got another look in. Placheta and Sorensen were both players signed who apparently had a better physicality: the former is a winger and under DF we didn’t play wingers; Sorensen was signed as he had a better engine that Trybull but was never trusted to play that role.
Hi Notts_Jon
I actually quite liked Xavi Quintilla as he had a great delivery from his left foot if given half a yard of space.
Sorensen’s absence continues to confound me but as I always present this caveat, here it is once more: I am not a coach.
As you suggest, if the intention was to truly replace Emi and Skippy by whatever means it sure didn’t work out. Big style.
Thank you.
I’ve mentioned that before about last season’s incoming transfers. The success of the side and primarily Skipp masked the fact that the vast majority of appearances came from players who were part of the previous Championship title win. For numerous reasons (poor form, injuries, stop-gaps, loaned back out) many of the players brought in didn’t actually figure as much as we thought (even Gibson only started just over half the league games)..
Nice list Martin. Funny that there isn’t a reference to Pukki, but I can’t think of a specific one either! Perhaps his goals speak for themselves (dare I hope for one prolific Championship season to reach the 100…?)
Hi Jason
I deliberately didn’t put Teemu in with the *characters* as he is so self-effacing he doesn’t really make this particular cut.
Strangely although I’ve never met that many players myself normally somebody I know has – but in Teemu’s case… nope!
Olly Skipp was a one-off and I bet he’s sad to see where we are now.
Cheers
I do know somebody (that has no interest in football) who served Teemu regularly in a well known supermarket chain. A very nice bloke by all accounts thankfully!
Nice to hear that!
Marty, there are problems aplenty in the world at the moment, not going to list them all, the media takes great delight in ramming the whole sorry mess down our throats, it seems endless and relentless. Just when we need our Canaries to give us some cheer and recharge our hopes we get zilch, in fact they add to the woe. I shall have to dig out my old Play Station and kill a few orcs while I wait for next season. No point in harping on about world events, there are other forums for that, so it’s about keeping the faith in the yellow and green. A poor start to next season and possibly losing to the Binners? Unthinkable! Isn’t it?
Hi Cutty
When it comes to killing Orcs I leave that to Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the crew. Gandalf? He was about as effective as Moritz Leitner.
As for the Binners they haven’t got there yet.
I really hope singing *we’ll never play you again* remains a worthwhile exercise.
Cheers – and get well soon 🙂
Balrogs dear boy , no one but Gandalf could have taken out the balrog.
He took it out Bernie, but in a way that left him in Middle Earth purgatory for a little while. Unlike Jacob Sorensen, he certainly got a fair crack of the whip. And went from grey to white without using Daz.
Balrogs to you too 🙂
Hi Martin
Seems a few heated comments above but all to the point.
Being of an older generation I more than relate to players playing the game and living next door to Alice no flashy cars and no big headlines about nights out.
Jump or leap forward a few years and Bowls, Marsh, Best and many others went the more public route and kick-started a media frenzy.
City since then have had a few that enjoyed the off-field social life and not harm if kept in check.
In many ways the lack of characters in this squad maybe down to recruiting players with young families or about to start families but it could also be down to the pandemic making people more wary of social media.
All those you mention above had time to mix with the locals be it at schools opens days or promos at the Royal Norfolk show, Malls or charity events.
This pandemic has shutdown opportunities for players to readily mix and many have tried to show their lighter side on social media but that doesn’t really come over well.
We have to learn to live with what we have and just maybe this pandemic has given a few a restart but then you will always have the rogues that will got against the flow and think they are above the rules.
Can we see characters back at our club that will get you off your seat, that will have you remember stupid things they either did on the pitch or at an event I do hope so.
Characters and their influence start at the top and sadly apart from a drunken rant our top brass haven’t any character just a dictators control, SW sits in the directors box and very rarely celebrates a goal that whole area looks characterless and DS&SS don’t interact with supporters.
I prefer the use of characters not Hero’s and yes there are many means for that word but I keep that for people that do unselfish acts Military, Police, Firebrigade, Ambulance, RNLI, NHS and such.
Hi Alex
It’s not compulsory to put your character out to grass when you have a young family – I think Emi’s second son Thiago was born here and it never stopped him from retaining his character!
I was really on about the little things that players do which endears them to us. Footballers may be richer than the rest of us but they are very much just as human as we are – you’ve only got to bump into Ruel Fox outside Debenhams or Russell Martin in Waitrose to discover that.
I’ve met quite a few over the years and all have been pleasant. I remember Russ and Ruel simply because they both made me laugh!
A trio I’ll single out are Sir Alex, David James and Bob Wilson because I had more time to chat with them. Gentlemen all.
Cheers
Morning Martin.
It is great to remember our Heroes of Carrow Road.
My first “favourite2 player was Tommy Bryceland and then Kenny, Kenny Foggo on the wing Kenny, Kenny Foggo.
But they were more the skillful players.
The character of that first era for me was undoubtedly, 6ft 2 eyes of blue Duncan Forbes is after you.
And I will always remember that booming voice saying hello in the local shop calling. Closely followed by the great Kevin Keelan.
Ted MacDougall was another real character in that era.
Martin Peters was probably the best footballer I saw play for Norwich and though a quiet man I am sure the youngsters in those days really looked up to him. Closely followed by Ian Crook.
Since then in no particular order we have had Flem and Malky, Mick Channon, Iwan, Craig Bellamy, Steve Bruce, Holty, Robert Fleck, Darren Huckerby, Martin O’neill and Chris Sutton. To name a few.
Two other surprise names for me would be John Deehan who was somewhat quieter than the lads mentioned but is a really nice guy and inspirational with his time with us.
And finally a really under-rated player for us was Mick McGuire. He was always wanting the ball and was certainly vocal on the pitch.
Mr Chase is in the Canaries Hall Of Fame and Mick isn’t. How the hell has that happened ?
Of todays crop Zimbo, Tim, Grant and Kenny somewhat I suppose and that is it. But none of them are like the ones I have mentioned previously other than Krul.
What about our Irish Priest
That revelation was a kick up the cassock for many of us.
Fair play to Phil Mulryne for following his heart though.
Hi Tim
It’s late afternoon now but I’ve had an unexpectedly busy day 🙂
Afraid to say I have no recollections of Bryceland or Foggo at all, but my ex-wife’s uncle did teach me the Kenny Foggo song many years ago!
I saw Martin Peters play for West Ham, Spurs and ourselves so I guess I’m privileged.
The Duncan Forbes song was robbed from Arsenal who sang it for either Willie Young or Ian Ure – I can’t remember which.
You have absolutely ruined my afternoon by telling me that Mr Chase is in the Hall of Fame. If I ever wanted to ruin a 64-year-old clean criminal record you have just offered me the motivation to do so. Not really but I had no idea about that.
Thanks as always
You guys are mentioning some stellar names from the club’s past … Tommy Bryceland was a really nice guy, and a fabulous footballer for us on many occasions.
Nobody mentioned Dave Watson – truly great footballer and captain. Also, lets not forget Graham Paddon!
Cheers
Hi Kev
I missed the 70s & early 80s era as I was living and working in London but I certainly remember Dave Watson very well in the mid-80s.
Graham Paddon is always spoken of with great respect whenever his name comes up in conversation or online. I only saw him a couple of times and I would imagine both would have been at White Hart Lane although I did get to Carrow Road about twice a season back then!
Cheers
Yes, sad but true.. He was part of the original batch voted on by the supporters. One for another day – don’t get me started….
A shared train journey to Thorpe from Liverpool St after work with my Radio Norfolk mate David was completely spoiled by the large gent sitting opposite us wearing red braces and a NCFC tie who insisted on blowing his own trumpet as far as probably Diss.
When Dave accidentally mentioned he worked for the BBC said gent stopped talking at us. For some reason he didn’t want to gush on any more.
It’s the only time I’ve ever done that journey 1st class in my life 🙂
Martin, I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall !
I put the bare bones of the story on MFW a couple of years ago but if you don’t mind I’ll ask Gary for your email address and give you the full gruesome monty.
I’m not able to put out the full tale on MFW for obvious reasons.
Simon did indeed beat me to it and came up with some real peaches. Your piece relates to a time when it seemed like there was always the sun and if our chief recruiter can find some similar characters I would say ‘go, Buddy, go’
Hi Don
Makes a change for you to mention your dog on an article where I for once haven’t referred to my own.
*Geezer & Buddy* sounds like a good name for a musical duo – 50 years ago anyway!
Cheers
I’ve almost given up commenting, so many worthy articles written, I feel like a colander my enthusiasm has been slowly drained and I’ve gone cold.
To begin with I blamed VAR, then lockdown, then no crowd. Then we returned to the Championship and it was fine again. Then I blamed Covid, then VAR ……………..before finally realising we just ain’t good enough.
Now I’m not going to games and stopped watching on TV, when I heard K Mc equalised last Sunday I didn’t even celebrate. I don’t care any more and I don’t like it, don’t want to feel this way.
They say it’s darkest just before dawn, well I wish bloody ‘ Dawn’ would get her sodding skates on. Come on Stuart Webber what’s your recovery plan, we all want our mojo back!
It is only football so we’ll cope whatever.
Hi Colin
I think many of us on MFW empathise with your feelings and if I couldn’t put the odd personal bits and the music outro into the rubbish I write I would sink into a state of depression as well.
With so much else going on the world right now we shouldn’t feel too down about NCFC but we can’t help it, none of us.
It’s a natural process of course.
Keep good.
Because our midfield signings were so late (and inadequate) I wonder how many players turned us down and why. Perhaps there could have been some heroes in there…
Hi Username Shapeshifter
I am sure we were turned down several times by a few players because they simply didn’t fancy it – NCFC isn’t for everybody and if I were a young but established baller I wouldn’t touch us with the butt end of a $hitty bargepole. If I were 18/19 then I’d probably say *yes*.
Keep the *Trunch* reference alive in your next incarnation then we’ll know who you are – there’s a reference to the village in one of Clement Scott’s scribblings btw but I’m pretty sure you’ll know that already.
Cheers
Probably the main reason our players have lost former, or don’t have current, personalities is because they’re tired of having their ar$es handed to the every week. When we sold Emi we should, in my opinion, have splashed that cash on two 20 million pound players, instead of half a dozen maybe, what if, it could come good type players. It must be soul destroying to go into Colney on Monday morning knowing that you’re just there to prepare for another leathering the following Saturday.
We undoubtedly have Premier League quality players throughout our side, but we don’t have a Premier League side. The aforementioned two 20 million players would have made us a PL side, or at least competitive. And quite possibly brought out the personalities of others.
Hi Geoff
That’s a good and very realistic way of looking at it.
It must be like us lesser mortals going into an office, retail, construction site or whatever you like every day just knowing we’re going to be demoralised and really would rather be just about anywhere else.
While I genuinely like the concept of your pair of £20million players I think the wage structure alone would KO anything like that.
If Sargent and Tzolis are much to go by I don’t think I’d let Webber choose ’em!
Cheers
Late to the party Mr. P; sorry…..
For me, having such a long association with NCFC from the days of Ashman; Kennon; Keelan; Bryceland through the Saunders days with Stringer, Forbes, Butler etc; and then Bond; Brown; Walker and Europe (Sutton; Goss; Bowen; Crook; Gunny)….to Lambert (is he now really so bad?) with Holt; Hoolahan and the rest (until the Vicar took it apart), and even Alex Neil with Bradley Johnson and one or two more……we seem just devoid of anything and everything. There is no one at all in the current set-up who has the ability to get the pulses racing, apart from an 18 year old who wasn’t even supposed to be in the plans for this season.
For a team plying their trade in the supposed best league in the world – that really is the saddest part.
In every game we appear so much poorer than the opposition – Everton overcame having a man sent off to somehow grab a win last night. Can anyone honestly see the current crop of people wearing NCFC shirts being able to do something similar? I definitely cannot and that’s the hardest thing of the lot to accept.
O T B C
Hi John – well said.
Although I too remember the early days – less well than you as I was living and working in London – the Stringer team was the one that really ignited my enthusiasm.
Gunny, Bowen, Culverhouse, Butterworth, Linighan, Foxy, Flecky, Disco Dale, even Trevor Putney and the rest of them if you like – maybe Sherwood and Townsend at a push.
There is no character within this current crop whatsoever.
Cheers
Chase – hall of infamy
Well said Mike!