The fierce defence of Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones by their supporters when the question of ownership is raised is quite something. Admirable in many ways.
For those of us who have asked the question, it can be a bruising experience. Despite believing it’s a valid one, I invariably end up asking myself if it was worth raising in the first place.
And you find yourself getting called names for not just smiling and going along with it all.
“Sulky sob sobs”
“Pantwetters”
And some I wouldn’t repeat. 🙂
But that’s fine. There are also those who are happy to debate the issue in a civilised manner.
So I’ll keep raising the question.
And, for me, it invariably boils down to the question of what the current owners and their supporters want this football club to be.
Others even disagree with me on that.
I believe the current model (I even got told off for describing it as a ‘model’) is incompatible with putting together a squad capable of surviving beyond a single season in the Premier League, but many have argued that it isn’t the model (sorry) that has led to the latest disaster, but the very poor recruitment.
I invariably counter that with my belief that it’s the very limited transfer pot with which we have to work that makes recruitment so so tricky and off we go again in those ever-decreasing circles.
I do agree that even if you have, say, a net £100 million to spend, it still needs to be spent wisely to make you better but would argue that it does leave you more room for error and more scoop for having the odd disaster.
With City’s limited pot, there is a need for a greater percentage of those players brought in to make you better. And they haven’t.
While Emi Buendia was virtually impossible to replace, and to a lesser extent Ollie Skipp, we were told we would be bringing in other players who would contribute and fill the void in different ways.
Yet we’ve ended up with a right-sided attacking player who, with the best will in the world, is unfit to lace the Argentinian’s boots.
For all of Josh Sargent’s effort and desire, it’s impossible to describe the move as a success, but was it a failure of recruitment or a failure because we were trying to purchase someone who could score goals in the Premier League on a Lidl-sized budget?
And, of course, Sargent is far from alone in not delivering what we hoped for. None of them have, perhaps with the exception of Milot Rashica and – for a couple of games – Mathias Normann, and so those who apportion the blame to the recruitment team have a point.
Overall, the team that ended the 2020-21 season in the Championship was stronger and better balanced than the one we see now. I suspect it would still be in the 20th, but as a unit would be more cohesive and have more invention.
So, yeah… recruitment. Not good enough. No arguments there.
Neither did we end up with a squad that was quicker, faster and stronger. None of those boxes were ticked.
Another point raised during the week was around what constitutes success for Norwich City. Again, it means different things to different people. For me, it would constitute a proper fight to avoid Premier League relegation rather than the timid surrender with which we have become accustomed.
As things stand, even relegation but at least taking it to the wire would be a degree of success but we’re not even going to do that.
But in an ideal world, 17th place or better has to be the target. Those who can draw any form of triumph from what’s happening now, are better folk than I.
Yet, there is of course the Premier League factor.
Such is the behemoth it has become, for any team that isn’t regarded as one of the ‘big six’ it can be a desolate, miserable, inhumane place. And certainly, when you’re Norwich City it’s what’s now known as a hostile environment.
We don’t, in our current guise, enjoy being there and we’re certainly not made to feel remotely welcome.
Even Gary Neville, for whom I have a lot of respect, has joined the ranks who love punching down on the little guy – citing City as ‘by far the worst team in the league’ without ever acknowledging the wider reasoning behind our travails.
And so I get it when some argue that the Premier League is *not* the place to be. I agree it’s horrible and is full of people and clubs and owners of questionable ethics, morals and money. I’ve reached the point, later than some, where I dearly want the ‘big six’ to sod off to the European Super League they so crave.
Once there, they can play each other six, eight, ten, fifteen times a season if they want. Who cares.
But as things stand, if our football club wants to be the very best it can be, it means aiming to mix with the top 20 in the land. And in the spirit of top-level sport, or any sport for that matter, you have to aim for the stars and strain every sinew to be the best you can possibly be.
To drop back down into the Championship and accept that as our happy place and the place we call home wouldn’t feel right. Do we stop wanting the team to win? Or do we want them to win some games but not too many?
I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t sit comfortably with anybody either.
But here we are, marooned in footballing purgatory. Ill-equipped to even make a fight of finishing 19th in a division we don’t really want to be in while waiting in vain for football to reinvent itself so that our current model (sorry) will enable us to compete at the top level, albeit in a division free of the bad guys.
We could have a long wait.
Or, alternatively, in the shorter term, we could find ourselves back in the Championship with a squad that’s not particularly good and which organically drifts off into the mid-table, without ever troubling the top six.
For some, I think that would be okay. And fair play.
For me… I just don’t know anymore 🙂
The only thing I am sure of is that if we are a competitive Championship side next season, under our current guise the prize on offer is not a particularly palatable one.
Would anyone really look forward to a repeat of season 2021-22?
Morning Gary
Reading between the lines I think you’ve perfectly described why I eschew social media.
My big fear is that any so-called super league might lead to those English clubs involved in it remaining in the PL alongside it and fixtures being rearranged to suit the fat cats at the expense of every other *lesser* PL Club.
If this happens, I’ve heard that the PL might be reduced to 18 – or even 16 – clubs in order to accommodate this. Two up two down has been mooted as well.
That would effectively mean we will have seen the last of the top table I would imagine.
I hope these rumours are a baseless load of old pony but you never know.
It’s not the football world I grew up in and like so many others I dislike what it has become.
Great article thanks. Our future model may require us to look at newly promoted sides that did survive in the top league and how they did it. The types of players they recruited, physicality, mentality and skill levels that could compete. I am convinced its not all about money. We will be one of the wealthiest in the championship next year so hopefully Dean Smith will be allowed to do some trading and build his own team. We as supporters cannot suffer this level of embarrassment again….
Our income will be higher than all bar a handful of Championship clubs but I’d be surprised if our financial position will be very rosy. It is starting to remind me of 1995
Hi Gary
We can all dream of how we want our club to be a success but under this ownership that is always going to be dashed on the rocks in the no investment bay.
Adding new directors to the board to ring-fence their strangle hold on the club really shows they don’t understand the supporters or what the club means to them.
The old song “It’s my Party and I”ll do as I want too” is apt you have no say in how this club works give me your money and I will do want I want with it and not use mine.
Can the club become successful it did under a previous ownership that also sold the Crown jewels but he got hounded out and he was possibly a better business person that we have now.
As you say recruitment is possibly our archilies heel it has changed so much in the last 5 years where it was once boats on the ground looking and assessing players It’s now more analytical and sending people to South America with no real qualifications to look for talent.
Brexit will or has curtailed much youth recruitment especially on the youth side as players must be over 18teen.
Richer clubs got round this by buying a lower league Dutch or Belgium club and city can’t afford that luxury.
I am nearly 72 and sadly the prospect of league 1 again seems to fill me with horror but that is what I think will happen.
Do these board of directors worry about that I don’t think they do It’s the celebrity status of owning a club and or the last vestige of a celebrity career hanging on just for the sake of it.
Gary Neville sadly loves to tell everyone what should be done to save football yet the club his Mother and Father both worked for and who he says he loves more than Manu he couldn’t or would help in their hour of need a club older than United and a founding member of the league sadly still fighting to get back in the lower end by true supporters long live Bury.
Hopefully city will survive the ignominy of Bury and a White Knight will find away of saving our club but like many that can’t come soon enough
Brave piece Gary. Hope you have your flak jacket on.
Unfortunately our club has lost its way. Those with short memory (or too young to have seen the events) forget our club was a permanent top flight team for over 20 years.
Under Delia’s stewardship we have failed to adapt, modernize, and fight with belief, to return to the levels before she arrived. This has been done under the guise of “what’s best for the clubs and fans”.
We continue to celebrate failure. Literally as Everton were securing our relegation, we were promoting Zoe Ward to our board of directors. No this isn’t an anti-woman position. No one, in the midst of yet another relegation, should be receiving promotions. What message does this send?
It is no coincidence that under the two most ruthless people we’ve ever employed, we rocketed from League One to Premiere League security, and those people would never be hired by the club now under the “no d-heads” policy.
It’s difficult to fathom the logic of some people inside and outside of the club.
Hi Dave
Presuming David McNally is one of your references the one thing I can say is that he was most certainly not a d*ckhead.
I met him twice [once briefly, once for a little longer] and I felt him to be sound and a much more friendly guy than his reputation might have suggested. I never met the other fella so cannot comment.
Being invited to join the Board goes a bit further than just a promotion for our Zoe.
It represents a circling of the wagons and that’s for sure.
I’ve heard some interesting stories regarding DMcN at Carrow Road, but one thing that came across is that he was generally well liked, had time for people and always knew them on first name terms. Certainly not a man for hiding in the shadows whatever flaws he had.
However, The Stowmarket Two were not sad to see him go, which is even less surprising now than it was then.
Great post and sorry to be pedantic, but we’ve never played in the top flight for longer than nine years at any one time.
I’m as disappointed as anyone over how this season has panned out, but I’m old enough to remember far worse times.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
You are of course correct. However while this is true, from 72-95 (23 years) we played all but 3 seasons in the top flight. So almost consistently for 23 years. So I should have said ‘near permanent’
Nine years is nothing to be sniffed it either, a near decade in the top flight today is unimaginable for us.
What’s interesting about that is that it took 70 years for us to reach the top tier. We then thoroughly established ourselves. Winning a cup. Reaching Europe. Almost winning the league.
Then since Delia joined the Directors in 1996, our fortunes have been far worse.
Cheers and I take your point also – we do have a proud top flight history and I think there’s probably a section of the fanbase aged between 35 and 50 (I’m 38), who think the Prem is our natural level.
I’ve come round to thinking that it’s time for MWJ and Delia to move on, not because they’ve been bad owners but because the club could do with a re-fresh.
I accept since they joined the club we haven’t lived up to our 80s/90s heydays, but if people are to clamour for their removal I’d also like them to show a little bit more respect.
In 1996 we were a financially crippled ailing Championship side starting to look over its shoulders and playing in front of 13,000 some weeks.
Whatever you think of Delia and MWJ the club has been transformed since those dark days and will be in a strong position next season – that’s more than most of our peers can say.
I hope that a new owner(s) can be found to take us on a level on the pitch and expand Carrow Rd off it – there is a tremendous opportunity for someone at NCFC.
I think the crux of the problem is the fans want to see the club be as successful as possible.
Under the current ownership a great many of the fans see the clubs progress being handicapped by a lack of investment and realisation that the owners cannot afford life in the premiership and maybe an ever expensive championship.
Unfortunately our owners seem to have convinced themselves they are the only way forward, even though, by their own admission, the club have come close to administration in recent times.
The club is certainly going backwards at the present time which I’m sure will be demonstrated in the championship next year.
This year has been a joyless one watching City but I have renewed my season ticket. If next year is as joyless I’m sure a great many of us will say enough is enough and then maybe Delia will no longer be able to afford her social club.
Good Morning Gary
With hindsight our last chance of being an established EPL team disappeared along with Paul Lambert & Co. Since then the financial gap has widened to the point where a 100 million on incoming players, (never within our reach) probably would not of got us out of the bottom 3 this season, not unless all the stars aligned. Look at this season Covid ruined our pre season, EPL fixtures give us an impossible start. Our budget purchases looked great on paper but most needed their career best seasons so far. EPL is a Mission Impossible under this “model”. It’s the sad state of football we await a win in the Billionaire lottery.
If the best reward a successful season in the Championship can give us is a spinelessly incompetent bottom position in the Premier League the following season (aka 2019/20 or 2021/22) then I’m not sure I want it. And if that’s the best outcome, then every other outcome is worse and involves us slipping down the pyramid into obscurity. It all seems a shame and rather pointless. Without hope, football is dead.
Like you, I half want the latest ‘Big 6’ to do the tantrum take their toys away to their own private little sandpit and play each other to a standstill in a terminally tedious loop. But would they continue to get TV audiences? Yes, sadly. But I won’t be among them. Football deserves itself.
The day that the league standings is the same as the financial standings is the day that league football becomes pointless.
We have, in the past, done well by buying wisely and developing young talent .We have never achieved anything by spending big.
Things have gone badly wrong this season but we have not reacted well. As usual we blame Delia and the players, when we realise where we have gone wrong we will be able to move forward.
Delia runs the football club so the buck stops with her, I’m afraid. Sadly, this has the 90’s written all over it. She will be gone in the future, along with the rest of the Board. It’s only a matter of time. Once fans resort to the same tactics that got Chase removed, she won’t be hear for much longer.
Let me just say, as a prominent supporter of Delia and Michael , you (Gary) are not only fully entitled to question her continued reign, but it is also important that there’s space for articulate, thought-through expression of that viewpoint.
Thank you, Mick.
Mike, I’d be interested to know why you think the current owners, who cannot provide the necessary investment to establish the club in the premiership, on more than one occasion admit the club has been near to administration and now have a business plan that is a serial failure are a better bet than a new owner with more ability to provide investment?
At the AGM the finance director admitted the club has received viable offers from outside interests.
Life long fans who spend substantial portions of their yearly income are not entitled to question their clubs owner. But you are entitled to support it?
There’s some of that logic I spoke of.
My take on the financial context is that our problem is four-fold;
1) unless you are able to sustain a transfer pot of £100 million, year in & year out, you are going to be a perennial struggler at the top-tier, simply because you have to factor in some element of failure, this is the same whether you are Manchester City or Burnley. Norwich haven’t been able to do that for a single season as demonstrated this season, with a record layout in the summer and no activity in January.
2) The £100 million on transfer fees hides the bigger layout on salaries and other costs eg agents, you get what you pay for and we can’t afford the required levels of consistent quality. What we can afford is potential, but that clearly comes with its own risks. If I look back at recent NCFC heroes, it is difficult to claim that they have fulfilled the potential that we all rightly cheered and applauded, eg Buendia has struggled for consistently high performances, Skipp is clearly still a work in progress at the top level, Godfrey played for England but still looks a little immature in his defending at times, whilst Lewis can’t make the Newcastle squad. They are all good, talented players but are still trying to develop into truly consistent Premiership players.
3) Norwich and Norfolk will always be a bit of a Marmite location, relative to the bright lights of London, Manchester or larger cities. It’s not a criticism just a fact, when you are talking about enticing young men with more money than they would normally expect to have at their age. This means that Norwich also have to win this argument when competing against other clubs for signatures.
4) You have to be able to afford depth as well as quality. Rashica, Normann and Kabak have all had extended periods out, we don’t have the depth to replace them, especially when you throw in Cantwell being disaffected and Tzolis not being able to develop/adapt as hoped. This is similar to Gary’s comment about Sargent, we have few if any viable alternatives, Placheta is struggling to adapt, Dowell isn’t suited to that role and Rowe is in his breakthrough season. It’s a similar story with Pukki, there was no one else once Idah got injured and Idah himself had struggled for form up until the turn of the year.
My ideal answer would be for a hybrid transition, whereby another wealthy individual or consortium could join the current owners and gain greater control over time, but whatever the future holds it will still be a gamble in one form or another.
As an afterthought, I’m not so sure that the football world has changed that much since I was a boy in the 70s and 80s, we still have dominant teams who eventually see their dominance wain. In the late 70s Leeds were entering their decline, Liverpool were dominant, Manchester United couldn’t really decide what was going on, you still had breakout successful clubs like Forest and Villa and you had the nearly but not quite like QPR, Southampton & yes Ipswich. Is this that much different to now with clubs like Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Leicester, Arsenal & West Ham?
Finally it is sometimes worth counting your blessings, Norwich are still there or thereabouts, can you say the same for Ipswich, Coventry, Stoke, Derby, Forest, Notts County, Reading, Cardiff, Sunderland, Oldham etc.
I really do think it is more to do with a lack of wealth than just a poor recruitment window Gary.
And as Mick said above the position you take is one, which is one I have reluctantly moved to, is every bit as worthy as any other reasonable well thought out position.
I saw a post on here last week which promoted the idea of the status quo with continuing ownership by Michael and Delia.
Our fellow supporter ( sorry I can’t remember the name, age i’m afraid ) was more than happy to support city in the Championship or the EPL. He/She did not want risky investment and loved the idea of being locally owned and going against the football world as it is.
That is all fine, and a perfectly reasonable opinion.
But surely we need a middle ground here. I would not want Delia to sell up to just any old person, they must have the clubs interests at heart.
The trouble is we have had two wonderful seasons in the Championship playing some of the best football ever seen at Carrow Road, especially that first one. But then two absolutely awful EPL campaigns. Abject surrender, both times.
Now I may be right or wrong but I do believe that thanks to SW and his team unearthing Pukki, Buendia, Vrancic, Stiepi, Zimbo, Tommy T, Krul, Hanley, and even Leitner and Klosse to a certain extent and then add the youngsters who became first team stars coached so well by Daniel Farke and we have won two Championships pretty much at a canter. And that’s despite defeats early in our first five games in both seasons.
The Manchester City of the Championship Thomas Franke called us. The trouble is to compete in the EPL you need a much bigger budget than we have to spend on upgrades on most of those players.
But SW has overseen a dreadful transfer window it must be said and maybe three £ 15 million players would have been money more wisely spent. Proper upgrades as it were.
Delia has a hatred of the EPL and that is not an exaggeration. But as I said the other day when presented with the prospect of the EPL just like Robert Chase was, Delia would have joined. The alternative was self imposed relegation. But she uses the club as a stick to beat the EPL with.
And guess what ? they’re not bovved one bit.
It is her all most fundamentalist belief that she is right and we who take a more realistic view are totally wrong.
The Championship could soon become League One for us Im afraid.
Top drawer article, sums up so much it is hard to comment. I was chatting with a couple of Blades supporters on a social media platform. I was surprised to hear their views of the so-called top league echoed mine 99.9% Another chap joined in by saying ” I want my team to win and be successful as possible, but I do not want them to win promotion to the prem.
Granted they have differing views on ownership etc, they all said that they wish they had a Delia. I did manage to state her record and her stance on investment, transfers etc. They were enlightened so one said and then said happier with what they have. But we agreed that as it stands, we hate the Premier League, read round social media and fans forums and only those from the big 6=7 clubs are the happiest.
It is sad for me to hear so many of us have a business plan/model (not sorry) at the top of our conversations. It is because of the lack of even half-decent finances being made available which is a big proportion of our troubles. Coupled with piss poor recruitment, where a man with little experience in the playing side of the game. More a business manager maybe more apt a title for him.
Neil Adams would be a better choice for selecting players in the coming seasons, I also do wonder what this digital form of scouting really entails, I was lucky enough to decorate a few house of players and staff. Ken Brown shared with me many times, saying he or Mel (Machin) would travel miles and spend hours watching players, irrespective of what a scout said. It was a big part of Kenny’s job while under Bond. Is that happening today ? or do stats play a bigger part than watching said player’s temperament, work rate and what he does when not on the ball etc
As to the ownership question, she reiterated in another article as soon as voices were raised again. Personally I regret not demonstrating for their removal years ago. I make no apologies for wanting change. they might own little pieces of paper or digital marks on a computer to say they own the club. But I will always see my club as belonging to the fans.
In my many years, I have seen Chairmen, Board members, managers and players come and go, the one constant is the fans who stick to their club , like grass stains on the arse of footballers’ shorts. And proving as difficult to remove as the Stowmarket duo. Who have achieved more that Robert Chase did, make me want to pack it all in
If the club continues down the same path with this Model (no apologies) in the championship, mid-table or lower is the best we can expect. Let’s be honest where have we gone in their 25 years? I said previously, plus said above by Pedro. our best chance came and went with Lambert and Culverhouse. I am still unsure why the club and fans lost out on both those two. We swallowed the club line.
Interesting to note the latest Promotion to the board room is the wife of out sports (business director) as Mr P says circle the wagons and call out for Robert Horton. Younger readers will have to google him.
Ward Bond was the wagon master if memories serve.
Alias Smith and Jones promised that they would sell up if Bellamy was sold a month later he was gone.
They promised to sell if someone could do better than them and take the club forward yet announced that the clubs isn’t for sale or interested in getting any investment in.
Circling the wagons was done 25yrs ago now it is reinforcing the barricades.
An excellent read Gary and as usual, some seriously thought provoking comments.
You mention shooting for the stars, being the best norwich city possible. That’s the crux of the matter. On the whole, I still view City in the same way that I did as an 8 year old boy watching Ron Saunders side win the title. Or as a young man joining the rowdy and testosterone filled exodus with the rest for big cup games or promotion battles. Proper away days, no wigs or parrot puppets necessary.
We are faced with a dilemma. The Premier league is indeed an unsavoury place, full of cheats (attwell) and downright onanists (Ronaldo) funded by foreign millions from a host of less than savoury backgrounds, punctuated by the occasional diamond in the rough (Leicester, brighton).
Delve deeper and behold, the championship is heading the self same way. What then? When our morality is piqued do we actively wish for third tier football? That seems to be what hard line Smithites condone.
I say no thank you. Perhaps it’s time for the moral crusaders and unilateral disarmers to find another pastime because football ain’t getting cleaner anytime soon.
Drop down the pyramid far enough and I’m sure they will find satisfaction. Fair play, whatever floats your boat. Mine remains floated by a winning Norwich City side which doesn’t conform to lazy stereotypes and satisfies sporting needs.
With the best will in the world, perhaps its time for a split.
European super league would destroy premier league international interest. Top 6 clubs are surely over 80% of premier league international interest. Premier league and english league football has got several international invests, after super league those invests will be gone and so are foreign players and managers. Super league would not affect negatively to majority of leagues, reason is that majority of league football interest is already local. Those actually can benefit, then there would only be 1 internationally interested league instead of 4 now. UEFA has own plans and there will more european cup games coming.
How popular is Norwich outside England? Basically interest is zero. That gives answer to your investments plans. Norwich football market is local and limited to living area. Norwich will never get chance to play european cup games either. Norwich benefits financially, but to premier league Norwich is in reality minus club. Its not only one, Watford and Burnley are similar. It again explains why 20 teams league is too big to keep interest.
Considering that foreign interest is “zero” you don’t half spend a lot of time debating us.
Actually it does not take me so much time to write here sometimes. When Pukki is finally left Norwich, you get rid of all Finns. Thats what I have said before, if you cant stand opinions which comes outside England, obvious solution would be to get rid off all foreign players. When you take our players, our opinion is of course based on what suits best to our players. Best solution would have been to let Pukki leave after 1 and half season, but you didnt do it. Its painful to watch him playing for Norwich and its common opinion in Finland.
Tell me, why would foreign interest even interest you? Do you need foreign interest and foreign players to something? You have your own football culture which is very different to others. Keep it like that, because we will never think similarly as british do.
It’s even more painful to watch him playing for Finland, mate!
None of you have never seen Finland playing. He loves to play for Finland, same cant be said about Norwich. Players you have sold to other clubs are disasters, your world best ever seen superstars like Buendia and Skipp are bench players and nothing else. Pukki is only reason why average championship club visited 2 times in premier league dude.
Hi 1×2
I am the sure fan’s of most Current Premier and Championship team’s would be ecstatic to wave goodbye to today’s EPL top 6, to a European Super League.
Yes we would lose the EPL billions, but our top two leagues would be super competitive with all teams shooting for the top especially if the FA found a pair of balls to make sure clubs are self funding or some kind of level playing field !
The current set up only works for the big 6 teams and Sky’s bottom line.
This must be the best all English clubs could hope for, if only, but sadly only a dream.
Pedro, I agree with you that it would make your league way more interesting to you. Champions league have bigger foreign interest than Premier league has, it tells exactly that european super league would work well. Same time you would get your local league back. Some english interest would be surely for european super league, but so what? I do know that you would still be able to sell full houses and it would give your local boys more chances to play as pro in England. Foreign players will found their playing chances elsewhere.
The question is what can the current model sustain? It looks to be 2 options. The first is what we are living through, which is spending just enough time in the Premier League in order to survive in the top 30 of English football (or rather the next 20 after the biggest 10 clubs). This is pretty much where we belong but it seems to push the current model to breaking point just to achieve this. The next option is to wither in the Championship. Over the past 20 years or so it has been an eye opener as to how difficult it is to fund a Championship squad. Even without parachute money we are high earners thanks to our commercial income, player trading, high attendances and high ticket prices. To fund an upper mid table Championship team would need £50m p.a. This would suggest a profit of £20m p.a. on player trading. That is EVERY year. I am hearing reports of people leaving roles at Carrow Road. Is all well behind the scenes? Have we been hit by the cost of living crisis? Has commercial income reached pre-Covid levels? This could also explain why season ticket prices have increased even for Championship football (I would have supported an increase for Premier League football but will we really be charging £40 a match for the visits of Wigan and Blackpool? If so will we sell out?). This has the feeling of the end of an era in much the same way as we saw in 1995 and 2009. Our choice might not be as stated in this article but is likely to be one of either Change or yoyo between Championshup and League 1. Change or a Rotherhamesque existence
Ward Bond was the wagon master if memories serve.
Alias Smith and Jones promised that they would sell up if Bellamy was sold a month later he was gone.
They promised to sell if someone could do better than them and take the club forward yet announced that the clubs isn’t for sale or interested in getting any investment in.
Circling the wagons was done 25yrs ago now it is reinforcing the barricades.
Was Summer 2018 a flash in the pan when Maddison’s sale gave us breathing room and we got
Buendia, Krull and Pukki for a combined fee of £1.35 million. whilst Godfrey, Aarons, Lewis and Cantwell came through in our class of 92 moment.
As a self funding club to be competitive we have to do miracles in the transfer market and on the training pitch signing low, developing players and selling high. Like a budget Southampton and Leicester without the rich owners.
The transfer windows in 2019, 2020 and 2021 have been far from miracles more like wine into vinegar. Admittedly COVID loaded the dice further by diluting income streams, lowering the value of our star players and reducing transfer budgets.
To be successful a signing has to have a large positive impact on the side and/or appreciate heavily in value.
In the last 3 years the transfer successes hits have been very limited – Skipp on loan where Spurs are the long term winners, possibly Rashica although not consistent enough and ???
Average signings Byram Rupp, Placheta, Gibson, Dowell, Sorensen, Giannoulis, Sargent, Gunn, PLM, Williams although we are unlikely to turn a profit on any of them
Failures Drmic, Roberts, Fahrmann, Duda, Quintilla, Huggill, Tzolis, Kabak Normann Gilmour
Youth coming through??? Omobamidele, Mumba, McCallum, Martin, Rowe
When we went down 2 years ago we had major assets in Buendia, Godfrey, Lewis, Aarons and Cantwell this Summer the last 2 are likely to go at reduced prices and we haven’t replaced them the squad has diminished massively in worth and the gut feeling is we have squandered the chance in a lifetime
Really good article Gary and some great follow-up comments from other contributors. It is such a difficult question to answer whether our self-funding model can work in the PL. For my ten pence worth I agree that the PL has evolved and the gap between the have and have nots has extended over the past 5 years – that also extends down into the Championship too. However, Brentford are an interesting example, ok so they have relatively wealthy owners but they have retained their identity and brought in 3 or 4 astute signings to compliment what got them out of the Championship.
I do think it is possible to survive in the PL on a self-funding model but on a limited budget you need the majority of your signings to work, a hefty dose of luck and a determination to stick to your principals. Luck wise – our Covid crisis in the summer and our open fixture put pay to that. I also think NCFC’s recruitment strategy was very high risk – shift a load of players out, bring a load in and hope that the majority of the new players bed-in quickly, gel and hit the ground running. How many time have we seen clubs have a huge turnover of players and then follow it up with a decent season? Very few. I also think another issue may have been PL ‘battle scars’ but perhaps more for the coaching team rather than the players. Often we hear about players being mentally scarred by relegation and SW response was to refresh the playing staff. What about the coaching staff? What was clear from the last couple of months of DF’s reign is that so many of the mistakes and deficiencies in how we approached playing in the PL this time around we so similar to last time.
The usual suspects are out I see, telling everyone that we’re doomed to League One purgatory forever.
When we win the Championship again next season presumably you’ll all be claiming that you knew everything would work out all right and let’s really give it a go this time.
We won’t be flirting with relegation. We will comfortably be top 6, challenging (at least) for top 2.
However, there is an alternative to a takeover. All the club has to do is issue more shares to raise more money. That would dilute the owners stake but would effectively give no one overall control. Smith and Jones would keep their majority, though it would reduce. Keep doing that and eventually you get a supporter owned club, run like any other plc with thousands of shareholders electing a Board.
I sincerely hope next season we are again in the top 2, but should we get promoted, I will have a long hard think above renewing my season ticket(s). What fun is there investing time, emotion and money in a game against a loaded dice. Maybe the half empty glass feeling will pass❓
Even if Mr R G Carter donates us a free ground extension, doubling our capacity to 54k and we fill it at our high ticket prices, we still do not have the financial capacity to complete in the EPL. That’s a sad fact not a rant at Delia. The big question is how do we fund the extra 150 million.
With the players we are going to have next season, you really think we’re good enough to go straight back up??
I watched some of the Forest/LiVARpool game last evening, and I dread to think what that Forest squad would do to our current first choices. Forest currently lie 9th, admittedly with games in hand, and the best they can hope for is a play-off berth.
Unless there is a major overhaul, and investment in the playing staff, I fear that a mid-table finish will have to be looked upon as a relative success in 2022/3 (although I do hope I’m wrong).
O T B C
SGNCFC I actually agree with you that I can see us being in and around the top six next season. Let’s give Dean Smith time to blend in his team.
Alex Neil has said on record the Championship is weaker than at any time in recent years.
People point to the records of Championship sides in the FA Cup to refute this idea, but look at our results in cup games against Premier League opposition while in the Championship under Daniel Farke. It is far better than our results against these teams when we have played them in the EPL by and large.
I think teams from the EPL ( I am looking at you Spurs ! ) can drop off a bit and the Championship teams raise their game in cup matches. Big difference over 38 games.
This disparity has shown itself with Fulham this year, Mitrovic is scoring for fun, but will he and Fulham continue anything like it next season in the Prem. Absolutely no way.
John Holland is also right, we will need a £ 20-30 million trading profit on player sales every year just to tread water in the Championship when the parachute payments run out. And what a lot of people forget is considerable job losses at the club.
And that is my long term worry. a return to League One would become far more of a possibility.
I know I bang on here about poor Bryan Gunn’s ( Fantastic Keeper ) appointment as manager all those years ago, but that is all it will take. Just to appoint completely the wrong man.
The best two appointments in the last decade have been Agent Lambert/ Ian Culverhouse and Daniel Farke neither made by Delia and Michael. So when SW leaves, which we know he will soon who will appoint the coach/manager ?
Delia actually allegedly said to the London Supporters at a forum why don’t you like Bryan. It is not a question of like, we all like Gunny I have met him and he is a terrific guy who has been through the worst thing any human can. A real tragedy. But he took us down to League One for the first time in my Norwich City supporting days.
I like Peter Kay but I wouldn’t want him as Norwich City manager.
And you know what me and my mate Marty could see it coming on the day of his first appointment despite a big home win.
The results in the EPL, especially if you go home and AWAY, haven’t been anywhere near good enough to accept that Delia and Michaels plans for the club are working.
1×2 is also correct in a lot of ways, let us be honest where the hell would we be without Teemu Pukki ? The guy has still got 8 goals this season, ok a few penalties but like last time he has no bl***y help.
Good read Gary,
So, effectively, maybe we were all wrong to protest so much when the top six wanted to go European Super League-ing. We should have been enthusiastically supportive, backed them to the hilt – and then promptly closed the EPL and FA Cup fire-door behind them so they and the usual European suspects could participate ad infinitum in a league populated by a dozen or so clonish Harlem Globetrotter-like clubs for ever and ever, and very much amen!
Almost certainly, English football would have benefitted from this long term, from the leveraged transfer fees levied by the clubs the top clubs left behind, imposed on the European Super League clubs. Gate receipts would probably grow – give or take the odd poverty-riddled period of economic murder imposed upon the country by make-believe politicians and cabinet ministers as they chased their self interest-biased dreams.
I doubt that the self funding model would have been any more effective in the event of a Super League exit though! It has to be assumed that all remaining clubs are ‘ceteris paribus’, and they are not. They might be for a while, but they cannot be forever because improvement comes from growth, and using Norwich City as a prime example, we can see that stability either gives way to growth or shrinkage – in our case it is definitely shrinkage!
The club’s owners led us towards the fabled ‘Promised Land’ but we all died of thirst and hunger in the ‘Desert of Good Intentions’.
I support all the players we bought in for this Premiership season, as they are all gifted players. They have been pitted against the best in the land though, and I suspect the Premiership was a league too far for them particularly given that they all had to learn ‘in play’ as opposed to during a lengthy period of preparation in the Championship. I support all the players we already had prior to this Premiership season because many went through the previous unsuccessful Premiership ‘baptism of fire’ with us.
Unfortunately the club did not learn from their previous experiences. Some of the money they spent would have been better used on a couple of experienced players, older perhaps, or disillusioned from too much bench-time at other Premiership clubs – with a point to prove to their previous employers, or international selectors, or even to their own footie CV – whatever drives professional footballers on really!
The club needs to find a wealthy benefactor from the start of next season, as there will be a need to rebuild the squad again if we get relegated. Some of the current squad will be off to new clubs, a few won’t fancy the Championship if we don’t stay up. Stuart Webber probably needs to leave, he will have presided over two repetitive Premiership failures. If Smith and Shakespeare stay they will want to rebuild anyway and that takes money.
Nine games to go, and this is where we find ourselves – very sad!
COYYs !
Good and brave article Gary which you’re probably getting a lot of needless flak for. I think one problem from the supporters point of view is that too many think there is no alternative to the current boardroom and that the only other option if a takeover happened would be to inherit an evil multi-millionaire warlord who eats babies for breakfast and drowns puppies for fun.
It’s a real shame how things have panned out, because we’ve had numerous seasons in the Premier League over the last decade (more under McNally than under Webber, but that’s for another time) and have completely blown the chance to push forward. For a club with a fantastic fan base no matter what league we are in, we’re back at the start, and academy upgrades apart, what real progression has their been? No sign of moving up the Premier League, no sign of a cup run, no sign of ground expansion, no sign of any real plan when Delia and Michael call it a day. Is Tom still going to be involved? Is investment being sought, bar those of players sold and parachute payments? Where does the club ultimately want to be?
What really hurts this season is that we looked a beaten side (and club) from the very first game. It’s all had a second rate feel in every respect, and whatever reservations there are about the Premier League, we really haven’t given it a go. In all the relegations I have seen, this is by the far the most pitiful attempt on and off the field, not helped recently when stories coming from the local media include the majority shareholder’s book tour, our Sporting Director’s sabbatical, plus a failed ex-coach praising to the skies our hapless Chelsea loanee whose continued game time borders almost on the suspicious. Are any serious questions being asked to the club from the press? Not likely.
I don’t expect Norwich to win the Premier League and dominate world football. I don’t see the Premier League as our “rightful place”. However, I do like a club that tries to aim high, but I feel like now we’re just muddling along, shrugging our shoulders and saying “what can we do” rather than saying “this is what we will do”.. We haven’t tried to aim higher this season. We’ve missed a golden opportunity to push on. We’ve failed on every front.