Before going to bed on Saturday night I ended the day in my traditional manner by looking at all four league tables in descending order.
Nothing intrinsically new there of course. But lurking in the background were a couple of things we haven’t seen in many a moon.
Everybody who doesn’t live in Cheshire or London will have enjoyed a snide giggle at Man U propping up the Prem. Particularly those who, like me, had seen the highlights of Brentford 4, Manchester United 0.
Scrolling down the inevitable appeared: Norwich City are bottom of the EFL Championship. One further move shows that Ipswich Town [remember them?] are top of EFL League One. And that’s got to hurt, hasn’t it?
Well, probably not to Dean Smith. Paul Lambert, Daniel Farke and even Chris Hughton would have understood the implications of this and they would have been spitting feathers. Okay, Hughton would have more likely just looked a bit down in the dumps.
But these guys knew because they cared and they understood. Not being born or bred, I only feel about 90 per cent of it but thoughts of the Binners leapfrogging us does absolutely nothing for me.
Maybe I’m wrong here, but I would bet that Dean Smith’s idea of an important local derby involves Villa against Birmingham or Wolves and maybe WBA at a push. If he has made attempts to get into what makes Norfolk tick, he must have done it pretty much under the radar as I’ve seen no evidence of it.
Many a pundit on the NCFC media circuit has suggested that the only player Smith and Shakespeare have actually improved in their 10 months here has been Todd Cantwell – and I venture to refute even that.
Being keen to get away when nobody really wants to buy you is not that easy. TC toddled off to Bournemouth on loan but they declared they didn’t want him permanently. With no offers coming in [that we know of] Cantwell had little choice but to knuckle down at Colney and attempt to get to the end of the season with us to run down his contract before leaving on a free in June.
What a waste of what was at one-time a very serious talent.
I’m not getting into the great Kenny McLean debate but why Smith persists with Milot Rashica is beyond me. He serves as the perfect example of something a mate told me Mark Rivers said on Radio Norfolk on Saturday:
“Everyone knows we run out of ideas after 20 minutes”.
If Josh Sargent is a striker then so is next door’s cat but again Smith persists with him, mainly from the bench of course.
Up front, we have an ageing and increasingly frustrated Teemu Pukki, Jordan Hugill who didn’t even make Saturday’s bench and Adam Idah who through no fault of his own struggles to keep fit. If Dean Smith is worried about this, I’ve seen no sign of it.
Defensively we have Max Aarons, who could even now still be sold, Grant Hanley, Andrew Omobamidele and Lungi Sorensen – or we did have until he turned his ankle at the MKM on Saturday with McLean drawn in to deputise for the last half an hour.
We have the currently-hapless Ben Gibson and injury-prone Sam Byram as well of course. We won’t see Dimi Giannoulis until November or Sam McCallum until Christmas but it seemed fine at the time to loan out Bali Mumba to Plymouth and Saxon Earley to Stevenage.
Previously, and to my mind unbelievably, Smith has said he is happy with this ridiculous situation.
Maybe the *curse of the Norwich City Left Back* has stung him into action as he said yesterday:
“Unfortunately it looks like a curse. We are losing a left-back a game. I don’t remember anything like it as a coach, certainly not to the same position. It is a concern because we have to rectify it. We probably do have to look in the market now“.
The way I see it this week is crucial for the increasingly unpopular Smith and Shakespeare.
As Gary and several commentators said yesterday, Norfolk might be slow to turn but when it does it does it properly.
From my seat in the Barclay, NCFC is in danger of stagnation at best – an institution where failure can seem totally acceptable.
Take a look at the body language of the players, particularly after they have conceded the inevitable first goal, and then look across to the silent duo in the technical area with their hands in their pockets.
Uninspiring for the players and bordering on the mildly offensive to the supporters.
Anything less than four points from tomorrow and Friday and it should be a case of “thanks Dean and goodbye” although even then that is unlikely to happen as City don’t like paying any form of compensation as a particular club in South Wales will know all too well.
Posse member Bernie Owen suggested a musical piece to leave you with by Neil Young but conscious of the laws of blasphemy I’m going to fight shy of it. Great idea though Bernie 🙂
I think this applies to everyone in the upper echelons at NCFC almost equally:
Spot on again Martin.
I would say that Smith’s attitude is just part of the general apathy at the club.
When we waste £60m on players we can’t now give away and there appears to be no admission or explanation as to what went wrong it’s no wonder the rest of the club seems to not bother much.
How I envy Brentford and Brighton who have owners who not only know how to run a football club but focus their resources to maximum effect whilst we’re stuck with desperate Delia who appears to be in a parallel universe.
If Dean Smith left tomorrow it would make little difference the problem lies at the top.
You’ve said it all. I do not need to comment further!
Hi John
If the Barclay and Snakepit are reduced to chanting *Smith Out* tomorrow night it will be impossible to fathom which particular Smith they are referring to!
Your points about both Brentford and Brighton are equally valid and nobody can accuse Forest of not giving it a go as well.
But none of these three clubs are hampered by an intransigent old lady who believes that she know what it best for everyone.
Cheers
What do we want?
Smith out!
Which one?
BOTH
🙂 🙂 🙂
Morning Martin, as a supporter of the project I think it ended with the departure of Daniel Farke it was great at times and dire at others. But it did have a purpose and a goal.
What we have now I have no idea. From the outside it looks like a rudderless ship, Admiral Webber must act,the captain and first mate should be relieved of duty at the earliest opportunity, several of the crew could be cast adrift into the lifeboats and wouldn’t be sorely missed.
Delia and Michael should retire they’ve done their bit but now they are just holding the development of the club back. Unless we get new owners with a plan then I think we are headed for the wilderness years.
Still I will be there Tuesday evening hoping for some type of performance or at least a Nunez wonder goal.
Hi Andy
I am pretty sure it must look like a rudderless ship from the inside as well.
Like many of us I gave the project every chance and I totally agree that it imploded when Farke was dismissed.
Right now we are left with no identity and I am sure there are managers with less charisma than Dean Smith although I’m struggling to identify one right now!
Cheers
Morning Mr P. think you have had the hammer out, nail on head. While I think nobody could have seen the loss of two left backs could not be seen coming, but surely a plan C or D should have been lurking on the desk somewhere. I like Byram as a player but the odds of him not being injured again are pretty remote.
I think Rashica being constantly picked, could be a case of showcasing him to get as much back as possible., but being honest looking at last season and so far this, he is far far away from being worth ten bob. Perhaps Wroxham or Dereham would like him.
As for Sargent, given he does put in some work, he looks like a player out of his depth, an amateur in a professional league.
Hanley said in a article, he believes we are going in the right direction, he would have to mind what he said anyways, he could not veer off from the script he is given from the “everything is fine media dept.”
I said the other day that I thought Smith has a higher profile because it was built by and hyped the media, especially in the Midlands, certainly not his achievements. The hype continues the journey to all four corners of the land, as reporters are just that bit lazy, since the dawn of the internet. A result,, we have a high-quality manager. Believe the hype or search the records
I looked over during the Birmingham game at the two dynamic coaches we have (TIC) rarely did I see much passion or verve, more like a man concentrating on the game, or daydreaming he is somewhere else, Take your Pick before the gong gets hit (oldies will get that)
Steve Cooper was the target, but I honestly believe that the compensation was met with a point-blank refusal at the board level. Of course, what do I know, lucky for Webber up pops Smith the rest is history.
I still maintain that S&S have been here long enough to get something more out of the squad, still labouring over getting the best out of Pukki. For a pair who are supposed to be top-level coaches surely after nearly 10 months, you should have an idea of how. I would have thought anyone worth their salt would not need that long anyways.
I certainly do not accept the ” It is Not Smith’s Squad” notion, a manager or coach’s job is to coach and manage said players, if you can only manage your personal selections, I question whether you are really fit for the purpose. I know that is simplistic, but sure the drift is there to see.
Improvements where who & what? Cantwell sorted his head out and now playing to get a contract somewhere else next season. The same errors are being made, the same players making the same errors of judgements, at times it feels we are simply running up and into blind cul-de-sacs. But perhaps that is the whole crux of the matter from the top down to the grass.
Only 4 points from two home games, I normally would expect 6, if we are serious about climbing the lofty heights again, (a large part of me says I bloody hope not, got enough Tee shirts.) I think 4 is realistic 2 might be the outcome.
I see Mr Warne guided The Millers to a very good result on Saturday, but now I would have to change my mind, this club would ruin his promising career. Kjetil Knutsen is my new number one. there are shades of a certain german in the way he operates.
Quote “Knutsen built a sense of camaraderie, a sense of family among his players. The players were all very keen to make their region proud through Bodo. unlike many teams, Bodo didn’t have any ambitious goals or targets to achieve by the end of the season – they just wanted to play good football, and good football is what they’re playing underneath Knutsen’s rule.”
Hi Lad
The *myth of Smith* concerns me too and for just the same reasons.
Apart from the *Miracle of Walsall* there is very little that stands close scrutiny and even worse there is something of the Curbishley or Pardew about him.
I think it’s fair to say that 95% of us gave him our backing but one league win in a calendar year tells its own story – one he cannot hide from..
As for Warney he will know the score and surely wouldn’t be daft enough to want to come here. The trouble is I doubt anybody else half decent would either!
Cheers
Marty, even the football gods seemed to turn their faces against us. Smudger is a jinx, full of bad luck, our treatment room must have more patients than the A&E, and Mr Motivator he an’t. We need someone with fire in their belly with full control over what players they can bring in. This model of Football Director plus a Coach is a dead duck, or in our case a lame Canary.
Hi Cutty
Yes, *lame Canary* is very apt at the moment.
If there’s fire in the belly of anybody currently on the football side of NCFC I can’t tell you where it is.
I think Emi took the last of it with him to Villa from what I can see.
Cheers
An illustration of the Dean Smith effect would be the performances of Lees Melody and Tzolis recently. -even Mumba and. Saxon Early when we have one fit full back( who struggles with a simple clearance)
Can someone explain this:?Aaron Ramsey, 1 goal and 1 assist last season = success, use up a loan spot and straight to our first team.
In the same division:
Josh Martin: 4 goals and 3 assists, = failure, get rid.
Hi Gil
It’s a great question, but can I answer it? No!!!
Something seems to have gone seriously wrong with Josh Martin, although I must admit I don’t know what.
Could he possibly have done any worse than Rashica?
Still what’s £10 million of somebody else’s money to you, Mr Webber?
Cheers
Having the chance to see the team “in the flesh” here in ‘Ull’ I think the problem is there in full sight. We have a system which produces good football but has no teeth up front. Rashica, Sargent and Onel all have their good points but no end product. There have been no offers for Pukki because anyone can see that he has lost the pace that makes him effective. You can’t build a new team around a fading superstar! He has been fantastic but the time has come to look elsewhere.
The managerial appointment was done on the spur of the moment and has backfired.
I was sorry to see Max get the blame for the first goal as Hanley had the chance to clear but sold Max down the river with a silly pass.
Change is needed and the first step is to get someone who knows where the goal is. Then the manager’s job is on the line.
The football transfer market does not work like that. Clubs are asking how much certain player would cost. If possible buyers think the asking price is too high, they of course dont make any offers. Thats why official transfer offers are rare, everyone understands that there is no point to use time to make an offer that the selling club would never accept.
Your system produces the opposite of good football. Your premier league results tell how good football you play and even the level in the championship is way lower the results have not changed. Everyone knows already that Norwich had no real plan to get to the premier league, but Pukki suddenly shot you there. Now Norwich only uses parachute money system, which is idiotic system. In all fairness parachute money should go only to clubs which were not relegated from premier league. That would raise the overall level of the championship and end yoyo clubs existing which is something that every premier league fan and follower hates to see happen.
Hi 1×2
Football transfers in the UK go on in various slightly different ways – there is no absolutely standard way of doing business in this modern world of add-ons, sell-on clauses and all the rest.
Many published figures are the result of media guesswork and gossip from agents and wherever possible what has actually been paid and received is kept very much behind closed doors wherever possible.
Kiitos.
Hi Cyprus
Can’t argue with any of that!
As you’re now living in Hull I suppose that brings Boro, Huddersfield and the Blades within your range – think very, very carefully 🙂
We cannot afford [and more to the point won’t entertain] a proven striker. Mr Webber says youngsters for future sales potential only I’m afraid.
Cheers
Same thing happened on Tuesday, motm Sinani blasted the ball hoping to find Aarons instead it hit Dowell full pelt in the chest, he could not get control, in nips blues striker runs on with no real challenge, used the defenders well to hide his shot, to bottom corner, Gunn didn’t stand a chance as was unsighted until too late
MotM Sinani in typical Smith fashion didn’t start on Saturday!
From the TV highlights Norwich looked superior to Hull. But they still lost.
Losing is a habit – and Norwich are sadly now very good at it.
There must be a fair number of players in the first team squad who’ve never won a game at Norwich over 90 mins.
One league win in 19 is utterly appalling. Perhaps Stuart Webber could sell the story to Disney for a 21st century remake of The Bad News Bears? Then at least we’d get sympathy from every 5-9 year old across North America.
Hi Chris
*One league win in 19 is utterly appalling* and would mean a sacked manager at just about every club in the land except this one.
Like the line about the Bad News Bears 🙂
Cheers
Like the others who have posted comments this morning, I am at a complete loss as to see any value in the players we signed last season and Rashica/McLean always being in the starting 11 just defies belief.
I see Sorensen is now out for a few weeks to add to our LB woes and McCallum is out until Xmas!!
By far my biggest concern is how we start at breakneck speed (even in the high temperature on Saturday!!), fail to score and then gift the opposition a goal. Our heads go down and no input from our captain or more importantly the bench to drive the players on!! NOTHING. 😕
So the loan signing from Villa skies a sitter that could have earned us a draw, whilst Buendia when given a similar opportunity, just sidefoots the ball into the net!!
As you say, the league tables make grim reading and I know my mate who’s an ITFC fan can’t wait to buy me a drink and gloat!! 🌟. I can’t blame him!!
Where do we start??
As Delia seems determined to stay, our forlorn hope must be that SW opts to leave (very unlikely), but please get rid of DS&SS!! Mind you, who would want to take on the job??
Hi Ed
It’a a right muggers’ buddle and getting perceptively worse by the day.
Does the thought of Ben Gibson at LB tomorrow night cheer you up?
It sends shivers down my spine even if we play three at the back – which we won’t ever do under Smith I am sure.
Cheers
Hi Martin
We look like a modern day Mary Celest with no one steering the ship.
We do have players that can be a success at the club if they are put into a system that utilities their skills and set the team up right to get the best out of said players.
So now we need a temp LB will SW ask Newcastle to lend us one or will they only sell Lewis to us not sure we have the pennies for a permanent deal or to pay his wages.
Is it Sargent, Rashica who are at fault or the system they are playing in, Gibson was found out at Burnley and along came City to his rescue, even his Uncle didn’t want him back at Middlesbrough yet we gave Burnley most of their money back.
We loan players out with the option to buy we loan players in with the obligation to buy why are we conned so easily or is this Webber thinking he is a wheeler dealer.
Can I see DS&SS doing the right thing and falling on their sword not a chance in HELL, is the club keeping a few pennies back for a compo package not sure they think that far ahead, can I see the plug being pulled YES but it will not be till the international break.
It will be too late for any new man to get at least one player he wants in.
Great article again on a Monday morning
Hi Alex
I guesss we’re all a bit gloomy this morning, but with bl00dy good reason.
Rashica seems incredibly selfish and I just do not rate Sargent at all.
They cost a combined £20 million and probably chucked at Farke with a cheery *look what Uncle Stuart’s bought you, Daniel* chucked in for good measure.
Seriously, what are the pair of them worth now.
Same story as Tzolis to an extent.
Word gets around and If any plugs are pulled we will find it very difficult to attract anybody any good. The NCFC cat has been out of the bag for a while now.
Cheers
Hi Martin hope Ur good well summed up its getting boring already talking about the same players that we know aren’t up to it and big question marks over Smith never thought he.was good appointment when he come our football reflects him in lots of ways boring ! We’re needed a good striker or two for past 18months and center half. We have team with several error prone players that get in every week must have effect on confidence of whole team need someone with the balls to send them to pastures new agree with your past comments on pukki .we have made several chances in last two games but no one good enough to take them not expecting a win this week matey !😠
Hi Kev
I’m still ruled out for this week so will miss these two upcoming gems, although obviously I’ll watch Millwall at home on Friday.
Yes mate, this same old, same old stuff is boring now.
I feel just a little bit sorry for Grant Hanley. It can’t be much fun to be forced in front of the cameras after every wretched performance. Just ask Russell Martin 🙂
Cheers
Hi Martin. Excellent piece.
This awful malaise goes so much deeper than Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare.
Though I did think one of the callers to Canary Call was in danger of doing a ” Mr Creasote” from Monty Python’s ” Meaning of life” such was his understandable ire with Saturday’s performance.
The callers assertion that our season is over was way over the top as my cousin Dave would say we are now in a relegation fight, yes he makes a pessimist look optimistic 😂
The Daniel Farke era will be remembered as a wonderful time for us in the Championship, let’s give everyone a start and then really go and win the league, as it turned out, in a canter….twice.
However Daniel’s season and a quarter in the EPL is anything but wonderful. But who was too blame ? Enter a very honest Stuart Webber who held his hands up with some talk of sending our Daniel to war without a gun.
So I think by now we all realise the EPL debacles… two of them were not the fault mainly of our two time Championship winning manager.
So it is all Stuart Webber’s fault ? No wrong again. Not all of it anyway.
I give you Forest 1 West Ham 0. Forest play West Ham at home for the first time in 23 years and beat them. We have played them twice at Carrow Road and been stuffed both times in the last two years and it has been well and truly shocking. An absolute embarrassment 🤬
But Forest have spent over £ 110 million plus god knows what on wages and signing on fees.
All three promoted clubs have made decent starts, they may all well go down but I have feeling they will not be the embarrassment to the EPL we have been. Let’s not even mention Brentford.
So where does the present problems lay ? In the boardroom that’s where.
I don’t know how many times we need to say it but Delia and Michael’s self-funding model will not work.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein, and I think I am right in the fact that he knew a bit more than our present owners.
We now have an interested party why the hell are we not encouraging them onto the board post haste.
We will never have the spending power of the Manchester clubs ( though Arnautovic would be a whole lot better than poor old Josh, and cheaper😂) or Chelsea but surely with the funds and a good recruitment team we can do a Fulham, Leicester, Wolves, Bournemouth, the list is long.
I am starting to have doubts on our management team I have to admit, in contrast to last season the fixture computer was very kind to us this year. One point from Cardiff, Wigan and Hull is a pi** poor return in any circumstance.
We both said at the time Martin, who the hell sanctioned the Bali Mumba Loan ?
But Smith and Shakey must be given until the World Cup break, though if they lose to both Huddersfield and Millwall I won’t be taking bets on them being here on Saturday morning.
I think there is a clarity of style coming through, but it cannot be sustained for a long enough period in games and when it is we just do not look like scoring. Plus three of the four goals we have conceded will feature on the next “Football Funnies” video.
Playing Rashica continually is madness, shop window ? if it is that it is like Netto. So do not expect anything like our outlay.
I do at times wonder with Milot if he thinks come 3.00pm on a lovely Saturday afternoon he is there for a nice little leisurely hike.
Hugill couldn’t stop scoring in friendlies, not even on the bench on Saturday… why not ? Especially when we have Josh Sargent who on present form wouldn’t score down Prince Of Wales Road on a Saturday night.
So Idah sadly never fit, Hugill not fancied and Josh Sargent 2 goals in 29 games. I really think we need a striker big time, someone to help Teemu Pukki. Someone to take all these bloody chances.
Remember Deano that’s been your best time formation here at Norwich, go two up front. What have you got to lose.
Hi Tim
I must admit Forest rode their luck but if nothing else it was a fine entertaining game to watch – I thoroughly enjoyed it anway.
Without wishing to making the current collective mood any worse I am beginning to think Mark Attanosio might be having serious doubts, particularly because as it stands a 53% stake will remain in the Smith clan in perpetuity..
Even worse to consider is that if he did buy Foulger’s 18% holding, would Delia listen to a word he said? Doubtful, I’d say.
Yes we did say that about Bali Mumba ages ago now – the lad came up with an assist ffor Plymouth on Saturday and got a bit of stick for showing *disrespect* to Posh boss Grant McCann!
Sky have already put up Aaron Ramsey for *miss of the season* 🙂
And with that haircut you’re probably dead right about Josh Sargent.
Cheers
Huddersfield at home the last time was probably the pinnacle of Daniel Farke’s second great championship team Martin.
Tomorrow will be interesting to see how far we have come since that great night.
Or more likely how much we have regressed 😰
Coming so late in the season seemed to make it even more memorable – we cannot compare that side with this one.
We’ve gone backwards for sure.
You say and rightly so that we don’t have the spending power of the Manchester clubs but they are running on 100s of millions of debt each year and Chelsea arsenal spurs how is this a fair playing field and punters will be saying Norwich should be goin in that direction spending money we haven’t got and that we aren’t a proply run club if we are allowed to run our club with those type of debts we might be premier midtable or we might be an ipshite be careful what we wish for 👍
Nobody but an eejit wants us to join that bunfight Kev – but it’s possible to show a bit more fight and ambition than we do.
Well it would be without Delia there.
According to Dean Smith were “hard to beat” 🤣
We’re bottom of the bloody league!
Hi Chris
I couldn’t believe that statement either..
Maybe Smith and Shakespeare don’t even look at the tables?
They don’t seem to look at very much else either.
Cheers
I could have written that for you Martin – my thoughts exactly! When Dean Smith first arrived at Carrow Road he said there was “plenty of time” to get City up the Premier League table. There wasn’t! So now it’s deja vu – he’s saying it again in the Championship! What bothers me the most however is the fact that probably half of Smith’s current regular first team choices have reached, or are reaching, the end of their usefulness to Norwich City FC, for one reason or another. Smith cannot, or will not, recognise that fact. Sorry but he has to go.
Hi Tony
When I think of Webber and Delia I see a parallel between Rasputin and that Russian queen whose name I have long forgotten.
We are stymied because there are three major things that have to change in order for us to progress. One of them will not happen in my lifetime [Tom Smith is younger than me], the second is unlikely to happen because of the Rasputin factor and the third will only happen when it is too late.
Who in their right mind would want to come and coach here though?
Cheers
was it Empress Alexandra ? after Boney M I know bugger all
Yes Lad it was.! I just googled it and there’s more myths surrounding it than I had ever remembered. A fascinating tale.
Hi Martin, I realise from the comments that I’m going against the grain here but I’d like to offer a bit of support to Milot Rashica. Have any of you considered that last season he looked more than decent playing down the left and for some obscure reason Smith has decided in his wisdom to move him across to the right wing. What chance has the poor bloke got when he’s being managed like that. What the hell were SW and the board thinking about when they sacked Farke and replaced him with this clown. I don’t claim to possess any coaching badges but to leave Hugill out of the squad on Saturday and then leave Sinani warming the bench when we’re not converting chances is the act of a fool imo. It saddens me that the club has seemingly fallen apart at the seams over such a short period, I’ll still use my ST and go every game although to be honest Webber and Smith have sucked all the enjoyment from the experience.
Hi Bob
You might be one of very few with sympathy for Rashica just now but your points are nonetheless valid – I can’t argue with any of them anyway.
I totally agree about the enjoyment factor slowly but surely being eroded.
I won’t be able to go until early October for health reasons [bad back] and two seasons ago I’d have been gutted. Right now I just pass my ST on to a mate and say *enjoy – if you can*.
Thanks – good comment.
He’s never played more than 20mins in any game hence the twenty minute man arrons offers more going forward can beat his man haven’t seen that from rashicca .