As we are surely all thoroughly mentally exhausted by considering matters both on and, particularly, off the Carrow Road turf, I thought I would turn to the Posse to provide a bit of light relief.
Or to be strictly truthful, Posse member David C, better known to MFW types as Cutty, turned to the rest of his fellow sheriff’s men and suggested they offered their thoughts on how things might pan out in what will surely go down in Championship history as one of the most open anybody-can-beat-anybody-else campaigns in a long time.
My four horsemen, who are not connected to but more disconnected from their NCFC boardroom equivalents, enthusiastically leapt at the chance for some shooting in the dark, and here is what they came up with.
Alex A failed to entirely shake off his elven cloak of understated disinterest but cheered up enough to say:
“Here we are more or less at the halfway point in the season and we find ourselves in fifth place, which on the face of it isn’t too bad.
“However closer examination of the actual numbers shows that while we are nine points behind Burnley at the top of the table, we are only nine ahead of Wigan in 22nd!
“I always felt that October would be a defining month for NCFC, but I really didn’t expect it to be as bad as it turned out.
“There is now so much disconnect between the Board and the fans whereas only two years ago things were superb. I no longer look forward to home games.
“Yes, DS has had to contend with injuries to key players, but most are back now. However, our play if anything is worse and there is a growing feeling of discontent among the fans.”
Meanwhile, Alex B points out that are too many clubs in the shakeup at the end of the first half of the season for any concrete predictions, but that didn’t stop him from taking a quick look at some of our rivals.
“Coventry could be a real dark horse with games in hand and a manager [Mark Robins] that knows how to get the best out of his players.
“WBA are another club that were expected to do well and are finding form under a new stewardship. They could have money available to strengthen in January.
“Watford experience more twists and turns than a corkscrew. A novice manager was never going to work so enter Slaven Bilic. A few Prem clubs are looking at their forward line and keeper so much could change in January.
“Michael Carrick has started well at Boro [I noticed that last week – Martin] and Steve Gibson might, at last, have got the final piece of the jigsaw after Warnock and Wilder never really got them going.
“Sunderland, Luton, Blackpool, Rotherham, and Huddersfield have all changed managers this season and a little run of form could see any of these make it into the top six, while QPR and Millwall usually fall away after Christmas.
“Norwich need a change and that will be discussed on many platforms but Dean Smith’s record of a 28% win rate at City is one of the poorest of the lot.” ***
Article originator Cutty sees the competition in the league as hot and getting hotter.
“Burnley currently have 41 points, which equates to a possible 90 points at season’s end. Their 3-0 win against Blackburn Rovers is indicative of their form with 40 goals scored and only two games lost so are definitely an automatic promotion team.
“Sheffield United have 38 points, the same 11 wins as Burnley, 35 goals scored, and only 19 against so promotion beckons for the Blades while Blackburn seem a reasonable tip for a play-off place despite a poor GD of plus two with 24-22.
“The next six [including Norwich] down to Preston on 31 points don’t have a fag paper between them and I would also include the three teams down to Reading in 12th on 29 points as possible playoff candidates. That’s 12 clubs fighting for promotion!
“At the bottom, Huddersfield are in trouble and the other two relegation spots could go to any of the next eight including Rotherham in 16th with 26 points, just three above the danger zone, and also three points below my potential promotion contenders. That’s nine clubs fighting to survive. Competitive isn’t in it!”
Bernie Owen is nothing if not pragmatic when he says:
“I have always been a believer in giving the Championship ten games to settle before panicking or gloating. Well after 10 games and 20 points on the board I should have been gloating. But performances are also part of the deal, and we were not putting teams to the sword and often hanging on in there to claim a win.
“The last batch of ten games has seen a return of nine points. A run of current form only ‘bettered’ by Wigan who have managed seven. Performances have been consistent – we haven’t become worse as the season has progressed but have been consistently flat.
“Where do we go from here? Doing the same will see us gently slide away. Burnley and Sheffield United seem to have enough about them to make a push for automatic. Can anyone spoil the party for them? Coventry with a return of 22 points from their last ten games could be the season’s surprise.
“We have to up our game and consider if Smith is the man to get the needed response [I’ve considered. He isn’t – Martin] The next three away games at Swansea, Luton and Preston don’t look too appetising. The next three at home see us entertain Blackburn, Reading and Watford. By then the window will be open and we could either be in the top six or lower mid-table.”
*** Thanks to the Posse as always. They’ll be back next week to look at just how bad Dean Smith’s record is alongside previous Norwich City managers, and I’ll give MFW readers a heads up: it doesn’t make pretty reading.
Marty, five years ago we embarked on a new do it differently Norwich City FC and here we are little different from 12 other clubs hoping for promotion and running out of dosh, time for more improvement?
Hi Cutty
Whatever plan Webber ever had has been long forgotten. It makes you wonder if it ever truly existed in the first place.
Cheers
Those next six games look extremely difficult in the present circumstances Martin, but under Daniel Farke we would have relished them.
Well perhaps not Luton 😂
That just shows where we are in this new reality.
And it isn’t good.
I’m so disappointed with the situation but I must take my medicine as well as I didn’t want us rushing into sacking Dean Smith. I still think it’s not all of his own making
But I have to I accept some of the blame.
But now after a 28% win record, really underperforming with this squad and worst of all one win against a top 11 team all season you would have to be mad to think this is working.
Add the worries over fitness, bad enough if it’s us fans but we are talking the players here.
I hate to say it but Watford would have sacked Deano 4 times by now.
Hi Tim
The question to ask is why the heck the board haven’t done anything or are they leaving it all to the people below them to make the decisions.
Webber will never admit even to himself that Smith was a poor choice, and I suspect that any compo that the club might have had to pay a club went to him as a signing fee.
We are now at a stage where it’s twist or stick a few more games and it will be all over for a top 6 finish and Delia will be in heaven another season in the championship and bugger the loans.
Hi Alex
One thing that Webber and Delia seems to have in common is that they are never wrong. *If in doubt blame the fans* seems to be the collusive approach.
After all it must be all our fault, mustn’t it?
Cheers
Hi Tim
I like your quip about the Pozzos.
Oh hang on. It smacks of reality to me as well!
Cheers
Most recruits under Webber are failures. Giannoulis (£6m) Gibson (£8m) Placheta (£2m) Rashica (£8m) Tzolis (£8m). Only Josh Sargent (£8m) is finally coming good. Most of the recruitment team has moved on to better pastures. In the Farke days the team was fit now they are puffing after 20 minutes. There is little or no fight in them. After HT in our last game there was only going to be one winner. Our last five games have yielded the same return as Huddersfield, who are still bottom but at least we are maintaining the gap.
All are now off for a jolly time in the US. Dean Smith can visit his son in NY all expenses paid. WIll our players come back fitter, more motivated? I doubt it.
Both of the Smiths and Webber plus spouses should go now. Bring back double training sessions. Hire Martin Keown to put some fire in bellies and learn how to defend and put bodies on the line. I would get Mark Robins in or possibly Russell Martin (who never convinced me as a player but has a good mouth. Only McGovern remains of those who played with Russell so that doesn’t matter!)
Hi Roger
At least it can’t be realistic for the players to return from Florida with any less motivation so I doubt we’ll even notice any difference.
Mark Robins is a good shout I would agree but I can’t imagine our Russ standing up to Webber in a meaningful way.Trouble is it’s all hypothetical as Webber will never admit he got the Smith appointment wrong and we haven’t got any money for compo anyway.
Personally I’d take a chance on Gary O’Neil, but that situation will never arise.
Cheers
I wouldn’t mind Gary O’Neil being given a chance but I am rapidly reaching the point where anyone other than Deano would be ok!
He did seem to have a plan, Martin.
However, after striking lucky with Farke, Pukki and Buendia it’s all gone really Pete Tong (except possibly Sargent).
He really killed it for me a year ago, when having publically (and frequently) stated that he had a good succession plan to cover all the main positions……he went out and hired a man who wasn’t even available when he binned the previous incumbent of that position (unless of couse he received inside information from his ex-Loserpool colleague at Villa).
What’s also worrying is the huge loss of very capable and decent people from the admin positions at the club; sadly missed, never replaced!
O T B C
Hi John
It’s hard to pick a precise moment that it all went Pete but I think yours is one many folks would go for too.
Somebody within the game knows if they were ever earmarked to succeed Daniel, but I doubt that person will ever come forward. If they did, they would be spitting feathers.
Funnily enough I’ve had cause to deal with a senior member of the marketing team and a ridiculously helpful guy in the ticket office very recently and can say that there are still at least a couple of good ‘uns left within Carrow Road admin 🙂
Cheers
Let’s be fair, he did cover the positions, but with far lower quality than we had been using. When he arrived Webber promised Honesty and transparency in his dealings with fans when he arrived in 2017,
Now he leaves any comments via a very club slanting careful in-house production, to a guy who isn’t really known for his football input. Webber went into his shell like a Tortise under attack back in April. The man is so up his own A*** you cannot see his shoes. His wife appears to be making all the statements, which are probably written over an evening at home with her husband.
Is it that, being in their 80’s Alas Smith & Jones are too old to really handle the day-to-day running of a football club. I am all for delegation of employees, but they have to be on top of the game, clearly, this hasn’t been and still isn’t the case.
The mess the club is in runs much higher than a Villa lover on the touch line, Smith if being honest with himself, should not have taken this job, he was just SACKED not head-hunted as he believes. so soon after being shown the door at his first love Villa. Sure many of us know that horrible feeling of getting dumped by your one-time lover.
It certainly wasn’t and still isn’t fair on the thousands of City fans. He was not ready for a fresh challenge at a club that was doomed before we started and still remain sadly in that place.
I hate to say this but if new people a new direction and new ideas are not found very soon, our Pride of Anglia banner starts to go lower and lower.
Hi Lad
In fairness to Webber maybe when Ed Balls took a step back and he got up close and personal to the Smiths there was no longer room for either honesty or transparency and it’s just festered from there.
Perhaps there’s a bit of the Lady MacBeth about our Zoe. Who knows?
I reckon there’s *something of the night* about her, anyway 🙂
As for the Smiths’ age, I wouldn’t be surprised if it reinforces the intransigence.
Cheers