It’s no secret that Norwich City is in crisis. By initially refusing to do the right thing and relieve Dean Smith of his duties, Stuart Webber did nothing but amplify the ridicule and toxicity that clouded the non-existent relationship between the head coach and fanbase.
And regardless of the fact that change has finally been made, the problems always ran far deeper than a beleaguered Brummie in the technical area.
Much of the conversation around Smith’s position at City was dominated by worries that we would fail to reach the playoffs if he wasn’t sacked soon enough. Meanwhile, any hopes of automatic promotion were smashed to pieces by recent losses against Blackburn and Luton.
However, I’d argue that this emphasis on going up at all costs isn’t helpful.
While I’m aware that it stinks of an entitlement that ignores the anguish of the Grant, Roeder, and Gunn years, the fact is that personally, promotion to the Premier League no longer fills me with the excitement it once did.
As a Norwich fan who has been lucky enough to spend their entire adulthood (so far) in the hazy glow of the Championship-Premier League yo-yo cycle, the top tier just isn’t that attractive anymore.
This is for a number of reasons.
To step aside from City’s current woes for a minute, the first point is that over 30 years of unchecked greed and commercialism has in many ways ruined England’s top division. It’s near-impossible to compete at the top without the backing of either a despotic regime or an opportunistic American capitalist.
Fan voices are continually ignored, as their power to vote with their feet has been gradually crushed by the might of global TV companies. Meanwhile, VAR strives constantly to suck the remaining life out of the league with its ridiculous commitment to ruining football’s incredible drama by deciding that someone’s arse cheek is offside.
Despite all these issues, the appeal of the Premier League is still clear. A win in that league means everything, and taking points off giants like Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal is fantastic. Some of my most cherished memories as a fan have come during these occasions.
The problem is, if we go up this season, does anyone really expect a repeat of Cantwell’s surfing celebrations against Manchester City or that glorious Grant Holt header at Anfield? Because I don’t.
Only the most delusional Norwich fan could expect this team in its current guise to compete in the top flight. The Championship is worse than I have ever seen it, and we’re still clinging onto the playoffs with the loosest of grips, miles off the automatic places.
Our defence, which consists of players who we know are capable of forming a title-winning back line, are a shambles, making criminal errors on a weekly basis. In creative midfield areas, we offer nothing.
Our league position is almost purely down to the ability of Teemu Pukki and Josh Sargent to convert the extremely limited chances they get (or conjure from thin air themselves) into goals.
Even with improvements in every area of the pitch, placing this team in the Premier League is like throwing them into a bear pit. Under Smith, I’m confident we wouldn’t have beaten last season’s 22 points or Farke’s previous 21.
Finances are a key consideration, of course. Many people will argue that the money brought in by regular Premier League competition is huge to a self-funded club like ours, and they’re right. At the same time, recent seasons have shown us that under our current ownership, survival in the top flight looks almost like a pipe dream.
The margin for error when it comes to recruitment is essentially zero, and given how poor our Premier League signings have been at the past two attempts, why should we expect things to be any different?
It’s a sentiment that a lot of fans will disagree with but, for me, success shouldn’t be defined purely by our ability to play football in the highest division possible. If somehow we are able to scrape our way into the Premier League this season, which given how poor the Championship is, is still feasible, our reward will be week after week of getting battered by clubs with infinitely more cash than us.
That doesn’t appeal to me very much at all.
Instead, I’d like to see evidence of a long-term vision. I’d like to see a tactical philosophy that unlocks the talent in our squad, a clever recruitment strategy that negates our budget limitations, and a drive to fill in the gaping holes left by various recent staff departures.
If it takes several seasons to build a Norwich City side that’s able to achieve promotion in a convincing way with a clear style of play and evidence of steel and cunningness that might allow us to actually compete in the top flight, then fine.
I’d argue that’s far better than stumbling over the line this season only to get humiliated again the following year. Ultimately, though, an injection of fresh ideas is needed if any of those things are to happen.
Getting rid of Dean Smith alone won’t be enough. It’s becoming increasingly clear that those above him are no longer cut out for the job either.
There isn’t much of a future either way at the moment is there .
well said, summed up perfectly .. rather depressing isn’t it
A good read with lots of commonsense but when did football use commonsense
Ah well if you don’t strive to be the best you can be, give it up. Close down the club and take up bowls.
Agree with what you said – I for one don’t care what league we play in as long as the players give 100% and I feel like I am getting entertained by good football … that way, we will win more than we lose but I will get more from that than frequent lucky wins with no decent football being played. The Premier League will be the reward (?) for the quality of our play and the points we get off the back of that if that puts us in the top 2 come the end of the season … if not, then we try again next season. But as you highlighted – as painful as the Premier league has been for us, a regular visit does help the club to function financially.
So far, I have not yet seen a team at Carrow Road this season who would outplay a good footballing Norwich side and walk away with the points .. but we all know we are not playing the good football we were and even a win sometimes leaves a long journey home without that feel good buzz, but there is hope – there has been a number of decent younger players pushing into the squad over the past 12 months – we do need time to develop them and time to regain our footballing culture – but if the new coach gets the current team to gel and playing reasonable team football, I don’t think the quality in this years championship will stop us going back up (maybe via the playoffs being as we are behind the top 2 by a dozen or more points) – whether we are ready for the next level yet or not
There are sadly a reasonable amount of Norwich fans who have been ‘Deliarised’ over the years in being negative towards the top tier with a great deal of apathy. Football moves on and isn’t going to wait for Norwich City and some of its more ambivalent fans.
The club should always strive to be in the EPL, despite the majority shareholders indifference to it. This season has shown how big the gulf is in class between the top two tiers and I cannot remember such a low quality season for The Championship. Though at present, we are a million miles away from getting promoted.
Smith going is the first piece in the potential jigsaw, though those like me who are waiting for Webber x 2 and Smith/MJW to somehow depart may be waiting a very long time. Least we forget the main reason for his departure is to deflect the heat from above. The peasants have been thrown a bone. For now.
Norwich City needs to embrace modern football, not become some sort of footballing mausoleum. The sheer perversity of what the club is trying to do is stretching to breaking point and I’m sure I’m not the only one who is totally fed up of this great football club being ‘run’ – and I’ll use that word advisedly – by a select bunch of amateurs.
‘We don’t want to go up,
We don’t want to go up.’
‘We’re Norwich.
We don’t want to go up.’
The problem we have Fred is that the Board have borrowed the next two years worth of parachute payments. Another nail in the so called Self-Funding model.
If we fail to go up I am afraid our ability to pay anything like the wages that we are now is absolutely impossible.
You can say these players are not worth what we are paying them but other than Teemu Pukki and yes “The Elusive Pimpernel” himself, Todd Cantwell, as far as I am aware the other players from last season have all took a pay cut due to relegation. That would also appear to be too expensive for us next season, if not it definitely will the season after.
As we opted to take up Todd and Teemu’s contract extensions so it is on last seasons money.
We will be back where we were before Webber/Farke.
Skint.
Yes Colney training ground is probably the envy of many a club in the championship and some EPL ones and Stuart Webber must take a lot of credit for that but that is it. On the playing staff only Josh Sargent and perhaps Max will go for any decent money.
And I doubt to many EPL clubs will risk too much on either.
It doesn’t matter how many Soccerbots we have we do not have a James Maddison up our sleeves who single handedly funded Daniel Farke’s rebuilding program.
I agree Fred I feel no sense of excitement in returning to the top league of English football. All during the seventies, eighties and nineties it was the only place to be. I got so excited I couldn’t eat my lunch🤣
But you mention the “Glory Years” of Roeder, Grant and Gunn, I am afraid that is what we could return to very quickly unless the status quo in the ownership of Norwich City FC changes very soon.
Without the American investment I hate to say this but we could soon change leagues with Ipswich Town.
PS
I have heard that Teemu could be on his way to the MLS in January, hopefully this change of coach could delay that until the summer.
One of the best rhought out and reasoned articles yet, Fred.. and that is set against a high bar as well.
You have hit the mail squarely on the head,by highlighting the dichotomy of our situation. On one hand we are saddled with owners who are openly hostile to the Premier league and would obviously prefer not to sully their clubs hands with membership of it.
On the other hand, the so called self funding model has only survived this long due to our regular and painful year long sabbaticals into it
Those that argued long and hard that we are better off without forays into the top flight and preferred the “little old norwich” line espoused by delia to the aspiration of being the best club we can be have been missing g the point spectacularly. A point which has now been hammered home in somewhat brutal.manner.
Its starting to dawn on some that failure to achieve promotion this season carries serious repercussions for the financial future of the club.
The conclusion that new ownership which is more aligned toodern football governance and which would insulate us against the boom or bust nature of self funding is now impossible to argue against. Although some might.
Sacked the wrong man feel sorry for the next whipping boy
Wasn’t the ‘long term plan’ you mentioned at the end of your piece, exactly what Webber and the board had supposedly put in place – what was it , about 5 years ago? I wonder what happened to that…..
5 years old but the financial challenge remains the same: https://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com/2017/12/14/guest-blog-in-transition-patience-the-key-or-is-the-simple-truth-were-out-of-money-and-out-of-time/
Whether we want to go up is irrelevant. We need to go up.