During Monday’s Colney presser, when David Wagner was formally introduced to the local and national press, Stuart Webber directly answered questions asked of him by Paddy Davitt and Michael Bailey.
I’d like to think of it as a sign of a minor thaw in the spat between the Club and the local press. We’ll see. Maybe I’m just a dreamer.
But for now, I’ll focus on that, as opposed to Webber’s barely-disguised spikiness when pushed on his (non-existent) relationship with the Norwich City fanbase.
The old Webber – the 2018 version – is still in there somewhere, and can be seen in the Club’s video of Wagner’s first day at Colney, but it still feels as if the 2023 version is unable to forgive the fans for, among other things, using their collective voice to scupper the BK8 sponsorship deal.
As it transpires, the £3 million-ish that it cost the Club would have been nowhere near enough to give us a chance of survival in 2021-22 but it clearly still irks, as does Bedsheetgate – when he decided to confront a group of fans who had gatherted outside the back of the City Stand, armed with said bedsheet, with the intention of telling the Club what they thought of its feeble attempt at Premier League survival.
Those two events together with questions being asked of his ’90 per cent’ comment have clearly got under his skin and there now appears even less chance of him giving the supporters the time of day than of him meeting Paddy and Michael for tea and sandwiches.
The trouble is, with every scowl, sigh, and furrowed brow he’s making that dividing wall between him and Yellow Army one layer of bricks higher. And he appears cool with that.
More problematic is that all of this flies in the face of the togetherness espoused by Wagner in his rallying cry – the one intended to unite the Club from the very top to the very bottom. With the most key of key components missing from that unity, then there is, and will remain, a problem.
For someone who claims not to read nor give a monkey’s about what media and supporters have to say about him, Webber doesn’t half come across as thin-skinned. As one who admits to being overly thin-skinned, I know all about that and how, in trying to appear not so, every blink, twitch and grimmace gives the game away .
He does care how he is perceived in the wider footballing community and he cares what we as a fan base think of him.
But, unlike some, I’m not sure this ever-shrinking corner in which Webber finds himself is all of his own making. And, believe it or not, there are parts of his remit over which I have varying degrees of sympathy.
What started as a successful recruitment process in 2018 and has veered into unsuccessful territory in 2023, was, of course, partly down to him and those he put in place to recruit, but we should also recognise the very narrow parameters within which he has always had to work.
And it’s not of his choosing that, along the way, the books have had to be continually balanced by him having to sell every saleable asset that we have.
Instead. that’s the product of the Club declaring itself ‘self-funded’. Except that in itself is something of a misnomer.
It’s not really self-funding because it relies on intermittent promotions to the Premier League and, as mentioned, the selling of every asset that becomes saleable. But let’s run with ‘self-funding’ for now.
And it’s not as if this is a model specifically developed as a two-fingered salute to the Premier League and the clubs within it who have brazenly skewed the football playing field so much that to now be successful you have to be funded by an oil-rich state.
In fact, it wasn’t a strategy at all.
It was the only option available to the current owners without them having to delve into the murky waters of seeking external funding. If they wanted to retain total control, it was that way or the highway.
So it has been that way. For 26 years.
You can only admire their endurance and determination, no question about that, and they remain the rarity of supporters-turned-owners – so their love of Norwich City seems clear – but has their doggedness and refusal to budge on the question of additional funding for the Club always been in its best interests?
Tasking Webber with turning Norwich City from a middling Championship version to one that can survive at least one season in the Premier League on a budget of peanuts was never destined to work.
So many things have to go right and so much luck is needed for it to happen, it’s virtually impossible. Even teams who have spent lavishly have failed, so to do so armed with (in the summer of 2019) the smallest Premier League budget known to Man was doing so on a wing and a prayer.
And while we spent more in the summer of 2021, let’s not pretend it wasn’t funded mostly by the sale of our best player – Emi Buendia.
So I find it hard to lay all of the blame for those Premier League horror shows at the door of our sporting director. For sure, some horrors emerged in the form of signings designed to help us survive, but they were almost all either sizeable gambles, cheap options or both.
Almost all were players who had no other Premier League options on the table and on the odd occasion when we did find ourselves in direct competition with another PL club – Kristoffer Ajer for example – we’d lose out.
For me, if there is one mistake for which he is solely responsible, it’s the appointment of Dean Smith, when he veered away from the thrust of the young, hungry, and with something-to-prove model. Smith was of the on-the-rebound envelope.
But again, the constraints were there, just as they were with the appointment of Wagner.
The expensive prospect of acquiring a head coach who’s already in employment is off the table. Had that not been the case in the autumn of 2021, perhaps we’d have landed one Kjetil Knutsen and not been in the reboot phase we currently find ourselves.
All conjecture, I get that, but it’s not conjecture to say that Webber, throughout his six years, has had his hands tied when it comes to putting a squad together for the head coach of the day.
But the odd thing is, if we’d gone all-in on self-funding and *really* done it differently, I reckon most of us would have been onboard and stayed onboard.
If we had gone down that route, been transparent about it, and been the Premier League’s enfant terrible at every turn then there’d have been little not to like. If we’d refused to play the corporate game and had challenged the Premier League status quo to make clear our view on its sickening direction of travel, that would have made quite the statement.
For an infinitely better description of what I’m trying to say, have a read of the final three paragraphs of this fine piece from ACN’s Nick Hayhoe, written after last season’s 3-0 hammering by Newcastle. He nails it. I’d have been well up for us going full St Pauli.
We’d have likely ended up back where we are now, but it’d have meant something.
But we didn’t and it didn’t. We tried to act like a Premier League club. We played at being a Premier League club. We kowtowed to the big boys like the small kid in the playground sucking up to the bullies. And we went along with it all even though we knew were stricken and doomed.
While I’ve been assured that our owners were unhappy with that existence, they were clearly happy enough to let it roll and do nothing about it.
Not until Michael Foulger decided the time was right to sell his stake in our club did Delia and Michael give serious consideration to someone else, with deeper pockets, coming in. And then it felt like a decision that was forced upon them rather than one made willingly.
The question now is, for how long will Mark Attanasio and his people be content to stay in the shadows? While it all may appear cordial and cozy right now, will there reach a point where they will either demand a greater say or take their funding elsewhere along with their £10 million?
Again, conjecture on my part, but I’m guessing they’ll want to see at least a sniff of an opportunity at some point in the not-too-distant future. Otherwise… why?
So, for all the perceived evils of Stuart Webber – and I’m no lover of his continued stance towards the fans and local media – it’s not been an easy gig. Let’s not pretend otherwise. And perhaps the landscape will change if our American friends are permitted a greater share of the action.
It feels no longer just about the money. As things stand, new ideas and renewed impetus from on high are equally as important. It’s not just on the pitch where the Club has stagnated.
In the meantime, I’m up for brokering that afternoon tea date for Stuart, Paddy, and Michael.
Lads?
Webber looked as happy as a Tory PM answering questions from Chris Bryant in committee. There were a 1000 places he would rather have been, and probably almost as many places most of the canary nation would like him to be.
Hi Gary
I think most of us will know the background against which Webber has always had to work.
It was no different for David McNally so it is easy to see the common denominator here.
Mark Attanasio could be no more than a red herring in the sense that he offers us hope, but only time will tell if he is even interested in taking control *one day*.
If the answer to that is NO, then there never was any hope in the first place.
The thing I cannot fathom is how She Who Must Be Obeyed has let the Webbers [and we must never forget there are two of them] get in so deep.
Gary F said the other day that they mark their own homework and that is plain wrong.
Hi Martin, I think the point I was trying to make, hopefully, is that without adequate scrutiny from the above, in the context of non-executive directors, they (the exec team) are effectively marking their own homework. Not necessarily the fault of the exec team per se, but, potentially, unhelpful nevertheless.
Personally I think you’re being a bit harsh here Gary. Webber has changed his stance since 2017 with his lessened communication, and I’m sure he did mention that he would admit he’s made mistakes – but his brute honesty in saying what he thinks hasn’t changed. We all know it could rub some people up the wrong way, which is what’s happening right now, but we all embraced his attitude back then as it was what we needed. I’m not sure other than the poor levels of communication from him recently and the local press spat (plus his silly reaction to the bedsheet) there’s much else he’s doing differently. Maybe I’m wrong.
He is giving the impression he’s going to be involved for at least the short and medium term, and I think he’s absolutely right that we have to try and all do our bit to get behind our new man Wagner.
I’m intrigued by the amount of out of contract players coming up, so you would imagine in the likely event of another championship season next year there will be big changes in personnel ahoy which surely Webber/Neyal have one eye on.
Fair comment JM. As you say, how he manages the issue of out-of-contract players is key moving forward.
I am not sure why we are so focussed on the owners and Webber … I don’t hear so much from other teams about their set up other than Man Utd and the Glaziers. If we were still in the Daniel Farke glory days and playing great football, then very little would be said as the team would be doing the talking.
I agree that the appointment of Dean Smith was a mistake and took us away from the Footballing principles we had become used to … but hopefully, the appointment of Wagner will restore them. Maybe the term self financing was incorrect and we should be known as just a club that operates within our budget .. yes we have debts but it is a planned debt – no different from any of us buying a car and having a 3 year loan for repaying it (only with far bigger numbers).
The owners turn out for every game – some clubs rarely see their owners and I expect ours are as fed up as we are at the way our football has dropped in Quality – yes, they have the power to make changes – but they also have more knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes – maybe they saw the work going in by our former manager and thought things may improve. and it took a breakdown with the fans and the manager before they acted. Maybe they don’t like the idea of putting someone out of work or maybe they did not want to spend any of our funds paying compensation. (and I still think Dean Smiths comments about the fans after the fan backlash at the Blackburn game was a premeditated move to be given the push where he would still receive compensation)
If Mark Attanasio eventually takes over, I do not see a great change in club philosophy … reading how things are done with his Baseball team, it almost mirrors how our club do things now.
Plenty of clubs have sought the money of the rich oil nationals and are doing very nicely in the Premier league – and all seems OK for now. But there are also plenty that have sold out for money and are now groundless, or back where they started with one eye on the administrator.
If Delia and Michaels reign ends today or in 10 years time, the club will likely be on a surer footing than when they came and we have a decent ground that receives upgrades to meet ever tighter standards by the leagues and if Wagner can do the business on the training ground, the football will again return to the levels we all want to see and we can all get behind the team again
Fair comment, Dave. I agree these matters are only an issue when things are not going well on the pitch.
A huge difference between MLB and English football is that transfer fees are almost unheard of – at least in terms of cash. Much more common is a trade of several minor league players for an established MLB player. All of the Major League clubs have minor league affiliates – think Championship to League two and many of those players, especially in AAA (Championship) are MLB quality either not proven or not as good as the player on the affiliated MLB roster at their position. Obviously that frees up cash to pay salaries. In other words, theoretically at least, if we didn’t have to pay fifty million in transfers we could have just offered Messi 50 mil to play for us. Of course there’s huge wage disparity in MLB, but the difference on the pitch between MLB teams is nowhere near as stark as it is in the Premier League
Gary I have also expressed some sympathy for Webber as he is greatly constrained by our owners inability to fund the club at this level.
Apart from the appointment of Smith I think Webber also made a big mistake in allowing Kieran Scott to leave as he was the one finding the gems that funded our owners short comings. Maybe he had little control over Scott leaving as it was a promotion.
However, without Scott’s talent spotting it would appear that we’ve blown £50 plus million on unsuitable recruits despite the Emi income.
Under the current ownership I can’t see them repairing the damage caused by this shortfall in our finances which seems to have nothing to do with self funding whatsoever but has at least nailed the lie of this system once and for all.
If there isn’t a huge injection of cash into the club I can only see it sliding towards the lower leagues or administration.
We’ve no funds for much needed recruits and our current squad will not yield much in the way of income.
Time for our owners to stand down and Attanasio to prove he’s more than a speculative investor.
Hi Gary
An excellent read and good comments
Webber
Honestly and openness was his mantra when he arrived, and he was for a while when everything was rosey especially sfter the first promotion and said city were ahead of schedule then the admission he sent Farke to war without ammunition.
Second promotion we made many clubs in the championship look poor and when things went wrong he and those he shields above him decided the architect of two winning teams was the one at fault not the one buying the weapons or ammunition.
Along comes Smith completely the wrong man for the team we had and it took 18months for the vlub to realise he wasn’t up to the challenge but want him to stay and blamed the supporters.
N9w we have Wagner is it the old pals act or Webbers last stand at theOK Coral, his falling out with the media and supporters has happen for mainly because everyone can see his short comings and he has no answer for them also this was his stepping stone to a big career move and yes he mentioned when jobs come up but no offers have been made public so just maybe dudilgence shows others he isn’t up to the task.
Delia & MWJ
Sounds like a comedy act.
The happy clappers and Delia lovers can’t and will not see that 26years have been wasted, they shout that they saved the club when it was Geoffrey Watling who bought all the Chase shares then was convinced to sell them to our present owners.
A few promotions and more relegation than any other club in premiership history plus at least two near bankruptcies is a great legacy for these two.
Yes as owners they turn up to every home and away game but its more for a free lunch and showing others that they still are celebrities.
A socialist millionaire or says that’s she is a very poor millionaire a contradiction for me.
Mark-A
20 odd years as owner of the Brewers in a Baseball league with no relegation but has kept them competitive, lowest wages in the league and lowest spend on new players so goggle says.
Purchased Michael Foulger shares plus an input of £10m redeemable in 7years at 6% interest not a bad earner for him no risk.
Delia says they matched up what they wanted from incoming investors, that reads self funding part 2, if he had any intentions of a full takeover he would have made that plain in his only interview so I hold out no hope of changes anytime soon
I’ll admit I didn’t see the event, but through the various recaps what has struck me is with all of the focus on SW and the formal introduction of DW, is where does MA fit into this and some of those questions are asked at the end of the article. 8 player contracts running down, a stated lack of Jan transfer dealings (which remains to be seen), and a lot of hoping that we can make the play-offs with the current squad. Beyond the usual denials the Delia isn’t going to sell up, I keep coming back to the idea that there is a mis-direct going on and in trying to connect the dots a couple of observations:
-The profile of US owners, either partial or full, is not one to sit in their hands while someone else makes the decisions, regardless of only an 18% stake. They have huge ego’s, perceived expertise in running sports franchises, and a lot of people to help them run an organization. They also want complete control wherever possible.
-We tend to get blinded by big amounts of “they are worth $XXXXX” when, in fact, MA may need some time to pull the funds together to buy the club outright. He’s wealthy, but not FSG or Glazer wealthy so it may take a bit of time to seal the deal. We need to remember, he’s a small market owner in MLB, not a big market NFL owner.
-Timing of player contracts running down to clean up the squad and put a fresh start in place.
-We are in a tenuous position as it relates to promotion – if we do go up, the price is $X, if we don’t go up, the price is $Y -a good position for MA to be in as it provides him with options.
-12 month rolling contracts for both SW and DW – it makes a buy-out of contracts a few months earlier far more financially reasonable and putting a new management team in place far easier.
-Relative silence about any of this.
I’m interested to hear any thoughts or opinions.
Great piece as ever Gary. Two points to make. Firstly, your comment about the change of approach to the EPL and being more deferential last time is a very good one. I remember having a converstaion with Ben Kensell prior to the start of the 19/20 about the tickets for the opening match at Anfield. Liverpool were really late issuing tickets to us and blamed printing problems. However, there are rules as to how far in advance tickets must be issued to the visiting club and Liverpool were in breach so he made an official complaint to the EPL and got a a snotty call from Liverpool on the lines of “who do you think you are?” I thought that was great, but that combative approach seemed to leave with him.
Secondly, regarding Attanasio, why would someone buy a minority shareholding and invest £10m if that was the extent of their ambition? He’s already made it clear that he is interested in greater involvement and I get the impression, given that his sidekick was sitting next to D&M at Kenilworth Road that he is taking a very keen interest.
Cheers for the comment, Robin. As you say, it now feels as if the Kensall-effect was underestimated at the time. A lot has changed since his departure, both in terms of personnel and approach, and very little of it for the better.
I suspect (and hope) you’re right about our American friends, although there may come a time when they start pushing for more involvement. Then the acid test comes.
I agree wholeheartedly with all of that Gary.
I said the other day that SW had been hoisted by his own petard. Promises, promises just do not go there. Especially with how difficult the EPL is now. Far harder than in Lambert and Hughton’s day.
And it is easy for us to cast SW as this real-life Dick Dastardly. But is that fair.
The reason Liverpool and Manchester United are both up for sale is that thanks to Trussenomics borrowing is now a lot more expensive. As you say Gary we are not self funding it is a myth like the Emperor’s New Clothes, once you look at it forensically it is nothing of the sort.
The “Ive armed Daniel with bazooka’s this time” for our second foray into the EPL or something similar was extremely misjudged.
My god he is thin-skinned, just one look at his face at the DW press conference told you that. I don’t think he smiled once.
But I am with you it really is not all his fault, the poor EPL campaigns, it is as you say dreadful recruitment and that come from missing out on our no 1 signings Andrich, Billing and Ajer and having to go much lower on our list.
Was that SW’s fault ? not really because those above him never gave him the tools £££ to work with. But his animosity for us fans is plain to see, and it does him no favours.
So is all this Delia’s fault ?
In the world we lived in where there was no interest in buying the club, no it wasn’t, because we all thought “oh well no one wants to buy us so there you go”
Because the club told us. No one is interested in buying Norwich City FC. But at that AGM a few years ago when one of the executive said ” any silly offers for the club are dealt with us, any serious ones go to Delia and Michael”😱
To me that was seismic, I was really surprised it wasn’t discussed more in the press. Now I am sure the gentleman used the word “ones” as in plural.
So for years the club had been saying there have been no offers for our club. That wasn’t true.
So the buck stops with Delia and Michael.
They have not done what is in the best interest for the club. Two season of EPL points of 21 and 22 show that.
I am not stupid and think that a new owner would see us fighting to win the EPL title again or even go for Europe again, but what added investment will give us is a chance to compete with the Wolve’s, Fulham’s, Leicester’s etc of this world.
We will still be a selling club, that will never change unless we get bought by a country ala Newcastle but we would at least have a chance of competing in the EPL.
In that world we could even out bid Brentford.
Hi Tim
Many years ago the Jones after taking over said on Anglia TV that they were only there for a short spell to steady the ship and find someone that could take the club forward.
Ever since she has had the Not for Sale sign up so possible investors or buyers would have stayed well clear, and rumours that conditions of being a city supporter and living locally cut the field down.
There was one very interested buyer who owned an insurance company but that was a none starter so once bitten twice shy.