In the first of a two-part special, long-time Norwich City season ticket holder and former EDP editor David Powles asks what it will take to put the spark back in the relationship with the Canaries.
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It’s the sense of apathy I find the most disconcerting.
Granted, I’ve never been one to rant and holler at the players and management when things go wrong on the pitch.
However, in my 38 years of following Norwich City, at least half of those as a season ticket holder, rarely have I felt this disconnected.
Matchday always put a real spring in my step. Of late, attendance hasn’t quite become a chore, but it’s a worry I’m turning up as much out of habit than anything else.
City goals or victories aren’t being met with the same fervour as they once were. Those we concede and games we lose don’t seem to hurt as much.
Perhaps that’s what happens as you grow older.
Perhaps it’s just a blip caused by the current slump. Supporting a football club is akin to a relationship after all and all relationships go through peaks and troughs.
But this feels like something more. Those near four decades have brought plenty of downs – but they haven’t left that same sense of despondency as there is now.
And I’m clearly not the only one to feel this way.
Judging by the conversations around me at Carrow Road, the chats I have with fellow supporters or the discussions on social media, many feel the fizz has gone very flat. Several long-term fans appear to be voting with their feet.
And that must surely have set alarm bells ringing within the corridors of power at Carrow Road – even amongst those who appear to possess super-strong levels of self-belief in the work they do at the club?
Most reading this will know why these feelings have surfaced amongst many. That combination of two bad seasons, poor signings, bad managerial decisions, dull football and a growing rift between supporters and the board. It doesn’t need spelling out any more than that.
However, as far as my own funk is concerned, I don’t think the club is the only factor. The ever-growing chasm between the haves and have-nots at the top level of British football has caused it to lose some appeal.
With Norwich seemingly destined to bounce between the leagues on repeat, and unable to conjure up a decent cup run, I’ve been questioning what the realistic target is for a team like ours – and whether that is enough to keep the magic alive.
When it came to deciding whether to renew our two family season tickets, it was only the combination of habit and the fact my two children’s love for the game is growing, which swung it in the club’s way.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
So what needs to happen to put the sparkle back in the misfiring relationship between club and fans?
Of course, it has to begin on the pitch. Get it right on the field and all of the debates around ownership, media relationships, fan engagement quickly become background noise.
City fans crave success, but I think most are sane enough to realise this isn’t guaranteed, it’s harder than ever to come by in the modern football world and there are many clubs of similar size to Norwich who are fighting over the same scraps.
However, what I think most Canaries do expect, is a certain style of football, played in a certain way.
There aren’t many clubs in this country for whom the mere mention of their name leads to instant recognition of a style of play.
Norwich are one of them. For as long as I’ve followed the club it’s been known as a passing club, trying to play a free-flowing, attractive style of football.
We’ve got the likes of Ken Brown, Dave Stringer, Mike Walker, and more recently Paul Lambert and Daniel Farke, to thank for that.
And while to some it may seem quaint and naïve to hold on to this as a badge of honour – to me it generates an immense sense of pride. It still matters.
There appear to be many people at the club fixated on creating ‘Brand Norwich City’ through all manner of subjects that barely relate to what happens on the pitch.
The irony being that Norwich City has one of the strongest brands going. Our name already means something to people. Our colours make people hark back to great goals, great football and great entertainment.
What stronger brand is there than that?
However, during the last two years, those characteristics have been in short supply. There’s been no obvious style of play, little free-flowing football and a scarily small amount of entertainment.
Of course, I want results.
I want promotion to the Premier League (at least I think I do). I want an FA Cup run. And I want club stability.
However, I also want to be entertained.
I want to watch an attractive style of football, even if it means that sometimes we’ll come out on the wrong side of a 4-3 defeat. At least that would be a game worth remembering.
I want to watch hard-working, passionate players giving their all for the crest.
I want hungry talent plucked from the lower leagues and given the chance to shine.
I want raw but promising youngsters from the academy to be given a chance and thrown in at the deep end.
All of the things which this club is and should be famous for.
Above all, I want my Norwich City back.
Part 2: When three became two. Was this the moment it started to go wrong behind the scenes?
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David is chief executive of the Norfolk Community Law Service charity.
Hi David, you certainly speak for me. Firstly I have renewed my season ticket for the same reason, My two granddaughters have shared it since Farke was sacked, I went to the first two home games under Smith, and decided I couldn’t stomach it anymore. Enter two young girls who both play football, live and breathe it. They have enjoyed going – don’t get me wrong, they can now watch and analyse it and all I am left with is regret that they never saw Farkeball.
Your two main points tie in with each other, yes, we do expect a certain type of football. Whether as a group of fans, we have been spoilt in the past (Stringer and Walker), that we cannot accept anything else,
I’m not sure but I want to see matches like the home games re Forest and Millwall, those coming back from being 3-0 down, the 25 flowing passes, the technical brilliance of players who know their role and how to win. We have long forgotten how to win.
Since Farke was sacked, fans have argued with each other, found reasons for and against that dismissal, and the PR (or not) coming out of the club via Webber and his underlings has been poisonous. These two factors have combined, in my opinion, to give the apathy, non-connection (and anger in my case) that prevails today. Wagner seems an affable enough guy but his close association with Webber isn’t winning back any fans disillusioned with the change in style and lack of challenge for promotion.
Still, I guess the club don’t care much about what we think. It’s either all our fault or they’ll point out that a record number of people have renewed. Why have we renewed other than in hope (or to keep the family connection to the club going), Maybe we’re hoping for a miracle and that Attanasio will dispel the gloom and take us on a rollercoaster ride again. I do hope so.
Jane, a heartfelt reply to an excellent article. I‘am a Canary supporter since Noah was a lad and my family, friends and I all share the same views. Well said the pair of you and all the other supporters who write their concerns.
So many of us going for the same reason, I have renewed to be with my daughters and see them, it’s our time together. It doesn’t have anything to with the football.
I definitely think that the recruitment this summer probably makes or breaks Webber’s Norwich career from here on in. If he gets it right again and we have a good run, he’s remembered as a good sporting director who had some bad seasons, if it goes horribly wrong again, he’s a poor appointment that had a couple of lucky seasons to get us up. We definitely need to bring the flowing football back and Wagner does seem to have the right attitude, although I think the tactics need tweaking. We need a left-footed Onel type of direct winger to play on the right and a CDM to cover the Skipp role because I think the only CDM we have lacks a yard of pace sadly. Also think our attack has looked severely disjointed this season but I think the constant chopping and changing probably at least partly caused this issue
I gave up my season ticket back in the 80’s for a number of reasons, working overseas, live in Lancashire being the main two.
I have meet and had great chats with city supporters all over the world and the feeling was its a club we’re proud to follow some who sre still in touch says that feeling has gone 26 years of mediocrity
Great stuff Dave, I think you speak for many of us with that piece!
I am like you David realistic.
But if Brentford, Brighton, Wolves and Fulham can do it in the EPL it is something for us all to strive for.
I agree with you it is now all about the haves and have nots. A few years ago Lambert/Culverhouse and Chris Hughton kept us in the Premier League. It is obvious now that with our present resources that cannot be achieved.
And the present malaise has so much to do with the two most recent Premier League seasons.
It wasn’t all to do with just getting relegated on both occasions, but it is and was about how we got relegated. They were truly abysmal efforts. Caveats (Covid, injuries) for the first but not the second.
So many points away from our nearest opponent, losing game after game and abandoning Farkeball because in truth we could no longer afford it, those players were just too expensive. Add that to losing our Head of Recruitment it was no surprise to see what happened.
But we all must have ambition, for our team to play at the highest level. And you are right we have been seen as a good footballing team for most of my lifetime. We need to get that back.
When I went regularly in the late Seventies, Eighties and Nineties we had a team to be proud of, beating the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and finishing higher in the league than them on occasions.
Youngsters, Players from lower leagues and foreign players must be scouted in a mixture of Stringer/ Lambert/ Farke to get back to what we basically are a really good footballing side.
Sadly I cannot see that happening with the present majority shareholders holding power.
Time for Delia to move aside. Nothing lasts forever.
I only renewed as it is time I love spending the time with my adult son, we’ve sat in the same seats for 20 years since he was 8.
The last 2 season have been some of the worst I’ve ever endured, up there with the worst of Glen Roeder, Chris Houghton, Peter Grant…..
If we retain the same club leadership structure I really fear next season will be a disaster
I’m afraid your feelings towards the game and the club aren’t unique.
Millions of fans of historic and now modern day failing clubs feel the same disconnect.
What’s typical is the continuous reference to the past and there lies the problem. Football in the past was a different business. What was successful then is in the archives, gone, outdated. Dragging up references to how ‘we’ did and what a team we were ! means zero, only for the promoters who need to sell a nostalgic dream and try and keep the interest.
An example, I used to shop in the 70s in Woolworths, what a shop, brilliant! actually it wasn’t, it was horribly out dated and subsequently it went down the pan.
There’s plenty of Woolworths in the footballing world none of them in the Prem. One or two ride their luck in there but most have huge funding and the clubs have the finger on the pulse, the result is great teams who are playing such good football it makes watching championship football (and lower) almost unwatchable for the paying punter.
How many times would you buy sandwich from Tesco if they made you sick especially when there’s several shops selling better sandwiches ( maybe more expensive) without leaving the house?
Football is an entertainment business, for the paying fan that’s the point of it.
But success now comes with how much is invested tag and that figure will continuously rise to the point clubs who are on the slippery slide in the wrong direction (championship) have very little going for them to engage a fan base..
you won’t win anything with kids was the famous Hansen saying, he was correct more so now than ever, apart from one exception (one of the biggest clubs on the planet)
It’s the nature of the modern world business beast that’s taken game over.. Fantastic if you’re Man city, Newcastle not so good if you’re a Wigan , Huddersfield etc etc fan.
Poor football, failure and no hope is difficult to follow and engage.
One thing that isn’t of debate, this next recruitment window will. either make or break the club or the fan base.
Working towards ‘ brand Norwich City’ with little success. I like many of the Norwich diaspora have had to accept that when NCFC get a mention the phrase ‘Delia’s club’ is one of the first comments you here.
Any member will tell you one of the most advertised things is Delia’s Canary Catering.
Does anyone else worry that this Friday’s Press Engagement with Mr Webber could go the way of Glenn Roeder’s ‘I must have missed your tenure as England manager’ AGM moment?
Whether or not you want him here (SW) we’d all like to hear from him, I’m just not sure it’s in his nature to show contrition and eat a slice or so of humble pie. I fear one prickly question and the drawbridge will go up.
Then the whole opportunity to get everyone back on the ‘same page’ will be gone.
You all renewed because you love it really – you know you do 😍