It’s not the best-kept secret in Norwich City circles that our erstwhile-ish Sporting Director, Stuart Webber, has had itchy feet for quite a while now and when the news dropped of his resignation on Tuesday it didn’t really come as that much of a surprise.
Tuesday lunchtime saw NCFC Official [who else would be first with the news?] release a brace of statements, one of which quoted Webber himself and the other Delia Smith. Mutual respect was shown from both sides, and under any normal circumstances us supporters might well have shrugged their shoulders, agreed that the decision suited all parties and, well, moved on.
MFW reaction to the news was rapid. Gary G fired off an overview of Webber’s six years at City early that afternoon and Andy H followed up the next morning with a piece considering what might be expected of our next Sporting Director – and what indeed that person may expect from us.
Having read said articles with great interest, I thought that both contained a line that I very much appreciated:
- To us it’s a passion. To him [Webber] it was a job – Gary
- Norwich City. It’s never boring. – Andy
As almost always on MFW, readers’ comments varied from relatively placid observations to those who expressed themselves in a far more vigorous fashion. No naming on this occasion but you know who you are! 
I heartily agree with those who decried what seems to be a policy of recruiting anybody and everybody who has recently been a failure at Huddersfield Town, from goalkeeping coach Paul Clements to recent Sporting Director Leigh Bromby, who coincidentally signed on for three months on loan at City until he was injured after just five forgettable appearances back in 2003.
To all those of that persuasion: Neil Warnock is the Terriers’ manager now and bloody well deserves to be. On merit.
The guy who delighted our readership by conjuring the mental image of a certain football club joint majority shareholder with their buttocks embedded in a hole in a wall in a vain attempt to stop the Carrow Road fortress falling down deserves to be named. So ta Chris – that image took some coping with, believe me!
As ever I’ve enjoyed speaking with my usual crew over the last few days, this time on the topic of Webber’s legacy to the virtual exclusion of all other footy-related matters, apart from a collective horror at seeing the cost of a PL first team shirt for 2023-24 rise to one whole penny under eighty, yes eighty quid. This would cost two adults and two children nearly £250 to collectively show their loyalty on the beach this summer!***
Alex B, Bernie, Cutty, and I have decided that there are many questions to be answered, but few of them will ever be addressed by either the Club itself or the local media, and this is roughly what we came up with, beginning with the discrepancies in timing.
The Club introduces Webber’s resignation with: “Webber informed the club’s joint majority shareholders, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones, of his decision at the turn of the year.”
Delia [for it was she] begins hers with: “When Stuart came to our home in early March to inform us he wanted to leave at the end of his contract we were devastated.”
Is Mr Holmes in residence, Mrs Hudson?
On being informed old Sherly had buggered off to Baskerville Hall for a few days we popped into a nearby Baker Street boozer and had a go at solving what would come to be known as The Riddle of the Self-Perpetuating Sporting Director ourselves. We worked it out that at the turn of the year Webber had made up his mind he was going – and then went on to appoint David Wagner as head coach.
Hmmm.
- Was Wagner told that Webber was leaving, or did he only find out on Tuesday?
- Was Wagner part of the cover-up and knew of Webber’s intentions all along?
- Were people like Tom Smith and Michael Foulger told and told to keep schtum?
- How did Webber, Delia, and MWJ manage to keep this secret until June 13, 2023?
- And what was Mark Attanasio’s involvement in all these shenanigans – if any?
Whichever of these versions of events is actually true, one thing has been proven – that those good folks who claim to have a little bit, not a lot but a little bit, of insider knowledge that they like to titillate us with from time to time were either sworn to secrecy on this issue or knew bugger all about it because they weren’t considered worthy of the knowledge. And I know which of these two scenarios is the more likely.
This led us neatly to the Case of the Yankee Dollar.
A quick chat via Seanceskype with my old mucker Harry Houdini helped us along the way.
He was famous for debunking fraudulent mediums, was our Harry. He couldn’t say for sure, but some have suggested that the timing of the whole Mark Attanasio involvement and the never-ending elongation of the share issue is the deployment of smoke and mirrors at its finest.
Harry’s opinion was that there was no reason to support this theory, it was probably mistrust gone overboard and that we should keep the issues separate. He said he understood that extreme level of mistrust but in this case it was unwarranted.
Thanks Harry… oh, he’s gone. SeanceSkype is prone to technical problems as the connection can easily become interrupted.
Actually just before he left us, Harry suggested to me privately that those of us who think Delia and Michael are devastated by the loss of Webber because they won’t have anybody to face the flak on their behalf might just have a point.
We then got another beer in and discussed the consequences as they might apply to Zoe Webber but couldn’t really think beyond the fact that it will quite rightly be her choice whether to stay or go. She has worked separately from Stuart before and might well choose to do so again as is her absolute right.
No answers to that one either I’m afraid!
Inevitably we end with a tale that is yet to be told, aka Is Webber Lining Up Daniel Farke For Leeds?
To the best of my knowledge, Stuart Webber is still functionally both Sporting Director and a Board member at Norwich City Football Club. We knocked this one backwards and forwards for a while and agreed that while Webber and Daniel might well link up again in Yorkshire, there is nothing concrete thus far.
I really would hate a situation in which Leeds ended up as prime Norwich City [you can imagine a Webber-Farke promotion-chasing partnership backed by serious money] while we are left with the dregs of Huddersfield Town and the suicidal concept of continued fan funding.
And quite how Webber feels he can continue in post under these circumstances confounds me.
Delia and MWJ have known since either January [her own Club’s words, not mine] of Stuart Webber’s departure. Plans to replace him thus far have resulted solely in a change of job title for Neil Adams. In that respect, it could have been far worse as in Neeyul could have been anointed as the new Director of Sport.
At least they got that bit right.
The fact that we’re potentially [if Zoe W follows her husband] left with a board of Michael Wynne-Jones, Delia Smith, Tom Smith, and a Mark Attanasio we haven’t heard meaningfully from in quite a long time frightens me.
And I’ve had enough frights this year already.
*** Do not ever wear a home Norwich City top near any scrubland close to the sea in Mallorca. The cicadas might make all the noise, but there exists a particular species of flying pest that sees yellow and attacks on sight and en masse. This probably doesn’t happen on my local beach in Trimingham, but that doesn’t stop me from wearing any old away top there. These insects are scary with serious attitude and I will never again make any attempt whatsoever to provoke them.
This seems pretty much on the money to end the article with. It’s a very American song covered by a very British band – there could be something deeper in that, given fortune and a fair wind
Indeed way more questions than answers, we all thought that Webber had become distracted/disinterested sone tone ago, this was vehemently denied but proved right this week, as much as I will always try and defend Michael & Delia and accept what my club is…… It’s in an unholy mess in terms of all levels of management at the moment. Webbers legacy would’ve been a very credible one had he just gone during our second recent stab at the Premier League, now it’s up for debate sadly.
Hi Jinxy
I agree with you when you say that if Webber had quit at the time you suggest then he would have left with his head held high – and ironically I would probably been one of those bemoaning his departure if he had gone then!
Unfortunately for them, I’m pretty sure that I am not alone in thinking that Delia & MWJ have long outstayed their welcome but are in fact digging in for an even longer stay.
The debate will continue unfortunately, most likely at the expense of setting matters right on the pitch – and that is surely the most important concern for each and every one of us.
Cheers
Marty, I think with our Yank it‘s a case of softly softly catchy monkey, a stand up fight with Delia wouldn‘t help anyone, the arm wrestling continues with the prize pot still on the table. He will have a say in who replaces Webber which should bring some professional nounce to the proceedings, none of this Fred knows a fella he once worked with who is cheap and available. So the future‘s bright and full of promise, what can possibly go wrong?
Guten tag Mein Herr
Your fella Fred has had a lot to be responsible for over the last few years and that’s for sure and it’s certainly time his way of thinking is permanently binned off.
The last time we were in this type of position we had Ed Balls around to supply the nous and let’s face it, we desperately need a Chairman so his was a greater loss than I ever realised at the time.
Hopefully he might be able to offer a few pointers from afar, and even more hopefully Delia and MWJ might take good notice of him if he does.
Cheers
I find myself contemplating my views on Robert Chase from a lifetime ago and starting to think I judged him more than harshly. I do not doubt the commitment or genuine affection for NCFC from the current owners but as a club we have lurched from one crisis to another, seemingly with neither sufficient cash or vision to move on from Groundhog day. Without a change of ownership we are going nowhere. The jury is out on what kind of player Webber would sign if actually given money, tbh I’m happy not to ever find out if you were to compare 2018 v 2023 squad costs and quality. I can think of no other business that would allow a key member of staff to continue to shape its future having handed in his notice. Even tinpot operators like me have experienced the joys of gardening leave.
They exploded the myth of all being in it together throwing Daniel under the bus and replacing him with a cardboard cutout.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
Yet I put my hand in my pocket again for a season ticket.
Hi Kurt
I see where you’re coming from on Robert Chase. I was pretty active in the Chase Out days so must be careful not to appear a hypocrit but two things Chase had going for him were that firstly he [just like any decent builder] had an eye for a bricks and mortar investment and secondly he could be brutally honest.
The lack of both money and vision you highlight is a dangerous combination. The owners will not put any money in [every penny they loaned at the beginning has been repaid and not a single penny offered since] and, ostensibly at least, it seems like they know nothing whatsoever about the machinations of modern football.
Maybe Delia gets one up on Chase with mosr fans because on the surface she comes across as affable and caring 95% of the time whereas he possesed none of the *niceties* whatsoever and was a lot easier for supporters to target their resentment against!
Unfortunately the fact that supporters such as you, me and others too are talking of her in the same bracket as dear old Robert Chase should be worrying for Delia, but whether or not it actually concerns her is anybody’s guess.
Cheers – good comment.
The Chase Out campaign (which I also supported) existed, as you know, because we were dissatisfied with the situation on the pitch. We have done much, much worse under Delia. Her greatest achievement has been successfully convincing a significant number of supporters that mediocrity is the best we can hope for, and that she is the person to deliver it.
Unfortunately she has delivered it – in spades.
Hi Ali
Yes that’s a good way to look at it.
An aspiration to mediocrity. What an incentive that must be for everybody connected with the club to bust a gut in the cause of NCFC, hey?
Cheers
Webber and whoever succeeds him is a side show. Whoever replaces him will be stymied by our woefully inadequate owners inability to fund a championship side.
Since Lambert Delia has been a millstone round the clubs neck.
Despite four enormous pieces of luck in getting promotion with unknown or untried managers she has manage to repeat the same mistake of not selling the club to people who can fund the next step. Lambert was well aware of this and walked. Instead of criticising him fans should have seen the need for change at the top.
A decade later we are left with a team that needs rebuilding, a £60 million deficit and an owner who, despite this fact, keeps repeating the self funding mantra.
Time for Delia to give us all a break and sell up to one of the viable options the finance director spoke about at theAGM!
Hi John
I tried to keep focused on Webber rather than Delia in this article but you’re quite right – it always comes back to a lack of investment and despite the arrival of Mark Attanasio this is not going to change while her and MWJ remain in charge.
Despite reassurances on MFW from some quarters I remain open-minded about the impact of the upcoming share issue, with the Houdini sketch serving to illustrate that although we are urged to be patient by wiser heads that my own, patience has never been my long suit.
You would think some form of official update would have been forthcoming by now as Chaos reigns all around us. But no, live from Norwich, it’s the longest session of due diligence in football history.
I’ll have to speak with Harry again if this goes on for much longer as I’m not sure how long it will be before my feelings also turn to abject distrust.
Surely they can’t push this clarification back for much longer, can they?
Cheers
Hi Martin
Webber to Leeds is being shouted loud and clear with their appointment of Nick Hammond on a 3 month rolling contract till their annoited one is free to join them.
Will Farke be first in the door or will he step away knowing Webber could soon be his possible boss again has that trust gone ??
Over the years I’ve worked with many Leeds supporters and many more LOINERS that don’t support their local team and prefer Manchester, Liverpool or London clubs but they like to think just like some city supporters that they are in the we know what’s happening group.
Smoke and Mirror or just plain speculation who knows but Webber shouldn’t be anywhere near the recruitment process in his replacement or incoming players.
Conjecture is rife about city holding out for compo, but if he hand in his notice in the required time prior to his contract being renewed then surely he should have walked on the last day of that deal not still being in place.
Is it I’m a good boy not letting my previous employers struggle I’ll work on till my replacement is here then show him the ropes before I go and impress future bosses.
It’s all going to be a big brown mess and then you have Wagner looking in thinking were do I stand in all this.
MARK-A needs to put his gear over the parapet and let people know he’s involved or could it be Smith and Jones are still the majority share holders and he’s waiting for it all to crumble before he makes his move.
More questions and no answers.
Hi Alex
Yes the Nick Hammond situation does point that way, but what happens to Stuart Webber in the future would make for a whole new article – one that I’m not up for writing cos I’m not really bothered what he does from the second he finally hands his keys in.
In the meantime I’m not remotely suggesting he’ll do anything to sabotage what is left of any plan we might once have had, but I can’t get my head around the idea that he’s still here tbh. At any other club it would be *see ya later* or at the very kindest, a spell of gardening leave.
If Mark Attanasio leaves it much longer to make a comment or, heaven forbid, actually DO something, I’ll join the it’s just smoke and mirrors faction which s something I really don’t want to do.
I must admit though that as I said to John F [above] my patience is down to about 20% of capacity now, so for how much longer I’ll believe that Delia and MWJ are looking to relinquish overall control I’m really not sure.
Cheers
So Webber knew he was moving on when he appointed Wagner. The clock’s been ticking since March on his notice period. Of the 22 games since DS was sacked we did quite well P11 W6 D2 L3 then (after that wonderful win at Millwall) P11 W1 D4 L6 for the period over which Webber gave his notice to leave.
It seems asinine to me he has the luxury of working his notice when he clearly has lost belief. I imagine if anyone such as Leeds want him sooner they can fork out a bit of compo (though it’s not as if a new D of F brings instant results.) I would confiscate his mobile phone(s) and him agree not to go near any prospects or players contacted. They are OURS. Same with Zoe’s phone contacts.
Hi Roger
Asinine is the word!
One of my friends mentioned the compo issue but we gave up on that one as we [probably quite rightly] weren’t privy to the necessary details of Webber’s contract.
You make a good point concernin the contacts of Mr & Mrs Webber but whose intellectual property they are and exactly what version of the OSA [I know 🙂 ] signed in terms of confidentiality I am not too sure.
But whatever, can you imagine Webber doing his best for us if, and I stress IF, he knows he is on his way to Leeds?
The naievity of the current ownership is not only mind boggling it is downright bloody shoot-yourself-in-the-foot dangerous!
Cheers
Intellectual property is a term lightly applied to a couple of gold diggers isn’t it? :p Seriously; while I am employed and/or remunerated the ownership is clear. For company-provided phones especially and I am sure if my employer confiscated private mobile phones it would be up to the owner of said private phone to prove or disprove rightful ownership .of contacts. Especially duplicates …
Yes I guess you’re right about *intellectual property* – as you gathered it’s an area of commercial law that I know very little aboiut 🙂
What on earth is wrong with gardening leave? With a non optional no warning given Faraday cage for all current mobiles, locked up until school is out!
Monty Python advocated semaphore by day and an Aldis lamp by night…
In my view there are more negatives than positives regarding our Mr Webber. I am glad he is going and he should go now. I also worry about our ‘love in’ with the Terriers.
Hi Dorset
Yes, the Huddersfield connection is, to put it politely, unneccessary and unwanted.
Cheers
As much as I’m pleased Webber is leaving – and I’ve no doubt he’s pleased too – he’s leaving not so much a sinking ship, but one that cannot afford to be repaired. Whether the Attanasio’s look at Norwich as some sort of Super Sized Happy Meal or something more serious is still unclear.
Our two octogenarian majority shareholders who think you can run a football club without investment and simply use it as a cash strapped vanity project are still here, but have lost their ‘Tebbit’ figure in SW and one wonders how significant that will be.
Despite some fans who still think Delia & MWJ are the best thing since an Artic Roll, they must know that the game is almost up. Their whole tenure of trying to defy gravity in footballing terms has gone from being well meant to sheer perversity and despair.
Why do Norwich City always have to ‘do different’ because of the inadequacy of its owners?
The recent purchases have a real budget feel about them and we are back to the John Bond era of a ‘free here and a ’50K there’ with youth and the hope of a gem coming through it to keep the doomed self funding model alive. Webber wasn’t going to stick around for that.
While there is an end of era feel, we don’t have anything new. As a Norwich fan, you feel like you’re getting an orange every Christmas. Trouble is, for many of the hardcore Delia fans, that is all they want.
Hi IR
Norman Tebbit, Alastair Campbell, Michael Howard, Stuart Webber – there is *something of the night* about all of them!
I genuinely believe Delia does not think her race is run at all. While she is packing ’em in [I guess] at the jolly old restaurant and bar I’m sure she reckons all is good and we all just luuurve her. MWJ? Probably quite the reverse, but we’re never told what he thinks, for some reason I can’t readily put my finger on.
I would suggest that the perversity you mention has led to despair for many supporters – very few seem to be upbeat right now and it isn’t difficult to see why.
I can’t stand Arctic Roll, not even the chocolate one.
Cheers
Just to mention that Delia and Michael – yes, Delia and Michael – instigated the new share issue which will end their majority ownership. It’s not the final step, but surely the largest one, to their ceasing to be owners of Norwich City.
I’ve no insight into most of the questions you pose (a perfectly reasonable one is whether Stuart first spoke to them in January or March, for instance). But the bit I know about the new share issue doesn’t suggest anything untoward. I’m sure the administrative delays are as frustrating to the parties involved as to us.
Hi Stew
As I’ve said a few times [above] you and [from memory] Gary F have both advocated patience with the share issue and I took this on board to the point that I’m still believing it will come to pass as you have suggested.
Indeed I very deliberately kept this question away from the five key ones in the article as it is not directly involved with the Webber resignation, as such.
You must have a sound reason for believing all will come to fruition in the fullness and I am staying with you, with the caveat that with every passing day frustration is increasingly getting the better of me.
If you really want something to happen – and this I very much do – the quicker it is resolved the better – and this shows no signs of progressing right now.
Having said that, I’ve never suggested anything untoward is going on – I’m just desperate to hear that it’s all over and amicably resolved 🙂
Cheers
Hi Stewart
Charlton, Wigan and a couple of other clubs have changed hands in the time it’s taken for city to confirm a shares sale so do these other clubs have professional doing the legwork to get things completed while like the media it’s all done in house drive I would presume by Zoe Webber.
It just makes city more of a laughing stock with these matters taking so long to be completed.
The maybe Attanasio is having second thought or Delia is more concerned with getting her New Chef on board ??
Maybe the reasons for the unusually [I think that word’s appropriate in this case] long time this procedure is taking will be revealed by one or both parties jointly when it’s all over and completed?
I’ve just remembered that either Stew or Gary F pointed out a while ago that nobody involved can speak out before all is done and dusted.
The wait for clarification is really getting me down now because this is such a vital issue for the future of NCFC.
Webbers remit at any other club, particularly one su h as Leeds will be to produce as successful team as he can.
His remit at Norwich was to ensure the continued longevity of the ownership and their excruciating self funding crap.
As you succinctly put it, why do we have to do different because of the inadequacy of the owners?
Hi Chris
I still haven’t forgotten your NCFC parody of The Little Boy With His Finger In The Dyke – ugh 🙂
Cheers
Very good musings Martin.
Quite rightly to ask… what the devil is going on?
If the afore mentioned SW is on his way to Leeds United should he be in charge of the recruitment this season? In a word no. You can just imagine the the scene ala Wacky Races where Dick Dastardly meddles with an opponents car, well swop that for a football club.
I am not saying for one moment Stuart will be signing us dross all summer and then reporting back to his Leeds boss, all bald and stroking a white cat, saying “Mission Accomplished, that’s one club we don’t have to worry about”
But it doesn’t look good at all. This will have the more vociferous keyboard warriors among us having a field day if come October we are points and points behind Yorkshire’s finest.
I have got to admit I was astounded that SW admited on the internal media interview that self-funding wouldn’t work, that the principle had to change. I said on here that I hoped that Delia had given her okay to this as the truth of it was so obvious. But now I’m not so sure.
Just for a minute imagine you are SW, and that you have masterminded two great Championship wins and 2 absolutely dreadful EPL campaigns and that you know deep down in your heart that the job you had been given to do in the EPL was completely impossible because of this misguided reliance on self funding, and you knew your time was up, wouldn’t you get across to all your mega critics that it wasn’t ALL your fault.
I know I would.
The trouble is people lie because it is in their interests, but once that interest changes perhaps it allows for a more truthful answer.
Take dear old Boris, were there parties at no 10 Downing Street ( the address with the most Covid related penalty notices in the UK😂) during lockdown…yes…was it possible to miss the fact that they were taking place…no especially as he bloody well lives there.
He would have to be Mr Magoo not too and deaf as well, so he deliberately lied to Parliament, because it was in his own interest.
Now people are leaving, or been sacked the truth is out, whatever the blustering fool says.
Now we come to Delia, now her force-field in SW has gone what will she say? Will she echo SW assertion that self funding has to change? And where does that leave her and Michael? Interesting times ahead.
I agree with you Martin and I am glad to see Neil Adams is not going to be the next Sporting Director at the club, but for different reasons. I think our Nuyel would do a good job in truth but for his own piece of mind and sanity I am glad he won’t be subject to the abuse that would go with that position.
Hi Tim
Nuyul is part and parcel of the problem, a movable piece of furniture give him a title and let him find something to do around the place.
Loans Manager was possibly most success job, but employing city old boys just hasn’t worked out since Dave Stringer, mostly they live the past and have little if no experience anywhere else so they continue with methods that are out dated.
Employing Webber was a hope for change but Delia reined that back in with her continuing with the self-funding model and until they leave stage left city will continue to stagnate.
Do you remember the nightmare of the short-lived *dream team* that was Crook, Butterworth and Rob newman?
Yeah that was an horrendous plan on the cheap again
It was nothing to do with Stuart Webber, but I can think of a couple of board members who are still around that approved said *plan*.
I just think Alex that Neil can see a player, when asked by Ray Waller at the end of one long ago season if he could bring in one championship player he didn’t hesitate…Wes Hooligan he replied.
I hate this “jobs for the boys” thing we get from Delia.
She once asked the London City supporters “why don’t you like Bryan”
( Gunny) they replied they loved Gunny the player but Gunny the manager was absolutely dreadful….. Colchester (H) was around the corner.
But Neil Adams to me is different. He did a great job to beat all the Super Clubs to win the Youth Cup, his record in the five league games before he resigned was won 3 drew 1 lost 1.
But to his credit he realised it wasn’t for him and did the honourable thing.
The article in the pinkun yesterday highlighted again the disaster that is Brexit for the club signing European players.
I feel we need someone who knows the British game, and Adams certainly does that.
Tim
The new rule were clubs can sign 4 players that are short of the points to qualify will make a difference but it doesn’t say if its 4 a season, window or a set time limit.
We will have to agree to disagree over Adams maybe he would have been more successful if he wasn’t seen a one fit all positions andaDelia go to guy to fill them.
Yes the Youth Cup triumph was just that – a triumph – and wll leave Neil Adams with a unique achievement for us all to remember him by when he retires cos I think the money men have increased the gulf even more since then. Haven’t they Chelsea?
Hi Tim
I tried imagining I was Stuart Webber but I broke off the experiment when I didn’t find myself in a very nice place – I’m past all that dressing up sharply just to go to work malarkey!
Seriously I agree with your views on Webber not wanting the wider world to believe that it’s *all my fault*, especially as most of us can palpably see that it bloody well isn’t!
Everybody knows where the problem is, but while the perpetrators of *fan funding* and their dwindling band of fanboys and fangirls continue to rule the roost we ramain in the depths of deep doo-doo.
With SW no longer there as Fan Club Organiser it will become inreasingly more difficult for Delia in her mission to change TOWIE to TOWIN, cos if the Only Way Is Norwich, why haven’t the owners of the other 91 Clubs adopted *fan funding* yet?
As for Neeyul I don’t actually disagree with your thoughts there either.
He has been Delia and MWJ’s *shove the broom up my derriere and I’ll sweep the floor too* for far too long and does indeed need a break from all the hassle. My problem with him as Sporting Director is more of the *haven’t we been here before* ilk.
Interesting times?
Oh yeah.
Cheers
I think you have to be careful giving SW a free pass on recruitment. Compare and contrast spending v quality 2018-2021/22 would you really give 100 million to “that guy” ?
Reasons why I wouldn’t let him near £100 million are:
Tzolis
Rashica
Hayden
Ramsay
There are several more but that’s enough to be getting on with for now 🙂
Webber knows now that the self funding model doesn’t hack it and is naive, Tried, failed. Rich owners, a large natural home crowd (see Aston Villa, Newcastle, Leeds, Everton dare I say) is where it’s at. Survival on the margin is possible (B&HA) but you still need a rich (ish) owner and some clever recruitment/sales. We have not got the former never did have and have lost our clever recruitment team. About the only thing we still have is a reputation for letting young talent rise to the first team. If I were a young ambitious footballer that would weigh. Look at Maddison, Godfrey, Buendia and soon Aarons and Omobamadele.
Recruitment for the Academy and slightly beyond, particularly the crucial 17-20 age bracket, is fraught with top level competition but that is one area where we seem to be holding our own with Bromley’s Fisher in the house, Forsyth from Hamilton done and dusted bar the shouting and the possibility of Sam Johnston arriving from Motherwell.
Quite how good any of these might prove to be is as yet unknown
Well, we did get one question answered, less than 12 months after it was put forth…
“Do you really want this job Mr Webber?”
Hi Dave
MFW Quote of the Day, uncontested Award Winner!
Cheers
🍑😉
A superb piece Martin and some well crafted and thought out replies.
The c0ncern around the City is palpable and growing.
Something has to give. Carrying on this circus will be massively damaging in thw long term to the club.
Thanks Chris – appreciated.
Something has to give indeed and yes, the growing concern around the City can be almost literally felt.
That’s how it seems to me also.
Cheers
Rumour
You list of flops on the wing
Rashica Kosovo Albanian
Tzolis Greek
So now according to some papers we are in a tussle with a few Championship Clubs for a 24 year old Bulgarian called Georgi Rusev. Who had a short spell in Spain at Elche that didn’t go well but back home for CSKA 1948 he scored 7 and create 15 chances.
Ipshite and Watford are 2 of the clubs but no fee quoted
Elche finished rock bottom of La Liga by a country mile and Rusev could barely get in a side like that so there must be something about him that didn’t work in Spain.
I realise Rusev is about five years older but there seem to be elements of Rashica floating about here. CSKA 48 are an army side and I’ve heard that dealings with clubs like this can present their own unique problems!
I read all the comments with interest. A common theme is that a self sustaining club is not viable in the modern game. A rich sugar daddy is what’s required and that will solve the problem. Yes it worked for Leicester, but they are paying the price now. Everton have reaped nothing from the massive financial investment. Chelsea finished on par with us in their respective league.
SW was correct when he recently stated 2/3 bad decisions and you’re in administration.or the Vauxwagon Bananarama league at best.
Nobody mentioned either (I believe) that our manager could walk away in January More potential instability the Huddersfield back room staff left running the team!!
I want it to be better, but I don’t want a murderous faceless regime as backers and I believe building the infrastructure is critical to avoid having builders waiting on site to see if the last playoff penalty goes in.
It can always be better, but there are thousands of fans up and down the country who can confirm it can be a lot worse.
SW and DF at Leeds. If we fear that we might as well pack up now.
Hi Ian
That’s a very well reasoned comment if I might say so and your thoughts on developing the infrastructure will be shared by many.
Although they could be accused of short-sightedness and thinking only of the now, many supporters are currently far more concerned about the quality of the players on the pitch than the quality of the pitch itself..
In better footballing times I would endorse your views but these are not good times and I’m quite serious when I say that I reckon the team itself must be prioritised to the exclusion of just about everything else until we can get back to where we were in early 2020.
It’s a shame it has come to this because I too like to plan for the future but before we can do that we must atone for the recruitment sins of the recent past.
And that under fan funding will not be by any means easy.
Cheers – good comment.
As we have always argued Martin, getting new, shiny richer owners is no guarantee for success as Ian says above. And despite my disagreements with our present incumbents I actually agree with him.
However there is a but, a big massive one. Self-funding has now proven over 5 seasons here at Norwich City FC that it hasn’t a chance of succeeding.
Yes you may build a team to go up on a shoestring, you may even build another team to go up the season after a truly dismal relegation season that followed that Glorious surprising one winning one.
But go down again and try it for a third time, forget it. This season despite having “supposedly” the best squad in the championship we finished 12th (Shades of on loan to the Endsleigh) … say no more.
The players were scarred, disillusioned, bereft of confidence and as brittle as hell.
1-0 down…. oh well that’s it for another Saturday.
So we have to take the risk of new owners if we want to move forward as a club. The alternative is that if we continue with Michael and Delia at the helm sooner or later League One becomes a reality.
If SW really felt we had a chance of going up next season you can bet your bottom dollar Stuart would want to be here, to stick it to us fans among other things.
So that’s Teemu, Kieran and Stuart who don’t fancy us for promotion next season. More than a bit worrying.
Wearing those *on loan to the Endsleigh T’s turned out to be one hell of an error of judgement and tempting fate wasn’t in it.
Something tells me we won’t be in the bookies’ top six at the start of the season are the real, concrete one at the end of it!
I think that when even some of Delia’s historically most vocal supporters start to waver – or remain uncharacteristically completely silent – then anybody but her would get the message.
Not sure FEAR is the right word if DF and SW take over at Leeds.
Over the years wevseen many players, managers move on to big clubs.
As supporters seeing those two taking over up north could just show us what might have been possible with proper financing not on a broken shoe string budget
The question *how good might Webber have been with REAL money to spend* was never going to be answered at NCFC.
We might get the answer when/if he goes to Leeds, by which time it will only be a matter of passing interest and nothing more.
As I understand it, wagner is on a 12 month rolling contract. He can neither walk out or be sacked without compensation in January as he will always have 12 months of his contract remaining.
I think that’s how it works too.
I find in quite telling that everybody is talking up Daniel Farke aligning with Webber at Leeds while there’s not efen the merest hint of a suggestion that he would want to take Wagner with him instead.
Which says more about Wagner than it does about Webber – or, indeed, Farke.
“Vanity project”, oh dear, I think projects don’t last 20 years.
Which *vanity project* are you referring to, Mike?
Lets get down to brass tacks!
If you were a sporting director would you apply for job at a club which said in the outline.
“We are 60m in Debt”
“No money for transfers unless player sales”
“We want you to get us in the Premier league by the end of next season”
To me that is like asking a computer programmer to do his job without a keyboard?
The other issue to take into account is who are we getting in, when the budget is limited? No doubt we will scorch the earth to find the cheapest option?
Knowing Delia we could end up with her catering manager?
Until the Stowmarket clowns go forget it, the revolving door of disappointment has already started to turn with pace.
To be honest judging by reports from the US I don’t believe Mark Attanasio to be the best option either? He is also regarded as a man with short arms, long pockets.
This club needs a serious investor with money to burn!
Hi Greg
For starters I’d suggest that getting down to brass tacks with our ownership can often tend to be a bit difficult in itself – one of them, probably Delia, admitted in the media not so long ago that they prevaricate too much!
Many of us will have formed the same opinion as yourself about MA and his Jack Benny-style arms and pockets.
I think to a large extent we are reduced to the popularity of MA being created by a *he must be better than what we’ve had for the last 27 years* mentality, a kind of popularity by default if you like.
And that is sad for everybody concerned..
Cheers