The keyword to emerge after the midweek defeat in Swansea was ‘average’.
City now look an average team with mostly unexceptional players who are now playing a nondescript brand of football. (I say ‘now’ because a month ago we were all quite enthused by what we were seeing).
But after yesterday’s afternoon of disappointment in Coventry, I fear, if we’re being totally honest, that we can add the way the team is being coached to the list of things that fall into the poor to mediocre range.
Okay, we still earned a point and if anyone had offered us one before kickoff we would probably have taken it, but there was so much wrong with yesterday’s performance that it’s hard to know where to start.
Against a Coventry team that itself is unexceptional – especially after selling their two best players from last season – we found ourselves dominated, bullied, and thoroughly outplayed. Given the paucity of performance, it’s even hard to imagine how re-introducing Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent into this team will make it discernably better.
Both are decent strikers who will add teeth to an attack that is currently toothless, but neither will help solve the problem of how to successfully work the ball through the thirds by passing the ball accurately to players in yellow shirts.
Right now it feels as if David Wagner’s reliance on “structures” has been at the expense of that most fundamental footballing principle. We no longer pass the ball well. Possession is coughed up all too readily and that ability we had in the opening weeks of the season of winning it back also seems to have disappeared
And to think how good we were at keeping the ball in those prime years of Farkeball, which of course we’ll be reminded of when football resumes again on October 21 after the international break when Daniel’s rejuvenated Leeds arrive at Carrow Road.
If the last two games are anything to go by, that could be a painful experience.
Judging by the reported reaction of the away fans yesterday, patience is starting to wear very thin, and a mauling by Leeds – not beyond the realms of possibility – could quite quickly return us to that place we found ourselves in at the back end of last season.
Wagner’s attempts at squad rotation have a basis in logic given the volume of games in a short space of time, but the options he chooses appear increasingly erratic. Part of this comes down, of course, from having a squad that is limited in quality but from the outside looking in the thinking appears as muddled and a bit panicky.
How many of us expected Liam Gibbs to provide a potent foil for Adam Idah yesterday?
Who expected Przemysław Płacheta to provide a consistent threat down our left wing?
The lack of an obvious plan also extends to City’s increasingly painful attempts at shifting the ball through the thirds or, to be more precise, their painful efforts at shifting the ball out of the defensive third.
Wagner’s Plan A (for which there is no Plan B) is clearly to invite the high press and then have Kenny McLean drop in as, effectively, a third centre-back to help start the ball rolling by finding an angle to break that initial press. From there, in that space behind we should be able to launch attacks.
That’s the theory but it doesn’t work. Teams have sussed that if you don’t engage Shane Duffy, Ben Gibson, or McLean and, instead, cut off any clear routes into the midfield then they have nowhere to go.
None of it is helped by the clear reluctance of Duffy, in particular, to have the ball at his feet. Teams are quite happy to stand off and let him have it in the knowledge he has nowhere to go. Gibson, once renowned for his nice left foot, now struggles similarly.
The result, when we have the ball in that defensive third, is akin to a standoff. It’s painful. And then on the odd occasion when we do find an angle for a pass the imprecision and sloppiness kicks in.
But this is not new. Since Rotherham (a) we have looked anything but a good side, or one capable of sustaining a push for the top six.
I didn’t expect to be writing this as soon as early October, but the echoes of last season are already right there. And this is supposedly a squad that Wagner calls his own.
Yet we find ourselves with a team that relies on players who previous head coaches have deemed not good enough. Placheta and Onel Hernandez (who didn’t feature yesterday) have both had spells away from the club on loan, yet are now players we turn to to help sustain a promotion push,
But this hole in which we find ourselves is not just of Wagner’s making. This is the long-term upshot of having to sell your best players and replace them with bargains.
I really hope that Ben Knapper is our knight in shining armour. Our new sporting director, who starts work on November 27, will have quite the to-do list when he arrives if the current direction of travel continues, albeit it appears he will be merely shadowing Stuart Webber until the January transfer window.
As with everything Norwich City, the appointment and introduction of a new SD has to be done with ultra-caution and at the pace of a snail, much like the three-year holding pattern we are in before Mark Attanasio is permitted to make a decision of his own.
All of the above is exacerbated, of course, by Ipswich pulling up trees near the top of the table. That, in truth, is every bit as painful as City’s attempts to play the ball out from the back.
But, we’ve had a good run. The only option is to suck it up and take it on the chin.
In the meantime, we stumble along awaiting the next crisis.
Fun eh?
A lot of what you say I agree with m8, but take away the best two strikers any club in this division has (even lower Premier League) any team will struggle. Add to that Nunes, Sorenson, Sainz, your best centre half in big Grant, and you have had the heart of any team pulled apart!
Keep in touch till Christmas by any means possible, then when players come back maybe we can have a moan if nothing changes.
Still think them down the road are getting every bounce and every big call – it will change and injuries will kick in at some point! Oh and there is the Manchester Utd manger debate (pity it didn’t stay 1-0 yesterday)
Hi Thommo, I agree about losing our two strikers but lets face it one was just about over the hill and the other one was bang average – the real problem is there is no cover for them. Idah isn’t the answer; Sorenson hasn’t been able to nail down a spot the three years or so he’s been here; Grant Handly is a work horse, granted, but has been a big part of our defensive failure for several years; Nunes flatters to deceive – started off well last season then proceeded to go backwards – and Sainz hasn’t played a meaningful game for anybody to find out what he’s worth.
The club, Thommo, has been on a downward spiral for the past couple of years or more and saddled with a debt burden they are not going to get any better anytime soon. Webber has jumped ship leaving someone else to sort out the mess and left us with freebies and geriatrics to wave him goodbye.
Finally the Tractor Boys have got the jump on us and already out of sight – blind freddie can see that – and you’re dreaming if, with a full compliment, you think we’ll challenge for a top six place this season.
I wholeheartedly agree this struggle is to be expected given the injuries to Sargent and to a lesser extent Barnes. To explain the precipitous drop in form, the loss of the driving force of the team is a much better hypothesis than conjecturing Wagner was good but is now figured out, coincidentally happening when injury struck.
For me, this season, Sargent was the best player on the side. He was holding up the ball well, he was linking up with onrushing attackers, he ran all day, and he was the leader of our press. And he was scoring. He has clearly worked very hard to improve his technical abilities, and the results were evident. It’s heartbreaking that he suffered serious injury at the peak of his game.
Barnes was pleasantly surprising with his play, but even more important to this side was his leadership and character. On most teams I would find his antics distracting and irritating, but this team has a distinct tendency to collapse in on itself, and regardless of method Ashley Barnes was our leader to prevent that. I have a new appreciation of what he brings to a side, and this is a team that sorely needs him.
The author suggests that our strike pair wouldn’t solve the rest of our woes, but I respectfully disagree. How many incisive passes and runs were set up by Sargent holding up the ball, laying it off to a forward moving player, who would then pick out a pass to a team on the move? It is so much easier picking a pass when the team is driving forward creating space and options. Imagine being Sara now receiving the ball and looking ahead. Teammates stationary and unthreatening, the defense waiting and smiling… would you like a turnover, or to play it backwards? So of course his quality of play has declined, and likewise for the others.
I’d even argue Sargent helped prevent our trademark Norwich brand calamitous errors. Players farther back could always play it long to him, knowing he’d chase every lost cause and win a fair share of them. And having that better option prevented some of the ill advised passes we are seeing now.
I’ve belabored the point already; but with a far more effective press, suffice it to say our soft midfield and vulnerable back line were greatly helped.
So without Sargent it has gone south, and now Barnes is injured too and unable to provide spiritual or comedic relief. And predictably here we are, the squad and supporters circling the abyss of the black hole once again.
I offer no opinion about whether our team should be constructed this way, but the difference in performances before and after the striker pair were lost are no coincidence in my book. I hope we can muddle through until they return. I don’t see any of our current forward options offering much in the interim, although I hope I will be wrong, and am further discouraged that I now question Idah’s heart in addition to his ability.
Hi Gary. Sad to say this was very predictable.
It would appear that Wagner can elicit a serious big bang impact at the very beginning but this soon fizzles out and exposes his deficiencies cruelly.
This season has been a complete mirror image of the last, the only difference being the personnel involved. The mass recruitment of older, wiser heads with a bit of steel to replace Pukki, Krul, Rashica, Cantwell, Aarons, Omobamidele, Mumba, Dowell et al has been shown to be budget-driven downsizing. Nothing more.
The inexplicable decision to award the bumbling idah a 5-year-deal looks more bizarre with every passing game. On Wednesday at Swansea he appeared more concerned with the possible painful effects of heading an open goal into the net than scoring and winning is the game. Sargent or Barnes would have scored without a second thought. Likewise he did the same again yesterday – a match-winning tap in missed because he won’t put his head in and lacks a killer instinct.
To think that we are stuck with idah and Wang for the foreseeable future is mind numbing.
While Wagner would argue that he has been unlucky with injuries, to a degree he is correct, he has been extremely fortunate to benefit from the rise of Rowe. Without Rowe we would be flirting with another relegation. Shameful.
The frustration that emerged yesterday is a symptom of the total shitshow the club has become during the last 2-3 seasons. It’s hard to see anything other than a repeat on the 21st, when Farke will obviously relish rubbing it in.
Its clear that Wagner’s time is up but with Webber here until late November he will stagger on until the poisonous atmosphere and declining league position forces the inevitable. That and the need for the cook to find yet another sacrificial offering to assuage the discontent and prevent questions being asked.
If any of the individuals involved at the top of the club believe that this farcical circus can continue for another 3 years, fiddling away like a bunch of Neros while Rome burns and they fanny about they are sorely mistaken.
The scenes in the away end yesterday are indicative of a total breakdown in the relationship between team, club and support. If allowed to fester things will spiral.
Do the right thing.
A five year contract doesn’t mean the go-to scapegoat will be here for another five years. Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t Delia’s or Idah’s fault, that’s down to the stupidity of the individuals
The definition of a scapegoat is a blameless bearer of fault on behalf of the true guilty party.
The word is misused to represent a person criticised for being culpable.
Idah is not a scapegoat.
scapegoat
/ˈskeɪpɡəʊt/
noun
1.
a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
No mention of blameless but you are saying he cost us a win by missing a chance in a game we lost 2-1
I’m saying at the time the goal would have killed swansea off. At the very least we would have drawn the game.
Further to the scapegoat question, the original biblical reference is in fact a totally blameless goat.
And to think that we’re lucky enough to have been in the PL for 2 of the last 5 seasons. Would we be in a worse situation had we kept faith with Farke?
Other than HS2 has anything else wasted so much money in recent years…
A clear out is of the greatest necessity but all we long suffering supporters get is continued inertia.
O T B C
Agreed. 3 years of solid decline is far too long. New broom needed
Webber sacked Farke to save himself. Delia can’t cope without wonderful Stu. This is a football club apparently, not a soap opera.
Until we get someone competent at the top of the club nothing will change.
Totally agree Gary, Wagner as last season proved, has been found out. He has no plan B.
I didn’t expect any more when he came in. An old pals act with Webber – never a good idea to revisit old ground. Apart from Huddersfield, his portfolio has nothing to suggest he would be a success with Norwich.
Wagner has to go and go now we are already heading for a mid-table finish with maybe the odd glimmer of hope suggesting a revival only to be disappointed the next week.
A great piece Gary with a whole lot of honesty about where this team is
Ben Knapper actually starts work on the 27 November, and there’s six more matches between now and then, with another one on Tuesday, 28 November. Looking at the forthcoming fixtures, I fear a period of toxicity and a state of limbo.
I just hope Webber is not allowed to influence things in the meantime.
As somebody pointed out on the message board when he arrived we had Murphy twins,Maddison, Godfrey, Lewis and Aarons plus £11m for Pritchard.
We now have Sara,Rowe and £60m deficit.
And don’t forget the posh training ground.
Like many coaches Wagner has a Mashiach belief in his tactics but doesn‘t have the players that can deliver what‘s needed. The sensible thing would be to employ tactics that uses the player‘s abilities. But Messiahs never compromise so it‘s going to be more of the same until he can find the players, or someone further up the food chain gets fed up with the mediocrity and we get another manager. None of which will happen soon, going forward quickly seldom happens at Carrow Road, on or off the pitch.
This team is going to get blown away at Portman Road. Fixture list did us a favour putting it in December but December is getting closer every week and everybody knows what we are heading for. The season is not two games but a decade unbeaten is a proud record that spans several City sides – these lads won’t lay a glove on them.
A heavy defeat will be the final and most damning indictment of the mismanagement of the past four years. The club will deserve it when it happens but the fans won’t. Anyone still up for going down there has my respect.
Agreed. However Delia and Co will remain in their bubble and send out old Stu to berate another section of the fan base. Is no one at CR capable of telling the board to hand over to Attanasio now?
Hanging for the last remaining bit of celebrity status she can
The atmosphere is becoming toxic and it’s affecting the performances of the players. I’ve never seen Sara give the ball away so many times. A point away against a team who finished higher than us isn’t a bad result, we are still in a good position with some talented players to return. Perhaps some of the discontent comes from the form of another team. The defence played well but I can’t understand why Forshaw wasn’t bought on, much like we used to employ Tettey. I’ll be glad to see Nunez back, this season he has always given a positive contribution as a substitute.
The players and the supporters need to return to the positive atmosphere of early season. We’ve got two of the best players in this league and congratulations to Jon Rowe for his inclusion in the England U21s.
Dispiriting times, Gary; and difficult to argue with any of your assessment……except your remark that we “earned” a point yesterday afternoon. We banked a point, for sure, but by all accounts did little to earn it. The word used to imply some measure of justified reward – the Oxford English Dictionary has the definition “to obtain or deserve as the reward of labour”. It would be good to be able to maintain the distinction between ‘earn’ and ‘receive’; but when I read that Ben Gibson ‘earns more than any other player in the squad’ I suppose I have to concede defeat.
Depressing as it is to read, nail and head comes to mind. This current disheartening situation is one that I was expecting, Wagner has had this through his time as a coach, the level of recruitment is par for the course from the uninterested Webber.
I couldn’t fully jump on the early season band-wagon of hype as We were always a couple of injuries away from black clouds. As I pointed out at the season start and others have seen now, this is Wagner-ball all over. A great little spell then when sussed out there is a nothingness to carry on with.
I do not like making scapegoats but a quick look at Idah’s strike rate should tell anyone inside the game he isn’t anyones answer. Sargent gets injured, Webber goes and brings in a guy who has not played a league game in anger on these shores. He would have been better bringing a freebie like Chris Martin older but at least knows the English game and where the goal is. Even Matt Jarvis was better even with the injuries. Blimey Jordan Hugill would have done a better job.
I do have some sympathy for Wagner , with this ragtag bunch squad, a marker for me is the fact that those who complained, having it in for McClean, now see him in totally different eyes, shows how bad the additions are. Did he have a say in what he ended up with ? Because I cannot imagine many coaches would want 4 players whose combined age reaches almost 130 years, perhaps one or maybe two. There is hardly any pace there, lately looking no better than what was in house.
Time to bed in young Mr Warner along side Batth or Duffy, I would even look at trying to loan back big Andy in January as he has not made a start yet.
Watching a few championship games, I heard in commentary a couple of teams took a punt on lower league players, they were had for peanuts. Wish I had written their names down now. Why didn’t we take a look down below us ?
All hopes were being pinned on the American crew , that has really has not brought about what many wanted. No surprise there for me. Now eyes and hopes look to the incoming Sporting Director, hope he can bring in better quality, not just a loan for loans sake. But as usual the he will struggle with the empty pot, but I am sure that will start to fill with Rowe and Sara sales.
As to them down the A140, I really care not too much, we have had the good years above them perhaps it is their turn now, things in football as in life do come round. Perhaps The Stowmarket duo will look at them and want to emulate this model, perhaps even don the blue shirts again.
Two away games and both Norwich types of defending have been on show. At Swansea we took the tippy tappy to a new level along the back 5 and young Gunn had over a dozen touches going left and right before the inevitable turnover led to Swansea scoring.
Onto Coventry and for the last 20 minutes we tried the all 11 defending in the goal area . Anytime we cleared the ball to space back it came. I had the pleasure ,?? Of the home sides radio commentary on my feed , expert commentator one Steve Ogrisovic. On 80 minutes Oggie said a Coventry goal was coming and it would be no more than Norwich deserved as they had given up on playing and were desperate to hold on . That type of Alamo defending is usually seen in a cup tie when a lower league team is defending a shock lead .
And as we now know our defence was breached. What happened to the concept of they can’t score if you have the ball in the attacking half.
Quick point on Ben Knapper joining from Arsenal if he gets us some Arsenal starlets will he be known as a Kid Knapper.
It’s a total mess ,isn’t it on and off the pitch. Rowe and Sara will be sold next. All Stuart should do is show the new sd his desk and take his box of pictures and leave.
And at Xmas we need to be told the new plan. And what we are as a club now . I went yesterday and none of us could follow that sort of football for long.
An excellent summary of the sorry state we find ourselves in Gary.
I’m afraid it’s the final flowering of twenty six years of Delia and Co. We’re left with a coach whose only approach requires players with far more talent than we possess and a £60 million deficit.
We now look like the slowest, most clueless side in the league.
I’m not sure the American version of self-funding will be the answer in three years time as Nottingham Forest have shown us a huge injection of wealth is the only way to compete at the top table. Clever use of statistics will not compete with money.
If I renew my season ticket next year I fear my family will get me sectioned!
Great article. Absolutely spot on.
Teams have watched the painful transition from back to front and sussed out how to stop us moving through the thirds. When the ball arrives at the talented feet of Rowe (our only player with the talent and ability to be a danger) he invariably has someone up his backside with nowhere to go.
Overall this is the worst football we have watched in recent times. Yesterday was painful, boring and lacklustre.
Over 3,000 fans paid lots of money to watch rubbish.
Wagner’s record tells you everything. Good until teams suss the pattern of play.
This team is heading in only one direction!!! That is not upwards!!!
Hi Gary
Could we see next sumer as the Knapper’s first window, Webber and his team will be well into planning the January one with little if any input from the new man unless a loan or two from Arse-nal.
Many of us older generation of supporters have seen these cycles before but this one has hung over the club for 27 years with a few good times but many more poor times even league one.
Good business practices which we are told city are at the front of learn from their mistakes but we still continue in the same way and compound those mistakes.
Webber and hopefully he’s in conversation with Knapper and the powers that be have an important decision sticking with Wagner or twisting and going for someone new before the season turns toxic.
Are the players uncomfortable with what they are being asked to do and play, fitness is one thing but style seems to be the problem that the team are struggling with.
Defending starts at the front and the strikers are not cutting out or stopping the opposition defence from getting forward and the midfield still lacks strength and know how to stop the press.
The quarterback McLean is still pointing out what other players should do, if you see a problem sort it yourself instead of waving at others to do it.
Hanley is being missed he makes error but he puts in a shift, Gibson is back to what said and Dyche found out he has limitations and error prone.
Duffy, Batth are battlers nothing more, and the city is their last chance saloon.
Idah much promise but like others needs to move on to kick-start his career, Hwang not seen anything from him to praise.
The rest are all you and need guidance and coaching but is Wagner and his team up to it ? I really doubt it.
Choices are few could we go for Warnock, Wilder, Parker, Xisco, Beale all free agents as the club won’t pay compo after having to pay this coaching team off, maybe there’s an unknown ready to step in but a decision us needed soon not later, that’s why any change needs Knapper involved other wise he will be left with the mess to sort out
A good summarisation of the current plight of our football club, Gary.
I’ve followed the articles and comments of recent weeks of hope and anticipation with, quite frankly a bit of bemusement. I’ve held back commenting before for fear of being swamped with the big stick. Webber and co have once again sold off the farm solely for debt reduction without a cent allocated to team investment.
How the hell could anybody expect the team to be rejuvenated with a bunch of geriatric cast-off freebies from other clubs, it’s laughable to expect the performances to be anything other than what is now being dished up. I fear for our club, and so should all of us, because we are for sure heading towards the wrong end of the table, but more than that – I can’t get my head around what Delia and Mark Attanasio are up to.
Somebody made a comment a while back of not knowing whether we are in the middle of a takeover by Attanasio or has he just taken up this latest share issue as surety for a loan. This waiting three years is bullshit – he is an astute businessman and an experienced sporting franchise owner; he doesn’t need three years to learn about the game of soccer or how to run a soccer club. He would put a trusted and experienced man in to run it for him as he has done with his American baseball team.
He might find in waiting three years he has bought into a club in administration because unless he gets himself involved with our club up close and personal that’s where we are heading, led by (or should I say ruled by) a certain Mrs Webber.
It’s early days as yet but it’s looking good for the Tractor Boys and Leicester for the Prem next year. Sadly Norwich are years away.
Completely agree.
If I was Attanasio I would actually feel quite insulted. His business interests far outweigh Norwich City in terms of scale and finance.
The huge income garnered from a plethora of big ticket sales not to mention the removal of several huge salaries from the equation was followed by a miniscule reinvestment in the playing squad. An action taken in the sole interests of Delia Smith and her self funding.
It had nothing whatsoever to do with aiding or improving the playing squad, the manager or the supporters.
Par for the course.
Ben Knappa, the bloke who persuaded us it was a good idea to take Marquinhos on loan. Oh dear.
Very good point, Don. The only positive I can gleam is that I suppose it *was* a good deal for Arsenal 🙂 Just not for Norwich.
If only we had some players we could farm out to mug clubs in return for healthy loan fees.
I wasn’t able to attend the game yesterday or listen in. My first match summary was Connor Southwell’s who was pretty scathing which tied in with feedback from friends at the game with descriptions such as ‘abysmal’.
My second match summary was from Wagner who seemed pretty relaxed as usual and felt it was a decent away performance and the players carried out his instructions with 100% application.
I’m not convinced a sprinkling of Hanley, Nunez, Barnes, Sorensen, Sainz, Sargent will see us surge again, but meantime give Danny B and Jaden W a go too
Wagner sounds like a man knowing he is secure in his position which is a,worry in itself
We’ve gone from pigs ear to silk purse to cow’s arse in 11 games, and none of it should be a surprise. Wagner could be sacked tomorrow and Ben Knapper could turn out to be descended from someone from Galilee, but until we get a new board and a whole wedge of cash to make the squad investment we need, we’re just hoping for a miracle. As always, we’ve got a better chance of seeing the grass actually grow such is the slow speed of change. And I deleted what I originally thought….
Go on Dave … tell us what you origially wrote 😀
😀 if he does, I dare you to publish it.
*picks up gaunlet.
Delia, hanging on.
Webber, hanging on.
Aged players, soon to be hanging on.
When will the club challenge itself to move forward year on year, as the current world of football has demanded for at least the last decade? So much ‘nicey nicey’ is accepted at ncfc, Even Attanasio has signed up to it with his insanely long 3 year handover. You cannot move this slow in business and expect anything but stagnation.
Does anyone look at what’s happened since 18/19 and ask themselves the questions?? Apart from us fans of course! Absolutely infuriating to watch.
The current owners are happy as things are
Ambition is something that comes along by accident.
The Attanasios farce of a takeover should be looked into by the EFL and those that voted for the waiver sadly are complisate in dragging out the sorry state of affairs for another 3 years, the Happy Clappers will rejoice in having Delia still pulling the strings but and it’s a big one what would have happened if the vote had gone against the recommendation possibly Attanasios might have been force to put up or leave then who knows what would happen.
Delia now has someone else’s money paying for her poor miss management of the club
The thing is Alex, thw club was in such a total mess having already spent the parachute payments and flogged off thw family silver while slashing the wage bill.
Whether thw attanasio deal turns out to be good, bad or indifferent, there was no option but to rubber stamp it. Without it we’d be done for.
Ironically it would have had the effect or ripping the club from smiths grasp.
The financial hole is a.matter of record, its size and causation are well known, not a matter of conjecture. Yet I’m sure some half wit will soon be along to tell us how brilliant delia is.
I think you feel into their trap.
“Vote yes otherwise Mark could walk away”
He’s not walking away. If the vote was no we’d have called an incredibly obvious 2-7 offsuit.
If itbwas a trap Dave, then I certainly did fall into it. I was frankly terrified that attanasio would walk away and we’d be left with a massive debt, no means to fund it and the cook still in situ.
Like most of us I suspect we are all so confused by the situation that we don’t really know what to think.
I remember posting on here when the news of the yanks are coming. I said that, I could not see The cook allowing anyone onboard who would threaten her holding position. she managed to hold onto that, still a equal majority share holder and now 3 years to carry on as still number uno. plus get a £33million hand with the debt.
But the whole thing the club should be about is left to decrease in value and talent
I’m not sure if the sound of silence from the American is golden but it sure is deafening
The balance of power us still in Smith and Jones hands not sure how many shares Webber and the Nephew plus his wife have and will they vote against the once majority shareholders I for one can’t see it.
Will Attanasio’s Norfolk Group fetch out to min9r share holders to see if any want to sell now that’s a possibility but might upset Delia enough not to share her recipes with them on how to run a football club into the ground.
We are now it a situation with No money, No Striker scoring, No majority shareholder to lead the club forward and a manager that more full of Bull than a farmyard of cows.
Yes, let’s be like Watford and change the Manager when things start to go wrong after 4 games Let’s see I think they’re on their 8th Manager in 3 years and are round about 20th in the league and not looking like they can win a match either. Even their volatile Italian owners have come to realise this can’t continue and have backed Ismael. Let’s be a little more patient shall we. No I’m not happy about things either but I’m prepared to wait a bit longer.
Wait for what?A Miricale!
Nobody wants to be like Watford
City are always slow out of the blocks, Webber announced on arrival he has an up to date list on managers that play the way he wants City to play, incomes an unknown Farke poor start but people could see he was building something 2 promotion and relegation later he’s sacked and Webber recruited a manager that was the complete opposite in style to the players available, kept him in situ way to longer and recruited another manager that didn’t suite the players we have.
A summer of recruitment resulted in Freebies in the last chance saloon all good prors and vastly experienced in the Championship, injuries have curtailed any forward momentum the club had but now it looks like the end of last season.
Wagner was happy with a point against the dominant Coventry, 20 to 6 shots in their favor not one corner for city so who wouldn’t be happy , is he just playing at coaching as none of the players have improved the big question is will Webber leave the dirty work to Knapper once in to ditch Wagner when it’s again to late to turn the season around.
One look at the first eleven team sheet showing only 5 players with regular Premiership experience says it all. Compared to Leicester, and even Leeds and Soton, we are outgunned. Add Barnes and Sargent it would be a different picture.
I just read an article from last year, just after smudger departed and before Wagner walked. the author had some insight, happenings have proved quite right in what he said.
https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/is-david-wagner-the-next-farke-or-the-easy-option-for-stuart-webber-and-norwich
Quote.. “Smith’s sacking was a chance to start afresh. However, if Wagner is the man chosen to replace him, it will be a case of Webber trusting a man he knows so well, even when his last few jobs haven’t provided enough evidence that he is suited to the role. For the fans, it will be a case of their Sporting Director giving the job to one of his mates rather than the most suitable candidate, which will only lead to more anger and frustration in East Anglia. ”
and
Quote “Following the sacking of the Smith, Norwich only have a limited budget to replace him. That means they are unlikely to pay compensation and as such, the pool of managers they can go after is reduced. However, even taking that into consideration, with the likes of Sean Dyche, Chris Wilder and Scott Parker on the market, the Wagner appointment would be the wrong move.
Norwich need to snap out of the negative orb they find themselves in. Webber hiring his ‘mate’ would only increase that scrutiny. “
Sorry to say Ladies and Gents, this has been coming for a long time!
In 26 years it has been proven time and time again. The only constant has been the hierarchy in the Carrow Road Ivory tower!
Miss management, no ambition, failure to adapt, poor staffing appointments and not enough money.
All these elements have consistently made this club fail to reach where it could be?
I fear that it is going to get alot worse before it gets better?
The removal of Smith and Jones is the priority. Until that happens forget it.
New sporting Directors, managers etc will not make a difference, they will still be operating under the same problems we have now.
League 1 is calling once again, however if it means the Stowmarket duo are ousted early it could be the best thing for us!
I completely get you Greg, and I’d be for this IF we were to appoint another Paul Lambert but if (or should that be when) we carry on appointing coaches with some connection to the club (Webber’s mate) then we’ll not get out of League One.
You’d have thought Smith and Jones would’ve learnt from our previous period and the travesty of appointing Bryan Gunn, but no. Webber goes on to repeat it. Wagner is a nice bloke, but he’s not the answer.
Our good years and promotions have been created by appointing up-and-coming managers (Lambert/Neil/Farke). The boardroom needs to stop congratulating themselves over past times and stop the rot.