I find myself in agreement with Gary’s article yesterday of yesterday…
Ben Knapper was hamstrung from day one. Delia’s de facto “vote of confidence” and David Wagner unsurprisingly telling the media about it, meant Knapper couldn’t have sacked him on day one even if he had wanted to.
Okay, a lot of my fellow fans will scream, “He’s a yes man”, and with some justification, but really how many of us would piss off our new employers in your first week? Not many I wager.
The other thing I agreed with in the article was regarding the injury situation, which is bad but nothing like the one Daniel Farke had to contend with in his first season in the EPL. To me, that was the worst since the days of Bruce Rioch.
But, I am sorry, this is the way the club now operates. If Knapper wanted to have a month or so to see how Wagner works (it took David McNally a damn sight quicker with poor ol’ Gunny) then fair enough, but to have that choice of sacking him at the start of his time here taken away from him just wasn’t fair.
I like Wagner as a person and I would love to see him succeed but unless, among other things, he finds defenders who can defend then he will not last the year. That is just a cold hard fact.
He could also do without our defenders scoring for the opposition (looking at you Mr Duffy) – that would be a start. Even last Saturday, against Cardiff, we had to score three to win as we had conceded our customary two goals.
Only Norwich City could field a team in late April of this year against Swansea with a team that some perceived to be far too young to only, a few months, later field a team akin to Dad’s Army.
In the Sunderland game a few weeks ago, we started with seven players aged 30 or over! (I know, it shocked me too), yet in the Swansea game, we started with just one player in that category, Onel Hernandez – who was just 30 at the time.
To be honest, the team against Swansea did lack experience but to go from one extreme to the other in such a short space of time is, I’m afraid, typical Norwich – at least at the moment.
Anyway…
To turn attention for the final time to the departed Stuart Webber for a moment, I’ve read several comments in the last two weeks claiming that he had done nothing for the club, but cannot agree with them.
I disagreed wholeheartedly with Stuart’s brusque and rude manner towards us supporters – blaming us for the relegation from the EPL in the second Premiership campaign was bizarre and disrespectful to supporters, especially the away contingent who spend small fortunes following the team all over the country and 100% wrong – but Colney has improved by leaps and bounds under his watch.
He must take a lot of credit for that and we should never forget that it was his appointment that gave us those two glorious Championship years under Daniel Farke. Again kudos for that.
In terms of the relegations, the faults were numerous. There was the ineptitude in recruiting poor players but also the lack of financial backing to consider.
Yet here we, are six years on, and on the pitch it is probably worse than it was when Stuart was appointed. At least then we had James Maddison.
We also have an ageing squad and players on long contracts; the average age being a good bit older than the squad Webber /Farke inherited.
Upon his appointment Webber introduced a new system by appointing a young up-and-coming coach and a new way to play (he actually said we will ‘play football on the ground while Ipswich will keep it in the clouds’ … oh the irony!), while using a mixture of youth and experience and developing a pathway for youngsters who were deemed good enough to play for the first team.
At Championship level that worked a treat. In the EPL it was doomed to failure, as Burnley are finding out.
Then Webber sacked Farke and made him the scapegoat for his own inadequacies in recruitment without Kieran Scott, and then tore up all of his own rules and went for Dean Smith.
I have to admit at the time I thought it wasn’t a bad shout, but in retrospect, it just didn’t work. And, crucially, it veered away from the model that Webber himself had introduced.
To be fair to Webber in his last interview (and to my amazement) he did admit that our supposed self-funding model just wouldn’t work. But there was no apology to the fans. I suppose his admitting that he got things wrong was the closest we were ever going to get.
But it is all very well having a state-of-the-art training ground and a Soccerbot to boot, it still does you absolutely no good if you have defenders who cannot defend.
Like Tommy Docherty (one for the kids – Ed) said years ago, “If you keep buying second division players, you end up with a second division team”, And, guess what, he was talking about Norwich at the time!
We never replaced Emi Buendia and Teemu Pukki with players anywhere near that same quality, and I would even go as far as to say the same applies to the defenders we have sold or let go. I would still have Hanley, Zimbo, and Godfrey ahead of any of those who have played since August.
(Thankfully Grant will soon be available again.)
Nor have we replaced Alex Tettey and even, for my money, someone with the craft and guile of Mario Vrancic.
But it will be very interesting to see how, going forward, Ben Knapper and Mark Attanasio are able to work together. They are clearly aligned with the importance of data in modern football – I just hope there is also room for some old-fashioned scouting.
***
It’s Monday, so a piece of music for which we hope our Martin will approve…
Hello Tim , yes I can’t see a lot changing for a while until the recruitment process starts and and maybe Wagner is shown the door .
Canaryjim, I really do feel the winds of change are blowing through Carrow Road.
Personally I would just like to see it happen a bit quicker.
Hi Tim
An interesting read thanks for that.
I recently comment saying this squad looks more like a Roeder team and we all know were that landed us don’t we.
The rumour mill is churning out that city now want another over 30 CB ex Reading player Liam Moore who has played since May sounds about right.
Accrington had 3 City players all getting good reviews beating Wrexham last weekend and McCracken is said to be on a loan to buy but Stanley is up for sale and I can’t see that happening so another prospect leaves for Zilch, Hill and Shipley look good for next season.
Was the phone call from Delia to Wagner giving him her backing a shot across his bow to turn this season around or like many owners trying to keep him happy for a short time before they weald the Kitchen Cleaver.
BK has a tough task in recruitment come January but does he recruit for a Wagner style or for a potential new man and how many of the current squad will fit.
Duffy,Long, Barnes, McLean, Hanley all on contracts of varying lengths
Gibson deal expires May 2024 unless there’s an option for the club ?
Forshaw and Batth on deals to the end of the season
Sorensen, McCracken, Barden, Giannoulis, McCallum have deals expiring May 2024 again does the club have options.
BK needes help in assessing out of the list above who to retain and who to wave goodbye too, those under contract will look for payoffs, while those out of contract will look for other clubs starting January so they know where they will be playing next season.
The biggest decision is Wagner and his backroom team as any new man will want time to look at what’s available to him and how he can improve it in the short term but also build for the long term.
Alex, you have got me reminiscing about the good old days of watching the reserves and spotting one or two for the future. Especially the Friday night version.
Yes we will need a decision on David Wagner pretty quickly. Now that Boredom Personified… sorry The International Break’s are over for this year timing is going to be tricky.
I am no longer concerned with questions, like have we got enough quality to go up? we had “some” quality the last two times sadly it was nowhere near good enough.
Reading between the lines I think the club feel that we will need, practically, a whole new team if we ever do manage to do it along with any promising youngsters we have at the time.
I really couldn’t believe we fielded 7 players against Sunderland last month all 30 or over. As I said above, the Swansea game last season where in fairness you could see the youngsters needed some calmer heads on the pitch. But we do a ACN and put out nearly 3/4 of a team of “experienced ” lads.
Sorry if this was discussed on the contracts article and I’m arriving too late to the party, but, I do feel a bit for Knapper in comparison to the start Mr Webber had.
Am I right in thinking when Webber took over we were about to lose Ruddy, Bennett, Bassong, Turner, Whittaker and other big earners, plus Howson and Dorrans legged it. Straight away Webber had space and money to build a new squad in his image of choice.
Knapper, conversely, doesn’t have any big earners out of contract, all are cheap fringe players it seems, plus we are now £96 mill (is that the actual figure?) in debt.
Big ask. Good luck Mr Knapper
£96m is the quoted figure I think, Trev, albeit the sale of Omobamidele and Rashica both came after the 2022-23 accounts were closed, so will go a small way to reducing that figure. For what it’s worth, my thoughts on the £96m debt form the bones of an article I’m posting tomorrow.
Helpful (to know, not operate under!). Thanks Gary.
I look forward to the piece.
I was tempted to write a follow up to my summer positivity piece, where I sang the praises of being a self-funded club. But for word economy and mental health I’ll summarise; Were we all lied to? We obviously were not ‘self’ funded as we borrowed big and owe bigger. Why didn’t they tell us sooner? Webbers petty spat with the local journos? However long will it take to clear that debt?
If we aren’t running at sustainable levels signing freebies, aren’t signing big players to gamble on reaching the prem, admit self-funding doesn’t work, and aren’t successful, what are we?
Confession, questions and confusion
£96 million WTF!! On what Webbers failed recruits ? Poor managerial contracts ? I had no idea it was this bad oh dear , how was this allowed ?
Hi Canaryjim
Poor recruit as in over priced players and Covid-19
Really is a sad state of affairs .
The club simply isn’t being run on the basis of Delia’s utterances beforehand, to believe so is simply naive.
Let’s also not forget that was a private conversation, so any angst should probably be directed at the person disclosing it, rather than the person who spoke he words, not that that will suit the narrative of some.
Let’s give BK the opportunity he deserves to assess Wagner in action, and, more importantly, give him the chance to see if DW is the right person to take forward Ben’s footballing ways. He probably already knows the answer, but an instant dismissal was never going to happen.
Nothing surprises me about the debt management should take responsibility for the poor recruitment and long contracts .the money we have wasted on them ie Smith naysmith wolfwincle
Compared to Webber, Knapper will have a very tough time.
Firstly the huge debt means there is little he can do except make the best of what we have.
I can’t see him relying for very long on Wagner getting us out of the mess we’re in as he doesn’t strike me as having a clear decisive plan as was the case with Farke; indeed if they were his choice he’s made matters worse by bringing in a “dads army” on lengthy contracts.
Wagner also seems more reluctant than Farke when it comes to bringing forward young talent. It was injuries and desperation that brought about the changes last time out not a clear plan for the future.
As for Webber, all one can say is he left the club in a far worse state than he found it.
In my opinion, he also bathed in the glory that should possibly have gone to others, notably Kieran Scott.
Delia has not helped matters by falsely clinging on to the idea she’s saving the club and although Norfolk Holdings may not be the ideal owners it would make moving the club forward a lot easier if they didn’t wait three years for a decision Delia cannot afford to refuse.
Who is to say that the question of Wagner’s retention wasn’t discussed with Knapper before Delia’s call?
Wagner can only work with what is put in front of him. Plus player performance has been poor. We have injuries in key areas and in 95% of cases any side in this league can beat any other, so performance really matters.
Wagner’s strategy was based on pressing from the front and Sarge played a massive role in that. Sara is supposed to get forwards which leaves the Mayor exposed particularly against sides with two strikers. Of late we’ve been vulnerable to counter attacking play in this area (just in front of our back 4).
Add to that our finishing and defensive errors. All in a game where small margins matter. The idea that simply changing the manager makes any difference is for the birds. Player performance matters just as much if not more.
What will make the difference is improved performances and a better understanding between 6&8 and the back-line when we lose possession. One other option is 3 at the back where one of the full backs can infill the space in front of the back line so we can still keep numbers in the back line if Sara is up the pitch.
The return of some of our injured players, Sarge in particular will help. Wagner’s approach was based on having him in the side. Without him we have been exposed or perhaps worked out somewhat. Fix the leaks and we’ll be back on track. An over reaction isn’t going to help.
We started the season on a good run and we can find that groove again.
Hi Bonzo
I was under the impression that the squad built last summer was with Wagner choice of players and full approval.
So it looks like they are his majority picks but he never recruited an experienced DM.
It’s not to late there are still some freebies around to stead a sinking ship
Hi Alex,
You are right Wagner was presumably part of the process in choosing the players.
His issues are with who is available and who is in form hence my statement of he can only play with what he has.
I don’t doubt the capabilities of anyone we have in the squad but we were very much geared up to work with Sarge who is a somewhat unique player because of his ability to win turnovers high up the pitch and changing the style of play to operate without him and getting the goals without him and Barnes has been a struggle.
In a way it has shown Wagner what else he needs to fix and where the weaknesses of his approach are (no system is perfect) but it has been painful.
Everyone we’ve signed is good enough. Plus we have some outstanding youngsters too. The performances haven’t always been good enough though and that is on the players who in their defence are human and do make mistakes. Just rather too many of late.
Firing the manager isn’t necessarily the fix that people think it might be. We have quality and I would include the manager in that assessment. We just need to fix a couple of niggles and get the performances up to the level these players are capable of.