And to think we’re only five days away from a ball being kicked in anger for the first time in season 2022-23. Okay, so there’s unlikely to be too much anger and venom on display when Dean Smith takes his squad to Dereham on Friday night – kick-off at Aldiss Park is at 7pm – […]
Archives Index
Arrivederci to Messrs Tzolis and Placheta? … while the wait for incomings continues
It’s been a slow-burner of a summer for City fans, but with some of the squad reporting back for duty yesterday, or for fitness testing to be more precise, we should expect some moving and shaking in the next few weeks. I’m not sure whether Christos Tzolis or Przemyslaw Placheta were among the early arrivals – I suspect […]
No surprises… 23 home, 23 away, but with the prospect of an opening day love-fest
So… we travel to Gareth Bale’s Cardiff City on opening day then. At least we will if, as is heavily rumoured, their prodigal son decides to join the Bluebirds by way of getting match fit for Qatar 2022. If he doesn’t, we’ll just be heading to Cardiff. The other thing to note is that if […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Disappointment is in our very DNA – at Carrow Road and beyond
In the absence of any fresh content – unsurprising given the lack of news emanating from Carrow Road and Colney – I thought we’d dip into the archives this morning and remind ourselves again what a brilliant writer Kevin Baldwin is and how lucky we were to have him on Team MFW. Appropriately, given what […]
VIDEO: Transfer Rumour Updates: Aarons, Rashica, Tzolis & Cantwell | Norwich Talk
It’s time for a slightly more in-depth catch-up re. the potential outgoings from Norwich City. It’s been a fairly quiet off-season for Norwich City so far (famous last words), so Ben thought we’d take a look at some of the existing rumours of departures from Carrow Road in preparation for a game of keep, loan […]
With Timmy being linked with PSV, will the gig be Angus’? The latest in a long line…
While us football writing folk always consider the summer months of June and July as the “silly season” – and for very good reason – that doesn’t mean that nothing has been going on behind the scenes at our beloved Norwich City. The EFL Championship fixtures will be released on Thursday [starting with Rotherham away, […]
The Curious Case of Todd Cantwell
The latest Todd Cantwell rumour – and I expect there are more to come – is that Blackburn Rovers are looking to take him to the north-west on a season-long loan. The report emanated from The S*n’s so-called transfer expert Alan Nixon who declared that their new head coach, Jon Dahl Tomasson, has highlighted Cantwell […]
VIDEO: Isaac Hayden, the rebrand and ownership! – A Catch-up | Norwich Talk
Well… it’s been quite some time. Ben is back to give some birthday thoughts on Norwich City’s current affairs as the club turns 120 years old. He talks about the direction of the channel, the recent rebrand, signings, and of course ownership. Oh yeah, and Stuart Webber. Give their Twitter a follow! 📲 https://twitter.com/NorwichTalk1902 Also […]
Football miracles… fighting talk from Isaac… wantaway Milot… and an odd December
Miracles rarely happen in football. Not in 2022. Invariably, those with the most money and the best players end up winning the big prizes, although Leicester City’s Premier League triumph of 2016 did admittedly edge into miracle territory. That was good. But the point is they’re very rare. Yet, another occurred yesterday morning. If you’re […]
GUEST BLOG: Promise or Pragmatism? A summer of change at Norwich City
The latest City fan to grasp the MFW guest blog baton is Ben Hodges, or @Loafingstone as he’s known on Twitter, who looks at a potential summer of change at the Club. All yours Ben… *** This is, without doubt, one of my favourite times of the football season. The breathless build-up to a brand […]
Silly season in full swing – with Ryan Fredericks the latest name in the frame
Another day, another transfer rumour – this time an incoming. Football League World* have reported that City are interested in fullback Ryan Fredericks, who’s out of contract this summer. Fredericks has a list of potential suitors in the Championship and the Premier League, with Middlesbrough and Fulham both said to be interested, both clubs the […]
GUEST BLOG – A Matter of Pride
In response to an offer of an MFW guest blog, Dublin-based City fan Carl Hood was first to put his hand up. Below he eloquently explains what a tough gig it has been to be a Norwich supporter in the Irish capital over the last 10 months. *** As a child of Norwich and a […]
Rashica to Schalke? Our restless Kosovan looks keen to return to the Bundesliga
Over recent days, transfer speculation has broken out surrounding Milot Rashica’s Norwich City future with a host of European clubs said to be interested, and the Kosovan favouring a move back to the Bundesliga. One of the most interested parties is reportedly Schalke 04, where Rashica would be lining up with former Canary, Ozan Kabak, […]
Dean Smith at 12/1 to be next England manager. Who saw that one coming?
Around now we’d normally be soaking up the first full week of games in the World Cup, but instead we’ve had four rounds of UEFA Nations League fixtures as consolation. Whether you agree or disagree with UEFA’s latest international venture, there’s definitely a stigma surrounding it. Some couldn’t care less, calling them glorified friendlies, while […]
Welcome aboard Mr Hayden… the first Isaac to wear the famous yellow and green?
Martin hasn’t been the most auspicious forename to own throughout the annals of history as in there really haven’t been too many famous ones, with a few notable exceptions of course.*** There was a Saint Martin and there have been four Pope Martins. Martin Luther was pretty adept at the jolly old reworking of the […]
The healing process continues – NCFC football-less weekends have been a joy
We’re a resilient bunch really. Okay, so we moan a lot (I don’t think I’m alone) and we completely ignore the not-too-high, not-too-low ethos espoused by most managers, coaches and sporting directors. Wins are met with ecstasy, defeats with desolation, and rarely do we trundle along in that hinterland described by Kipling. Balance, even from […]
GUEST BLOG – Poor comms maybe but the club’s message came from a good place
It’s guest blog time again and today it’s the return of Justin Davis, who gives us his personal view on the thorny issue of the Club’s media comms over the last few days… … Norwich City is, in my view, one of the best-run football clubs in the UK and Europe. From the training ground […]
Five months for Canary hopefuls to claim their tickets for flights to Qatar 2022
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar is set to kick off on November 21. This is the first time the World Cup will be played in winter, with the change being made due to extreme heat during the summer in Qatar. If the change had not been imposed, then today would have been the likely […]
Relief at Daniel’s new home … the return of Farkeball? … and success from set plays?
When the rumours began to circulate around Daniel Farke going to Blackburn Rovers, it was enough to make the stomach churn. With the greatest respect to Blackburn, it didn’t feel like a natural fit for our favourite German, and the thought of him lining up in a different Championship dugout next season was about as […]
NCFC ACADEMY: Central defence is an area of strength from Under-16s to Under-23s
The pleasing news of Andrew Omobamidele signing a new contract until the summer of 2026, is yet more evidence of the continued success of the Club’s academy. Omobamidele is a perfect role model for any City academy player – progressing through the ranks from the Under-16s level to the first team. Not only is his […]
Playmakers… and why they’re a good idea
One of the big questions that currently surrounds Dean Smith is what exactly a team of his will look like. Not just in personnel, but in structure. Through no fault of his own, he had to go with those he inherited, and this summer will provide the first opportunity he has to really forward plan […]
The first one through the Colney doors… Mr Isaac Hayden
City yesterday announced the signing of Isaac Hayden from Newcastle United, the first since Dean Smith took over back in November. He initially signs on a loan deal, but City have the option to make it permanent, should they get promoted at the end of the season. Hayden came through the Arsenal academy, captaining their […]
Silence is golden, just maybe?
Friday, 27th May already seems like a lifetime ago – the breaking NCFC news, which actually said not very much at all, aside from the fact that seven American citizens were guests in the directors’ box at Carrow Road at the previous weekend’s game against Spurs. The intervening period has, understandably, been littered with numerous […]
What can City fans expect from the club’s new partnership with Coritiba FC?
Last Friday, City announced a partnership with Brazilian Serie A side, Coritiba FC. In a quest to gain more knowledge about ‘Coxa’, as they are known, I spoke with Brazilian Canary, Lucas La Torre, and Coritiba fan, and journalist, André Ribeiro. The big question from Norwich fans is, ‘is there any chance of us getting […]
Nothing wrong with the gamble, even if the player doesn’t quite make the grade
Matthew Dennis isn’t a name that will be immediately recognised by many MFW readers. He joined us from Arsenal in the summer of 2020 for a small fee and, like many similar signings that Stuart Webber seems to specialise in, was thought of as “one for the future”. Maybe that phrase was not used by […]
With no white smoke on the Attanasio deal, we can only speculate… and dream
The absence of anything concrete concerning the involvement (or otherwise) of Mark Attanasio in our football club has obviously left the door wide open for speculation. And sure enough… While MFW is far from alone, we (I) have managed to fill a whole week’s worth of articles based almost solely on the fact that Attanasio […]
GUEST BLOG: Even by Championship standards, City remain the have nots
The relative wealth of football club owners up and down the country has never been a hotter topic than right now, especially given possible developments at Carrow Road regarding Milwaukee Brewers’ head honcho Mark Attanasio and his colleagues from across the pond. Guest blogger Alex Bain has taken it upon himself to detail exactly how Delia and […]
If the US deal comes off, we should expect sabermetrics to play an even bigger role
The rise and rise of the Premier League and the exponential rise of the finances involved, mean it’s incredibly difficult for a club like Norwich City to compete at the top level. It’s especially difficult with Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones at the helm. While they’ve done incredible things for this club and the community, […]
What type of owner is Mark Attanasio? MFW chats with Brewers’ writer, Jack Stern
As expected, there’s been no white smoke regarding the rumoured investment in Norwich City from a group of US businessmen led by the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers MLB franchise, Mark Attanasio. All we’ve had is a missive on The Athletic that suggests initially Attanasio and co will just be looking to buy Michael Foulger’s […]
The brickbats have been flying, but here’s the case for the defence of Stuart Webber
This article will annoy some – particularly the ‘people with a bedsheet’, as Stuart Webber described them. I started writing this following the release of Webber’s interview with Alice Piper on City’s YouTube channel, where he discusses the failures of last season, and the plan for next. There’s no beating around the bush about what […]
Shared values and some abiding principles that will fit NCFC … what’s not to like?
I have never had the slightest interest in baseball and freely admit that I don’t even know the rules. But what I do know is that literally millions of our cousins across the Pond are hopelessly devoted to the game that continues to rival American Football in the popularity stakes. So why should I develop […]
Many hurdles yet to clear, but is Attanasio the man who’ll take this club forward?
There are, of course, too many unknowns to get overly excited at the moment, but the fact there appears to be some interest in investing in Norwich City from someone with no links to murderous Middle Eastern regimes or Vladimir Putin has to be a positive sign. Having blathered on endlessly around self-funding and how, […]
From Milwaukee to Carrow Road – Happy Days ahead maybe?
Up until Friday’s breaking news, my personal knowledge of the residents of Milwaukee was strictly limited to one Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as Fonzie, or the Fonz – a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the 1970s American sitcom, Happy Days. Now there’s a new name to Google – Mark Attanasio, owner of […]
GUEST BLOG – From the land of make-believe to appalling in just nine months
It’s guest blog time again on MFW, and back for her third visit – this time to summarise the horror of the last nine months – is Debbie Hewitt. Al yours Debbie… *** Woeful, pathetic, shambolic, appalling, diabolical and horrendous, just some of the more polite words that have been used to describe the latest […]
Webber speaks… but only to Norwich City ‘TV’
Unlike the official local media (Archant, local BBC and ITV, The Athletic), MFW doesn’t have any form of regular access to the club. And that’s absolutely fine – we know our place. So I’m definitely not getting the hump because we were unable to quiz Stuart Webber over the season that’s just ended. That’s not […]
So, what should we expect this summer in terms of our transfer wheeling and dealing?
Now that this season of discontent has ended in ignominy for Norwich City, all we can sensibly do is focus on 2022-23. I have no idea what might or might not happen during the summer transfer window, although I could make a few shrewd pessimistic guesses, so I thought I’d leave matters in the hands […]
An action-packed season for City’s Under-23s, one that so nearly ended in glory
A season that had so much potential for City’s Under-23s was cruelly ended after a gruelling penalty shootout defeat in Wolverhampton last Tuesday. Wolves were always going to be a tricky opponent but in reality, the 23s shouldn’t have been facing them in the semi-final. The Canaries spent the majority of the season in second […]
We’ve seen Rowe and Springett … who else from the Under-23s is knocking at the door?
In the spirit of looking forward (although I can’t promise we’ve yet concluded our look back at why it all went so wrong), on MFW today, we’ll be looking at the Club’s Under23s and the impressive season they have just had. First up is a piece from Louis Woodrow, and this afternoon it will be […]
Krul’s swansong? … malady-stricken Martin … lazy Sunday mornings … and a bitter pill
If this wretched season could be encapsulated in a single day our game at Carrow Road against Tottenham on Sunday was certainly it. Very much having a liking for the Lilywhites, I’d been looking forward to this fixture ever since Christmas even though at that time a Champions League spot for Spurs seemed most unlikely […]
Headteacher’s Report: Andy H delivers his appraisal of the Class of 2021-22
The last time a school produced a series of results this disappointing, St Agnes’ Academy had broken out a bumper pack of Clear Blue, two months after accidentally ending up at a Chippendales Back-Stage party. The result remains the same. Everyone’s feeling let down and more than a little screwed. Whilst matching up to other […]
It’s time for change at the very top. Norwich City Football Club deserves better than this
As the saying goes, as a football fan you have to endure the bad times in order to fully embrace and celebrate the good times. All true I guess unless you’ve opted to be a fan of a random ‘big club’, in which case you’ve given yourself some control over the good/bad ratio. But the […]
MATCH REPORT – CITY 0, TOTTENHAM 5
Relegation is never supposed to be welcome. There is supposed to be a gut-wrenching, sinking, dread when your team finally drop down a league. A feeling of despair. These emotions generally result from some sort of crushed hope. That last day or week of the season where your team needs to deliver a critical result, […]
SPURS PREVIEW
As the curtain comes down on what has frankly been a disastrous season for the boys from NR1, it has fallen to me to write the last MFW match preview, in which we face Tottenham Hotspur at 1600 hours promptly on Sunday. Bad luck? Sins of a past life catching up with me? Probably not, […]
If there is to be a battle to be City’s No.1, who would win it?
Tim Krul and Angus Gunn are both exceptional goalkeepers. One has made over 220 Premier League appearances and is a two-time Championship winner with City. The other has only played just a single season as a number 1, finishing midtable in the Championship in Daniel Farke’s maiden campaign. On paper, there seems to be a […]
Intransigent octogenarians… little left to sell… & an SD who can leave when he likes
We got a point. Unexpectedly so, but a point we got. But what was the point? Too little too late and remarkably achieved without the squad’s chief pointer, Kenny McLean, on the pitch. So ultimately the 1-1 draw at Molineux was, in reality, pointless. Despite Dean Smith’s declared ambition to glean another £2million or so […]
MATCH REPORT: WOLVES 1, CITY 1
And so to the penultimate game of the season. Dean Smith rolled the dice again with a switch to a 3-4-3 formation to match up with Wolves. Ben Gibson was given a chance to redeem for his errors in a three-man backline, with Kieran Dowell given a chance once again up front. The atmosphere inside […]
You don’t know what you’ve lost until it’s gone
Upon watching the FA Cup final yesterday, the commentator (goodness knows who) remarked that Jurgen Klopp had remarkably been in charge since 2015. I was taken aback at this, as it just feels like a lot shorter. Furthermore, I was then subjected to watching him address and ‘pseudo-olé’ the crowd basking in his respectable FA […]
WOLVES PREDICTION…
Okay, full disclosure. It’s 8am on Saturday and I’ve only just remembered it’s my turn on the rota to do the match preview. Apologies Mr Gowers (Absolved – Ed). So while I sit here waiting for the garage to do my MOT, my bank account effectively in their hands, I thought I’d share my Nostradamus-like […]
A trip down City’s Memory Lane – when relegations were not inevitable and did hurt
Why are so many of us so very angry at the moment? Post-match demonstrations, accusations flying around social media and various club-related message boards a’ plenty and tantrum fuelled rages wherever you look. There’s not a lot of love in the world of Norwich City just now. Another May, another relegation from the Premier League. […]
So much more at stake right now than just this club losing its Premier League cash
As fans, we are ‘football junkies’ and our drug of choice possesses potent mood-changing qualities. Win, and all seems well with the world. Lose, and the misery hangs over us long after the final whistle, casting a dark shadow over those unfortunate enough to be in our presence. Positive results on the pitch convince us […]
A brighter opening 45 and a good night for Angus but still a stroll for the Foxes
Only two more to go, we can do it! Yes my fellow supporters of NCFC we can collectively get to the end of this wretched season, the one that promised a little but achieved absolutely nothing but condemnation and humiliation from the PL pundits. Unless we are to class a seemingly regular bashing and bruising […]
MATCH REPORT – CITY 0, LEICESTER CITY 3
You know things are bad when you are dreading a game of football. After the limp surrender against West Ham, there was little prospect of anything other than another defeat with the only question seemingly how much of a hit would be taken in the goal difference column. Dean Smith rolled the dice. Tim Krul, […]
City have more crown jewels in waiting but they need to be nurtured correctly
‘Crown jewels’ was a frequently used term in the summer of 2020 when Norwich were at risk of losing Todd Cantwell, Jamal Lewis, Max Aarons, Emi Buendia and Ben Godfrey. In the end, City lost two of them in that summer – Jamal Lewis and Ben Godfrey – which brought £40m into the club. Then […]
What’s next for those who avoided the nightmare and spent 2021-22 out on loan?
With a record sixth relegation confirmed last week at Villa Park, followed by a dismantlement from David Moyes’ West Ham, the plans for next season will no doubt already be in place for the 2022-23 Championship campaign. Dean Smith will be given his first real chance to put his stamp on the squad following a […]
Why has it all gone so wrong this season for Chelsea and Scotland’s ‘wonder kid’?
Upon Billy Gilmour’s arrival, I was excited. In my eyes, we were getting a player who’d been in and around Chelsea’s a Champions League-winning, who has worked under two coaches I felt were perfect for a player like him: Frank Lampard – one of the best central midfielders in recent history – and Thomas Tuchel […]
A club just drifting… rudderless, directionless and lacking in motivation
I didn’t go to the West Ham game. Not because I was protesting at the disaster that is our football club but because of ill health. Unfortunately, ill health didn’t prevent me from watching it. Martin was there to see it all unfold (or at least 45 minutes of it), so he more than deserved […]
Remember that winning culture and those motivational messages? Happy days
Yes, I did it again – as in I left at halftime for the second time this season, on this occasion against West Ham. Apportion blame in my direction and even shame me dear reader if you choose, because that is your prerogative. But in no way was I alone. Many people did the same […]
WEST HAM PREVIEW: More at stake than might appear at first glance
Another Norwich game – at this stage, who cares? Well, there are one or two reasons to. I’ll get to a preview of the game. First, with your indulgence, a detour. A good friend of mine is a life-long Fulham fan. We share thoughts and reminiscences on the – remarkably similar – highs and lows […]
City’s next generation – who will be next to make the breakthrough?
City’s Academy has rightfully received a lot of praise over recent years for the number of young talents nurtured into first-team footballers, such as the obvious ones like Ben Godfrey, Max Aarons and Todd Cantwell. In this article, I’ll be taking a look at the next generation of prospects to come through at City, and […]
You say you don’t want the Webberlution?
There is some symmetry at least. Stuart Webber enraged Norwich City supporters with an interview in The Times and now he is so upset by an Eastern Evening News front page that he has stopped talking to reporters from the Archant group. But let’s be clear: he hasn’t banned them. Archant will, of course, attend […]
So, anyone out there looking forward to our visit from the East End’s finest?
The Canary nation is about to welcome the undisputed pride of East London, West Ham United, to Carrow Road. Leyton Orient can hardly dispute the pride title, so the fortuitous owners of the London Stadium as in Karren Brady and the porno twins with their travelling army will shortly descend upon us – complete with […]
A simple question for Delia & Michael – what’s the plan?
So it’s official. City have been relegated from the Premier League for a record sixth time and for the third successive time following promotion. Breath-taking stuff. Where to even start to dissect this rotten season – it’s a case of take your pick. But we have to start somewhere, so… The summer transfer window of […]
Some good, some bad, some mediocre – the hits and misses of the Webber transfers
Over recent weeks, there’s been a lot of scepticism surrounding Stuart Webber and the immediate future of Norwich City. Elsewhere on this website, there are numerous posts about this in more detail, but in light of them, I’ve compiled a list of what I consider to be the best and worst incoming transfers under Webber’s […]
Like it or not, it really is all about the money
It barely seems a year ago, but we’ve just passed the first anniversary of the ill-fated launch of the so-called European Super League. At the time, my abiding memory upon first hearing the announcement was “just how much money do those greedy b**tards want?” Both the Premier League and the ‘big six’ have always made […]
Disastrous midfield… no athleticism… the SoccerBot… and cardboard cutouts
On April 30, 2022, we were relegated without much fuss and certainly will not be missed by the money men at the top of the Premier League tree and many media pundits will be having more than a little snigger at our expense. This is not a date most of us will care to remember, […]
Not good enough… lack of quality…too many individual errors… an inevitable outcome
While Samuel Seaman has departed the good ship MFW for pastures greener with our good wishes, his shoes have been filled by another football journalism student of Derby University, Louis Woodrow. Louis was granted his first access to a press box yesterday and so, from the best seat in the house, penned this piece for […]
City down and out. Will our owners just ask the usual suspects for more of the same?
When you’re relegated before spring has properly sprung you know it’s been a disaster of a season. When you’re fate has been sealed with 12 points still to play for you know it’s been an undiluted cock-up. In fact, pick any metric you like and it’ll reveal a season of woe, embarrassment and ineptitude right […]
MATCH REPORT: ASTON VILLA 2, CITY 0 – The Canaries are relegated again
That’s it. It’s official. It’s over. We are back in the Championship. For some reason, it feels like a relief. Perhaps numbed by the despair of previous relegations. Perhaps because, like Christmas, we have known this is coming for so long now it is no longer a shock to the system. On his return to […]
Remember back in 2018-19, when Webber’s stock was high and he was our future?
In early 2019, I was contacted by the club’s then media head-honcho, Joe Ferrari. After months of me pestering, haranguing and, probably, annoying him, Joe – a really lovely guy – was calling to offer MyFootballWriter the chance to interview Stuart Webber. In this particular instance, persistence did pay off. We chatted for a bit […]
A return home for Deano but his former charges could put City out of their misery
Dean Smith will make his return to Villa Park tomorrow for the first time since his departure from the club last November, as City face Aston Villa. If Burnley win away at Watford, then defeat for City will mean a record sixth Premier League relegation with four games left to play out before the end […]
ASTON VILLA MATCH PREVIEW
Our game at Villa Park tomorrow would under any other circumstances have the central theme of reunions at the heart of it with Dean Smith returning to the club he supports and indeed managed until very recently and our travelling support gets to see Emi Buendia up close and personal once more. That’s if Emi […]
Our club as an heirloom? No wonder NCFC and modern football are irreconcilable
Going over the Haven Bridge in Great Yarmouth one sunny lunchtime in the 1996/97 season, on the way to Carrow Road for the first time, I asked my grandad who Norwich were playing that day. He said, “Bolton Wanderers.” I replied, “Belton!?”, pretty surprised that the Wild Duck Holiday Park had a professional football team […]
When apathy overrides anger the slope is a slippery one. What is the point of it all?
You know it’s really bad when anger turns to apathy. When the final whistle that signals another abject home defeat is met with silence from deserted stands, rather than a cacophony of booing. Without condoning the actions of those who recently chose to vent their frustration outside the Directors’ boxes, at least it shows that […]
GUEST BLOG: City’s 2012-13 FA Youth Cup Winners – Where Are They Now?
During one of the lockdowns, one of our regular guests, Alex Bain, had a look at the career progression, or otherwise, of our FA Youth Cup-winning team. With months and years having passed since that piece, Jamie Lauder updates us on where they are now. All yours Jamie. *** The best part of a decade […]
A PR disaster to end all PR disasters as our club continues its grim slide southward
I walked to Carrow Road in the spring sunshine of St George’s Day to watch our Premier League match against Newcastle United. You know, those ex-paupers from many miles up the A1 who conspicuously attracted recent investment, albeit from an extremely dubious source. I fell in with a trio of Mags on Prince of Wales […]
A dark Carrow Road day – from PR disasters off the field to yet more howlers on it
What a day. A car crash of epic proportions – both on and off the pitch. In a season essentially made up of a collection of dark days, Saturday 23rd April made a compelling case to be the darkest. It started of course with the oddly-timed Stuart Webber interview with Henry Winter in The Times, […]
MATCH REPORT: City 0, Newcastle United 3
If ever there was a game between the financial David and Goliath of the Premier League then this was it. A match-up of ethical ownership versus the morally corrupt. The haves and the have-nots. For those who crave change in the business model at Carrow Road, this was the perfect illustration of their reasoning. Newcastle United has […]
A personal message from our Sam…
Dear MFW Readers, After 143 pieces and numerous hours of Norwich Talk content, my time at this fine establishment has sadly come to an end. The last 18 months have been up and down for most Norwich City fans, but for me it’s been an absolute joy thanks to the unbelievable opportunities I’ve been given to learn, […]
NEWCASTLE PREVIEW: Another chance for City to restore some pride
Carrow Road will take on an American theme tomorrow, but that isn’t the only thing that’ll feel foreign to Norwich City fans as Newcastle United visit NR1. For the first time in a long time, there’s a sense of optimism around the club, after the Canaries’ last home game ended in victory. That sense is […]
WE MEET AGAIN… Newcastle United
On Saturday, Newcastle United are visitors to Carrow Road. The same Newcastle United against whom we were once battling relegation but who now, helped by a ginormous injection of Saudi Arabian cash, have miraculously secured mid-table safety. While City spent the princely sum of zero in January, the Toon spent 490 million Saudi riyals (circa […]
Dowell provides hope for the future as relegation looms for the Canaries
With a record sixth relegation on the horizon, City fans could be forgiven for thinking all hope was lost. Thankfully for those still looking for positives, a potential Championship star has emerged from the shadows. That man is Kieran Dowell who, once again, is taking to the end of a season far better than the […]
Whether top six or spinning the yo-yo, the footballing passion always shines through
Cristiano Ronaldo is a little bit like the Easter bunny in that firstly he seems to have become an almost mythical creature and secondly, if like me you possess an over-vivid imagination, there is almost a physical resemblance in their somewhere. He can also jump like a hare as the flat-footed Ben Gibson discovered at […]
A timely Old Trafford reminder of just how good our own GOAT is. Pukki has to stay!
It was one of those where you’re left feeling conflicted at the end. Proud because they put in a proper shift and took the so-called ‘biggest club in the world’ all the way. Proud too because, along the way, they played some good stuff, created plenty of chances and resembled an actual football team. But, […]
MATCH REPORT: Manchester Utd 3, City 2
A few years ago, a close friend left the military after 20 years. I didn’t see him for a while but when I did, gone was the regulation haircut, replaced instead with a fop of hair that would not have been out of place on the head of the member of a boyband. It’s part […]
WE MEET AGAIN… Manchester United
On Saturday, it’s the so-called Theatre of Dreams for City as we take our imaginary relegation battle to (don’t for god’s sake tell them) one of the world’s great sporting arenas. In ‘celebration’ of that, we are revisiting one of Allan’s We Meet Again… classics, adapted in places to make it 2022-friendly. *** This Saturday […]
From sombre to joyful in the space of 95 very enjoyable Carrow Road minutes
Torpor, trepidation, maybe also an element of self-doubt if you will – I was not looking forward to the visit of Burnley on Sunday. Leaving our warm and comfortable front room in the city and replacing tracky bottoms with Levis seemed like a monumental thing to achieve for a seemingly worthless purpose but I managed […]
A sport ruined by mega-bucks and a money led governing body … sound familiar?
What do you do for sporting ‘enjoyment’ when there isn’t a City game? For the second year running, I was fortunate enough to find myself in the USA during March. A time when the country is taken over by March Madness. It’s everywhere. On every TV channel, in every pub, bar and restaurant. March Madness […]
The thing about being serial losers is you have nothing to lose. Just ask Mr Dyche
Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and admit you got it wrong. In this case horribly so. I. GOT. IT. WRONG. Having watched Burnley dispose of Everton in midweek with a display of high energy and thunderous intensity, I saw no way that City could win that game yesterday. Certainly not when […]
BURNLEY PREVIEW…
It’s hard to muster too much enthusiasm when previewing a game we’re, in all likelihood, going to lose. (To be honest, it’s hard to muster too much enthusiasm full stop right now). And it’s painful enough to write about a defeat after said event, but to set the scene for said defeat before a ball […]
The State of the Game…
Those of you who read my column in the EDP will be aware that I’m pretty disillusioned with the direction of travel of the game of football. Maybe I’m just becoming a curmudgeonly old git (this is very much my wife’s view), but it just seems to me that there is a constant diet of […]
A point borne of spirit and doggedness maybe but Frazer and Jonesy nailed it
Private Frazer of Dad’s Army fame [as portrayed by Shakespearian actor John Laurie] had a couple of catchphrases on the memorable TV comedy show, the best known of which was “we’re doomed”. Frazer’s prophecy never came to pass, but then again he wasn’t, at least to my knowledge, a Norwich City supporter. Those of a […]
A point. A draw. But a performance devoid of everything that makes football great
Well, it wasn’t another defeat, I guess. Maybe we should just be thankful for that. But it was grim. Wholly devoid of any joy, excitement, purpose and skill. That we’ve reached the point where all we have left to celebrate is a point from a goalless draw against a terrible team who are still several […]
MATCH REPORT: Brighton & Hove Albion 0, City 0
The Amex Stadium is famous, or perhaps infamous, for being out of town away from any bars and clubs. Norwich City arrived on the South Coast looking to drink in the last chance saloon. They didn’t find it. The team selection had more than a whiff of ‘which eleven are fully fit’ about it. At […]
Five jobs that should be on Stuart Webber’s summer to-do list
Once again, Norwich City face a huge summer. For the third consecutive close season, there’s an emphasis on recruitment and after the underwhelming results of 2021, the pressure is on. Amidst his charitable efforts to climb several peaks including Mount Everest, Stuart Webber will be tasked with refreshing a downbeat squad and increasing City’s chances […]
BRIGHTON PREVIEW… and other stuff
As over 1,000 stoical, long-suffering Yellow and Green souls prepare to head for the South Coast tomorrow to witness our visit to Brighton I thought it appropriate to speak once again with the fervent Seagulls supporter that is the admirable Alan Howick. Alan was a great help to me during my early days as a […]
Ex-City keeper Declan Rudd forced to retire at 31
Former City goalkeeper Declan Rudd has been forced to retire from football due to a knee injury. Preston North End announced this morning that the 31-year-old keeper has been forced into leaving the game after it became apparent that he would not be able to fully recover from a long-term injury. Rudd picked up a […]
Climb every mountain… Stuart
Many of you will have heard about Norwich City Sporting Director Stuart Webber’s proposed 2023 attempt to reach the pinnacle of the world. No, not to achieve a Champions League place but to climb Mount Everest. I must admit to feeling a bit torn about this, from a City point of view. On one hand, […]
WE MEET AGAIN… BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
As this seemingly interminable international break finally draws to a close, it’s time now to reluctantly re-focus on City’s fight against relegation. I suspect we all know how this ends, but the least we can hope for is the team to rally over these final nine games starting on Saturday at the Amex. So, in […]
Gresham students… an attack of the crampons… Cotopaxi… iconic club badges
This past week has thrown up a few bulletins from NCFC that I have found disappointing to assimilate on a personal level. I fully recognise that what I consider to be bad news might be construed in exactly the opposite way by other MFW readers. Like many of us, I avidly hoover up any information […]
Five of the most memorable. Classic City games, some good, some bad, of yesteryear
On Friday I posted a piece in which I looked at my unlikely City favorites and anti-heroes of yesteryear, and most agreed it was a healthy distraction from the hand-wringing and brow-furrowing that tends to occur when we talk about the here and now. So to continue that theme (and to fill space in the […]
A homage to some anti-heroes and unlikely favourites clad in yellow and green
If you’ve ever strayed onto the tab entitled THE TEAM at the top of this page, you’ll find a rogues’ gallery of those who write, or have written, for MyFootballWriter. Accompanying said pictures is a mini Q&A, asking the team some generic City-related questions – favourite game, favourite players etc. Nothing very innovative. In case […]
GUEST BLOG: A whistlestop tour of the greatest strikers to ever grace Carrow Road
It’s guest blog time again and today is the return of a familiar voice to all those who frequent MFW – Mr Alex Bain. I’ll let him explain… *** As the curtain descends on another all-too-predictable failure to establish ourselves in the Premier League I thought I’d take a personal journey back over my years […]
Matchday routines… Morrisons… Roy Waller… Armes Street… and fans of the future
In terms of clichés, When Saturday Comes is up there with the best of them. Home or away, with almost military precision we fill our backpacks with our supplies for the day. Or since bag checks were introduced one or two of us use our multiple pockets for the odd things we might like to bring into […]
What do we want our football club to be? PL wannabees or Championship stalwarts?
The fierce defence of Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones by their supporters when the question of ownership is raised is quite something. Admirable in many ways. For those of us who have asked the question, it can be a bruising experience. Despite believing it’s a valid one, I invariably end up asking myself if it […]
No More Heroes…
Let’s face it, most of us Canary supporters are down in the dumps right now as many of us feel like we’ve been befuddled, bemused and even downright cheated at the extreme end of the emotional scale as this season’s non-events have unfolded. We have been left with a squad within which there is no […]
Where do City go from here? And, more importantly, who goes and who stays?
After yet another Premier League capitulation none of us really wants to look forward to the next few games, so let’s just take a wild stab in the dark and assume we’ll finish up the season with more beatings than Basil Fawlty’s car and leave it at that. Let’s instead look to the summer. What […]
A season that promised much, but which delivered us a mix of rien, nada, zero & zilch
The season that promised so much according to the powers that be at Carrow Road has delivered rien, nada, zero, zilch. I am not Mystic Meg, in fact I’m don’t even have the insight of MFW’s *Mystic Kev* but I commented on an article during this week that our season was finished on 05/03/22 after that […]
When you think you’ve seen it all, the Class of 2022 find new ways to break your heart
And so the defeats just keep on coming. Grim isn’t it. If we didn’t realise it before now, yesterday’s defeat confirmed that we are indeed in the midst of Project Restart Mark II. The target now – and forget any daft notions of survival – must be to break the 21-point barrier, and make this […]
MATCH REPORT: Leeds United 2, City 1
Another game. Another defeat. Games to play are reducing. The Championship is waiting. This was a game that City could have, should have had reasonable expectations of a point or 3 against a side on a poor run of form. Grant Hanley was missing with Covid with Gibson deputizing whilst Dean Smith elected for a […]
The B-word… Agnes from Scunthorpe… ‘Delia must sell’… and City being debt-free
How many times have we seen it on TV? A vox pop in the street where Agnes from Scunthorpe is asked her opinion on the latest situation. “It’s disgraceful. Something needs to be done about it” Needless to say that, if the reporter or journalist responsible for the original question were to press dear Agnes […]
LEEDS PREVIEW
After Norwich City’s last league win they were made to wait 19 days until their next league game. As the Canaries travel to Leeds United on Sunday in the midst of a six-game losing streak, they’ll play for the fourth time in 12 days. This feels like the epitome of City’s season, a perfect example […]
Another unhappy night at the Carra, albeit City gave the rich kids a second-half scare
As regular MFW readers will know I struggle to go to night matches these days, and especially when they are rearranged at relatively short notice to accommodate the likes of Chelsea who as I write are still part of the *elite*. For how long this bunch of erstwhile rich kids*** will remain in this elevated […]
Five defeats on the spin but, as others flounder, a faint survival route is still there
I guess the scoreline was about as good as we could have wished for. I was hoping for a performance more akin to Liverpool (a) than Man City (h) [or Chelsea (a) come to that] but as it transpired we were given a bit of both. The sterility, passiveness and lack of resistance in last […]
CHELSEA PREVIEW
It’s not a game we wanted to be playing less than 72 hours before we head off to Yorkshire to play Los Blancos in another relegation six-pointer, but who cares what we think. It’s clearly more important to carefully manage Chelsea’s load than ours, so we find ourselves returning to the scene of Saturday’s disaster […]
As we watch the fall of Roman’s empire, we at NCFC should be careful what we wish for
It is extraordinary that City’s encounter with Chelsea on Thursday is likely to be the last before the fall of the Roman empire. The arrival in West London of Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich in June 2003 began the transformation of the Premier League into a rich men’s playground. English football has always been split into the […]
If we’re the children of Delia, then best she prepares for some strops and tantrums
Some MFW readers have children while others don’t. It’s the way life works out and many people, like Delia Smith very recently, declare to the media that they simply don’t want offspring as they would not be confident of being a good parent. That’s fine by me. My own issues, now in their early thirties, […]
‘A Dose of Reality’ – Part Two
After my first MFW guest blog went live on 14th January, City won back-to-back league games – Everton (h) and Watford (a) – which gave us all a little hope. I received messages joking that they must have had that article hanging up in the dressing room. Then reality hit… again. Looking back on those […]
The depths of Hades… lessons learned… one heartwarming moment… and some tatts
I left Carrow Road on the hour on Saturday and got some stick from those around me for doing so, including my matchday friends Alan and Mystic Kev. Well deserved probably but getting back home in time to take Geezer for a walk before it got dark suddenly became a top priority. Talking of the […]
Another day, another disaster. Anyone think this model is compatible with the Prem?
And the horror shows keep on coming… Getting tonked by Man City and being plucky losers against Liverpool is disappointing, albeit par for the course, but getting stuffed at home by a relegation rival who, prior to the game, had been in freefall is taking it to another level. To perform so poorly in a […]
MATCH REPORT: City 1, Brentford 3
At times like this, it seems a little frivolous watching football, even when Carrow Road was bedecked in Yellow and Blue. There was always the hope that the football might prove a welcome distraction. Alas no. Dean Smith said that this wasn’t a must-win game, but it was a must-not-lose game. We lost. Presumably, he […]
BRENTFORD PREVIEW: It’s crunch time
So here we are, at the real sharp end of the season. It really is now or never if City are going to make a last desperate flail at the Premier League. We’re playing understandably uninspiring football as Dean Smith does what he can to wring every last drop of potential from a threadbare squad […]
Anfield gloom… a frustrated Deano.. Zimbo’s return… Delia’s kids… and a classy Daniel
I’m not going to go down Gary’s path of yesterday by having a go at the ITV sports team. Mainly because I would not be as polite and relatively restrained as he was. OK I admired Lee Dixon as a footballer but as a pundit – yuck! Anyway the result the majority of the world […]
The joys of Anfield coupled with the finest ITV Sport can offer – an unholy combination
There’s always something about Liverpool away that jars. That probably boils down to the fact that they’re a very good side and we usually end up on the receiving end of a tonking, but there’s so much about the Anfield experience that can get the hackles up if you’re a visitor – especially one clad […]
FA CUP MATCH REPORT: Liverpool 2, Norwich City 1
Norwich City were knocked out of the FA cup by a comfortable Liverpool side last night, Lukas Rupp scoring the Canaries’ goal in a 2-1 loss. City had started with energy and quality when they visited Anfield 12 days before this tie, and history repeated itself in the opening exchanges. Teemu Pukki had the first […]
LIVERPOOL FA CUP PREVIEW: Martin P chats with Tony Evans
Here we go [to Anfield] again. Yes, and this time around it’s to face a Liverpool side buoyed by their quite astonishing Carabao Cup Final win over Chelsea 11-10 after penalties. Me? I’d have preferred a replay but currently, worldwide television scheduling rules out anything of a traditional nature so penalties to decide the contest […]
A gut-wrencher on the south coast but in the real world it was just a football match
I’m not attempting to defend Friday night’s performance simply because I don’t feel that I can. Limpid, placid, ineffective and seemingly willingly outplayed are descriptions that immediately come to mind. James and Gary covered the match itself in gruesome detail yesterday. You know, another one with just one Norwich shot on target. Dean Smith said […]
Horror show at St Mary’s. We wanted fire and brimstone, we got timid and tepid
“It’s like watching Southampton first team versus Norwich Under 23s”. Ouch. The words of Jamie Carragher as said Scouser described, as delicately as is possible for said Scouser, City’s performance last night. He was right. Unfortunately, it was a line that could be attributed to far too many of City’s performances this season. As I […]
MATCH REPORT: Southampton 2, Norwich 0
It is rare that I sit at my laptop after a game at a loss what to write. I truly thought that, after the recent improvements in City’s performances, I wouldn’t have to dig into the set of superlatives that spring to mind after this performance. How wrong I was. Dean Smith made no changes […]
SOUTHAMPTON PREVIEW – Can the mother of all comebacks start at St Mary’s?
Thirteen games. Thirteen games in which to cobble together enough wins and draws to make it to 36 points. Even then it may not be enough. I plucked out 36 points because, despite 40 being seen as the magic number, since the turn of the century the average number needed to guarantee survival and without […]
Christos Tzolis – what’s the story?
After an electric debut and a promising showing against Arsenal, Norwich City’s record signing finds himself playing for the club’s Under-23s. In the summer of 2021, there was palpable excitement around the possibility of a variety of players signing for Norwich City. Considerable hype rose and died down around the potential arrivals of Kristofer Ajer […]
The Canary nation expects foreign nationals to hit the ground running, but it’s a big ask
The fact that former City player Cedric Anselin has very recently been granted settled status allowing him to stay in the UK permanently has set my old thought train running down the tracks. To be honest Cedric was never a star and debatably not really one of our stand-out recruits [courtesy of Bruce Rioch who […]
The harsh reality of being self-funded is that there’s little or no room for fallow years
As a football fan working in accountancy, I’ve always had an unusual interest in the financial side of football, especially Norwich City. I was one of the many who bought a few shares in 2002 and, as a result, I receive the annual accounts from the club and attend the AGM, where we can gather […]
For an hour at Anfield we matched the Reds but there’s no fighting a ‘perfect storm’
If that wasn’t the footballing equivalent of a “perfect storm” I really don’t know what could top it and I’m not simply talking about the inclement weather over the weekend either. We put up a decent show against the mighty Liverpool and even had the sheer effrontery to score first courtesy of Milot Rashica’s first-ever […]
A decent Anfield effort and a 15-minute lead (!), but City return to bottom of the pile
To see the relief-tinged celebrations at Anfield spoke volumes of City’s efforts yesterday afternoon. It was a performance to be proud of – something that’s not always been the case this season. But, regardless of any heroic failures, the fact remains it was an afternoon that ended with us being back at the bottom of […]
MATCH REPORT: Liverpool 3, City 1
A week after a somewhat undeserved scoreline, if not result against Manchester City, most if not all Canary fans were expecting a similar outcome against Liverpool, before the real business begins once more. Even more so given the news about a prolonged absence for Adam Idah, so much the catalyst of the recent mini-revival. Jurgen […]
Idah injury a significant blow at the worst possible time for City
When Norwich City head coach Dean Smith took a seat at his press conference this morning he knew he’d be delivering news that nobody was ready for. Just as Smith’s press conferences had started to take a positive turn, with increasingly regular messages of hope and optimism around the Canaries’ fight to stay in the […]
Integration of Norwich City Women announced
Norwich City Women are set to be fully integrated into the operations of the club. The Women’s team will now become completely integrated into the club and be a part of day-to-day operations alongside the Norwich City Men’s sides. This change was announced this morning with a view to accelerate the progress of the women’s […]
LIVERPOOL PREVIEW – Is a fourth time lucky for City even possible?
Following hard on the heels of our 4-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Carra, we now anticipate a visit to Anfield for an encounter with the mighty Reds of Liverpool tomorrow. It never rains but it pours, hey? And after a visit from the Bees of Brentford – which takes on a “must-win” significance […]
City betwixt and between thumpings? Or can our Deano spring an Anfield surprise?
It’s a funny ol’ week for City fans. Well, I say funny – there’s nothing remotely amusing or fun about potentially being betwixt and between drubbings that threaten to halt in its tracks our mini-revival. The general thrust before the Man City game was that, while a win or a draw felt almost beyond the […]
Misinterpreted omens… Celtic ancestry… three-mile yomps… and a 4-0 thumping
The Romans, Celts and Anglo Saxons had several thing things in common, two of which were that they all loved a good scrap and believed in omens, portents and harbingers of doom. Check out Julius Caesar in the latter case if William, not Craig, Shakespeare is to be given credence, although our Bard of Avon […]
A tale of two very different Cities as the haves outclass and outplay the have-nots
There is no questioning the quality of Manchester City. Several respected voices have described their performance at Carrow Road last night as one of the best they have ever seen from a visiting team and it’s a hard one to contest. A brilliant team made up of brilliant individuals, playing brilliant football and all overseen […]
MATCH REPORT: Norwich City 0, Man City 4
Norwich were comfortably beaten 4-0 by Manchester City at Carrow Road, goals from Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden securing a routine win for the champions. Norwich head coach Dean Smith had described the match as “a challenge and an opportunity” when previewing it, and his charges appeared to have the same attitude going in. After […]
MAN CITY PREVIEW: A free hit for Norwich. Just don’t look at the stats…
In the past three weeks, City have woken up, and shaken up, the bottom half of the Premier League. Finally given a near-fit squad, Dean Smith had galvanised them into a competitive team. Whether or not inspired by the 120-mile-distant Billy Gilmour as the BBC would have us believe – I think not, though I’m happy […]
City 28%, Palace 72% – a repeat over next two games and we’ll not be earning a point
I guess this was the original “two points dropped or one point gained?” type of match. Personally, I am very much in the latter camp on this particular issue but can understand why folks might feel differently. There was an electric start when a great run from Milot Rashica picked out Adam Idah in the […]
A tough watch for the Carrow Road faithful but a point for City against a silky Palace
If anyone had offered us seven points from the last nine we’d have taken it, right? Equally, if anyone had offered us a narrow defeat at Molineux and a narrow win last night we’d have taken that too. Lots of ifs. Including if Temmu Pukki has not taken a second touch from that square pass […]
MATCH REPORT: City 1, Crystal Palace 1
It says a lot for the journey under Dean Smith that there is a feeling of mild disappointment after a draw against Crystal Palace. Barely six weeks ago, a draw could barely be contemplated – to suggest three league wins on the bounce would have been ridiculed, yet that’s where City were for much of the […]
A revitalised Adam Idah – one of the many factors behind City’s recent resurgence
Adam Idah had played just 57 minutes of Premier League football this season before the departure of Daniel Farke and was never truly given the chance to stake his claim in the side. He would often be left to play out the last few minutes of games where Norwich were more often than not already […]
PALACE PREVIEW: Can ‘the worst Premier League side ever’ avenge that horrible 0-3?
With the dreaded dotted line finally breached by Norwich City, their next task is to start dragging new rivals into the relegation battle. Crystal Palace’s visit tomorrow night provides them with the perfect opportunity to do just that. Patrick Viera’s side are currently 13th in the Premier League table and eight points ahead of the […]
And the prize is… Liverpool (a). A reward unbefitting a fine away performance
When I saw our team selection at 2pm on Saturday to take on Wolves in the FA Cup Fourth Round at Molineux I took one look at the Norwich City midfield and thought: oh, blimey. Pierre Lees-Melou, Billy Gilmour and Kenny McLean with Kieran Dowell loosely in the mix as well. Physically about as lightweight […]
Another win… three on the spin… and two consecutive clean sheets! Wos gorn on?
I should be opening with a pithy line about how City made it three wins on the spin at Molineux and how, while embarking on what’s apparently known as a cup run, Dean Smith has transformed the team from a bunch of lily-livered pushovers into a professional unit that’s remembered how to win. I should […]
FA CUP MATCH REPORT: Wolves 0, City 1
Stick or Twist? Always a dilemma and one faced by Dean Smith in advance of the trip to Molineux. He promised a strong lineup saying that he valued the cup, so it was something of a surprise to see four changes from the game against Watford – five by the time kick-off came around. A […]
GUEST BLOG: To bang the drum or not bang the drum…
It’s guest blog time again and today we see the return of Samantha Palmer who tackles the thorny issue of drums at football, and whether one should be permitted inside Carrow Road. ****** The hot topic among City supporters at the moment, away from the non-event of the transfer window, is the idea of introducing […]
WOLVES FA CUP PREVIEW: With bigger fish to fry, a mix and match from Deano?
Roll up, roll up, welcome to the Cabinet of Dr Caligari, live from Molineux at 3pm tomorrow. Doctor Caligari is not actually the chief medical officer at Juve but was in fact the lead character in a 1920s silent movie wherein all mysterious things went on and some believe the phrase “smoke and mirrors” originated from. […]
GUEST BLOG: The evolution of transfers and the ever infuriating transfer window
MFW regular Alex Bain is on guest blog duties today and has a look at the machinations of the transfer process of yesteryear and how the whole process 2022-style could be improved. ****** As the transfer window has closed until the early summer, I thought this might be an appropriate time to cast my mind […]
Cantwell departure a sad end to a story that could’ve been so much more
Finally, the most dramatic and drawn-out transfer saga since Stuart Webber’s arrival at Norwich City is over. With minutes left of the January transfer window, Bournemouth confirmed the loan signing of Todd Cantwell from the Canaries, while City confirmed that the Cherries retain an option to make the deal permanent this summer. That Cantwell’s departure […]
Unless there’s a Dereham-type twist, City’s business was done before it even started
As the January transfer window gently closes at midnight tonight it is plain for all us Canary types to see that it will have resulted in “a masterly policy of inactivity” to quote Richmal Crompton, who remains one of my favourite authors to this very day. Although she never knew it, in many ways she […]
Plenty of interest in Cantwell, loan departure expected
Todd Cantwell is expected to leave Norwich City on loan before the end of the January transfer window, although several details are still to be decided on the midfielder’s exit. As reported by The Telegraph’s John Percy, Bournemouth are in talks to sign Cantwell on loan, while Olympiakos have expressed an interest. MyFootballWriter understands there to be interest […]
Farewell Farkeball. We loved you dearly but it’s finally over. Time to say goodbye
With no match report to write this week, there has been an opportunity to spend a little time reflecting on the season so far, to reflect on what went so wrong for Daniel Farke, and what has changed under Dean Smith. Before I get into the meat of it, let me stress this is little […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Who needs social media when you have… football
Remember back in the day when MyFootballWriter regularly had writing from proper football hacks, like the Micks and the Ricks? Even then, the ‘…icks’ was part-used (by Wrath of the Barclay, mainly) as rhyming slang for a group of MFW writers. Nowadays that collective noun is mainly used by the good folk of Facebook when […]
Remember that talented crop of England capped-keepers who promised so much?
As the late January storm is interrupted by the sheer sense of calm created by the inaugural Premier League winter break we can recline our chairs, sit back and enjoy the closing stages of AFCON. Unless we’re Newcastle United fans of course in which case we would be sitting around a crate of Journey into […]
The model relies on the club gambling on potential. How have they fared so far?
Gary suggested on MFW last week that there would be no significant incomings for Norwich City during this month’s transfer window, during which period Watford have already introduced three new arrivals and Burnley have £25million burning a hole in the back pocket of Sean Dyche from the ludicrous price they achieved for the sale of […]
Gunn and Sargent’s Watford performances epitomise the mentality needed for safety
1-1 against 10-man Newcastle. 2-1 to Leeds. 3-1 to Watford. 4-0 to West Ham. 2-1 to Watford. 5-1 to Aston Villa. 2-0 to Burnley. Norwich City have a comprehensive recent history of failure when the relegation battle chips are down, and yet on Friday night they ran out comprehensive winners of the biggest game of […]
Rarely has the temporary security of 17th place in the Premier League felt so good
Well, that was a Saturday to savour. And they don’t come along too often. To get your business done early is usually a phrase we associate with the transfer window but a win on a Friday night before all of your opponents take lumps out of one another on the Saturday feels even better. Even […]
A good one in Herts for City as Josh at the double draws the sting from The Hornets
Now, who would have thought it? Who could imagine us scoring three goals away from home, keeping a clean sheet without Tim Krul, and Josh Sargent, of all people, coming up with a minor worldie and a header reminiscent of the great Iwan himself? Throw in the floodlight failure, a show of petulance by the […]
MATCH REPORT: Watford 0, City 3
This natch report comes to you from dizzying heights – both literally and figuratively. I watched the game from Aspen Colorado, a breathless 7800ft above sea level, and at the end of it, City are in the equally breathless position of outside the bottom four albeit having played extra games. You didn’t need to be […]
FROM THE ARCHIVES: “He didn’t even beat the first man with that corner!!”
It’s a debate that rumbles and rumbles and one we have discussed on these pages before. The clue is in the title. Prior to him co-founding the excellent ‘Along Come Norwich’, Andrew Lawn, author of ‘We Lose Every Week: The History of Football Chanting’, was part of the MFW team and in that time penned […]
WATFORD PREVIEW: Just how much will the Tinkerman tinker?
Those of us at Carrow Road on Saturday, watching the players out on their feet at the final whistle after repelling the inevitably-launched kitchen sink from Everton, were at least glad of one thing. At least Watford have to play again before we play them so they’ll be even more knackered than us. So, inevitably […]
The January transfer window: for others to embrace and for Norwich City to observe
I know I shouldn’t harp on, but is anyone else a little envious of those teams for whom January is an opportunity to strengthen their squad? When it’s those against whom you are battling to stay in the Premier League who are making signings it stings a bit. Like the cool kids at school with […]
A win! We only went and done a bloomin’ win! Please let this not be a one-off, lads
Whoa! We’ve not experienced a feeling like that for a while. Felt good, right? It’s all too easy to get carried along on the tide of emotion on days like yesterday and before you know it we’re all proclaiming “WE CAN DO THIS” a few hours after resigning ourselves to City being the worst team […]
MATCH REPORT: City 2, Everton 1
So admit it, you forgot what it feels like! I walked across the streets of New York, on my way to a rendezvous with the New York Canaries in the Football factory, with a feeling of trepidation. Was there any conceivable way that the result would be anything other than another defeat? The team selection […]
GUEST BLOG – ‘A dose of reality…’
It’s guest blog time again and today is the turn of Joseph Smyth, who questions the validity and worthiness of ‘self-financing’. All yours, Joseph… ****** It’s the big question… Can Norwich’s self-funding work model work in the Premier League? At time of writing (pre-Everton), since promotion in the 2018-19 season, City’s Premier League stats are […]
EVERTON PREVIEW: Carrow Road awaits the arrival of some struggling boys in blue
Stand by your beds everybody – the boys in blue are coming round. No, not the Old Bill or the binmen from along the A140 but something even more intimidating. We shortly entertain the slightly less noisy section of a great big footballing City in the North West, aka Everton. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve […]
The fingers are already pointing, but who carries the can for this disastrous season?
And tonight, live from Norwich, it’s The Blame Game. Apologies to Nicholas Parsons but I cannot use the original title of Sale of the Century as Norwich City have very little to sell. So The Blame Game it will have to be. I’ll take an insipid although not entirely inept display against West Ham at […]
A slightly improved performance but still nowhere near good enough from a flat City
And so it goes on… You know it’s bad when you no longer get fired up or angry when City concede a goal. Even worse is when that final whistle goes to signal another defeat and it gets greeted with no more than a shrug. But that my friends is where we are. Or at […]
MATCH REPORT: West Ham 2, City 0
City were dealt yet another blow in the survival stakes last night, losing 2-0 to a comfortable West Ham United at the London Stadium. There was a cautious air of optimism among the travelling Norwich fans after they had seen a 1-0 win over Charlton on Sunday, but the Hammers’ bright start reminded them what […]
All the #NCFC faithful wants is a team that makes us proud and which is competitive
I didn’t go to Charlton on Sunday but was aware in the days leading up to the game that a Delia Out protest was planned by a small group of City fans. This was confirmed when a picture of said group with said banners appeared on Twitter. I trust it’s not being ageist to say […]
WEST HAM PREVIEW: Some buoyant, organised and motivated Irons await
Early in the second half [of Sunday’s game] on Twitter, I began my planning for this piece. @AndyHead02: ‘Oh FFS I’ve got to do the @MFW_NCFC preview for Wednesday off the back of this… Can I just write “West Ham are going to beat us” and leave it at that @Gary_Gowers? #NCFC‘ To which I […]
Cantwell sale would offer Webber a chance at rebuild number two
When things are going well at Carrow Road, Stuart Webber’s quotes and soundbites can bookmark and epitomise the big moments, but when it all goes awry, they often come back to bite him. Perhaps the most quoted one-liner from Webber in recent times is his reference to how Daniel Farke was “sent to war without […]
A weird weekend of FA Cup footie that ultimately earned City a trip to Molineux
That was certainly a weird weekend in terms of the FA Cup Third Round, with apologies to one Louis Theroux. To much laughter and in certain quarters great joy, Wessi’s Cambridge United defeated the Richest Club in the World at St James’s Park, lowly Kidderminster Harriers turned over Reading and Arsenal sported a one-off nameless white […]
A win’s a win, especially in the FA Cup and especially when they’ve been so so rare
It wasn’t pretty by any stretch but if the object of the exercise was to ensure we were in the hat for the next round of the FA Cup, it was mission accomplished. If the purpose of the exercise was to entertain and offer hope going forward… at least we’re in the hat for the […]
FA CUP MATCH REPORT: Charlton 0, City 1
So first an apology. My match reports are usually written within moments of the final whistle. For various reasons, yesterday that wasn’t the case, so the report isn’t quite as in-depth or detailed. Secondly, a bit of perspective. Given the December that we have endured, there were two priorities: First to score a goal, and second […]
CHARLTON PREVIEW: TalkSPORT’s ‘finest’ brace themselves for an upset at The Valley
Do you remember that time when Charlton Athletic FC was the model we were either following or recommended to follow? (I can’t recall which). Either way, it was a plan we ended up following rather too rigorously. Charlton dropped from the Premier League to the Championship and then League One. We missed out the Premier […]
Survival is do-able under the self-financing ethos, but not using this tactical model
The reality has dawned on far more fans than ever before… We have a woefully inappropriate squad for the Championship next season, let alone the Premier League for the second half of this season. Note I chose inappropriate. January is going to be massive for our club’s future. However, my opinion is that under Smith and Shakespeare, […]
After a stormy ol’ #NCFC Christmas, next up is the FA Cup and ‘into The Valley’
After a heavy old weekend on MFW, which attracted some great comments from you lovely readers on which were basically two different takes on the same thorny topic, I thought I’d endeavour to lighten the mood a little this morning by looking forward [if that’s the right turn of phrase] to our Third Round FA […]
What happens when the yo-yo becomes just a single Championship yo… ?
As tends to be the case when things go awry in the hallowed halls of Colney and Carrow Road, much of the focus turns to how this club is run and, hand-in-hand with that, how it is funded. MFW pages aplenty (including yesterday’s) have been filled with the rights and wrongs of the current self-funding […]
Where do we go from here? Will 2022 be a better year for City than 2021? If so, how?
As the Canary nation drags itself unsteadily into 2022 there are a few questions that MFW regular Alex Bain feels he would like answers to and I thought I would have a go, But all our views are different, so your comments, dear readers, are most welcome – as they always are of course. Maybe […]
Right back where we started from…
For the first time since 2017, I cannot see what we are trying to do. The path, always so clear, is now clouded. Muddied beyond recognition. I simply don’t know what we are trying to achieve other than some finger-tip clutching at the precipice of Premier League participation. In the words of the infamous Craig […]
Headteacher’s Report: Andy H delivers his halfway appraisal of the Class of 2021-22
Tis now the bleakest of mid-winters. Whilst our school has time and again proven to be outstanding at the comprehensive level, we remain unable to compete against the Super-Rich Ivy League academies and we are currently halfway through another Annus Horribilis. Herr Farke did his best to get the class producing results but was found […]
January will be a huge month for Norwich City FC… but not necessarily a pleasant one
When it comes to predicting the future I am normally about as much use as Catweazle without his familiar spirit, Touchwood the toad, and his sacred knife, Adamcos. I attempted to go to a clairvoyant evening at Trimingham Village Hall one evening only to find the venue closed and a notice on the door saying […]
Another day another disappointment as City’s season lurches from crisis to crisis
You have to feel for Dean Smith. He knew he was signing up for what many deemed a mission impossible, but his own professional pride and some carefully chosen words by Stuart Webber were enough to convince him that there was enough quality in this squad for it to achieve 17th place or better. There […]
MATCH REPORT: Palace 3, City 0
When the team sheet landed at 2 o’clock, it had the feel of a selection made from the last players standing. 6 changes from the rout on boxing day, no Teemu Pukki on the sheet, two goalkeepers and one sub short on the bench. I feared the worst. For the opening minutes, City looked bright. Within […]
PALACE PREVIEW: Can City reward the journeys of their loyal travelling fans?
Regular readers will recall that, while I grew up in Norfolk and will always call it home, I’ve lived the past 35 years in Hertfordshire, around 20 miles from London. When local friends raise an eyebrow at my driving to Norwich every fortnight, my standard reply is “It’s easier than getting to Crystal Palace”. And […]
Dire display leaves City in need of a great escape
There’s a way to lose a football match, and that was not it. City’s latest poor performance came in the midst of a Covid crisis, upcoming fixture congestion and injuries to key players, but there was little excuse for a showing as submissive and uninspiring as the one they produced in the 5-0 loss to […]
Is there even the potential to escape the clutches of the Championship next season?
I went through a latter middle-aged guy’s nightmare to get to Carrow Road on Boxing Day. Earlier last week my daughter got me the NHS Covid pass on my smartphone but being an eejit I forgot to ask her how to download the .pdf file to register my vaccination status with Norwich City Football Club. […]
It wasn’t just Farke who was sent to war without a gun… Webber too was unarmed
Shambolic… woeful… outclassed… pitiful… pathetic… Take your pick. Personally, I’m inclined to hone in on ‘outclassed’ because the one thing that wasn’t lacking yesterday was effort. No one stopped running, no tackles were shirked and the heads didn’t drop on the pitch as they did off it. But my god did City come up short. […]
ARSENAL PREVIEW: All we want for Christmas is a goal (or two… or three)
Somehow, City are playing on Boxing Day. After 12 days of Covid mayhem with a cancelled trip to London in the middle, the Canaries return to the pitch against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who travel up from the capital having had their own coronavirus-related issues in midweek. With the expected returns of Christos Tzolis, Mathias Normann, […]
GUEST BLOG: Those were the days…
It’s pre-Christmas guest blog time and the return of a regular voice, Alex Bain, who takes us back to football in the 1950s and 1960s. He compares then to now and, I should warn you… it’s not pretty. *** Having watched football since the late 1950s up to the present time, so much has changed […]
Lessons to be learned from the Villa game, but can S&S replicate that same model?
The Villa game should be a lesson to us in what our short to medium-term future might hold. For those who don’t know, that was a team that Dean Smith built. Jacob Ramsey exemplified the qualities of a wide player in 4-3-3 and what a fabulous goal he scored. There is currently no player in […]
In these testing times, a little bit of selflessness does nobody any harm
As I write this, the sidebar on my laptop keeps flashing up an ad from UNICEF asking for contributions to its *Give the World a Shot* campaign, which is pretty apposite as I try to consider the impact of Covid-19 on our beloved world of football. Here in the now, and good lad that he […]
Battle over the Old Farm bragging rights is never far away… even after 4627 days
It doesn’t take much for the City/Ipswich rivalry to spill over and ignite. Not in the physical sense of course – let’s hope those days are gone – but in its modern-day, slightly less bruising, equivalent: social media. This weekend all it took was the unveiling of a statue, a good crowd and an appearance, […]
A sea of troubles…
Oh dear, oh dear… City, City, City… Sigh. Sadly, the chance for a turnaround was the two games after the two wins when Norwich failed to win either. That’s where the confidence and belief COULD have come from. Now the (very possibly) record-breaking lack of goals is coming to the fore. Close season? £60M appallingly […]
Nobody takes relegation as a given before Christmas but the omens are not good
Night games. I rarely attend them these days due to escalating old age, logistics and in Tuesday’s case a certain apathy towards strolling along Prince of Wales Road around 10pm just ten days before Christmas. In that spirit, I passed my ticket for Villa to MFW regular Don Harold, who kicks off this piece on […]
Another tough ol’ night at the Carra as Gerrard’s Villa cruise past beleaguered City
If Saturday’s performance against Manchester United offered hope that survival is not beyond us, last night’s tame offering against Villa was a salutary reminder of how and why we are rooted at the foot of the Premier League. And why survival probably is beyond us. There is of course mitigation in the form of a […]
MATCH REPORT: City 0, Aston Villa 2
I’ll start tonight’s match report by listing the meaningful efforts on goal by City. Now for the rest of the game. As performances go, it is easy to exhaust the list of superlatives to describe how awful the first half. Shapeless, listless, languid. I could go on. From the kickoff, Villa looked like a side […]
VILLA PREVIEW: Familiar faces for Smith and Buendia but no revenge mission
And so we move on swiftly to the visit of Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa™, an evening loaded with so many sub-plots it could have been written by David Lynch. Dean Smith is, of course, not the kind of guy to hold any grudges, and Villa is his club, but he’d not be human if this […]
Sometimes 100% isn’t enough for City in the Premier League
If Cristiano Ronaldo asks for a penalty, he gets one. On an evening when Norwich City electrified Carrow Road and produced a performance that any team would be proud of, the sad truth about the dynamic of the Premier League was that this was the only conclusion worth drawing at the final whistle. If the […]
So many referees but the one that really mattered was blinded by the light
England’s England’s Number One, England’s… Number One. In my lifetime we’ve sung that chant for Chris Woods, Rob Green and even John Ruddy. Maybe even for Kevin Keelan too and if we didn’t we should have done. But referee Darren England certainly wasn’t Number One on Saturday evening so there was no need for a […]
A stirring effort from a depleted City but Mr Ronaldo and United have the last laugh
I’ve mentioned plenty of times that the key element of my post-match ritual is a phone call with my dad to dissect what did or didn’t happen at Carrow Road or beyond. He no longer attends games due to his health but the Norwich City fire in his soul still burns and his two penneth […]
MATCH REPORT: City 0, Man Utd 1
Trepidation. That was the overriding emotion of a day where for once, I wasn’t counting the minutes until kick-off. Quite the opposite in fact. The news from the Friday press conference was hardly encouraging, with cagey references to an indeterminate number of players awaiting PR results. Man Utd, rejuvenated under a new manager. It had […]
MAN UTD PREVIEW: Sad but correct managerial changes, and my own dilemma
It’s always special preparing for a City game against one of big boys. Trying to imagine ways we could thwart them – weaknesses we might exploit, ploys we might try, all aided by a fervent Carrow Road crowd. There’s an extra personal challenge for me this time. Because of her various commitments, this will be […]
Now S & S have seen inside Pandora’s Box, what could the January window bring us?
A Pandora’s Box. That’s our squad. Players tactically incompatible with others. Strength missing where strength is needed. Pace absent where it is expected. Players too good to drop, or better than their peers, but played out of position. A squad built for 4-2-3-1 which is no longer played. Some summer recruitment that has raised more […]
The tale of Tottenham – an acute lack of bite and the end of ‘new manager bounce’
New manager bounce. Now that’s a short, sharp phrase to get the old grey matter working. Tottenham Hotspur have enjoyed the effect with the arrival of Antonio Conte as have ourselves with the introduction of Dean Smith and Craig Shakespeare, who are very much a team from what we’ve seen so far. But the Tottenham […]
A painful afternoon in north London as Spurs cruise past our wasteful Canaries
Okay, so it wasn’t the pitiful no-show of Man City or Chelsea proportions, but there was still a horrible inevitability around what unfolded at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday. An inevitability borne of simply not being quite good enough; of not having enough top-level quality when top-level quality is needed. This was the Norwich City […]
MATCH REPORT: Spurs 3 City 0
Ever had that recurring nightmare? You know the one, where everything is in slow motion and no matter what you do, whenever you have the dream, you cannot affect the outcome. The one that happens every weekend. Daniel Farke struggled to find the right balance between defensive solidity and attacking potency in the latter days […]
Have City filled their Skipp-shaped hole yet?
For most teams going up against a side spearheaded by Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane the threat would be clear, but City fans know that a strong performance tomorrow from a less-heralded Spurs player could render their attack impotent. When Oliver Skipp arrived at Carrow Road the City fanbase had no idea what an impact […]
TOTTENHAM PREVIEW… with Martin & Alex
Through the purest coincidence, MFW regular Alex Bain and I have both had a long-standing *second team* and are aware that many purists would disagree with the entire concept. Fair play to you I say, but sometimes circumstances take over and you have to make the most of the live football you can physically attend. […]
Four games unbeaten, eight points from four and in touch with those above us…
And in the master’s chambers, they gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast** That line from an old song most us will know really well sums up a frustrating night on Tyneside for Dean Smith, his squad and the 1,200 brave souls who went to St […]
A point when it should have been three but City unbeaten in the whole of November
Most of us would have taken a point before a ball had been kicked – goes without saying. It also goes without saying (even though I am) that in end it was two dropped. Ciaran Clark’s ninth-minute brain fade ended up impacting both teams negatively. Newcastle for obvious reasons but City too because, armed with […]
MATCH REPORT: First-team full-backs in focus for impressive City Under-23s
If Dean Smith’s Monday morning reminder of Ozan Kabak, Jacob Sorensen and Pierre Lees-Melou wasn’t enough to highlight the strength in depth at Carrow Road, Bali Mumba’s excellent goal for Norwich City’s under-23s certainly was. As if giving his new boss a less-than-subtle nudge, the City number 26 ignited a contest that ended up being […]
NEWCASTLE V CITY PREVIEW
Just 14 games into Norwich City’s season, the Canaries’ first six-pointer has come, and few would have predicted that they’d be the favourites. It’s been a rocky start for both City and Newcastle United, but the difference between them is that Dean Smith’s side are on the way out of their rough patch, while the […]
A Corner Turned? Armed with Tequila?
This is probably one of the shortest muses I’ll write about my beloved Norwich City, and I’m aware I’ve had precious little positive to write about in the weeks since summer drifted into autumn. Saturday saw winter beginning to firmly rattle the gate. The latest upturn in our fortunes might have been seeded in the […]
A birthday with a difference… Norwich City style
It was my birthday on Saturday. I am proud to say that I share the date of November 27 with Jimi Hendrix, although that is about all we have in common as he was one of the most innovative and exciting guitarists of all time, whereas me? Well at least all you MFW types know […]
Only a point when it could have been three but City now appear Premier League ready
First of all, they came after us because we were “uncompetitive”, “woeful” and apparently weren’t even having a go at staying in the Premier League. Now that we are competitive, are not woeful and are clearly giving it a proper go, we’re “boring” and “drab”. Anyone would think that a club that espouses careful financial […]
MATCH REPORT: City 0, Wolves 0
Ten days into the Dean Smith regime, for me, his second team selection was always going to be more telling than his first. Would the likes of Todd Cantwell have suitably impressed the new man in a week on the pitches of Colney? Does Hanley keep his place in defence? The questions were answered and […]
What are Webber’s top priorities as he agrees to stay at City?
Stuart Webber has announced his signing of a new rolling contract with City, ensuring he’ll stay at the club beyond his original 2022 exit point. This means that, although the Canaries are currently in the midst of a fierce relegation battle, Webber’s in-tray continues to pile up and his mid-term planning for the club’s future […]
WOLVES PREVIEW – Lage and Smith both hoping for more of the same
The last match preview I wrote was pre-Chelsea so apologies if I’m jinxing us. If we get hit for seven on Saturday feel free to blame me. If the task facing us at Stamford Bridge was gargantuan, Wolves at home is still sizeable. They’re not sixth in the table for no reason. Away from Molineux, […]
The new Norwich City badge debate: Do you love it, hate it, or not give a flying…?
Anybody from a services background treasures their regimental badge – and so do football supporters across the nation, because after all, every one of us feels like we are part of a regiment of sorts as well. And so we should. Welsh regiments tend to have goats as mascots, with a senior NCO dedicated to […]
From Man City mishap to “iconic” solution: The full story behind the club’s new badge
When Norwich City scrapped their simple canary on a branch for a design incorporating a ball for the bird to sit on, a lion and a representation of Norwich Castle, very few imagined quite how many highs and lows the club would go through while represented by their new badge. While researching ahead of their […]
Will the extra flexibility make the difference for Dean Smith’s Canaries?
After years of stubbornness and unrelenting trust in the process under Daniel Farke, Dean Smith’s tactical flexibility gives the Canaries a new edge. There were few Norwich City fans who could calculate the required solution as Josh Sargent went through his introductory warm-up on Saturday afternoon. The American was preparing for a crucial second half, […]
Unsung heroes, a Plan B, some rustiness and the Saints only having one song
I’ve got some good news for you MFW folks – as if you didn’t know already – that we have finally found a manager with a plan B who isn’t afraid to implement it. I’m making no bones about it, we were as battered as a loin of Lowestoft cod on Saturday during the first […]
City delay new badge announcement
City have postponed the announcement of their updated crest, after on-field results meant that the Canaries’ search for a new head coach stole the headlines. The badge, which is understood to be more of a subtle evolution of the current emblem than a total redesign, was originally scheduled to be revealed in November 2021, ahead […]
A new Carrow Road dawn begins with a stirring, nerve-shredder and three points!
It didn’t take long for Dean Smith to be afforded a demonstration of why City’s goal difference was -21 going into the game. Hesitancy, missed tackles, missed opportunities to clear, ball-watching, you name it… the full gamut of defensive cock-ups Norwich City-style were on show as Che Adams bundled his way through the Keystone Cops […]
MATCH REPORT: City make it two wins on the bounce as Smith kicks off with a win
So much seemed to have changed since I sat down to pen my words on the City victory at Brentford. Daniel Farke gone. Dean Smith in. Todd Cantwell and Billy Gilmour in from the wilderness and a feeling of cautious, careful optimism around Carrow Road. The feeling lasted precisely three minutes. Other than a brief moment where […]
The new gaffer speaks ahead of taking his Carrow Road bow
“Analysing everything” will be the key to picking Dean Smith’s first City team, according to the Canaries’ new head coach. Smith’s first Colney training session came on Thursday, and with a crucial match against Southampton coming up tomorrow he’s been left with little time to draft a starting XI. He is comfortable in this scenario, […]
SAINTS PREVIEW: A new era dawns in NR1 and a chance for Smith to get off to a flyer
It’s going to take a bit of getting used to. No more Parklife. No more celebratory olés. No more ‘topics’. No more being ‘greedy’. No more trendy parkas. Life is about to change in NR1 and for some, that’s going to be a toughie. And I get it. Despite being the club’s first continental manager, […]
Smith brings much-needed positivity to the City head coach role
The ambition debate is not an unfamiliar one to Norwich City fans. From Premier League season to Premier League season, especially since Stuart Webber’s arrival at Carrow Road, the Canaries have been ridiculed nationally for failing to ‘have a go’. Little effort has been made to understand the nuances of City’s model, and it’s a […]
Deano represents a sign of intent and, perhaps, an end to ‘little ol’ Norwich’
After City had won their first game of the season at Brentford – Normann and Pukki both scoring to give the Canaries an unlikely victory – it looked as if Daniel Farke would survive another day. Yet, nothing in football is guaranteed. The German was permitted a swan-song before being relieved of his duties. The […]
The Upper Barclay will be home on Saturday to a dedicated follower of fashion
I have to venture into the City around once a fortnight for business and I’m sure I’m not alone in that amongst the MFW fraternity – a few of you poor devils will have to go in every day for work, of course. There’s something to be said for what is more or less retirement […]
VIDEO: ‘DEAN SMITH’S YELLOW ARMY!’ NT Podcast #64 | Norwich Talk
Dean Smith has been appointed as the new Head Coach of our beloved Norwich City. We recently did a podcast without knowing who the next man was, with certainty, as we expressed views on both sides of the fence about Dean Smith. Yesterday we revisited them and look ahead with the man dubbed ‘DEAAAANO’ now […]
Dean Smith is in the house! Will Craig Shakespeare be Iago to his Othello?
So our choice as new head coach has finally put pen to paper and it’s Dean Smith from Aston Villa, who was out of work for exactly one week, almost to the hour. The initial debate surrounds ‘was he our first choice to replace Daniel Farke?’ No, he probably wasn’t as after Farke’s dismissal last […]
After a funny old week, is a new era about to begin in Norwich? The Dean Smith era?
The ups and downs of being a City supporter are supposed to pertain to events that occur on the pitch – not when we’re ‘between managers’. Yet rarely has there been a week when a ball has not been kicked when the emotions have so fluctuated. First, it was Knutsen, definitely Kjetil Knutsen, the number […]
And the new Norwich City manager is… (we still don’t know)
Managerial speculation, gossip and counter gossip. It’s all a bit wearying. Especially that which is spouted by some of the more lowbrow media outlets with their endless references to their ‘sources’. In other words, if they stick their grubby paws into the guessing game lucky dip and get it right, they can blag and boast […]
City may be seen as the unglamorous underdog, but is that all about to change?
Judging by the fact that three of the names linked with becoming City’s head coach are former Chelsea, Aston Villa and RB Leipzig managers, the club may not be quite as unfashionable as some would have us believe. That list omits Kjetil Knutsen, a relative hipster’s choice among the big names predictably attracting the most […]
The case for Dean Smith…
Frank Lampard did well at Derby but was heavily reliant on bringing in players, like Mason Mount, who were well above the standard necessary for the Championship. I recall the game where the floodlights failed, where City looked well set for the win but where Derby destroyed us after the restart. Credit that to Lampard. […]
The underdog vs the nice guy vs the overprivileged son of the establishment
The last few days of post-Daniel Norwich City have been a whirlwind of very little information. A tweet from a renowned in-the-know City aficionado at the start of the week suggested that Norwegian coach Kjetil Knutsen from Bodo/Glimt was going to be the replacement for Farke. Shortly afterwards the usually reliable John Percy of the […]
VIDEO: ‘THANK YOU DANIEL FARKE!’ NT Podcast #62 | Norwich Talk
So Daniel Farke’s time as Norwich City head coach has come to an end. This podcast is not based around our views on whether it was the right or wrong decision, there’s plenty of other content on this channel that discusses that. Instead, it’s a trip down (recent) memory lane to explore and relive some […]
Daniel Farke, the man who brought pride to Norwich City fans
“I stand for football, and hopefully for beautiful football.” Daniel Farke may not have delivered Premier League survival, but there’s no doubting the fact that Norwich City’s first ever foreign manager delivered on his promise of beautiful football. Perhaps it’s fitting that Farke’s decline was measured not solely by its results but by the style […]
Webber to stay at Norwich on rolling basis
Stuart Webber will remain Norwich City’s sporting director beyond the end of his current deal, with the announcement of a new contract expected during the upcoming international break. MyFootballWriter understands that the Welshman has agreed to stay at the club beyond the summer of 2022 on a rolling basis, after signing a three-year contract with the […]
No Lampard talks over Norwich job
Frank Lampard has not opened talks with Norwich City over their vacant head coach role, MyFootballWriter understands, contrary to some reports. The former Chelsea boss has been linked with a move to Carrow Road after previous head coach Daniel Farke was sacked on Saturday night, but reports claiming that Lampard has already engaged in discussions with […]
We’ll not half miss that ‘philosophy’, us being ‘greedy and those lovely ‘topics’
*A week is a long time in politics* – UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson, 1964.** Well, it’s a bloody long time in football too as we discovered last week. As I write the dust has yet to settle on what has been a very emotional week in my life, which I’ll quickly break down without […]
So then, the big question. Who’s next?
So, Daniel Farke has gone. I can understand the decision. Prior to Brentford our record was abysmal. Having a measly two points and the worst goal difference in the Premier League era (-22) after 10 games is dire by any standard. As Farke himself alluded to, the bus driver could have done better. But at […]
An ode to Daniel Farke
Oh Stuart Webber. What have you done. Of course, only time will tell, if this cruelest of decisions, bears fruit. And I guess that just proves hindsight can, and cannot, be a wonderful thing. I do hope Webber hasn’t rolled the dice before he too departs. Mike Walker aside, I’ve been served up an offering […]
A sad but victorious end for a humble man who took us on one of the great journeys
There’s something very Norwich City about going 20 games without a Premier League win and then when it finally arrives, after immeasurable amounts of heartache, we sack the head coach and his assistants within an hour of the final whistle. That’s not to say it was the wrong decision but it was certainly brutal in […]
MATCH REPORT: Events aplenty since but on the green stuff, a first win for City!
[James wrote this piece prior to last night’s news – Ed] The players formed up in the centre circle. The crowd fell silent and as the trumpeter sounded the last post, I cannot have been the only Canary fan wondering if this would indeed be the last post for Daniel Farke. Fear not. Perhaps buoyed by […]
Canos’ post-City career, a reminder that sometimes they slip through your fingers
When Alex Neil sanctioned the sale of Sergi Canos just six months after the Spaniard had arrived at City, he wasn’t expecting him to become a Premier League creative force. As the Canaries head to the Brentford Community Stadium today to face the club Canos was sold to, it’s tough to argue that the Scot […]
BRENTFORD PREVIEW: What next for the faltering Canaries?
I have a dilemma. There are several things I ought to be doing this Saturday. I also have a ticket for Brentford. There’s a strident voice in my head – which I suspect will be echoed by comments on this article – telling me it would be madness to expect anything other than another miserable […]
Two exhilarating Championship wins but a failed Premier League survival strategy
My affection for the US political drama The West Wing is limitless. It is impeccably written, highly intelligent, and often prophetic. It also introduced to me the term “The Lame Duck Senate”. These are Senators that have been voted out but remain in power until the new senate is sworn in. It is customary that […]
Crossed Purposes: City a million miles away from having anything cohesive to build on
The myriad issues of why City have imploded so spectacularly this season have been debated by fans and pundits alike over recent weeks. One area I don’t think has seen much focus though is the growing disconnect, if not personally, at least philosophically, between the work of Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke. Until this season […]
It’s the loss of identity that stings the most for City fans
City’s pass completion rate during the 2-1 home loss to Leeds United was 67.1%, their lowest since February 2019, 119 games ago. What is perhaps most relevant is that the game in question was a 3-0 defeat of Ipswich. Football fans can accept losing, and they can handle unstylish performances, but not the two together. […]
RIP Farkeball. Remember those good ol’ days? They were fun
Friends, Norfolkians and Canary fans, lend me your ears. I come to bury Farkeball, no longer to praise it. The evil that a new system does lives after it; The good is oft interred with its bones. Thus Marc Antony might have spoken at around 4pm on Sunday if he had been a Norwich City […]
No rollercoaster ride this season. In 2021-22 Norwich City trades only in downs
You know when you sign up to be a City fan that the gig is generally a tough one. There’ll be some highs but to really feel the joy they bring you have to have experienced the heart-wrenching lows. And there are more of the latter. That’s a given. If we weren’t prepared for all […]
MATCH REPORT: Another day, another defeat, this time by an ordinary Leeds
After the dismal performance last week, everyone connected with Norwich was expecting both a reaction from the players and changes to the team. They got both but ultimately City were left with exactly the same. Nil points. When the team broke, there was something resembling incredulity from many City fans, with what looked like a back […]
Out of the frying pan…
Struggling to replace the dour but solid Mick McCarthy in advance of the 2018/19 season, Ipswich Town appointed Paul Hurst (erstwhile of Shrewsbury Town) as their new manager. Hurst was young, bright and heralded as one of the potential management diamonds in the game. Sadly, he had a dismal time at Portman Road. The season […]
LEEDS PREVIEW: A make or break(ish) game for City, but not for Daniel Farke
When asked by the PinkUn whether Daniel Farke’s job was under threat, Stuart Webber’s answer was simple: “no.” That a head coach who would likely be unemployed had he overseen any other Premier League team heads into a match this weekend under seemingly no corporate pressure is an unusual one, even if most could’ve predicted that this […]
Webbers speaks: Farke’s job safe but improvement needed on pitch & in stands
I’m not sure the ‘board’s dreaded vote of confidence’ is even a thing anymore but even if it was I don’t think Stuart Webber would do them. Not in the sense of it being indicative the manager getting the tin tack. That’s why when Webber told the gathered media yestreday that Daniel Farke’s position is […]
The Premier League waits for nobody and City’s sliding doors moment is approaching
The last time Norwich City won a Premier League away game was in November 2019. Jeremy Corbyn was preparing to lead the Labour Party into a general election, FIFA 20 was the football game of choice and Covid-19 hadn’t even entered the English vocabulary. As the light dimmed in Merseyside and optimism started to re-enter […]
It’s not Norwich City that’s broken…
I’ve barely watched us this season. It’s not that I don’t care. I just don’t care about where we are plying our trade. I’m currently embroiled in a wonderful debate with the South West Canaries supporters group, whereby I am one of only two, who want to maintain the status quo within our club. And […]
From praise and accolades to widespread disapproval and ridicule in just five months
A friend of mine recently boasted about completing a job application and when asked for his religion, he’d put down ‘football’. He didn’t get an interview. But in the same way that people choose to label themselves according to their religious beliefs, when we tell people we are Norwich supporters, it becomes less about what […]
Outclassed and embarrassed, but also an overwhelming sense of not belonging
I’ve sometimes felt that I don’t belong. Not in a self-deprecating sense, but I’ve been through that situation a few times in my life. From being a scholarship kid at a public school through being coerced into meeting an early girlfriend’s Tory councillor parents when I was a rebellious youngster to having to attend a […]
A Stamford Bridge humiliation for City, with added scorn, embarrassment and woe
I need to be careful how I word this. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a few messages bemoaning the negativity on MFW this season, with a few people telling me they are departing these pages for good. I deliberately, on request, turned to Mick Dennis and Stewart Lewis to offer a more positive […]
MATCH REPORT: Things turn ugly for City as they get hit for seven at Stamford Bridge
As football matches go, this was a tough a watch as you will ever get as a City fan. Few expected Norwich to get anything from this game, but equally few could have predicted such abject misery. City were unchanged, the game plan was clear. Keep it tight. Be tough to break down. Don’t concede […]
CHELSEA PREVIEW…
I often enjoy writing the previews. It can be an interesting exercise to analyse the opposition and try and work out how they’re likely to set up and suggest weaknesses that City may be able to exploit. In the Championship it was fun. Then I started thinking about this game and the word “fun” didn’t […]
VIDEO: ‘HELP US PICK NORWICH CITY’S BEST XI’ NT Podcast #61 | Norwich Talk
In this week’s pod, the lads take their turn in predicting Daniel Farke’s starting XI for the trip to Stamford Bridge. Do you agree with a back five/three? Who partners Normann in the engine room? Give their Twitter a follow! 📲 https://twitter.com/NorwichTalk1902 They’re also on Spotify/iTunes! 🎧 Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/3TtW5PP… iTunes – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast… Musicbed licence […]
Is there room for a self-financing football club in the Premier League of the 2020s?
Over the last few years, Norwich City FC have proudly, if quietly, waved the banner of self-financing. All the noise has come from critics, many from within of course. I’m not a fan of the concept myself, but I obviously know that some of you lovely MFW folks and others elsewhere are quite happy with […]
How does Farke solve the Gilmour conundrum?
When Billy Gilmour signed on loan in July 2021, there was an almost unanimous cry of positivity and optimism from Norwich fans across social media. A Champions League winner had just signed for the club in what seemed to be a serious statement of intent for challenging in the Premier League. However, his impact on […]
A Class Apart – Stormin’ Normann
There have been three occasions in recent years when a supernova exploded over Carrow Road. *** The first was Nathan Redmond. City were a Championship side and played a Premier League team in a friendly. As the sides trotted onto the pitch there was an immediate difference between the two squads. The Premier League players looked like […]
VIDEO: ‘AN OPPORTUNITY MISSED’ Norwich City 0-0 Brighton | Norwich Talk
City were left frustrated at the weekend after missing a slew of chances in the draw with Brighton. Josh Sargent missed the pick of the City chances, while Daniel Farke’s new back three held firm for the second consecutive game. Here are the lads’ post-match thoughts… Give their Twitter a follow! 📲 https://twitter.com/NorwichTalk1902 They’re also […]
Wolves and Aston Villa collaborators consulted as part of Norwich City rebrand
London-based branding consultants SomeOne have been involved in Norwich City’s review of marketing, it is understood. As revealed by MyFootballWriter in May, the Canaries have been looking at various marketing and branding issues recently, discussing topics including fonts, Carrow Road’s television image and the design of the club’s badge. SomeOne have been a big part of this […]
The Seagulls sniffed blood but this time our slowly improving Canaries held the line
A few years after I was born in late 1957, there were two well-known USA sitcoms shown on black and white TV in the UK that were beloved of ex-servicemen everywhere. The first was Sgt Bilko, aka You’ll Never Get Rich or simply the Phil Silvers Show. As a kid growing up I loved it in all of […]
Premier League survival one point at a time? Or is the tide turning too slowly?
Oh, Josh 🙁 For all the whys and wherefores of team selections, formations and substitutions that did or didn’t happen, the main reason we’re not dissecting our first win of the season this morning is that poor ol’ Josh, when faced with an open goal from 25 yards, horribly under-hit it. Really horribly. He’ll not […]
MATCH REPORT: A point and another clean sheet for City but a chance missed for three
There was a sense of cautious hope, some may even say optimism going into this game. Farke resisted the clamour for the darling of the national media, Billy Gilmour, to be included and elected to play an unchanged side, apparently citing the lack of time that the squad had had together since the last game. The […]
BRIGHTON PREVIEW: Floyd… the Harlow Gazette… and that likeable Graham Potter
I am a great fan of Pink Floyd up until Wish You Were Here and my favourite Roger Waters couplet has always been: The memories of a man in his old age are the deeds of a man in his prime.** So much so in fact that I have the phrase tattooed on my right forearm. In this […]
Quiz time… from the Fine City… so…
And now, from Norwich… it’s Quiz of the Week! Can you name the current City players from these snippets harvested from Wikipedia? 1. Which City player was nicknamed ‘Baker’s Hands’ during his time at ADO Den Haag due to his hands being the size of bread loaves? 2. Which of these players has the middle name ‘James’ […]
Forget decency and human rights… the Prem looks no further than the filthy lucre
The second international break of the season is usually a chance to take stock and evaluate how the first couple of months have gone for City. On this occasion, it was best not to look too closely – a bonnet that didn’t really need opening. Unfortunately, said international break is also the trigger for Observer […]
Mathias Normann is a jack of all trades. But can he be master of one?
There certainly should have been more surprise when the nominated defensive midfielder for the Premier League’s bottom side pirouetted between defenders and kissed the Burnley bar from a tight angle. But because that player was Mathias Normann, there was very little. City’s latest Norwegian destroyer may have been brought in to fill the Oliver Skipp-shaped […]
Since when did it become cool to punch down on the little guy?
Those of you who don’t frequent social media and are able to resist the dubious delights of talkSPORT may be unaware that said radio station has been less than complimentary about our beloved Norwich City over the last couple of months. Not just the once, but consistently… on what feels like a weekly basis. Some […]
Where do you stand on the Krul/Vydra debate? Team Wright or Team Gallagher?
When it comes to famous writers, many are entombed within the confines of Poets Corner Westminster Abbey, as in Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron and Philip Larkin amongst shedloads of others. These writers generally got their inspiration from sitting down at places like Tintern Abbey, skulking with understandable fear and dread in the horrific trenches of […]
Our first little acorn of the season has fallen… in Turf Moor. Thanks Sean
From little acorns mighty oaks do grow, proclaims a proverb that originated in England during the 14th century**. If they fall far enough away from the tree not to be suffocated by the arboreal donor, passing squirrels do not hoard them over the winter so that they shrivel and die and the weather remains generous […]
A point! A whole, beautiful, hard-earned Premier League point (and a clean sheet)
To paraphrase Jarvis Cocker, we had to start it somewhere, so it started there… in Burnley. It wasn’t a rip-snorter of a performance by any stretch of the imagination, but it was resolute and gutsy; two words that have been absent from literally every Norwich City match report or thought piece so far this season. As […]
MATCH REPORT: Finally a point on the board for City with a Turf Moor clean sheet
Ignore the noise is the Farke mantra. It is fortunate that he is able to heed his own advice. The noise this week told him that so far this season he had made too many changes, or that he needed to make sweeping changes, switch to 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or even 4-4-2. In the end, Farke […]
BURNLEY PREVIEW: Can our ailing Canaries stop Dyche’s Clarets putting it up ’em?
In Martin’s Monday piece, he spoke of his relief at not being on the rota to pen the Burnley preview. That particular honour is mine. Whoopee! I pondered whether it was time to dip back into the cesspit of celebrity fan previews but the best I could come up with in terms of A, B […]
It’s the hope…
What if, improbable as it seems, we claw our way to safety in the brutally unforgiving Premier League? Without quibble or fudge I agree with those who say that, currently, we look a long way off being able to compete, let alone linger, in the top tier. I’ve been there to see every ball we’ve […]
Some hits and misses of the Norwich City production line…
A while ago now I was speaking with MFW regular Alex Bain and somewhere in the conversation there emerged the concept that when it comes to buying low and selling high, it doesn’t always work out that way. And nor does it for many home-grown Academy lads either. For every Emi there’s an Aidan Fitzpatrick, […]
“We’re doomed – doomed, I tell ye!” But are we?
I’m not here to rubbish the pessimists about Norwich City’s prospects. How could I be? The facts are stark: six played, six lost. Yes, we had the toughest starting fixtures imaginable – but we’ve also been beaten, convincingly, at home by Watford. Whatever the strengths of our squad, they haven’t thus far played with a […]
MATCH REPORT: West Brom take advantage of City’s error-prone Under-23s
City’s Under-23s were beaten 5-2 by West Bromwich Albion at The Walks on Monday night, a series of defensive errors cancelling out goals by Jon Rowe and Tom Dickson-Peters for the home side. The young Canaries started well and had their visitors on the back foot from the off, Rowe forcing a good stop from […]
City new boys must cut out mistakes to be effective in a relegation battle
‘He was good apart from the…’ This is fast becoming a popular phrase among Norwich City fans. ‘Mathias Norman was good apart from his lax tracking for the second goal’; ‘Christos Tzolis was good apart from the penalty miss’; ‘Ozan Kabak was good apart from the rash challenge on Allan’. Even in a terrible season […]
Too early for the white flag? Or are we not long for this plush Premier League world?
Almost to this very day two years ago I had to go to the NNUH for a full dental extraction. The guy in the next bed to me was a Polish fella called Marek who was in for some kind of preventative DVT operation. Neither of us could stand the noise from the other patients […]
Amid all the doom and gloom, please can we at least have our Farkeball back?
This Premier League lark isn’t much fun is it. Not when you support Norwich City. Not at the moment. In fact, it’s hard to recall a time when City have been in the top flight and things have felt quite so grim. The stats back it up. Played 6. Lost 6. Goal difference -14. Things […]
With Derby and Reading on the brink, it’s time for a reset. Step forward *Fair Game*
With FIFA desperately trying to force through two-yearly World Cup’s with all the lucrative money-making opportunities they would bring and £100m transfer fees now barely raising an eyebrow, the game seems to be intent on hurtling towards a point where will see more and more clubs crash and burn as they try to stay aboard […]
EVERTON PREVIEW: The final Goodison hurrah for the travelling Yellow Army?
We play Everton at Goodison Park tomorrow, which is almost certainly the last chance our loyal group of away supporters, both regular and casual, will have the opportunity to visit that grand old stadium before, with a little financial help from Liverpool City Council, a new stadium is built not too far away from the […]
More of the same and the tide could turn; the very last thing Daniel Farke deserves
It’s August 2013. Saturday, the 24th of August, 2013, to be precise. I’m not going to flog it any further by giving you the time (but it would have been five-ish in the afternoon). Norwich City had just played out a flat, uninspiring, 0-1 Premier League defeat at the KC Stadium against a Hull City side […]
Press high, pick off an early City mistake, score from it and it’s all but game over…
How often have us Norwich City types come across the phrase *Boys against Men*? Quite a lot if you’ve seen its use as many times as I have recently – I’ve lost count in all honesty. But on Tuesday night against Liverpool at Carrow Road there was a novel twist on the oft-used cliché. The […]
Another match, another loss. The same old story as City enter Project Restart Mark II
Another match, another loss for City as they were unceremoniously dumped from the Carabao Cup last night, but after the repetition of a familiar result, at least the script felt slightly altered. After weeks of the same old naivety, defensive errors and lack of creativity, it was courteous of the Canaries to throw in some […]
MATCH REPORT: Too easy for Liverpool. “Porous at the back. Blunt up front”
Given that Daniel Farke had barely a day to work with his players since the capitulation to Watford, it should come as no surprise to any Canary fan that, once again, there was a familiar theme to this defeat. The Sky commentator summed it up in eight words. Too porous at the back. Too blunt up front. […]
Hope. The Currency of the modern football fan
Norwich fans are no strangers to challenging times. We have a small and inglorious hall of fame of moments where being a Norwich fan seemed more an unwanted life sentence than the joy and pleasure we feel for the majority of the time. That hall of fame includes a penalty shootout at the Millennium Stadium, […]
LIVERPOOL PREVIEW – a repeat of opening day but with 22(?) different faces
We’ve got a repeat of the opening Premier League fixture on Wednesday night with the return of the mighty Liverpool to Carrow Road in the Carabao Cup third round. I’ve discovered via another chat with the excellent Tony Evans, who is a columnist for The Independent, a former Football Editor of The Times, a contributor to […]
Reasons to be cheerful…
Twas a grim weekend, so in the spirit of looking for positivity… Positive, positive, positive… Right, here goes. 1. The squad Good cover in nearly every position. Two very good goalkeepers; four quick full-backs; two centre-backs with proven ability and two more with exciting potential; a plethora of dynamic wingers; three forwards with goals in […]
Something better change. More of the same and this season only ends one way
I was scheduled to pass my season ticket to a mate on Saturday. It had been an agreement for over a month as he lives in the West Midlands and rarely gets to Carrow Road at the moment. You don’t renege on a deal like that. But on Friday dinner time I was feeling the […]
Five games in and the going is tough. Very tough. Oh for a single point on the board
You know things are not going well when you’ve had to give Match of the Day the swerve for five consecutive Saturdays. Some of you are no doubt braver than I, but Lineker’s half-hearted ‘and Norwich?’ that invariably follows the collective gushing over the qualities of our opponents is too much to take when the […]
MATCH REPORT: No City heroes as Hornets make it five on the spin against Canaries
‘You got me monologuing. The words are from the villain ‘Syndrome’ in the Disney Pixar Film ‘The Incredibles’, but could equally be applied to Daniel Farke after his pre-match press conference this week. Regrettably, there were no superheroes at Carrow Road today, nor anything Incredible. Despite his passionate defence of his players, Farke made changes […]
“The key is to stay positive”: Farke’s rallying cry to keep the faith
Norwich City head coach Daniel Farke has passionately reiterated the importance of positivity as the Canaries head into their crucial match against Watford, claiming that 100% of supporters must remain upbeat to earn Premier League establishment. The German denied that the game was ‘must-win’ for his side, but called on supporters to “make Carrow Road […]
WATFORD PREVIEW – The season starts here
The real test of whether Norwich City can survive in the top flight begins at Carrow Road tomorrow. Before we come back and expand on that, a brief detour to Watford – the club closest to where I live, though not to my heart. My Watford-supporting friends assure me I’m safe to write this column. […]
Will game number 5 be the one? And has Webber addressed the bullying issue?
The joy of watching Emma Radacanu winning the US Open last Saturday evening may have temporarily eased the pain of another City defeat but was only a short-term fix. I’m not sure what specifically it is about an away defeat at the Emirates that encaptures everything about Norwich City in the Premier League (we tend […]
Should Farke persevere with 4-3-3? Or will we see the much-discussed back three?
For all the frustrations we currently feel, I remain optimistic that City will survive. But I also think it is dangerous to downplay the last two games and hide behind reputations. Leicester’s defence was as makeshift as City’s against Manchester City in 2019, which included Ibrahim Amadou at centre-back, and they appeared there for the […]
The salutary tale of Graham Poll – a fallible human, alone in the centre of a storm
When he realised his career had imploded in a moment of global humiliation, referee Graham Poll needed to be alone. But solitude is hard to find when you are at a World Cup match. Eventually, he managed to shrug off solicitous colleagues, forced his head up and walked out into the bowl of the Stuttgart […]
Advantage Omobamidele in the battle for centre-back starting berths
After a frantic contest had drawn to a close and various officials from both Arsenal and Norwich City gathered around to complete their post-match duties, one man still stood out as the calmest in the Emirates Stadium. Surprisingly that man was a 19-year-old, who months ago was known to very few but suddenly has been […]
The pursuit of truth: can a self-funding club ever survive in the Premier League?
Urban myths. You know, stories that filter down to you second and third hand that you’d really like to believe in and happily share with your friends but with a sensible head on you’re not sure if you can believe they are true. Two of my three favourite examples concern the rock music industry of […]
Same old story as City play well for spells but still come up short at the Emirates
City played well, stood up to the battle, were easy on the eye and looked solid for long periods, but narrowly lost thanks to a bit of bad luck and some questionable defending. Sound familiar? The venue was different, the personnel slightly adjusted (Daniel Farke made four changes to his starting eleven from the 2-1 […]
Another Emirates disappointment as City succumb to the inevitable messy goal
So that’s it. The extended pre-season is over. It’s down to the real games next week against Watford. Daniel Farke has a history of transformation in the post-international break period. Perhaps it was expecting a bit much for him to pull off the same trick this time, particularly with several players away on extended international duty […]
ARSENAL PREVIEW: A classic ‘along come Norwich’ moment? Or an opportunity?
The last time Norwich City went to the Emirates they were soundly beaten by a superior Arsenal team backed up by a superior Arsenal squad and the London club had an exciting young coach in Mikel Arteta. The Gunners were trending upwards and City clearly downwards as they meekly surrendered their Premier League status. Taking […]
Consider yourself a City aficionado? Then test yourself…
Answers below . . . . . . . . . . .
Winning big games: back in the day when City went toe-to-toe with the champions
I pity the podcast generation, all-knowing and fresh-faced, blinking blindly in the Premier League glare. I do. Sadly they seem to regard the world prior to 2014 as empty of integrity, truth and joy, and of no possible use to anyone with a phone surgically attached to their person. A black mirror indeed, and certainly […]
The healthy competition of Sargent and Idah can only be a good thing for Pukki
After a slow start and the arrival of £9million competition, Teemu Pukki had suffered a good deal of criticism, but scoring Norwich City’s first Premier League goal of the season has reminded fans of the Finn’s sensational record at the club. In Iwan Roberts’ column for the Eastern Daily Press, the Norwich City legend stated that […]
Seat belts on folks, it’s a bumpy ride as we revisit the Canary Nation of September 1999
I was rooting through the oubliette of my desk draws [the bottom one with heavy stuff like property deeds and old coins in it] the other day and discovered something I thought I had disposed of ages ago when I eBayed all my old programmes and sold them to a newsagent in Costessey, together with the egg […]
Webber… his finest hand of poker… Normann & Kabak… and some Emirates hope
International breaks eh. Don’t you just love them? They never come at a good time, but those that come immediately after your club has signed what you hope will be two key players are especially annoying. Particularly when said players have literally a few hours at the club before they have to jet off and […]
Norwich to finish 11th… if, as some believe, the only metric worth its salt is net spend
Upon the closure of the transfer windows, every pundit, media outlet and shock-jock talk-radio station took it upon themselves to try and establish who ‘won’ the transfer window. As ever, despite City spending more than they have ever done in any transfer window in history and having ticked every box going (at least in Norwich […]
The window that was. Martin’s posse take a look at the wonderful work of Webber
So that transfer window has finally closed and I think we must surely agree that it has been the finest one in terms of achievement by Norwich City yet. I reckon it is and the best of fair play to Stuart Webber and the recruitment team. But do the posse agree? The only way to […]
Grading Norwich City’s transfer window: Future heroes or … not?
It’s safe to say that this summer was a crucial one for Norwich City. Armed with comfortably his largest-ever budget, sporting director Stuart Webber set about transforming a Championship winning squad missing its most important player into a group capable of Premier League survival. So, how successful as he been? We set about deciding with […]
VIDEO: Welcome aboard Mathias Normann and Ozan Kabak | Norwich Talk
The lads have been busy over the last couple of days, thanks to a certain Stuart Webber. City’s sporting director stayed true to his word and delivered Daniel Farke with what we all hope will be the final two pieces of the survival jigsaw and so gave the NT boys plenty to chew over. As […]
Norwich closing in on Kabak signing
City are closing on the signing of Schalke centre-back Ozan Kabak on an initial loan, MyFootballWriter understands. They will have an option to turn the deal permanent in the summer of 2022 if the deal goes through, which the Canaries are confident of. Kabak spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan at Liverpool […]
City worth a draw but muck happens. The season now starts for real at the Emirates
Who’d have thought it? As we go into the international break we are above Arsenal in the Premier League table. Oh joy, you might think, until you actually take a quick shufti at said, sad table. And who do we face after the break? Arsenal at the Emirates of course. But with all thoughts of […]
The Canaries finally tick their top priority transfer box – Mathias Normann is the man
Heading into the 2021 summer transfer window Norwich City had one top priority: find a defensive midfielder to replace Oliver Skipp. After a long and arduous process, they have their man. In Mathias Normann, brought in from Russian side FC Rostov for a loan fee that could turn into a club record permanent deal if […]
Sloppy defending (again)… Skipp-shaped holes… VAR agony… and a returning hero?
As Todd Cantwell said afterwards, it would have been disappointing to have come away with a point but, of course, we would definitely have taken it. To have ended up with nothing was a proper blow to the nether regions. The longer we go without those first points, or point, on the board the more […]
MATCH REPORT: Pukki off the mark but two defensive ricks and City lose again
So finally a chance to watch a match ‘live’. I was working on opening day, was half comatose with jet lag for the Man City game although, given the result, that seems to have been an advantage. That loss will be no more relevant to the Canaries’ final position than the subsequent cup win against Bournemouth. […]
Could Farke return to a 4-2-3-1 for Leicester visit?
The Foxes’ weaknesses could combine with the Canaries’ stellar midweek to induce a return of the tried and tested Farke formula. While new faces, kit suppliers and sponsors have given Carrow Road a changed look this season, Daniel Farke’s switch from a 4-2-3-1 to a flat 4-3-3 has been the most noticeable tactical change. After […]
VIDEO: ‘CARVALHO & THE CDM DEBATE!’ NT Podcast #57 | Norwich Talk
The lads are back for some more transfer rumour goodness. With the window closing and City still in the market for two very important positions (centre-back and defensive midfield) the transfer speculation is rife. William Carvalho (on the day of recording – 26/8/21) was the latest name to be tipped with a move to Norwich […]
LEICESTER PREVIEW: Our pre-season is over, let’s start collecting some points.
Saturday 5.00 pm: “Jesus, that defending… and still no defensive midfielder in sight… it’s eerily reminiscent of the last ten games of 19/20… I’m getting nervous”. Monday 12:00 pm: “Brandon Williams has been confirmed. He might be more needed than we thought after Saturday. Good signing that”. Monday 10:00 pm: “Leicester took a pasting and […]
Carvalho linked as Norwich chase for Normann continues
Norwich City have considered William Carvalho as an option, but the Real Betis midfielder is unlikely to join the Canaries. Sky Sports reported that City were interested in Carvalho, who has 68 caps for Portugal and made 27 appearances for Betis last season, but MyFootballWriter understands that FC Rostov midfielder Mathias Normann remains a more realistic alternative. Talks […]
Less Greek tragedy, more Greek Fire as Tzolis lights up Carrow Road on debut
That display on Tuesday against Bournemouth was as far from a Greek tragedy as it is possible to get and much more a case of Greek Fire** courtesy of a young man we’ll be seeing a lot more of – Christos Tzolis. Let’s be honest Scott Parker opened his book of excuses early doors by […]
The good mood returns to Carrow Road as it soaks up the mother of all City debuts
Well, that was a little unexpected. Many were forecasting a Crawley (a) type performance but instead a City team made up largely of those who have yet to feature did a number on a Bournemouth team similarly made up of those who Scott Parker deemed in of need of game time. In that regard, the […]
Farke pleased but “not dancing on the table” after Bournemouth hammering
City head coach Daniel Farke was pleased with his side’s 6-0 defeat of Bournemouth but remained cautious in his praise, saying that he was not “over the moon” after the Carabao Cup second-round win. £9million signing Christos Tzolis registered two goals and two assists on the night but Farke was not drawn into individual praise […]
Ignore the noise they said… and then this bloke no-one had ever heard of chirped up
I fully expected the fallout from Saturday’s very disappointing defeat at the Etihad to rattle through way beyond tonight’s Carabao Cup game with Bournemouth; probably right up to kick-off time on Saturday if I’m honest. Such was the dearth of positives, the Canary nation was a fractured old place as we all attempted to unravel, […]
The Etihad foul count highlights a missing element for the Canaries
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City may be known for their movement, patience and technical quality, but they’re also the Premier League’s most precise and calculated foulers. It’s an approach Norwich would do well to learn from. There were plenty of predictable statistics to illustrate quite how dominant Manchester City were over Norwich on Saturday afternoon. Possession […]
No fun whatsoever in being shellacked by the Premier League’s rich kids
I had a strange education during my formative years. I was as happy as the proverbial sandboy at Barley Lane Junior in Chadwell Heath and sat my eleven plus there. No word of a lie, my pass level was so high that an IQ tester came along to see me and the result couldn’t have […]
More Etihad misery for the Canaries as Pep’s superstars dish out a harsh lesson
I wasn’t really sure where to start when tasked with previewing yesterday’s game. We all knew what was just around the Etihad corner, so to try and paint a rosy-ish picture before a ball had even been kicked wasn’t the easiest of tasks. I concluded the piece by suggesting the scoreline wouldn’t be as gloomy […]
MATCH REPORT: Tough afternoon at the Etihad as Pep’s men cruise to an easy win
Norwich City were comfortably beaten by Manchester City, the English champions thrashing the Canaries 5-0 on a miserable afternoon for Daniel Farke’s side. Jack Grealish, Aymeric Laporte, Rajeev Sterling and Riyad Mahrez found the net for the Citizens, adding to Tim Krul’s early on goal to comfortably see off their visitors. On a day when […]
MATCH REPORT: Promising, but City’s Under-23s beaten by a single Stoke goal
Eddy Jones’ strike stole the three points for the visitors, while Norwich fans were treated to their first glimpse of new signing Liam Gibbs in competitive action and striker Shae Hutchinson made a return from his second kidney transplant surgery to complete 45 minutes of Premier League 2 action. Alan Neilson’s development side started the […]
Mutual admiration, but all about three points for Farke and Guardiola tomorrow
Friends Pep Guardiola and Daniel Farke were keen to praise each other’s work in their pre-match press conferences but asserted that it’s business as usual come 3pm tomorrow. “Daniel is an exceptional manager,” said Guardiola of his Norfolk counterpart. “I enjoy a lot watching his teams play. They have the quality and this is a […]
MAN CITY PREVIEW: A smarting Pep is not ideal as the Canaries head off to the Etihad
Hhmm… not sure where to start. Even on a good day, it’s a fixture that makes the sphincter twitch. Even if Norwich were at full strength, with a squad bulging full of new signings, all fully fit and embedded after a full, testing pre-season behind them, we would still be more than a little apprehensive […]
Another one nearly done – two to go in Webber’s summer transfer mission
There may not be any signing that excites less than a backup full-back. Perhaps that particular accolade is commonly taken by a second choice goalkeeper but Stuart Webber has managed to bring excitement even to that signing to City fans this summer. In fact, there’s generally been a great deal of anticipation around every signing […]
VIDEO: ‘POST-LIVERPOOL POSITIVITY!’ NT Podcast #56 | Norwich Talk
City may have kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool but, as expected, it was overshadowed by the spectacle of a roaring Carrow Road. The lads (including Billy) went live to break down the game but, more importantly, talk about their experiences of being back at the place they all […]
Canary Corners, silly substitutions, midfield mix… and, maybe, Mark Noble?
First off, what a fabulous effort from the lads against Liverpool. The result is irrelevant, it was wonderful to see all the old faces around us and to see so many new faces too. Generally, City were in the game in the first half but they obviously faltered in the second against one of the best […]
Good to be back in the old routine; those familiar faces; the banter; the fancy cigars
A journey of 10,000 miles starts with a single step according to Mao Tse-Tung. My trip to Carrow Road on Saturday was about 9,998 miles short of that but nonetheless memorable. At 63 years of age, I’m surely far too old to get butterflies in the abdomen region – or so I thought. Mrs P […]
An emotional return to the Carra for the masses; one even Liverpool couldn’t spoil
Well, it wasn’t the homecoming we’d all dreamt of, but it was the one most expected. A City squad whose pre-season had been ruined by the infiltration of Covid leading to cancelled friendlies and eleven members of the squad undergoing periods of isolation versus the might of Liverpool whose preparations had been almost perfect. What […]
MATCH REPORT: City succumb to Liverpool’s quality but still some positives
City’s Premier League campaign got off to a disappointing, if not unexpected, start, losing 3-0 to Liverpool at Carrow Road. Goals from Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Mohammed Salah earned the Reds three points at a packed Carrow Road, as City fans piled into a full-capacity stadium for the first time in nearly 18 months. […]
That moment is almost upon us…
Farke’s new, quicker, counter-attacking Canaries more capable than ever before
Norwich City’s 2021/22 season already has a sense of theatre about it, the feeling of an era-defining battle in the final of a series of blockbuster films. The following ten months will define whether the Webber and Farke era is remembered as the greatest in the club’s history or a tale of what could’ve been. […]
The same opposition as in 2019-20, but things feel different this time around
The opposition may have the same coloured shirts, we may go in as big underdogs once again, the game may be the same, but the atmosphere will be totally different. While last time around City faced the pressure of the largest crowd they’d played in front of as a team, in 2021 it’s the weight […]
LIVERPOOL PREVIEW: Van Dijk returns to face the”Man City of the Championship”…
Concocting the first MFW preview of yet another [ha!] season in the Premier League for Norwich City has fallen to me and I must admit that the prospect of our facing the mighty Liverpool at Carrow Road on Saturday would normally fill me with awe, dread and no small portion of trepidation. But for all of us, […]
What will Christos Tzolis bring to Norwich City?
It’s safe to say that Christos Tzolis’ arrival at Carrow Road has been eagerly anticipated, and there must be a reason for all the fanfare. So, what convinced Stuart Webber to spend €11million on a 19-year-old, and what will he bring now he’s in the Fine City? Tzolis style is not dissimilar to that of one […]
GUEST BLOG: What makes a true fan?
It’s guest blog time again and today is the turn of Glasgow-based City fan Robin Ireland, who takes us on a UK-wide journey in an attempt to answer the question above… *** I moved to Scotland in 2018 (and met up again with my pal and another Norwich supporter, David, who I first met at […]
VIDEO: ‘CANTWELL, SARGENT, TZOLIS & LIVERPOOL!’ NT Pod #55 | Norwich Talk
After the shortest of summer breaks, the lads are back and, as ever, there are no shortage of talking points! They chat about the incomings of Josh Sargent and Christos Tzolis as well as the quashing of the Todd Cantwell to Aston Villa rumours before looking ahead to Citys opening day of the season clash […]
Keep the powder dry and the Private Frazers to keep schtum ’til September
Us wordsmiths have favourite words or phrases that we like to occasionally incorporate into our articles, whether on MFW or elsewhere. Mine have included *Bruce was incandescent with rage*, *Leitner adopted a masterly policy of inactivity* and *Colin wasn’t a happy bunny* – the latter of which won’t be required this season unless we meet […]
A little undercooked maybe, but just six days before Carrow Road can roar again
Let’s not kid ourselves. That wasn’t the ideal pre-season. In truth, it’s probably up there with the infamous pre-season of 2014. which included that tour of Italy that was well and truly and in the realms of piss ups and breweries. But this one was nothing to do with poor organisation. In terms of leaving […]
Villa CEO hints at the cooling of Cantwell interest
Aston Villa Chief Executive Christian Purslow has seemingly ruled out a move for Norwich City’s Todd Cantwell, claiming that the players required to replace Jack Grealish have already been signed by the Villains. The 25-year-old secured his move to Manchester City on Thursday night, prompting an explanation from Purslow as the Villa faithful mourned the […]
Intriguing rather than obvious signings so far, and still serious business to be done…
City have been more active in this transfer window than most clubs. In this article, I will look at how things are evolving as the season fast approaches. Daniel Farke will have known, for months, his preferred system for the Premier League. He will either want a back three or he won’t, but which will it be? […]
Photo diary: The evening when a degree of normality returned for the Canary faithful
Tuesday night was an emotional one at Carrow Road as, for many, it was their first visit to our second ‘living room’ since February 2020. MFW columnist Chris Sadler captured the evening perfectly in a photo diary…
Reaction to Covid outbreak impressive for Farke, as Gilmour revels in Carrow Road
Norwich City Head Coach Daniel Farke praised his players for coming through a “tough 14 days” to thrash Gillingham 5-0 on Wednesday night, joining new signing Billy Gilmour in talking up the atmosphere on a big night at Carrow Road. “I’m quite pleased, the circumstances of the last two weeks haven’t been easy for the […]
Classy midfield display helps City sweep Gills aside
City’s penultimate friendly of 2021 became a walk in the park, the Canaries’ midfield oozing class as they waltzed to a 5-0 victory over League One Gillingham. Pierre Lees-Melou’s long-distance opener was the highlight of the night, Lukas Rupp’s tap-in sandwiched by an Adam Idah double before Jacob Sorensen completed the rout. It had been […]
Tzolis deal getting closer for City, but any announcement is weeks away
Norwich City are progressing towards a deal to sign Greek international Christos Tzolis but no announcement is imminent, MyFootballWriter understands. Discussions are ongoing between Norwich and Tzolis’ current club PAOK Thessaloniki, who have a good relationship after negotiating the transfer of Dimitris Giannoulis in January. The left-back moved to Carrow Road for around £6.5million while his compatriot […]
The story of On the Stall City and how it’s so much more than the average market stall
Some of you may well be familiar with our venture “On the Stall City” (OTSC) by now. For those of you who don’t know us, we run a stall with our son Jacob on Norwich Market where we sell NCFC replica kit, training wear, leisure wear and memorabilia, and donate all profits we make to […]
No panic stations yet, but let’s not kid ourselves the prep has gone as planned
If you’re reading this you’re already enough of a part of the online #NCFC community to have found the MFW site, and so more than likely you’ll be at least regularly aware of the ongoing message boards and Twitter hashtags around #NCFC. While there is good fun, humour and comradeship to be found amongst City […]
Martin’s posse come together to give their thoughts on the good ship HMS Canary…
Two weeks until kick-off folks so for the final time during the close season the posse have been summoned for their thoughts on the ins and outs at Carrow Road and what might happen to HMS Canary** as it prepares to negotiate some strange tides and choppy waters aka VAR, Match of the Day and […]
Thirteen days and counting but the virus and unhelpful rumours hinder City’s prep
While I’m sure the majority of City fans are excited at the prospect of yet another crack at staying in the Premier League, this one comes loaded with rather more anxiety than those in years gone by. While it’s been generally regarded as a pretty good window for City so far – in terms of […]
VIDEO: ‘SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT TRANSFERS?’ NT Podcast #54
It’s been an interesting week. NCFC Twitter has been its usual charismatic self with a few panicking about our transfer methodology following an interesting tweet from an account that is often making claims we are expected to believe. The lads dissect the arguments from both corners about whether City are actually prepared to face Liverpool […]
17 days to go before Liverpool swagger into town … and work still to be done
Those who insist on telling us to stay patient and await the closure of the transfer window before judging Stuart Webber’s dealings a success, or otherwise, may have a point. But they’re ignoring the basic tenets of the football supporter: to speculate and dream. It’s therefore inconceivable that social media, websites like this one and […]
GUEST BLOG: Can Norwich Stay Up? – An Outsider’s Perspective on Farke’s Canaries
Guest blog time again and today it’s Kelan Sarson – a Norfolk-residing Peterborough fan who writes about the game and who has offered us an outsider’s perspective on City’s chances. All yours Kelan… *** Living in Norfolk my entire life, Norwich City is the football club on most people’s lips. Vivid memories of Paul Lambert’s […]
New contracts & Twitter storms: the highs and lows of a week in the life of NCFC
Considering we’re still nearly three weeks away from the big KO, we’re already well and truly in the throes of the highs and lows of the footballing roller-coaster. The obvious high of the week was news of Daniel Farke’s contract extension to 2025 – a fine outcome after a few weeks of speculation – but […]
More minutes under the belt and a handy little 2-0 win for City over Huddersfield
Lacking in rhythm and without their full complement, City got the job done against Huddersfield. There were shades of their clash with the Terriers in September 2019, when the Canaries dragged themselves over the line as they slowly shook off their relegation hangover. On that day, when Adam Idah’s first league goal won it late, […]
VIDEO – Daniel Farke Extends Contract To 2025! | Norwich Talk
Daniel Farke has signed a new contract, keeping him at City until 2025. He joined the club in the summer of 2017 with the ambition of promoting us to the Premier League within a five-year period, he’s now done that twice! The lads deliver their instant reaction to the news. Musicbed licence – MB01OKWPT4OLKNZ Also […]
“Four more years!” … for the man who has instilled a genuine ‘Norwich City Way’
“I stand for football, and hopefully for beautiful football.” When he arrived at Norwich City four years ago, Daniel Farke walked into a club that was without inspiration or a footballing identity. In an ever-evolving process, starting with a year of inconsistency and impotence, his second season was used to perfect what we now recognise […]
Defensive reinforcements are still required. Let’s not allow history to repeat itself…
Amid the cooling of City’s interest in Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer, I’ve taken a look at the defensive options Daniel Farke has at his disposal ahead of their return to the Premier League. It’s worth beginning with the Norwegian centre-half Ajer, in whom City have held a consistent interest throughout the summer, having had a […]
So, how does so-called “Freedom Day” impact those of a Norwich City disposition?
As we wake up this morning to *Freedom Day* as it’s dubbed by certain sections of the media, I bet many of our thoughts turn to getting back to the Carra and seeing how the Premier League, NCFC and the 19 other clubs are planning for August 14. Or indeed how the endlessly changing, sometimes […]
27 days to the big KO, and Webber’s Class of 2022 is already starting to take shape
And so we’re off! Well, sort of. At least the phoney war is underway, even if we have to wait a little bit longer for the real thing. Around this time, 28 days from now, we’ll be mulling over the whatabouteries and what-ifs of City’s opener against Liverpool. Hopefully in an exultant, jubilant way, but […]
New boys show what they’re about but City’s ‘surprise package’ steals the show
The ball never fell kindly for Milot Rashica or Billy Gilmour, despite their endeavour. Kieran Dowell, on the other hand, looked a smooth operator at The Walks. Understandably, all eyes were on Milot Rashica, Billy Gilmour and Angus Gunn as Norwich City kicked off their pre-season campaign at National League Kings Lynn. They represent 75 […]
Gentle workout for City at The Walks with City debuts for Messrs Gilmour and Rashica
It was the gentlest of preseason workouts, but for the many City fans who had turned up at The Walks, it was much more than the chance to see some new heroes for the first time. Having been starved of live football and the sense of community that the lockdown restrictions have taken from us […]
And off we go again… Lynn likely to give the Canaries a useful test as 2021-22 begins
Today is the day it all starts to feel real… again. The Walks’ grass is freshly cut and green, the goalmouths are well-rested, the Joma kit newly printed and the players raring to go. Norwich City may not have a full complement as they take the short trip up the A47, but every player on […]
VIDEO: ‘NEW CONTRACTS, RUMOURS & A BACK THREE?’ Podcast #53 | Norwich Talk
The lads are back to dive into some Norwich City news as all attentions turn back to club football. Jordan Hugill is reportedly ready to be shipped off in pursuit of regular game time with Nottingham Forest interested in acquiring his services. Max Aarons has once again (for the first time in a while) been […]
A tale of Hoddle, Graham Taylor, El Tel, a psychic and a former Page Three ‘lovely’
I read MFW’s Mick Dennis’ brace of They’ll Never Stop Us Dreaming articles earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed them as quite a few of us did too judging by the comments. It took a while but eventually my memory jogged into gear and reminded me I’d met three England managers myself, although before any of them […]
For us children of the Webberlution, it’s fascinating to see how this squad evolves
With the Championship trophy sitting pride of place on the Carrow Road mantelpiece, Stuart Webber has embarked upon another challenging offseason, reshaping Daniel Farke’s squad once more. Unlike previous years, he actually has something of a “war chest” this time, mainly thanks to the club-record sale of Emi Buendia, albeit some of this has already […]
Expectation, not hope, the keyword as City secure top-level recruits
“We never get what we want. We get what we expect. Winners are never surprised by the victory. They saw it in their minds’ eye every day while preparing for it. What are you expecting?” – Matt Grotewold. These words adorn the walls of Colney, and they’ve never been more pertinent for Norwich City. As […]
VIDEO: City looking to sign Pierre Lees-Melou | Norwich Talk
City are in for OGC Nice’s Pierre Lees-Melou, as per Connor Southwell’s piece in yesterday’s Pink Un. There is genuine interest. The lads provide a little player profile which suggests he might be a better option than primary target Phillip Billing. And then… Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/ben_ambrose23 Alfie’s Twitters: https://twitter.com/Alfiebritcher06 Sam’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamSeaman8 We’re also on […]
They’ll Never Stop Us Dreaming – Part Two
Trust the process, ignore the noise. The Norwich City mantra, invented and applied by sporting director Stuart Webber, should be the England motto now. After previous disappointments by and for the national team, the upset has sometimes been so great and the failure so abject that managers have fallen on their swords and pundits and […]
EUROS: A bit of pride, a bit of pleasure and some fond memories of the tournament
‘Ultimately, I’m a City fan first and foremost and that will never change. Nothing England do will ever compare with the sheer visceral excitement of watching my team score, or see out a landmark win, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens on Sunday, just that whatever the result, the effects will be less dramatic!‘ Thus wrote […]
‘They never stopped us dreaming’ – Part One
Cliched appraisals of Sir Alf Ramsey say he looked like a bank manager, sounded as if he’d had poor elocution lessons (a myth) and was cold and unapproachable. But I had the joyful privilege to meet most of the men who won the 1966 World Cup under Ramsey’s management and they loved him. Truly loved […]
EURO FINAL: Why England should play a 5-3-2 vs Italy tonight…
Gareth Southgate is well known for switching to a back five for big games, but a tweak to a narrow front two instead of a wide front three could provide his side with a wealth of benefits, including solidity in midfield, danger in behind and increased involvement for Harry Kane. There was no surprise when […]
EURO FINAL: England vs Italy preview with a voice familiar to many Norwich City fans
I hadn’t anticipated giving the Euros anything more than a light touch on the pages of MyFootballWriter, but then again I hadn’t anticipated England getting to the final. So, given that England appearing in the final of a major tournament is a once-in-a-lifetime moment, I couldn’t let the moment pass. With Italy being England’s opponents […]
Should City cash in on Jordan Hugill?
Reports linking Jordan Hugill with Chris Hughton’s Nottingham Forest recently emerged, so, after an interesting first campaign at Carrow Road, should City sell their number 9 or bring him along for the Premier League ride? It was a curious 2020/21 for the 29-year-old, whose dressing room presence was the defining feature of his season. Stuart […]
GUEST BLOG – Does Gilmour’s arrival change the dynamic of how City set up?
It’s blog time again, and this time the turn of one of the young ‘uns, sixth-form student Jack Lincoln, who looks at how Billy Gilmour’s arrival may trigger a change in City’s approach… *** Billy Gilmour’s season-long loan deal to City from the current European Champions, Chelsea, followed hot on the heels of the 20-year-old’s […]
A likeable, decent man leading a likeable bunch of young men, and a Euro final awaits
Gary Neville called it right, and not for the first time. Gareth Southgate is the perfect leader, or at least is the perfect leader right now. All of the things that we love in Daniel Farke are present in Southgate. The calm measured responses to even the daftest of questions; the ability to remain calm […]
Norwich prepare £12million Ajer bid
Norwich City are preparing a bid worth around £12million for Celtic centre-back Kristoffer Ajer, according to the Daily Record. The 23-year-old has a year left on his Hoops contract and has been open about his desire to leave Celtic Park, telling TV2: “I was promised I could leave last summer but then we agreed I would stay […]
The SPFL may be the school of hard knocks but for City it offers invaluable experience
It’s been a very ‘Scottish’ week or so to be a Norwich City fan. Following Chelsea central midfielder and Scotland international, Billy Gilmour, joining the club on loan for the 2021/22 season, last Friday saw another Norwich City link arise in Scotland – although possibly a little less in the limelight. Young goalkeeper Daniel Barden […]
VIDEO: A BUSY WEEK FOR NORWICH CITY!’ NT Podcast #51 | Norwich Talk
City have certainly picked up the pace in this summer transfer window with plenty more rumours swirling around as well as the confirmation of both recruitments and departures. Milot Rashica, Angus Gunn & Billy Gilmour have all joined the club with Dimitris Giannoulis and Ben Gibson making their loan moves permanent, as Marco Stiepermann and […]
Gibbo & Dimi confirmed… Farewell Stieperdude… Welcome Billy & Joma!
That was the week that was for Norwich City in terms of them there comings and goings, wasn’t it? Gibbo and Dimi confirmed as permanent additions to the squad was no big surprise to anybody and their comments on NCFC official afterwards were very pleasing on the ear. And it also looks like this will […]
England on the brink… of a semi with Denmark. Who knows where this ends!
I mean, technically I’m here to talk bout Norwich City, but it’s not often that England win a knockout game at a major tournament, let alone produce a 4-0 whooping to qualify for a semi-final that just happens to be at Wembley. So, sorry if you’re here to hear about any potential signings as the […]
Little Norwich? The arrival of Billy Gilmour is a signal of intent from Webber and Farke
City fans have been debating, discussing and investigating just what Bill Gilmour will offer them from a very limited body of work, a bit like when one Oliver Skipp arrived here from Tottenham last summer. Gilmour may have burst onto the scene labelled “a terrific little footballer” by Graeme Souness and “fantastic” by Jose Mourinho […]
Farewell Stiepi ol’ friend. It’s been a blast
Players come and go at football clubs at a rate unseen in most other walks of life. I read somewhere a couple of years ago that the average stay was something like 2.7 seasons, so it’s never a good idea for fans to get too attached to their heroes because before very long they’ll be […]
VIDEO: ‘THE ULTIMATE DANIEL FARKE XI!’ NT Podcast #50 | Norwich Talk
In episode 50 of the Norwich Talk podcast, the lads have taken a look back on Daniel Farke’s four years as City head coach, and decided the most creative way to talk about the man and the amazing job he has done would be to discuss an ‘Ultimate XI’ of all the talent he’s had […]
Rangers’ pull is obvious, but Gilmour must choose City to further his career
Footballers’ personal lives should always be considered, but it’s vital for Billy Gilmour that he chooses head over heart as he weighs up whether to join Norwich or Rangers for the 2021/22 season. There’s no denying what Rangers can offer a young Scottish midfielder desperate for game time. Billy Gilmour grew up 30 miles from […]
The phoney war continues apace. Martin P gets the latest thoughts of his gang of four
It’s time for us to remember the words to the Angus Gunn songs [yes there are two] and welcome Kosovan international Milot Rashica from the green-and-whites of Werder Bremen, who is likely to become our record signing at a rumoured £9.4 million before add-ons. Then there’s 18-year-old Flynn Clarke from Peterborough, who has frightening potential […]
Gilmour’s arm-wrestle… Ajer ‘cooling’… Lotus in the house… and some very English VAR
The highs and lows of pre-season, eh? There was a time this week – I think around 4 pm on Tuesday – when it felt nailed on that not only would we be signing Milot Rashica, but also Angus Gunn, Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer and Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour on loan. The most reliable ITK Norwich City […]
“The proudest man in Norfolk”: Bryan Gunn on Angus’ return to Norwich City
City legend Bryan Gunn joins MyFootballWriter to discuss his son’s delight at becoming a Canary, the battle for the number 1 shirt and why Angus has a lot of catching up to do on the golf course. “Obviously he’s delighted with it, it means he can come back and have a few more golf days […]
GUEST BLOG: Things finally starting to click for City? Or, we far too easily pleased?
It’s guest blog time again, and while most of the Canary Nation has been lifted as a result of the announcement of the last couple of days, John Green has removed his yellow and green-tinted specs and sees events in a rather more sobering light. All yours Victor Meldrew… *** The last couple of days […]
Help for Pukki? … formation changes … midfield playmakers … and Alex Pritchard?
As excited as I am about next season, as confident as I am that Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke will get it right, I am still uneasy about some of the decision-making. For example, we don’t appear to be in the market for a striker, so what happens if Teemu Pukki gets injured? I admire […]
GUEST BLOG – The evolution of the laws of football over the ages
It’s guest blog time again and it’s Jim Davies time again. Today, by way of a very pleasant diversion from the Euro and NCFC transfer rumours, he looks at how football has evolved over the years through the eyes of Michael Oliver (well, not just him – other referees are available). All yours Jim… *** […]
Angus rejoins the latest fine crop of City keepers as the Webber magic starts to flow
I spent Wednesday morning with the song Son of a Gun knocking round my head. Yes, the jaunty singalong from 90s keyboard hide-behinder JX. No prizes for guessing why, with the confirmation that Angus ‘Son of Bryan’ Gunn is returning to Carrow Road on a more permanent basis. However, I suspect my lightness of spirit […]
City closing on Gilmour loan signing
Norwich City are close to a deal to sign Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour on loan for the 2021/22 season, MyFootballWriter understands. Reports of the Canaries’ interest in the 20-year-old surfaced yesterday, and a deal is already being worked on, with Chelsea, Gilmour and Norwich keen on making the temporary move happen. The Scotland midfielder’s presence at Euro 2020, […]
VIDEO: City Sign Rashica! + Billy Gilmour on Loan? – Transfer Talk | Norwich Talk
Last night, the lads went live on Norwich Talk, to talk about Billy Gilmour, who yesterday joined the list of millions of ‘potential’ City signings, as the club reportedly showed interest following his immaculate display against England at Euro 2020. The plan was to give the low-down on Gilmour and others and then mid-stream, just […]
Euro heartache for Pukki, but now time for the ankle to rest and batteries to recharge
What makes Teemu Pukki so special is his ability to find a yard when there isn’t one, to create a chance for himself when a packed defence seems unable to concede one. The difference on international duty is that the Finn can’t find that yard, because he already has 50. In a possession-based side, Pukki […]
A blueprint for PL safety? Imagination and innovation are key if City are to succeed
In order for City to progress next season, I believe it is imperative that the unrealised potential of certain current players be fully realised in conjunction with the limited transfer budget. Put plainly, I have always thought that we impose 4-2-3-1 on to our best players when the alternative is to build a formation around the strengths […]
Lotus in talks over City shirt sponsorship
Norfolk car manufacturers Lotus are working on a deal that could see their logos on Norwich City shirts next season, MyFootballWriter understands. The sports car brand, based in Hethel, already sponsor the club’s academy kit and youth replica wear but will extend their commitment to first team shirts should the deal go through, having purchased naming rights […]
Little acorns in Leixlip, saplings in Norwich, and on the way to becoming mighty oaks
With City’s Chief Scout Chris Jones having recently departed to Crystal Palace and current media rumours that Head of Recruitment Kieran Scott is about to leave us for Middlesbrough to become their Sporting Director rather than wait a year to inherit the crown so admirably worn by Stuart Webber over the past few years, I […]
Turgid it may have been, but England’s woes were borne of Norwich City’s finest
I know I wasn’t the only City fan left feeling a little conflicted on Friday night. As an Englishman, of course I want to see my country win – in any sport, not just football – but when one of our own is being tasked from stopping that from happening, it makes it tricky. It’s […]
The Beeb’s top pundit… Scottish pens… invaders… futile bans… & Flower of Scotland
I’d long searched for an excuse to tell one of my more interesting footballing tales (most are mind-numbing) and Kenny McLean, god bless him, finally gave me one last November. It was a faint, tenuous link, but good enough and the wonderful readers of MFW, whether liked it or not, they were going to hear […]
Literally, the toughest start possible for City with Liverpool (h) and then Man City (a)
It might be stretching a point to reference Christmas during what has so far been a flaming June in Norfolk, but the night before our fixtures were released used to be like Christmas Eve to me as in sheer anticipation of what might follow on *Christmas Day* when the announcements were made. Would it be […]
Philip Billing a target, and Angus Gunn nears City return, but not so Ozan Tufan
While the start of EURO 2020 has captured the imaginations of football fans, Norwich City’s transfer machine whirs on. Here are the key developments as Stuart Webber looks to bolster the Canaries’ Premier League squad. Tufan not an option for City One player City fans had been keen on scouting at this summer’s tournament was […]
Tricky Euro 2020 start for the fleet-footed King of Dumfries
There were lots of gasps of shock around the UK as Grant Hanley bolted back at an electric pace to dispossess the Czech Republic’s Jakub Jankto, halting a potentially dangerous counter-attack. The Scot’s speed came as no surprise, however, to City fans, who’ve been aware of the attribute – which stands alongside fearsome bravery and […]
Football provides escapism while uniting us in euphoria. It can also unite us in grief
I had started penning this article a week ago, with the title – a gentle escapism from the harsh reality of life… Events in the Denmark game have swiftly rendered that title meaningless. Permit me to express my thoughts prior to the Denmark game. There was a lad I used to teach back in 2007, when […]
An open relationship with the Euros… a win for Huuhkajat… and one from four to win it
My relationship with the Euros has always been pretty much an open one, as in I can’t get too carried away with England and if I choose to pass on Austria v North Macedonia and a few similar matches, that’s because dogs need walking, cars need washing and gardens need watering. I was reminded the […]
The heroes of Copenhagen, Emi’s departure by a thousand cuts and the ghost of BK8
I’ll get onto the Norwich City stuff in a bit (it’s not as if it’s been an uneventful week) but it wouldn’t be right to start anywhere else but Copenhagen. The scenes witnessed last night were among the most harrowing I can ever recall watching as a football fan. They were among the most harrowing […]
Who could be the next Todd Cantwell? Who will be City’s next breakthrough star?
The full-time whistle blows on a sunny afternoon at Carrow Road. Norwich City have just been comprehensively beaten 4-1 by Italian Serie A side Atalanta in their penultimate pre-season fixture ahead of their return to the Premier League for the 2019/20 season. It was an eye-opening experience and the first in a series of lessons […]
#NCFC fan power triumph over BK8 shows what can be done when the Y’Army unites
In case anyone had missed it, Norwich City have terminated their partnership with BK8. Two days after the deal was announced and outrage ensued over inappropriate imagery on the Asian firm’s social media, the club have cut the partnership short while admitting that “we got it wrong.” Chief Operating Officer Ben Kensell also said, via […]
Hanley fearless ahead of Premier League return
Norwich City captain Grant Hanley has dispelled the suggestion of any fear at the club as the Canaries make their return to the Premier League. Hanley, who will play in his first international tournament at this summer’s European Championships, labelled feelings of inferiority as “worthless,” despite City’s dismal 2019/20 top-flight campaign, when in discussion with […]
Wanted – A new hero at Norwich City F.C.
You could almost imagine the small card on the metaphorical shop window of Norwich City. It was put up at about 5.30 pm last Saturday afternoon. It reads; ‘Wanted – A new hero to fill a recent vacancy, must ooze class, confidence, and culture. Boots not provided’. Okay, so perhaps we can trust the Norwich […]
With no Emi, and with a need to beef up that midfield, is 3-4-2-1 the way ahead?
Emi has gone and nothing is going to change that, but now I would like to see a very clear tactical plan moving forward. If they persevere with the 4-2-3-1, City are stuck with a philosophy they cannot financially afford to perfect. I’d prefer we change the base formation and be optimistic about how we move forward. […]
Goodbye Dafabet; hello… erm… BK8 ?!
Norwich City have distanced themselves from inappropriate social media content by new shirt sponsors BK8, claiming that “these posts do not align with Norwich City values” amid calls for the deal to be cancelled on the day of its inception. There seems, however, to be no plan on the club’s part to take any further […]
GUEST BLOG: Must we accept that our club is just a stepping stone for our best players?
It’s guest blog time again, and it’s the return of Anna Say who takes a look at what the pending Emi transfer says about where we are as a club, and if that needs to change… *** As I sit here reeling from the news that Norwich have sold one of the best players fans have seen […]
Talk about the wind being taken from the sails… the effect of a Paddy D #NoCircus
My Saturday morning of June 5 started as such mornings often do, with a quick walk to the local shop to buy a newspaper and have a chat about football with David behind the counter, a lifelong Arsenal fan and a very knowledgeable guy who has helped MFW with a match preview or two in […]
Adios Sweet Prince…
Given the hue and cry on social media (and MFW) this week around the next move of one Emi Buendia, I intended, for what little it was worth, to offer my two penneth this morning. I even penned a few opening lines yesterday afternoon. And then Paddy Davitt goes and ruins it all. Twitter: 5:23PM: Jun […]
Armstrong on the radar but Krunic no target as City press on with transfer business
With promotion sealed and pre-season weeks away, the focus has well and truly turned to transfers for Stuart Webber. Here are the key stories as Norwich City’s transfer operations start to hot up. Armstrong on the radar One of Webber’s potential options is Blackburn attacker Adam Armstrong, who MyFootballWriter understands, following reports from The Telegraph, to be on […]
The ‘super league’ crisis hasn’t been averted, it’s just been postponed for now
If you fancied a nice feelgood article today then please stop reading now, because this is my take on why a variation on the European Super League is inevitable and may happen sooner rather than later. To set the scene, let me refer to two things that appeared on social media this week. The first […]
Now is our time. Build from our best and enhance rather than lose the two lynchpins
City could buy Ollie Skipp and keep Emi Buendia. It might need some juggling, but they could achieve it. But will they? On the flip side, losing Emi and Skippy would affect 90% of our output. By contrast, I bet that if Brentford buy two players they could improve 90% of their output. Keep their […]
Atleti – Please don’t take our Emi away, but if you must, go and make him a superstar
The Oxford dictionary description for the word ‘priceless’ is ‘something extremely valuable or important’. A good example would be… ‘Priceless – Emi Buendia’s ability and importance to Norwich City’. The Championship’s player of the season elevated himself to new levels this season as City accelerated to a record points haul and league title. His creative […]
No matches, pure speculation and a dearth of hard facts – welcome to the silly season
Boredom is the beginning of all destruction and everything that is negative** Well, last week I had my fill of boredom, rumour, speculation and what might [and, more importantly, might not] happen during the current but yet to open transfer window. Every fansite, from Arsenal’s Daily Cannon to 100% Villa aka Vital Villa, were banging on about Emi […]
Wins for West London’s finest and so a 2021-22 audience with Carrow Road awaits
As European finals go, last night’s was a good one and regardless of what any of us think about the way Man City and Chelsea have acquired their footballing might, there was a pleasing to and fro to the game that’s not always the case in major finals. As a spectacle, it trumped the ‘richest […]
VIDEO: The season that was 2020-21, with Ben A and some friends | Norwich Talk
For those who haven’t seen it, the lads at Norwich Talk have put together an excellent five-part review of the season, where Ben chews the cud over every aspect of City’s promotion campaign with some very familiar voices. Enjoy. The Review #1, with Chris Goreham and Connor Southall… The Review #2 with Michael Bailey and […]
VIDEO: Norwich City ‘Linked’ With Tosin Adarabioyo | Norwich Talk
Manchester City graduate Tosin Adarabioyo has been linked with a potential move to Norwich City with the Pink Un’s Paddy Davitt writing a piece based on comments from Sky Sports. We give the usual player profile about the man who was part of the squad that saw Fulham relegated from the Premier League last season. […]
What’s on the Norwich City shopping list this summer?
As City enter their most important summer in recent times, strong recruitment is at the top of the success criteria. So where do the club see their priorities in the transfer market, and are they correct in their assessment? Strength and physicality in midfield When Stuart Webber conducted his assessment of where things had gone […]
The Buendia saga has only just begun, but any outcome will be to the Club’s benefit
The close season has barely begun and already we are being bombarded with stories about the future of Emi Buendia, some clearly clickbait nonsense but some from sources that are generally fairly reliable. It is hardly a surprise that a player who bestrode the Championship like a colossus this season and has just been picked […]
Carrow Road: A constant presence and rock in a fast-running stream of time. Our home
I feel lucky. Despite not being able to see Norwich play at Carrow Road since February 2020, I’ve had the chance to go into the stadium, walk on the pitch, take a good, long look around and contemplate the events of the last year. Like someone rescued from a desert grabbing a first drink of […]
GUEST BLOG: You can take the boy out of the city, but can’t take City out of the boy
The honour of first-guest-blog-of-the-close-season goes to Madrid-based City supporter, Charlie Birchall. All yours, Charlie… *** It’s been a season of pure paradox. Sheer brilliance on the pitch, yet off it possibly one of the hardest many have ever had to navigate. Our champions creating the magic, the storylines and everything that goes with a title-winning […]
How City could benefit from Gareth Southgate’s squad selection…
Norwich City will receive six-figure sums if James Maddison or Ben Godfrey appear at this summer’s European Championships. Clauses were included in the pair’s moves to Leicester and Everton respectively, the Eastern Daily Press reporting that the Foxes would be obliged to pay City should Maddison make it on to the pitch at Euro 2020. MyFootballWriter can confirm […]
A ghost season unlike any other but one that brought the best out of Norwich City
As the *silly season* gets fully underway with anybody from Arsenal, Leeds, Villa and even Slagheap Rovers apparently after our Emi Buendia, I thought I’d cast a brief personal eye over our *ghost season* – you know, the one where we weren’t individually or collectively allowed into Carrow Road, let alone the stadia of other […]
Playoff brutality… schadenfreude… crocodile tears… and Emi to *insert here*
“The Play-Offs are gloriously British. If your team isn’t involved it’s all about choosing which team you hate more and screaming for them to lose. Lots of opportunities for visceral catharsis.” The words of a wise man. Henry Winter? Paddy Barclay? Brian Glanville? Nope. Instead, from the keyboard of our own Andy Head – him […]
A day in the life at Colney: rondos, relay races and, to come, a SoccerBot360
While Carrow Road is seen as the home of Norwich City Football Club, the centre of yellow and green activity, the reality is that this hub is actually City’s Lotus Training Centre in Colney, where players report for duty nearly every day, their number of total appearances there dwarfing that of those in NR1, workplace […]
VIDEO: Emi Buendia & Arsenal… the saga continues | Norwich Talk
This will be the only video we make on Emi until next season, we promise… Ben.
A busy summer awaits the Canaries Trust as recent events see their numbers surge
Just like the rest of humanity the Canaries Trust has had to evolve to cope with the lockdowns. Suddenly we were no longer meeting our board colleagues in the pub before the game and although we could continue to meet via Zoom and converse via WhatsApp, it was strange to lose the human contact that […]
Badgegate: The badge and the Carra on the agenda as City consider rebrand
A branding consultancy could bring change at Carrow Road, with aspects of the club being considered from the fonts on the side of stands to the badge on the shirt. The club and the consultants in question have already got to work on improving City’s image and the experience they provide, devising a recent questionnaire […]
The ethos will stay the same but should we still expect a tweak to Daniel’s 4-2-3-1?
It’s been interesting listening to Stuart Webber this last week. He freely admit that either Todd Cantwell, Max Aarons or Emi Buendia could still be sold if it suits everyone… which begs a question. For me, Emi must be retained at any cost. And if you sell Aarons, you’re immediately looking for a replacement. That […]
VIDEO: Should Norwich City Sign Joshua King On A Free Transfer? | Norwich Talk
Norwich City have recently been linked with former Bournemouth & current Everton player Joshua King. So…
Like it never even happened: The history of Norwich City behind closed doors
Since English football was postponed in March 2020, and fans indefinitely barred from stadium entry, a huge amount has happened at our football club They’ve played 59 games, been relegated, been promoted, received a record transfer fee, and played the whole of the Championship off the park. The end result, though, is that very little […]
We can only marvel at the sheer extent and diversity of City’s youth recruitment policy
My secondary school made us do orienteering, which involved being sent out in pairs with one map, one compass and a mission to find about a dozen *targets* as quickly as possible in a strange land known as Epping Forest. But if I thought orienteering was mind-boggling [I did, I was pretty poor at it] […]
Hope for the little guy… bloody noses… City muscle needed… and some perfect derision
It goes without saying that Chelsea fans will obviously have the hump this morning – VAR et al – but name me another set of fans who will not have been overjoyed to watch Leicester lift the FA Cup yesterday. Supporters of the five other European Super League wannabees will merely mock the Blues for […]
The Curious Tale of Melvin Sitti…
As Melvin Sitti floats across the pitch in Kidderminster, waiting patiently for his next clever touch or classy swerve of the hips, there’s a feeling his chances of breaking into the Norwich City first team are diminishing. He’s been moved from attacking midfield to the wing to defensive midfield and nobody seems to know where […]
From Webber to Omobamidele and Riemer via Dereham – the story of Norwich Talk
To say that Norwich Talk – the YouTube arm of MyFootballWriter – came about by accident is a slight exaggeration, but it was a phone call with the then communications director of Norwich City FC in early 2019 that brought about its creation. Rick Waghorn (owner of MFW) and I had spoken previously of the […]
VIDEO: ‘Expectation vs Reality’ The Review #1 – Ft. Chris Goreham & The Pink Un
Welcome back to the third series of The NT Review! Chris Goreham and Connor Southwell separately join us to discuss the first third of Norwich City’s title-winning season. We talk about the summer transfer window, bouncing back from relegation, and the importance of results over performance as Norwich looked to get the fans back on […]
We’ve loved this football club at its worst and now we’re getting to love it at its best
The end of a footy season is a time ripe for creating memories. There’s the brilliant sort: “CHAAAAANCE! It’s going to go in, it’s going to go in!”. And there’s the rubbish sort: watching Norwich get dismantled by Fulham as Nigel Worthington’s wonderful Championship winning team slithered apologetically out of the Premier League with barely […]
The Phoney War: Part One
Now the three-times-a-party scenario is over, we have to dig into *what are we going to do next season* territory. In the first of a three-part series I have enlisted the help of my regular posse to garner their thoughts on what we can hope for before the transfer window has opened, and there’s a […]
GUEST BLOG: A not so alternative view of Norwich City’s incredible 2020-21 season
It’s guest blog time and the floor is once again Debbie Hewitt’s, who follows up last summer’s debut blog with her own take on the wonderful season that was 2020-21… *** Last summer I was so pleased to get my ‘Alternative view of the season’ published here on MyFootballWriter. This gave me a much-needed boost during […]
Headteacher’s Report: Andy H delivers his 2020-21 end-of-term appraisal
We watched with tremendous pride from afar as Herr Farke’s class represented us with the intelligence, creativity and courage which has become their trademark. Another successful year means we will once again be facing our Oxbridge-level counterparts next term, but we will do so full of confidence and steadfast in our resolve to keep improving […]
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: The Eddie Riemer interview on Norwich Talk
Norwich City’s assistant head coach Edmund Riemer joins Sam for a chat about life before Norwich City before then reviewing his time at the club and what it’s like working closely with Daniel Farke.
Tougher than the rest… also better, more skilful, more precise and more consistent
*Now the party’s over… I’m so tired*. Good old Bryan Ferry [Avalon in this case] for referencing our magnificent EFL Championship winning squad over 30 years ago. Mystic, seer or sage? No, but it’s quite appropriate really as we saw the celebrations at Oakwell on Saturday, and thanks again to iFollow for extending the coverage […]
A good club, run by good, decent people, who just happen to be champions again!
And so the curtain closes on season 2020-21; one of the most surreal, arguably the most surreal, in the club’s history. That City have been so brilliant yet so few of us have actually seen the team play live will forever stick in the craw. Imagine the pre-match atmosphere for the Bournemouth home game with […]
MATCH REPORT: Another toughie at Oakwell but a point and the Championship trophy!
End of season games tend to have a narrative that is separated from the action on the pitch. When the team sheet dropped, it was clear that this was going to be just such a game. When Alex Tettey first came to Carrow Road nine seasons ago, few could imagine the influence that he would have […]
“It’s a joy to work with Farke”: Eddie Riemer, City’s assistant head coach, talks to MFW”
It’s a day before the final game of the 2020/21 season, and the positive atmosphere is palpable as Eddie Riemer turns a club laptop to face him. I’m on a Zoom call with the assistant head coach, who is calm, happy and relaxed in our discussion despite the rarity of his media obligations. His demeanour […]
BARNSLEY PREVIEW: A final hurrah for 2020-21 as City look to end it in style
A lot has changed since we got duffed up by tomorrow’s hosts in the FA Cup back in January. It certainly wasn’t one of City’s finest afternoons of the season although it was clear from Barnsley’s relentlessness that afternoon that they had enough about them to get themselves into the promotion frame. At the time, […]
The season that was 2020-21, through the eyes of the MyFootballWriter team. [Part 2]
Part One, if you missed it, is here. Here is tranche two of the thoughts of the team… Thom Belk: My moment of the season has to be Mario Vrancic’s late free-kick against Wycombe. After a stuttering start, this wrapped up a third win in a week, ahead of a tough match against Brentford. For […]
It’s been belted out in Munich’s Olympic Stadium, the San Siro, and Wembley…
We all know it off by heart, stand up together with no premeditation involved in order to sing it about 10 seconds before kick off while the butterflies have a party flying around inside our stomachs while we do so. It’s reputedly the oldest football-related song in the world. Chant isn’t the right word – […]
Farewell Sweet Princes: The final yellow curtain falls for Messrs Tettey and Vrancic
Norwich City 1-0 Manchester United; Norwich City 1-0 Arsenal; Norwich City 3-1 Ipswich Town (Play-off semi-final, second leg); Norwich City 2-0 Middlesbrough (Play-off final); Manchester United 1-2 Norwich City; Chris Hughton as Norwich City manager; Neil Adams as Norwich City manager; the number 27 shirt. What at first appears to be an odd assortment of […]
“I’m excited about the football we play”: City & Farke, a perfect match for Giannoulis
Norwich City’s unique style of play is perfect for Greek left-back Dimitris Giannoulis, who also heaped praise on boss Daniel Farke as he spoke of his first four months in NR1 with Greek outlet Gazzetta. “I am excited about the football we play in Norwich and that is the job of a coach,” said Giannoulis. […]
Man Utd, with their yellow & green scarves and hankering for some distant heritage…
They’ll do what they want. They always have. They always will. In the near 50 years since we first got to play Manchester United in my supporting career during the 1972-73 season, we’ve always been programmed to show due deference to The Busby Babes; The Biggest Club In The World. In those days it was […]
A fitting way to clinch the Championship title, missing only the roar of the 27,000
If Saturday’s second-half procession against Reading wasn’t the most fitting way to clinch the EFL Championship title for Norwich City, I’d like to know what might have improved upon it. Unless we could have all been in the ground to celebrate with the team of course. Reading were well up for it and let us […]
Championes! Simply the best, better than all the rest… at least in the Championship
Days like those don’t come along very often. Only nine times in the club’s history have we lifted a trophy – ten if you count the 2015 Play-Off Final – and two of those occurred before I was even a glint in my dad’s eye. Talking of whom… our post-match phone chat last night was […]
Classy and emphatic. The Canaries seal the title in style with a win over the Royals
Not so much of a match report today – at best half a report! The weekend that football chose to have a social media blackout was also the day that iFollow chose to deny access to many Canaries fans, myself included, for much of the first half. When I finally got on with 10 minutes […]
READING PREVIEW: By 5:00 pm tomorrow, will City be ‘Championes’ once more?
Okay, I confess. If Watford hadn’t won on Saturday, this would have been about half a paragraph long because we’d have had the title and Reading are out of playoff contention so both teams would be on the beach. Yarmouth admittedly, but the beach nonetheless. But bloody Sarr had to go and score didn’t he? […]
Never has the Barry Butler been more deserved: “Emi Buendia, from Argentina…”
“Emi Buendia had an unbelievably undisciplined red card, missed three competitive games, he missed the start of the season and missed two weeks because of injury. Emi was involved in every training session this week but I never pick a team because of the name, I just pick a team that is really greedy to […]
Nine seasons a Canary. If this is to be a Tettey farewell, it’ll be an emotional one
As Norwich City supporters, we all have our own favourite players. It’s natural and something we share with fans of each of the other 91 clubs currently playing in the Premier League and EFL***. In the past my personal preferences have included Kevin Keelan, Mark Bowen, Robert Fleck and Darren Huckerby [plus Wes and Holty […]
Missing Carrow Road? Longing for that next pilgrimage to our spiritual home?
MATCH REPORT: City’s Unders-23s slide to defeat against a strong Wolves side
City’s Under-23s were routinely beaten by a strong Wolves side, goals from Luke Cundle, Owen Hasketh and Jack Scott securing a 3-0 win for James Collins’ side. David Wright chose a young City development side, under-18s Sean Stewart, Saxon Early and Sam Blair selected as the much heralded Colney production line continues to produce. After […]
Job done in Shepherd’s Bush and a win against the Royals of Reading for the title
All things come to those who wait. Technically and mathematically we are still waiting to be coronated as EFL Championship trophy winners but not for very much longer now, I feel. I’m not sad enough to deny Watford their right to join us in the Premier League. They had more than a few dodgy moments […]
Another tricky afternoon successfully negotiated as City close in on the title
Nearly there, right? I mean, it is conceivable that Watford could win their final two games and, in doing so, overturn our superior goal difference, but after seeing how City negotiated a tricky away day at one of the Championship’s form teams, it feels all in hand. The wobble, if you could call it that, […]
Farewell to Errea? As City gear up for the Prem, a new badge to adorn the shirt?
Norwich City’s Errea announcement tomorrow will not be a kit for the 2021/22 season, with the club still planning to seek a new kit supplier at the end of 2020/21. The Canaries’ official online shop recently began displaying an advert that simply reads ’25.04.21’ with club badge and Errea branding, hinting at an announcement. It’s […]
MATCH REPORT: Joy in Shepherd’s Bush for City and the title is one point away
The question today in bright sunshine at the stadium formerly know as Loftus Road was whether there would be a hangover from the lets face it, hangover performance against Watford. The game started with a bang – Todd Cantwell, sold short with a pass out of defence, conceded possession and Kakay whipped a ball across […]
QPR PREVIEW: City still fighting for the title – and they’ll certainly need to
It matters, and it won’t be easy. I’ve spent a chunk of the past week pushing back on suggestions that it would be a let-down if we fail to win the title. The first and overriding aim of this season was promotion back to the Premier League. It’s fantastic that we achieved it with five […]
The method behind the madness: Farke’s sudoku-like approach to City’s fluidity
One of the most heralded aspects of Farkeball is its fluidity; the likelihood of a right-back playing as a striker for thirty seconds or a left-winger dropping into a third centre-back position. The reality, however, is slightly less anarchic than you might expect, and requires meticulous work on the training ground. The only fluid element […]
A smidgen of lost focus maybe, but Daniel will have them back on their toes for QPR
Too bad. A two-word phrase that has two interpretations. Firstly, let’s consider that we went into Tuesday night’s face-off with Watford on the back of Saturday’s 1-3 reverse to Bournemouth which saw us play for over 75 minutes with 10 men. Add the fact that Grant Hanley, Teemu Pukki and quite probably Todd Cantwell were […]
Lessons to be learned from those two pesky defeats, and more depth needed
Ouch. 12 points dropped against the teams we were relegated with… No big deal. The wake-up call though is that Watford should have scored four or five last night. Everything I fret about with 4-2-3-1 was exploited by the Cherries and the Hornets; Danjuma is a £13 million player and Max Aarons couldn’t contain him […]
A tough ol’ night at the Carra as Watford join Bournemouth in doubling the City
It’s never a great sign when one of your centre-backs and your goalkeeper are by some distance men of the match. But it was that kind of night. Maybe Grant Hanley and Tim Krul were able to better withstand the effects of alcohol than their younger colleagues, or perhaps they even had the resolve to […]
MATCH REPORT: Watford close the gap to five as City’s rhythm is again ‘hornetted’
After the Boxing Day match against Watford, I remember penning my concerns that City were outdone by exactly the sort of physical, technical, and pacey side that had proven their undoing in the Premier League. Last night’s match at Carrow Road has done nothing to ease my fears. Watford started the game impressively. They pressurized City […]
WATFORD PREVIEW: Can the heads clear enough for City to edge closer to the title?
Norwich City v Watford. It’s being billed as the Championship title shoot-out between ourselves and our friends from Hertfordshire but I don’t really go along with that if I’m honest. Some might suggest we’ll take our foot off the gas now we are promoted but the indicators seem otherwise to me, especially in light of […]
Promotion tinged with sadness but for this City fan, it’s been a season to remember
For many of you, although the main emotion on Saturday would’ve been happiness, there was a regret that you hadn’t been there for all of it. There was no City Centre eruption upon the final whistle of the Swansea game, no Just Can’t Get Enough blasting from the speakers, no embracing family and friends or spotting known […]
Dads and Lads and the Infinite Game: A Norwich City Love Story
The Coventry game hadn’t long kicked off, but instead of settling down to follow the match, I was standing in the doorway to the lounge, on the phone, trying to get through to the ward at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, sort of half watching, half concentrating on the seemingly endless ringing at the other […]
Do not be fooled home-based fans of the ‘Big 6’ – the ESL gives not a stuff about you
At least the advent of the much vaunted (and derided) European Super League has done one good thing. It has brought the wider football community (and that’s a word and concept the organisers of said behemoth would happily see wiped from the face of the planet) together in mass condemnation of both the concept itself […]
Whole lotta love for City as, despite defeat, Saturday turned into our Celebration Day
Saturday has to go down in my personal history as one of the strangest, most emotional days I can ever recall. Passing my driving test [first time, natch], securing my first job in journalism, the births of my wonderful children and seeing Led Zeppelin at Earls Court in 1974 run it pretty clos,e but I […]
Welcome to the European Super League, where tradition comes a poor second to ££
It’s been talked about for long enough and now it seems that it’s finally coming to pass. Welcome to the European Super League. Never mind that well over a century of history will be going into the trash; never mind that Covid hit fans of the “elite” clubs will have to stump up for away […]
Ten-man City stumble on their big night but who cares! Job done. Objective achieved
We did it! We only bloody did it! And there’s not a single thing Graham Scott, Jonathan Woodgate or Ben Pearson can do to either change or spoil that. While the plucky™ little Cherries still have the not inconsiderable obstacle of the playoffs to contend with before they can even contemplate life back in the […]
MATCH REPORT: A promotion party spoiled (only briefly) by Woodgate’s Cherries
As promotion parties go, it’s fair to say that it didn’t quite go according to plan at Carrow Road. Swansea and Brentford had played their part earlier in the day by failing to land three points, end even Watford stumbled. City set off at a pace. The speed of movement and the precision were reminiscent of the […]
WE’RE NORWICH CITY AND WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!!
Nothing to add … just this. (With huge credit to whoever created this masterpiece)
“The way football changes so quickly is crazy!”: Andrew Omobamidele talks to MFW
15 days ago Andrew Omobamidele hadn’t started a senior game of football. Tonight, he starts in a game that could see him become a Premier League player. “The way football changes so quickly is just crazy,” says the 18-year-old as he sits down with MyFootballWriter. “Two or three weeks before you could just be training with […]
BOURNEMOUTH PREVIEW: A big test awaits the Canaries but is tomorrow P day?
‘We are close, we are so close!’ Those who have watched the Amazon documentary All or Nothing, which follows Man City throughout the course of the 2017-18 season, will recognise Pep Guardiola’s words as his team closed in on their first title under his tenure. Given that Pep is a self-proclaimed watcher of Norwich City […]
With Cherries and Hornets incoming, time to lay down some markers for next season
The next two games will tell us a lot about our beloved Norwich City. The club’s ambition to become established in the top flight pitches us against the likes of Bournemouth, Watford and those perpetually around the Premier League relegation zone. We lost 1-0 away to both the Cherries and Hornets but are about to […]
Ignore the ill-educated who attempt to heap scorn on our club’s huge achievement
The view within the Norwich-supporting bubble is a very different one to that being espoused by fans of other clubs across the country. Forget the rather bizarre and twisted perception that our country cousins down the A140 currently have of the world following the takeover by new American investors. With just five games remaining we […]
GUEST BLOG: Off to ‘The Promised Land’
It’s guest blog time again but it’s a familiar voice you’re about to hear. Colin Michael has been kind enough to help MFW this season with some of the match previews and as a regular commenter, has more than earned his stripes. Here he takes us to the *inverted commas* Promised Land. Take it away […]
The Barry Butler voting is open and the club is confident it will be a fair fight
Norwich City will ensure due diligence is carried out on their player of the season poll, after fears that fans from rival clubs could hijack the vote. After a series of man of the match awards had been dubiously awarded to loanee Oliver Skipp amid calls from fans of parent-club Tottenham to vote for the […]
From the Cobbolds to Uncle Sam, but is there a phoenix on the rise down the A140?
At long last something’s stirring down the A140. After more than a decade in a comatose state, Ipswich Town have been given the kiss of life by Uncle Sam With their local rivals about to rejoin the Premier League, this revival comes not a moment too soon for the Tractor Boys who for several years […]
MATCH REPORT: Burnley Under-23s 2, Norwich City Under-23s 2
Late goals from Burnley’s Lewis Richardson and Dara Costelloe denied Norwich City’s Under-23s a valuable three points, after goals from Abu Kamara and Matt Dennis had given the Canaries a 2-0 lead in Curzon Ashton. The match started in hectic fashion, Burnley striker Richardson smashing a volley over the bar with the Clarets’ first attack. […]
Looking ahead: what needs to change and improve if we are to compete next season?
Identifying areas of improvement isn’t moaning. It is part of a healthy cycle to make the team get better. This piece is about learning from lessons past; especially as we know 4-2-3-1 will persevere. WARNING: It will sound like a moan. There is no substitute to for paying for quality unless it is free or […]
Catch us if you can! City nearly there despite weekend wins for the chasing pack
Norwich City have players from quite literally all over the world, from Cuba to Greece via Poland, Finland, Argentina and several other countries too. But the win we ground out against *the Rams of Rooney* [c. G Gowers] was to a large degree very much courtesy of our brace of Scotsmen. Granite Hanley from Dumfries […]
Hanley excels in the edgiest of City wins, but the prize is now in touching distance
The trouble with 7-0 wins is that they set the bar impossibly high. And it wasn’t just the seven goals. It was the quality of performance; the ebb and flow; the relentlessness; the precision. What followed was only ever going to be a pale imitation in terms of its beauty. While some were expecting another […]
MATCH REPORT: Dowell’s first-half free-kick edges the weary Canaries ever closer
After the midweek mauling of Huddersfield, the question was whether Norwich could avenge the loss to Derby at Carrow Road, which ranked as the biggest picking of pockets since Oliver Twist. The game started in familiar fashion, City confidently stroking the ball at the back, retaining possession and waiting for openings. Derby, predictably, dropped right […]
VIDEO: Giorgos Giakoumakis is the name. Are the Canaries interested? | Norwich Talk
DERBY PREVIEW… with a little help from some of MyFootballWriter’s friends
It was time to get the band back together for this week’s preview. Off the back of the most thrilling Tuesday evening since the dawning of time, Colin Michael, Andy Delf, Don Harrold and John Scent have dusted down their instruments, scraped themselves off the ceiling and given us their considered thoughts ahead of City […]
Wayne Rooney’s pre-Norwich press conference: “We’re not underdogs”
Derby County manager Wayne Rooney is aware of the strong City side his injury-hit squad will come up against tomorrow, praising the Championship leaders but dispelling any suggestion of a ‘free hit’ for his team. “It’s a very tough game,” Rooney said at his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon. “Norwich are a very good […]
City strikers hit Farke’s target. Now it’s time to start setting next season’s goals
At the start of the season, Daniel Farke outlined the goals target his strikers had to hit: 30 between them. He didn’t care who, how or when, as long as Teemu Pukki, Jordan Hugill and Adam Idah’s tallies totalled 30 or more. On Tuesday night, they hit that target. Pukki’s hat-trick clinching goal, the sixth […]
A magical evening at the Carra and now it could even be done on Rooney’s watch
I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of magic or magicians. From the days of David Nixon, through Paul Daniels to Derren Brown, they’ve bored me buttless although I’ll make an exception for Dynamo due to his originality – I like watching his stunts. But on Tuesday evening the gift of iFollow brought me […]
As it happened: A blow-by-blow account of City’s seven-goal demolition of the Terriers
I’ve been away with work for the last few weeks. Seven games have passed – I’ve caught something of most of them but at other times I’ve only the odd text message to go on: ‘Dad, we’re murdering them…’ The snow cascaded down on a wintry Carrow Road but the Canaries really turned on the […]
City deliver a near-fatal blow to Watford’s title hopes while smashing records aplenty
Wow. Where to start, other than to say this really this is the ultimate test of not too high, not too low. So forget that. 99.9 per cent of City fans will need scraping off the ceiling this morning after, arguably, the most exhilarating 93 minutes of NCFC football in all of our lifetimes. As […]
Omobamidele at the forefront of a new generation of City youngsters
The 2019/20 season provided a clearly defined four; the first generation of young City talent hot off the Farke production line. Max Aarons, Todd Cantwell, Ben Godfrey, Jamal Lewis- the boyband. Fast forward two years and while there was disappointment evident at Deepdale, in the background, a second generation was forming. On the pitch were […]
TERRIERS PREVIEW: Plodders… water carriers… and Frazier Campbell worldies
A Tuesday night at home, under the floodlights, with promotion inching closer. How good would it be to have Carrow Road packed to the rafters for this one? Sadly, we’re still a few months away from such lofty ambitions of normality, but as the potential for such activities gets closer and closer, so does the […]
A rare bit of beef with our Daniel, but hopefully the last we’ll see of City in petrol blue!
Only a sad sack like me could have a little moan about Daniel Farke after a truly titanic performance from the lads who were available to turn out against Preston North End at Deepdale in the Good Friday fixture most of us were dreading due to multiple late returns from international duty. Seeing the teamsheet […]
A late blow to the solar plexus at Deepdale but City edge ever closer to the big prize
In anyone’s book, a point away at Deepdale in those most trying of circumstances should be seen as one gained, and it was, but try telling that to the good folk of the Canary Nation. For all the bravado mustered upon the final blast of Dean Whitestone’s whistle (more on where I’d like to shove […]
Tettey? Sorensen? Youth? The potential solutions to the centre-back problem
When news started to leak from Daniel Farke’s pre-Preston press conference, there was desperate hope from Norwich fans that the relevant journalists or the City head coach were complicit in a devastating April Fools’ joke. They were not. Christoph Zimmermann has joined Ben Gibson as an absentee, potentially for the rest of the season, and […]
City miss out on target Beukema
Norwich City have missed out on Dutch centre-back Sam Beukema, whose move to AZ Alkmaar has brought an end to speculation around his future. Beukema, who was described by the Eastern Daily Press as a ‘known name to City’s recruitment team’, was unlikely to join up with the Canaries in the short term due to […]
PRESTON PREVIEW: Curses, howls of protest and a fog of confusion
“The closer he looked, the less he could make out, the deeper everything sank into the gloom” No need to know the literacy reference (though big respect if you do). The quote is from Kafka’s The Castle. It’s indelibly marked on my memory because it was a question in my final university exam. Just the […]
The Five Ages of the Football Fan
Inspired by Bill Wigglestick’s famous ‘seven ages of man’ soliloquy from ‘Do I Not Like That’ (memorably played by Graham Taylor) – here are my Five Ages of the Football Fan… The Debut Everyone remembers their first time. No, not that. The first time you attended a football match at a proper ground, of a […]
Only five teams have achieved it this season, but how do you beat City?
Between 40 and 50 times a season opposition managers, coaches and analysts attempt to plan the best way to beat Norwich City. But in truth, there are two groups of people that know how the Canaries play better than anyone: the club’s technical staff and its fans. I didn’t think Daniel would fancy telling me […]
NCFC Quiz: Players & places
Geography is a curious beast and usually best left well alone. But, sometimes it’s worth poking with a stick – especially if that stick is yellow and green. So, can you name these former Norwich City players with a place name for a surname? (NB. These quiz questions are accessible to all. Should you feel […]
So, where are we now? Eleven points clear of third with eight to play, that’s where
The appointment of Stuart Webber in April 2017 was greeted in a reasonably low key manner by us NCFC fans – maybe a few of us were aware of his Liverpool connections [he worked under both King Kenny and Rafa Benitez] and his subsequent success with Huddersfield Town. Personally I knew the name, but little […]
A traditional target man he isn’t, but Pukki *is* the perfect target man for Farke
There is no place in Daniel Farke’s system for lumping balls long to a six-foot-three number nine to hold up or flick on. But in Teemu Pukki, City have a more nuanced version of the classic lone centre-forward. The Finn, who has conquered the Championship again this season, is of average height, slim build and […]
NCFC international round-up… including Onel’s brush with a volcanic ash cloud
Three days or so into the international break, a few anomalies have already thrown themselves up within our far-flung travelling contingent and a couple of them you couldn’t make up if you tried. Onel Hernandez was demonstrably desperate to make his debut for Cuba, which he eventually did under the very strangest of circumstances by […]
From the Archives: Our Ed advising that, in hindsight, hindsight is best avoided
International breaks are a nightmare for editors of footballing websites that, as a general rule, don’t cover international football. From, sometimes, three pieces of content per day to *Family Fortunes klaxon*. So, to the archives I head and who better to turn to for a piece that was written eight years ago but which still […]
Dear English Football League…
This is a message to those who administer the Championship of the English Football League, thinly disguised as a piece written for MyFootballWriter. As I write, we are currently being forced to fulfil a fixture at Deepdale, home of Preston North End FC at 1500 hours on Good Friday, April 2. We have asked for […]
FA Youth Cup Preview: “It’ll be a tough game”| Weaver wary of Hammers
Norwich City’s under-18s face West Ham this afternoon in the FA Youth Cup fourth round; a tie that is, according to Head of Football Development Steve Weaver, by no means a gimme. More than three months after the third round- a Covid-related pause in the competition postponing the fixture until now- Kevin Keen will bring […]
Fair play to Mogga’s boys but the biggest downer of the day was Gibbo’s rolled ankle
Reality check? Being brought back down to earth? Or simply being faced by a hard-working, typical Tony Mowbray side who had weighed us up before kick off and stuck with their plan to press consistently hard, play to their strengths and ride their luck at times? The choice, dear MFW readers, is yours. Personally, I […]
City fail to make it ten on the spin but with Swans and Bees faltering the PL beckons
All good things… etc, but it’s no less disappointing when those good thing do come to an end. And that nine-game winning run was a good thing. A bloody marvellous thing. That we let slip a couple of points yesterday was not the end of the world, especially after said run has opened up a […]