Alex Neil’s Stoke City roll into Norfolk tomorrow seemingly still deciding what kind of team they’re going to be. Having made a much-questioned move from an upwardly mobile Sunderland to the terminally moribund Potters during last season, Neil has finally had the ability to move some players in and out and put his own stamp […]
The Preview: Norwich City v Hull City
Hull are a team I expect to have a very good season following Liam Rosenior’s first full summer working to tweak and adapt a squad that made quiet progress last season. Stylistically, they’re not too dissimilar to Norwich, with an emphasis on getting men behind the ball and being difficult to beat with 4-4-2 having […]
MFW’s Championship Preview 2023-2024
So here we are, back again. It only seems five minutes since we were grumbling out of Carrow Road having made relegated Blackpool look like they were being coached by Pep Guardiola rather than their third manager of the season. And so to new beginnings, and what looks like it could be the most difficult […]
Wagnerball is going to fail…
I don’t want it to. I think David Wagner is a lovely guy and actually a decent coach. But I think his style of football won’t work here. Here’s why. While there are a million different tactical formations, (base or transitional), there are only three distinct footballing philosophies employed among the vast majority of clubs […]
Project #NCFC Rebuild: A progress report
Project Rebuild has so far seen Ashley Barnes brought in to replace Teemu Pukki, Borja Sainz in for Kieron Dowell, Jack Stacey for Sam Byram, and Shane Duffy to cover for the long-term absence of Grant Hanley.
It was Webber’s time but who we get next is key to this club’s direction
With the announcement of Stuart Webber’s imminent departure yesterday, we’ve come to the end of a cycle in the club’s history that was among our most successful, and most frustrating at times. One thing that the last six years have not been is boring. So with Webber likely to start his “new adventure” we also […]
Who stays and who goes? #NCFC
With the big summer discount sale apparently kicking off at Colney any day now, it seems like as good a time as any to have a bit of a speculate as to who will be gracing Carrow Road with Wagnerball next season, and who will be jettisoned to make funds available for Operation All-Eggs-In-One-Basket. Certain […]
HEADTEACHER’S REPORT: Andy H’s Appraisal of the Class of 2022-23
I haven’t been as disappointed in a group of boys as this since Mr Roeder and Mr Gunn took us on an excursion to the underworld in 2009. I’m writing this year’s report an hour after the end of the school year, so keen am I to see an end to this wretched year. So […]
The club needs a McNally/Lambert-style reset, and it has to be ruthless
As we wait another week for the death rattles of this festering corpse of a season to gurgle its last, we increasingly look to the future. While a team relegated from the Premier League can lean on parachute payments to give itself a crack at returning immediately, as we did with the signings of Gabriel […]
The long and winding road forward for a club that has well and truly lost its way
.I’m writing with the memory of the Swansea capitulation firmly in mind, so I’m attempting to find the eye of this storm of rage, and focus on how we progress through to the other side, where we can see a football team worthy of the name once more. I want to look forward, but divining […]
CITY v SWANSEA (H) – THE PREVIEW
I’m writing this on Tuesday night so at this stage I have no idea how Swansea did on Wednesday at home to Preston (they won 4-2 – Ed), or how Norwich did at QPR (hmm – Ed). But having made the trip to Middlesbrough last Friday I’m at the point of not caring anyway. I […]
CITY v SHEFFIELD UNITED – THE PREVIEW
Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of “What can we expect from the world’s most frustrating and inconsistent team”? To be fair, Sheffield United fans are probably feeling at least a fraction of what we are as, since January, their previously unchecked drive to promotion has started kangarooing along a winding road. A “win […]
Sunday was the step back. Can Warnock’s boys stop us taking the next one forward?
Well, having endured the one step back that this squad Ioves to provide, we can probably expect the two steps forward that they also enjoy teasing us with. Huddersfield are an absolute mess at the moment. With a transfer embargo, potential administration, and Neil Warnock having put down his jigsaws and Werthers Originals to try […]
CITY v BRISTOL CITY (A) – THE PREVIEW
If nothing else, we live in interesting times with Norwich City. Following the euphoric triumphs against Preston and Coventry that washed away much of the negative detritus of Smithball, we promptly got our backsides handed to us last weekend. To be fair, it was a bit much to expect us to ride that wave of […]
CITY v SWANSEA – THE PREVIEW
Forget the Brazilians dancing with joy. Forget plucky Moroccans defying the odds. Forget England looking like actual contenders at a World Cup. It’s back to Smithball tomorrow. (*World’s slowest handclap* – Ed). It feels like when you’ve been on holiday, but now it’s back to work, and your job is unblocking toilets. In all fairness, […]
CITY v PRESTON (H) – THE PREVIEW
Okay, not to be simplistic but Preston are the dullest and least inspiring team in the league. These are their results so far: Wigan A 0-0 Hull H 0-0 Luton A 0-1 Win Rotherham H 0-0 Watford H 0-0 Cardiff A 0-0 Coventry A 0-1 Win Birmingham H 0-1 Loss Burnley H 1-1 Sheff Utd […]
Is our Teemu part of the solution? Or is he part of the problem?
There are plenty of theories going around as to why City are struggling, all of which have varying levels of validity. So let me add one more to the mix – Teemu Pukki. Now before the pitchforks and torches are lifted countywide, let me explain further. I’m not for a second saying that Teemu hasn’t […]
Prem Hangover? … Quality over quantity … bigger and faster … and a new Tzolis?
With City’s relative inaction in the transfer market to date, we’ve been feeding off scraps in order to try and motivate ourselves from the sombre malaise of last season’s capitulation into a positive mindset for the season ahead. No move either in or out can yet be seen as good or bad until we’ve seen […]
Teaser Good? Good work from Norwich City but hopefully a one-off
When the club put the online shop into mothballs for the evening and tweeted the mysterious ‘Not Just Another Kit Launch‘ image on Monday night, the assumption was that a new kit was due at 9.00 am this morning. I’ve personally never got the appeal of the kit launch. We get it when we get […]
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 […]