It was a moment we could scarcely believe but also the moment we dared to believe. It was 19 September 2019. The two previous home games of that Premier League campaign had been hugely encouraging: a triumph over Newcastle and a narrow defeat by Chelsea. Now the Champions, Manchester City, were strutting about at Carrow […]
Because football. Because the Championship
He shouldn’t have said it. But I certainly understand why Dean Smith felt relieved that Norwich City’s next game is away from home. I said the same to my wife as we trooped out of Carrow Road on Saturday after the defeat by Blackburn. But before I elaborate – and attempt to put the case […]
Webber: ‘The club’s objective is a prolonged spell in the Premier League’
Stuart Webber insists Norwich City are determined to achieve a long spell in the Premier League. At a time when some supporters are asking: “What is the point of winning promotion if the club is going to ‘yo-yo’ back down again?”, City’s Sporting Director asserts that he is focussed on breaking that cycle by staying […]
“This club is a laughing stock” … “A fish rots from the head down”
Here are some comments made in the last month. I have précised some a little, but the tone and specifics are faithfully recorded. The names of those saying these things and the people to whom they are referring have been replaced by letters, to protect the guilty. I offer them without comment from me. EX-player […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
‘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 […]
Glenn Roeder: elegant player & holder of the City reins at an incredibly difficult time
Common decency has prevented Norwich City fans talking ill of Glenn Roeder, who died this week at just 65. But it is the nature of football that he will be remembered by those supporters for one moment in his 15 months and 65 games as manager. Just over a year after his appointment he faced […]
Jamal floundering, Soto arriving and the ongoing threat of a Euro Super League
First came the sight of Jamal Lewis, flailing and failing in Newcastle’s humiliation. Then came the news that Norwich City have brought USA striker Sebastian Soto to England at last. And, finally, there were accounts of the threat of a breakaway European super-league. Three disparate sets of circumstances, they coalesce to provide an understanding of […]
How journalism works in 2021 … #NCFC … #ITK … #yawn
How journalism works in 2021 module 1: On 9 December, a story appeared in The Metro. Its headline was: “Emiliano Buendia’s agency respond to Arsenal fan asking for transfer”. The report included two facts: an Arsenal fan tweeted Emi, urging him to join Arsenal, and the agency who represent Buendia (Twenty Two Management) responded with […]
Etty Smith: a remarkable woman and a proper Norwich fan to the end
At the end of Norwich City’s play-off final triumph at Wembley in May 2015, there was one special moment which stood out among so many indelible incidents. Up in front of the Royal Box, as the dancing players took turns to hoist the trophy into the air, manager Alex Neil shuffled his way along behind […]
NCFC Final Accounts 2020: Aim of being in the country’s top 26 has been upgraded
Among 36 pages of numbers and words, one phrase stands out. It is on line 11 in page two of Norwich City PLC’s annual report. “The Club’s future strategy is to strive to be an established Premier League club.” Other parts of the document are not suitable for those of a nervous disposition. The accounts […]
‘Never Mind The Danger’ we sing. Seldom has this line been more pertinent
The most wondrous aspect of Norwich City’s romp to the Football League title last season was that it was a triumph for doing things the right way. Being smart beat money and muscle. And so, for me, amid all the disappointments of yet another dismal demotion, one detail stands out as the bleakest: it looks […]
Will it be the same? No. Does it have to happen? Yes. And imagine an FA Cup win…
When Norwich City’s second goal went in at Leeds in February last year — the Pukki tap-in which caused a delayed reaction among our fans tucked in a corner at the other end of the pitch — I turned to seek out the face of a friend in the row behind me. We shared a […]
A league motivated by greed, no doubt, but not the sole fault of one Mr Murdoch
Tin hat time for me: here is my defence of Rupert Murdoch. No, that’s not really what this is. But I’d like to respond to and amplify Gary Gowers’ piece about the start of the Premier League — because I had a ringside seat at the fight that transformed the game in this country. Several […]
Where does football go next? There’s no understating the magnitude of this crisis
It’s only a game. Football paid off my mortgage. Football helped me regain my mental health more than once. Football has set my mood and provided the rhythm of my week since I was eight – which is 60 years ago this week. But it is only a game. So that is the context of […]
‘Ghost games’ needed to conclude the season? Mick D describes the eeriness
Eddie Baily, West Ham’s chief scout, kept up a constant chorus of insistent instructions from the touchline. Everyone in the stadium heard every word. Unfortunately, every second word was an expletive. But, as the attendance was less than 300, Baily’s bawling didn’t offend too many. It was Wednesday, October 1st, 1980. West Ham’s European Cup […]