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 […]
Andy Head
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]