Russell Saunders

The Galway Roast stand sponsorship affair was a telling omen for events to come with indecision and poor decisions on and off the pitch putting the kibosh on the season. Instead of a promotion celebration, we were left to console ourselves with a meaty win over QPR .

One reader comment from last week was that the ‘CV’ of the new CEO Jez Moxey hadn’t been discussed here – an indication that myself and others at MyFootballWriter are too close to the official club line and unwilling to be critical of its actions.

I appreciate I might be in the minority here, but I think we’ve had a good summer with reasonably-priced incoming talent and having held on to one or two who most thought would be out of Norfolk faster than you can say Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Despite finding an uncritical niche personal fan club – seemingly for his good looks and hairstyle – a handful of first-team outings and a single league goal is a shocking return on the record transfer fee paid in the now defunct McNally/Hughton era.

Louie’s fellow Milk Cup Final winning colleague John ‘Dixie’ Deehan did the unthinkable and moved straight from the Canaries to the Tractor boys in an exchange deal which saw Trevor Putney make the opposite journey. Deehan must have taken serious flak for that move

I’m guessing that Mick McCarthy has one last shot at getting that club into the top flight. He surely won’t want to hang around any longer in the Championship working on a shoestring? He will be desperate to avenge the three defeats of 2014/15.

C is for clappers. Once again their presence failed to save us. In the hands of Leicester fans, they are seen as a wonderful expression of passionate fandom; in our hands, a source of great mirth to radio/TV commentators and pundits. Please let’s consign them to the bin of history.

“Some fans had enough of Van Gaal by the end of last season. December 2015 was when I thought the club should have called it a day…”

“Is it dull at Arsenal now? Painfully so. It’s not the fourth place finish itself, it’s the manner we end up there, it’s the nature of the Round of Sixteen exits in the Champions League. Good or average, we will lose the home leg with an irretrievable deficit for the second leg.”

We have scored more than Watford, more than West Brom who are safe as houses and only two less than Stoke who have an outside sniff of a top six finish.

The point gained from the Abu Dhabi All Stars was a magnificent team effort displaying all the qualities desired for, with the exception of more attacking threat maybe.

At least after the narrow and mighty unlucky defeats to the current leaders and defending champions (worth putting those losses into their deserved context), Neil seems to have at last found a system that suits and the players seem comfortable with.

With 12 games to go, we sit six points better off than Leicester at the same point last season – with a similar goal difference – yet we seem to be everyone’s favourites for the drop, much as our opponents almost certainly were then.

Some of those goals can be dug up online with a bit of a struggle but what I recall about the Fash was his raw power and athleticism, the like of which had not been seen or is yet to be matched in a City striker of such a young age.

Our new loanee Patrick Bamford was drawn to come to Norwich for the rest of the season because of limited opportunities at Palace but more specifically because of the “total football” which he saw first-hand at Wembley

No question, he is a very good poacher from within the five to ten yard range and has the occasional belter from further out in his locker. His two recent goals for Wednesday against Leeds were ‘classic’ Hooper. Others did the work and he pounced on the scraps from short range.

The disappointing loss at Bournemouth seems to have stirred up emotions to fever pitch. If you took the time and trouble to travel down for the match, then you have every right to air your grievances albeit in a polite and humorous manner.

Grabban will be joining forces with Glenn Murray and now Benik Afobe, both failed targets for us last summer. Again grumblings from some Canaries have inevitably been aired.

With a manager unused to this level, we were always likely to face adversity while the ropes were being learned and so it’s proved to be with bad defeats leading to a change in Alex Neil’s approach to team selection, formation and style of play.