Leaderboard

Don't let ANYONE tarnish his legacy. It's taken him six years of his life* to take us from 8th in the Championship to.... ...13th in the Championship. *90% of it

quite. I feel he was unspeakably rude to local media and fans and this alone should have rang alarm bells with owners not garnered praise

We seem to be in an age where it is acceptable for individuals to be paid enormous salaries and then for them to get highly praised for just doing the job they were paid that enormous salary to do in the first place. Bravo SW, you oversaw the transformation of Colney. You should qualify for a bonus really.

Think from the outside looking in that’s a very simplistic way of looking at it yes however as fans of the club we know different and I’m sure are able to acknowledge the improvements both on and off the pitch since his arrival definitely time for him to move on but don’t think he should be discredited for the work he’s put in

Because he hasn’t left and is currently working a 12 month notice period, I would say given the announcement has come now that his departure is imminent but he is nothing but a professional and will continue to ensure his legacy at this football club is not damaged

Think that ship went when Jack Stacey was signed.

Thank you very much. Is the void above the quote a representation of what's between your ears?

The latest article from Connor Southwell is really worth a read. I've no clue if these things are behind pay walls, so I'll post the highlights, but it is well worth a read if you can. Again, I've said time and time again I think if you have a subscription to PinkUn+ and the Athletic then you're very well covered for NCFC news, although I appreciate times are tough at the minute for most. 5 to 7 signings wanted BEFORE additional outgoings. Webber said 80% to be done before they go away (which we knew) on 11th July (which we didn't know). Meaning just 27 days to do quite a lot of business! We have improved our offer to Max Johnston. He is said to be impressed by the signings so far and the pathway offered to him to play first team football here. The improved package has put us back in the running for him, albeit with alot of competition. Interest confirmed for both Ince and Fraser. We moved for Fraser last year only for us to be unable to come to an agreement with Newcastle. It could be with the further deterioration of his relationship with Howe and a desire to move back south a compromise may be found. Also mentions links to Sainz and Ogbene; but doesn't formally confirm interest. Likely youth purchases to be made too. Gabby Forsyth is mentioned. Sheffield Utd have made tentative enquiries for Omobamodiele. Foreign interest "persists". Says "unlikely" he'll be a Norwich player come the end of the window. Aarons also on the way. Confirmed interest from Roma, Mourinho a fan from his time at Spurs. Likely changes in direction due to the approval of the work permit rule changes allowing a limited number of players to be brought in who do not qualify through the points based system. European Lower Leagues might be back on the menu, boys!

There is literally nothing you can't try and spin into a positive for the owners is there?

Not sure they are that detached, he’s done various interviews with them previously and spoken at conferences etc. he clearly has a link with them. There is no doubt he’s improved the facilities and training ground significantly and that will be a legacy of his. That said, I do think he is prone to over exaggerating how bad the state of the club was when he came in and the quality of the players coming through from the academy was actually better then (ie those already in the system that he has benefitted from) than it is now.

If he thinks he's gone as far as he can with us, I say fair play to him. The problem with the role of sporting director is that the most visible part of the job where they are going to be judged is on the pitch, yet arguably the most important is ensuring that the facilities/personnel are in place to consistently provide good performance on the pitch. And we as fans don't experience much of the latter by definition. By all accounts, the facilities have been greatly improved and are a reason for us to get players, as opposed to when Sebastien Haller allegedly saw the old facilities and noped it. We've remembered what it's like to let youngsters have a shot once again, particularly under Farke. If anything, we pushed this a little too far and neglected the spine of the team in places, an issue that appears to be a subject of focus in this transfer window with the three acquisitions so far. And he'll always have immense credit for two Championship wins with Farke as his man, the first of them possibly the most beautifully unexpected triumph in our recent history. Not to mention he also financially got us through a shocker of a pandemic. Webber famously said he sent Farke into battle without a gun. Without external investment, he was sent into battle without one. I don't think he's done badly under the circumstances, but the time seems right, and if he thinks that way, double it. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

They are devastated in losing a much valued luncheon and dinner companion....

How are they still here? It’s beyond embarrassing.

I'm on hols in New York & have been in touch with the New York Canaries it's there 20th anniversary this evening & I've been invited, taking a scarf to get hung up in the bar 💛💚

Wagner is in an unenviable position whatever the situation and whoever the SD is. He is under pressure to succeed all the time and with the poor showing over the end of this last season, he is going to be under even more pressure and need to get something going straight away next season, or the usual suspects will be out baying for him to be sacked and that is regardless of who is or who isn't SD. People will say "give him 10 games" - and if we have a poor start, it will be difficult to turn that round and get the fans onside. Farke managed it in his second season after around ten games, with that 1-1 away at Portaloo Rd which seemed to be the catalyst for improvement, but that was with Pukki, Leitner at his best and with Max making his mark and the shape of things looking more promising. It is difficult to imagine how next season will start, as we don't know who the players will be, who will be our Pukki, Leitner, Vrancic, Buendia etc etc......but it makes no difference to Wagner's position who the players are - he has to turn around a rather pathetic end of season into something that looks better, or he won't last long in the job. So if things are changing at the top, it makes no difference - he has to do well, whoever his bosses are, or he will be out.

Nah, they should be allowed to run regardless of how much I agree or disagree with their politics. Biden satisfies your first two criteria and ultimately, a president is as good as the staff he elects so I'm not as hung up on age as some others. The real issues in the USA are a gamed electoral model that only permits two parties, far too much big money in politics, and the cancerous effects of more evangelist/radical religious elements, especially in the South. Drain those swamps, and the USA could be in business.

I agree it comes down to money- which is again why it is so frustrating that they've refused to recognise that they are ill equipped to be the owners of a modern football club. You shouldn't need to be borrowing money from fans to sign players or for basic infrastructure upgrades. That is a sign that something isn't working.

You have to worry for the USA given Trumps outbursts and his delinquent base support that places him above the law - that should he somehow 'win' the next GE that may well be the last honest and fair one in the USA for a very long time! Its as serious as that for the USA as a democratic country by western standards.

I read this and while, yes, tough to disagree with any of it, it isn't really an assessment- more of just a list of things he's done. It also doesn't mention in any great depth the recruitment of players which is obviously one of our biggest issues. On the flip side it also doesn't paint a great picture of the previous leadership and the owners when talking about the state of Colney. You have to wonder how it was allowed to get to that state in the first place.

If you mean we wouldn't be sitting here having enjoyed two Championship titles, then yes, you're absolutely right. If you mean we wouldn't be sitting here as a mid-table Championship side, then you're almost certainly wrong. Webber is a brilliant self-publicist and isn't averse to twisting truths. He'd make a great politician. Before he set foot in the door plans were afoot and submitted for improvements at Colney. Whilst we had an unsustainable wage bill, Webber walked into a squad chock full of valuable player assets and bright young things. Look at what we had; Pritchard, Jacob Murphy, Josh Murphy, Ben Godfrey had already had his debut, as had James Maddison. Talent that would bring the club in £80 million that Webber had zero to do with the recruitment of (and he had the temerity to constantly belittle the previous regime). Max Aarons and Jamal Lewis were also still in the building (or Portakabins). The fact is, Colney would have been developed without Webber. Those players would have fetched serious sums of cash without Webber. That cash would have been reinvested in the squad without Webber. Whether it would have been invested in such a manner that it would have bought us the success we had under Farke is extremely unlikely. Whether it would have been invested in such a manner that would find us lower than 13th in the Championship at the end of the 2022/23 is as equally unlikely.

Hope he gets a nice move, we get a good fee, and he really kicks on. Unlike Cantwell, he's never caused any kerfuffle, kept his head down and been a professional, mature head for his age.

But this is where DW has to prove he is the man for the job. I do get a bit fed up at times when I hear various coaches explaining they were sacked because they didn't get the backing. But surely they told their respective employers the ywere the ones for the job out of a shortlist of similar minded coaches. Wagner now has to put up. So many posters on here are telling us we have the makings. That Sara and Nunez will blossom. Idah will come good. I hope its true. And there is no reason for DW to fail if the players are that good. I am not expecting us to finish in the top two at this moment. But Iam expecting better, organised attacking football to watch next season. And then who knows. But its up to DW to now fulfil wha the probably said at his interview. If that is pressure then its self inflicted.

Well three quarters of the present ground was built with grants, insurance or sale of a player.

Apologies for stepping in during the close season! I think investing in your training facilities made sense on a long term basis. There’s an interview with our Technical Director, Lee Dykes on The Beautiful Game podcast (I won’t link as I suspect few of you have an hour to spare to listen but it’s very good!) from just before last game of the season where he describes the difficulty of attracting players when he joined in summer 2019. Back then our facility was even more L2 than yours without even the luxury of 49 portacabins! When potential targets came to visit they’d make excuses to not even go to the training ground and to avoid going to the stadium too. The real daily work environment and symbol of the development players can expect is the training facility. It’s notable that with all their billions, the very first thing Newcastle’s new owners did was upgrade theirs. It was also a big immediate task at Leeds when Bielsa joined (although they’ve since converted back the player dormitories he had put in to let the players start training earlier!). But there does also need to be prioritisation if you’re not a super rich club. Our upgrade plans were finalised in 2021 but the first phase not actioned until this season because it was too big an investment cost to bear until staying up was secured. The buildings are still semi-permanent only and there’s another phase to complete to enable the new academy to colocate fully and go up the categories. The other interesting thing from the interview, compared with the piece on Webber is how we don’t just rely on the Sporting Director to do everything. Whereas the Webber piece described him immediately sacking the recruitment director et al, Dykes has that role and described working as a team with the Sporting Director, Performance Director and Head Coach. Maybe the thing for the future for you is to develop that division of labour.

Vote for Pedro........sorry, couldn't help myself....

The BBC sounds app is pretty good with access to plenty of podcasts. My recommendation for something a-political, interesting, light hearted but educational is 'You're dead to me' which I think is a radio 4 show. It's written and presented by one of the guys (Greg Jenner) from the kids show Horrible Histories, but it's the grown ups version (although I love horrible histories!)

The thing that isn't working is modern football financing.

None of them had a clue what to do, after they won the vote they all panicked and skulked away. Johnson even ran away from being party leader as he realised the leavers were going to be expected to deliver, 'let May do it and we continue to lie about what Brexit means' was their policy. Davis and his 'easiest deal in the world, could be done in an afternoon' was the most egregious statement. They lied before Brexit, they lied during Brexit and they are still lying about Brexit.

There's plenty, you've just not offered one yet. But if the question is am I generally happy with our owners during my time supporting the club then the answer is most certainly yes.

Don't confuse the issue with facts.

Probably because they helped save the club from going bust, and we’ve spent half of the last 12 seasons in the top flight?

All sport for everyone regardless of ability should be encouraged and enjoyed....

Webber had a great start but wheels have been coming off for some time. And bottom line is that the truly dreadful summer window two years ago was so very bad it really did derail much of his good work and leave us back where the club was when he found us. 13th was a fair reflection. Much of the infrastructure is indeed better but you sense chaos and carnage behind the scenes. You also feel he is jumping now because the entire club is moving in the wrong direction without a budget in place to sort things. The signings thus far also represent a massive shift away from webber type players with sell on value to ageing champs journeymen. Whose called for this I wonder? Is it Webber not trying too hard? Is it grabbing some bargains because he is not allowed to open purse strings with new man on the way? Is it someone else dictating? is financial reality much worse than we are told hence his realisation there is little chance of good times ahead? But bottom line is his tenure was a real mixed bag of very positive (colney, pukki, emi) and very negative (rude arrogance, rashica, no cdm, millions p^*+%d up the wall)

They've outsourced so much to the Webber's that they even let Stu write his own leaving statement on their behalf.

They definitely need to not say the truth or be honest with us. They need to just say whatever sounds good and talk about how amazing our fans and club are. Probably just need to toe the party line until getting called Delias puppet. Then move on and I don't know. Join the Scottish FA?

On the balance of things, he failed at his most important task. The way it unravelled over the last two years was very disappointing because up until that point, he'd done a truly excellent job. It was time for him to leave.

Rubbish. The club's finances are healthier and its infrastructure far better than when McNally left. The only slight extra credit McNally gets is one survival season, but survival was easier back then.

In my defence, it is only made up ones that I claim are made up.

Webber told us a month ago he would move on this summer.

I shall be reporting you for discrimination.

I disagree with you very strongly. There were many stories at the time about how government was hamstrung. The sheer amount of preparatory work was unappreciated. And I happen to know this is true but don't wish to add an anecdote here because you dislike firsthand experience and mistrust it. Which is fair enough, though sometimes we need to accept another's account. I don't think it's a weak argument whatsoever. Even if one accepts that it was true then it's hardly an earth shattering revelation. It was clear that the administration struggled. You only had to watch those daily press conferences during Covid. Truly extraordinary. There was a paucity of talent in that cabinet. I would have preferred you to be in the cabinet than many of those characters. There were lies upon lies made about Brexit. There is a great website (think it was the Yorkshire Post) outlining every single one (based on David Davis' comments at the outset). The lies all covered up a great deal of technical problems, accompanied by bluster and faux humour by the leader, Johnson. And yes, Brexit is a fact and I know you dislike people posting about it but it is alive as a subject as any other political issue we've lived through. It continues to affect society and our economy. It's not the end of the world but certainly it's a subject worthy of ongoing debate.

The Aussies do get and enjoy satire and the late Barry Humphries was the prime (no pun) example.

Isn that where he accidentally ran over and killed his chauffeur?

Wait and see Essex. It’s very complicated.

If you typed that without creasing up then fair play to you.

I’m not bothered he’s going. Just needs Delia and MWJ to follow him out of the door so the club can really move forward with fresh leadership.

I do understand why they are held in high regard- they genuinely love the club. But they needed to go a long time ago. They belong to an era when club football was national not global and run by millionaires not billionaires. They are also octogenarians now and the need for the next phase is here. A stubborn refusal to let go has held us back for some time, imho, but that might, might I stress, be coming to an end with Attanasio involvement. Otherwise get ready for the Roeder years mark2

Are you feeling ok? That was extremely positive and complimentary of you!

I fear that the longer the current manager stays in his post it’s another season written off.