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For me, where Wagner is lacking in youth development is that he has pretty much zero history of taking an academy player or under 21 and pushing them into first team football and massively developing them. At Huddersfield, the only player under 21 to get significant game time was Philip Billing, but he was already a regular in the team before Wagner arrived. Mooy and Wells were both 25 and Kachunga was 24. All had a decent number of games under their belts at the time and would be considered 'senior pros'. I don't think Wagner is against younger players, but he isn't a coach similar to someone like Farke, who is happy to take a risk on younger players. I will say that Wagner has done a good job with Rowe so I do give him some credit for that. Time will tell about the type of Sporting Director Knapper is, but player development is so key to Attanasio's vision that I suspect that Wagner is doomed in the long run. I don't read much into the praise of Webber and not Knapper - Webber was there to build the team and make those decisions so it is natural he gets credit. Also, given their friendship I think Wagner also wants to highlight to fans who have been on Webber's back for so long that he did a good job in the summer despite their views.

I'd take him over Wagner that's for sure.

Tough one isn't it. Knapper will want 'his man' in place, most Sporting Directors do. If Knapper had appointed Wagner I don't think anyone would really be questioning if he'd be around after the summer as he would be the coach Knapper picked, rather than inherited. Does Wagner fit with the soundbites we have heard from Attanasio and Knapper on style, youth players and player development? The easy and obvious answer is; no. Does this mean he'll definitely be sacked? Also, no. We don't know enough about Knapper yet to know how he'll go about business (or if Attanasio will be a much more vocal and interventionist owner than Delia and MWJ). If Knapper doesn't think Wagner is the right manager for the longterm then keeping hold of him for anything other than convenience is not great leadership. Ultimately, if the club want to develop this 'player trading model' that Attanasio has talked about on several occasions, having a coach with a pretty poor track record of using youth players, or developing senior players, isn't going to work out. If there is going to be a big churn in the squad (which will almost certainly happen if promotion isn't achieved) that is the exact moment you want to replace the head coach. The worst decision would be for Norwich to undergo the squad overhaul, based on bringing in young, raw players to develop and then stick with Wagner when that isn't his forte. If Knapper isn't going to back Wagner with the squad he needs, and everyone isn't pulling in the same direction, then you need to make changes.

I shall miss this @nutty nigel 🙌 Thank you for providing the opportunity to do good, to help others, to have some fun, a little competition, a bit of skill challenge and interest ….….most of all a bit of community, a bit of purpose, a bit of meaning. You did that 🦮🙏🏼 Parma

I may be in the minority, but yes, I am excited about the play-offs. A chance to beat dirty Leeds and weekend in London for the Final. If you cannot enjoy the good times, why bother with City at all? OTBC 😁

Wish we were Hull! Finishing 7th and sacking the manager is preferable to finishing 6th and having to pay over the odds to watch play off games we don’t even want to win.

Always have had. Given the distances involved they have a tremendous away support and put many other clubs to shame.

I struggle to see who in the Prem would be willing to make Norwich an offer they would be tempted to sell. Rowe has had already had one injury that kept him out for an entire season and picked up a couple more this season meaning he was only available for about half of the available minutes. Does a club make a big offer for a player off the back of half a season? Especially when you add into the injury worries that his underlying performance numbers aren't amazing, I can see a lot of clubs not taking the risk. Given his contract runs until 2026 if the club activate their option then there isn't a pressing need for him to be sold this summer for cheap. Maybe a Prem clubs offers the £18m to get him, but I think most would say they want to see at least another 6 months of football from him before making such an offer. I can't see who buys Gunn either to be honest. His level is top Championship/lower Prem, and I just don't think there is anyone in that bracket who is in the market that will pay the fee Norwich want for him. Especially when his previous go at the Prem was fairly disastrous for him.

oxymoron: Thanks for the grammar lesson, DM, as I always thought it referred to a stupid person who was a waste of fresh air. With BKS, however, it works in either the correct version you have quoted, or my alternative misunderstanding.

Head of Recruitment has more experience if you think a Sporting Director's main role is recruitment. I'd say while it is a large part of the role, it is only one aspect and one that is most easily delegated to others. Sporting Directors don't identify players to sign, that is the role of the recruitment team. The Head of Recruitment will also be the one initially making contact with players, their agents and their clubs to understand how interested a player is and the costs. A Sporting Director will be the one to make a final decision on which player to target (Heads of Recruitment would provide several options), and how much the player is 'worth' out of a total budget. A loan manager will do a lot of the work a Head of Recruitment does (working with agents, negotiating fees etc) through finding options of clubs for players. What the loan manager gets is a much deeper understanding on player development and management. Knapper has the added bonus of having worked in player analysis in his time, which means he'll also know about talent IDing. While many first wave Sporting Directors in the English game came from the recruitment side (like Webber), many of the newer generation are coming from the analytics/technical side. For me, a loan manager with the size of role Knapper had at Arsenal, is really good experience as it is across many disciplines. His strong background in player development and analytics will certainly be why he stood out to Attanasio.

If fans aren't excited for the playoffs then I'd really have to question why those same fans spent 7 months complaining and whining on here and trying to get everyone sacked for not being good enough...

The bin whiff on this board is strong

Our?

So here’s what we’ve all been waiting for. Kathy is once again doing her famous Euros Sweepstake to boost our pot in memory of Wooster. Thanks Kathy for doing this again, we all appreciate your time and effort. And it’s fun! This is how it works… Each ticket will be £10 and the money will be split between Rays Funds presentation pot and prizes - £100 for the pot and £140 cash prizes. As in in previous sweepstakes Kathy will be buying a ticket for Sarcoma UK and this time round because of her personal brush with breast cancer a ticket for The Andrew Strauss foundation, Nutty will also buy a ticket for the PUPs pot, so that leaves 21 tickets up for grabs. Again, thanks to the generosity of Emma at the CSF we have some exciting extra prizes. The tickets will probably go very quickly so it will be first come first served, one per person. You can pay Nutty by the usual method and as soon as he receives it, you are in. (Paypal canaryeddie@aol.com or message for alternatives) When they're gone they're gone. Winner: £100 Runner up: £40 Losing semi finalist 1: Signed NCFC Programme Losing semi finalist 2: Signed NCFC Programme First red card: Signed NCFC Photo First team out on pens: Signed Christian Fassnacht training top Extra Prize from Kathy - First team knocked out of the tournament gets a bottle of wine. The Downs Syndrome boys and girls will make the draw up at The Nest on Saturday 8th June after training (Training is 10 am). We all had great fun last time. Lots of us came along so it would be great if as many of you as possible did again.

I know he can whinge at times but wasn’t doing such a bad job.

Agreed. We done the double over them, he was given some great loan signings in Jan to strengthen, if anything we were the opposite, and yet we pushed through and they ended up with 3 wins from 12 at end of season

Only on % of capacity. Away support has definitely dwindled and presumably our poor away performances over the season have had something to do with that.

Is that wise ?...............

Something I do see with some of the more 'activist' twitter cycling accounts is lots of quoting of the highway code but sometimes a lack of general common sense. I agree with you from a legal perspective the fault is with the driver and the danger also sits much more with the cyclist. However, I also can't help but agree with those above mentioning the fact that cyclist clearly isn't paying attention as he should do and seemingly has no sense of self preservation in that he both doesn't read the road and continues to bolt through at very high speeds. What does fascinate me though is that on twitter it seems almost entirely divided along partisan lines- all the cyclists seem to want to blame the driver entirely, the drivers think the car did nothing wrong.

That is absolutely insane. He’ll do well elsewhere however.

Came across as a whingy ,whiny pr!ck on a few occasions when things went against him...

From observing Wagner's track record, and his soundbites, it seems he isn't a manager who takes risks, in tactics, subs or youth players. I get that as this job was very much make or break for him. Huddersfield was a long time ago and he had been perceived to have failed at Schalke and Young Boys. Ultimately, the club will have to balance that if Wagner provides enough of an upside through results or style to outweigh the downside of not being a coach with a great track record of developing youth/academy players. All this considering how much he costs to remove. Many coaches, especially on rolling contracts, have break clauses in their contracts that come into effect in the post-season which allow them to be removed for a smaller payout (or smaller compensation if another team wants to poach them).

All of this. I rember the scraping into the Worthy play-offs on the last day and it felt so unexpected with that Malky? goal taking us there on GD. The 'happy just to be there' turned into something better when Wolves were beaten and we almost actually made it via pens. The momentum in 2015 was amazing and it felt like we were destined. This time, after the recent prem embarrasments, it now feels a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas and the indifferent form doesn't inspire confidence but, saying all that - bring it on - anything can happen and I'll be there, blood pressure high, willing us to achieve. It's what supporting a team shoud be like.

oxymoron /ˌɒksɪˈmɔːrɒn/ noun a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. almost certainly ). "Farke will almost certainly school Wagner." or "Big Keith Scott's wisdom"

So who exactly is getting priority OVER Group 1 and season ticket holders for the Leeds game ? Fairly obvious that putting Group1 and 2 on sale at the same time we have a sufficient allocation to satisfy both groups.

I reckon Sara and Nunez would prefer to move the ball back by 15 yards.

Well, if he didn't purposefully weaken the squad by releasing Placheta, loaning out Idah and bringing in SvH, and instead thought he was somehow strengthening then that's probably slightly worse. I read your various points, they're just not tremendously relevant. My issue isn't necessarily that we let Idah out on loan (I think even if he wanted to go we could have easily kept him for 6 months then discussed) - but that the replacement is so clearly completely unsuited to Wagner's style of striker that anyone could see it, including those who'd previously watched SVH play. Re Ben Knapper, what relevance does his experience and achievements have above his only action at this club so far? What are his achievements, out of interest? My only awareness of the bloke is being a senior football data analyst for Arsenal having left Prozone. I mean, I'm all for that because he's in the world of xG much more than I am, so I'm sure the fans that dismisses those stats on here will similarly do so with Knapper? But beyond that he's been loan manager there for a few years. None of which play into the role of Sporting Director to any great extent, or at best cover a very small percentage. That's not to say he doesn't deserve time because of course he does, but for posters to suggest our recruitment would likely be better if we got promoted with the change of SD; well that can only be based on fantasy.

I'm not saying it will happen or it is even likely to but I think the chances are a bit higher than some think. Since Ferguson left they've tried almost every type of manager- the handpicked successor (Moyes), the legendary ex player (Ole), the proven winner (Mourinho), the trendy euro-coach (Ten Haag), even the sporting director turned manager (Rangnik). None have worked. They also may be looking at the success of a coach like Arteta who didn't have major managerial experience before joining but had a connection to the club and had learnt his trade under some top managers, with a focus on a particular style of play. Ratcliffe apparently is keen to have a British manager in charge. If that is important to him then his options aren't exactly overflowing- Eddie Howe isn't pulling up trees at Newcastle. After him you've got Gary O'Neil doing a decent job at Wolves or Rob Edwards at Luton. Graham Potter already crashed and burned at a big club and I doubt they'll be after Southgate. McKenna, in my view, fits the trend of what clubs have started looking for in a manager. Plays a good style of football, seems to get on well with his players, has a connection to the club in question, still young and likely to go along with a Sporting Director type model, personable in the media etc etc. As I say, I don't think it'll happen but I also wouldn't rule it out.

Being better off the ball will be far more important in the Premier League.

Can't believe this was a year ago

The fact that Israel/Palestine grabs such a disproportionate amount of discourse in the western left does raise some uncomfortable questions. I very much doubt you'd get a candidate running in a major mayoral election almost entirely on a platform about the UK's lack of action to help Uyghur's in China. Tough sometimes not to conclude that the lack of jewish folks involved might play a part.

Oh - there seems to be a strange idea doing the rounds that you/we get to decide. It is an interesting and somewhat bizarre notion. Was it ‘time’ for the binners, Luton/Burnley last year, loads of others before that? Back in the real world, you don’t get to decide - you get what you get. Surely it would be far better to wait and see and cross the bridge when we come to it. If you really don’t want us to go up, why even bother?

The value to our club of going up is beyond doubt. That some cannot see it is beyond me. The financial benefits are obvious. The fact that we will have a better chance of hanging on to our better players for longer is obvious. The fact that the East Anglian rivarly is put back on a more even keel having shifted so rapidly is obvious. The continued prosperity of our Cat. 1. status is ensured as are full-houses each match day. Rejecting our chances in the Premier League completely ignores the Annatasio factor and the Ben Knapper factor, especially if the former is invigorated by seeing the club in which he now has a degree of ownership, once again exhibiting Premier League status. A status he can use in furthering the chances of the investment from down under that he recently thought fit to mention. Especially if the latter furthers the clean sweep of the club, including the appointment of a young forward looking manager such as Cuesta, that many of us suspect and hope are in his plans. We would then stand, imo, no less chance than the Binners, Leeds or the Albion and certain Premier League flounderers all of whom will necessarily view their chances of avoiding relegation next season with some negitivety. As for the play-offs? They are a reason for excitment and trepidation in equal measures. They mean so much, especially as we need not be write-offs with players like Sara, Sargent, Rowe and Saintz and Nunez showing just how much we are capapble of on our day If we succeed in them but again give up hope before a Premier League ball is kicked we might as well save money and retain David Wagner. Regarding Ben Knapper, perhaps as a fan base we were so ingrained in the Stuart Webber controversy as to give sufficient thought as to the significance of this completely left-field appointment, so unlike our our club. A young, up-coming man of football whom little had heard of and with no experience in the role of DofF, I am left wondering just who was behind this initiative and what it means for the immediate future of our club. He's no McNally or Webber that's for sure.

City’s allocation will be 2000 or there abouts. Even if it results in empty seats Leeds are not going to give us more than the bare minimum. Why would they? Equally Leeds could sell out a much higher number at Carrow Road but will get the minimum. It’s a very different scenario than an ordinary league match. Also what sort of fan is waiting to see if we are still in the tie to decide whether to go. Reminds me of a time when we were drawn against, I think Southampton or Man U in the cup & there were complaints that the tickets went on sale before people knew which one we’d play.

I like eating out my girlfriend and missing out commas.

This is eight years old but still works: https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/delia-smith-turns-down-norwich-promotion-2015052698577

Will get mocked for saying I don't enjoy watching us get spanked 5-0 every match and that the idea of promotion scares me so I'll keep my mouth shut 🙃

No - zero interest. Have remarked to friends recently the same thing. It's a sign of how broken football is these days. How can our fans look at this team, understand the amount of money that would have to be spent to even get it remotely competitive in the PL, and then be excited for the prospect of another PL season? Which teams have genuinely managed to establish themselves in the PL and start competing for European football? Once upon a time, people would've pointed towards Stoke or Portsmouth..

Controversial maybe, but I think he'd make a natural replacement for Jonny Rowe. I think Rowe is the most dispensable of our top players; he's injury-prone, struggles to complete 90 minutes and only has half a season of first-team action where he looked really good. If we do have to sell anyone this summer to balance the books, I'd be looking to cash in on the 'young and English' premium, plus his England U21s appearances, to get as much for him as possible and draft Abu in as his replacement. I know that Rowe has played predominantly on the left for us and Kamara predominantly on the right for Portsmouth, but those 'narrow winger' positions are relatively interchangeable, and having Abu instead of Rowe wouldn't weaken us as much as some might think, while further strengthening the pathway from the Academy to the first team. Don't get me wrong, I like Rowe a lot and I'd much rather keep him, but I don't think he'd leave as much of a yawning chasm in our team as if we sold Sarge, Sara or even Sainz or Nunez.

Okay, congrats to them and their long suffering fans on finally getting something to cheer about, but I keep hearing from certain outlets how 'they're a great club' etc. They very clearly are not. I'd say they're the epitome of a sh*thouse club and I say that without yellow and green glasses on in the slightest. A list of their recent highlights:- * Bought 'name' players on lucrative contracts they couldn't afford after one year in the PL * Got relegated with those players and couldn't afford the bills * Didn't pay charities and small businesses before going into administration * Fired the manager that got them to the PL the very next year after relegation (a club legend no less) * Waved £5 notes at opposing fans when bought out by what they thought was a sugar daddy * Hired mercenary Hollywood managers in Keane and Jewell in an attempt to buy promotion * Hired a pragmatic, dour Mick McCarthy, playing turgid football for years when Hollywood appointments didn't work * Hired an ex-Norwich manager * Virtually abandoned their youth team for years * Couldn't fill half their ground for season after season as the club floundered * Sold out to a US pension fund * Refused to pay a dividend to shareholders they begged to save the club a few years earlier * Promoted from the third tier finishing 2nd after out-spending the next highest spenders by a multiple of eight. * Fans attacked the vehicle of a couple of 80 year olds on derby day * They still won't stop talking about achievements from nearly 50 years ago. I can't think of another club in the league that talks about the past as much as they do. They're literally everything you wouldn't want your football club to be. As the saying goes, form is temporary, class is permanent. And they have zero class. Absolutely zero.

Be assured.If we win the 1st leg,even by one goal,we will go there to contain and probably be 2 down after 20 mins. Then,we'll try and chase the game and Leeds,as fragile as they are,will destroy us. So hope i'm totally wrong,but simply do not trust Wagner to manage a game such as this. Then he'll come out and say he met the clubs expectations. I will come on here and willingly apologize for what i've forecast if i'm wrong,but don't think i'll have to.

I'm not sure I'd call this 'filtering' and almost however slowly the mini turns the mini can't avoid (or see) the cyclist. I'd have to say as the cycle lane 'ends' for the duration of the junction then the cyclist is clearly 'undertaking' without enough care and attention. As an aside this is similar to accidents that happen with bus lanes.

Loan manager certainly gives a broad array of experience that links to being a Sporting Director. Although, given that staff roles at clubs often have a large amount variance what a loan manager does at one club, could differ greatly from one at another club. I suspect Norwich's loan manager, Andy Hughes, isn't do as much in-depth work as Knapper was at Arsenal given he is also a first team/set pieces coach. Some of that responsibility is probably taken on by the Academy staff/recruitment team. The simple fact of Knapper replacing Webber isn't likely to have significantly improved the recruitment should Norwich get to the Prem (more of an argument it will weaken it if anything). What will make a fundamental difference though is that Attanasio's money will probably allow Norwich to move away from the risky signings and into slightly more safe ground.

We have to go up! We have to take down the Binners next season. Whatever else happens, happens. COYY!

So as you get promoted to the PL, you still sing about Norwich and how you haven't beaten us in 15 years? I think you do give one! We really do live rent free in your heads.

It wasn’t that long ago 😉

Trump even lies about vegan restaurants. https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/vegan-cafe-owner-appears-trump-lies-about Vegan restaurant owner Shana Gray joined former President Donald Trump on stage and claimed her restaurant did better when Trump was in office. One problem with that. Her restaurant didn't open until 2023.

Jesus, Jimmy Bullard is looking pretty rough these days!

None of these players were "unknowns" Nunez was a Chilean International, Sainz had played 40 games in La Liga, one of the strongest leagues in the world, and Sara played for Sao Pualo in front of almost 50,000 people a game?