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Joe Heller True story, Word of Honor: Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?” And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.” And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?” And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.” Not bad! Rest in peace!” –Kurt Vonnegut The New Yorker, May 16th, 2005

Happened to come across this podcast on Youtube. It's an interview with Sam Radford, one of the data scientists at Norwich. It's an interesting listen into an area of the club that doesn't often get much exposure. If you want to get straight to the Norwich chat, skip to the 20 minute mark.

The whole ignore button process would be infinitely better if it could also exclude quoted replies from others. Unfortunately, it doesn’t, so I will try to just tag him in future, if I feel compelled to reply to any specific issues raised. Apologies again.

Hmmm, I saw it completely different. Hoffball was alive and kicking. The triangles at the back were still there, just that we were "braver" in doing so. The more the players get what Hoffball means, the better they deliver. I agree mixing it up occasionally can help, but there was very little of that on Saturday. Either you are on a fishing expedition, or you were watching an entirely different match.

Apologies, I know it’s frustrating for some people who don’t want to see his musings. Apparently, as a fan rep, I’m not doing my job properly by ignoring him, and, also not lambasting the Club at every opportunity…. BTW, he has no idea what communications I have directly with the Club, but it’s amusing, nevertheless to see him trying to second guess me.

Lambert was a bit more pragmatic than most people realise. We scored some good goals in the Prem but actually, we played more long balls than any other team that season. We had a genuinely two-footed winger in Pilkington which is oddly still unusual, and a Holt who was physical and horrible to play again who would run channels all game (to cries of fans asking why he wasn't in the middle, but there we go). We knew we weren't good enough to play through teams but if we could get it "up the other end" quickly, Holt and Morison were both difficult for defenders despite not being quick and if they could knock the ball down to a Wes then we had someone who could genuinely dribble past someone in the prem and open up opportunities.

It was Lambert I had in mind when I asked @Parma Ham's gone mouldy if a coach could be a weapon. My memory of our PL season under him was that he picked a different XI for more or less every game, as if he thought that player-for-player we were almost always going to be weaker than the opposition, but that if he got his tactical plan spot on for that game, we could compete. At the time, I thought it was a bit self-indulgent. But given that that was the only time since relegation in 1995 that we didn't spend a PL season in a relegation battle, it clearly worked. Times have changed since then, obviously.

Think Gee's a bit Ben Godfrey-esque in that he's also played centre/defensive midfield. Think Forson's going to land up like Sara on first viewings, namely most effective in that channel off the centre and particularly dangerous when he can get his head up and hit channel passes and through balls - in Sara's case it was on the right cutting in, but Sara looks to carry much more goal threat than Forson will. Want to see more of that Slimane - Schwartau combination, personally. There's even part of me thinking "Sorensen - Slimane - Schwartau" together - I'd think having three Danish speakers communicating amongst themselves at attacking set pieces, all of them six-foot plus, could cause some entertaining havoc.

I’ll do transfer rumours leading up to January

That is awful to read Wolfie. Man needs help. Hope you're OK mate? OTBC.

I'm reading Catch 22 at the moment. I probably read it every 2 or 3 years it's that good.

I think there was more to that too. I think he, Culverhouse and Karsa were a perfect trio. I think Lambert also knew we couldn't be predictable. We went with 3 at the back on a couple of occaisions and almost threw the game away in the first half, he quickly reverted to the diamond. I think he knew you had to mix things up, keep legs fresh and minds keen. To use players because it meant teams had to think. I honestly think our play was not diverse enough under Farke for the top level with the players we had. People will say how awful the signings were that summer which essentially ended in Farke's sacking. I wonder what Alex Neil, Hughton and Lambert would say in terms of the players on paper compared to the squads they had. You can become too predictable, too reliant upon players. Buendia built our play, snuffle him out and he'd get frustrated, carded and our creativity halved. Pukki was never a player that would often fashion chances without a good supply. If you can reduce the offensive threat of a team, you can focus on attacking.

There's nothing inherently flawed by that playing style itself, all playing styles have their advantages and disadvantages and you could argue that positional possession based play is in theory the most likely to produce results over a longer term if you take players making any mistakes out. The reason why people say teams who have been promoted or are very weak quality-wise for their league shouldn't play it is much more about the types of players you can afford. Man City can afford technically superb footballers with elite level athleticism, fitness and pace and tactical awareness. If we want to play that way in the PL then we'll need players who are at least technically very good but to get players of that level with our budget we're sacrificing on the physical and mental side which makes us incredibly easy to play against and makes the system look more flawed than it would be on an even playing field. This is exacerbated by what the teams from 7th to 17th are doing where most play counter attacking football with technically good but physically and mentally exceptional players and the ones that don't have done extremely well at recruitment with budgets that dwarf ours and that of other promoted teams. What we need to do is what we're doing now. Trying to employ a possession centred but still in some ways flexible playing style with bigger more physically dominant players who can just about play this style technically and hope we unearth a couple of young players in important positions who will develop into good PL players and get lucky one season if we go up. If we try the Farke route again of going all in on technical quality and possession at all costs it'll fail, if we go the other route like Luton/ Sheff Utd did and try to play on the counter with bigger faster players who are strong off the ball not only will it make it harder to get promoted in the first place we'll still be at a disadvantage because other teams could afford better players in that style, the fans would also be unhappy and it would make bouncing back from a relegation harder. I think given all the options the approach we're taking now on paper at least looks like the best option but the odds of us staying up when we get promoted again are still fairly remote and would be no matter how we play.

All that hand slapping and high fiving would drive me nuts after a while 😜

Up to a point. I think that we have to recognise that with our limited finances, any PL existence is always going to be precarious - you're only ever an injury crisis away from getting dragged into a relegation fight even if you see yourself as an 'established' Prem team. But I do quite often think of Brighton's sensational decision to sack Hughton after a perfectly respectable season, and get Graham Potter in as his replacement. They haven't looked back since. Obviously they have a lot more financial muscle, but it does make me think of what might have been had we had the courage (and the money) to do similar.

If they didn’t have any T&C’s at all, you’d be repeatedly emailing them about absolutely everything - oh, hang on! Does this duty of care you keep on referring to actually have any legal substance behind it, or is this another one of your stick waving ventures?

They’ve got to trust Yobocop, he’s taking these guys into battle, yeah? And doing his own stapling.

Don't agree with these ratings personally. Stacey was okay, but on a couple of occasions he let Cov players in behind and tracked wrong players. Duffy gave him at least two telling offs in the 2nd half as Stacey left his man completely free. Harsh to criticise Chrisene on lack of attacking output when his role is to stay deep and not to join in the attacks. He was very good in possession and allowed little past him. I'd probably give Stacey a 7 and Chrisene an 8. Slimane was probably man of the match, broke up play well, good in possession, always available as an outlet pass and good receiving the ball under pressure. His introduction basically changed the game in Norwich's favour.

Do you think our Sliding Doors Prem relationship moment then was that ill fated second season under Hughton - specifically buying a striker that didn’t fit the set up. Had we not slept walked into relegation that season makes me wonder if we could have built from it. Because since then we’ve had little luck in staying up and things have changed drastically in the Prem landscape. To me, that was our last real chance to make a fist of things

By coincidence this popped up on my feed this morning. A club by club guide to the PL transfer window from Swiss Ramble (who writes about football finances). To add to my point about promoted clubs needing to spend heavily to compete. The last paragraph is quite stark and shows how challenging it is to get into the PL and stay there. Ipswich Town Ipswich have been out of England’s top flight for 22 years, so they really had some catching up to do with their squad after winning back-to-back promotions from League One and the Championship. Many analysts bang on about the revenue boost if a club reaches the Premier League, but there is also a price to pay, as promoted clubs need to spend if they want to be competitive. This meant that Ipswich spent £129m, more than four times as much as the previous 10 years combined. They only sold £2m, so their net spend was a staggering £127m, which was the second highest in the Premier League – and indeed the third highest in the world. There wasn’t really one big money acquisition, but eight players arrived for €10m or more, the largest purchases being Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea, Jacob Greaves from Hull City, Liam Delap from Manchester City and Jack Clarke from Sunderland. Their £147m gross spend over the last five years is by some distance the smallest of the clubs playing in the Premier League this season, less than half of Leicester City and Everton, who had £321m apiece.

Not the 3pm ones as I understand it 1230 ko when vast majority coming from norfolk also not ideal

People seem to conveniently forget another of Farke’s big red flags. He would always say how much better the opposition were and how lucky we were to be there, in his pre-match pressers, which would instil little confidence in the squad. And this was evident in both his premier league outings. My word, we took far too long to sack him. If Knapper were in charge then he woulda pulled the trigger after the first promotion. Arguably the second. Just because a manager gets you up, it doesn’t mean he’s gonna keep you there. Farke is the biggest case in point.

The squad doesn't need bulking out, and the two you suggest would probably cost more in wages than all the young players signed. Besides, we are trying to get away from older players - the 28-year-old. The noticeable thing about this influx of youth is that they have all pretty much had first team experience. Something previous signings haven't had. How often have we signed some promising rising star from the lower leagues only for him to drift away and not be heard of again ? I doubt Gordon (Liverpool) is here to idle about in the U21sand I would expect Bridge (Boro), Forbes (Dundee Utd) and Gee (Chelsea) to be making the bench with Miles there about, and Forsyth has already staked a claim. There's also Fassnacht, Barnes and Sorensen to return, so I would suggest we are pretty well stocked.

I'd have given Slimane a 9. Great hold up play, good distribution, good tracking back and tackling (of whatever flavour) when we needed him. I think he could be instrumental this year

Have to agree. I was watching some poxy little club called Man Utd continually try and play out from the back against Liverpool yesterday. So naive. Some useless player, who will clearly never win anything, called Casemiro first played a simple pass straight to a Liverpool player, which they subsequently scored from. Then he got caught in possession, again trying to play fancy passing football at the back, for the second goal. And, just like Russell Martin's side, they stubbornly carried on in the second half. Some youngster who will also never do anything, called Mainoo, got caught in possession. AGAIN trying to play out. No quality. So naive. Just kick it long, ffs. Boooooo!

Levels. When you’re better many styles work, when you’re worse less styles can work. The gulf in quality is far more relevant than the philosophy or not. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The gains are in the margins. And they may well not be enough to make a difference anyway. The Premier is ruthless. Only weapons can bridge the gap. If you want simplicity and example: it’s about weapons (and momentum): Brentford kept Toney and added Eriksen (well beyond their budget) We sold Buendia and neutered Pukki (at the upward swing point of promotion) Parma

It's still open in Denmark until tonight. https://europeanleagues.com/transfer-windows/ DCB is now going to start panicking for the next 16 days because Sarge might sign for Partizan Belgrade.

You've not seen the little to and fro with Johannes on this? Link to Sam claiming Pinkun have brought the 'big guns' in when Paddy was on holiday, and he was doing the presser questions: I notice that pinkun didn't include this on their channel, but the club media done them dirty on theirs! 🙂 Follow on with Paddy post match, where Paddy blames his wife: Gotta love that relationship with local media. 👍 But yes, i'd imagine there's been a few days off here and there recently based on that!

Seems all you have to do to unlock his true power is put an armband on him.. Did we ever try that trick? Seriously though good for him after spending almost an entire season out injured to come back in style.

That's a serious number of bets.

Everyone should have received an email from the Club with an update on tickets for Derby. Apparently, there was a system error on Monday, resulting in the game being shown as sold out, late yesterday. This was corrected this morning with the remaining unsold tickets becoming available again. There’s still tickets remaining, even though STH have also been able to purchase them from today.

Episode 1 - The Real Buh was right, a retrospective.

Not off hand, but pretty sure you are right. That said, my instinct is that transfer fees have jumped considerably over recent seasons, especially with young talent player trading, so a like for like comparison may not be helpful. I suspect more germane, albeit rhetorical, is the question whether the club spent enough last time it was promoted to give themselves a fighting chance?

The thing is once the game starts positions become flexible, determined by where the ball is. Of course players will be covering certain areas but you will see Sargeant back defending (CDM) and Doyle attacking. The myth about needing a striker has shown to be hollow. Get the ball in the box and whoever is there can put it way, or not. In recent games it has been Sainz. Saturday's game was a breath of fresh air. Gone was the stagnant 'Hoffball ' (Hoof ball), the negative tactics of tippity tap. Whether Knapper has had a word, or just the blindingly obvious reality that it was a disaster caused the change, is not known. But to see the team break swiftly, attack in a fast, positive fashion was to see play that went against everything Hoff had been constraining the players with. No pi ssing about at the back. Gunn rolling the ball to the feet when the opposition was still in the penalty box was a revelation. Players running forward with the ball rather than stopping and passing back. Another notable difference was the approach to danger in our penalty area. No more the idiotic 'pretty triangles' to move the ball up field. Gone. Just launch it. Yep the opposition will probably collect the ball.... on the half way line well away from danger Possession as previously seen serves little purpose bar giving the opposition time to regroup and mark up. Our second v Blackburn highlighted what attacking football can do. Hit them hard and quick. Which is what we saw Saturday. Coventry had no real answer in the final quarter of the game. We piled forward as if it was us losing So where does this leave the young signings ? The opportunity to progress into the first team squad, the bench or even a place in the starting 11 I would say. Over what period will have to be seen, but I would suggest we have made some astute signings alongside them. A disinterested Kamara (£5m?) v the young Danish lad or Forson (£2m & 4m). Idah v Crmac. The latter certainly looks sharper and is 4 years younger than Idah. If 'Hoff ball' is dead then I can see a genuine promotion push. Duffy has been another revelation (I admit I wrote him and Onel off). Look for the commitment in training, that's what counts. A never say die approach is what was behind Lamberts success. Installing a belief in themselves comes from allowing players to play as they know best. And keeping that belief going is just as important as developing players ability/skill. Over to you Hoff.

It would work! An alternative on Michael Bailey’s ‘Tip the Bird’

There obviously is an issue here; the ticket site frequently informs potential purchasers of tickets that the game has sold out but then a few hours / days later as if by magic, the match is no longer sold out! Whether this is because further blocks of seats have been taken on by the club after underestimating potential demand or because of processing issues the solution has to be the same - a "tickets currently unavailable" note rather than the simple "sold out" statement. Potentially it could even be a more helpful "tickets currently unavailable but do come back later as there is a strong possibility that more tickets become available". Augmented by like what they have on most entertainment ticket sites, an email sign-up option to inform interested people when the tickets are "back on sale". Plenty of people will see the initial "sold out" sign then decide to do something else that day (take their partner shopping or worse - a bottomless brunch god forbid) - I'm one who has done this now more than a few times and it is so annoying (for my partner in the end if not for me).

I'm just beginning to wonder whether this podcast could take over from the ramblings on here and lead to a bit of instant karma for some on here?

Seems like good vibes all round, Knapper jabbing Riddersholm at the end of the recent City View video really made me laugh. It's nice to see this human side to those making the decisions, and how much 3 pts mean to them:

I think Aarons has suffered as teams increasingly want their full backs to be 6ft plus and increasingly using converted centre backs in those positions. The move to Bournemouth wasn't a great choice - never felt like he'd fit into their plans and think they picked him up as his price was relatively cheap. Godfrey suffered with the general chaos at Everton. Dyche would have never picked a player like Godfrey to sign, but the fact Atalanta identified him shows his ability. Can see him coming back to the Prem as a £30m player if he has a good couple of seasons there.

25 of that list are 21 or under. With 12 of them teens, I'd say we have seriously reduced the age profile of the squad. I had completely forgotten that Springett existed. And am really surprised he is still with us. No interest from other clubs?

I’m disappointed. I thought you’d be doing transfer rumours for 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Without the membership fee everyone could afford an extra ticket each season. If they want to be cheered on into the Premier League best to bear that in mind. The truth is they don't care how many games home or away the fan has been to in the past they just want to take a little bit extra rather than give that little bit extra.

No they’re not. Typically, it’s one Friday game, 3 early kickoffs Saturday lunchtime, plus 2 Sunday game. The other 7 games kick off 3.00 pm Saturday.

If your happy to pm me your email address and once I’m ready I’ll start putting a list together anything is game mate, I don’t want it to turn into a TNC fan boy, clickbait b**tchfest - this will be about the real fans of NCFC

I think it was on talksport this weekend that somebody made a point about kompany getting the Bayern job…. If you’re a young ambitious manager, playing Big Sam style hoofball isn’t going to get you a top job, even if you keep your side up. If you fail playing good football, implementing a system but with players who just aren’t good enough, then a bigger club might take a punt that your style will work with their better players.

Doyle is a beast, I did say how lucky we were to sign him.

100%. I maintain Pukki was a Prem standard striker. Had he kept having service he would have bagged 15+. Which could have meant the difference in staying up. We, as you always say, lost a pivotal weapon rendering another in a bit part role. Make you realise how truly awful that 21/22 season really was

I hope Martin's Plan A works. I like him and Southampton are easy on the eye. Not only that but if they survive it's a fair chance Ipswich won't.

I’d say they complement each other. Lesser experience next to Doyle, may expose certain areas of his game.

Forson has nice vision but midfield much tighter when he was subbed.