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Tumbleweed

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  1. A start might be to appoint a CEO, someone who actually runs things and makes these sorts of decisions. I was a supporter of DS and MWJ for a long time but it is clear they tolerate under performance and lack business sense. I have lost interest in this bunch really, its painful and actually quite embarrassing.
  2. I don't think Wagner should be sacked because I now don't think it will make a jot of difference. The one who should go is Webber, along with Ward. I think the problems in the squad is as much psychological as anything else. Confidence is low, there's little passion, no high-performance culture from what I can see, no real medium or long term plan. As someone above said (sonyc?) something is just not quite right at the heart of the club. Delia and MWJ, for all their best intentions at doing things the right way, seem too prone to building up emotional and non-objective relationships with the management team. This has resulted in the SD seemingly able to get away with poor snap managerial decisions and dreadful player recruitment. With Zoe Ward there too, there is little accountability and too much kitchen table insularity. I firmly believe that needs to change asap if things are to improve dramatically. It went wrong with Farke in his second PL relegation when the SD bought the wrong "gun" (after not giving him one at all the first time) and therefore not learning the mistakes of relegation 1. The SD couldn't get Farke to turn things around so fired him. He bought in Smith who had just been fired who was dreadful and then fired him. He brought in his friend who has made no difference. Player recruitment has been awful. There has been no continuity of style, no long term succession planning, no "dynasty" being built. Just what else does a SD have to get wrong to be called out for it by his boss(es)? Does he just make nice tea for the board meetings? The squad clearly needs some rebuilding but I still see that as nibbling around the edges. The atmosphere at CR and Colney needs purifying.
  3. LDC and Creedence make some very good points. The situation is much more complex than just a missing player here or there , there is a whole bunch of stuff. Wagner needs to build a squad in the way he wants to play, not some Farke/ Smith transmogrification. Most of the present squad needs to move on, too much baggage. One of the Webbers also needs to move on, I don't think it healthy that two of them basicallly control day to day affairs, Delia needs to sell out, and the club needs to realign culturally with its roots and community feel. Not easy, all this.
  4. Good thread and comments here. For me there are 3 key things: 1. I think we are still shell shocked from the last PL capitulation and the torrent of criticism the club received. Most of this group went through it. 2. I get the impression that Smith and Shakey were at the shouty, bottle kicking end of the managerial scale. Failure to give the players a plan, as Smith admitted, and a lack of confidence means players will play with fear. This is my main explanation for the bursts of quality, if they are tense and worried about being carpetted for making mistakes they will not play naturally. It will be nervy and cautious. We see it in every walk of life. Confidence has simply not recovered from the Smith reign, and had been eroded by point 1, and that may need to be restored by a significant purge to get a new feeling at Colney. 3. Poor recruitment, seemingly no strategy. Too many lightweight midfielders. Failure to strengthen in the DM role and defence, looks like a scattergun Chelsea approach on a budget. How on earth did injured Hayden get through the process? And how was Ramsey allowed to leave? Someone in the medical team thinks one player is injured worse than they are, and another is injured less than they are. Incomptetent. Some folk used to say that the club was well run. I am afraid that the club now seems an amateurish ananachronism, run by mates for mates, and relatives. The successes we have had just look like lucky punts rather than any plan or professionalism. Much like Dave Stringer once said, the current regime have gone past their best before date.
  5. I don't think its helpful to start calling out individual current players as donkeys, I think one part of the issue is that some are just being hung out to dry in an unbalanced squad whose confidence had been shredded under Smith and is still fragile. Its a continuing mystery to me why the spine has not been a focus. Another younger pacier CB, the perpetual failure to bring in an uninjured DM to protect the CBs, and a No 10 which I just don't think Sara or Nunez are and Dowell a bit too lightweight. Wheres Marco Stieperman when you need him? The spine is crying out for solidifying yet we brought in..........a wide man. Maybe this does indeed all come back to Webber but I don't think the players are able to be their best when we have the wrong balance in the squad.
  6. This lot getting promoted doesn't bear thinking about. I'm sort of pleased we didn't win. We need to rebuild completely this summer, let the new chaps bed in further , including Sara and Nunez, and buy two good central defenders plus a DM. Promotion would be awful right now, probably the first time ever where I have not wanted us to go up. Weird.
  7. Has the Castle reopened? Always had some good displays. Both cathedrals, Anglican one set in nice grounds can walk along river to Cow Tower. Plantation Garden interesting. Strangers Hall quirky, if open. My kids like the TV shop near the Forum. Jarrolds has fab foodhall in basement. Pitch and putt at Eaton Park good fun if weather ok. Lots to do!
  8. Wagner has been in for two days. If a defeat here with no points at stake helps to show him what needs to be done then that might be a good thing in the long run.....
  9. Well, unlike many, seemingly, I feel very positive about this. The league is incredibly close this year- MBoro who were out of it have charged all the way up and there a precious few points separating most teams. We only need a small bounce to be right back into contention. Auto looks beyond reach barring a miracle but play offs defo realistic. My second best day out as an NCFC supporter was Wembley 2015, a repeat of that would be tasty.
  10. I think there are a variety of factors here, and therefore not one single "fix" 1. Smith was clearly not a good fit from the start, obviously a knee jerk reaction leading to a total dismantling of what Farke had created 2. Recruitment has been patchy with some big signings simply not performing, Rashica being a prime example, and a big gamble on Sara and Nunez settling in super-quickly in one of the toughest leagues out there 3. Morale was tanked by two awful relegations, we were labelled an embarrassment to the PL on a regular basis by almost the entire media 4. (Manager) Smith's disconnect with/contempt for the fans and almost deliberate goading left the atmosphere flat and then poisonous 5. Lack of money available reduces flexibility to fix stuff, the self funding model appears a total anachronism like playing VHS on an OLED TV and complaining about picture quality 6. I have no inside knowledge and have no idea of what NCFC is like behind the scenes but seems like it is run by two couples with a lack of strong quality people around them For me the solutions are multiple and include, to me at least, as a minimum: 1. Short term- spend time to identify and invest in another young(ish) and hungry manager. I'd like Paul Warne or Emma Hayes but the former is now at Derby and the latter probably too expensive and "left field". That appointee must have worked out, prior to appointment, what system suits the existing player set the best and that should be tested hard in interview. 2 Medium term- Break up the Ward/Webber duopoloy and recruit a couple of experienced footballing execs to provide balance and experience from elsewhere. The culture at the club may need a bit of a shake up and more positivity. Frankly if Webber had not, at the time of Smith's sacking, already got a continually reviewed succession plan of likely candidates for item 1 then someone must hold him to account as that must surely be a key part of his role 3. Longer term- Sadly I think that Delia and MWJ's time really is up. They need to sell before they have gone past their "best before" date, if that has not happened already. Go while the fondness remains and ahead of their financial limitations starting to poison any legacy. Football has changed forever, it is a money game now and without it a club is destined for only short term achievements. I'm sure there's other stuff but simply swapping from a 4-3-3 to a 4-5-1 or playing Hayden rather than Gibbs is just nibbling at the edges and may gain a few league places but is likely to be just a temporary filip.
  11. OK, so my two wild speculations are Paul Warne (recently joined Derby but might just be tempted away because of the local connection) and Emma Hayes (which would be a landmark appointment for obvious reasons)
  12. The tinkering with the line-up certainly can't help much. It is just as I said on my leaving it too late thread that that is the track record of this Board. They will hope that something magically happens. From memory we didn't even get much of a new manager bounce but we do look to be underperforming despite having what on paper looks like a really good squad. If one or two were not playing well one would think it's a player issue but to see this across the board suggests it is much wider problem. I just don't think DS has been really in it from the start, and my view is that both NCFC and he did a rushed deal on the rebound from Farke and Villa respectively. A Board with guts would just crack on, football is a cutthroat results driven business and the money spent on compensation would easily be replaced by promotion or one strategic player sale. Or maybe Webber could say nice things about the warm climate in Qatar for a few sponsored quid.......
  13. @corbs- I think it seemed harsh, but the decision to sack Farke seems to have been made as soon as the directors could get together in advance of that Brentford game, it just so happened that we won it but the dismissal was already set in stone. So it seemed more ruthless than it was. Had we lost there would probably not have been the same reaction. I have to say also that Dean Smith is slowly sucking my enjoyment out of following NCFC. A man who has neither said nor done anything that really suggests he has any enthusiasm for the club or its supporters is turning my near 50 years of passion for this club into near apathy. Its actually a remarkable achievement. Re the debt, what about the EPL TV money and the parachute payments do they not help?
  14. My choice would have been Paul Warne,shame he has just gone to Derby. Or Emma Hayes, someone to shake things up. I think we need youngish and hungry. Scott Parker might fit the bill, any newish manager needs to cut their teeth and learn somewhere. Might just be the right stage of his career for us. But somehow our hapless owners and so called sporting director need to grow some cojones snd get rid of Dean Smith first. We know that they will just smile and be happy clappy for months yet however.......
  15. Its a nice afternoon out at Carrow Road. Too many go for a cheeky pint beforehand, a natter with their neighbour, read the programme and wonder whats on telly that night. Its never really been a hotbed of football fervour sadly and you just don't get the extensive displays of disaffection. The absence of much Smith out stuff should not be taken as a sign of support though.
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