ncfc0405

any chance of an rss feed for each blog (and for that matter all the other columnists on archant properties e.g. neil doncaster, man in the stands etc.)?otherwise there''s no easy way to keep up to date with them... thanks.

Fantastic post Rudolph. You''re right about the chicken-and-egg conundrum. But the way I see it you either have a vicious circle or virutous circle. Football is so much about confidence, and fans play the biggest role in building confidence. In a vicious circle, if the players perform badly, the fans get on their backs (or become indifferent), the players'' confidence declines, their performances suffer further, and so it spirals downward. In a virtuous circle, if the players perform badly, the fans maintain their vocal support, the players confidence improves, their performance improves and so we progress. I''m not saying fans don''t have the right to be constructively critical, but vocally supporting your team through thick and thin is a no-lose proposition as far as I can see. It costs nothing and without it we''re going nowhere.

[quote user="USAcanary"]With Norwich 5-1 up against 10 men with 20 mins to go. Why in the hell do we not put Joe Lewis in for some experience in front of a big crowd. [/quote]Tell me about it.  If Worthy thinks that winning 5-1 playing attractive football and being 2nd in the table is enough to satisfy us true fans then he''s got another think coming.

boring boring BORING

Sons Of B -- assume you''re referring to the comments by Skipper (I think) who was clearly responding to the growing hysteria from a section of the fanbase along the lines of "we can''t afford to sign anyone! we''re £20m in debt! delia is ruining the club! bring back robert chase!". I don''t think he was specific about the level of investment in new players the board was prepared to make though, he was just saying be patient, there is some kitty available (which is a statement of the obvious).Note I said *economical* with the truth, clearly the board want to hint at the truth where possible to keep fans onside, but never to the extent that it weakens their hand in negotiations with other clubs, players and agents. Note the Darren Huckerby saga, when we were told we couldn''t afford him right up to the moment he signed.

There seems to be a lot of naivety from posters at this time of year about ''spin machines'' and the like.Anyone who has ever done any kind of business in the real world (or in fact has ever played a hand of poker) knows that you don''t make public the level of your resources or the status of your negotiation until it is complete. And in the football business, fans = public.The club is deliberately (and necessarily) being economical with the truth at the moment, so don''t take it personally.On the Sutton point, I actually think he might be worth a punt if his wage demands (which I''m sure have been discussed, contrary to public announcements) are reasonable. Still wouldn''t be surprised to see a rolling monthly contract agreed on Friday if Brum don''t take him back and we can''t pull in anyone else.

more to the point wiz, is it just me or have you been sacked by The Nest? don''t see you listed as a columnist anymore...

It''s a good question, and a comparison you could equally apply to other similar sized clubs.I''m not sure about previous decades, but success now is clearly dependent on money to a large extent. Investors in football clubs are rarely dispassionate independents, they are usually wealthy individuals with emotional ties to the club.I''ve often wondered how many millionaires Norfolk produces compared to Hampshire. Or Yorkshire or Leicestershire for that matter. My hunch is significantly fewer.

Interesting thread.I deliberately didn''t answer my own question, but for the record I don''t think it is a swipe at Worthy.The final quote above does seem like a swipe at someone, and his use of the word togetherness (which I thought we''d trademarked) is interesting but I don''t think these are conclusive.And frankly Malky has had plenty of opportunities to swipe at Worthy or anyone else since he left but hasn''t chosen to (quite the opposite in fact).The fact we are having this debate is quite interesting though; we still imagine Boothroyd and Malky see themselves primarily as ex-Canaries, when both have moved on and probably don''t think too much about their time here anymore...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/4762527.stm "When you''ve got a manager who''s taking an interest in you, rather than looking out for himself, it makes a big difference. "Team spirit''s not something you can just click your fingers and get, it''s something that''s got to be built. We''ve got a great togetherness and spirit here and Aidy''s responsible." ... Mackay says Watford are a club on the up. "I''m delighted I''m here - the board, management staff and players are all pushing in the one direction, which isn''t the case at every club," he says.  

I''m not Worthy - a work of genius my friend.

thanks for your help rossi, but their website says different - no mention of the coaching staff in their ''mission statement'', which clearly lays the blame at the door of an individual, as they might put it:We are just a group of Norwich City fans who strongly believe that Nigel Worthington has served the club with distinction. The promotion season of 2003-2004 will be remembered for a long time. Fans feel that now he has taken the club as far as he can. We therefore urge the board of directors to reconsider their position and look around for a replacement manager who is capable of taking us back into the Premiership. With the season’s end fast approaching and a worsening situation developing, the good faith and good will of the fans built up over the last nine years are beginning to ebb away. It is advisable that the situation is looked at with open minds before the gulf, already wide, gets bigger as the fans’ good will changes to utter frustration. We have clubbed together to form this website so that others with similar views can have a place to meet and discuss opinions and ideas. What is written in the following pages should not be seen as an attack on Nigel Worthington as a person. We have said “we are among the first to admit that Nigel Worthington has achieved a considerable amount of success for our club, for which we are grateful”. We simply believe he has come to the end of the road as manager and we supporters can no longer live on these achievements.

from worthyout.co.uk:The vast majority of Norwich City fans, ''true'' or not, will be wondering if today''s statement heralds a major summer clearout of the coaching staff culminating with the release of Nigel Worthington. Or, more cynically, if it is a shallow attempt by the Board to place the blame for an appallingly managed season firmly at the door of one individual.Am having difficulty getting my head round this.As their name suggests, the WorthyOut campaign have placed the blame for this season firmly at the door of one individual.So they concede this is simply a cynical, shallow move on their part?Or maybe it just means they''re not thinking straight?

That Hucks has deliberately chosen to vocally support Worthy when only a few weeks ago Worthy was criticising Hucks (for needlessly ''showboating'' in the dying minutes of a game) demonstrates how much respect Hucks has for him, and demonstrates that Worthy has in no way lost the dressing room.Personally I take the opinions (on Worthy and Etuhu) of our most talented and senior professional pretty seriously, especially when he could easily keep his mouth shut with no fear of being dropped.

http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=84091385 - Atmosphere Very strange. The QPR fans were in good voice all afternoon while the home fans barracked their team and manager from first to last. After the match a few of the Norwich players went up and applauded the supporters - why!? They didn''t support you, they wanted you to lose, they think you''re crap. Outside the ground before the kick off there was a crowd of people ten deep trying to get their name on a petition to have the manager sacked. When Rangers scored lots of Norwich fans in the bottom of the Barclay Stand were jumping around and celebrating with us, yet when they turned it round and won they celebrated that as well. I mean make your mind up guys, did you want us to win or not? They cheered their team like heroes at the end after spending eighty minutes haranguing them over every misplaced pass or little mistake. Numpties. Still this all made for a decent noise inside the ground which is a far cry away (Christ I''m going to get killed for saying this, sorry love) from another Championship club we visit in this part of the country. There was never a hint of trouble all day and before the game Norwich fans were keen to talk to us about all things football on the way to the ground which, in my last away game of the season, means I''ve come full circle from the first trip I made this season to Hull where the locals just wanted to rip our heads off. Overall the whole experience was a great laugh. Recommended. 8/10