canary2211

Memories of those two seasons: At Reading and Watford - everything At Sunderland "Championeeees championeees" and "We are Premier League say we are premier league" At Old Trafford - My garden shed.. is bigger than this... At Fulham even - 5 Nil and you still don''t sing, swiftly into 6-Nil and you still don''t sing and then We love you Norwich we do..... (with the tears of Hucks) and soon to make an appearence again "E I E I E I O  Up the Football League We go....."  

Yes I saw it - pulled acrooss in front of me - 7.40pm. Dark green Range Rover G8ALS  not GO8ALS Can someon look it up? Looked like a middle aged thick set dark haried man - agent?  Seemed to know where he was going

Easy Gallagher Lousi Jean    Rehamn   Murray    Boyle Henderson  Hooooooose  Jarrett  Robinson Lisbie   Thorne   No subs needed

I feel pretty upset at the post-match comments: we pay for our tickets: they should entertain. Entertainment can mean winning whilst playing rubbish, or losing whilst playing well, or just trying damn hard.  Entertainment was not what we saw today- no passion, no effort, no skill, no reaction to last Sunday.  So I think Mr Grant''s comment were unnecessary, unfair, ill-timed, unhelpful and disrespectful.But I have another more important and longer term point:  PG is constantly shouting at and instructing players from the technical area: right down to "pass it to him" & "get back and cover".  Is this a sign of control freakery or a good manager?  I am not a football manager but I am a manager.  All the books - as well as my expereince - tells me I get the best from my team byencouraging individuals to succeed and perform at thier best (not necessarily the teams best)allowing individuals to own their tasks, express their views and learn from their mistakesallowing individuals freedom, but making it clear they are responsible for their actionsallowing individuals to take their own decisions within a set of congruant goalsunderstanding a high performing team is created by getting individuals to perform at their bestby having consistently held goals and targets, which are realistic and can be acheived if everyone does thier bestWe dont seem to see much of this.  PG''s job is to set the framework, and get the best out of individuals: not to instruct at every turn. This is the crucial difference between instruction(which is telling and will always fail) and coaching the best from people.  Surely PG knows this?Imagine what would happen in your job if your boss instructed you how to do every task (pass to him, cover there, run that way, run this way, breath in , breathe out) ?  A very rapid failure of individual and organisation I think.   I really hope he is much better than he has shown so far.  And I think I will give him the (marginal) benefit of the doubt for his comments today: heat of the moment and all thatOTBC

I reported the truth.  My colleague saw Earnie in the Fracture Clinic at 1.55pm. I do not think I made a wild claim.

My mate (no, really) saw Earnie in the N&N Fracture Clinic this afternoon (2pm) with a couple of physios. Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Lets hope it was to fit a lightweight cast to his wrist and no more PS He had a very nasty baseball cap on.

Yes it was a typo - Sept/Oct 06 this year. Sorry! And Pete - we all want to see good football and success - in that sense yes I do look for ''glory''.  I have a newspaper cutting on my wall of me at Sunderland 2 years ago - thats what we all want. OTBC

I have waited all year until now before I said my piece. Because it has taken me that long to make my mind up. Here goes - I hope this is not too self-indulgent but I can take your reasonable flak in response: Yes, we have had dreadful results and often played below our aspirations and our potential. Yes, there were times when I thought that a change of manager might be the catalyst needed. Because when it gets very bad in life or business, sometimes it needs a change somewhere.  Sometimes all it needs is time and resolution and positivism. But I knew sacking Nigel was not a decision I could do much to influence. And in my heart and my head, I did not want to side with the WO''ers simply because too many of them seem to me to be bandwagoneers, capable of changing thier minds as fast as their choice of TV channel, and capable of forgetting some good things and over-emphasizing some bad things.  (But I respect entirely thier entitlement to thier opinions) But then I recall booing at QPR away, and QPR at home. And screaming at Andy Hughes for making a mistake. Andy, if you see this I apologise because you did not do it on purpose, and I honestly beleive that you and every other player in a yellow shirt tries his absolute best: it is in the nature of competitive sport.  I also beleive that the manager and board and staff try their absolute best.  This includes Nigel when he operates in the transfer market. I asked myself how I would feel if 24,000 customers screamed and booed at me - and decided this was a wholly inapproriate and plain wrong way for me to behave. I apologose to the team and the supporters around me. I believe in supporting individuals and being positive in approach. This builds confidence and success. The fans can, on Sunday, do thier bit to say to the team and staff "We are with you no matter what. Thanks for giving it a go this season - we know how you share our pain.  But we know that it will come right" In October at QPR, I felt - he won''t go: he shouldn''t go until Sept/Oct 07 if things are really bad. I still think that. If we languish after 10 or 15 games, then whilst I shall try to be positive and support, and will continue to beleive that everyone is doing their best, But I might have to accept that that particular best was not good enough. I really hope not. I really think that this infuriating game is a tightrope walk, and the margin between 7th and top 2 is very narrow. But until then - On the Ball CIty!     Anyone else out there share this view? I sense a lot of the silent majority might.

Gary Holt at Coventry - ran 90 yards to score from one yar out.  His only goal for NCFC.  Then he broke the 100m world record over to the fans. Priceless!

An odd choice: Wimbledon/MK Dons Jan 04. Huckerby volley from WLY long cross in the icy wind.  Then 6-0-6 on Five Live all the way home full of City fans - and Alun Green saying we were going up. Closely followed by Reading Easter 04.Mulyrne courtesy of ref. It was games like that, that win you promotion. So far this year we have Sheff Utd, Scum and Brighton in the same vein. Watford/Sunderland etc were just great fun

Neither of them will go when it is obvious they can''t survive....... Mind you, on present performances, perhaps a blind man might do us a job......

Personally I think it is taking shape: Keepers Green/Ward/Lewis RB: Louis Jean - cover Flem & Hughes CB: Shacks, Doc - cover Flem, Charlton LB: Drury - cover Charlton and Brennan RM: Jarrett, or Loan/new boy - Bentley? Marney? Mid: Safri, Francis - cover Hughes, McVeigh Left mid: Hucks  - cover Brennan, McVeigh Strikers: Leon, Deano - cover Jarvis, Thorne, Hendo   Criticial assumption: we don''t sell anyone (bit of a leap of logic I accept). This is a squad capable of promotion providing they settle down quickly and gel. Remember you cannot build a new team overnight (witness Helveg and others last year) and wholesale changes are disruptive. OTBC - can''t wait!

''EI EI EI oooooo, Up the Football League we go'' at Fulham. Plus everything else at Fulham including Easy Easy at 5-0. 5- 4 we''re gonna win 5-4 v Boro ''My Garden Shed'' at Old Trafford.  And "Schhhh" at Old Trafford. And "you''re only here for e Champions" at Old T when they announced the Premiership record gate. And I understand that the Chelski boys sang "Down with the souffle" - if true, thats a cracker.   And me - a River Ender!

Buses on both those routes today morning as well!  Ely to P''boro, and Cambridge to Royston.

And how much did you pay for your Krug 91?  Because Krug did not declare a vintage in 91 (only 4 houses did and none of them are great). If, on the other hand, it is a 1990 Krug, then it is worth about £600. Which will buy you lots of tickets and lots of fizzy Cola at the Baggies next year.

to the pitch. They think its all over. It is now. Baggies beat Toffees. But I''ll go on singing and cheering our boys to the last. After all, they didn''t do it on purpose and they don''t fight with eachother. OTBC

Had to share this - sorry! tomorrow lets hear it for Delia - We love you Delia we do, we love you...... today - enjoy   Recipe For Delia''s Carrow Cake Ingredients One tired and emotional TV chef, a free hospitality bar, 24,000 people, a microphone, a rotten football team and absolutely no shame whatsoever.   Follow instructions carefully... 1) Pickle your TV chef for several hours in a melange of whiskey, red wine and white spirit, with a side dish of either beef or salmon. 2) Pre-heat with a tense relegation battle, reaching boiling point just before kick-off. 3) Stir in two early goals to add flavour and raise expectations, taking care to ensure your TV chef is marinating nicely - you''ll know by checking the colour of her face against a packet of Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps if you have some handy. If not, that''s a deep pink. 4) After 9-10 minutes of occasional agitation, drop in an away goal to add a little spice. Turn up the heat slightly - you may have to oil your TV chef a little to prevent sticking. Don''t be shy with the red wine. She won''t be. 5) Leave it bubbling nicely for a further 12 minutes before adding the vital ingredient - another away goal. Turn up to maximum heat and add white spirit, stirring continuously as your TV chef begins to crackle. 6) Ignore the smoke alarm and continue to heat until half-time, when you take your well done TV chef out of the oven and serve her whole in front of over 24,000 people. 7) Garnish her with a microphone, serve with a camera and then gorge yourselves as she shouts: "For the best fussball supporters in the world, we need a 12th man. Where are you? Where are you? Let''s be ''aving you. Come on!" 8) P*** yourself laughing.

Just back from Villa. We were second best at everything - even the usual boisterous away support were heads down, barely able to to raise a "We love you Norwich, we do" at the end. *Our midfield was completely over-run - Francis cannot do all the work himself and Mulryne was a joke - passing backwards or giving it away or falling over in innocuous challenges. Badly missed creativity of Bentley - he has gone so we need Safri or ANOther. *Defense was shocking - yes Adam is clearly lacking confidence, but where was Brennan and Hucks? Desparately missed Charlton and Helveg/Holt. * Up front - Deano had no service, Hucks was head down to no effect, Jonson was scared to shoot and final ball was a shocker. Leon ran around (thats all - just ran around - I could that do). The question is - are we going to be second best to Palace and Southampton? On this (and the last 6 games) I am afraid we are going to be second best. I haven''t thought that until today. Oh dear!     OTBC

Sorry to spoil your fun : but profit does not equal cash.  For a footy club (and most businesses), cash is king: profit are pretty much irrelevant. If the cashflow is good, then profit will usually follow.  But you are trying to compare apples and oranges really. For example - I could sell my house and make a big "profit" over the purchase cost. But, once I had repaid the mortgage lender, the cash I have left is much less than the "profit".  (A simplistic example I accept.) This is why we shall never be able to even guess at the cash available to buy players/pay for their wages (remember we have to do both!).  That is why the Doomcaster - quite rightly - has a number of cashflow estimates based on staying up, going down and staying down, bouncing back, good Cup runs (er......), finishing Xth in the Prem etc.  He knows, we don''t.  But enjoy the £3m rabbit he pulled out! OTBC

But if you are on a train from Norwich, alight (what a great word...) at Stratford, and catch a bus.  Sorry, can''t remember the number but loads go past or close to Upton Park.  It takes 10 to 20 minutes. Easy.

There seemed to be three groups. Some in the rear centre of N&P lower, some (3 or 4) in the very front corner near the infill - these were nearest me - and some in the infill. The club''s policy re stewarding seems to be "talk nicely to them and hope they behave" - which to be fair they largely did. But problems arise because a)it winds up the Norwich fans, and creates a situation which could quite easily turn very nasty. b)it disrupts the viewing of the game - lots of standing up and shouting to them and back at them c) it prevents other NCFC fans getting tickets. But what really annoys me is that I suspect these seats are normally season tickets holders who are on holiday at Christmas.  If they were "spare" seats then we would see away supporters there more often.  So somewhere there is a family of 4 (may be several families as there seemed to be 2 or 3 groups) who have "lent" their tickets to some "friends" in the knowledge they were Spurs supporters. Season tickets are not transferrable, (certainly not to away fans!).  I hope the ticket office investigates - it will be clear whose normal seats they are. If they were not season tickets this means they bought the tickets from the club - naughty club! Or black market which is impossible to control. I was disappointed with the stewarding - the Spurs fans should have been moved. The head section steward seemed unclear what to do, and left it to the stewards who are usually on duty - and they have no experience of handling difficult issues (as we are all so polite and law abiding in the N&P lower!). I was surprised that the police were not called to be on stand by. One policeman would have been sensible. The club need to review the whole position carefully.

Ahh - 10 away wins last year - happy days!  And the chief reason why we are where we are.