Serinus canaria

I agree about the physical attributes. A lot is made of his attitude and we will never know enough to comment on that. However, I do recall he wasn't the fastest or strongest forward around. Pace and power are pretty big fundamentals unless someone has exceptional skill. Ultimately I think it is very narrow margins between being a top player and a very good player (you have to be pretty amazing just to play professional football to begin with). For a stretch in our first PL season under Farke he looked like a PL-grade player but it's something else to sustain that level over time.

Fully agreed. I much prefer the direction the club are going with Thorup versus the last two managers & would rather be patient with it. I expect the first season or two to be hit and miss, but if we are showing signs of progress and an identity then that will be nice. If we somehow keep some of the crown jewels we might also do better than expected.

It's a really interesting point. I expect many will disagree with me here but I think the shift towards technical possession based football has not been great for entertainment. There are some nice goals scored I'm sure but so much passing it around the back in between. Pundits eulogise about Guardiola and co but I don't personally enjoy watching Man City (not to mention the disillusion with the fact that they're purely a state backed success story who now win everything). You may counter with how boring it is to watch long ball and hoofball, but there is a happy medium in between. My favourite time supporting Norwich was when Huckerby arrived, and watching him run at defences and cause havoc was great entertainment even if that team would perhaps get passed off the pitch in today's era. A few years later as we rose from League One to the PL we played some really exciting football without passing it again and again. Farke was fairly possession based but we still had a lot of high scoring games and late winners so can't really fault it there.

I also wonder with the end of the parachute payments is it plausible that we will need to sell all the family silver which weakens our bargaining position?

I think you make a lot of very good points. The last three seasons do feel like a bit of a write-off now and we could have spent that time building something. My feeling is that for a club of our size and financial backing, our best chance at relative success is to build something, develop talent and then ride some luck & momentum. We did this very well in Webber & Farke's first years, promptly hit the ceiling of the model and then abandoned it somewhat in summer of 2021 and the sacking of Farke in the hope of breaking that cycle. In fairness though a lot of our fanbase did seem to welcome that change at the time, frustrated by our limitations at PL level (elephant in the room there being the Buendia sale admittedly). Problem is, it seems like that was as good as we realistically were able to achieve and we've drifted away from that. It's easy to say with hindsight though and I can sort of get why the club tried something different, but equally I think we have been a bit reckless with our choices since trying to chase a return to the PL. I agree about the team this year. There's such a big difference between making the play-offs and being good enough to go up (yes it is a lottery to some extent, but the gulf in quality this year was particularly clear). I know technically we were two games away from the PL but it felt so much more than that watching the game on Thursday. There's been some real bright sparks in Sargent, Sara, Nunez and early-season Rowe, but I've not enjoyed watching the experienced heads that were brought in to make us more streetwise. I'd much rather watch talent being developed even if raw and based around a clearer identity. All in all, I am very much hoping that we can start to build something new again and aren't too stifled by what looks like some pretty sorry finances.

I'm pretty sure Knapper will twist. He will surely (I hope) have arrived with an idea of the system he wants to put in place and so I would expect he will want a selected manager to implement that over the longer term. All considering Wagner did well to steer us to the playoffs but to have any chance of sustained success I think we need to build something. The squad needs an overhaul and given the end of the parachute payments we will have to fund that with player sales, so developing talent will be key.

Same here. I don't understand why anyone gets so riled up against Wagner. He seems like a decent bloke, probably not the right fit long term but it would have taken a very good manager and a fair chunk of luck to have got this squad up.

If they are not out of contract I'm not sure we can ship them out, unless someone is willing to take them. I would let them all go personally, we haven't demonstrated any of the extra nous and backbone they were likely brought in to provide. Also our team has felt very slow apart from the wingers.

I agree. I think this squad was capable of play-offs but would have been very lucky to get promoted.We are very reliant on a few players and very poor without them. Although this current performance is embarrassing, he's done reasonably well with the limited squad we have. If we want to build something though, which I imagine Knapper does, he will have his own ideas of who to employ. The only thing I can see altering that is if we can't afford to change managers. I imagine it wouldn't be prohibitively expensive but not sure exactly how these things work.

I agree they are a much better team and we simply don't have the answers.

He might have been at fault but certainly not at fault for us being way short of what is needed to get out of the league. He is one of the players who has elevated us this year.

I do think they are just way better than us. The gulf in quality is obvious and we don't have the skill or tactics to rise to it.

I felt like the disallowed Coventry goal in the FA cup final summed it up for me - even though it was the 'right' decision. What has always frustrated me with VAR is that it was supposed to be for 'clear and obvious' errors and yet we regularly have to watch them faffing about with the offside lines for ages. If it's not clear within a few seconds then the original decision should stand. It's needlessly overcomplicated.

I am excited and want us to get promoted...but in all honestly it's not at a level at all comparable to the 2015 playoffs or getting over the line in 2019/2020. I think it's a mix of low expectations for the playoffs and the likelihood that we would get battered in the PL.* I guess also it reflects the mood in the terraces. The atmosphere is much better than it was recently but apart from the Ipswich game it's hardly been rocking and there's a fair bit of negativity around Wagner which is quite unique for a team in the play-offs who didn't realistically expect to be any higher than the playoffs. *I don't buy into the theory that we are better off staying in the Championship, it's just hard to get excited about a repeat of the last seasons we had there even if it does help us financially.

These were my thoughts exactly when I read the story. I've followed the team properly since the early 00s and the Lambert era was personally the most enjoyable & the only time I've ever seen us look consistently comfortable at PL level. It was also the time when I think the connection between players, manager, club & fans felt strongest (maybe 18/19 under Farke could rival it but we never came close to competing in the PL). So given all that, it's very strange how negative/indifferent Lambert has always been towards us - especially as it was also probably the peak success of his managerial career. As others have mentioned I can only assume it was the off-pitch elements of his life. I don't know if people do dislike him as much as he thinks either? I'd have thought on balance most fans look back fondly on that era than feeling sour.