Who on here would be unhappy?

[Who on here would be unhappy?]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="Saint Canary"]

Just like to point out that Mark Bowen is no more qualified to be a manager than Hunter is.

[/quote]

Mark Bowen has been an assistant for a long time at various clubs, you have to start somewhere - Worthy failed in his first management role, failed here when an assistant alongside Hamilton and is failing now.

[/quote]

I''m WO, but to be fair, Worthy has succeeeded here - in the past. He''s failing now, but let''s not write off the play-off and promotion seasons as failures because they weren''t.

[How utterly and sadly predictable....]

Evil Monkey, that''s spot on. We even made an exception for Palace and did the same at home, because they hadn''t won in 5.

Which suggests that it''s entirely a mental problem (as opposed to fitness or skill or tactics per se). The players see the games as easier. Wrong.

[Even KTFers have had enough]

How much success did Gullitt have in his last job? Apart from Curbishley, all the other managers are unemployed because they failed previously. If that will do, we may as well stick with our existing failing manager and save the million quid it will cost to sack him! I think we should really look for an up-and-coming manager from the division below....

[The Point of Protesting during the Match]

What, sack the fans and get some better fans in, perhaps? ;-)

If the team plays well, I''ll cheer them, but I''ll never boo. Never have, never will. I prefer to simply be silent when I don''t approve. Complete silence is more damning and uncomfortable than booing I think, sometimes. YMMV though.

[LEAVE DELIA ALONE.....]

You''re missing a big point here: while the manager is employed by the board, and can be sacked by the board, who employs the board? They own the club. No one can sack them. You can''t sack yourself! End of. The only way to change the owners of the club are for prospective new owners to buy them out. And who is waiting in the wings with 10s of millions to buy Norwich? For Delia & Michael to sell, someone needs to be ready, willing and able to buy. I don''t see a queue.

 

[Curbishly can save the board]

Ideal as Curbishley sounds, does it seem likely that he would come here? Surely he would be a very strong candidate for the next Prem vacancy, and he''s already turned down Leeds and WBA (alledgedly).

Vote for change yes, but let''s try and come up with realistic suggestions.

[Consistency. (please answer me this Mr W)]

So, we''re pretty consistent now - 3 goals against away from home. If we can score 4 we might be okay, otherwise no hope. So there''s the fabled consistency that every manager looks for. It can''t have been a ''bad day at the office'', because they are only occasional. This run of form is consistent. So, seriously, I''d like Worthy to answer me this:

If paying top wages gets you top players, and we are paying one of the highest wage bills in the division...either

a) we are paying our players too much, because they''re not as good as the likes of Southend and Plymouth players, clearly, or

b) they aren''t playing to their full potential.

I can''t think of another scenario. Which of the above ones is down to the manager?

[I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain............]

Excellent post. In all the years I''ve been going, it''s never felt like this. In the late 90s, when we really were average with no real hope of promotion, it never felt like this. They say that being a fan is all about hope - there''s always hope. But here''s the rub for me - I don''t expect we''ll lose against Burnley, not now. But then I really really don''t expect anything out of the Brum away game. And sadly, I think the poisonous atmosphere at Carrow Road is waiting in the wings to return....

[Blackwell sacking: good or bad example for our Board?]

Looking at his sacking from afar, it seems odd that a manager who took them to the play-offs last season and was given a new 3-yr contract in the summer has been sacked just 8 games into the season. Presumably under the pressure of fans, their board has given in and sacked him. They could appoint someone who takes them up this season, but they could just as easily do no better and tread water. Or appoint someone who takes them down again. And they wonder why Curbishley (decade plus in one job) isn''t interested...

Equally, Ipswich lost their first three games and there were loud calls for Magilton to go, but now they''re doing okay and the fans are happy.

It just goes to show how fickle fans can be sometimes. It is not mathematically possible for all the teams who have changed manager to get promoted this season, therefore one or more of them is going to fail to get promoted. And then? Change again?

Strangely, I''m neither KTF or WO really, but sitting on the fence in between. But I do keep in mind that the 4 managers who preceeded Worthy had less success than him, so I''m conscious that any change for us could just as easily lead to 4 more unsuccessful managers as it could lead to the next one being more successful.

Better the devil you know? Perhaps. Leeds fans will find out....

[if we play the same way we did last season how many games are people willing to give worthy?]

I suspect none, in most cases.

For me, if we''re close to 20 points from the first 10 games then I''ll be pleased, whatever the style of play. If we''re nearer 10 points, then I think the clamour for him to go will be deafening.

My big fear is that the atmosphere will be at best subdued, and at worst poisonous, from the start. I go to enjoy my football, and I want to support the team and give them a chance, irrespective of who the manager is....

[one-nil City - Dickson scores!]

It strikes me that great players are a) good and b) consistent.

Feeding as we are off the scraps from the big table, we invariably get players who are either consistent but not the best (Hughes, Fleming, Holt, and so on) or the other way around - potentially great but too inconsistent, a la Etuhu, and before him players like Rivers, and even Llewellyn and so on. On their day they could look Prem class, but it didn''t happen often enough.

[nothings changed then]

I would like us to play like Arsenal as much as the next person... but when exactly were we last really a passing side? It seems that up until last season... apparently... we only passed it on the ground. By my reckoning, we haven''t done that since the early 90s. In the season we got promoted it was pretty ugly stuff at times, some wins against the run of play and so on... but very little criticism.

I''m just wondering what people expect in the Championship, with a team worth less than 10m (compared to, say, Arsenal, where each player is worth more than 10m!).

Don''t get me wrong, I like nice football, but why the sudden obsession with hoofing? Didn''t we shout ''hoof'' at every opposing team last season? Didn''t we stand in the pub this summer shouting ''hoooof'' at a lot of the England play?

[The missing jigsaw piece.]

[quote user="Rudolph Hucker"]I have been looking for us to stable ''The Horse'' for months.[/quote]

All sounds to me a bit like the calls a year or two back for us to ''Feed The Goat''. And he went on to do what exactly...?

Horsfield is past it.

How is it that fans want us to sign bright, young, up-and-coming players... then berate anyone they haven''t heard of in favour of old-school has-beens?

[Livingston Score and team]

[quote user="komakino"]I am rather concerned about Chris Lakey and his fellow colleagues on their journalism with regards to NCFC. I wouldn''t be atall surprised if the upper echelons of NCFC have had a word with Archant to the lines of ''It would be advantageous if you would lay off Nigel in the coming season etc.'' I have no proof of this of course, but the stories appear as if this IS the case. You wouldn''t get this whitewash in The Birmingham Post, so why here?[/quote]

Are we turning into Americans? Why does there have to be conspiracy in everything. Reporter goes to game, sees decent game, team scores twice, concedes none, many players have a decent game when alot of them haven''t played more than 90 mins football so far. We all know this has practically no bearing on the season ahead, results-wise.

What would be the point in turning every match report into a rant against the players, manager, club, fans, etc. as some posters on here do? It''s still early pre-season, we have harder opposition to come, the results are pretty meaningless because the players will be playing within themselves: not wanting an injury, not particularly motivated to win, just trying to get their fitness and form on the right track for August. End of, surely?

Yes, we all agree that there are a few positions where we need strengthening, but that''s not for a match report.

Please post the link to the Birmingham Post''s ''Bruce Out'' campaign, I presume from your comments that you''ve checked and there must be one....

[Nigel: I never felt job was on the line]

Ah yes, let''s get rid of Delia and get Simon Jordan to run our club. He has ambition, and his managers always feel under pressure of they''re out. And look, they didn''t just settle for one season in the Prem and then not get promoted. And their squad isn''t smaller this season than last, and they haven''t sold their best players over the summer.

So, the concept of a board that supports their manager through thick and thin is the wrong one? Maybe not - we had a poor season after the Cardiff season, follwed by a very successful season. And don''t forget, the season we were promoted started off pretty poorly with no indication that it would pan out the way it did.... Or is that going back too far to a time before you supported Norwich?

Who needs stability?! Bring back the late 90s, when the constant changing of managers brought us much more long term success.

 

[complete lack of ambition]

And another thing. Lack of ambition is that? So let me just make sure I understand you here: any player over 30 is too old and shows a clear lack of building for the future and ambition for the club. But if we don''t sign a particular player over 30 that you rate, that also shows a lack of ambition. So in short, any move you don''t approve of is unambitious, whereas the ones you suggest are all ambitious.

Were you a fan of Rivers? Because Koumas sounds not dissimilar to me, only 4 times the price.

[complete lack of ambition]

Please Nigel, don''t listen to some of the lunatics on this message board.

What? Oh, thank goodness for that.

[Deja Vu]

Maybe they''re just not ambitious enough, the ''little Reading'' syndrome. They should be signing world cup players, just like Sheff Utd, Watford etc.

What? Oh. Maybe our club isn''t so badly run after all.

Controversial.

[Deja Vu]

Maybe they''re just not ambition enough, the ''little Reading'' syndrome. They should be signing world cup players, just like Sheff Utd, Watford etc.

What? Oh. Maybe our club isn''t so badly run after all.

Controversial.

[Never mind the danger.]

I think too many people think they can reduce the whole thing down to the likes of Champioship Manager, get a winning strategy and go all the way to the top. This is the real world. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

People talk about the ''dark decade'' as if it only happened to us, and our club have somehow got it wrong. There are some examples of clubs that have done better than us, but not many really. Look at Wolves, West Brom, Ipswich, Coventry, Derby, Sheff Utd, Reading, Watford etc. All similar size to us, all spent a decade mostly in the Champ with a brief visit to the Prem. Wigan, Portsmouth, Fulham went up and have stayed, but all have/had wealthy backers.

If you''re realistic for a moment, how many other clubs have done better than us, and how many are in more-or-less the same boat? Do Wolves and Palace fans not think they''re in decline because they didn''t survive in the Prem and are now selling players? Did Ipswich fans not think that a year or two back?

And ''best players'' is very subjective - I''m sure plenty of fans of other clubs believe they have the best players, and to a very large extent it''s about having the best team - how many future premiership stars got Reading promoted?

We can always do better, sure. And we must try, but I will always try to be realistic about what actually can be achieved without vast sums of money. Every dog has its day: look at the Div 1 table from 10 years ago - 96/97. Every team in the league then either went on to be relegated or promoted, including us. Of those that got promoted, 3 are still there, although all came down and went back up again. Wolves, Ipswich, Palace, Birmingham, West Brom were all with us then. How many of them have fared significantly better than us since? Loads of teams went down after that (and some have come back up).

So sure, lets try to improve, get up again, get established there. But don''t suggest the club is rubbish for not achieveing it, because hardly anyone else has either. Put another way, for every team someone might suggest we emulate, I can think of 10 that you''d rather we didn''t emulate, because they''re done no more than we have.

[Bradley Wright-Phillips]

[quote user="snake pit army"]he would have been fantastic on the right or even a replacement for the under performing huckerby [/quote]

Are you advocating playing a player (striker) out of position? ;-)

And how times change. Suddenly Hux is no good and we shouldn''t play him? I thought he was our Talisman - I must have been a way a long time.

[Roll on next wedensday! Worthless out!]

[quote user="TwoSheds"]Sorry to any folks who dissagree but the numpty is still here & there has been very little change since the end of the season. [/quote]

Very true. I see that since we played Wolves we haven''t won a single game. So nothing has changed, it''s all going down hill.

 

[Andy Hughes is rubbish - its official]

"bare" thinking about?

At least you reveal yourself.

[Different planet (Worthy comments)]

Bundy, I think you''re being a little harsh, and as you say, you weren''t there.

Earning the right to play made perfect sense. Sheff were determined to bully us in the opening stages. We stood up to them and gradually got on top as the half wore on. I''m amazed there were no cards because it was quite a physical game. Neither team got it down and played much good football, but when we did we really hurt them. I have to say, despite all the recent goings on and some dire performances, this was as good as and very similar to many of the performances in the promotion season. To beat the team second in the league at this stage of the season IS an outstanding achievement, they are where they are because they have been consistently good. And what manager doesn''t say ''we''ve got to keep this going''? It''s hardly worth criticising him for, not many managers are very good with words are they? And frankly, who cares, it''s the footballing performance not the menia performance that matters.

And if we do keep playing like that then not many people will want a change of manager any more. That''s the big IF though.

[City season ticket sales soar]

Read it carefully - it says "Loyal Norwich City fans" have renewed already. Plus there are 1000 more on the waiting list. What''s the betting that we''ll sell all our tickets this year again... puts some of the doom mongers on here to shame ("if we do''t go up attendances will fall to 15,000 and the club will go down the pan"). Frankly, if they are the ones not to renew, perhaps the atmosphere will be better next season and we can crack on. Without them.