sonyc

Indeed. Yesterday was a bitter disappointment. We were outplayed largely at our own home. But...we are not in the bottom 3, nor will we be this season. And we do have players to excite us. If we want to look for a very dour period we only need to go back to the mid/ late 90s. Or relegation to L1. We are on a cusp with new owners and SD. But that's football. Folk care enough to post about how frustrated they are and that's all fine. It could be so much worse. The obvious flip side is that also we could be so much better!

Yes I appreciate that but you go about it by having more dynamic ticketing policies and target more. I do agree with your point about expansion and season tickets. It's more about thinking ahead and establishing a strategy to encourage younger supporters. Swansea have done it recently. Bradford City's initiatives for many years now has led to a younger demographic - likewise linked to season ticket initiatives. I think there are things the club could do. Rather than alienating fans by comments about how they should support or show their feelings. Norwich City ought to be a progressive club in all respects (like the mental health work they've been lauded for). And being progressive means to think ahead about their support base. I'm not being uber-critical of the club. Just think it's an area we should or could explore more....explicitly, by intention. Anyway, link here if you've any interest. https://www.swanseacity.com/news/swansea-city-introduce-dynamic-ticket-pricing-2023-24-season

Well I noticed that I now have a very small food item (a Christmas pudding) in the kitchen cupboard with a consume by date of March 2025 ...so I can say with confidence it will outlast this present government! Tempted that I am to eat it now I will wait til a happier time (and get some custard in for the occasion too). 😀 Keep on keeping on R.

Credit to you for those observations debbie. You can get an appreciation of many aspects, other than the obvious optics. It must take some stamina though at times if that was the only menu being offered. I felt similarly when we played them down the road. We were definitely inferior in may aspects but you couldn't fault our determination, fight and spirit. That we also came back from being down was another plus. Like yesterday.

I think your post (in full) is an important one and you've made very logical points. Two ideas for me arise from it...and also a summary conclusion with is linked but not directly. (1) away crowds are quite a bit different - funnier with gallows humour, more rowdy and enthusiastic. It's a different dynamic because it's a different demographic. It supports your point. Webber was annoyed with part of a home support wasn't he? (2) The football needs to have something that draws in the crowd too. And in this respect we are poorly served at the moment though it's not the worst by a long way. There are things to enjoy. Yet we as fans can become polarised very easily. Linked to the above I don't think it has helped with the former SD moaning about unfair criticism nor Delia's 20% comment. I don't doubt both have validity but they should have kept that view to themselves. I also reckon their complaint pertains and is valid for every other football team in the country..The point I'm getting at is that those comments have created a divide. A division which wasn't necessary nor a positive thing. It has left an unhappiness about the place. A rift between fans and club. And to think we were all told about being one community club. Those comments were made by the very same leadership that created the atmosphere for an important community club like ours. Even to the point of putting upfront in the annual.reports. We also hear how fans are so important, the only thing that matters. You could argue that a part of the 'contract' has been broken by those comments. Yet as fans we also want honesty! Anyway, just some impressions. I don't know the answer. Change is needed though. Your idea of cheap tickets is interesting for starters. It has galvanised support from younger fans at clubs in League Two for example.

Russell has simply called it out honestly. His words remind me of the Sky pundit Lee Hendrie, if you've listened to the cliché he often uses..."it speaks volumes ". And that's the nub of it. The Norfolk public ARE stating their opinion. The silence is literally deafening. And don't forget the fans have been told that we ought not to complain - to be the 20%. The atmosphere won't change until Wagner goes. Or until we entertain.

I have to agree with this Parma. I can see the views of posters stating that at least we have a Plan B and defended deep against a team which plays a possession game. Yet....it's the set up and style that endures over the course of a season. In other words, the underlying structure. Southampton today have a manager who learned his trade with us, has a clear plan for his teams, whereas we don't really look coherent as a 'team'. We have the strengths (your word may be weapons) in Josh and thank goodness for Angus. Yet, you cannot say we look a team in waiting, a team that is emerging, a team that is going to crash the play offs. At home too, there ought not to be such a gulf. Southampton are NOT Manchester City. They are well coached. And they look good enough to at least compete for a top two slot. What a waste of a season this has been really. Please Mr Knapper, instill your ideas for our team and future quickly.

Incredible...how far we have fallen. Maybe it's Wagner's strategy....but I doubt it.

I can see him being sacked in January - if we lose today then I think we may have to give up on entertaining any idea of troubling the play offs this year. And surely the management ought to have had expectations we might have been competitive for the top 6? Even if he is relieved of his duties I also can't see it making much difference now for the season. So what do you do?

Thanks for sharing. I heard of his death too. I know quite a bit about his work. In many ways I think he was ahead of his time. He wasn't so central as the journalist of any story, like some journalists these days who are really front of camera. I have posted this short video before, it all took place on my doorstep and I recognise many scenes, but also because it is so familiar to my working life, the people I've met and therefore it chimes so strongly....the sheer honesty of a real man. More so, me as a rural, naive young bloke from Norfolk, my eyes were opened. I realised I knew so little. The YouTube comments tell you a lot more. It will be an intensely moving watch for some. And that shows you just how powerful this piece remains. A credit to Pilger.

There isn't a thread yet so I'm using this one as it has the words "New Year" in the title... I would like to wish every poster (on this side of the forum but also on the football side) a very Happy New Year. I guess we may need a thread on new year's resolutions soon. But, Liz Truss has it in for many folk on this side of the forum...which I must confess has given a big laugh (imagine that is actually your New Year's message😅). Anyway, to all you in the anti-growth coalition...🥂🍻🥂

It is odd isn't it? The tactics employed by Wagner, the in-game decisions on formations, the messing about with midfielders playing sweeper or at CB....the negative set ups. It just isn't what is Norwich fans expect. It's not the Norwich way. That's before we get to the recruitment. Of managers and players. Smith and Wagner were both so inferior to Farke. Why did we not get in an ambitious coach. At least we did when we appointed Neil. Same with Lambert, same with Farke. Very poor stewardship. And here we are losing away miserably at Millwall. With barely any creativity. We've gone back to the mid to late 1990s. It feels as if we are solidly in a downward spiral.

We should have played the 3 who have just come on and actually tried to win a match. Then sub any of them if necessary in the second half. Not when you're chasing a game. Anyway, it must be Sarge gets a goal....on around 75 minutes?

I guess he has looked fit during training? Plus, the next game he may be dropped? Who knows with Wagner. Barnes has missed some great chances recently. Just hope he buries one this evening. An early goal would be excellent.

He certainly does. In a way I like someone prepared to mix things up. Yet, we all know, the best teams tend to have a core of the same 11 to 14 players who get to know each others' playing patterns. That's why his subs often fail in my opinion. Apart from Idah. Yet...(1) he is resting some players in a busy schedule (2) all will be revealed by about 9.40! I'm not enamoured with that line up though. Yet, one glimmer is Josh back. What odds I wonder for him to score as a 70th minute sub?

I think that poor IT decisions are a thing with lots of companies and certainly local authorities. Each new system is going to solve lots of problems but the system ends up needing to be fed too often and it leads to even more waste, certainly in time. Developers meanwhile are laughing. The NHS is known for having many systems that are often isolated and don't speak to each other. In large organisations like that it is a disaster. The main overall thrust of that article though (and my thread) is about inadequate resourcing of the stuff that central government needs doing locally. And already services in many areas are pared back to the bone, with many cuts having already been made, to the point now where bankruptcy stories are evolving each month. And it appears not just north or south or who has to get local control. For sure, there are poor management practices but it's a wider systemic neglect by central government. And no longer can it just be a case of asking local authorities to try and be entrepreneurial!

Mason-Clark? He is about 24 and can score goals.

I found a tiny bit of comfort that you didn't add to your point by stating "that ship has sailed". Kudos therefore for avoiding the cliché 😉 .....and you left enough room for me to think it!

It's the team (and the supporters) that really give a ground a soul. Otherwise, it's just a sport facility. The changes made like the new stands at nearly all grounds has made them feel very different. And I'm a conservative at heart about buildings! Memories are just that aren't they? They feel real to us because we were part of a particular team or an era or a campaign - even a performance. Those memories live on and make a place feel hallowed. We left the Nest and I'm sure we could leave Carrow Road. As long as the new ground could feel part of a wider community then I wouldn't worry. Especially if it meant a new era coupled with new investment. And as stated, again, I'm a traditionalist in my bones. Going to say Hull's comparatively new stadium also feels like it's their home (Bootham Crescent was awful). The same with Huddersfield. And so on. The one that stands out for me a bit differently is Bradford's Valley Parade. When I couldn't watch us (because of being unable to travel back then) I used to see Bradford instead (but try and read the Sunday papers report about us) and having been at the Bradford fire, the place even though now redeveloped still has a resonance about it. But that is because of a national tragedy. Something that was 'outside' of the football if you get my meaning. And I've watched Norwich play Bradford many times with our own fans. It's the football that matters more. Ultimately. All this said, I would be very, very sad to move from Carra. And I do agree with you that the surrounding area being redeveloped with the shopping centre and flats has resulted in a loss of soul....except maybe less for the Barclay. I have many memories of the walk back to the city along the river and the bridges. Those walks though were special because of the crowds.... and the result! It's people that make football places. If you'd asked about whether a beautiful building creates a feeling then I would definitely be on the environmental determinist 'continuum'! Just far less so about football grounds.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/29/british-politics-local-councils-ministers-town-hall-democracy An extract below from the full article: Every review of Britain 2023 says the same. The country is not being well run. From policing to care homes, from postal services to sewage spills, from youth clubs to potholes, everywhere is failure. Small wonder just 20% of Britons now have any faith in their national politicians, one of the lowest figures in a western democracy. Nowhere is this decline more evident than in local government. It is going bust. Birmingham, Nottingham, Croydon and four other councils in England have issued section 114 notices since 2020, indicating that their expenditure will exceed income. According to the Local Government Association (LGA), in the coming year, one in five councils expect to fail financially. Commissioners have already been sent to Woking and Slough, effectively suspending their local democracy. In most of what they do, councils now act as agents of Whitehall instruction – as with children in need, care of elderly people and dispensing housing benefit. Yet the money to do this has been butchered in 13 years of austerity, with a 40% real-terms cut in central grants. Money for anything considered “discretionary” – public libraries, sports facilities, local colleges, the arts, the stuff of community life – has evaporated. The LGA estimates a cash shortfall of £4bn over the current two-year period. This is a fraction of what successive governments have spent on that white elephant, HS2. Rishi Sunak won’t give Birmingham another penny but he will happily speed Brummies to the bright lights of London.

A pint is 570ml .....rather than 750ml....perhaps those (Brexiters?) in that queue have a form of dyslexia? 😉

I prefer you as Keith Nott. Give him a call (somewhere in that head of yours).