Cantley

[quote]Could be the team that played Fulham in May!!!!!! After all, none of us will EVER forget that[/quote] Six bloody nil, as I recall.....

[quote]Not on the 15th October, 1972 vs Spurs. My first match at Carrow Road.[/quote] Fair ennufski. Maybe I''m a year older than you!

[quote]But this is just what the board wanted. Cetain members of our board worship at the alter of New Labour and have obviously had training at spin and avoiding the big questions. Anyone at the AGM would...[/quote] If you think New Labour invented spin, check out the Bayeux Tapestry again. Or the Rosetta Stone.

I don''t mean who are your favourite eleven City players, I mean which team (that actually all played on the same pitch at the same time) do you remember, like you remember your first kiss or your first hows-your-father? Which team can you name off the top of your head, from one to eleven? * Fillet the Fish Wife and I are pretty much of the same mind on this one: Keelan, Payne, Black, Stringer, Forbes, Briggs, Livermore, Bone, Cross, Paddon, Foggo. * For the benefit of some of our younger members, once upon a time when a football team ran onto the pitch, they were numbered from 1 to 11, according to the position they played in. This did have the benefit of helping some players remember just what the hell they were supposed to be doing, and it also helps old codgers like me to remember and reel-off their favourite team.

[quote]you spelt his name wrong. its aaaaa[/quote] Don''t want to be picky, Fillet, but shouldn''t it be: Keelan, Payne, Black, Stringer, Forbes, Briggs, Livermore, Bone, Cross, Paddon, Foggo ?

[quote]You know what our trouble is - we talk a good game. Or at least the players/manager/club do. We''ve got more spin than the Government. Week after week, before each game, we get all these statements f...[/quote] Not so long ago I seriously considered starting a pressure group - something like "Campaign Against Banality in Sports Reporting" - in the end it was only apathy which stopped me. I''m equally tired of the endless stream of pointless quotes issuing from the mouths of - it has to be said - mainly footballers and football managers. "We''ll win this one for the boss" etc etc. But they''re only talking to journalists who need to pad out their latest programme or column. And the journalists only do this stuff because it sells. If I''m honest, if I see a flash of yellow and green on the front of the Evening News I''m more likely to buy it because, half subconsciously, I think "Hello, something''s happening at Carra Rd, might be good news, better find out..". By the time I turn to the back page only to see "Roberts says City can beat Wolves" Archant have my money, and I''ve had a little (if ultimately unsatisfying) fix of NCFC. As drugs go, it''s relatively harmless!

[quote]Well, if we are qouting Kipling; " MASTER, this is Thy Servant. He is rising eight weeks old. He is mainly Head and Tummy. His legs are uncontrolled. But Thou has forgiven his ugliness, and settled h...[/quote] Mainly head and tummy? Ugly? This has to be about Joe Royle, right?

But this could have been written for Worthy: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don''t deal in lies, Or being hated, don''t give way to hating, And yet don''t look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream--and not make dreams your master, If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you''ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ''em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much, If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds'' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that''s in it, And--which is more--you''ll be a Man, my son!

Loyal, prudent and pragmatic. And unflappable. "If you can keep your head..." etc.

Luck? Maybe, although it was time we had a little.  But think - what was Alexander doing on the ground, and why didn''t he get out of the way? More to the point why hadn''t Cardiff cleared the ball - why were they in such a mess in the first place? Could it be that we had stretched their defence beyond breaking point? And doesn''t that mean we deserved a goal?

Just a quick follow up - last night, after such a terrible week, we still got a bigger gate than Sheff Utd. Respect to to City fans for such loyalty, which I''m sure has not gone un-noticed by the club.

As for those rumours, I can''t think what else (apart from invasion of the bodysnatchers) would explain this season''s decline. Or indeed the capitulation at Fulham. Southampton and Palace were relegated too, and they seem to have largely got over it.

These are the most recent home gates for all the Championship clubs: Norwich (-v- Sheff Wed) 25,383 Sheff Utd (-v- Cardiff) 25,311 Derby (-v- QPR) 24,447 Southampton (-v- Stoke) 24,095 Ipswich (-v- Watford) 24,069 Leeds (-v- Sheff Utd) 23,600 Leicester (-v- Coventry) 22,991 Wolves (-v- Preston) 22,802 Coventry (-v- Luton) 22,228 Reading (-v- Leeds) 22,012 Sheff Wed (-v- Brighton) 21,787 Hull (-v- Derby) 20,661 Crystal Palace (-v- Liverpool) 19,673 Plymouth (-v- Sheff Wed) 16,534 QPR (-v- Norwich) 15,976 Watford (-v- Wolves) 14,561 Preston (-v- Leicester) 13,904 Stoke (-v- Reading) 13,484 Burnley (-v- Hull) 11,701 Millwall (-v-Soton) 10,759 Cardiff (-v- Leicester) 8,727 Luton (-v- Plymouth) 8,714 Brighton (-v- Ipswich) 6,867 Crewe (-v- Palace) 6,766 When you allow for our terrible current form and league position, the loyalty of our fans is even more striking. Oh, and on the same basis we also beat Prem clubs Blackburn, Bolton, Fulham, Portsmouth, and (of course) Wigan.

The question is - will we get more than 20,000 on Tuesday? I think today''s the day we lost Dean Ashton. He''s a talent in a hurry, and he might as well have stayed at Crewe as muck around in the lower reaches of the Championship with us. Maybe Wigan will make a bid. Wigan. I subscribe to the parallel universe theory myself.

Some of my best friends are Binmen... I''d hate to see Ipswich go out of business (not that it''s really likely of course) because the local rivalry is one of the more piquant seasonings in our existance. But they deserve all the p*ss-taking they get over their financial woes because of that mocking collection the Evening Star organised for City when we had real money problems and they were lording it up in the Premiership. Now the boot is on the other foot to some extent, and Ipswich have become the perfect illustration of the saying "Pride comes before a fall".

I heard Worthy on Radio Norfolk apparently ruling out a move for Holland because he thought the fans wouldn''t like it. Me, I''m all for it - not only is Holland a good player, but it would also madden the Binners beyond endurance!

The old ones are the best. Anyone else remember Jimmy Bone dribbling to the corner flag to waste a bit of time, and then sitting on the ball? I''ll always remember their full back frantically hacking away at the ball whilst the crowd cheered.

Okay, so maybe I should get a life, but in competitive games this season our average gate is 23,866 and Ipswich''s is 22,427. This despite our poor start and the fact that Ipswich hosted a local derby as one of their matches. I think our gates are really quite noteworthy at the moment.

[quote]Songs have changed quite a bit....I remember when the Barclay was Terrace singing: In Norwich''s fair city where the girls are so pretty I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone She push her wheel B...[/quote] I remember the line as: "As she wheeled her wheelbarrow down King Street and Carrow, Crying (clap) (clap) (clap clap clap) (clap clap clap clap) NORWICH !" Long ago and far away....

[quote]easy typo. instead of 24,740 a simple error was made to make it say 27,440....[/quote] Thanks everyone. After Saturday''s game, and our overall start this season, last night''s attendance is truly something to be proud of.

[quote]All the reports say over 27,000, which can''t be right, but the ground looked pretty full to me. Sheffield Utd only got 20,000, and they''re running away with the league![/quote] Ahem... As I was saying....

All the reports say over 27,000, which can''t be right, but the ground looked pretty full to me. Sheffield Utd only got 20,000, and they''re running away with the league!

One of Delia''s yummy pies - Two pounds ninety five pence One season in the Premiership - Twenty million pounds Watching the Binmen blow it again, after being top at Xmas - PRICELESS!

I''ve read plenty of comments from those in and around the team, along the lines of "very disappointed" and "gutted for the lads", but no formal apology to the City fans who were so abjectly let down yesterday. It was (to borrow the phrase) a craven performance, and for the sake of closure Nigel Worthington should come out and actually say sorry to the supporters. Preferably on tv and flanked by the team.

We might as well do it in style!