Chunky Norwich

A couple of people have criticised Marshall for his kicking but at least three times in the match, he launched a very quick goal kick which would curl inch-perfectly into the path of Huckerby, setting him off on a run against a back-tracking Palace defence. Did no-one else notice this? I thought kicking (at least in the passing aspect) was quite a strong point for Marshall; but I guess that''s the beauty of talking about football!

Maybe Dickson is only putting in good performances and a few goals because there are Premier League clubs watching him?

"Yet, with the lightning quick Huckerby forming a dangerous attacking triumvirate alongside Dion Dublin and Lee Croft...". Wow! Someone at Archant has obviously had their thesaurus out. Fantastic word though.

Well Alexander is Scottish. ''Nuff said.

Well didn''t his first injury come about from being shunted into an advertising hoarding? Hardly ''sicknote'' material

Get rid of Thorne, McVeigh, Henderson and Louis-Jean (though everyone seems to have forgotten about him!) for definite. Everyone else we basically have to keep because our squad is so thin otherwise. If we try and get in one or two signings then we can try and shift some surplus characters (eg Jarvis and Etuhu) on to somebody else. Must try and get David Marshall. After that, if I were in Grant, I''d wait to see who gets relegated and then try and burgle them; for instance Healy, Lewis, Westlake from Leeds, Eastwood, Hammell, Francis from Southend and so on. Other than that it''s just a case of picking up gems from the lower leagues and frees; Matty Jarvis from Gillingham, Billy Jones and Luke Varney from Crewe, Kris Commons from Forest etc. However I assume Grant has little to no money at his disposal. Just NO loans; waste of money.

Someone already beat me to people not indicating as they come off roundabouts so I''ll just stick pikeys in there instead. I''d also say crap, mind-numbing telly like Big Brother and X-Factor but the really sad thing is that soooo many people in this country genuinely love them. And spend money ringing in! If you''re stupid enough to ring an 0900 number to vote for an idiot you''ve never met in your life, then you deserved to be fleeced every now and again.

My reply was a brief and sarcastic one because that''s all I thought Percy Varco''s response deserved. I often kid myself at times that this is a discussion board and often forget that it''s actually a school playground.

Quite

Whilst glancing at Leyton Orient''s game from Saturday to see if Ryan Jarvis had scored any more, I noticed a certain Mr Mulryne as an unused sub in a League One match. I remember when we first signed him from ManYoo and he looked brilliant and certainly one of the best playmakers outside of the Premiership. Remarkable to see how much his stock has gone down. Wonder if it''s due to laziness, injuries or Guinness?

Until Colin''s recent omission and before Huckerby''s brilliant run of form, he would have been my vote for player of the season. He''s not the greatest right-back in the league nor even the greatest rightback we''ve ever had but I''ve yet to see him play a game where he hasn''t looked like caring. Whilst watching recent performances since our relegation, the thing that''s always annoyed me the most is when players just don''t seem to care or are too lazy. If Player Of The Season is for consitency and reliability then Colin would have got my vote. He goes in for tackles and gets forward to support the winger and though he doesn''t always pull off everything he does, at least he is attempting those tackles and attempting to get forward - more than you can say about roughly 75% of our starting XI until the recent revival.

I don''t want Delia out and mainly because I think it would be virtually impossible to force her out if she doesn''t want to go. Matches could be boycotted and such forth but our finances will be irreversibly crippled and we''ll be relegated before she''d ever throw in the towel. She''s a determined old so-and-so and fair play to her I suppose. I DON''T want her out but I would like to point out a few commonly cited defences of her that annoy me greatly. "Delia raises the profile of NCFC". No she doesn''t. Norwich City Football Club raises the profile of Delia Smith and I will argue that until I''m blue in the face. Both NCFC and Delia Smith are synonymous and Norwich City gets far more press coverage and individual articles than Delia ever has. Whenever I tell someone I support Norwich, the instant reaction is "Oh Delia Smith''s club?". And BBC and Sky cameras are always trying to show her at any Norwich game they cover. If NCFC and Delia were not linked, which of the two of them would be more in the public limelight and newspaper columns? "Delia is our chairmen". No she''s not and I feel this highlights just how linked she is with our club; that even our own supporters get confused as to what her actual role at the club is and how she overshadows Roger Munby so much. She''s a majority shareholder, not a chairperson. "Delia is a life-long Norwich supporter". She supported Ipswich until she met Michael Wynn-Jones and he ''converted'' her. There are a few more things which annoy me but these are more conjuncture and I can''t argue that well for them (e.g. Watling saving the club and not Delia - which was a little before my time but I am aware it - and the fact that while she may support the club, she hasn''t a clue as to how to actually run it). I know that this is a great source of debate but the "little old Norwich" mantra which, while never expressed ver batum, is fairly annoying to me as well. It does seem to me that Delia is overshadowing the club in a big way and it''s her philosophies and take on football which is being employed. I like her and her hearts in the right place, but these qualities are equally attributable to my mum and I don''t think I''d be totally happy if she was in charge of NCFC. Oh and don''t even get me started on singing ''On The Ball City'' as a hymn in the RC cathedral!

[quote user="Snakepit Boy"]And a cockroach can live for nine days after its head is cut off.[/quote] Ah that''s better. That was what I meant to quote!

Before it dies not of a lack of head but of starvation!

Has no-one else on here ever heard of a sock-puppet? And I refer to the ''electronic'' version rather than an actual puppet made from a foot garment.

I always make a point of not trying to say anything contentious because I believe in the whole free-speech thing and who am I to censor anybody? However I''ve sat back and sat back and watched all the anti-Grant vitriol coming from many people on this message board. I''m really sorry but it just beggars belief. What did people expect him to have done by now? Got us into top spot? Signed Beckham? The irony is that (I apologise to a lot of people who HATE these terms) I used to be firmly in the WO (sorry!) camp and got very angry with the board and players, as well as Worthington, for what was going on at the time. This may sound ridiculous but I still blame Worthington for the shambles we are in now and NOT Grant. What can Grant do with the squad he has? Name me a manager who could get us promoted with two goalkeepers, one a clown and one an untried 17-year-old (or whatever), one leftback, arguably only one rightback, no left winger etc etc. And a squad including Robinson, Hughes, Etuhu, Thorne, McVeigh, Louis-Jean, Doherty and Fleming. Name me a better starting XI than the one which was put out today - with the exception of WHY (as it now seems he has become). I apologise for going on a bit and I also must state that I am NOT happy with the way that things are going right now. But how do you motivate the players we have here? Three quarters are absolute rubbish and the other quarter are quite clearly not happy with the way things are going and already appear to be thinking about their Summer holidays. I must also state that I was fairly bemused when Grant was appointed. Delia took a lot of flack for sticking with Worthy because they were close friends but in the end she finally sacks him and replaces him with....a close friend. Hmmm. But he''s here now and he appears to be saying the right things and kicking some backsides. His post-match comments are as follows:  "We were poor. In the second half it went from worse to worse. To concede two goals from free-kicks beggars belief. Too many players were mentally weak, content to pass the buck to someone else. It was unacceptable. We do not give ourselves a chance when we play like that. Too many players are in the comfort zone. The group will be changed, make no mistake about that." Bravo! Name me another manager who would have said that. For all those posters who are moaning about how rubbish the team are, look; Grant agrees with you! But what can he do? All these rubbish players are on long contracts for big wages. So far, Grant has bought Luke Chadwick for £220,000 and a 22-year-old 6''3" target man for £325,000. That''s not too bad. I couldn''t make the game today and I have no idea how poorly we played nor how well Brown played but I just still can''t believe all this Sack Grant rubbish. What happens if, hypothetically, he were fired tomorrow? What''s the best that could happen? And mature reasoned debates please people. I''ve tried to be polite and have not named names nor make personal comments.

"As much use as t*ts on a fish". That''s brilliant! Probably the best expression I''ve heard all year. I take my hat off to you sir.

My lessons learnt from watching the Tamworth game: Pluses: Colin is looking fairly good and is my vote so far for POTS. In the first half he was probably our only player who got stuck in and actually looked like wanting the ball and trying to make something happen when he had it. He''s starting to overlap and bomb forward now as well and his crossing is rapidly improving. Dublin is looking good as well. Our first proper number nine since a certain Mr Roberts. Safri was preferred ahead of both Robinson and Hughes Croft is looking pretty nifty as well Earnshaw started which looks like he''s staying Grant cunningly told Earnshaw to play a shocker to deter any interest We won! Negatives: Dickson ''Lazy Bones'' Etuhu Drury, Doherty and Shackell can do nothing but pump it long from their eighteen-yard line No-one in the side can take a decent corner No-one in the side can take a decent free kick No-one in the side can take a decent throw-in Doherty is very good for heading back long balls. And nothing else. (I defended him LOADS for his first two seasons) What on Earth did Robinson, Hughes and Thorne do when they came on? How many touches did they have between the three of them? Overall though I am really happy and I''m not knocking the team per se. Our starting XI was, in my opinion, the starting XI we should be playing in every game. Hopefully Grant knows this by now and will carry on starting with these players. I think the main concern is our complete lack of any form of back-up.

Angels are asexual! So an angel can either be played by a boy or a girl. Nice to see we''re having discussions about theology on a football website though. I think at the minute going to Carrow Road is more akin to going to see a pantomime than a nativity by the way.

I think mbncfc has already addressed this but I really do believe that football, psychologically, also gives a large element of belonging and identity. I didn''t just ''pick'' to support Norwich because of their kit colours or because I stuck a pin in a league table but because I feel that Norwich City Football Club represents me (a proud Norfolk man) at a national level. I feel this is why you get far more die-hard supporters for football than you do for any other sport. I even laugh whenever Wimbledon is on because people cheer for Tim Henman because he''s "representing Britain". He''s not. He''s an athlete who happens to be English. Football on the other hand DOES represent a geographical location, hence why I support Norwich City and not the Fly-Be Canaries. Sorry if this has rambled off the original point but I do feel that football is more than just entertainment and is inherently part of any supporter who goes to watch them. This is why I will support Norwich through thick and thin and would be proud to wear my Norwich scarf in any other part of Britain whether we were playing in The Premiership or League 2. n.b. This may make me a hypocrite because I support Norwich City and not Diss Town but c''mon.....

I think Eagle looks a fairly tidy player and, to go back to the original point, I was completely unaware that anyone was booing him at any point. At the very least, he brings our number of left-footed players up from 2 to the dizzying heights of 3.  And he''s got a good cross on him. The only thing I''d moan about is the fact that a) he needs to get his hair cut and b) it''s quite hard to tell him and McVeigh apart when they''re both on the pitch.

You can tell when you''re riled with things when you''re eagerly awaiting the January transfer window. I was just wondering what people thought of our current squad in terms of who are key players (i.e. an asset to any squad in The Championship), squad players (all right on their day, nothing particularly special) and dead-wood (those who need booting out right now). And when I mean Dead-wood, I really do mean rubbish. My list of the three would be: Key) Huckerby, Croft (possibly), Earnshaw, Safri Squad) Drury, Shackell, Dublin, Chadwick (because it''s too early to tell), Etuhu, Gallacher, Jarvis (possibly), Colin, Doherty (though I imagine he''ll be in a few dead-wood lists) Dead Wood) MLJ, Fleming, Thorne, Hughes, McVeigh, Henderson, Robinson (utter joke) Not good. And I think the ''key'' column may be fairly generous because it''s all relative. It''s such a shame that Worthington took us to the Premiership, assembled a fairly good squad and then completely ripped it apart over one summer after relegation. I''m sure if the list was compiled from the squad that came down from our Premiership season, it would be very different; lots of keys and not much deadwood. I think this just shows how hard a task, Grant faces. I really hope he is given funds in the January window.

D''oh! I posted that and then almost immediately afterwards looked at the Man In The Stands column. Any guesses as to what the entire first paragraph was about? And yes, I do feel a bit silly!

This must be a joke surely? I know quite a few of the famous fans (right at the bottom), like Mylene, Stephen Fry and someone called Delia Smith, but Rachel from Neighbours?! And Hugh Jackman?! I love Wikipedia to bits but I have to wonder sometimes when members of the public can freely chop and change things. Anyone knows if these are all kosher? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich_City_F.C.

I thought Drury was pretty awful last night. He seems too lightweight and there were many instances where Shackell was having to come out to the left to fill in gaps left by Drury or to atone for his errors; which then made the centre of defence weak. I have always rated Drury as a player but I think he''s going through something of a bad patch at the moment. Robinson was absolutely woeful. I have no idea how he stayed on the pitch for the 90 minutes. I thought the player who played well from the first minute to the last was Jurgen Colin. It''s a shame for him that he normally has no outlet for when he does move forward into the opposition half - the midfield are normally left standing around, looking at each other, in our half and the other alternative is to pump the ball into the box in the hope that Earnshaw can outmuscle his way through 4 defenders and thump it past the ''keeper.