Bobert

Delia signed a cook book for me but that does not mean I know anything about the interviewing process however one can make an educated guess: He needs to have Premiership experiance to satisfy the Boards desire for promotion and the ability to stay at that level. He needs to understand about bungs and back handers to keep the Board out of trouble but still be able to encourage "star" players to come to Norwich. He needs to be able to work without a big pot of money to bring players to the club so he needs to be respected throughout the industry. He needs to have a good enough name to get the fans of the Boards'' backs He needs to be inteligent and able to mix socially with the Board and their partners. He needs to have faith in God as well as the fans and his players. He needs to be happy to live in Norfolk and bring his wife and family here. Now tell me who fits that bill and go place your bets.  

Have to practise what I preach of course and I am currently sitting ''bout a mile from the Barclay after a long and tedious journey made worse by a 5 hr (yes 5 hr) coach journey from Heathrow. Had a pint of Adnams in the "Green Dragon" in Wymondham to revive me and I am pleased to report that the pub is as unchanging as the Canaries. There was a programme about the Galapigos Islands on the box last night and how the tourist was spoiling everything with up to 3 plane loads a day of them and another 30,000 people migrating to the islands from the mainland.  I don''t want the Canaries to change any more. I want an ordinary, slightly incompetent Board who we can castigate at our will, I don''t want double tier stands built at Carrow to accomodate more fans to pay for Premier League "action". Every one at Carrow is very well meaning.... they just need a bit of help now and again from the likes of you and me! Cheers  

Oh come on thats not what its all about! You are living too far away and you are looking at the Club as you would a company. Its not a question of "statements", "business plans" and budgets. All of us who have a few shares in the club are "owners" and we live on DREAMS. We dream of a top class manager, we dream of top class players, we dream of the boys winning the next match, we dream of shaking hands with a player, being acknowledged, the Premier League. I think you should get on your bike and come and live for a few weeks in the fountain of all our dreams. Come and sit in the Barclay.  "On the Ball City!"

Not sure it was ''owt to do with us like but I suppose if we had made as much fuss about keeping him as we have done about Worthy Out he might have stayed. O''Neil had a lot of pride and confidence in himself I am thinking. More than can be said for Mr Worthington .''Fraid I would have called it a day a long time ago but perhaps that has been one of my failings in life. Still you have to have respect for yourself don''t you? Good luck for today. Pity I could not get back. Being 17th aint much fun for anyone except Ipswich of course

Sumat good to be said ''bout livin'' in''t hills and feeling the wind blowin round yer ''ed. Place were yer can buy a ''ous in a pub for 10,000 or even less. Where you put it all out, whatever you''ve got like. Same telly, same papers, bit difficult to get to Venice or work for Norwich Union. Kids ''ill leave you of course for the delights of Manchester or Bolton and pint might ''av froth on it, but OK like. Pleased you enjoyed yourself. Maybe we should all go and watch down at the Walks.

There will be a general feeling of bon homie and well being about the club if Worthington goes. The players will try that little bit harder to impress the manager, the training ground staff will be that little bit sharper, the Board a little bit happier about releasing some cash. Top six would, I think be the minimum we, as fans, could expect especially as we fill the ground at almost every home match. When I changed my job, and I did it lots of times, I rearranged the furinture and threw out the old files. More often or not it worked and it was only the old die hards that caused problems. There are no old diehards at the Club. All are relatively fresh and eager for success. Maybe Mumby has seen it all before but if he gave up smoking he could grab a new lease of life too. Lets all go with it, be cheerful and bright and look forward to "Bring on the Arsenal"  

If Worthy had kept Iwan he would have scored the one goal in one match that would have given us the extra point we needed.Maybe Iwan was greedy for the money (said to be £8,000 a week) and a coaching contract but it would have been worth it and I think that at that point( if we had had a footballing Director on the Board) a bit of friendly advice would have helped Worthington. One of Worthington''s problems has been that he has had to do it all on his own at Board level. I agree about Mackay and Ashton but there were others that were lost thru penny pinching or badly written contracts or because they spoke out....the team captain, the full back, the winger, the loan player not bought, the reserve team striker. Think about it and you cannot limit yourself to three mistakes. I have been thinking about money and the Football Club. So many people with their fingers in the pie......Groundsman,. cleaners, ticket sellers, secruity men, hosts and hostesses, waiters, chefs, receptionists, bar staff, marketing men, accountants, executives and directors all depending on the players on the pitch and more so on the Manager for their next pay rise. Quite a load for Worthington to carry.  

So Ken Brown thinks there is no job security for football managers. Well who is he kidding? I think that a 12 month rolling contract on a salary of over £300,000 a year plus bonus''s is more than adequet security especially as if they do their job half decently they are unlikely to be sacked. I certainly am not going to feel sorry for Worthington if he has to leave his comfort zone at Carrow. He will certainly be able to pay off his mortgage!!

One of the Board''s problems is the comfort zone that they are in. I think that perhaps Delia did not really enjoy her trips round the Premier League  Boardrooms on match days and prefers the lads in the Championship. She is a nice homely woman without either class or too much money and I think she prefers to be amongst her own rather than nobbing it. Before we got into the Premier I remember her saying after a meeting one evening "We are going to do it, aren''t we?" (and for any of you sceptics she was talking about promotion). There was a light in her eyes and a determination that has not, in my opinion, been about since those "heady" days. Instead she has, I believe, immersed herself in the kitchens at Carrow and entertaining her mates to lunch round a table at the Gunn Club on match days. Delia has, according to Barry Skipper in an aside he made at another meeting a couple of years ago, got a financial value on the price any new directors must pay if they want to sit at the top table at Carrow and this prevents the club from getting in the footballing knowledge that could act as a counter weight to Worthington. The manager, as he once said, has learnt a lot about pies by attending Board Meetings but all the Directors have learnt at those same meetings about football has been slanted from Worthington''s point of view........ and like it or not one does have to admit he has an Irishman''s gift of the Blarney. Delia and her husband, Munby and Skipper have all been, or are, reasonably successful business people who I believe have made their money the hard way. They will all know about pressure and I am sure they apply it on Worthington and on Doncaster. There have obviously been mistakes earlier on, and one of those must have been Worthington''s contract, but generally the Board has done a good job to date. Cautious?..... yes the are. Delia wants to protect her comfort zone, her loans to the club and her business and her status. She needs a shake, but a nice shake and we can help by suggesting and helping certainly not by abusing. So come on Delia bring in some new blood at Board Level and lets us all contact one or two suitable persons, who live in the County or near to, and ask them if they were invited would they be willing to become either full, or non-executive, Board members and present the list to Delia.............now whats the name of that former Prime Minister who was a Chelsea supporter!!!!!!!!.

Just looked for Dion on e-bay and there are thirteen items for sale ranging from a pic in a Leicester shirt for 49p, a framed pic of him head butting Robbie Savage of Birmingham for £29.95 and his Aston Villa boot for £5. Bit sad really for 20 years in the game.

I guess we can safely leave this one to the Lower Barclay when he scores against Burnley!!!! On the Ball city....................I am coming back from Oz for this one and that for sure.

The Carling Web site says this about Dublin: "In the January 2006 transfer window Celtic became Dublin''s eighth club when he joined the SPL side on a free transfer in a move that initially had fans scratching their heads at the logic of buying a 37 year old. They relented, however, when he went on to score in the 3-0 Scottish League Cup Final victory against Dunfermline, and his place in Parkhead folklore was cemented. Whether he will play every game this season is unclear considering the size of the Celtic squad, but Strachan will want him as reliable back-up to his growing army of youngsters. " I think it says it all really and if he scores goals for Norwich he will become Norwich folklore. Remember Martin Peters. Mike Channon, Joe Royle all came back and did there bit.  

Oh come, come the good lady has put a lot of her own money into the club and there is no need to be personal about her age. Loyalty is generally considered to be a good trait and we must not condem her for that.  I think what Delia needs alongside her is a Director of  Premiership quality and experiance. She has a fine marketing guy who has sold out  the stadium for both last season and this, another fine guy who has helped sell out all the land that Chase bought on advantageous deals but she just does not have anyone about her who really knows football other than Worthington. Thats why he is still there and why he attends Board Meetings. We should try and find suitable non-executive footballing directors who really no their stuff and offer Delia a list to choose from. Lets be positive and aim to get Worthington some footballing competition at the Board Meetings.

It was reported today here in Perth WA (we are 7 hours ahead) that Stan has signed for one of the East Coast "A" league teams as a guest player. I think that means 4 matches. The fee would be about 12,000 pounds a game

I wonder if anyone agrees with me that the Norwich strip has got rather boring and needs a design revamp.When the original Colmans strip, designed in conjunction with Bruce Oldfield, came out with the new bosses at Carrow Road I thought it was super. The shirt was a pleasure to wear and away from Norwich, even in Australia, I was complimented on wearing a ''great shirt''. That was four or five years ago and apart from the all green ''Lotus'' away strip nothing exciting seems to have come out of Andy Cullen''s marketing department.The current ''Flybee'' shirt is frankly boring I recently bought a green and yellow Australian Rugby League (ARL) shirt and that is exciting. Two big and wide yellow "V"s on a green background from naval to shoulder blades create the impression of a big and powerful man. A yellow collar and yellow cuffs on the shirt add to its smartness and "green & yella-ness". The shirt is designed by ''Classic'' in Australia and made in China. It costs £60 but being a rugby shirt it is a much stronger material than a soccer shirt. To win the Championship Norwich need to grab every little bit of help they can. A shirt that can make Ernie look that little bit bigger, a shirt that can make the team a lttle bit more intimidating, a shirt that can make the crowd a little bit more vocal might make the difference between the drawn and the winning game that brings the Premiership to Carrow again.

I understand its the Board''s policy to back Worthington. Well its about time the Board changed their policy and Delia paid another visit to Walsingham as after all it worked last time. Worthington is a flop and has been for a while now. He has run out of ideas and no longer commands the respect needed for a manager of Norwich City F.C.. There are others who can run the club and its time the Board got off its backside and found someone new with a bit of steel in their veins and a sharp tongue in their head.

Now that would be Ammmmmmmmmmmmmbitttttion!

And what about Martin Peters? Seriously if Worthington had kept Roberts for another season we would not be in this mess now. I suggest Roger Mumby for Centre Forward!

Well it seemed to me that Damien  did not want to play for Norwich.  As is said "U can lead a horse to the water but no one can make him drink". It was known in club circles that a "mid-fielder" wanted to move on well before the end of last season if the club was relegated. Who can blame Damien either faced with a pay cut and a lowering of playing standards. In those circumstances I think Norwich was lucky to get anything for him. I remain convinced that the reason we were relegated was Worthington''s decision not to extend Robert''s contract for a further year. The man would have come on late some game or other, lifted the crowd, lifted the players, scored a goal and turned a draw into a win. One point was all that was needed. Given that win Francis would still be playing for Norwich and the club would be in the top flight. Its all very well saying Worthington was a a learning curve but that curve cost the club a lot of money and the fans a lot of enjoyment.  

Do you think there has been some deal done with Arsenal whereby Bently cannot be dropped unless he is injured? What was the point in sending Iwan on his way without having obtained a proved replacement? I suppose the real problem is that the manager was a defender and he does not know much about attacking play. The problem was there last season in the Championship and before. Keegan has the opposite problem at Manchester City. He was an attacker and really does not rate defence. Maybe what we need is a first class attacking coach. I can think of some great forwards of the past who were with Norwich who we could do with for their advice. One in particular! 

I took an American friend to a match once and he acutely embarrassed me by shouting something about "Big Yellow" thoughout the game but it does not really matter and the best thing is that he very much remembers the experiance. Takes all sorts to make the world and if you were so much of a fanatic you would have bought a season ticket a couple of years ago when the terms were very favourable.

I reckon I have the best seat at Carrow Road. Second Tier of the Barclay, D Section four rows from the front. Magnificent view, all the ambiance, close to toilets and bar, easy reach of the Gunn Club before and after the game. Anyone want to disagree?