......and Smith must score.

It''s all going to be a bit embarassing frankly.Playing a meaningless game in front of a full house is bad enough but the players then going on a lap of  honour  after the the number of feeble displays they''ve produced this season is taking the biscuit. There are exceptions of course but only a few players can hold their heads up high.There''s bound to be a few '' happy clappers '' - those that''ll jump up an down and applaud anything in yellow and green - but I''m hoping they''ll be pretty thin on the ground on Sunday

Well for someone generally so pessimistic I''m feeling stupidly opimistic about our prospects next year.Some of our better players will leave but we''ll still have some decent players at Championship level. Coupled with being debt free we''ve £23m in parachute payments and 20K-odd season ticket holders. Financially this is easily the best position we''ve ever been in following  relegation.It''s going to need a spectacularly bad managerial appointment not to make a decent fist of it and I''ll be very disappointed if we don''t make the play-offs at least.

Before we get too carried away by all the permutations regarding tonight''s match there is the small matter of us remembering to win against Arsenal too.

[quote user="Alex "]Have a look on this forum mate - appears on a number of threads. Don''t think it''s Wiz though, wants to meet up for a drink or something so I''m assuming it''s a Brum ''Canary''. http://www.sunderlandmad.com/t8116-safc-v-wba-the-party-starts-we-hope[/quote]He sounds right up your street then Morty..........you''ll get along like a house on fire. [:D]

[quote user="morty"][quote user="Nechtology"]Who are these fabled managers though? Name some? A big name, well respected in the game, who can attract top players to the club? If there is such a manager, they sure as hell aren''t coming to Norwich. And if they are, it means they are not ambitious enough. Sad but true. Roeder was a "name", Hughton was a "name", but look at the mess they got us in. We need to stick to what Norwich have always been best at. Nuturing Youth players, signing hungry lower league players, and having a team that is passionate, and who will play for the manager and the club. One thing I can see, Neil Adams has ambition burning inside him.[/quote]You are Neil, aren''t you?[/quote][:D]

[quote user="baggie192"][quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="Sussexyellow"][quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]next to the last game of last season [ same again] we beat WBA 4 nil. They were on the beach then and i suspect they will be again on wednesday night[/quote]If my memory serves me right last season they were in a league position that was not going to change whatever their results. This season they have a few places to play for, and for a club like WBA the extra money would be handy.That said if I was going to place a bet it would be on a Sunderland win![/quote]It''s true that West Brom can move up a couple of places but unless they are on some kind of fantastic bonus scheme I doubt that will make much difference to the players financially. Lumping a few quid on a home win then taking it easy would. And who wants to bust a gut and get themselves injured for the summer, eh ?I''m not for one minute suggesting that players are actively colluding together to fix the result but this scenario is so like last year when we beat them 4-0. On all known form we''d never have done that in a million years if the visitors had had anything to play for and it clearly showed on the pitch. The point you''re missing is that Mel still has to prove to our board he''s the man for the job. Can he afford not to play a strong side and take the points. Sunday we have Stoke and the return of Odemwingie who has an axe to grind and a point to prove. Sunderland maybe Pepe''s last chanceIt''s no good relying on West Brom or anyone else to get us out of this hole. We dug it ourselves.[/quote][/quote]Fair point about Mel but whether he plays a strong side or not it''s the players who decide whether to take it easy. Maybe they like Mel. If so and providing they''ve no ulterior motive in taking their foot off the gas then there''s no reason why they shouldn''t win at the Stadium of LightI''m sure Steve Clarke wanted to win at Carrow Rd last season and seemed as flabbergasted as we were when the Baggies crashed 4-0. Under Chris Hughton we could only dream about beating anyone by that kind of score. It was no wonder some were suspicious about it all.

Looking forward to away trips to :Nice sunny trip to gentile Bournemouth.Brentford as I missed it last time.Peterborough would be handy if they make it. NOT looking forward to :The Fulham gamesThe Wolves gamesThe Ipswich games ( especially )

[quote user="Sussexyellow"][quote user="Yorkshire Canary"]next to the last game of last season [ same again] we beat WBA 4 nil. They were on the beach then and i suspect they will be again on wednesday night[/quote]If my memory serves me right last season they were in a league position that was not going to change whatever their results. This season they have a few places to play for, and for a club like WBA the extra money would be handy.That said if I was going to place a bet it would be on a Sunderland win![/quote]It''s true that West Brom can move up a couple of places but unless they are on some kind of fantastic bonus scheme I doubt that will make much difference to the players financially. Lumping a few quid on a home win then taking it easy would. And who wants to bust a gut and get themselves injured for the summer, eh ?I''m not for one minute suggesting that players are actively colluding together to fix the result but this scenario is so like last year when we beat them 4-0. On all known form we''d never have done that in a million years if the visitors had had anything to play for and it clearly showed on the pitch.It''s no good relying on West Brom or anyone else to get us out of this hole. We dug it ourselves.

Needing a win and nothing less I hope we really have a good go even if we get turned over 8-0 ( not 9-0 or more as we wouldn''t want that lot from Suffolk losing that particular bragging right ). We''ve nothing to lose.It would be nice to meet Arsenal with something to play for too.

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]oh how vital fers "goal" vs cardiff seems now.... sunderland got fined for playing an ilegible player.. "cheating" we castigate our own team for scoring a fair and legitimate goal which would have gone unpunished and left us 1 point behind sunderland.... that would be Sunderland who "cheated".... we beat cardiff.... the ref invented a rule to say we didnt[/quote]Clutching at straws here. You''re probably right that the '' goal '' against Cardiff should have stood but we''d have let them score at the other end anyway.Besides I somehow doubt two extra points will make any difference to our fate this year.We''ve been c*ap and deserve to be relegated.

Well we normally get mullered 4-0 at their place - only 3-1 last time though - so for tradition I''ll go for another 4-0.For once we really do need to go for the win which will leave us wide open and I really can''t see us holding them.

[quote user="Dubai Mark"].......dont know what odds you would get down the bookies right now for us to survive???[/quote]We''re 1/33 to go down on Oddschecker so I suppose we''d be about 33/1 to stay upSunderland are 40/1, WBA 50/1 and Hull 150/1 to go down so I''d say it''s all over bar the shouting.

There''s been worse but it has been a big, big disappointment.Relegation is always a possibility for a club like ours but I wish we''d shown a bit more fight and flair getting there. Someone on here mentioned the Prem season under Worthington. Now that was exciting.....dead and buried then a great late fightback which only just failed.Perhaps if the Board had acted sooner and dispensed with Chris Hughton we might at least have seen some more exciting football but we''ll never know. Mr McNally''s assertion that Hughton was the '' best in class '' makes you wonder what the others would have been like.The Premier League is where it''s '' at '' but it''ll be nice to see us win a few games again and put a bit of joy back into the spectators. It''s been grim.

[quote user="First Wazzock"]yeah, it''s Norwich Norwich or Norwich[/quote][:D]

With so much speculation swirling around I''d be interested to know how the Board actually arrive at the decisions they make. Do they all have equal voting rights or do the two majority shareholders have the final say ?If the latter''s the case then I''ll bet that''s been a stumbling block on more than one occasion over the years.

[quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="Jenkins"]....a point on Sunday will see us out of the bottom three. Fulham, Sunderland and Cardiff all have tough away fixtures from which they will get nothing.....[/quote]Oh, if only life was that simple......[/quote]There''s always some stupid sods ( Sunderland ) who don''t understand how this game works.....[:D]

[quote user="JF"]We are finished. You have got to hand it to Sunderland they deserve to stay up. We have lacked fight and desire and on performences we deserve to be one of the bottom 3.[/quote]Spot on.Sunderland looked like dead men walking only three weeks ago and now look at ''em.They thoroughly deserve to survive. To be fair everyone else at the bottom has made a bit of effort, if sometimes a bit half-a*sed, but at least they''ve made the effort. Our lot, with two or three exceptions, look beaten before they kick-off.I''ve been so disappointed with  us this season. I can''t wait for it to end to put us out of our misery.

[quote user="Hucks6"]......Look what happens when we appoint ex players it goes tits up..... [/quote]Dave Stringer might disagree.

[quote user="Jenkins"]....a point on Sunday will see us out of the bottom three. Fulham, Sunderland and Cardiff all have tough away fixtures from which they will get nothing.....[/quote]Oh, if only life was that simple......

[quote user="Jenkins"]........ Hope you all have a great day, they must be very excited. They will remember the game for the rest of their lives I''m sure.[/quote]Not sure whether that''s a good or bad omen  [:D]

[quote user="InchY_barn door_wolfswinkel"]The OP seems to have completely overlooked that we have a game Saturday and skipped straight to making himself look a co ck.[/quote]Indeed.......[:D]

[quote user="FenwayFrank"]Putting a positive spin on things they haven''t got a great home record at the moment [:P][/quote]So with our great away record that must be a banker three points for us, no ? [:D]

See Chelsea are 3-1 down to Athletico tonight.They''ll be so p*ssed off I wouldn''t fancy being their next opponents.I''m glad it''s not......oh, wait a minute [:''(]

I seem to remember that Everton were in for Fer last season and would have bought him if Fellaini had moved to another club. Fellaini''s move from Goodison fell through that time so Everton didn''t pursue the matter. For some weird reason it was said that Fer had failed his medical.Now that Fellaini''s left Everton maybe the Toffee''s want to try again ?

[quote user="TexasCanary"]Last week Chelsea implemented the tactics with discipline, they got the breaks and took their chances when given to them. Discipline and taking your chances I only recall working at West Brom this season.[/quote]The problem is Chelsea have a team playing in a different universe to our lot.Discipline alone won''t get us anything. We''re going to need a huge slice of luck too against a team still in with an outside chance of taking the title. Even when we''re playing there in a '' nothing '' game '' we usually get turned over by four and I can''t see that changing this time.