Yellow since 1977

How do we all feel? Lets remember is only our second season in the Prem and we are still in the driving seat, 6 points and we will be safe. We have the games and I am sure we have the determination to get over the line. The perspective is that there are teams below us who have been in the Prem much longer than us and have spent considerably more than us and they are struggling. We had an exceptional season last year and were fortunate there were three teams who were considerably poorer than everyone else, this season there are two poor teams and a number of teams who are having similar levels of form. I am still enjoying the season even though the football can be quite negative sometimes, perhaps saturday would be a chance to try some different players and formation as we are not expected to win. Fox for Howson, Whittaker for Martin, Tettey for Bennet and have two up front. The stakes are massive I know with the addtional Sky money next year it almost drives the way teams play to not loose at any cost even if the football is negative. That unfortunately is a symptom of the Prem. Let''s keep positive and get behind the team as we did on Saturday its not all that bad!

My comment "true fans would pay the £19"  has certainly caused much debate. If we are going to be serious about staying in this league then we have a lot of catching up to do with other more established prem clubs and this very small increase must be worth paying to help us on the way. We must get away from our small time club mentality. As I said if you look at the increase even with the additional £19 which is fixed for the next two seasons this is good value. Perhaps those who don''t pay the £19 shouldn''t get the season ticket price frozen for the 14/15 season so those of us who are committed get some payback for our loyalty.    

If I understand it correctly if you renew before the first deadline 2014/15 prices are frozen as well which means any increase this year including the £19 should be be seen as an increase over two seasons which makes good value. I can''t see any problem in supporting the Academy, I also pay £10 a month for the Academy draw. Those who are considering not supporting the Academy through their season ticket should really not renew and let those on the waiting this take their place as they would gladly pay the extra to support the youngsters. True fans would pay the £19.

Agreed it would have felt as bad if we had lost heavily but we perhaps should have expected heavy defeats but being so close I felt slightly cheated in some way

Last three games lost but we have played really well without any reward, a bit like the games following the initial Fulham game. I felt after the Chelsea and City games gutted we didn''t get anything after working so hard, it would have felt better if we had been tonked rather then being so close to a result.  I watched the extended Sky highlights of the game on saturday evening and second half we really looked good, our passing was impressive and committment was there, I know it was against 10 men but Citeh were only playing one up front at that time so it was very good to see. Obviously West Ham is a big game and we should be confident of getting something only worry is up front if Morison and Holt are unfit, I guess Kane will start and Howson is a good replacement for Johnson. 18 games left and 15 points should see us clear, a couple of good signings in January and we should be fine. Still excited about the season.  

Looking at the next 5 games these are all clubs which we should obviously look to get points from, some tricky ones agreed, Swansea & West Brom away but this may well give a great idea of how things will pan out for the rest of the season. I have looked at the sames fixtures from last season and tallied the points. I have substituted Blackburn for Southampton as they seem to be on a par.   2011/12 Blackburn A (Southhampton)   Lost       0      0 Sunderland H                         Won      3      3 Swansea A                            Won      3      6 Wigan H                                Draw     1      7 West Brom A                         Win        3    10   If we get the same number of points as last season then that will be great but I think it will be difficult to pick up points at Swansea and West Brom as they have improved but then so have we. Getting quite interesting. If we can win our home games and maybe get at least a point away from home from the other 3 that keeps us averaging more than a point a game which generally keeps you up. Anyone care to predict the points for the next 5 games, this doesn''t include any comment on the Cup game against Villa which should also be interesting.  

Just upgraded my son''s U21 N&P season ticket to an adult for the Liverpool game, £39.50 so with the season ticket cost per game that''s a £50 seat cost, ouch! I guess this is classed as a Grade A game which is a bit harsh considering they sit below us in the table! Oh well 3 points and the financial pain may feel less.    

Ok have to say it. Lawrenson slagged the defence but missed the fact that Bassong had gone off injured. Yes turner played Ba on but he had not been on long and was still adapting. All the old stuff, second season, it''s going to be extremely tough, blah blah. I am now at the point where I mute during the analysis. Please let''s get a win next week so we can shut these people up!

Just been to pick up the wife from the airport, the short stay car park looked like a Knightsbridge car dealership, Audi Q7/8''s, Range Rovers'' Porsche''s and a nice black 307! Some good private number plates as well RJ11 DDY. Private jet to the match now doubt and can claim back the car parking fee from the club, not a bad life for a footballer. Shame they can''t knock a few chances away bless them.

I did a couple of these posts last season one early on and another once we had pretty much gauranteed safety. It is possibly a bit early for this post this season but after saturdays game it would be worth seeing how we all feel. Some are really negative, Hughton out, we are going down, players are not up for it,etc... Others are keeping positive, its only one game, players don''t turn bad overnight, we will see a fightback, etc... I am still keeping positive even though I do feel a little nervous that it may all go horribly wrong, it is so early in the season, Hughton has not been here long and we have a good squad he justs needs to get the tactics right. We aren''t the new boys anymore and I feel a little envious of Southampton & Reading as they have had a spirited start and are being talked about. I guess it would be expected and this is probably another part of the second season expectation. QPR is massive and I am sure we will see an improvement, a win and all will be forgotten. I am sure there are a couple more transfers to come, I have a feeling one we will all be excited about. I am keeping the faith at the moment and we need to give Hughton 10 games, we got 13 points from the first 10 last season so anywhere near that and we will be OK, less than a point a game we will struggle. I am still enjoying the Prem at the moment!

Not sure how many will be at The Posh tomorrow but anyone recommend an away fans pub near to the ground?  

Mine is the corridor leading from the changing rooms out onto the pitch. The walls are lined with pictures of Norwich players which I guess is intended to intimidate opponents. There is an "On the ball city" plaque above the doors leading out onto the pitch.

Must admit from the doom and gloom a few months back things are now shaping up nicely for the new season. Good manager in place, good back room staff, Holt has committed himself to us, couple of new sigings, additional capacity and expansion of youth facilities at Colney. With pre-season starting next week and the potential for some leavers and new signings we must be in an even better place than we were at the start of last season. I am getting excited now and looking forward to the new season, I think it will be harder this time as there will be less poor sides with Wolves, Blackburn and Bolton dropping down. QPR & WHU are spending big, Reading & Southampton are on a role so it will be very interesting. I fear for Swansea myself and we will need to be careful but we do have a very good squad. Happy days!

you knew it was coming but not sure when.  

Brilliant. Best laugh in ages! 

I am looking for a single Fulham Ticket if anyone cannot now go to the game I am happy to pay the full face value. Please e-mail or PM. Thanks.

Back in August 11 after the Chelsea away game I posted the following: "Anyone else feel like the last time we were in the Prem, didn''t really enjoy the experience. Too much cheating, poor ref decisions, too long between the games, poor reporting, little old Norwich, Delia on the TV, big club favouritism......moan, moan, moan! I was hoping to feel better this time around but so far it has been all the same. I hope that when we get the first win thing will feel better, we get a few less dodgy decisions and we can pull off a surprise win against one of the top 5. I miss the Championship a little but we are where we want to be so, we need to cheat more, shout at the ref, go down in the box, fake injury..... happy days!" Perhaps after 3/4 of the season a good time to gauge the feeling of how we have done this time around. Well I certainly feel better now we are not in the relagation fight, to be 12th and only 3 points behind Liverpool is brilliant. The players have excelled at this level and we have not looked out of place. Lambert has been excellent, not bothered about changing the team and changing tactics during the game. There is a great feeling around the club, great support both home and away, exciting new young players being brought in and an improved youth development policy. When has it been any better than this? Shame about the booing yesterday, totally undeserved but as everyone keeps saying the expectation level has risen. One thing we haven''t managed yet is a win against the top 5, we have come close but we still have Man City, Arsenal & Tottenham to play so you never know! I am sure we have done enough to stay up now but I just hope we don''t drop away and finish just above the relegation teams which would detract from our great season. Already looking forward to next season and the new players Lambert will bring in, the new teams which will come up and our chance to maintain our place in the Prem. Happy Days!

This is my best thread I have started on the message board. Thanks to everyone who has contributed. Some varied and interesting points. Looks like those of us who are slightly older enjoyed the game when it was more about the football and less about the business. We are in the Prem and have worked hard to get there so we must adapt and enjoy it even though it will be painful sometimes. A good win against West Brom and we can start feeling better. The next 4 home games are all games we should be winning if we are serious about staying up. We have some trickly away games, Bolton, Man U & Liverpool so by the end of the Blackburn game we will have played 10. If we can average a little more than a point a game over the season we have a chance of staying up.  If we have more than 12 points after our first 10 games this would be a satisfactory start, depends on those teams around us but hisyory says 42+ point is usually enouigh to stay up.

Glad this stimulated am interesting debate, some good comments. I thought the one about the Prem being a business and not about the goofy was very true. What if the top 4 teams play in a European league and then made the Prem 24 teams with chances to play in europe

Anyone else feel like the last time we were in the Prem, didn''t really enjoy the experience. Too much cheating, poor ref decisions, too long between the games, poor reporting, little old Norwich, Delia on the TV, big club favouritism......moan, moan, moan! I was hoping to feel better this time around but so far it has been all the same. I hope that when we get the first win thing will feel better, we get a few less dodgy decisions and we can pull off a surprise win against one of the top 5. I miss the Championship a little but we are where we want to be so, we need to cheat more, shout at the ref, go down in the box, fake injury..... happy days!

Thanks

Glad I have been able to start an interesting debate. I agree with Trent Canary, i like to sing OBC but not being prompted. What about if the club recorded the crowd singing OBC before a match and then played this over the PA at volume with us singing along as well, this would probably double the noise level. If the club wanted to make money out of it perhaps have a sponsor for the pre-match song which is read out before we sing.  

Does anyone else cringe when we have two people on th pitch and we all sing "On the ball city......" before the match. I know it is a bit of a money earner and it gets us to raise the atmosphere and I gladly sing it during the match but isn''t it a bit naff. I might be well off the mark here but could we do something else instead which is less cringe worthy, mexican wave, cheerleaders, Aviva the Lima and Captain Canary have a punch up, unisex topless penalty shoot out! What do other clubs do before kick off, I went to Wolves and they sing Hi Ho Wolverhampton but we just substitued the Hi Ho with two words that start with an F and ends with an F. Anyone seen any good pre-match crowd raisers?

If Leeds gets promoted on saturday guess who will get all the press coverage at the end of the season. Not the champions but Leeds, you can see it now. We''re a big club and we should be pushing for the prem, sleeping giant, best fans in the worls etc etc. I suppose we should expect it as little old Norwcih doesn''t have a great profile but it is sickening.    

If we look at the last 10 games played of this season and the corresponding 10 games when we got promoted to the Prem we have actually achieved only 2 points less than we did when we were promoted so nothing to worry about. We did go onto win 3 out of our last 4 so if we can do that then we have no worries. Lets keep the faith!