The Sweeney

Whilst I have little time for Roeder last night was a match with a team that plays football against a team trying to play football. I felt that we have a long way to go with some real areas of weakness which a team less skilled than Spurs will easily exploit. Hopefully new signings will ease things but the ability of the manager to bring it all together is in my opinion somewaht in doubt.

Had to chuckle last night with the new fitness routine. There was Tommy Wright and anothe very large guy in black out with the players before the match. Inspirational or what? Obviously the big guy is Pattys personal trainer as they share a similar shape- another Roeder "old boy" cock-up!

This guy''s track record says it all-is this really the best we can do? We need players for the future rather than rejects from the past. Hopefully the story is just that-heaven help us if it proves to be true.

Rentokil vans surrounding  Colney! Seems a particularly large roedent is exterminating the local inhabitants. Seems said roedent has a particularly large family who are short of work and accommodation. Prompt action needed before full infestation takes place. Uniform are enforcing two mile exclusion zone after having to disarm several former residents armed with P45s. Fantasy or reality?  

At last some level headed comment about Roeder who sadly does not appear to have the skill to handle either the media or supporters in an open and honest way. I think the majority of us on here are reasonable people who understand that football often is a pretty rotten business. Roeder, in my opinion, does much to promote that understanding. Yes he has a job to do and if keeping us in the Championship is the barometer he has done that job. Looking at the broader picture he has not done so well after a promising start that faded to just avoiding relegation. Add to this the issues around the personal lifes of some of the players and his response to certainly one of these issues must seriously question his ability. As for the Huckerby issue whilst I feel it was time for him to move on the way it has been handled only adds to the disquiet about Roeder. Then to ice the cake lets look at Roeder''s behaviour after the game on Sunday when met by Norwich supporters asking for his autograph pushed wildly and angrily past them whilst mouthing some rather choice words. Standing there with my 10 year old son I was less than impressed by his behaviour. Perhaps he should take a leaf out of his players book who to a man were happy to sign autographs and pose for photographs. In my opinion Roeder behaved like a spoilt brat who had lost his toys-hardly the image the club should expect its employees to promote.

Good day out-crap facilities at the away end but Canaries fans in good humour. Not sure about Wednesday just playing hoofball as they put some good passing moves together. Our defence(or lack of) was all over the place with Shackell and Doc being caught out several times. Marshall has no presence in the box and his distribution is appalling. Patterson was a joke and it is tempting to say he lost his bottle-his missed a couple of sitters as did Huckerby. It was a poor performance which showed nothing for the fans who travelled far and spent plenty. Highlight was the reception Dion Dublin received from all in the ground-an absolute model professional who is a credit to the game. After coming out of the players entrance he spent ages signing autographs and having his photograph taken with fans. The lowest point was the behaviour of Glen Roeder who after coming out of the players entrance pushed his way past Norwich fans looking for his autograph,mouthing some choice words as he made his way to the coach. Something about the coach was waiting for him-yet it did not leave for at least ten minutes after he climbed on board. Contrast this with the players who without exception were all happy to sign autographs and have their photograph taken. To my mind Roeder is a miserable b*****d who is so up his own backside with no idea or regard for the fans who for some part pay his wages. Shame on you Roeder or Roedent as my 10 year old so accurately described him. 

Sorry you got such a load of nonsense from some other posters. Brown did not get much of a chance here as often playing out of position or having to come very deep to get the ball-not much good for a striker! Pleased for him and PNE that he is doing well and that you are no longer a relegation candidate-what a difference a decent manager can make. Thanks for the good luck-we certainly need it in what has been a terrible season. The reality is that we are a very poor side and deserve to be where we are. All the very best and thanks for a good post 

Superb post-Radio Norfolk is totally gutless when it comes to putting managers on the spot. Waller was bad but Goreham does no better. It seems to me that Goreham is afraid of the managers- a poor journalist but not uncommon on BBC local radio sport. As they are funded by the public they need to do far better and actually ask the questions we need answering. As my son says-Gutless Goreham!

You make a good point and some refs have done just that. The difficulty with this one is that now GR and LC have been charged by the F.A. the ref cannot really comment. After the hearing he may decide it is appropriate to comment and possibly apologise.

Glad that spelling does not come into your version of the test-you failed!!

The person who does not make a mistake has not been created yet although Alex Ferguson might think he is! The point I make is that there is nothing to stop a manager attempting to talk to the referee after the game and off the pitch. It is up to the referee as to how he handles it. I do not agree with you that refs are taking over the game as they have always been in charge of it. As the money has increased in the game so has the pressure on refs from players, managers and fans who feel that however they play their team is always in the right. Look at the ref in the Liverpool v Arsenal match last night-did he perform as you suggest every ref does? Not at all-he was excellent getting the penalty decison right when the ref in the same game last week got it very wrong. Sadly getting at the ref has gone right through to youth football- I ref under -10 football having just finished my 41st year as a qualified ref( I cannot keep up with anything else) which gives a lot of enjoyment. However the stick you get from the touchline(usually the parents) makes you wonder why you bother. Sadly even at that age you see some teams get involved in gamesmanship and cheating-both encouraged by the managers. I take no nonsense clamping down on it quickly and firmly-you usually get a low mark from the team involved however it is worth it if it stops the problem. From your comments I guess that you have never been a ref-take it from me when you ref adults the backchat and complaints from players even at our level is always there. You balance that with the banter that you have with the players-a good ref always does this yet the supporters rarely hear it. You may think it is an easy task-try it and see what you think!    

Point you all seem to miss is regardless whether the ref got it right or wrong is it right to go storming on the pitch to have a go at him? He is not going to change his mind after the game or bring the players back on the pitch to play the last few minutes again. Roeder and Clarke were well out of order and they know it. It send totally the wrong message and we already have to suffer too much of this and the players antics in football as it is. The manager scores the ref at the end of each game and my understanding is that if that score is below five then the manager has to write a report as to why he has scored low. There is also the match assessor who reports on the game and talks to the referee after the match. Refs do get penalised for poor performance. I notice that nobody in this post mentions our "lucky break" against Sheffield United earlier in the season when a wrong decision by the officials went in our favour. I for one will not be writing to the FA as you take what comes in football-some days it shines on you other day it "s...s" on you.

Not sure how you can say this was a good performance when in one paragraph you say Burnley did not pose much of a threat whilst in the next you say " Former City sides would have crumbled under the pressure today" In my opinion Burnley were weak through lacking several key players and frankly were not really interested. Talking to a couple of their supporters afterwards who said that they realised their season was finished before this game so really were not expecting much. So whilst City won lets not get carried away as the results over the past few weeks have been pretty poor. There is also the question of all the loan players and what happens to them. Best thing for me all afternoon was when the chap behind me said Pattison was palying with plenty of spirit-read in to that what you want! 

Very high ratings for a side against a very poor team

Be careful-you will overdose on sour grapes! As for him being biased please get a life-whilst he does not get everything right(what ref does)it is ridiculous to say he is biased against Norwich. For your assertion to have any substance the assessor would also have to be biased each time-the assessor is not the same person for each game. Rest assured if a ref did show a bias it would be dealt with. It is easy to fall into the Roeder trap by blaming the ref for the shortcomings of the team. On what I have seen for the past couple of seasons I do wonder why I renew my season ticket-poor teams and poor managers. Some poor refs decisons-some which have gone in our favour. At th end of the day it is the players who score the goals not the ref!