5winger

          How sad it is to see a fine Club brought low when it could so easily have been avoided.   The fault lies not with the fans, whose integrity has been flawless, nor even with the players, who gave their all but were simply overwhelmed.  Instead, the fault lies with a management whose naivety is breathtaking; they seem not to understand the simple mathematics of league football.           First, there is a positive correlation between Goal Difference and position in the league.  Consequently every goal scored is of equal value to every goal stopped.  City''s attack has been pretty good (55 scored puts the side in the top half of the league, 11th. out of 24).  But the side has let in 66 goals and only two clubs, Charlton and Watford have had a worse defensive record.         So this is at the heart of City''s position and it is entirely the fault of the management.            Second, the management should have learned from History and invested in good defenders which, if money is tight, are cheaper than strikers.  Was it Ian Butterworth who said that the best form of defence is attack?  Well, this is nonsense because the best form of defence is a strong efficient and well drilled defence.            Two pieces of football history show this point.  In 1986 an ailing Arsenal appointed former player George Graham as manager.  With little money Graham invested in defenders and the side ground out nil-all draws or 1-0 wins and Arsenal was seen as the most boring side in Division One.  But it paid off; success followed and he signed Adams, Dixon, Winterbourne. then David Seaman.   Hard to credit, but this powerful defensive array was at the heart of the Arsenal we see today.            The second concerns Man U.  In the 90''s the side was doing quite well but in truth was pretty ordinary.  Then in a stroke of genius Ferguson signed Jaap Stam from PSV.  This bald, gangling defender lumbered about the field snuffling out attack after attack and in the three years he was at Old Trafford the side won the Premier League three times, the FA Cup, the Inter Cup and the UEFA Champions League.   John Terry did much the same for Chelsea.           Strikers are the glamorous heroes and all small boys and journalists focus on them.   But the best sides in the whole of football worldwide are the ones against whom it is hardest to score.      But the board members are altogether too chummy and not football savvy.  NCFC will continue to go down unless Delia and her chums do the decent thing and depart.                

Gunny wont make the mistake Roeder did of talking too much to the press.  He talked too much and said too little.  The press reported him verbatim, so the fans saw him as a gibbering ninny.