Yellow Rider

[quote user="crabbycanary"]What original songs have you got brewing then Yellow Rider?[/quote] Well, in terms of ''creativity'' YR is viewed by some as a pretty dull fella but I''ve this one in my head since last winter. It''s very easy, more than just a repetitive chant and the whole ''army'' could join in. Sung to the tune of ''O come all ye faithul'' ''O COME YELLOW ARMY, JOYFUL AND TRIUMPHANT, O COME YE, O COME YE TO CARROW ROAD, COME AND BEHOLD HIM, BORN THE KING OF NORWICH, O COME LET US ADORE HIM, O COME LET US ADORE HIM, O COME LET US ADORE HIM, WES HOOLAHAN!! Any players name could be used at the end, I think this could be a great new song and something really different. Shades of the Baggies ''Lords My Shepherd'' and that is well impressive when they get it going! Mind you trying to get this going next Sunday in Block K of The Jarrold could be a struggle. Row W Seat 120 though about 1.20 pm if anyone wants to help! Problem is that stupid, blaring music drowns out any attempts at pre match atmosphere at FCR.

Must admit I was about 6 rows from the front and in line with the corner flag over to the left so I was pretty close to the more vocal Wigan element. Same position (almost exactly) that I had v Hull and yesterday I felt the same about our atmosphere. Maybe if I had been far more in the middle of our fans and behind the goal then I may have sensed it differently. Not sure.

Wigan away was the perfect start for me when the fixtures came out. Stay with Norwich supporting family near York and then an easy motorway run across to join with the massed army from The East. Finally after crawling through traffic for ages we arrived at the enemy fortress to find that (as anticipated) it had been turned into a bright yellow sea of shirts outside and in the area surrounding the ground (retail complex for example). From Club Cabbage, to Reids of Caister to Dereham Coachways to a multitude of mini buses and hundreds of cars, the Y''Army was out in force. Surely Rider thought the fans would dominate the vocals and turn it into Carrow Road. Seems that many posters think that is excatly what happened with descriptions of ....''deafening support''. Sorry - but I for one was distinctly underwhelmed by ''the atmosphere''. It seemed like a re-run of Hull away to me with fragmented, half hearted songs going on and only, rarely, did the army rise as one and really bellow out. Yesterday seemed a family day out for many with the following containing what seemed like a high preponderance of father,mother + the obligatory two children or elderly men and women out for a stroll. We welcome them all to our ''family club'' of course but these people aren''t exactly going to be at the forefront of vocal support are they?? Wigan was light years away from the type of following we took to Elland Road and the really impressive vocal support that day. Finally (and I know this will be viewed as sacrilege) but can we please reserve OTBC for occasions when the crowd REALLY get going and get it booming out. Our distinct lack of originality in our songs leads to OTBC being (to all intents and purposes) ''our only song'' . So when the ''South Folk'' direct that accusation against us I would say they''re spot on!

Wigan away is exactly what I wanted - unrestricted ticket allocation, reasonable price and fighting chance of that much needed first win. Long way to travel but we should take a good 3,000 as fans will pick and choose away games next season. Far better Wigan than paying £50 or so at some London club ripping you off and only giving a couple of thousand tickets!  Wigan are hardly likely to be ''up for the game'' as their sparse fan base will consider us a poor first home match and vote with their feet accordingly. Good!

[quote user="kellybrook"]What Bowkett was obviously saying was that the club will back Lambert as much as is needed, up to the 40 million, not "we will spend 40 million to stay up".If we go down, we use the parachute payments to clear some of the debt. But while we are up there we need to spend what we have - its called speculating to accumulate. If we fail we have a cushion to manage the debt, if we succeed we may never look back.Anyone suggesting we should hold back money and pay of the debt rather than buy a new team is is probably Neil Doncaster in disguise.[/quote] Are you seriously suggesting we go out and ....''buy a new team'' (in your words). That would be insanity of the highest order! As for not paying off debt, presumably you don''t read papers, listen to the TV or radio? If you do you would realise that the strategy you''re calling for is exactly why GB plc is in almsot total financial ruin!

Re Pacheco - you are absolutely right. The more I watch that goal on TV the better it is. He actually turns the defender inside out twice! He has clearly loved his short spell here as you could see in the celebrations. I would move heaven and earth to get him on some kind of extended loan. Yes we know that he will come up against some hard, quality defenders who will be streets ahead of the compatriots playing for Swansea and Coventry but Pacheco has this wonderful ability to run at defenders and just glide past them with a subtle drop of the shoulder and quick feet. The goal was a stunner and he also hit the bar with that freekick. There were numerous other examples of close control, perceptive passing and taking on defenders. Whilst Jackson has come on in leaps and bounds he remains predictable although he works his socks off. Pacheco plays with instinct and flair - defenders hate that!

Hard to know where to start on this thread after the storming last two seasons. Highlight for me was not actually the reality of promotion but that incredible night at the beamback, I''d not experienced anything like that since the Bayern Munich home match. Anyway, back to the point., ''Then'' is exactly 7 years ago when Worthy and The Cook were in charge off the field. Lets just compare the attitude of these main protagonists with todays leaders. Although I was never an outright Worthy fan, there is no doubt he did a great job on a shoestring budget and produced a team in that promotion season in many ways mirroring todays squad in terms of the team spirit and camaraderie. When he finally decided to adopt a more adventurous approach away from home there was a few swashbuckling performances and we went up in some style. When it came to The Premier though Worthy was awestruck of the whole thing frequently referring to Mr. Wenger, Mr. Benitez and Mr. Jol. The away record and performances were truly shocking and I witnessed feeble attempts at Anfield, The Valley and Villa Park. There were many others. The Boardoom was dominated by The Cook who was queen of all she surveyed. You couldn''t switch on the TV or pick up a paper without seeing or hearing her. Football club owners should keep a low profile as they are merly custodians for the real owners - the fans. Now I could tolerate the high profile and deliberate publicity seeking style of The Cook IF she had displayed the right attitude to that Premiership season. Here is the key point. She referred to the whole thing as.......''a lovely holiday'' and of course we had that dreadfully patronising ....''little Norwich'' interview on Sky after the Man Utd home win. I never, ever heard any stirring message of ambition, determination or drive to stay in the Premiership from Worthy or The Cook or indeed anyone of note at NCFC. To be fair to Delia, her attitude was reflective of the Board as a whole. It came to a head when Yellow Rider was having difficulty with his cornflakes on the Monday after the Craven Cottage murder. Mr. Munby (lovely guy though he was) said this on Five Live...''I wanted to run on the pitch and give him a big hug. If I had my way he would have a job for life''. Now just look at those comments again and take them in the context of that defeat and that abysmal away record. If anything confirms the completely amateurish and out of touch attitude of that Board, then those dreadful statements most certainly do. Forget the money, if the right postive attitude had run throughout FCR in 2004-2005 season we would have had a damn sight better chance of survival! Now to ''Today'' - what has been so notable is the almost complete lack of public exposure devoted to The Cook. No interrviews that I saw and I have just checked the EDP for last Tuesday and Wednesday and there is virtually nothing. Mr and Mrs Smith knew the wolves were closing in after relegation in 2009 and McNally was brought in to assume almost total control. PL followed and the rest is the recent fabulous history. All we need to say about PL is encapsulated in the fact that he has won 50% (!!) of his away matches in those two seasons. Both he and DM were (within hours of Pompey) setting out clear, ambitious goals and publicly stating that ....''every waking hour would be spent on striving for Premiership survival''. 2004 was great of course but I quickly had serious worries as to what would happen. 2011? Who knows? What we can say for 100% is thatwith PL and DM at the helm we are likley to make a much better fist of it than 7 years ago!

Your question is difficult to answer Nutty as we don''t know who any prospective new owner could have been had she jacked it in after the Charlton game in 2009. From the emotional involvement. committment and continuing financial support then ''Yes'' I''m very glad she stayed on. However, what is much more pleasing is that she clearly took a much more backstage role after relegation and has minimised public appearances. That is exactly how an owner should operate. The decisions are now obviously taken (and driven through) by McNally. Would Ms Smith have taken the knife to Gunny after that one horrible defeat? No, of course not.   Re the statue idea - I agree with you. I think the Delia Smith of 2011 would (hopefully) recoil from any such prospect. Now the Delia Smith of 2004, I''m not quite so sure! 

[quote user="nutty nigel"] Now Rider and Babes, do you honestly think that McNally was serious about the statue?   I think he was just getting across how much we are all indebted to their financial and emotional commitment to our club.   Some will never see it though. But where are all those folk you lot hankered after for so long.   Why are bigbolloxmandericwednesday still floundering in League One?   I hope football comes to it''s senses before we find out how life would be without the cook and her old man.     [/quote] You may be right Nutty - I hope it was ''tongue in cheek''. Certainly DM had every right to praise their contribution. However, lets just assume it WAS a serious suggestion. Would you be in favour of a statue to The Cook at FCR, Yes or No? As for your other comment, I never ''hankered'' for the club to be sold to any old jobsworth who wanted to buy her shares. I was dubious about Peter Cullum but was disappointed that some proper negotiations seemed not to happen. Believe it or not I am The Cooks biggest fan when she berates the cancer of ''money'' in the game and faceless foreign owners accountable to no-one. I would hate it if NCFC was sold to someone who had dodgy motives or just started slinging money about on multi million transfer fees and wages that incoming revenue could not have supported. I have always been a critic of The Cook but that relates to a variety of issues some of which are now many years ago, some far more recent and I don''t see the need to rake up all that again. As far as emotional involvement and financial support is concerned though I am firmly in the pro Cook camp!    When I get some time I will be posting a separate thread and comparing her and the club now with that in 2004. I sincerely hope she has learnt lessons from the last time when the whole attitude of the club after winning promotion was a disgrace. I watched the Look East coverage on Tuesday and what  was striking was the comparatively low exposure she had, no interview in sight (unless on the lunchtime edition). IF she is genuinely going to take a much lower profile in terms of public statements, TV, radio interviews etc. then that in itself will certainly improve our chances of staying up next season.       

If this happens I would be horrified. I fully acknowledge the financial input she has made and without that we would not just have been promoted - FACT! However, statues and the like should be reserved for great players or managers of the past. Delia Smith (as she herself has said) is .....''acting as a trustee on behalf of the fans who are the true owners of the club''  We have now been told publicly (for the first time) by the club that in September / October 2009 we were on the brink of administration. Who was majority shareholder in those years when the debt spiralled and should have taken action to prevent that taking place? And you want a statue in honour of that person???   In the early summer of 2009 The Cook and her husband knew the game was up and had to effectively relinquish day to day control to McNally. The rest is history.

Why does the letter / website make no mention of the need to relocate a chunk of City fans from the Jarrold Blocks from K to the normal visitor section for the play off home leg? 99% certain we will play Forest (if we don''t get automatic) and they will have the right to 15% of our capacity. That means half the Jarrold (basically) so quite a few fans will be hunting for spare seats elsewhere! So to say.....''you can apply for your seat only'' is not strictly correct.

[quote user="Archie"]He is definitely not fit. He didn''t put himself about like he usually does, was not harrassing defenders as much as usual. I actually thought he was pretty ineffective all game. I hope Grant is in better shape for next Monday. [/quote] Absolutely right - he was a passenger for almost all the game in reality. With no Vokes and no Wilbraham I think his fitness is now a major concern. Personally I would have brought Chris Martin on instead of Pacheco yesterday. The boy must be as fresh as a daisy and desperate to play. Martin can win games and 20 mins. or so yesterday would have got him right back in the mix. Holt and Zak must be fit for Pompey otherwise I think it''s playoffs. Fratton Park is intimidating and they will want to end their home campaign on a high. Oh, and there''s Nugent! Don''t get me wrong, we can win there but with all the pressure to do so and Holt at best sent out ''patched up'', it could fall apart. When was the nearest equivalent to Pompey match in terms of significance and absolute ''must win''? Er, yes, Craven Cottage 2005, we know what happened there!     

Watching Holt today was like rewinding the clock to some of his performances in September, Octonber when, on occasions, he looked well off the pace. Today he spent so much time playing deep or wide and was zero threat in the box. I can only assume the hammy was niggling again or he was carrying another knock. We were fortunate today in some respects as Derby could have won it (undeservedly) near the end when Ruddy made that last ditch save. The Pompey game is very difficult and we will need Holt right on form and the team to produce a Leicester style away performance. Anything less and I think it''s play offs (unless Cardiff mess up v Boro). I know they have a difficult last match v Burnley but looking at next weeks fixtures I think Forest will now land sixth spot. Burnley may just go into the Cardiff game knowing they''ve missed out. Hope not though! OK I know this sounds a tad negative but can we just grind out another away win v Pompey to keep our noses in front? Even then we would almost certainly STILL have to win v Coventry! 

Of course all clubs have their fair share of idiot supporters and we are not immune (Leicester away a couple of years ago for example). However, Norwich fans are consistently singled out for praise for behaviour on away trips and todays EDP (page 11) made very proud reading. ''Supt. John Everett who led a force of 300 officers policing the match said: ''The Norwich fans behaved impeccably. We have held them up and they have been patient while we have sorted the issues outside the visitors section prior to the mtach. They have behaved extremely well. What has disappointed me is a significant minority of Ipswich supporters which have really taken us back to the mid 1980''s. Some of the behaviour is disappointing'' I know the plod have taken stick for the disorganisation that seems to have happened but lets face it if there hadn''t been a load of Ipswich fools hell bent on causing trouble, the police''s job would have been that much easier!   Well done all 2,000+. You''re a credit to yourselves, the club, our city, our county and, most of all, to the sport.      

Wembley, I was at the beamback at FCR so missed all this stuff. Certainly seems different from last four years games at Ipswich when I have walked from the West End Road car park to the ground wearing colours and had zero problems. From your report, if it was as late as 11.45 (or even 10.45) by the time City fans got to the station surely they had missed the trains home? I thought there was a ''special'' at 10.20?  There was nothing on the news or even on this board about the fans missing their trains so I wonder what happened?? 

Just can''t understand why some fans bought tickets in Ipswich areas and must have sat on hands looking glum all night! To have been at Portaloo in the City area would have been sensational but second to that (and damn close second) was FCR last night. Last nights atmosphere was astonishing, the whole build up, importance of the occasion and goals flowing in at the old enemy was mind blowing. Then as we spilled onto Carrow Road and down Riverside the singing carried on for ages with cars hooting horns and fans hanging out of car windows. I think you have to go back to the great Bayern Munich night to top what we experienced just 12 short hours ago. My mind was leaping and jumping for ages. One of the greatest nights of my life supporting The Yellows that for sure!   

[quote user="City1st"]Blimey, there will be more at Carrow Road than at poorman road at this rate The poor old paupers still have thousands of tickets unsold - they can''t blame it on the game being televised this time I wonder how much they have lost by not giving us a decent allocation ?[/quote] Er - unlikely. If they got 24,000 v Palace recently they''ll sure as hell get the usual 29,000 or so v us! Make no mistake they will come out in force for this. my Ips--- work colleagues in the office in Bury St Edmunds are well up for it I can tell you.   

Last four visits I''ve parked in West End Road I think it is - a short path takes you on to the road from the station to ground. Absolutely no problems at all. You have to leave the main group to walk down the path again on way back and the plod might ask where you''re going. No issues at all. Lots of Norwich fans park there and very close to the ground. I''ve always worn colours walking from the car park to the match and had no problems.   

[quote user="Huckerbys Boots - Matt"]Completely disagree with this. My choices for MOTM on Friday were Surman and Jackson. To make the statement your not Jacko bashing and then say it''s absurd to say he wasn''t a contender for MOTM is ridiculous and you obviously aren''t a fan of Jacko and ignored his effort v Forest. I thought he was absolute class, touch was good linked up well and looked a threat, and this is playing in a side totally wrong for him. He would look better in a counter attacking side who play quicker direct football and one that gave him more open opportunities on goal in open spaces, not with defenders surrounding him all the time, as a result of our patient possession style buil up. Pacheco on the other hand looked like Messi versus a shambles Scunthorpe side, who literally couldn''t be bothered. But up against two good sides in Swansea and Watford looked poor in my opinion. To suggest Jackson should be dropped after 4 goals in 3 games and a great showing v Forest for a Pacheco who has looked poor in his last two games and only really looked any good against a pathetic Scunthorpe side is laughable.[/quote]   You need to re-read my original post. Just because I didn''t think Jackson was man of the match, how does that imply i''m ''bashing him''?? My post had plenty of praise for him. You''re right that Scunthorpe were poor, very poor in fact so I agree it''s not straightforward to make a judgement that Pacheco''s showing against them was a benchmark of his ability. Still don''t get this ''poor'' against Swansea though. Jackson did''nt start against Swansea after scoring a hat trick so that kind of blows your theory out of the water I''d say. I want Jackson to succeed as much as you do and it may just be that with his confidence up he can get at Ipswich with his pace and deliver. My point is that we get sucked into playing too many long balls with him upfront. Ipswich defenders will eat that for breakfast I fear. Pacheco running at them inside the box is a different matter. Jackson will start, of that there is no doubt. The boy has improved but there is much more to come from him hopefully.  If not then I don''t think he is a top Championship forward. If that''s ''bashing'', I''m sorry. I would call it an objective assessment.         

No this isn''t some anti Jackson rant - in this fantastic season I can''t believe for one minute that anyone ''hates'' a Norwich player although I see there is a ''Jackson haters'' thread on the board. True, Jackson has at last started to score some goals and on Friday was unlucky second half with two good strikes. However, to say ( as some have) that he was MOTM is patently absurd. He had nothing like the overall influence on the game that Surman or Ward did. Jacko has always given 100% come what may. I remember seeing him at Bramall Lane in January and the boy worked his socks off, never looked like scoring mind you! The problem with Jackson is that the team try and hit him with far too many early balls and that''s easy stuff for big and strong central defenders. Headers are won comfortably (not Jackson''s fault) whilst he simply bounces off same defenders when the ball is played up to him on the ground. Now Pacheco. When he made his debut v Scunthorpe, Jackson was on the bench. Why? Because PL clearly thought Jacko was not good enough. Pacheco had a sizzling debut although Jacko came on and grabbed a hat trick. Some posters have said that ''Pacheco then had two poor games''. Er, No - he was creative against Swansea and was surprisingly subbed in second half. After that what little crerativity we had shown, vanished. True he was poor at Watford but didn''t seem to know what his role was and most of the time the ball was being smashed high over his head as we hit a stream of hopeful high balls to Holt and Vokes. Up front Pacheco can glide past defenders as if they''re statues, Jacko has not got that ability or the vision of Pacheco. At Ipswich, we''re playing on one of the best surfaces in professional football. Their central defenders are strong but ponderous. High balls will be eaten for breakfast if we play Jacko. I say keep the ball on the floor and let Pacheco run at them in the box. He would destroy them. Jacko can always be brought on as an impact player to try and get at defenders with his pace.          

[quote user="Wembley_Canary"][quote user="YankeeCanary"]I should know better than to ask someone inside Norfolk to look at things from the view of someone outside of Norfolk. I''ll try to improve.[/quote] Even the most deluded Ipswich fans know that a possible playoff place isn''t even worth thinking about, even if they win all of their remaining games (unlikely) they still wont make the top 6. [/quote] Disagree - if they get 12 points (unlikely I know), that gives them 71 which could see them 6th. Leeds are faltering and have 65. Believe me Ipswich could STILL amazingly get in the play offs and if we don''t get automatic, that would be a nightmare scenario.  

Easily the boy Wards best game for us. We all know his flaws but he was outstanding and must have run Surman very close for man of the match. Ward is quality when he switches on mentally. Tonight he was just that, made that blinding last minute tackle and won every header. Wouldn''t be Ward without the odd dodgy pass but overall he was superb.

[quote user="GJP"]He had 2 weak games against Swansea and Watford but bounced back tonight with a top performance tonight. Lively on the ball and hard-working off it. Took his goal superbly.[/quote] Absolutely right! I''ve not been convinced by Surman in a number of games and have described him as a ''5 a side player'' and a ''passenger''. All I''ve ever wanted is some physical aggression to match the quality. Tonight we got that and it was his best match in the yellow shirt by a country mile. Happy to hold my hands up and apologise to him - he was immense, well done Surman!

[quote user="a1canary"]I''m not sure i really understand this. If he is no longer injured, why does it seem he''s being kept away from the first team until he''s match fit? Which is impossible anyway as he''ll only get match fit by playing in a (proper) match. Surely he''s good for a place on the bench. It''s not as if he''s going to collapse after 45mins, all the players are fit. Unless he''s been sitting on th sofa eating Domino''s since the day he did his hamstring! [/quote] Totally agree with this. With no reserve matches anyway surely we will have this problem whenever a player has a long term injury?? Not sure but did Surman play any kind of friendly / ''reserve'' match on the two occasions he came back from his knee injury?  Far from ideal to pitch CM straight back in but no-one is saying he must play 90 mins. He could be on the bench and have 20 mins. or could start and play 30 mins. or so. Most important question is ''has the injury healed''? If Yes, then lets see him play some part, the boy has quality and could just score the goals to get us over the line. 

Sorry Nutty - I don''t mean the ''donkey'' term in any derogatory sense. Having said that in his first year at City, Iwan was most defintely that! Once Rioch got to grips with him he was a changed man and I was as much a fan as you. I continued to call him ''donkey'' though at home games with my old school friend, it was just a light hearted term that''s all. The point I was making is not comparing respective ''abilities'' but all round influence at the club. Iwan was getting to the level of Holt but doesn''t match his overall influence.Make no mistake we CAN win games without Holt but if we were to lose him for the rest of the season the morale of the fans and players will take one hell of a hammering. It will be very interesting tonight to see how fans and players respond (assuming Holt doesn''t play) if things go against us. Even more testing will be next Thursday if Holt misses out. There you will 100% need BIG characters and they don''t come any bigger or bolder than Holt!