STAN

Not a footballer but we were once graced with the presence of the worlds most famous Norwich City fan. The inventor of the podcast, the man who single handedly turned F1 into a billion pound sport, the face behind all of Sky Sports success, probably the greatest human being to ever walk planet earth…. Sir Jake Humphrey. The whole stand bowed as he made his way to his seat, the stewards spent 90 minutes fighting off hoards of middle aged women clamouring for his autograph, spotty teenagers were queuing up & down the terraces to seek some advice on how to become as great as he is - or at least that’s probably his version of events.

I think a hymn sheet would be beneficial for all. I use to laugh at people singing the wrong words or mumbling through songs until last year when I learnt off a thread on here that I had spent a couple of years signing Youssef Safri was better than Ronaldinho… when thousands of others had been singing something different 😅

It’s in your size, you’ve been after it for years… get down with your bad self if you can afford it! You’ll only spend the next few years regretting it if someone else snaps it up. What does £200 get you these days anyway?

The notion amongst some fans that Webber came in and transformed the club drives me insane. He has stunk the place out, the club currently feels rotten from top to bottom, and it will probably take many years to recover from his “legacy”. Webber struck gold with Farke, Buendia and Pukki and I will probably cherish those promotion seasons forever. Ultimately though it was Farke who delivered that free-flowing football and feel good factor, not Stuart Webber. When he arrived he was extremely critical of his predecessors, but if you compare all aspects of his and McNally’s time at the club McNally’s achievements far outweigh anything achieved by Webber. Going back to the 2016-2017 season. We had just been relegated from the Premier League, Alex Neil was sacked in March 2017 with us sitting 8th in the Championship. Alan Irvine was appointed caretaker manager, followed by Webber arriving at the start of April 2017. Irvine finished the season reasonably strong guiding us to 8th place finish (10 points off the playoffs). Despite his predecessors apparently dashing our lottery winnings up the wall, Webber still inherited a number of players with a high resale value and/or high potential. In the season he arrived we had already sold Redmond, Brady, and Olsson in multi-million pound deals. In his first full season Howson, Pritchard and Jacob Murphy all departed in multi-million pound deals. Second season Maddison and Josh Murphy. Fourth season Godfrey and Lewis. As of today I’m struggling to see much resale value in the squad at all. Potentially Jonny Rowe (who was also at the club pre-Webber funnily enough) and possibly Gabriel Sara. In his first interview after arriving at Norwich Webber said: “The job in a nutshell will be judged on how good the recruitment is and how good the head coach is, it’s no use the medical department looking fantastic if you recruit the wrong players”. You can blow the shiny new training ground building trumpet all you like, but it’s currently delivering relegation form Championship football. Yes it needed improvement, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist/footballing guru to realise that. Ultimately he’s leaving us with a cr*p manager, a squad full of ageing journeymen, a disjointed fan base, uncertainty from top to bottom, and we look a million miles from the Premier League. I’d give him a solid 1/10, the sooner he departs the better.

Of course we’re allowed to like to different things but to claim that “Norwich must surely have the worst record at getting success from loan players” is completely wrong. I’m not claiming that Russ Martin was a reincarnation of Dani Alves, but without out doubt he was a successful loan. I agree Gibson has been poor this season but as a Championship loan player he was outstanding. As you said, Gunn and Reed were both above average players at the time. Whilst it’s difficult to laud players in an altogether average season, I definitely wouldn’t class either of them as failures. Gunn must’ve been virtually ever present and delivered some top performances, Reed also delivered some top notch performances and if I remember correctly he successfully filled in in several different positions throughout the season. It’s unfair to rate an individual player purely based on where the the team ended up at the end of the season. Rhodes was kept out of the team by a free scoring Pukki, I’m not claiming he’s Lewandowski and I’m not even saying we should’ve signed him permanently, but without doubt his loan served the purpose in a Championship winning season. As for Harry Kane, I’m pretty sure he also had unsuccessful loans at Leicester and Millwall following his brief spell with us? Ultimately taking youngsters on loan who haven’t played real first team football will always be high risk in terms of success. He joined us at a time when he was still just a raw talent, he wasn’t England captain or a proven PL forward at the time. You win some you lose some. For every Billy Gilmour you might find an Oli Skipp, for every Duda you might get a Lansbury.

You said Norwich must surely have the worst record of getting success from loan players… Russ Martin joined us on loan from Peterborough whilst we were in League 1, he went on to gain successive promotions to the Premier League, spent 3 successive seasons in the Premier League, lifted the play off trophy at Wembley, captained the club…. the fact you only consider him a “degree” of a success says it all… Ched Evans and Leroy Litas goals were vital in keeping us in the Championship. Angus Gunn and Reed both played vital roles in Farkes first season. Kyle Naughton was a vital part of our defence thar see us comfortably survive in the PL under Lambert. Gibson and Dimi were outstanding last season, comfortably 2 of the best defenders in the Championship. Jordan Rhodes played 36 games in the wonderful first promotion under Farke. Just because these players haven’t turned into club legends like Huckerby doesn’t mean their loans were unsuccessful….

You’ve obviously got a short memory! We’ve benefited massively from the loan market over recent years… Skipp, Gibson, Dimi, Rhodes, Harrison Reed, Gunn, Leitner, Dijks, Lita, Bertrand, Ched Evans, Fraser Forster, Russ Martin, Naughton…. Just to name a few….

The latest from the Deano’s Burnley press conference… “I don’t know how the fans are feeling, as I don’t phone them up or look at social media” How did we end up with this numpty?

Jesus wept, that man isn’t wearing a mask in the concourse… Don’t panic sir he’s got a coffee in his hand. Oh my god, he’s walking towards his seat without a mask… Few, he’s sat down.. we’re safe.

I entered a petrol station maskless on the English side of the Welsh border 3 weeks ago - completely normal. 10 minutes later I entered a supermarket maskless on the Welsh side of the English border - I thought I’d grown an extra head, for some unknown reason everyone was still acting as if we were midst of a global pandemic. I heard on BBC news that masks didn’t work at the beginning of the pandemic… it must be true?

Bang your saucepans for the Covid Marshall’s

Shambles from the club. Covid Marshalls should be 18 at the very least - but preferably middle aged balding men with excessive facial hair, a yellow arm band, and the minerals to pick on old ladies with handbags. Can’t believe the club put my life in the hands of a spotty clipboard wielding 16 year old.

I arrived early and every single person was being checked on their way through… I would guess they were probably getting close to the 25% quota within the first 30 or so minutes….

My apologies Greavsy. Almost as criminal as the bloke who didn’t put a mask on to walk through the turnstile.

The people saying how “unsafe” it was? It seriously shows how deluded people have become… I put on a mask to walk through the turnstile and proceeded to take it straight off to consume my usual pre-match pie and pint. I then put my mask on to take the short walk to my seat, and proceeded to take it off whilst huddled in amongst thousands of people. Just imagine the sense of security we all could have had if everyone put a piece of cloth over there mouth to walk from the concourse to their seats. As I said in my first post… people make me laugh.