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.

Some people make me laugh… ”Ooohhhh I felt so unsafe” God forbid people not wearing a mask in the concourse… yet it’s fine for people to remove there mask in the very same concourse to consume food/drink, and you’re happy to sit shoulder to shoulder with exact same unmasked people to watch the game? God forbid someone’s vaccination status was not checked prior to entry.. yet you were all happy to attend a game 12 days ago with no mandatory checks in place? Like it or not attending a full capacity football match will always be a “high risk” event no matter what precautions are put into place, and checking people have been “fully vaccinated” will not stop the spread of covid at such events. If you’re that scared then stay at home.

Now our youth development is seemingly flying It’s easy to criticise previous managers for not giving our academy players a chance, but perhaps the academy simply wasn’t producing players who were good enough? Farke is now benefiting from work done in previous regimes, we gained ‘Category 1’ status in 2013 with the goal being to start producing players who are good enough for the first team. Lewis arrived in 2014, Aarons 16, Godfrey 16, Maddison 16, Thompson 14... I’ll give Farke the upmost credit for giving academy players there chance and getting consistent performances out of them... but I’m not sure you can criticise previous managers for not taking a similar route...

[quote user="paul moy"][quote user="STAN"]How have we have fallen this far in under a year and half? We sacked Alex Neil for failing to achieve promotion to the premier league, lingering around the playoffs simply wasn’t good enough. Along came golden boy Webber and what exactly has he delivered for us? Forget all this philosophy bo**cks, If he had appointed the right manager at the start of last season and made a couple of decent signings, we would’ve had a squad/setup that was more than capable of achieving promotion. Webber signed the players, Webber brought in the coach. As frustrated as I am with Farke, Stuart is just as culpable![/quote]Neil frittered away money, so no comparison. Farke had to sell Maddison amongst others to balance the books and has worked with peanuts. [/quote] Much like Neil had to sell Redmond, Brady and Olsson amongst others... Whilst Webber/Farke might not have made an 8 Million marquee Championship signing such as Pritchard they’ve definitely been working with more than “just peanuts”. A reported... 3 mill on Franke, 3.5 mill on Hanley, 1.5 mill on Husband, 2.5 mill on Hernandez, 1.5 mill on Stiepermann, 1.5 mill on Srbeny, 750k on Vrancic, 1 mill on Leitner, 1.5 mill on Marshall, 1.5 mill on Buendia..... To put things in to perspective Millwall are now on the brink of completing a record breaking deal.. there first ever 1 million pound signing. Last season at Cardiff Warnock spent around 10 mill on 4 players, only 5 mill on 3 players in the summer and then 5 mill on a striker in January. It’s time for Webber and Farke to stop making excuses.

How have we have fallen this far in under a year and half? We sacked Alex Neil for failing to achieve promotion to the premier league, lingering around the playoffs simply wasn’t good enough. Along came golden boy Webber and what exactly has he delivered for us? Forget all this philosophy bo**cks, If he had appointed the right manager at the start of last season and made a couple of decent signings, we would’ve had a squad/setup that was more than capable of achieving promotion. Webber signed the players, Webber brought in the coach. As frustrated as I am with Farke, Stuart is just as culpable!

I would’ve loved to see him back but can’t see it happening now. I see on Twitter the other day he played and scored in Southampton’s first pre season game against Schalke. Saints fans seem delighted to have him back. Even if he’s available we’re well stocked in central midfield and at right back, so just can’t see us forking out for him.

“I can’t see Pukki not being a step up from Nelson. Srbeny is a step up from Nelson. The team played better when Nelson was on the bench. Thus his replacement is the better player in the only way that actually counts.” There’s a reason why at this time last year the majority of fans were desperate to see him stay. Swansea reportedly bid £12million for him and there’s a reason why we turned it down. If Farke could get Oliveria back into the same mindset and/or form he had under Alan Irvine, we would struggle to find a better striker in our current situation. To say Dennis Srbeny is a step up is laughable.

‭A forward line of Srbeny, McLean and Leitner - God help us. Farke should help pack Big D’s bags. Without Daniels German spectacles Srbeny would struggle to hold down a starting spot in our u23’s, let alone our first team. With a couple of signings our squad does have potential, relatively average on paper but with the right manager/tactics/additions we could make a push for the playoffs. My team at present: Matthews Marshall Hanley Klose Lewis Godfrey Trybull Hernandez Leitner Buendia Oliveira Unsure of what Buendia will bring to the party but short on other viable options. Won’t write Pukki off before he plays - but can’t see him being a step up on an in-form Nelson.

It is really frustrating to watch and I just hope next season doesn’t turn into another year of excuses. Farke was brought in as a first team coach. He brought in his own coaching team. A few players departed, a few new faces arrived. It’s hardly revolutionary stuff in modern day football. He inherited and/or signed some decent Championship players. Gunn - One of the most promising goalkeepers in the country. Klose/Hanley - Potential to be a class Championship pairing. Tettey - Over 30 but still one of the best DM’s at this level. Maddison - One of, if not the best player in the league. Oliveira - Looked class last season, full of confidence, energy and goals. I’m no expert but I’m sure any manager worth his money at this level could’ve looked at the spine of this team and been capable of building something half decent from it. In the space of a year we’ve gone from sacking Alex Neil for not achieving promotion, to accepting mid table mediocrity from Farke. Sad to see really.

Emotional day all round. During the substitution I had to take several deep breaths and remind myself grown men shouldn’t be crying over football. Fitting send off for a man who has given me and my family many joyous memories over the years. With Maddison likely to depart I would’ve liked to see him stay for another year. Peace out Wes

Anyone would think he’s been hard done by? I’m 99.9% certain if Naismith offered to tear up his contract with no further financial detriment to our club we would bite his arm off. With that in mind it’s about time Naismith stopped bleating on about his future. One of, if not the worst signing we’ve ever made.