shortfatb

on the basis, probably naively, that if it doesn''t get any better soon they must sack him or we do improve to a level with him still here and it''s all forgiven. I hope the first one happens, but my nightmare scenario is that we continue to be crap and they still let him stay. Also I would hate for it all to suddenly be exciting and fun again and I can''t get a ticket. Any one else renewed on this or a better theory?  

Date Opponent H/A Result Report Sat Aug 6 Coventry City H 1-1 Tue Aug 9 Crewe Alexandra H 1-1 Report Sat Aug 13 Crystal Palace H 1-1 Report Sat Aug 20 Southampton A 1-0 Report Tue Aug 23 Carling Cup (1): MK Dons A 0-1 Report Sat Aug 27 Leeds United H 0-1 Report Mon Aug 29 Stoke City A 3-1 Report   Tue Sep 13 Watford A 2-1 Report Sat Sep 24 Reading H 0-1 Report Tue Sep 27 Hull City H 2-1 Report Sat Oct 15 Millwall H 1-1 Report Tue Oct 18 Luton Town A 4-2 Report Sat Oct 22 Queens Park Rangers A 3-0 Report Sat Oct 29 Sheffield Wednesday H 0-1 Report Sat Nov 5 Wolverhampton Wanderers A 2-0 Report Tue Nov 22 Millwall A 1-0 Report Sat Nov 26 Coventry City A 2-2 Report Sat Dec 3 Derby County A 2-0 Report   Mon Jan 2 Preston North End H 0-3 Report Sat Jan 7 FA Cup (3): West Ham H 1-2 Report Sat Jan 14 Plymouth Argyle A 1-1 Report Sat Jan 21 Watford H 2-3 Report Tue Jan 31 Reading A 4-0 Report Sun Feb 5 Ipswich Town H 1-2 Report Sat Feb 11 Hull City A 1-1 Report Tue Feb 14 Brighton & Hove Albion H 3-0 Report Sat Feb 25 Crystal Palace A 4-1 Report Fri Mar 24 Burnley A 2-0And I''ve been kind. W. O.

Hi Nigel Worthington here, Just to say, in my defence, that I haven''t liked what I''ve seen for much of this season, there''s been some crazy situations that we have allowed to happen this season and we have got to learn from that. You''ve seen a lot of  games where there has been a loads of passion out there so I don''t think that is something you can accuse the players of lacking. We won''t let our heads go down and we are prepared to fight, scrap and roll our sleeves up and the work rate has been excellent. When we do the basics right we look a decent side. When we don''t we look less than average. It''s something we have got to sort out and make sure we get right. But otherwise the attitude has been first class. Thank you

You''re a paranoid butt.

Is anybody else just bored with the whole thing? I would like Nigel to just go quietly and quickly in a Mick McCarthy / Graham Souness style, with a quick statement saying thanks for everything but right time for the club etc,etc, but I''m worn out by being angry at the games I''ve been to, angry about the games I haven''t attended but sit listening to on Canary World online, angry at comments by Nigel ( ''first class'' being my personal bete noir) and Skipper and Munby and morty and 1st Wizard and others, but now I''m sort of worn out by the whole thing. Michael and Delia''s response is just as anyone would have predicted, concillatory but uncompromising, they do have a special relationship with Nigel, he manages the club they own for god sake. But I can''t get angry, I''ve sort of had it with the whole thing.  The team performances have stank for a long time, nobody is happy at games anymore, I have stopped going, my season tickets snug in their NCFC leatherette wallet for weeks, I just feel that it''s time to walk away wait ''til it reaches an even lower ebb, which it definitely will without change and come back when it''s getting sorted, anything else is just far too time consuming, soul destroying and depressing and tiring. Yawn.       

They only cost me just over £1200 last season so although I''ve yet to calculate the new pricing following the highly reasonable 2.7% hike in the prices, I''m more than happy to sign up again. With Fleming, Colin, Hughes, Robinson, Thorne already guaranteed to be in the squad next year as well as the possibility of Jason Jarrett staying and the occasional risk of a Jarvis or Henderson appearing for 20 minutes near the end of a game, admittedly but understandably out of position, unless we are unfortunately down to the ''bare bones'' when they may get a whole game at full back, who wouldn''t be happy, indeed grateful  to pay to watch such talent. As I live in the Midlands it''s only a 5 hour round trip for home games at a cost of around £60 with food, usually resulting in a 10 hour excursion including the game so no real inconvenience to get to the games either. Now I find, thank you Delia and the whole board, that we''ve managed to secure the services, admittedly only on loan, but fingers crossed, of a crack striker and a defensive midfielder and all we''ve lost is an out of form striker who could rarely reach Greeno''s long kicks anyway, so no great loss. Does life get any better than this? On the ball city.          

Bit hard on PNE I thought, thought this was interesting from Lancashire Evening Post or something equally northern, "We were brilliant, absolutely top class," drooled Kelly later. And it was hard to argue after a display of the highest quality against a side who had won their last five, including a 3-1 victory at Sheffield United. Considering North End''s squad was so paper thin – the 16 on duty were the only senior players fit – it was a massive achievement. Full-back Alexander had to play in the centre of midfield alongside Nowland following the departure of David Jones and injuries to Brian O''Neil and Paul McKenna. When Nowland was hurt, Callum Davidson had to take over in the engine room. Winger Lewis Neal was also an absentee after taking a knock against Coventry. So at one point even Nugent was pressed into midfield duties to help out.  

I don''t think anybody was blameless. Our expectations were high although deep down we all knew that other than Southampton and Sheff Utd we''d been fortunate to win 5 in a row, whereas 4 weeks ago we knew that PNE would beat us. The squad is heavily depleted, down to Nigel''s, "barebones" as usual and whilst you can sympathise it is ultimately his and the board''s fault that we bought so lightly and poorly in the summer and let too many go so lightly and poorly in the summer, Helveg and Jonson in midfield on Monday, yes please. Also why are so many injured? Those who played may have been tired, poor things, but Colin and Dixon surely chose to be that clueless however out of sorts or position they were, McVeigh, Ashton and Huckerby never clicked as a 2 out of 3 let alone all 3 at once and looked like they were going through the motions. Drury and Robinson got injured and Worthy brought on Brennan who looked hopeless in all senses of the word and poor bloody Thorne and Henderson who as usual are brought on either out of position or with no clear instructions. The one man who should have been on, Jarvis, was left on the bench. So crap players playing crappier and good players not playing well or playing out of position or not playing at all, i.e Jarvis. The referee didn''t stamp on the time wasting but if he had and PNE had got on with it we could have lost 5-0. They were a good side against a tired, injured, out of position, uninterested team. The question is why?               

Read Tom Bowers book, Broken Dreams and then realise that we don''t need Harry. Jamie must take after his Mum. 

No, sell Fleming and Charlton and Brennan and Jarrett and Hughes and Colin and Gallacher and the hotel.

Aw shucks Gazza thanks. " Nee- al, Nee-al I weren''t at the gairm aday but lissened t''Roy Wollla ''n'' I thought thaat the ''otel ad a poor gairm, just seemed to stairnd arund. "Well I have nothing to do with the first team at all at Colney shortfatb as I''ve made people aware before but I know from other sources that Nigel is very happy with the way the hotel has rolled up it''s sleeves, got stuck in, put in lots of hard work in training, never shirked responsibility. You might say that it had a poor game, but I watch week in week out and I think the hotel has been solid at the back and the front, maybe it is a little slower than some of the rest of the team, but I understand that it gives Craig Fleming and Gary Doherty a run for their money in training, not that I''m ever there as I have no contact with the first team squad, so I can''t comment. As for the game today I thought the hotel was as good as anyone else in the team and couldn''t be blamed for any of the missed chances, as the hotel wasn''t built to receive balls to feet, nor was it responsible for any of Tranmere''s 4 goals, although I thought when Nigel sent on his conservatory for the last 20 minutes it looked very bright"            

Also, pulling much of this thread together, Whilst Delia is very loyal, she really struggled to sack Hamilton for instance, I can''t imagine that Michael W-J as a tough business man and loyal supporter and Munby and especially Doncaster as the money men must be pushing for a resolution to this chronic position as soon as possible. Doncaster will already be reporting the reduction in sales in the shop and getting agitated about future season ticket sales. Gone by Christmas. 

I said in October, Dave Williams manager by Christmas and I still believe that''s a good bet.

With it being quite tall, althought admittedly relatively immobile, I believe that the hotel would allow us to play the Worthy long ball game, Greeno pumping the ball up to the hotel and probably Simon Charlton and Fleming picking up the second ball knockdowns. It would be like having Iwan back with additional accomodation.

I hope to see us reverting to the innovative and successful diamond formation again, the true jewel in the crown of Worthy''s tactical armoury.  Alternatively we could play the old 2 fullbacks out of position, namely Charlton and Brennan, or 3 if we move Colin up front again. This would then allow us to play Fleming out of position too on the right and possibly Hendo or Thorne or even Hucks out of position on the right wing, or drop Brennan and play Ashton on the left wing to best use his deadly crossing skills for Doherty up front and then Charlton could go to centre half........oh I''m confused perhaps we''ll just wait and see what Worthy comes up with   

Regardless of his health, and I hope that he is in radiant good health as I bear him no grudge, Roy is a poor commentator and as he has got older he regularly gets confused and offers little in terms of insight during the game. In adition he does give Nigel a very easy ride at all times. Goreham is better during the commentary, gives a better overall view on the game and sticks it into Worthy. Neil Adams continuously treads a fine line between appearing neutral and not wishing to lose his other job, knowing Worthy''s view on dissent probably and therefore offers little for fans turning every complaint around to stop Nigel getting slated. He''s hardly Alan Green is he?        

Why is Mad Dan called Mad Dan? What''s Mad about him? His contributions are hardly ''crazy'' or indeed funny in any way are they and any eccentricity is not readily apparent, only, perhaps, his blind love affair with Nige. Is he mentally ill? I think we should be told. The Google definition of Dicky is ''faulty'' as in " I have  Dicky heart" Now that does make sense.   

I don''t think it''s about liking or disliking Worthington, or wanting him to go or to stay and we don''t need the disruption of a manager leaving but, on Saturday the Diamond wasn''t working and Worthington''s changes seemed to make things worse and for the first time I felt the players utter confusion and disbelief, the crowd went silent and I just thought that we looked hopeless in every sense. The penalty miss didn''t really matter to me as I felt that we were so bereft of ideas by this time we deserved little else. Then Worthy finally gets asked something a bit searching, has a flip and then angrily bites his lip, but we all know that he''s at breaking point and you have to wonder where it''s all going. Still, see you Tuesday, only 6 hours in the car, why should he care what we think? 

Except Zema, Brennan on Saturday, failed to cross the ball at anytime, other than 2 corners which were pretty awful, constantly cutting inside and then passing to Hughes running up the middle. Also will this formation stop them passing to each other for 10 or 20 passes, keeping the ball, then finally passing to Green who hoofs it upfield to be collected by a 6ft 5" Reading defender?

In an attempt to second guess Worthy here is my predicted team for the Ipswich game.                                       McVeigh Doherty     Fleming       Charlton    N.Worthington D. Livermore    Jarrett    Henderson    D. Williams                M. Wynne-Jones          McKenzie       Subs: D.Smith (GK), R.Martin, McKenzie, S.Foley, Thorne This team has the right blend of people injured or out of form, playing hopelessly out of position or old and slow. I understand that Ipswich may bring Tony Mowbray back for the game too.    

Thanks Gazza, I''m, tragically, 46 too and I still find Norwich doing consistently badly leaves a dark shadow on my daily life, regardless of what else goes on. The team are in trouble, the Huckerby and Shackell fall outs with Worthy, Jarrett already being told to work harder all look like disrupting the team. Now WLYP is dropped after a good 70 mins on Saturday, Shackell taken off while Fleming continues to dismay, ranting rather than captaining. MadDan, it''s a message board where discussion, debate and disagreement feeds the system, if no one ever replied there would be something of a void.  

sorry writing too quickly...Adams is scared not sacred, obviously only Fleming in scared.

Zipper''s right, MadDan with his lone thread appearing everywhere based on the same, pathetic ,"calm down children" theme which surely only he can be amused by. Sort of a Yankee Canary without the intellect. We are in freefall, we haven''t replaced the people who left adequately, we are really missing Francis and there''s no Sven to bring on,  there is no confidence and no plan, no youngster gets a chance, poor Henderson on the right for 15 minutes again, he persists with bloody Fleming who was completely at fault for the first goal, even Adams said so and he''s sacred to criticise anybody at the moment. I believe when Worthington leaves that we will hear that he had lost the senior players, apart from Fleming, and that with limited tweaks, but with fresh eyes, this team could be as unbeatable as 2 seasons ago. We are not children, we just are frustrated at standing by and helplessly watching a good team fall apart.          

That would be a no then, unless there''s any news on the curry pasty. 

Does anybody think that anything remotely positive will happen today?