Farkes The Herald Angels

There are those teams other than us that you can abide and have occasional respect for and there are those you have a real bad feeling for. Palace are one of the latter for me. I used to go there in the 70''s and 80''s and the ground was such a dump in a really unpleasant part of London. I also remember them beating us at home when Wright and Bright were playing... in fact I seem to remember them being a bit of a bogey team at one time. Apparently we have beaten them more than any other club they have played  (44 wins) and also they have beaten us more than any other club they''ve played (46 wins). And then there''s all the hypocrisy about us charging way more than we apparently should. Pot and kettle. Just don''t like ''em very much. At all. None of which has got anything to do with today''s match except it will make it even sweeter if we win. Oh, and can anyone remember that really tin pot cup that we got to the semi final of in 80''s and lost to Palace - or was it Wimbledon when they were ground sharing?). First games of the season are such a lottery.....but, I think with buzz created by the Wembley final and being at home... I''ll go for a 2-1 win to us. Jerome and Howson.

I want us to win. I see know reason why we can''t. But if we don''t it is a disappointing start, not the loss of a must-win game. In 2011/12 we drew with Wigan away and then Stoke at home. We finished the season in 12th place. In 2012/13 we got hammered away at Fulham and then drew at home to QPR. We finished the season in 11th place. It''s good to win as soon as possible, but Palace is not a must-win game.

Gainer - totally agree with you. That''s why I said I have concerns, but that I think ultimately we''ll stay up. I am not writing off either the strikers of the defence, but I am concerned that we don''t have the proven quality in either departments. But I felt the same way about Grant Holt last time round, and look what he did. As some have said in other threads, most of the squad - including the newcomers - have only been involved in lower Premier League teams, or relegated teams. The key to all this is belief and teamwork. It''s something Lambert instilled and it''s something that Neil appears to be instilling. And lest we forget, we do have players capable of doing the extraordinary, which, when things aren''t going our way as a collective, will be necessary. I see Redmond, Hoolahan still,  and on very brief evidence, Wisdom and Brady as examples. And I also think it''s just conceivable that Van Wolf could surprise us. His confidence is shot, yes, but he came to us as a prolific scorer from Portugal (not one of Europe''s elite leagues I agree) and I don''t think you completely lose your instincts, even though one season in the Premier League and the top French league might suggest otherwise. And it may just be that with AN''s personal encouragement he can rediscover his goal-scoring instincts. I hope for him (as from what I''ve seen and heard he seems a genuinely good guy) and for us that he blossoms. I still believe we need another proven, prolific goal-scorer and to bring in a reassuring CB, but ''proven'' elsewhere doesn''t always translate into reality when a player moves to a new club. What Spurs spent on 4-5 ''proven'' top quality players, bought after Bale''s departure seems evidence of this. If we remain with what we have, I''ll still remain optimistically on edge, but then I''ll be in good company with the supporters of at least half of the Premier League''s teams. Ultimately, I sense that there''s a group determination and a smattering of exceptional talent that will have us facing another season in the PL this time next year. I can''t get to any games, but to all of you who do, I hope it''s exciting, fun and ultimately rewarding. I''ll be watching from 6,000 miles away tomorrow night, but it won''t reduce my level of passion and involvement, as my Chinese wife will readily and bemusingly attest to.  

I''ve been a supporter from near and now far for the last 40 years. We''re in the promised land of the Premier League. Again. I wouldn''t want to be anywhere else. It''s the ultimate challenge for English football teams. But, having got here once again I''m filled with both fear and excitement. The fear is that we cannot compete and are left floundering. The excitement is that we''re playing the best, punch above our weight and can establish ourselves as a club that genuinely belongs in the top tier. I''ll leave the judgment as to whether our players, coaches, managers and owners have the wherewithal to survive to others who have witnessed things up close over the last few months. I haven''t been able to do that. But, I''m deeply proud my home city is back in the Premier League and will be cheering from afar to make sure we stay there. For what it''s worth I am not confident that we have the players to do it, nor the management commitment to invest in what''s necessary to survive and flourish. There is just too much quality and money in this league to be confident of staying up. Our strikers do not fill me with optimism and our back four seem flakey. But, I''m sure that the supporters of Crystal Palace, Stoke, Leicester, Swansea, West Brom and even Southampton felt that way in recent years. when they were promoted. And they survived and in some cases flourished. The one thing we seem to have is a sense of belief and togetherness and a manager who instills that in the players. And that is why I think we''ll still be in this league in a year''s time and beyond. Here we go...

Doris Temple would be turning in her grave if she heard you describe The Anchor in Morston as pretentious.....although it looks a bit smarter than the old days.

Loads of space. Trips to the seals before the game. Nice pubs (The Anchor at Morston, The Red Lion in Stiffkey and The Dun Cow at Salthouse included). Temples, Beans and Bishops ferries to and from the game. Samphire and cockle pies. Sailing lessons for family members. Lobster fishing for season ticket holders. Loads of parking space, but the timing of games will have to be synched with high tide. No games during spring tides ....Lots of  opportunities for bird watching (titter). Sponsored by The National Trust. Easy to get to from Holt, Fakenham, Aylsham, Sheringham, Cromer and Binham. Those big fancy clubs won''t like a bit of Arctic wind up''em in the winter.  

I will leave the rational financial arguments to others. From a purely atmospheric and aesthetic perspective I would love to see the City Stand built on. It will make the whole ground more balanced and ''whole''. As I live the other side of the world it really doesn''t impact me too much, but when I see the opening of live games showing the cathedral and other local landmarks over the top of the tin pot City Stand it makes me feel like we are not the club of the stature we are. Totally irrational I know, but adding to that stand would add stature and completeness to Carrow Road. But, if it doesn''t make financial sense then for god sake don''t do it. Short-term or long

While it''s fun to hear their finger nails losing traction on past glories and for us to put matters straight by pointing out our nearly uninterrupted 20 years of dominance, we shouldn''t really be bothering ourselves with all this. We''re up. They''re not. Let them stew in their own financially mismanaged existence and turn our attention to how to spend the windfall wisely and ensure we learn from those ''smaller'' Premier League clubs who have not only stayed up, but flourished in the top flight.

So far have been to the gym in green and yellow socks (green on one foot and yellow on the other), saw a green and yellow troll hanging in a window opposite the coffee shop, have hung 4 shirts, on jacket, two scarfs and a flag in the living room, persuaded my Chinese wife to watch the game without moaning about why she''s missing Cantonese soap operas, and secured off a good friend a totally illegal decoder / router thingy that allows me to watch game on Sky Sports HD from the comfort of my Hong Kong home. Got the jitters, so off for a walk. Then egg yolks, broccoli, sweet corn and spinach (or anything else of appropriate hues) for dinner before settling down for the big game. Made it to Cardiff last time, but work conspired against me on this occasion, so will just have to make do with armchair shouting and upsetting the neighbours.....OTBC.... and give a shout from me if you''re going to the game......HAVE FUN AND COME BACK AS SUPPORTERS OF A PREMIER LEAGUE TEAM

Big Jim and other statisticians..... Don''t want to get embroiled in things like catchment area populations, but there is one simple reason why we only get 6,000 average attendance more than you. The ground won''t hold any more. We have a 97% attendance versus capacity and the variations are due to how many away supporters turn up.....We have 20,000 season ticket holders with a sizeable waiting list. There was talk a few years back about increasing the capacity to 35k, but club decided money should be spent on players first. Here''s to a great day for all at Wembley.....

Thanks all, particularly to El Capitano....it''s just the game starts at 2.45am here and Googling at that time of the morning is not something I would list as one of my strengths on my CV! Nervous already.....

Sorry, I know this question gets asked almost every week, but what are the best links for tonight''s game? As it''s on Sky are there more options. Grateful for any suggestions.

This is my last post on this board for the new season. I love my club, but detest how some use this board as a platform for abuse to others. It''s become a nasty place to be. I think we will win the league this year and be back in the Premier League next. Most importantly I hope all who go to the games, home and away, have a fantastic year - enjoy it!

Well, Ricardo, I, like you and many others have witnessed many ups and downs and we will no doubt continue to experience many more,But, to infer that all this is the inevitable way of things is as if to say ''let''s just accept it all'' which seems a little lacking in ambition.  And in response to another respondent to the original post who said ''it''s all easier in hindsight'' I did actually say at the time of Hughton''s appointment I thought it was a cultural mistake and so it now seems.It is not just about our means, but our style as another respondent pointed out. Not the style of play alone, but the style of approach: our attitude and mindset on and off the pitch.It is this that changed most from the Lambert era to the Hughton era and it is this that I think has been the basis of the current malaise. Not the managers relative successes and failures, but the shift between Approach L and a seemingly diametrically opposite Approach H.NCFC will rise again, whether we go down or not, and we will  still all be here supporting our team whatever. But it shouldn''t stop us at any point in time from offering opinions about what might have made things better and what might make things more palatable from hereon.

It is very easy for all of us to point to moments in the last couple of years when things went wrong. This game, that player, the damn referee, the wrong substitutions, the wrong line up, the superior opposition, the fact that the CE didn''t fire the manager and so on.We can all point fingers and in my case I am guilty of sitting on the other side of the world watching every single game and proffering up my own armchair view of how to run things better than those who actually run things. While it would be wrong to point to a defining moment, I sense that where the amazing tide of optimism turned into the embarrassing catastrophe that the Southampton game represented centered on Chris Hughton''s appointment, not in Hughton''s subsequent management approach.To have a go at Chris Hughton is short-sighted.He has not done a great job to put it mildly, but let''s look at what he inherited.This argument is not about heralding the greatness of Paul Lambert, but about the shifting from one management ethos to something diametrically opposite. Lambert may not have provided evidence of this since he joined Aston Villa, but Lambert''s Norwich was a swashbuckling, carefree, anti-establishment approach that resonated with owners, players and fans alike. And although my days as a Norwich supporter has witnessed plenty of paltry fayre, at our centre we have always been a club that surprised in both great (Bayern Munich) and bad (Blackburn away in 1992) ways.In the last 30 years we haven''t done ''average'' very well.So to go from Lambert''s ''Pirates-of-the-Carribean'' crusade to Hughton''s ''The Archers'' approach was always likely to be flop.Our players went from being competent professionals encouraged to outperform and make of themselves what they could (e.g. Holt) to being ''great'' players who should perform within a restrictive system (e.g. RVW).The fault - if one can pinpoint it - has been in the rapid switch from one culture to another. And like any team, if you get a radically different set of guides within a short space of time, you end up not being able to make sense of a new set of rules.Hughton, yes, was a safe choice, but culturally was a complete disaster, because what he represented was completely at odds with the club we had become.And the ultimate buck, therefore, stops - from my armchair perspective - with those who appointed someone who was incapable of building on and perhaps tempering the gung-ho spirit of what came before him.

Against the so-called ''big 5'' teams we''ve played this season (including Manure in cup) we have scored three goals and conceded 23. That is an average of 4.6 goals conceded per game.While recognizing that these are not games we are ''likely'' to win this is still a pretty shocking record, however well we played in some parts of some of these games (especially Chelsea, although that was ''only'' 3-1).And we have a ''defensive'' minded ex-defender as our manager.....

Goals scored against ''big'' clubs in league and league cup - 7Goals against versus the same - 29Average - 4-0We may not not be able to beat them, but this says we don''t come closeWe have a squad that is way more capable than these resultsFor goodness sake get rid of Hughton and let''s move on with someone who can bring the best out of those we have.This is not a ''panic'' post, but an alert that we are behaving like ''Little Norwich'' and yet we have the players to do so much moreFor goodness sake, for all those providing evidence that things are ''OK" get a lifeThings cannot continue this way

I am so sick and tired of reflections on where we ended up in the league last year. 11th. Yes, 11th in possibly the most competitive league on the planet. And, yes, we have no debt and we are currently not in the relegation zone. And in this week''s AGM The Board say we will be fine this year. But,since I began my time behind the goal (on a little wooden platform that my dad built for me to make up for my lack of inches) in 1973 I have never based my relationship with my team on ''results''. I have never expected too much. We were and have remained a small potato relative to the Big Kahunas of the football establishment. When we beat Bayern, when we thrashed Everton and Leeds away and when we occasionally beat the top clubs I never saw it as though we were amongst them as ''the powers that be'', but that we could hope, dream and occasionally realise the fact that we could be considered on the ''top table''. Now the world has changed, 11th is damn good. If we end there this year that will be even more damn good. But, 11th? If we end next year, will that be damn good? For a club of ''our size'' maybe. But my Norwich City FC has never led me to believe that a certain position in the table has been enough. The best of NCFC that I have loved throughout my life has always delivered the surprising and entertaining. It has always been a club (a society) that has led me to believe that anything is possible. It mostly been a club that - quintessentially - has lived above its means and has done so because it dared to dream big. It dared. Dared. Which led to spectacular flops (Blackburn 7-1) and the amazing successes (Arsenal 2-4). But it never led to the insipid, over-thought-through capitulations that we see so often in these times. We can all postulate about why we have not scored more goals this year, why we have let in more goals and why we have generally been uncompetitive. To me, it is because there is no soul and "f*** the competition''. There is no sense of ''anything is possible''. We have become anesthetized and constipated. We are so caught in the headlights of Premier League glory that we have not been able to separate the pleasure of being in the top tier from the pleasure of watching our team entertain. I do not offer an opinion on whether CH is the best person to keep us in ''mid table mediocrity'' (as some Board member said), but he is so obviously not the leader we need to rekindle and re-deliver the dazzling entertainment of the past. That is what this club was known for and - in the commercial desires of 2013 - that is what this club seems to have forgotten.

That was so awful. Lifeless, lacking inspiration and ideas. A team who look desperately like they''re trying and failing to remember the very precise game plan Super Chris and the others have for each member of the team. The life seems to be gradually fading from them - the manager has made them constipated

[quote user="OldRobert"]So we pay £8.5 million for a striker, and the manager continues to play to a system that doesn''t suit that player? Hughton OUT.[/quote] I could not agree more I don''t believe I am a mainstream ''over-reacter'' and I have been around the club since 1973....but I really want this club to have a passionate and tactically savvy coach. CH may have some of the latter, but I don''t see any evidence of the former. For a club of our limited means, to be able to flourish we need to have a coach who brings out the best in player''s psyches, not just their skills and organisational talents. I do not believe that Paul Lambert''s ilk is necessarily the answer, but I do believe we need someone who can inspire his team. CH? I don''t sense it... Please find someone who can fire this talented bunch of individuals into a cohesive whole....

I do not see much progress. I still believe that the team is is a group trying to be taught a methodical and rigid sytem and are not being inspired to outperform in an improvisational manner. Hughton has bags of theoretical nouse, but does not seem a coach who can inspire those under his guidance to reach for the stars. I think a draw would be good, but sense a loss is more likely. I would very much like to see Hughton leave and be replaced by someone who can make the most talented bunch of players make the most of themselves.

I was moping about, grumbling and being generally a dad with a sore head this morning and repeating ''7'' over and over under my breath. Then my rugby playing son comes up and says....''think of it this way Dad...it''s only the equivalent of one try and a conversion.....''. It didn''t help a lot, but it was the highlight of my miserable day. God bless him. Seven.....7!!!

I seem to have reached a point where the pain has become funny and - in a state of increasing despair - I am finding hope.... ...that I may find a better day than today More morphine.....

Don''t give up - REMEMBER MIDDLESBOROUGH!!! but while you''re remembering that, also consider who you want to replace this uninspiring clueless man. Sorry, for CH, but it was always a very bad appointment (yes, yes, we came 11th last year, but it could so easily have been 18th). You cannot replace the Pirate Paul with Cautious Chris and expect the players to get it. I believe the buck stops with Mr McMistake. PS - why has there been no goal for the last 10 minutes.....this is getting dull

The good news is that 3 is my favourite number. Oh damn Man City.......it''s now 4.Pooh. I hate that number. My next favourite number is 7....