Genius Or Got Lucky

[Capt_Canary 0]

What is Alex Neil? Obviously made a massive impression coming in but to be fair we probably had the best squad in the Championship.

For me he has clearly been unspectacular in the transfer market and maybe that''s naivety or inexperience but he really should of addressed the defence at the start of the season. To rely on Seb Bassong and Russell Martin at the heart of defence was clearly asking for trouble. Part of the reason for us being released the first time round was due to leaking goals and the defence remain unchanged - why? This was glaringly obvious to us as the fans.

The second clear error was addressing our strike force and we have now got a Prem League strike force of Mbokani (loan), Jerome, Bamford (loan) and a Kyle Lafferty in exile yet who seems to have some impact and look lively when given any chance. Clearly our strike force not good enough. Benik Afobe should have arrived in Summer and now scoring regularly for Bournemouth. Andre Gray another striker we should of moved for and missed out on and the cost is dear.

Transfers have been disappointing with Wisdom, Jarvis, Mulumbu anonymous at large.

Small minded mentality or lack of ambition? I don''t buy lack of funds as we have sold well in Hooper, Grabban and Johnson and failed to use it wisely with what seems to be a lack of a strategy. I thought we had a football board?

[FenwayFrank 2,716]

I''d hate to be around if someone puts an extra spoonful of sugar in your tea

[Horse Renoir 1]

Depends on your own personal assessment of our squad. I feel we had a top 6-ish Championship team that was slightly underperforming under NA and then Neil came along and achieved something special with it over less than half a season.

He''s won and lost us points on his tactical approach alone this year. He''s had a mixed year himself without a doubt, but he''s 34! He will improve. But tbh I see easily exploitable problems in our squad that no amount of coaching will fix and the absolute last person I''d sack from our club is Ales Neil.

In my opinion we''re very lucky to have him.

[Katie Borkins 1]

He really got lucky.

With a Championship record of P21 W14 D3 L4, and if you include the playoffs then a record of P24 W16 D4 L4, I am sure you could find and name at least another ten managers with a record as good as that.

Binner.

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

He did very well last season but was not a genius. He took over a mid table side with a very good squad and half the season left. Other competent managers could have repeated this.

This season he has be 6/10 big Sam would have probably got us 6 or more points already. His signings , sales and substitutions are bang average too. There is nothing to suggest our fortunes will turn around this season the big question is he the man for next season

[Gordon Bennett 914]

I believe that he is absolutely the man for next season, whichever league we are in.

[Katie Borkins 1]

P21 W14 D3 L4

"Other competent managers could have repeated this."

You will have no problem finding "competent" managers with a 66.7% win record then.

Let me know when you post the list.

Facts. Awkward.

[CanaryOne 0]

Got lucky managed to improve on Adams but anybody would have , a half decent manager in charge from the start of last season finishes top two . Take a look at Neils signings Brady is the best by a mile , why did he even bother to sign Dorrans he hardly ever used him in the championship let alone the top flight , Mulumbu , Jarvis , Andreu the list of flops is endless even the big money buys of Klose and Naismith look poor .Poor manager who gets worse by the week and the main reason we are relegated.

[lake district canary 4,823]

[quote user="CanaryOne"]Got lucky managed to improve on Adams but anybody would have , a half decent manager in charge from the start of last season finishes top two . Take a look at Neils signings Brady is the best by a mile , why did he even bother to sign Dorrans he hardly ever used him in the championship let alone the top flight , Mulumbu , Jarvis , Andreu the list of flops is endless even the big money buys of Klose and Naismith look poor .Poor manager who gets worse by the week and the main reason we are relegated.[/quote]

Lol, take a look around. We are not relegated yet.  The fight is still on.

[Peanuts 151]

Enough of this ''best squad in the Championship'' squit. If you go back and read the predictions before last season plenty of pundits tipped us to finish outside the top 6. Yes we had a strong squad, but so did other clubs that didn''t go up. Whether it''s genius or luck who knows, but don''t put down Neil''s achievement last season (nor forget the work Adams did beforehand).

[morty 0]

Does it have to be either "Genius" or "Got lucky"?Is there nothing in between?

[Mr Sausage 0]

He is a great manager who got the best out of a good squad supported by a wonderful board

He is also punching above his weight in the premier league

What a man!

[Katie Borkins 1]

I can''t tell if you are being sarcastic or not.

[Tumbleweed 106]

Exactly Morty, things are rarely as black or white as that.

My own view is that he is a manager who shows promise but could benefit from a few years learning his trade in a lower intensity less pressured environment, like Lambert did at Wycombe and Colchester.

I don''t think he "got lucky" last season, I think he brought discipline and focus to a decent but underperforming squad. Even though the Champs is highly competitive there is still though more margin for error. I think most felt that Adams wasn''t getting the most of the team and AN seemed by comparison a breath of fresh air.

This season he has clearly struggled, and seems to have reverted to short term fixes by changing things too regularly and perhaps losing sight of the basics which earned him promotion last year. I find it most frustrating. I don''t think he is a genius by any means, he had a good 4 months in a lower league and arguably this promotion has come too early for him personally.

I m not sure he is blessed with the best support team either.

I don''t agree that his transfers have been poor. Actually I think they have been good. But like the existing squad he has not utilised them well, so their ability to make an impact has been compromised.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Jeremy Borbyn"]I can''t tell if you are being sarcastic or not.[/quote]It''s Waveney. "Old wavey has launched a new modus operandi on the pinkun I think they are going to like it"Not the old faded jaded Waveney we all know and love, but the brand new shiny yellow plastic Waveney (sorry SoB).

[norfolkngood 1,174]

he didnt get lucky !

he did a fantastic job last year and was the perfect fit

but he has abandoned what got the team up the high press workrate etc

he is young yes but i have yet to see why he will improve thats just guess work this might be his level

i dont think he is helped by his coaches frankie and gary holt are not improving players

no system no real style of play like last year to many players get tossed aside never to be seen again

i would have sacked him by now ( my opinion )

i think he will struggle next year no matter what league we are in

[Mr Sausage 0]

Ian Culverhouse added to the coaching staff and we are talking dream team

[Thecanaryfan 0]

Bor - Use use of the term binner is beyond ridiculous. You truly do believe you are the only Norwich fan on the planet.

[TIL 1010 5,246]

[quote user="Hull Canary"]He is a great manager who got the best out of a good squad supported by a wonderful board

He is also punching above his weight in the premier league

What a man![/quote]So says the portly pieman of the Waveney Valley.

[norfolkbroadslim 225]

[quote user="Jeremy Borbyn"]P21 W14 D3 L4

"Other competent managers could have repeated this."

You will have no problem finding "competent" managers with a 66.7% win record then.

Let me know when you post the list.

Facts. Awkward.[/quote]

If we''re being selective with dates rather than an average across a manager''s career or even just for a particular club, then I''ll give you a name - Chris Hughton.

[City 2nd 193]

Jeremy Borbyn wrote the following post at 2016-03-09 11:48 PM:

He really got lucky.

With a Championship record of P21 W14 D3 L4, and if you include the playoffs then a record of P24 W16 D4 L4, I am sure you could find and name at least another ten managers with a record as good as that.

As you said CHAMPIONSHIP record. Post his PREMIERSHIP record and name another TEN managers with a record as bad!!

Binner.

[NCFC198 2]

Will he be able to motivate this dross team again next year in the championship? Baring in mind we now have one striker, they are all a year older, no BJ and his determination and the fact they may have lost respect for his tactics / ideas after this season? Would you listen to a man that guided you to one point from 27? Hardly inspiring. Also will we still have the best squad in the devision bs? I can see us mid table at xmas, AN gets sacked and the next guy has to try and salvage the season with time running out. Same old.

[Ray 111]

I feel that at times, NA’s contribution is not appreciated and is sometimes unfairly criticised.

He took our club to the top of the Championship. In August we played 5, won 3, drew 1 and lost 1. In September we repeated the August performance, so we were now, played 10, won 6, drew 2, lost 2. We were now in the top 2 and had been throughout September and for 4 weeks from 5 we had been in 1st place.

Now things began to go wrong, in October we won 0, drew 3 and lost 2 and in November we won 0, drew 1 and lost 3, by now we were 10th in the league, so a run of played 9, won 0 (starting to sound familiar) but drawn 4 and lost 5. However it appears NA was learning and learning fast, given his inexperience as a senior manager, a total of 24 league games, because in December he halted the decline and we went back to August & September form, playing 5, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 1 and those results included 5 – 0 and 6 – 1 wins and a 2 – 2 draw away at Derby, furthermore we had started to climb the table and were back up to 7th and climbing.

He then ‘resigned’ who knows what went on there, but given the fact he had actually turned things around (I’m ignoring the PNE cup fixture as I’m not sure that was the team he wanted to select) I feel he was quite badly treated, blimey the current incumbent has won one point from the last 27 available, I know it is in the Prem, but what is it he’s got that NA didn’t have, other than a Scottish birthplace, because it certainly appears AN is safe as far as the board is concerned?

So, AN took over a team that was on the up, that had suffered a bad patch and had started to turn things around, which was testament to NA, and continued with the momentum.

I do wonder if AN had been appointed in lieu of NA whether he would have been replaced come the following January, having just overseen a month of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss?

[ca 1]

[quote user="lappinitup"]Old wavey has launched a new modus operandi on the pinkun I think they are going to like it"Not the old faded jaded Waveney we all know and love, but the brand new shiny yellow plastic Waveney (sorry SoB).[/quote]

How do you spot these ids are Waveney Lappin?

[Mr Sausage 0]

The thing is City Angel I am not Waveney

[Peanuts 151]

[quote user="Ray"]He then ‘resigned’ who knows what went on there, but given the fact he had actually turned things around (I’m ignoring the PNE cup fixture as I’m not sure that was the team he wanted to select) I feel he was quite badly treated, blimey the current incumbent has won one point from the last 27 available, I know it is in the Prem, but what is it he’s got that NA didn’t have, other than a Scottish birthplace, because it certainly appears AN is safe as far as the board is concerned?

So, AN took over a team that was on the up, that had suffered a bad patch and had started to turn things around, which was testament to NA, and continued with the momentum.

I do wonder if AN had been appointed in lieu of NA whether he would have been replaced come the following January, having just overseen a month of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss?[/quote]

I agree it can be easy to forget Adams positive contribution to our promotion, but I think there was more to his resignation/sacking than simply poor results. At the end he looked like someone who didn''t want to be there any more and I expect he had just had enough of the pressure and realised he wasn''t cut out for it.

[whoareyou? 0]

[quote user="City 2nd"]Jeremy Borbyn wrote the following post at 2016-03-09 11:48 PM:

He really got lucky.

With a Championship record of P21 W14 D3 L4, and if you include the playoffs then a record of P24 W16 D4 L4, I am sure you could find and name at least another ten managers with a record as good as that.

As you said CHAMPIONSHIP record. Post his PREMIERSHIP record and name another TEN managers with a record as bad!!

Binner.[/quote]

Probably the last ten Newcastle managers.

[Ray 111]

Peanuts,

I do tend to agree that NA looked a bit like a rabbit in the headlights at times but I just wonder who was driving the car, at what speed and with how much due care and attention??

[Bradwell canary 112]

[quote user="Capt_Canary"]What is Alex Neil? Obviously made a massive impression coming in but to be fair we probably had the best squad in the Championship.

For me he has clearly been unspectacular in the transfer market and maybe that''s naivety or inexperience but he really should of addressed the defence at the start of the season. To rely on Seb Bassong and Russell Martin at the heart of defence was clearly asking for trouble. Part of the reason for us being released the first time round was due to leaking goals and the defence remain unchanged - why? This was glaringly obvious to us as the fans.

The second clear error was addressing our strike force and we have now got a Prem League strike force of Mbokani (loan), Jerome, Bamford (loan) and a Kyle Lafferty in exile yet who seems to have some impact and look lively when given any chance. Clearly our strike force not good enough. Benik Afobe should have arrived in Summer and now scoring regularly for Bournemouth. Andre Gray another striker we should of moved for and missed out on and the cost is dear.

Transfers have been disappointing with Wisdom, Jarvis, Mulumbu anonymous at large.

Small minded mentality or lack of ambition? I don''t buy lack of funds as we have sold well in Hooper, Grabban and Johnson and failed to use it wisely with what seems to be a lack of a strategy. I thought we had a football board?[/quote]

Could not agree more. If the average fan understood the problems in defence, why could not the powers that be? It has been shameful during the summer window that very little effort was made to address this glaring problem.

They stood by and watched the two other who were promoted getting decent signings in early. Don''t give me DM saying they had less time than those two clubs.

Seems true forward planning is not in their thinking.

[Baldyboy 1]

What an utter joke to refer to Alex Neil as a genius! Yes he did well to get us up through the play offs but he certainly isnt a genius! If he was a genius, surely he would have won the Championship and not have us in the bottom 3 this season. The love in with him is a total embarassment tbh