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Delia Smith may become most hated owner in club history

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Why Delia Smith may become the most hated owner in club history

It is very simple. I believe she is doing what she thinks is best for Delia Smith and her family and she will do that even if it is at the expense of what is best Norwich City

There are people on this board who despise Robert Chase (I''m not one of them) but I never doubted that Chase was trying to do what he genuinely believed was the right thing for Norwich City - even if others completely disagreed with his methods/actions

I don''t believe this is true of Delia Smith. I believe she knows full well that her and Wynn-Jones strategy is not about doing what is best for Norwich City. As with many approaching the ends of their lives they begin to think about their mark on the world and their "legacy". What will be left when they are gone? it is her "legacy" she is interested in - the Smith dynasty ruling at Norwich City

I''ve been a season ticket holder for over 30 years. All my children are season ticket holders and throughout that time I''ve never felt as much antipathy towards any of the owners/directors of the club as I do now

I took the trouble to read the Henry Winter article in full yesterday (it can be read here http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/supporters-are-treated-so-badly-the-government-need-to-step-in-fn9xvl7c0

- you have to register but it is free). It is a very worrying piece including at least two sly xenophobic references to "foreign money" and how the supporters wouldn''t want a team to be promoted with no English players in it - huh? Since when did nationality become an issue for playing for Norwich Make your own minds up - I probably wasn''t in the best mood to read it

The current preoccupation with Alex Neil hides a much deeper resentment, at least for me, with the Smiths and Wynn Jones. Neil is a dead man walking - he will be gone soon enough so there''s no point adding to that debate

The much deeper issue for me is having owners who appear to be breaking the one unbreakable bond that should exist between owners and supporters - that we both want Norwich to be the most successful football club it can possibly be. I don''t believe this is true of smith and Jones. If their choice was A) to be unsuccessful with them in charge or B) be successful without them or their family at the helm then they would chose A.

I have supported this club through 4 decades and emotionally invested a huge amount. Never during that time did I feel the disenchantment I do now and it has little to do with Alex Neil. I no longer feel that i share a common goal with the club''s owners. Its like finding out a good friend has been nicking money from you - you trusted them and shared good times only to find out they were betraying your friendship

That is why the Smiths may end up the most hated owners of Norwich ever - bar none.

Could the longer term future for Norwich be better served by the financial implosion of the failure to be promoted and current abysmal mismanagement of resources which would require new investment? Is it worth losing the on pitch battles for a much bigger victory off the pitch?

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You seem to be a bit out of touch with your fellow supporters. Your premise and it''s reasoning are way off the mark if you think anyone involved with the club doesn''t want whats best for the club.The Chase method and the current method are different but they all believe(d) they were doing what was best for the club.

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Delia and MJW have bought the club. It is their toy to do what they like with. We are sticking some money into their toy, but if she/they want to devalue their toy we can only sit back and watch while saying we told you so.....

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Excellent post however the happy clappers will soon decry you as a binner for daring to question the delightful Delia and her sidekick''s intentions.

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[quote user="A Load of Squit"]You seem to be a bit out of touch with your fellow supporters. Your premise and it''s reasoning are way off the mark if you think anyone involved with the club doesn''t want whats best for the club.The Chase method and the current method are different but they all believe(d) they were doing what was best for the club.

[/quote]I have supported Delia since she has been here but my support is wavering as I also think the same as the OP, in as much as she would choose option A rather than B

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You can argue that Delia and Michael do not have the ambition or financial strength to push the club into the Premier League and sustain top flight football for the fans. You can also argue that they are too soft and shy away from making difficult decisions for the overall good of the club.

But to suggest they could end up as the most hated owners of Norwich is a deluded and, frankly, disgusting statement. Firstly, it can be dismissed outright when considering what Chase did to Norwich. Secondly, they do not benefit financially from the club. They have rescued it on several occasions and initially got involved because the club mattered to them. Of course, this does not mean they are immune to criticism, but those fans who call for their head have short memories and little gratitude. Fickle and blinkered, to say the least.

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i do not think she will be the most hated

but lets not forget yes she pumped in money when we needed it and saved us nobody can argue that

but her money has been repaid

she now owns a football club worth a lot more ( or was before now ) than she paid for it

so yes she has been very good for NCFC but also NCFC has been good for her family

i imagine she has doubled her investment at least

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Excellent thread.

Ask anyone the club who the priority is with Delia Smith and they will all give you the same answer - Delia Smith.

The only plus so far in this turmoil is that some fans are now seeing Delia in a different light and that has to be a good thing.

She is a control freak who wants everything done how she sees it. Why is it that she surrounds herself with friends and family on the board? Co-incidence? She does not want to be surrounded by people that challenge her and I hear she was more than pleased when McNally lost it.

And make one thing crystal clear - she did not ''save'' the club. She''s been dining out on that for years. She was in the right place, at the right time and saw an opportunity. Quite clever really. (No single individual has ever ''saved'' NCFC, though the nearest would be Geoffrey Watling who wrote off loans). Its about self-promotion for Smith and NCFC is a vehicle for that. Period.

I wrote on here some weeks ago that internally I was told that the club did not want promotion this year and that didn''t really surprise me. Obviously this got mocked as why wouldn''t a club want to promoted?

Do the current (non) actions of NCFC contradict this view?

I fear she is taking what is the most loyal fans that any board could wish for and treating them like fools.

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Nephew tom has the potential to turn things fiesty! I can''t see many fans giving him very long to make his mark

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While everyone is obviously entitled to their opinion this particular thread is clearly not seeded and supported by profound thinkers ( not surprised that Crafty found it appealing ).   

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Further to my previous post, I was around in the Robert Chase era and for the most part it was good and was the most successful the club has ever been.

However, his big downfall - amongst several - was that he thought the fans didn''t matter. They did then and still do now. That is where we are with the Smiths too. Even McNally wasn''t bothered about the fans, despite selling the ground out and a very loyal away following.

Chase and Delia is Hobson''s choice, but if I had to choose it would be the former.

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[quote user="komakino"]Excellent thread.

Ask anyone the club who the priority is with Delia Smith and they will all give you the same answer - Delia Smith.

The only plus so far in this turmoil is that some fans are now seeing Delia in a different light and that has to be a good thing.

She is a control freak who wants everything done how she sees it. Why is it that she surrounds herself with friends and family on the board? Co-incidence? She does not want to be surrounded by people that challenge her and I hear she was more than pleased when McNally lost it.

And make one thing crystal clear - she did not ''save'' the club. She''s been dining out on that for years. She was in the right place, at the right time and saw an opportunity. Quite clever really. (No single individual has ever ''saved'' NCFC, though the nearest would be Geoffrey Watling who wrote off loans). Its about self-promotion for Smith and NCFC is a vehicle for that. Period.

I wrote on here some weeks ago that internally I was told that the club did not want promotion this year and that didn''t really surprise me. Obviously this got mocked as why wouldn''t a club want to promoted?

Do the current (non) actions of NCFC contradict this view?

I fear she is taking what is the most loyal fans that any board could wish for and treating them like fools.[/quote]You weren;''t mocked so much as corrected. You claimed something very precise, and checkable, which was that we hadn''t BUDGETED for promotion, when the accounts and our transfer dealings indicated we had, as did the warning that we will make a loss of several million this year. You also claimed Lambert had been refused any increase in his budget when, again, the accounts and the transfers indicated otherwise.

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I don''t think I could ever hate or really even activly dislike her. I just think she''s incredibly naive, stubborn and is going through a very destructive mental phase where she feels she can use the club to play the martyr against all that''s wrong with modern football. She also likes to surround herself with inept yes men in all but the most desperate times to the detriment of the club.

I can''t see any scenario where it would cross over to hatred. Even if we float between 16th and 8th in the Championship for the next 3 years under AN (Something I believe is almost certain to happen unless AN loses his next 2 with a whimper) I''d want her to sell up. I can''t hate her for being misguided.

To be honest I almost get the people saying they hope we lose the next two to remove AN. If he does turn this around at our best under him, with this squad we''re gonna finish 8th to 4th and does anyone out there really think we''ll win the play offs? We absolutely must go up this year or next. Even when it''s going ''well'' under this manager it''s just not good enough imo and hasn''t been for over a year now

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I wonder if the budgeted loss for this season includes promotion bonuses? The last promotion bonuses were approx. £11m

As for Lambert requesting an increase in his budget, he may have done and it may have been refused. The Financial Statements do not state what the budgets were unless there is a reference to them in the commentary.

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[quote user="Horse Renoir"]I don''t think I could ever hate or really even activly dislike her. I just think she''s incredibly naive, stubborn and is going through a very destructive mental phase where she feels she can use the club to play the martyr against all that''s wrong with modern football. She also likes to surround herself with inept yes men in all but the most desperate times to the detriment of the club.

I can''t see any scenario where it would cross over to hatred. Even if we float between 16th and 8th in the Championship for the next 3 years under AN (Something I believe is almost certain to happen unless AN loses his next 2 with a whimper) I''d want her to sell up. I can''t hate her for being misguided.

To be honest I almost get the people saying they hope we lose the next two to remove AN. If he does turn this around at our best under him, with this squad we''re gonna finish 8th to 4th and does anyone out there really think we''ll win the play offs? We absolutely must go up this year or next. Even when it''s going ''well'' under this manager it''s just not good enough imo and hasn''t been for over a year now[/quote]

Agree with all of that.

The people around her do not help and she probably does feel she has a mission to show what modern football ownership could be like (see her and Michael''s interview in the Telegraph a few weeks back). However, turning a blind eye to the current circumstances will not get the club the promotion it needs.

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[quote user="Donkey dangler"]I wonder if the budgeted loss for this season includes promotion bonuses? The last promotion bonuses were approx. £11m

As for Lambert requesting an increase in his budget, he may have done and it may have been refused. The Financial Statements do not state what the budgets were unless there is a reference to them in the commentary.[/quote]The accounts give figures for overall staff costs and for player wages specifically, and for summer transfer spending, which are all key components of the budget a manager has been given.

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I believe Delia thinks she is doing the right thing for the club and the fans. I don''t doubt her sincerity or her loyalty to the manager and who knows? she might even be proved right if she can hang on to him long enough. She also believes that her ownership gives a stability that would be lost should we fall into the hands of those somewhat dubious foreign characters snooping around ready to asset strip the club. She wants a successful club but rooted in family and community,  in a world where those two things a probably mutually exclusive.Her model for the club was formulated in a different era and things have become more professional, more money oriented and more cut throat. Its not a future that she feels comfortable in, she doesn''t like it and wants to hang on to a much gentler past that now only exists in memory. Its a nice dream but that world has gone and it''s not coming back. In the final analysis everything in football is decided by results and I expect that much of her wishful thinking is likely to be blown away by the harsh winds of reality.

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[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Donkey dangler"]I wonder if the budgeted loss for this season includes promotion bonuses? The last promotion bonuses were approx. £11m

As for Lambert requesting an increase in his budget, he may have done and it may have been refused. The Financial Statements do not state what the budgets were unless there is a reference to them in the commentary.[/quote]The accounts give figures for overall staff costs and for player wages specifically, and for summer transfer spending, which are all key components of the budget a manager has been given.[/quote]

The Financial Statements do not tell you whether the budget has been over or under spent unless something is mentioned in the commentary. Furthermore the Statements will not tell you whether the football manager requested an increase in budget during the financial year.

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It''s what happens when people get old, she is way past having the right skill set for her role.

McNally for all his detractors was a great appointment by Delia and the board, he clearly was able to add a positive influence together with a supportive chairman.

Now sadly she has surrounded herself by yes men, it''s like all failing leaders and in a democracy there would be a mechanism for removing her, sadly this is an autocracy and it''s going to take a sciesmic shift to change anything.

WTF is Moxey and how on earth couldn''t he see the damage her interview would do. Or maybe he didn''t know or she failed to take his advice. Either way we are in big trouble as things stand.Shame.

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[quote user="VanWink"]It''s what happens when people get old, she is way past having the right skill set for her role.

McNally for all his detractors was a great appointment by Delia and the board, he clearly was able to add a positive influence together with a supportive chairman.

Now sadly she has surrounded herself by yes men, it''s like all failing leaders and in a democracy there would be a mechanism for removing her, sadly this is an autocracy and it''s going to take a sciesmic shift to change anything.

WTF is Moxey and how on earth couldn''t he see the damage her interview would do. Or maybe he didn''t know or she failed to take his advice. Either way we are in big trouble as things stand.Shame.[/quote]

The interview was a dreadful piece of PR and shows how naive Smith is. She used the club - again - to promote herself and it backfired spectacularly.

I''m wondering what Moxey really thinks of all this? He must of known he was getting bed with a bunch of amateurs? Or did he?

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The thing is, outside of Norfolk or aside from ncfc fans, hardly anyone would have read or known about the article, let alone taken any notice of it, or her opinion.

Whether she''s right or not, is really pretty irrelevant in the football world revolving around Sky, Roman Abramovich and the owners of Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Arsenal. Do you really think any of them really care what she said?

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Ko

"I''m wondering what Moxey really thinks of all this? He must of known he was getting bed with a bunch of amateurs? Or did he? "

Interesting one, Mr Balls assured us that the recruitment process for the CEO was protracted to ensure they got the "right" man.

Right man for what is the question?

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[quote user="Donkey dangler"][quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="Donkey dangler"]I wonder if the budgeted loss for this season includes promotion bonuses? The last promotion bonuses were approx. £11m

As for Lambert requesting an increase in his budget, he may have done and it may have been refused. The Financial Statements do not state what the budgets were unless there is a reference to them in the commentary.[/quote]The accounts give figures for overall staff costs and for player wages specifically, and for summer transfer spending, which are all key components of the budget a manager has been given.[/quote]

The Financial Statements do not tell you whether the budget has been over or under spent unless something is mentioned in the commentary. Furthermore the Statements will not tell you whether the football manager requested an increase in budget during the financial year.[/quote]What the figures tell you is how much was spent in comparison to the previous year or years. It is those comparisons of money actually spent, on wages and transfers, that are the indicators.The argument was that we have not budgeted for promotion, whereas all the financial evidence available so far, plus that warning on a loss, suggests we have. Indeed my suspicion is that, far from under-budgeting, if anything we have overstretched in an effort to get straight back up. The other argument was that Lambert had been refused an increased budget. Again, the comparitive figures indicate otherwise. I can well believe he may not have been offered all he asked for, but that is not the same thing at all.

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[quote user="YankeeCanary"]
While everyone is obviously entitled to their opinion this particular thread is clearly not seeded and supported by profound thinkers ( not surprised that Crafty found it appealing ).   
[/quote]Ahh, the mantra of a lefty. If you don''t think how I think you''re not very bright.When people resort to this kind of logic all I hear is:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwtxrt_C2XQ

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There are two alarming parts to the Times interview.

One is the sense of Xenophobia generated by her remarks about foreign owners, which seem strange coming from someone who six months ago actively campaigned for the Remain campaign in the Referendum which means she must be happy with the free movement of people to the UK. From that, I suppose she means it is OK to allow in low-skilled, low-wage immigrants who can provide cheap kitchen labour for the catering industry, but it is not OK to have rich foreigners competing with her in the football industry. I don''t know how she cannot see these are two sides of the same coin.

The second alarming point in the interview was that there was no mention of getting back to the Premier League, no mention of how she plans to take the club forward. other than Alex Niall has as much time as he needs. On the contrary, her comments were more backward-looking to a time when all football was still community-based in that income was derived mainly from gate receipts and footballers were British-born. Well that type of football environment still exists today, though not in the Premier League, but in the lower leagues I think Delia can find the sort of footballing ehtos that she is looking for.

Therefore I think it is inevitable that our long-term future is outside of the Premier League because:

a) The footballing environment that Delia yearns for does not exist in the Premier League

b) After next year we will no longer have the finance to put together a promotion-challenging squad. And the evidence suggests that AN couldn''t deliver a challenge anyway.

But fair enough, the old girl put the money up twenty years ago to keep the club afloat when it faced bankruptcy and as majority shareholders she and her husband have the right to position the club as they see fit.

It''s up to us as fans to decide whether we want to be on Delia''s wagon or not. Personally, in the light of what I have seen and heard about the club this year, I am downgrading my expectations and adjusting my relationship to the club I have supported for over fifty years because I don''t want to live on a daily basis with the pain and angst that defeat after unnecessary defeat brings.

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