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Thanks for the link

Ron was one of the most underrated managers in the business.

It wasn''t all pretty at Norwich but you knew he goal to work his kind of authority on a bunch of younger "journeyman" footballers who would scale the heights, was going to work.

Shame the Chairman and him fell out about a new striker.

The bonus was that we got John Bond in.

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I''ve said before, I see similarities between the Saunders era and now........"When he went to Norwich, he was a

promising young manager
,’ says David Cross. ‘He didn’t mind getting his

kit off, that was the boss. He was a well-built fella.’Cross

signed for Norwich from Rochdale in October 1971 for £45,000, a record

for both clubs. Cross was 20, a novice centre forward from the third

tier, but he developed quickly under Saunders, who had been a striker

himself.Cross

discovered many years later that Saunders had not seen him play before,

but he fitted the profile the manager wanted: young, hungry, willing to

listen.
‘Ron really did mean business,’ Cross says. ‘I arrived early in his

third season at Norwich. He had spent the first two getting together a

young squad and getting rid of some older players. He signed young

players from the lower leagues
like Peter Silvester from Reading, myself

from Rochdale, plus young players in First Division clubs’ reserves —

Graham Paddon from Coventry and Doug Livermore from Liverpool.

When you add in what Cameron Jerome said about training....... Jerome said of his season so far. “The manager at Norwich has come in

with a different philosophy. It’s in every day, with no days off, and

British-based players aren’t used to that sort of thing".So many similarities, so much to look forward too.

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It is all about getting in the ''manager'' who can motivate players - as well as finding thos who can be ''motivated. the latter job now being handled by Webber.Unfortunately we are all too often swamped with idiotic guff about formations and even more far fetched guff (if you are willing to swallow such nonsense).We needed an overhaul,if only for financial reasons.The players on the pitch really seem up for it and seem supportive. Angus Gunn seems to relish every game. Something that seemed quite te opposite in the first year we came down with AN seeming to have to swap the team to placate egos more that for those needed for a particular game.Lambert similarly took a dispirited team and slowly evolved it into a battling force. A bunch of ''nobodies'' if you wish, much as were Saunder''s players. Though i suspect Farke''sintention with the hard fitness regime is not so much to build them up as to sort out the stayers from the laggards.Much to look forward to, methinks

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Can you imagine this forum if the Ron Saunders era was to happen now?

Why are the board appointing a novice manager instead of an experienced one?

Why is he signing lower league never heard of them players?

Mid-table finishes in first two seasons - WTF club is going to hell in a hand cart.

Ron was one of the best three managers in the club''s history IMO and his reign had much in common with Daniel Farke''s time here so far.

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[quote user="Crafty Canary"]Can you imagine this forum if the Ron Saunders era was to happen now?

Why are the board appointing a novice manager instead of an experienced one?

Why is he signing lower league never heard of them players?

Mid-table finishes in first two seasons - WTF club is going to hell in a hand cart.

Ron was one of the best three managers in the club''s history IMO and his reign had much in common with Daniel Farke''s time here so far.[/quote]Whilst it is nice to have you agreeing with me for once Crafty your post does raise a question. I assume Lambert would have to be one of your three best managers so, along with Ron, who is the other one?

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It is a very subjective decision Lapps. I base it on winning something substantive and what is substantive back in the late 60s, early 70s wouldn''t necessarily be considered so now.

I place Ron Saunders in the top three because he took a bog standard lower league club who had never been in the top flight to the promised land and to its first ever Wembley final and kept us there for a season.

John Bond took us back up and to a Wembly final and achieved our longest residency in the top flight. He also gave us generally entertaining football.

Ken Brown took us back up, back down and back up again and to a winning Wembley cup final. He also led the club to its highest ever league finish at that time - 5th

Lambert - we all know the miracle he achieved at Carrow Road and it is a flip of the coin whether he or Ken Brown gets the nod.

Honourable mentions go to Archie McCauley, promotion to division 2 and our first FA Cup semi-final, Dave Stringer for our then highest ever league finish of 4th, Mike Walker for our current highest ever league finish of 3rd and that great night in Munich.

So my top three are Ron Saunders, John Bond and Ken Brown/ Paul Lambert. Who is number one? RS or JB? I''ll let our older contributors mull that one over.

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[quote user="Crafty Canary"]It is a very subjective decision Lapps. I base it on winning something substantive and what is substantive back in the late 60s, early 70s wouldn''t necessarily be considered so now.

I place Ron Saunders in the top three because he took a bog standard lower league club who had never been in the top flight to the promised land and to its first ever Wembley final and kept us there for a season.

John Bond took us back up and to a Wembly final and achieved our longest residency in the top flight. He also gave us generally entertaining football.

Ken Brown took us back up, back down and back up again and to a winning Wembley cup final. He also led the club to its highest ever league finish at that time - 5th

Lambert - we all know the miracle he achieved at Carrow Road and it is a flip of the coin whether he or Ken Brown gets the nod.

Honourable mentions go to Archie McCauley, promotion to division 2 and our first FA Cup semi-final, Dave Stringer for our then highest ever league finish of 4th, Mike Walker for our current highest ever league finish of 3rd and that great night in Munich.

So my top three are Ron Saunders, John Bond and Ken Brown/ Paul Lambert. Who is number one? RS or JB? I''ll let our older contributors mull that one over.[/quote]Couldn''t you find a coin?

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Not arguing but it is interesting that the manager who took us to our highest ever league position and gave us one of the best nights in my lifetime (beating Bayern) is rarely ever mentioned in these conversations. Was his second run really damaging to his reputation?

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I think there was a strong feeling at the time that Walker inherited a very strong Dave Stringer team, but it is strange that he rarely gets a mention.

Maybe it was the manner of his leaving to Everton that causes this feeling towards him, cant think of another recent manager who left in the same fashion !

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Team did plummet when he left though.

I''m 29 so can slightly remember his first spell. Nobody comes close to Lambert in my lifetime though.

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It was the beginning of the dark days with several appointments that still send shivers down my spine ! None more so than the Loanee period of Roeder !

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My first match was 7th Sept 1968. the only claim to fame that we had then was our FA Cup run of 1959. That all changed when Ron Saunders joined in July 1969.  It''s been a roller coaster supporting the Canaries ever since, I thank Big Ron for starting it all.  

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[quote user="SwindonCanary"]My first match was 7th Sept 1968. the only claim to fame that we had then was our FA Cup run of 1959. That all changed when Ron Saunders joined in July 1969.  It''s been a roller coaster supporting the Canaries ever since, I thank Big Ron for starting it all.   [/quote]I would agree with that. Up until then we were one of the many outside of the top flight. A club that celebrated the odd giant killing or two, and that was about it.Ron Saunders put us up amongst the ''giants'', so much so that many now following the club presume it is our natural place.What he achieved was set against a time when football was not over hyped as it is now and games were watched by around 12,000 hardy souls so there was not the great hullabuloo that there is now.And for all the supposed ''faults'' of the board there are many who recognise what has been achieved and sustained since those days - and that is often the measure of the definition between a fan and a supporter.

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I believe that John Bond changed the club.

Ron Saunders took us to where we had only dreamed of but his football wasn''t always great to watch.

And up until Bond, we never really attracted star players. But he changed the style of football and brought in MacDougall, Peters etc who were household names.

Bond loved the limelight and we benefited from that. His sharp suits and cigars were a tabloid sub editors dream. Until then we were the proverbial country cousins.

And while I believe Stringer, with what he had, did the greatest job, I will always pick Bond as our most valuable manager.

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Can anyone (who was about back then!) explain why Saunders left the club? The clubs centenary DVD says something along the lines of a "bitter bust up with the board" but what was it about? And am I right in recalling that I read it happened straight after a league game?

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[quote user="keelansgrandad"]I believe that John Bond changed the club.

Ron Saunders took us to where we had only dreamed of but his football wasn''t always great to watch.

And up until Bond, we never really attracted star players. But he changed the style of football and brought in MacDougall, Peters etc who were household names.

Bond loved the limelight and we benefited from that. His sharp suits and cigars were a tabloid sub editors dream. Until then we were the proverbial country cousins.

And while I believe Stringer, with what he had, did the greatest job, I will always pick Bond as our most valuable manager.[/quote]On balance I think I''d have to agree with you. Some other successful Norwich manager''s actually won something whereas aside one promotion in 1974/5 Bondy never did but the football was fun ?The '' king of bling '' must seem like an alien concept to but those who weren''t there to witness it but manager''s like him, Malcolm Allison and Ron Atkinson were a joy to behold.It was a privilege to be a supporter at that time.

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[quote user="alex_ncfc"]Can anyone (who was about back then!) explain why Saunders left the club? The clubs centenary DVD says something along the lines of a "bitter bust up with the board" but what was it about? And am I right in recalling that I read it happened straight after a league game?[/quote]It happened right after we had lost 3-1 at home to a poor Everton side. It was truly a dire game (we didn''t even properly score - it was an own goal) and there was a bust-up between South and Saunders. I think you would have had to have been there to know whether South sacked Saunders or Saunders quit, or both events happened at the same time!Supposedly South ''s complaint was that he didn''t mind losing but not in such a dreadful fashion. That may be apocryphal, but South then head-hunted the more adventurous-minded Bond.

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