Tough start to the season !!

[norfolkngood 1,174]

Birmingham (a) Aug 4

West Brom (h) Aug 11

Sheffield United (a) Aug 18

Preston (h) Aug 22

Leeds United (h) Aug 25

first 5 games look tough !!

[TIL 1010 5,246]

46 tough games surely norfolkngood ?

[Mello Yello 2,572]

I predict we''ll get 15 points.......around November/December.......

[glory.win or die. 273]

Is that 15 points all season Tho?

Optimistic.

[lake district canary 4,830]

We could do with Angus back for the Sheffield Utd away game, they love him there..........

[SwindonCanary 457]

A good Christmas period though !     

[norfolkngood 1,174]

yes you are right Til i can see a long hard season ahead !

[Essjayess 307]

[quote user="norfolkngood"]yes you are right Til i can see a long hard season ahead ![/quote]

Absolutely right, but of course its the same for all 24 teams in the Championship, the fans of each of them looking at the new fixtures and thinking "my my, there is a lot of tasty looking teams there, tis going to be a long, hard season".

Its rightly called the Championship, head and shoulders above any other 2nd tier division in all of Europe, arguably more tougher and competitive than a lot of top tier leagues around Europe.

No doubt Town fans will be hoping their new manager can do a number on us come Sept 1st now that MM has gone. Any fan who cannot get a sense of adrenaline for each new season may as well give up and minus Madders, Josh and Wes, plus Angus and Reed, plus all the new guys who will be donning the yellow and green, it will once again, as last season, feel like a new team out there.

[king canary 8,757]

Would certainly say I think the Championship is a stronger league than last season.

[hogesar 10,762]

[quote user="king canary"]Would certainly say I think the Championship is a stronger league than last season.[/quote]

To be fair someone says that every year. I''ve not seen the quality dramatically improve in the last 5 or 6 years even.

[Guest]

It is a clean slate and I think we have to have hope.

I am among those critical of DF, his approach and Webber''s signings.

But I think we have to hope the Maddison money is going to be well spent (not on the infrastructure either) on players and we move upwards from last season''s poor showing all round.

But the same or worse than last season could see the belief dwindle in all but the most blinkered.

[king canary 8,757]

@Hogesar

Yes, I''m not sure it will be improved dramatically this year but I feel like its stronger.

West Brom, Stoke and Swansea all have their issues but none are complete basket cases like Sunderland and, to a lesser extent, Hull were.

Of the three promoted teams I think Blackburn and Wigan will be far more competitive than Burton.

[KiwiScot 1,684]

Eight 7.45pm kick offs this season against ten last season. All against Hull, Villa, Reading, Preston and Derby.

[Surfer 1,547]

Not sure that''s a particularly tough fixture list to start -

Birmingham (a) Aug 4 Lat time we beat them 2-0

West Brom (h) Aug 11 Last time we beat them 1-0

Sheffield United (a) Aug 18 Last time we beat them 1-0

Preston (h) Aug 22 Last time we drew 1 - 1

Leeds United (h) Aug 25 Let time we beat them 2-1

[Highland Canary 78]

The general feeling on the board appears to be that the disposal of our better players somehow implies that our squad improves and the PL beckons. Some might argue that this is somewhat counter intuitive and the opposite outcome is more likely. Certainly, on paper at least, it looks a very soft start to the season for us.

[Surfer 1,547]

A much harder opening fixture list with streams in roughly the same locations would have been

Villa (a),

Stoke (h),

Sheff W (a),

Blackburn (h),

Hull (h)

[Big Vince 423]

Am I correct in surmising that the first winnable game is Wigan (h)?

[lake district canary 4,830]

[quote user="Big Vince"]Am I correct in surmising that the first winnable game is Wigan (h)?[/quote]

Bless. I know you would quite like us to do badly to suit your agenda, but unfortunately for you, they are all winnable games, starting at Birmingham on 3rd August. 

[Van wink 2,994]

I start season with high hopes every time, bit early to be getting miserable😀

[Big Vince 423]

[quote user="lake district canary"]

[quote user="Big Vince"]Am I correct in surmising that the first winnable game is Wigan (h)?[/quote]

Bless. I know you would quite like us to do badly to suit your agenda, but unfortunately for you, they are all winnable games, starting at Birmingham on 3rd August. 

[/quote]

Agreed. Some of us are desperate for administration just to see Delia''s face.

[lappinitup 629]

[quote user="Big Vince"][quote user="lake district canary"]

[quote user="Big Vince"]Am I correct in surmising that the first winnable game is Wigan (h)?[/quote]

Bless. I know you would quite like us to do badly to suit your agenda, but unfortunately for you, they are all winnable games, starting at Birmingham on 3rd August. 

[/quote]

Agreed. Some of us are desperate for administration just to see Delia''s face.[/quote]

No City fan would wish administration on the club Vinnie - or should I say Rob?

[lake district canary 4,830]

[quote user="Big Vince"][quote user="lake district canary"]

[quote user="Big Vince"]Am I correct in surmising that the first winnable game is Wigan (h)?[/quote]

Bless. I know you would quite like us to do badly to suit your agenda, but unfortunately for you, they are all winnable games, starting at Birmingham on 3rd August. 

[/quote]

Agreed. Some of us are desperate for administration just to see Delia''s face.[/quote]

What a sad outlook to have. Certainly not a fan of the club in any real sense.  I know, admin would mean we could get rid, hit rock bottom and have to rise again from nothing - but what fan in their right mind would want to put the club and fans through the humiliating experience of that??  

I know nothing about you Vince, but I hope and trust you and the few so called fans who are permanently against the club because of who is at the top will never be satisfied in your wishes for a downfall.   The club needs supporters, not hangers on who have twisted agendas.

 

[Crafty Canary 547]

Doesn''t matter what the fixture list is, if we don''t get some goal scorers in then the season will be spent at the bottom end of the table.

[Big Vince 423]

I am sorry to say that the Suffolk Socialists have invited twisted agendas upon themselves. They could have chosen to be reasonable some time ago and stepped down. However, they are bent on downsizing the club because they do not have the financial means to compete in the top two tiers. This is not acceptable to any fan who believes that the stature and size of NCFC is much bigger than that which the current owners can deliver.

If the Suffolk Socialists refuse to budge, then wishing administration on them is a price well worth paying because we are not in any way a club if just 2 people are resisting the aspirations of tens of thousands.

[norfolkngood 1,174]

i very much doubt we will be in administration any time soon as with the self funding model that is exactly what it means the club self funds

Now we have sold Maddison to get us over any shortfall until the wages of the high earners are off the clubs wage bill next season

i imagine after that the club wages will tow in line with our income and we can make money once more buy selling players instead of using that money to fund the like of Naismith / Jarvis etc

[Big Vince 423]

[quote user="norfolkngood"]i very much doubt we will be in administration any time soon as with the self funding model that is exactly what it means the club self funds

Now we have sold Maddison to get us over any shortfall until the wages of the high earners are off the clubs wage bill next season

i imagine after that the club wages will tow in line with our income and we can make money once more buy selling players instead of using that money to fund the like of Naismith / Jarvis etc[/quote]

That is precisely why Maddison needed to be out for longer so that the Suffolk Socialists were put in the financial pickle.

[lake district canary 4,830]

[quote user="Big Vince"]I am sorry to say that the Suffolk Socialists have invited twisted agendas upon themselves. They could have chosen to be reasonable some time ago and stepped down. However, they are bent on downsizing the club because they do not have the financial means to compete in the top two tiers. This is not acceptable to any fan who believes that the stature and size of NCFC is much bigger than that which the current owners can deliver.

If the Suffolk Socialists refuse to budge, then wishing administration on them is a price well worth paying because we are not in any way a club if just 2 people are resisting the aspirations of tens of thousands.[/quote]

Sorry, but that is utter tosh.  The present reorganising of the squad to be more affordable is just common sense and even clubs supposedly with rich owners are having to adjust their finances. As for DS and MJW, were you shouting the cheering the owners when we got promoted to the PL?  When we were at Wembley?   No.  Fpr you, success must have been in spite of them not because of them.  In fact success doesn''t fit with you very well.  You don''t even sing when we''re winning. 

Wishing administration on your club is the epitomy of bitterness and bitterness is not a good thing to have about anything, let alone your football club.  Why don''t you take a leap of faith and wish us well next season.....go on, it''s the only healthy way to be a supporter of what is a great football club.

[Making Plans 957]

If Farke is going to get judged on the first 10 games then he needs to make sure that we hit the ground running (and passing forwards)

[Icecream Snow 777]

[quote user="Surfer"]A much harder opening fixture list with streams in roughly the same locations would have been

Villa (a),

Stoke (h),

Sheff W (a),

Blackburn (h),

Hull (h)[/quote]

Whilst I don''t think there''s any easy games in the Championship, I''d prefer to play Villa over Birmingham. Terry has gone, Grabban, Snodgrass and Johnstone are highly unlikely to return and they need to sell Grealish, Kodija and Chester. With Steve Bruce having a habit of walking away if he hasn''t got money to spend, and a fairly disjointed squad, I wouldn''t mind playing them first game of the season.

[corbs 147]

Shockingly I agreed with Paul Ince recently. The Champs is the toughest division in Europe. It feels to me we have entered a new era, one where remaining in the Championship may be our main aim. I came late to the party so I''ve only be going regularly to games since 1976 (although I started going in 71). We appear to be in a similar league position to when I first watched us, although I believe these are very different times. Last season I enjoyed many aspects, having a foreign coach, the emergence of the younger players, and the skill of Maddison and Murphy. I recent weeks I have come over with ''Reeves'' syndrome (post transfer depression) although I am told it is not fatal and as long as I continue to attend events at Carrow Road the symptoms can be kept under control. I do worry that I may not be able to identify with the new re-vamped team. I remember watching our enjoyable game last year at Craven Cottage trying to recognise our players. I doubt we will reach Roeder ''loan'' proportions but i do like to support players coming through (Lewis) and players one feels familiar with (Hoolihan). It was great having a Norwich born player in the side last season.

In anticipation of next season, I would be quite happy if we finished around about where we finished last season as long as certain components were in place. I am thinking of places for young players (Lewis, Godfrey, Onel), the same commitment as last season (Hanley, Zimmerman) and a clear out of the players we don''t need (Paper Mache legs et al) and some bold signings from Germany of lower league. Doing well on a budget is ambitious!

In recent years we have all become online experts on football with our views on the ownership, infrastructure and accounting. Much like Brexit, and the ''will of the people''. Of course very few actually understand much about the reality of running a football club and vote according to their own limited prejudices. Sort it out!

Whether you hate socialists from suffolk or not, at least be consistent. If you feel the current scenario is lamentable and synonymous which ''little ol narwich'' (choose cliche of choice) then fair enough. But at least give credit for the amazingly good years we have seen as well. I still maintain that for a small provincial city we have punched above our weight - and we have no devine right to be highier in the leagues than Plymouth, Exeter, Grimsby, Luton etc etc. Personally I''m not very interested in who owns the club, as long as they have the clubs interests at heart. Chase was a NCFC fan who increasingly did not have our interests at heart. The current owners clearly do and they love the club, actually quite rare today. Apart from Gibson at boro, not many owners in this mould.

The premiership has become very dull, apart from the relegation battle. Unlike the list above we know the title and the top 4 spots will go to the large conurbations, Manchester, London, Liverpool. It was ever thus. Regrets, I have a few - we would of won the league in 93 if we had brought in a loan striker towards the end of the season (my friend thought Ian Dowie would of scored maybe 4/5 goals and that would of done the job).

I''m off to Birmingham for my hols next week. Keep with with the programme, keep the faith and remember when we had super twins playing for the City Club - because you won''t ever see it again.