This Squad "Cancer" Does Not Make Sense Unless...

[YankeeCanary 0]

Like every other fan I find myself sitting in frustration and puzzlement in trying to come to grips with what has occurred this season. There is no question in my mind that there is a cancer in the squad that goes way beyond the bounds of reason. We all can point to a variety of issues...Nigel''s shortcomings, losing Francis ( and failing to replace with similar quality ), persevering with Fleming too long, most clubs that are relegated from the Premiership have problems in their first year back in the Championship, etc etc etc.

While we collectively, as posters, have postulated a number of good points offering reasons for the shortcomings of our team, I simply cannot bring myself to accept that, in and of themselves, that they explain why we are failing to show passion on the pitch. I am convinced there is a "cancer" present in the organisation that we are not privy to. I have tried to think what that might be and when it might have occurred. I find it difficult to believe that such a problem existed in the last part of last season. Although, in my mind, our relegation from the Premiership was due to inadequate overall quality ( particularly in key positions ) and Nigel''s approach, we still had some good performances in the last six games before the Fulham debacle. In those six games we won four and tied one, scoring twelve goals with only eight against. No cancer there. So, in my mind, either something was communicated to the players before the Fulham game ( difficult to imagine  ) or it happened in the close season. Obviously, players carried over from last season would have to drop back to a lower salary level. That in itself is not an explanation for what''s occurred. The only other significant event that received much hype at the club at the beginning of this season was whether we could hold on to Dean Ashton and the subsequent hoopla surrounding the renewing of his contract. Coincidentally, that was the last time that Delia was very public. Whatever went on in that process ( perhaps other players feeling Ashton was rewarded to excess to their detriment ) is the only element I can think of that could have caused a number of players to collectively become disenchanted. It might go some way in explaining why Ashton is not being serviced and, consequently, looking less like the prolific goal-scoring machine he was at Crewe. It might also explain why so many are starting to regard Huckerby''s performances as sub-par versus what everyone had become accustomed to.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Yankee

I too have toyed with every conspiracy theory I can think of, not exactly keeping me awake at night, but damn near it. We (Meeky and I) spent five hours in our local last night discussing our club with other fans, not all of the same opinion mind you!

I can only think it is a combination of a lot of things which have not been addressed and simply been allowed to get out of hand. 

Firstly, we are still playing people out of position and keeping faith with the same old game plans which don''t work.  Defending too deep, long ball, booting the ball to Ashton or Huckerby, etc, not having someone in midfield to create forward runs by himself or McVeigh.  Giving Green too much to do at the start of the season by keeping faith with Fleming, (as in last season with Holt and Fleming) to the detriment of Jonson and Helveg (no surprise they are no longer here) and Safri.  We all know, given different circumstances last year we could have stayed up.  But we didn''t. 

We still have the little club mentality, oh it was expected, we came down because we don''t have the resources.  Shame then we still had them to bid for Morrison (and disenchant McKenzie at the same time).  Huckerby, as you know, my favourite player is now totally found out and is simply repeating the same moves every game.  Every other club manager is now wise to his ways and they act accordingly.  Ashton, I have discussed at length elsewhere. 

The board is now showing signs of a great power about to collapse, no, the ship can never sink sir, it isn''t going down, what iceberg?  Keeping the faith in Worthy is not going to save us, or him.

I also noted that we seem to raise our game more against "premier" oppositon, ie Birmingham in the cup this year, Man U and Newcastle last year.  Why is that, can''t we cope playing teams that the management and/or players regard as inferior?  Why can''t they just play for who they should be playing for, ie the club, the fans and that little canary on their chests.

Yankee, Norwich at the moment is a very sad place to be.  I haven''t met anyone for weeks who actually enjoys going, or has any faith in us ever getting promoted.  Granted, some still want us to stick with Worthy, but they are becoming seriously disillusioned by the game.  This I emphasise is only the people I know, but I guess most people can tell the same story.  It is a sad time for us all.  It is no longer good enough to be told to keep the faith.  I have no faith left in the board and unless it acts fast we are going to be playing Gillingham et al next season. 

[Tumbleweed 106]

I think the "cancer" you refer to is morale and disenchantment bred from persistent strength sapping defeat and mediocre performances.

The cause of this particular cancer is the lack of training ground discipline and organisation within the team which manifests itself on the pitch. Against lowly opposition it is likely to be exaggerated because with those games comes lethargy. It gets disguised in the so called "big games" as you have highlighted- our mini revival last season came when the Corner Infill was fully opened for the first time with 25,500 fans in there against the best English teams from the last decade and the one which everybody really wants to beat. Easy to get the adrenalin pumping for a game like that and it temporarily disguises the fundamental flaws.

So it was in the promotion year. The arrival of Hux, Crouch and Harper galvanised the team, raised performance levels and confidence but ultimately disguised some serious shortcomings in the off field regime and on field organisation.

With promotion this training field cancer was allowed to grow. Worthington became complacent thinking nothing was wrong and we could carry on in the same way. Now it requires major surgery to remove, surgery which is going to be painful and unpleasant and for which the decision makers seem to have little appetite.

So yankee- poor training, tactics passing, marking and positional play all feed your cancer and lead to a spiralling decline in performances and energy levels. No one except Millwall have lost more games than us and that weekly beating will sap morale and confidence still further.

 

[Canary Poirot 1]

Where has it gone wrong?

For me it has gone wrong all over the pitch. And the professionals that pervade this club are to blame, as is the management.

Worthington screwed himself when we won promotion. He cut the heart of this team out (Malky and Iwan, even Paul Crichton the reserve GK) which made it tick and held the squad together. Yes I know there should be no sentiment in football, but the dressing room seriously suffered in my opinion for that cull. This was followed by the signing of players who were here for the wages and little else. This is always a risk in football. Ipswich were seriously screwed when they decided to invest shed loads of money in "top class" foreign players. Of course they (and probably most other people) thought these players would push them onto the next level. But they never do (unless you are Sam Alladyce but he clearly has something magical about him).

The poor signings were supplemented with a belief that it was "okay" to go down as we were a "little club" with no chance. This was a very sad approach. Anyhow, we went down. Clearly we had no money in the summer as we didn''t buy anyone for cash until we sold players. But the sad truth is that Worthington bought abysmally. Most fans continously list the ''wasters'' in our squad as being most of Worthington''s summer signings. Louis Jean was part of a shocking Forest side last year, and hasn''t done anything to suggest he isnt shocking this season. Jarratt must have the world''s greatest agent. Hughes shows great commitment, but isn''t up to Champ level, but I admire his effort non-the-less. Thorne strikes me as Dean Coney mark II and I''m convinced he will never score for us. Jurgen Colin has done okay, played well in a a number of games and then very badly in alternate weeks. His age has kept him from abject criticism. Dean Marney has flatted to decieve and never convinced me (I based his ability on those goals for Spurs from match of the day on his debut which were class, sadly clearly a one off never to repeated).

So what can you do? We clearly need new players, as the current one''s are not up to the task. But with the ridiculous FIFA regulations in place, we can''t buy anyone, no club will release any quality players for loan, we are left with the shower of **** we currently have. We have to pray they take pride in their profression and make an effort, and hopefully we will avoid defeats. Recent results suggest otherwise. But I live in hope.

[charlies dad 0]

Have to agree YC. The rot has pervaded into every level. Its not only the fault of the manager, but he has to take a measure of the blame. He, after all brought in many of the current playing staff.

[sheded 0]

[quote]Yankee I too have toyed with every conspiracy theory I can think of, not exactly keeping me awake at night, but damn near it. We (Meeky and I) spent five hours in our local last night discussing our ...[/quote]

Hucks is " totally found out " Gazza ?  what exactly does THAT mean ?   sounds more like the desperate casting around looking for scapegoats  to me !     so the managers of other clubs  have sussed him out , right ?  ,  so they tag him with two defenders  , right ?   well , this would  make any players job more difficult !  especially as he  usually has to do a job on these defenders  without any support whatsoever !!    ...... maybe  Yankee  is right  ,  there IS a problem within the team [ I call it that loosely ]   where  the highest  paid players   are not supported by the less  financially  rewarded  players .... I think its called jealousy !!    and maybe Nigel has  recognised this  , and had a few  set to`s  with some of these players ?  ......

Just another conspiracy theory  ? 

I`ve noticed more than a few posters  turning on Hucks  just lately  ,  might serve them right if he  decided enough was enough   , and   left 

[Old Man Andy 0]

There is no "cancer". Or conspiracy theories.

The only course of action available to professional footballers (as a squad, not individually) when they have realised that their manager is not as good as he thinks he is, is to lose football games. And not JUST lose football games, but lose them in such a way that everyone realises that something is badly wrong.

Put yourself in the position of a current Norwich City FC squad member. Yes, I know you''d all like the money, but that''s a different arguement for another day. You are a Norwich City player, and your boss is Nigel Worthington. You have seen what happens to any player who dares to voice an opinion. (Matt Jackson, shipped out immediately, various others dropped from the team for non-footballing reasons) You have seen what happens if you dare to stop and sign autographs for kids outside the ground for longer than you should, causing you to be 5 minutes late into the dressing room. (Andy Hughes, dropped from the team 90 minutes before kick-off)

In short, you work for a strict disciplinarian who will tolerate no dissent in the ranks, or else you''re out of here. So that means, of course, you will not find any NCFC players (who, almost to a man, genuinely love playing AND living in this fine City) picking up the phone to Rick Waghorn and saying (on the record) what they really think about their boss. No way. They might be footballers, but they ''aint that daft. They''ll say what they have to say to stay in the manager''s good books.

So, when you hear the joint majority share-holders of the football club give their absolute and non-negotiable backing to the manager that you have long ago given up on, what option is left to you? You don''t give your 100% on the pitch, that''s what. You know that results are all that counts, and you know that anything less than 100% will result in being beaten by average and even poor teams. You hope that this variation of "industrial action" will force the board of directors to look long and hard at the management, and to realise that if things don''t change, this football club is stuffed.

Believe me, players of the quality of Dean Ashton and Darren Huckerby do not become good imitations of Sunday League pub footballers without a good reason. Top quality players cannot become bad players overnight, in the same way that amateur hackers like you and me cannot become Premier League standard footballers overnight.

The players are performing badly for one reason, and one reason only.

They have lost faith in their manager.

[CambridgeCanary 0]

You are both so right .  It is a sequence of unrelated events that has left us in this sorry place.

I have said elsewhere that when we lost our three Scandinavians in the summer, we lost dedicated professional men who clearly were positive influences in the club both by nature and example.

Now I''m not saying anything derogatory about those that remain who are all decent and honest men I''m sure.  But you can''t have too much of the "we are here to do a job and let''s get on with it" with attitude and we lost a great chunk of that in the summer.  Perhaps being mercenaries having to prove they are worth their hire in a foreign land brings an extra dedication but something was lost in the summer and I think it was more than these three men''s footballing abilities.

United in our love for City