Where do we 'belong'?

[0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True 0]

I listened to Canaery Call last night and one caller was talking about getting back to the Prem where we ''belong''.

We''ve been here before, have we not, for 9 of the last 10 seasons?

I think it explains our current position. Many of the fans, and the players, think we belong in the Prem. You can see the same mentality at Palace and Soton, and Wolves etc. and it really is an achilles heel. Commmentators on yesterday''s Wolves game were talking about how they''re a big club with a good stadium and training facilities and belong in the Prem. Yeah, tham and many other clubs at this level...

Changing manager only works if it changes the players'' attitudes and expectations, and the fans'' too. Right now, I reckon many of the players think they only have to turn up at places like Millwall and we''ll win. The fans certainly think so. And that attitude has NEVER worked here or anywhere else.

The sooner we and the players start believing that we''re only better than other teams in this division if we work and aspire to be, and that we belong wherever our results say we belong, the sooner we will start to perform like Reading or Sheff Utd or Luton, none of whom think they ''belong'' in the Prem. Coincidence?

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

I heard about a recent quote from Mourinio which was along the lines of ''a manager has a duty to produce a side capable of playing in the league he is in.''

[Rossi 0]

Good post - I think that there''s an air of arrogance surrounding many, and even though we are in dire stuation people laugh at the thought that we could easily be playing in a league below where we are. One more thing Amarillo; listening to canary call can seriously damage your health!

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

I''m not convinced its arrogance, given our attendances both home and away the amount invested in facilities in the last few years, I think we should have a valid expectation (not a right but an expectation) of the premiership is where we should be, the alternative is believing we belong in the Championship which smacks of the classic ''little Norwich'' for me

 

 

[lucky green trainers 0]

The squad we''ve assembled on paper does belong in the Prem - they are

underperforming. To only take 1 point out of 6 off Millwall and

Coventry proves this. If we begin to lose quality players, then yes to

say we belong in the Prem would be overstating it - no disrepsect to

them, but with their squads if say QPR or Cov said they ''belonged'' in

the prem who would believe them?

[0Amarillo<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>ddMMyyyy0Falseen-US<P><FONT color=#cccc00 size=4><EM> º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ Amarillo ¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°<EM><FONT><P>True 0]

I disagree with some of the responses - based on our overall performance last season, we do belong in the Championship right now - i.e. we were not good enough to remain in the Prem. We aspire to be in the Prem, that''s the difference. It''s an attitude, a state-of-mind thing.

 

[Canary Poirot 1]

I think some fans expectations are bordering on arrogance. Yesterday we played Coventry, who two or three seasons ago had appeared in the top flight division for 35 odd consequtive season, far more than we''ve ever had the pleasure to do. To then say we have a god given right to go there and win, as a draw, heaven forbid, is a shocking result. Do you not think that Coventry fans think they should be in the Premiership? They probably have more right to think so than we do. In fairness, though, Coventry and Norwich are two similar sides, of similar sizes and fan base. Neither have a right to be in the Premiership, unless they are there on merit.

Historically, on average, Norwich have always been a second tier side. I think a lot of our fans are young, and remember our long run in the old first division. I first became a fan during that time, and of course, as most fans posting on here seem to think, the 9 years we had "on loan" to the Championship were just a blip from our right to be in the Premiership. But, reviewing the situation in the context of our history, we do not have any right to be in the Premiership, or to even think we are a Premiership side.

We will always be one of twenty odd sides who will make up the bottom ten of the Premiership or top ten of the Championship, on average, due to our size. We will periodically do better than average, or worse. Sadly at the moment, we are doing slightly worse than average.

The way I see it, as someone at work reminded me, 10 years of rubbish followed by one ''high'', makes that high so much better. And that''s what being a real football fan is all about. Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea fans don''t know what it is like, to experience that one in ten year high, as they expect to win every match, so they never reach our high - they think it''s just another FA Cup final - boring. But for us, just to reach the play offs is a massive high. I got blind drunk when we beat Stockport and we made 6th place in the Play Offs. I went mental when we beat Wolves. I even went mental when we stormed to the Championship two years ago. It is worth the wait. And that is why we support NCFC!

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

thats a convenient attitude to adopt for a keep the faither, this is where we belong ergo Worthy is performing at a level that is acceptable

 

 

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

The premier league in its current set up is doomed anyway.

[Old Boy 0]

We don''t "belong" anywhere - we have to fight for whatever status we want. At the moment we have (if fit, and including loan players) about 60% of a Premiership-quality side, but we don''t have a Premiership-quality squad at all, on pure ability. At or near the top of this division is where we should be IMO.

[gazzathegreat 0]

Where we aspire to and where we acutally are are two very different things.  With the squad we have, on paper, we should be in a much better position than we are, but as we have seen, it is not theory that wins matches, it''s practice.

And to be honest, we need a hell of a lot more of the latter.

[Salopian 1]

You would have to say that with our facilities at FCR and Colney, and

with our level of support, we are certainly superior to most

Championship teams, and you would have to describe us as "potential"

Premiership.

Unfortunatealy we have "suffered" from two problems:

1) We have bot been able to spend as much money as solid Premiership

teams, or produce enough youngsters of quality. The result has been

that we have a core of players who are good but also others who are

certainly not promotion or Premiership quality.

To acquire better players we would need to be more ambitious and risk

accepting. Alternatively we need to find a rich sponsor with  a

bottomless pocket!

To produce more players we could consider leaving the stilfing rules

about Academies and search for players from wider than our lmitis,

-a  largely thinly populated rural area, unlike Ipswich who can

draw from North London.

2) Poor quality management, - not just the present set-up. Who was the

last manager to show flexibility and imaginatkion in team selection and

tacttics?. Without too much difficulty we could think of a number of

excellent managers who could propbably transform our results, but they

are already employed elsewhere and would be unlikely to come here

because of problem number 1).

Could we do a "Charlton"? We somehow have to achieve promotion, while

finding players who could cope in the Premiership. This may mean young

players with potential, or more experienced players who want a

challenge! The trouble is that the experienced ones quickly become

Thornes or Chaltons.  Again, it requires resources and skill to

spot the youngsters, and finance to attaract senior players. It is

difficult to see us as anything other than occasional and brief

Premiership participants.