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Midlands Yellow

Best coach/manager Norwich have ever had

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Farke for me is well up there for the super and sexy football served up last season. Obviously Lambert was great for the club too but somewhat tarnished his legacy and has achieved nothing since leaving us. The best by far though must surely be Ron Saunders. First to mastermind promotion to the top division and a trip to Wembley. His achievements after leaving were outstanding and if Farke could use a few of his traits maybe the future could be special once again. 

Edited by Midlands Yellow

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I started supporting in 2001 so I can't really comment before that, but from my time the top 5 are a massive cut above the rest

Lambert

Farke

Worthington

Hughton

Neil

 

All based on their time with us ignoring what they've done before and after. I'm sure to most on here the top position will be taken by one from the Saunders to Walker era, which is fair enough. 

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Just now, Christoph Stiepermann said:

I started supporting in 2001 so I can't really comment before that, but from my time the top 5 are a massive cut above the rest

Lambert

Farke

Worthington

Hughton

Neil

 

All based on their time with us ignoring what they've done before and after. I'm sure to most on here the top position will be taken by one from the Saunders to Walker era, which is fair enough. 

Special mentions to Walker and Ken Brown too, you can forget we had top league finishing positions of 3rd, 4th and 5th. 

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2 minutes ago, Number9 said:

Farke has certainly broken some longstanding records 🤦🏼‍♂️

Indeed he is right down the bottom of the list , the stats are undeniable but some still try and justify his poor record 

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1 minute ago, Number9 said:

Farke has certainly broken some longstanding records 🤦🏼‍♂️

Can’t ever take away that promotion though on freebies and loose change after so many departures. This season is hopefully a wake up call to all concerned. 

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Judged purely on results and performances while at Norwich, Lambert. Inflicted one of the heaviest defeats in our history on the opening day as Colchester manager, joined us straight after and picked the players up to win League One going 16 games unbeaten at one stage. We then went straight up from the Champs the following season inflicting 2 massive defeats on Ipswich, and finished mid-table in the EPL the season after. While he was manager we were aggressive, free-scoring and miserly in defence, even if we did concede there was a calm about the attending fans that we'd come back to win anyway, that confidence flowed from the players to the stands and vice versa. We had players that would give as good as they got, it was nice to shrug off some of the "Little Norwich" label and really assert ourselves. Lambert was a straight-talking manager who was energetic on the touchline and could motivate his players.

What happened after he left us was a real shame and to be honest, he threw away a good thing at Norwich. 

*Based on my time supporting NCFC*

Edited by Canary Wundaboy

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I have been an active supporter since Saunders so for me it's the following in my top 5:

1. Stringer/Walker (joint). Great football, likewise results

2. Brown (amazing free attacking football). Used to love watching Drinkell & Biggins

3. Lambert (pains me to say but his years were "brulliant" and a breath of fresh air & no-nonsense... until the end!)

4. Saunders (first to develop a serious team of great pro's. In my first ever year of going to regular matches they got to the 1st Division)

5. Farke (for last year and a decent fella)

Honourable mentions to Neil & Bond. Wish Martin O'Neil had stayed but not enough games for us. He would have had success with us like he did at Leicester.

Worthy is unlucky as he may have supplanted Farke. May still do if DF tanks next season.

 

Edited by sonyc

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Different roles now but purely on someone who took this club from flatlining in the old second division to the First Division and Wembley, which then created a club that could compete in the top division, then it has to be Ron Saunders.

He turned us down originally but Watling wouldn't take no for an answer.

And he created a Villa side that won the league and the European Cup the next season.

 

Edited by keelansgrandad

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5 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Different roles now but purely on someone who took this club from flatlining in the old second division to the First Division and Wembley, which then created a club that could compete in the top division, then it has to be Ron Saunders.

He turned us down originally but Watling wouldn't take no for an answer.

And he created a Villa side that won the league and the European Cup the next season.

 

There was a programme on Villa winning the league and European cup last night on ITV. I’d forgot Saunders was ultimately the protagonist for the latter. 

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Ken Brown

Dave Stringer

John Bond

Lambert

top four for me.

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Lambert for me too. Due to travel and age I missed out on being able to fully enjoy the Stringer and Walker eras.

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Lucky enough to have watched a few eras. I would go with:

Stringer

Walker

Lambert

Brown

Farke/worthington

although I have to say Bryan Hamilton, Peter Grant, Bryan Gunn, Glenn Roeder and Gary Megson spells were unlucky to miss out 🤣🤣

in all seriousness Stringer\Walker have to be out in front as we were simply one of the best sides in the country playing great attacking football and so close to competing for top honours. No one has got even close since 

 

Edited by Big O
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1 hour ago, Branston Pickle said:

Dave Stringer for me - Walker benefitted hugely from what he inherited, IMO the best footballing side we had.

Yes, Stringer for me. Succession planning had worked well-Bond to Brown to Stringer and, of course, then to Walker. 

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I started supporting Norwich during Walker’s 2nd spell at the club, though was alive during some of Stringer’s career. Of the times that I’ve supported them I would go:

1. Lambert - got us back to back promotions and kept us up. Had we held on to him I believe we may have stayed up longer

2. Worthington - got us to the playoff final in 2002, then 2 years later won us got us the Championship title (or Division 1 as it was called then)

3. Farke - last season he won us the Championship title again, with a rather cheap squad too. Although he hasn’t done well this season, I think it’s more due to him having insufficient funds to spend on strengthening the squad.

4. Neil - arrived in January of our first season back in the Championship. We were looking like we weren’t going to stand a chance of going straight back up at the time, but he fired us up the table and won us promotion via the playoffs, nearly winning automatic promotion in the process. Although we went straight back down, I believe that had Jerome’s equaliser v Palace on the opening day of the season not been disallowed by that **** ref Simon Hooper, we would have stayed up

5. Hughton - I know he got us to 11th in his first season with us, but we got relegated the following season and a major issue regarding this was a lack of goals, mainly due to his defensive style of play. Despite just managing to keep Brighton up last season, he still got sacked by them as their fans were getting fed up with his boring style of play

 

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Ron Saunders took over a holiday camp and got us to the top division for the first time. Everything that has happened since is down to him. 

Dave Stringer created the greatest Norwich team ever and forced the football world to take us seriously. 

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Would be interesting to know the age demographic of the views, I can imagine if I hadnt been old enough to see the stringer/walker eras then based on recent years only I would have gone for lambert

and I wasn’t lucky enough to see the Saunders era hence why I didn’t go for him. 

Edited by Big O

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Difficult to compare from different eras. It’s a bit like how I would like a classy night with Carla Bruni and a dirty night with Holly Willoughby, which would be best ?

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Who was the best manager and who managed Norwich best are actually 2 separate issues. There is no doubt in my mind that Martin O Neil was the best quality manager we had on our books when you look at his overall  managerial career after he  left us, unfortunately he did not stay here 5 minutes after falling out with the Board and then jumping ship to Leicester to start his success story.  Unfortunately most Norwich managers who have  managed the club for a decent period of time  and then left for other clubs have struggled for success.

   The one that stands out for me as A] making a massive contribution to Norwich and B] going on the have a wonderful career after he left was Ron Saunders. To get Norwich into the top flight for the first time in their history on a shoe string and keep them there was a fantastic achievement, his success at Aston Villa afterwards was also magnificent. He would be my choice as the person who managed Norwich best . He would be closely followed by Mike Walker in his first stint getting us 3rd in the PL and top for a long time and the European run. Lambert had success but history has shown in IMO that he was half of a team with Culverhouse, take Culverhouse away and he has done nothing of note since they broke up

  

 

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54 minutes ago, The Raptor said:

From when I was old enough to really judge it. 

Stringer

Walker (1st spell)

Lambert

 

 

Stringer 

lambert 

walker 

Hughton  

Alex Neil 
Farke  

I think the list is at certain times when they were at their peak 

Farke has done very well and we have played some of the best football but my list was more results based in top flight not style 

Edited by norfolkngood

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6 minutes ago, norfolkngood said:

Stringer 

lambert 

walker 

Hughton  

Alex Neil 
Farke  

I think the list is at certain times when they were at their peak 

Farke has done very well and we have played some of the best football but my list was more results based in top flight not style 

If it’s results in top flight then walker has to be top doesn’t he? Did we finish 3rd or 4th under him, I’m loosing my memory. 

Edited by Big O

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20 minutes ago, Old Shuck said:

Yes, Stringer for me. Succession planning had worked well-Bond to Brown to Stringer and, of course, then to Walker

Loved the late 80s early 90s era. Shame Walker didn't stay longer 

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