Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
king canary

Managers- best and worst first games

Recommended Posts

The news about Glenn Roeder and remembering the better periods of his time in charge got me thinking about the best and worst first games managers have had in charge of Norwich.

For those who remember, Roeder took over and his first game in charge was v Ipswich- we went 2-0 down but fought back to draw 2-2. While a draw might not sound that impressive it is worth remembering we were flat bottom of the league at the time and absolutely out of confidence- when we showed the desire to actually come back at not just fold it felt like a new start.

His successor, Bryan Gunn, also had a debut to remember with a 4-0 win over Barnsley but that certainly proved to be a false dawn.

However I'm not sure there is a better first game than Alex Neil- coming down from the stands when down to 10 men and losing 1-0 to Bournemouth to inspire us to a 2-1 win before going on a hell of a run of form.

Can't think of many worse debut games than Hughton though- taking over a team who finished 12th, riding high and then folding with a 5-0 loss to our bogey team Fulham. Fair play to rallying the team and going on a 10 game unbeaten run. 

Any others that stand out? Possibly from managers pre 2000 where my knowledge is lacking?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
20 minutes ago, king canary said:

The news about Glenn Roeder and remembering the better periods of his time in charge got me thinking about the best and worst first games managers have had in charge of Norwich.

For those who remember, Roeder took over and his first game in charge was v Ipswich- we went 2-0 down but fought back to draw 2-2. While a draw might not sound that impressive it is worth remembering we were flat bottom of the league at the time and absolutely out of confidence- when we showed the desire to actually come back at not just fold it felt like a new start.

His successor, Bryan Gunn, also had a debut to remember with a 4-0 win over Barnsley but that certainly proved to be a false dawn.

However I'm not sure there is a better first game than Alex Neil- coming down from the stands when down to 10 men and losing 1-0 to Bournemouth to inspire us to a 2-1 win before going on a hell of a run of form.

Can't think of many worse debut games than Hughton though- taking over a team who finished 12th, riding high and then folding with a 5-0 loss to our bogey team Fulham. Fair play to rallying the team and going on a 10 game unbeaten run. 

Any others that stand out? Possibly from managers pre 2000 where my knowledge is lacking?

I can’t remember why AN started in the stands-certainly unusual these days-was he supposed to be officially in charge after that game but came down to take over during the match?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 minute ago, Mr Angry said:

I can’t remember why AN started in the stands-certainly unusual these days-was he supposed to be officially in charge after that game but came down to take over during the match?

Can’t remember the exact circumstances but I remember Micky Phelan was put in charge for that game at least I think. I remember wanting him to take over permanently but I can’t remember why, had he been caretaker for a couple of games and done pretty ok? I know he wanted the job though. I think he was a bit put out when AN came down at half time and made ‘adjustments’, which to be fair proved to be a master stroke. Think it was Howson that got sent off? I said to Cam Jam after the game what a cracking goal he scored to win it from outside the box, but he literally couldn’t have given less of a sh1t 😂

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Even better (much better in fact) than the Roeder draw v Ipswich in his first match was the debut for one Bryan Hamilton in March 2000 also v Ipswich but this time at Portaloo Road.  A certain gap toothed Welshman scored twice in the first half in front of a stunned North Stand as a 2-0 win was chalked up. At that time Ipswich were a good team and went up to the promised land via Play Offs at old Wembley two months later. For Hamilton (who should never have been given the job in the first place but was the most definite choice of The Cook) it was downhill from thereon in. 

To be honest I can't recall the debuts of managers such as Saunders, Bond, Stringer, Walker etc. to make a judgement but almost certain that none was as good as the Hamilton victory or as poor as the Hughton collapse at Fulham.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 minutes ago, Alex Moss said:

Can’t remember the exact circumstances but I remember Micky Phelan was put in charge for that game at least I think. I remember wanting him to take over permanently but I can’t remember why, had he been caretaker for a couple of games and done pretty ok? I know he wanted the job though. I think he was a bit put out when AN came down at half time and made ‘adjustments’, which to be fair proved to be a master stroke. Think it was Howson that got sent off? I said to Cam Jam after the game what a cracking goal he scored to win it from outside the box, but he literally couldn’t have given less of a sh1t 😂

Yeah thats how I remember it too. He wasn't supposed to be officially in charge that game but decided to get involved at half time. Probably a certain element of peacocking from Neil but it worked on the day.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When AN came down, he asked the bench their thoughts, they gave them, but also told him what the Captain suggested (which was different).  AN decided to go with the on field Captain, so kudos to him for that and to the Captain, a certain Russell Martin, who is making a name for himself at MK Dons, as a manager, perhaps no surprise there!!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
58 minutes ago, Mr Angry said:

I can’t remember why AN started in the stands-certainly unusual these days-was he supposed to be officially in charge after that game but came down to take over during the match?

I don't believe he was officially in charge for the game. I was at that game and he was actually suited and booted as he took to the dugout. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
39 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yeah thats how I remember it too. He wasn't supposed to be officially in charge that game but decided to get involved at half time. Probably a certain element of peacocking from Neil but it worked on the day.

 

Yep, don’t think MP took to kindly to that from what I remember Kingo! Although it had been agreed that AN was to be our next manager, it was definitely meant to be Mike’s gig that day. As we were in the away end which faces the dugouts, we could see AN getting involved.

Interesting what @Ray said above. I think it’s fair to say he obviously knows or knew Russ Martin, who I had a pretty long chat with after the game (and not exactly groundbreaking news but what a genuinely nice bloke Russ is), but didn’t know that about Russ’s intervention at half time. Obviously Alex made the call, but does sound like Russ was showing early signs of managerial tactical astuteness!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was at the 5-0 Fulham game. Apart from the awful result the stand out memory was how quiet the Fulham fans were when they were 5 goals up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Other managers first five games with us-

John Bond- D L D L L

Ken Brown- W L D D L

Dave Stringer- L D L W L

Mike Walker- W W D L W

John Deehan- D D D D D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mike Walker's first game, away to Arsenal, 2-0 down at half-time. Brings on Mark Robins, who turns the game, 2-4, final score. Roy Waller was giddy on the commentary that day. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, BB said:

Mike Walker's first game, away to Arsenal, 2-0 down at half-time. Brings on Mark Robins, who turns the game, 2-4, final score. Roy Waller was giddy on the commentary that day. 

Wow, he would definitely go top of the pile based on that. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, king canary said:

Wow, he would definitely go top of the pile based on that. 

Rightly so! In those days, 'promotion from within' meant you could almost assume who the next Manager would be (the reserve team Manager) - so Stringer followed Brown, and Walker followed Stringer. A legacy. Liverpool did the same.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...