Barry Skipper On Radio Norfolk

[No Quarter 0]

Just drove in to work listening to the musing''s of Barry Skipper on Radio Norfolk.  I can''t remember word for word what he said, but when asked about the frustration of supporters at the moment, he replied with something like "I wish the fans would get behind the team.  I cannot understand what the placard waving people who stand outside the ground are trying to achieve.  Their views are very much in the minority amongst supporters.  All they are achieving is making Carrow Road an unsafe place to go for family''s."  He then went on to say that he could not see changes being made to the management team between now and next season. 

I still think our illustrious board of businessmen and women see no wrong in the current situation at Carrow Road.  All fans must make there feelings known Saturday, to hammer the point home.

[charlies dad 0]

Disregard everything this buffoon says. Any businessman who thinks that insulting his customers is good business practice, is sadly lacking in intelligence. If he is indicative of Boardroom opinion at Carrow Road, we''re heading for the conference.   

[maninyellowslacks 0]

If you cannot at least understand the views of objectors to your view or opinion you are stubborn and arrogant.

Mr Skipper does not have to agree but he even fails to allow the view, this is complete arrogance and is a little concerning given the current plight of the club that he represents.

I am worried that the board actually do have their collective head in the sand. 

[Yellow Rider 0]

True, Tin Ribs.

But he did make what I thought was quite a revealing comment .......''we can''t chain them (the management team) to the gates and if they decide they''ve had enough that''s up to them''. Now you can read anything into that but IF results and performances continue to slide between now and end of season, the following is a real possibility (IMO):

• Worthy is offered a pay off 
• In return he will ''resign''
• Both parties will put out statements saying how wonderful the other is (or was)      

That would definitely get Delia Smith off the hook as I don''t think she can bring herself to sacking him + it would be tantamount to admitting that the fans were right!

Although I have little confidence in our Board on footballing matters I do think that Skipper is the most likely to shift his stance (however unlikely that may seem at the moment). He is undoubtedly the financial ''brains'' behind the Board.  

   

[Rossi 0]

to hammer the point home everyone should attend the meeting at St Andrews Hall, and then follow it up with a demo on Saturday. If Skipper doesnt know what the placard waving minority want - lets make sure he knows.....We want worthy out....

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

He can''t understand what we''re trying to achieve???  How stupid is he!

[The Duke of Norfolk 0]

Yes, too right.

Barry Skippers comments will certainly fan the flames of anger now being felt by many fans towards the board.

His name will certainly crop up at the meeting on Thursday and i evisage some rather unpleasant songs being sung about him at Carrow Road on Saturday.

[Peter 0]

[quote user="charlies dad"]Disregard everything this buffoon says. Any businessman who thinks that insulting his customers is good business practice, is sadly lacking in intelligence. If he is indicative of Boardroom opinion at Carrow Road, we''re heading for the conference.   [/quote]

 

Its ironic you should say that CD. I was at at question and answer session he was the guest at in November. Someone asked him how bad things would have to get for the board to sack Worthy. He said ''Maybe if we end up in the Conference''.

Also on a one to one basis he has been quite rude and bullish to me personally when I suggested what I thought were constructive ideas to him. Not a nice man.

[ca 1]

Very stupid, judging by his peformance at the Fans Forum at Sheringham.

[Mello Yello 2,296]

Let good old Barry Skipper babble on about anything that comes into his head. Quite frankly, if he thinks I''m a ''hooligan'' then he''s a chump. I don''t really care what is being emitted/omitted from the Club board or its media. I personally hope ( and it''s possible that they are) slightly worried. Maybe, on match days, there''s a large 3 dimensional screen running the whole width across the front of the Director''s box, which, only shows past games from our Championship winning season! I also think, that the sound of the 2004 vociferous crowd is piped exclusively to them. Are the board myopic and aurally challenged? Can they not see and hear what I see? My pew is very close to the Director''s area - and I can certainly sense the discontent and mood of the crowd! It''s like the fan''s just go through the motions ''when'' we score.........Gone is the cheery expectation of a good display of soccer!

Everything at the moment, seems so ''muted'', but the board and ''Mr Hop, Jump and Skipper'' state it''s only a minority! Yes, it''s only a minority who congregate at the present displaying their discontent, but, the overall attendance of home fans are certainly disgruntled. I wonder what Delia and Hubster make of it all? "Right Roger, it''s your turn to quell the revolting minority of hooliganistic supporter''s - as our very own ''Mr Carpet Slipper'' seems to have put his foot in it!" "Corporal Cullen, tell the Norfolk Press that we''ve sold off all of the season tickets for the next five years - but that there may be a few returns for the lucky minority!" "Neily D, tell the KTF''s that the 3 Amigo''s have been given another 4 years at the helm! Joe Ferrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaari! I want you tou disguise yourself as a W''outer - and attend the NCFC fans uprising at St Andrew''s Hall, and then immediately report back everything that is said - OK?" "I''ll show this disgruntled minority that this lady isn''t for turning!" "Now Nigel, would you and your good lady wife join me and Michael for Sunday lunch, so that we can discuss your contract extension."[;)] OTBC ;~)

 

 

It ain''t got as bad as the ''Robber Chase'' era/error.............Yet![:-*] OTBC Worthy Cheerio!

  

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

from what I have heard of this guy he has done some good things for the club. However he does come across as a very rude opinionated and offensive person.  To be honest he is now only fanning the flames, especially considering his timing of the remarks was abysmal coming just before possibly our worst performance of the season, and with a full squad at that.  I mean you dont say that sort of thing just before a hard away game, but I guess he thought the team might actually try........

If it is such a small minority of fans whom are worried about Nigel Worthington''s performance as manager what are you worried about Skipper??  Even on this board i see fewer and fewer fans supporting worthy.

[Rossi 0]

I have actually been thinking if the whole thing might be a plan. Just hang in there with me for a moment.Now, to the like of you and me, (the vast majority Mr Skipper) there is a feeling that Nigel should go, be pushed, whatever. Now despite the Ashton money (which is of course, paid in installments) the club seemingly has a cashflow problem, and season tickets sales are down, and, be honest, when was the last time you saw a queue for the club shop etc. Also add in the whole Robinson saga and Delia looking for loose change. We could well be in a situation where we cannot afford the pay-offs required to rid of us of our shackles. Another idea could well be that Mr Skipper, who I believe to be the biggest, sorry, only pro-worthy person left in Norfolk, is trying to take the heat off our Nige by his ridiculous comments. It''s been mentioned here already that Skipper will probably be brought up on Thursday and in the demo and game on Saturday. All of this Skipper singing will take us away from the actual reason why we are so damn angry. Neil Doncaster said at the Official website love-in not so long ago that the board acknowledged that the majority want worthy out.

I really wouldnt judge a book by its cover.....but worryingly for me, Skippers comments are definately inflamatory. Are we beginning to enter the world of sack a board member too?????

[charlies dad 0]

He does come over as ''rude and bullish'' Kathy. In contrast Roger Munby is always polite and charming. Its bad PR to let Skipper speak publically, even if i don''t agree with what Roger says, i dont feel insulted by his manner. The club would do well to remember that.    

[Yellow Rider 0]

Hi Kathy,

Firstly let me say that I think you have written some excellent articles and posts on NCFC recently BUT I would urge ALL fans going to the meeting at St. Andrews Hall to rein in as far as possible the ''personal'' issues of whether we think Barry Skipper or whoever are decent blokes or not. The Board would like nothing better than for the meeting to end in disarray with fans verbally abusing each other and the club, directors, manager etc. on a personal level. That won''t get us anyway other than a very bad press!

There are loads of constructive comment we can make on how we believe the situation has drifted downhill since May 2004. We MUST make that our emphasis on Thursday. I''m certainly not advocating a ''no protest'' policy at Carrow Road, far from it, I was the one to suggest the white hanky protest (still to get off the ground unfortunately) and I have sung ''We want Worthy out'' whilst others nearby have just sat there like dead sheep. However, the tone of some of the posts on this thread today suggest that Barry Skipper may be personally abused on Thursday or at Carrow Road matches and that would be plain wrong.     

[Helsinki canary 242]

Not wishing to cause too much concern - but this bloke Skipper is showing worryingly similar traits to a certian Robert Chase - arrogance, unwillingness to accept or listen to points of view of supporters and total bull headedness. I suggest at the next game the Barclay starts "Skipper Out" chants.

[Old Boy 0]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"]

... he does come across as a very rude opinionated and offensive person... 

[/quote]

A relative of yours, Paul?

Sorry - couldn''t resist it...

[South Norfolk Old Boy 0]

I have renewed my season ticket and my son and daughters too. I have followed the boys since 1960 so I believe I am entitled to an opinion as much as Mr Skipper.

Manager''s sometimes lose the dressing room. It happens. A couple of good results and they can turn it around. But, if you lose the supporters your time is up. There is no way back. Mr Skipper needs to understand (and quickly) that there is a very thin dividing line between the manager losing the supporters and the board following him. The board are perilously close to losing the supporters and, if the situation continues to the end of the season, even the return of Martin O''Neill won''t rescue them!

We are vey close to the Tipping Point. If we get to the situation where there is no waiting list for season tickets we might as well all stay at home on a Saturday because it''s all down hill from there. That''s why Andrew Cullen, an exceptional marketing man, is trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

Nigel Worthington has lost the supporters because he simply cannot handle the media. Every Saturday and Thursday he is wheeled out to trot out his mantra about "work ethic" and it sounds increasingly ridiculous.

If we take  a cold hard look at the past seasons we find that we missed promotion through the playoffs when our manager threw on all his defenders as soon as we went a goal up at Cardiff. We got promoted in a very poor season with a string of wins by a single goal (OK, we''d love more of that now!) and we had a horrible time in the Premiership led by a board and a  management team driven by budgets designed for relegation for "poor little Norwich" (sorry Delia, that was even more pathetic than "Lets be havin'' you"). Then we come to this season when our leader tells us he wants a small squad and lots of big midfielders who have great engines ( but can''t pass the ball). Nigel - keep your thoughts to yourself if these are your best hope to get us back to the Premiership. Because if, by some miracle we ever get there under you we will be back to the budgets and "poor little Norwich" again.

Our best manager ever was, in my opinion, David Stringer. In the end he was undone by this inability to handle the media. When things got tough he simply couldn''t get his message across. In so many ways that is more important than the results on the pitch. Kevin Keegan wasn''t the greatest manager of all time, but he would still be top of many fans shopping list.

If the board really want to stick with Nigel then they should at least stop hanging him out to dry twice a week. He has a limited vocabulary and a limited philosophy on what should be a beautiful game (ask Darren Huckerby or Paul McVeigh). They should get a media expert to give him lessons on what to say and how to say it or put someone else up in front of te microphone (let''s face it Roy Waller isn''t Jeremy Paxman!). Sadly, that won''t change his approach to football - you can take the man out of the defender, but you can''t take the defender out of the man.

Mr Skipper, you need to unsderstand that you have two ears and one mouth - use them in that ratio and stop insulting our intelligence.

[Syteanric 1]

Barry Skipper reckons "we arent making Carrow Road safe for familys" by protesting in an acceptable manner with no violence whatseoever????

perhaps he aught to think before he sticks his ruddy bloated face up the main entrance window and laughs at us like he did against Ipswich, thus enticing us to "intimidate" and sing even more... yes u were seen Skipper!!!!!

 the mans a complete fool if he thinks that "we placard wavers" will acheive nothing.... obviously the protests are being heard else he wouldnt be gobbing off now would he?

from what i gather not many people took him seriously in Sheringham the other week anyway...

jas :)

[lucky green trainers 0]

i heard skipper on radio norfolk and he seemed either deliberately way out of touch as a debating strategy or idiotic to me.  i''m assuming the former applies.  there''s no chase type crisis at carra rd and yet he tried to imply the ''minority'' who want worthy out were trying to suggest there is. the problem at carra rd is simple - very poor performances and results and so many supporters have concluded a change of manager is needed.  of course he never mentioned the level of the performances this season at all.he didn''t come across very well in conclusion and if city are wheeling him out in support of the board, its doing them no favours at all imo

[Web Team - Vince 0]

You can now hear the BBC Radio Norfolk interview on EDP24. http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/sport/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=Sport&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=sport&itemid=NOED28%20Feb%202006%2019%3A02%3A33%3A067

[Web Team - Vince 0]

I think it was recorded with a dictaphone next to a speaker, so apologies for sound quality.

[I am Spacticus!! 0]

well if he did indeed say" between now and next season", i can see Worthy given 10 or so games next season,and then we''ll see what happens.Have to say  i did post last night to explain that as much as it pains me to say it  i do think  he has come to the end of road with regards to being manager,I have supported Worthy up untill saturday when that was the last straw.I''m not proud of thinking like this,but feel increasingly like a lot of people who maybe stood on the "middle ground" that enough is enough.

We will see in the end!

[Syteanric 1]

have listened to this.. the mans a bit of a pleb!

 Chris Goreham tried challenging him over the "unsafe Carrow Road" sentance and he tried to talk his way out of it i noitce

jas :)

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Sorry everyone but Skipper just came across unexceptionally  for me. I was expecting more arrogance and vitriol but just got a watered down version of Robert chase.

Yes, some of you would like him to acknowledge your protests in a positive way, but he didn''t and quite frankly I have never seen protests outside the ground as a sensible option.

The fact he has felt the need to say anything at all is an acknowledgement the Board is concerned at the discontent but I cannot understand why he would be chosen as a natural spokesperson.

 

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

I get the impression worthy is going to be here next season!!

Barry seems to have no idea about anything.  To make it worse he seems to think worthy is still doing a good job.  How can anybody watching the games think he is still doing a good job.