Parma’s State of the Nation

[Petriix 2,840]

The trouble is that the failure stems from the summer before Farke was sacked, hence the inability of either manage since to turn it around. Keeping Farke wouldn't necessarily have been a great deal better given how the squad was mismanaged. Farke needed better, more technical players than he was given; more Vrancic than Hernandez. With that squad I'm not sure it was really possible to go back. The bridges were already burned. 

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

51 minutes ago, Petriix said:

The trouble is that the failure stems from the summer before Farke was sacked, hence the inability of either manage since to turn it around. Keeping Farke wouldn't necessarily have been a great deal better given how the squad was mismanaged. Farke needed better, more technical players than he was given; more Vrancic than Hernandez. With that squad I'm not sure it was really possible to go back. The bridges were already burned. 

The land grab precursor?

Parma 

[Barham Blitz 653]

1 hour ago, Robert N. LiM said:

Generally agree with this, and really regret we lost our nerve in the second PL season under Webber/Farke.

But would just add in reply to you and @Barham Blitz that surely the point of the SD model is that a long-term plan should be able to encompass more than one coach. The NCFC five-year plan became synonymous with Farke, but that doesn't mean it had to.

Oh absolutely - but why then veer between the Pep-lite Farke era to the supposed pragmatism of whatever you would term Smith's tenure to the Klopp-lite (ish) Wagner era we are currently in ? 

If the last two seasons have taught us anything it is that it would appear that each of our last three coaches (well, Farke and Wagner at least - I really couldn't work out what Smith was even trying to do) require very specific and hugely distinct skill-sets / capabilities within their tactical systems.

That is exactly what the SD model is intended to avoid.  

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,392]

4 minutes ago, Barham Blitz said:

Oh absolutely - but why then veer between the Pep-lite Farke era to the supposed pragmatism of whatever you would term Smith's tenure to the Klopp-lite (ish) Wagner era we are currently in ? 

If you were being generous, the answer to this is 'because you'd concluded the Farke-lite model couldn't work to keep a club like NCFC in the PL.'

If you were being less generous, it's 'because you're chasing losses'.

6 minutes ago, Barham Blitz said:

If the last two seasons have taught us anything it is that it would appear that each of our last three coaches (well, Farke and Wagner at least - I really couldn't work out what Smith was even trying to do) require very specific and hugely distinct skill-sets / capabilities within their tactical systems.

That is exactly what the SD model is intended to avoid.  

 

Agree with this entirely. And that for me is the biggest case against Webber, even if you accept he did have to move on from Farkeball.

Hopefully the arrival of Knapper (with some critical questioning of him from one of the MA team) will result in a more coherent model that doesn't disintegrate under pressure.

[Barham Blitz 653]

59 minutes ago, Petriix said:

The trouble is that the failure stems from the summer before Farke was sacked, hence the inability of either manage since to turn it around. Keeping Farke wouldn't necessarily have been a great deal better given how the squad was mismanaged. Farke needed better, more technical players than he was given; more Vrancic than Hernandez. With that squad I'm not sure it was really possible to go back. The bridges were already burned. 

Indeed - I've ranted at length on this subject before so i won't bore you all again with my two penn'th.  

But I do wonder if the car-crash that was that summer's recruitment and the discarding of the Farke tactical blueprint prompted Knapper's repeated insistence that although he would be responsible for player recruitment he wouldn't be bringing in anyone without the coach's approval.

(Although that could be read two ways of course - either the SD won't be imposing players (and by implication tactics) on the coach or that the SD isn't solely responsible when we sign the next Normann or Rashica ...)

[king canary 7,609]

8 minutes ago, Barham Blitz said:

Oh absolutely - but why then veer between the Pep-lite Farke era to the supposed pragmatism of whatever you would term Smith's tenure to the Klopp-lite (ish) Wagner era we are currently in ? 

If the last two seasons have taught us anything it is that it would appear that each of our last three coaches (well, Farke and Wagner at least - I really couldn't work out what Smith was even trying to do) require very specific and hugely distinct skill-sets / capabilities within their tactical systems.

That is exactly what the SD model is intended to avoid.  

 

Yes, I'd argue this is Webber's biggest failure in his time here.

One thing we needed to avoid was another Lambert-to-Hughton situation where we went from a team full of attacking swashbuckle who conceded too many to a team who looked scared to cross the halfway line. We needed evolution and opted for revolution, in contrast to Swansea who lost Rodgers and replaced him with Laudrup which allowed some continuity.

I have sympathy that Smith didn't deliver what was expected- certainly dour defensive football wasn't the Dean Smith way at Brentford or Villa. Maybe Webber expected Smith would deliver evolution but couldn't with what he had.

Wagner though...there is nothing about his recent managerial tenure that suggested a long term appointment and the guy to build around. It felt like he'd given up by that point.

[PurpleCanary 5,562]

16 hours ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

Following the AGM I feel that this sporting thread and the Mark Attanasio financial thread are converging. 

One. Attanasio is ‘comfortable with the debt’ because it is now internal. Though of course it also floats on a bed of equity. Yes realisable only upon sale - and upon profitable sale at that - though Attanasio was ‘only this morning talking to Australia’ about ‘third-party funding’. He repeated several times that he will ‘later…look for third party funding’.

Two. As @nutty nigel has repeatedly pointed out, fan ownership goes with Delia. Local connections go with Delia. It stretches back a long time. The question ‘why would you invest in a baseball club in Milwaukee?’ is a perfectly reasonable one.

Three. MA:  Crescent Capital London office..FT editors talked about Norwich!

Four. For anyone left in any doubt at all about lines of demarcation and roles and responsibilities ( @Don J Demorr ) Ben and Mark made it very, very clear. There has been a sudden land grab. All the sporting power is now with the Sporting Director.

 

 

 

Excellent report/overview, Parma. I had gathered some of those point from the interviews, but there is nothing like being at a meeting to notice body language and assess where the power lies.

One. I had drawn attention to Attanasio talking about third-party investment, but hadn't realised he had mentioned it so often, or been specific to Australia, or apparently was looking at that already.

Two. Delia always used to reply to the idea of having a supporter-director by saying all the directors were supporters. Deliberately or otherwise missing the point that a true supporter-director is chosen by the fans, and we have never had one of those. Sadly I cannot see my genius idea of about 14 years ago, of a supporter -director with a golden-share veto, coming to a company that looks like it is going to end up in Maryland or Delaware or wherever, and private to boot...

Three. Well, ex-chairman Ed Balls used to work for the FT so perhaps that isn't as far-fetched as it seems.🤩

Four. And most of the non-sporting power with Attanasio?! Land grab by duumvirate. But I suspect Don even so would still wonder about corporate governance at Carrow Road.

At only a bit of a tangent I asked Paddy Davitt on the latest pink un Q&A if the seeming delay in Attanasio choosing the second US director was due to whoever it was having to pass the EFL fit-and-proper-person test.

Paddy thought rather it was just that Attanasio was in no particular hurry to settle the question. Given that Crescent Capital has a London office it might be geographical proximity would be a factor, zoom calls etc notwithstanding. 

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

19 minutes ago, king canary said:

Yes, I'd argue this is Webber's biggest failure in his time here.

One thing we needed to avoid was another Lambert-to-Hughton situation where we went from a team full of attacking swashbuckle who conceded too many to a team who looked scared to cross the halfway line. We needed evolution and opted for revolution, in contrast to Swansea who lost Rodgers and replaced him with Laudrup which allowed some continuity.

I have sympathy that Smith didn't deliver what was expected- certainly dour defensive football wasn't the Dean Smith way at Brentford or Villa. Maybe Webber expected Smith would deliver evolution but couldn't with what he had.

Wagner though...there is nothing about his recent managerial tenure that suggested a long term appointment and the guy to build around. It felt like he'd given up by that point.

Much of the last year - and the decisions taken within it - look like attempting holding pattern management. 

Whether ‘holding pattern management’ is really possible, desirable or appropriate I leave others to judge. 

I think I would certainly lean to @Petriix ‘s broad view that earlier decisions led to later more forced moves, including clumsy short-term attempts at ‘holding’ and a drift away from any meaningful pattern of play and clear ‘project’ or identity. 

This is where the repeated warnings in the masterclasses about Shakespearean fulcrum moments and the action turning were I’m afraid prophetic. I don’t really feel like apologising for that, particularly as they were expressed in real-time, and as many others saw it too. We do know Norwich City.

Delia feels an era passing, we feel an enormous opportunity missed and a rather careless destruction of precious momentum. 

Parma 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Parma Ham's gone mouldy

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

9 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

 

Excellent report/overview, Parma. I had gathered some of those point from the interviews, but there is nothing like being at a meeting to notice body language and assess where the power lies.

One. I had drawn attention to Attanasio talking about third-party investment, but hadn't realised he had mentioned it so often, or been specific to Australia, or apparently was looking at that already.

Two. Delia always used to reply to the idea of having a supporter-director by saying all the directors were supporters. Deliberately or otherwise missing the point that a true supporter-director is chosen by the fans, and we have never had one of those. Sadly I cannot see my genius idea of about 14 years ago, of a supporter -director with a golden-share veto, coming to a company that looks like it is going to end up in Maryland or Delaware or wherever, and private to boot...

Three. Well, ex-chairman Ed Balls used to work for the FT so perhaps that isn't as far-fetched as it seems.🤩

Four. And most of the non-sporting power with Attanasio?! Land grab by duumvirate. But I suspect Don even so would still wonder about corporate governance at Carrow Road.

At only a bit of a tangent I asked Paddy Davitt on the latest pink un Q&A if the seeming delay in Attanasio choosing the second US director was due to whoever it was having to pass the EFL fit-and-proper-person test.

Paddy thought rather it was just that Attanasio was in no particular hurry to settle the question. Given that Crescent Capital has a London office it might be geographical proximity would be a factor, zoom calls etc notwithstanding. 

Just on 3 cousin - and knowing that it will be of particular interest to you - Mark was both surprised and delighted that a scheduled interview with the FT actually focused majorly - and unexpectedly - on his involvement with Norwich City (as opposed to Crescent and whatever issue he thought was the reason for the piece)…

…it should not have escaped anybody present that he was clearly delighted by this ‘micro-celeb’ status….

….and another one gets bitten….

Parma 

Edited December 7, 2023 by Parma Ham's gone mouldy

[Robert N. LiM 4,392]

17 minutes ago, king canary said:

Wagner though...there is nothing about his recent managerial tenure that suggested a long term appointment and the guy to build around. It felt like he'd given up by that point.

It's been clear to me for a while that Wagner is a caretaker coach. Seems like we've taken this one step further and signed caretaker players, too, such as Duffy and Barnes...

[king canary 7,609]

8 minutes ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

Much of the last year - and the decisions taken within it - look like attempting holding pattern management. 

Whether ‘holding pattern management’ is really possible, desirable or appropriate I leave others to judge. 

I think I would certainly lean to @Petriix ‘s braid view that earlier decisions led to later more forced moves, including clumsy short-term attempts at ‘holding’ and a drift away from any meaningful pattern of play and clear ‘project’ or identity. 

This is where the repeated warnings in the masterclasses about Shakespearean fulcrum moments and the action turning were I’m afraid prophetic. I don’t really feel like apologising for that, particularly as they were expressed in real-time, and as many others saw it too. We do know Norwich City.

Delia feels an era passing, we feel an enormous opportunity missed and a rather careless destruction of precious momentum. 

Parma 

We can all point to different inflection points can't we.

For me, I look back on that first season in the Premier League under Farke as a tremendous missed opportunity. A squad full of young players, all playing with uttermost confidence and self belief, unscarred by failures of the past ready to take on the world and we decided to do it as cheaply as any club has historically tried to do.

I'm not one for the idea of back down, gradual improvement over 3 or 4 seasons etc etc. Too much can change in a short time in football to think like that. We didn't strike while the iron was hot, instead we let it cool down too much before really giving it a try. Such a shame. 

[ricardo 7,395]

14 minutes ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

 

Delia feels an era passing, we feel an enormous opportunity missed and a rather careless destruction of precious momentum. 

Parma 

Beautifully put👍

[king canary 7,609]

10 minutes ago, Robert N. LiM said:

It's been clear to me for a while that Wagner is a caretaker coach. Seems like we've taken this one step further and signed caretaker players, too, such as Duffy and Barnes...

You don't give caretakers 3 year deals though. That Duffy signing seems more and more odd.

[Barham Blitz 653]

10 minutes ago, king canary said:

You don't give caretakers 3 year deals though. That Duffy signing seems more and more odd.

Well, one shouldn't at least ...

But yes - very odd.  And one I flagged at the time as odd even within the context of Wagner's tactical approach when it was being rumoured.  It was almost as if nobody had seen him play within the last two years and were signing him based on the fact that he used to play for Brighton who are the latest "why aren't we" club ...

As a 1 year stop-gap (see Batth - although again given his similar lack of pace and ball playing ability an equally baffling signing given the tactical requirements of a central defender within Wagner's approach) to cover for the absence of Hanley, then fine.  But 3 years !?

Must have a very good agent.

[NewNestCarrow 193]

34 minutes ago, king canary said:

You don't give caretakers 3 year deals though. That Duffy signing seems more and more odd.

It only seems odd because we are under-performing.

Every club needs leaders; every club needs experience. And the contractual situation could see us down to just seven 30-year-olds next August.

[Monty13 2,235]

2 hours ago, Petriix said:

The trouble is that the failure stems from the summer before Farke was sacked, hence the inability of either manage since to turn it around. Keeping Farke wouldn't necessarily have been a great deal better given how the squad was mismanaged. Farke needed better, more technical players than he was given; more Vrancic than Hernandez. With that squad I'm not sure it was really possible to go back. The bridges were already burned. 

This. Farkes sacking was all about that summer business, he wasn’t showing any ability until Brentford to turn it around with those players and so his sacking was inevitable. I really don’t see a way he could have survived to the end of that season.

There is a difference between not wanting him to have been sacked and understanding why it happened. It happened because the summer created the situation where it basically had to. It was Farke or Webber. I know which I’d have preferred but that wasn’t happening.

His fate was sealed the day Webber started touting for offers for our best players IMO.

[Petriix 2,840]

1 hour ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

The land grab precursor?

Exactly. We all witnessed Farke trying to get a song out of that choir, growing increasingly desperate before ultimately reverting to the closest he could achieve to the previous season's first choice team. It wasn't possible and he was doomed to fail.

I'm not sure I totally agree with the 'opportunity missed' idea. I regard the two promotions under Farke as a huge success in terms of style and enjoyment; an opportunity taken as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure Premier League survival was actually within our grasp at either attempt. In hindsight, I'd prefer to have not bothered spending any money at all, or just signed some promising youngsters and tried to continue the yo-yo for as long as possible.

The disappointment for me comes from letting the positives we did have slip away while chasing something that might not have existed.

On the other hand I don't think we're a million miles away from turning things around again. McLean the centre back excites me. 

[ged in the onion bag 855]

The simple fact is everything fell apart around recruitment.     They signed youth team players and others with no EPL experience for a premier league campaign and Farke had nothing to work with.    He had about 3, maybe 4 premier league worthy players the second time around and was destined to fail.    Farke had to go as much for his own sake as anything.    That's not why he left, but I am glad he did before it got seriously toxic and intolerable for him.   Would have him back tomorrow though!

I am definitely on board with a plan very similar to Webber's ideas and it could have worked, learning lessons along the way.   It can work..... we learned nothing though... It was clear you can't loan players if you want to develop players long-term, that's a waste, you loan in the EPL yes, not in the Championship.    The first EPL promotion showed we needed some experience, you can't go up and expect to improve by bringing in youth or foreign players with no EPL experience.   It also confirmed you have to be difficult to beat first and foremost, the philosophy must work with a mixed group of power, pace, athleticism, quality, youth and experience and then you have a basis from which to recruit.   You can't 'expect to lose' games like Daniel did, messages need to be positive always.. and you can't allow your best players to leave on a promotion, Buendia should have been offered what Villa offered.    £50K extra a week for one season is £2.6m and Emi fully deserved that for getting us promoted, given his contribution, I have no doubt the players would not have begrudged him that bonus.     

We never addressed any of these issues.    A simple one we could all see was proper CDM's, it seems they were stubborn or stupid where that position is concerned.    That was where Webber failed.  He left DF with no weapons or ammunition (AGAIN).   Eventually, they all lost their way which resulted in the panic and the silly recruitment thats followed since.  

Hopefully, Ben can keep his nerve and stick to a plan.

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

27 minutes ago, Petriix said:

Exactly. We all witnessed Farke trying to get a song out of that choir, growing increasingly desperate before ultimately reverting to the closest he could achieve to the previous season's first choice team. It wasn't possible and he was doomed to fail.

I'm not sure I totally agree with the 'opportunity missed' idea. I regard the two promotions under Farke as a huge success in terms of style and enjoyment; an opportunity taken as far as I'm concerned. I'm not sure Premier League survival was actually within our grasp at either attempt. In hindsight, I'd prefer to have not bothered spending any money at all, or just signed some promising youngsters and tried to continue the yo-yo for as long as possible.

The disappointment for me comes from letting the positives we did have slip away while chasing something that might not have existed.

On the other hand I don't think we're a million miles away from turning things around again. McLean the centre back excites me. 

Love this one. Out of reactions today. You could well be right.

Parma 

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

6 minutes ago, ged in the onion bag said:

The simple fact is everything fell apart around recruitment.     They signed youth team players and others with no EPL experience for a premier league campaign and Farke had nothing to work with.    He had about 3, maybe 4 premier league worthy players the second time around and was destined to fail.    Farke had to go as much for his own sake as anything.    That's not why he left, but I am glad he did before it got seriously toxic and intolerable for him.   Would have him back tomorrow though!

I am definitely on board with a plan very similar to Webber's ideas and it could have worked, learning lessons along the way.   It can work..... we learned nothing though... It was clear you can't loan players if you want to develop players long-term, that's a waste, you loan in the EPL yes, not in the Championship.    The first EPL promotion showed we needed some experience, you can't go up and expect to improve by bringing in youth or foreign players with no EPL experience.   It also confirmed you have to be difficult to beat first and foremost, the philosophy must work with a mixed group of power, pace, athleticism, quality, youth and experience and then you have a basis from which to recruit.   You can't 'expect to lose' games like Daniel did, messages need to be positive always.. and you can't allow your best players to leave on a promotion, Buendia should have been offered what Villa offered.    £50K extra a week for one season is £2.6m and Emi fully deserved that for getting us promoted, given his contribution, I have no doubt the players would not have begrudged him that bonus.     

We never addressed any of these issues.    A simple one we could all see was proper CDM's, it seems they were stubborn or stupid where that position is concerned.    That was where Webber failed.  He left DF with no weapons or ammunition (AGAIN).   Eventually, they all lost their way which resulted in the panic and the silly recruitment thats followed since.  

Hopefully, Ben can keep his nerve and stick to a plan.

Another terrific one. I’d go with more or less all of this. 

Parma 

[PurpleCanary 5,562]

On 21/11/2023 at 14:16, PurpleCanary said:

I think there is a bit of a danger of binary thinking – both in terms of what kind of football at any one time and what kind of football over time. Plus a touch of catastrophism.😍

Leaving that aside, a question is whether the current economic/financial model of English football will continue. To summarise and to bring up to date a post from 12 years ago:

There have been two game-changing shifts in English football since world war two. The status quo then, essentially inherited from the Victorian era, was based on the great industrial areas and what are now called the inner cities.

But then came the decline of British industry. North-eastern shipbuilding. The Lancashire cotton mills. Car production.  Even fishing. Into that vacuum caused by industrial decline moved, for want of a better phrase, the Middle Classes. Clubs from areas not tied to one industry. Such as ourselves. It is no accident that our best years were the seventies and eighties, edging into the nineties.

But there was a second game-changing shift.  The sexification of football.  TV money. The internationalisation of the English game.  Not just players but owners too. Clubs as status symbols for the mega-rich. With another re-ordering, based on how much spare cash there was in the owner’s back pocket, or, more often, their numbered offshore account.

At that time I contrasted S&J putting in close to half of their £24m wealth and Randy Lerner at Aston Villa splashing out £200m of his £950m fortune. Back then Lerner was one of the richest. Now £950m would place him very much in the middle to lower ranks of the Premier League, money-wise. All but Brentford, Forest and Sheffield United are owned by billionaires, and just when you thought the limit had been reached with Abu Dhabi buying Man City along comes Saudi Arabia to take over Newcastle United.

S&J’s resistance (by design or just because they couldn’t find anyone suitable) to selling out to filthy lucre can be seen as admirable. Or pig-headed. Or a bit of both. Either way, events have moved on. Attanasio’s £500m puts him around 10th in the Championship Rich List, which included nine billionaires. There are even three in League One and at least one down in League Two.

This could now go one of three ways. That Saudi/Newcastle is the peak and we are in a steady-state universe. That Saudi/Newcastle sets off another Big Bang of excess. That a combination of a football regulator, FFP and a few spectacular collapses (plus possibly the elite few actually quitting domestic football for a real European Super League) forces a third re-ordering, back to sanity.

A world in which our purist model would be feasible. But sadly one of the first two scenarios is more likely. Yes, Attanasio has more money than S&J, but not so much more that the club will be run in a totally different way, financially speaking. Nor, as a result, will the footballing model, of developing and buying young talent before selling on, alter much.

And as before success will depend on pretty much every major decision being got right pretty every time. Which no club does. And some get nowhere near. Man Utd have won the top flight title 18 times since WW2. But only with two managers – Busby and Ferguson. One of the biggest clubs worldwide, able to attract the very best managers. Yet the 11 others – including the likes of Mourinho and van Gaal – have all failed.  Something to bear in mind when examining S&J’s record, as they loosen their control of the club.

An interesting piece in The Guardian on how Grimsby Town went about finding a new manager/head coach:

 

Whether you are Manchester United or Grimsby, succession planning is vital | Football | The Guardian

[Robert N. LiM 4,392]

15 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

Man Utd have won the top flight title 18 times since WW2. But only with two managers – Busby and Ferguson.

This is a fabulous, salutary stat. Justifies the internet's most annoying phrase: 'let that sink in'.

[Soldier on 160]

Will be fascinating to see what resources are made available in January. Lots of talk that younger players are expensive but we seem to have got our head round the idea that long term investments are better than quick fix loan recruits.

[sgncfc 1,228]

On 07/12/2023 at 17:33, Monty13 said:

This. Farkes sacking was all about that summer business, he wasn’t showing any ability until Brentford to turn it around with those players and so his sacking was inevitable. I really don’t see a way he could have survived to the end of that season.

There is a difference between not wanting him to have been sacked and understanding why it happened. It happened because the summer created the situation where it basically had to. It was Farke or Webber. I know which I’d have preferred but that wasn’t happening.

His fate was sealed the day Webber started touting for offers for our best players IMO.

So the four year deal he got in the middle of that summer when we kind of knew Buendia was on his bike already was what then? Advance compensation?

Farke had started to get a tune out of some of those signings and whilst that Brentford win was fortunate, there was a reason to be positive as we had 3 winnable games to follow after a very tough start. Webber panicked and pulled the trigger too early. And it was never the plan for that to happen.

[Monty13 2,235]

6 hours ago, sgncfc said:

So the four year deal he got in the middle of that summer when we kind of knew Buendia was on his bike already was what then? Advance compensation?

Farke had started to get a tune out of some of those signings and whilst that Brentford win was fortunate, there was a reason to be positive as we had 3 winnable games to follow after a very tough start. Webber panicked and pulled the trigger too early. And it was never the plan for that to happen.

Just another mistake. Why wouldn’t Farke have signed it. I doubt Webber thought that season would go so poorly, but then he thought he’d provided the players necessary.

[Parma Ham's gone mouldy 2,220]

I missed out something potentially hugely positive, that I think has occupied and troubled the minds at Colney for a long while…

We have observed that goals and goalscorers can hide a multitude of sins.

Particularly if the kind of goals scored are weaponish. This would mean a particular skill (say direct free kicks) that is hard to prevent and - absolutely ideally - doesn’t require a difficult assist to set up. 

I will whisper it quietly though I think something we saw versus Bristol - and deducting the joys of a last minute winner - might have explained 5 year contracts, erratic team selections and substitutions, frustration, loving pushes and Wagner running 50 yards into the pitch and the player pile on…

…which - come on!!! - we all absolutely loved didn’t we?…🤩

Wagner is a (school) teacher. Idah does - and pretty much always has - driven the coaches mad with his passive, laissez-faire attitude, his seemingly inability or lack of awareness as to when to engage his considerable natural gifts. 

For those of you thinking gifts as in Buendia or Wes, you are wide of the mark. I am (sadly and painfully for me personally!) thinking of the moment the club doctor at Parma advised that I was sought out because I was ‘the right height, shape, strength and speed’.

My own self image was that of Le Tissier-meets-Litmanen. So that was blown out of the water.

Idah is another one of the doctor’s dreams. Except he hardly ever uses any of it. And everybody waits. And dreams of what he could - should - be. And it doesn’t happen. And it doesn’t even look like happening.

And the model - any and all of them for Norwich so far - fall down at strikers. We can’t afford to buy them. We can’t just grow them. We can search for them, but they are so noisy on data platforms that we’ll never get there first or offer enough even at the earliest stages. 

So we look at the doctor’s report, ignore the grass and just wait and hope on Adam Idah. Ireland - with even less choice - do the same. So we’re comforted that we’re not completely blindly dreaming. 

And Wagner subs him early, drops him regularly, cuddles him privately, kicks him publicly, tries to wind him up, tries….anything….….

…..then Kenny flicks a lowish rent ball into the channel - something we’ve seen a million times. It’s an easy, low odds, almost breathing-space defensive ploy that Farke wouldn’t like much, used to get-them-turned, get them running back to their own goal, something to chase…any player on the pitch could hit that ball 50 times a game…it’s ok, bit of old-school doesn’t-hurt-you football…

…then he does it.

He engages mentally. He puts a bit of shoulder into the defender. Who senses his pace and power. He distracts him a bit. Another nudge. Disturbed, the defender misjudges the flight and bounce. He uses his strength and gets across him. He runs on a line that blocks the defender. He cuts directly towards goal. He holds him off easily. He gets the ball out of his feet and opens the goal. He opens his body and gets his head up. He side-foot nudges past the onrushing keeper….

……that is perfection. Perfection!

Not Buendia. Not Wes. Not even Pukki.

I’d have gone mental as a coach as well. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. That’s what we dreamed was there. That’s it!

‘I’ll just show him replays of that goal on loop, on every screen at Colney, every minute of every day for evermore…!!...’

Buendia couldn’t  do it. Wes couldn’t do it. Even Pukki couldn’t do it (like that). 

Goals from nothing. No need to do anything clever by anyone else. And how do you stop it? Now that’s a weapon.Ooh weapons. Lovely!

Whisper it. Have we seen the future (again)?

Parma

Edited December 9, 2023 by Parma Ham's gone mouldy

[Number9 272]

It troubles me that Farke is only referred to here as an angel of light, providing success for our football club.

 

Surely a balanced view would acknowledge the enormous chip on his shoulder and the ego which clouded his judgment. 

The several occasions he mismanaged players to the clubs financial detriment. 

Etc.

I'm among the first to credit him for the good stuff, but please, be balanced in your posts, had Farke been willing to adapt and progress personally then we would have had an entirely different story to tell.

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,392]

1 hour ago, Parma Ham's gone mouldy said:

…..then Kenny flicks a lowish rent ball into the channel - something we’ve seen a million times. It’s an easy, low odds, almost breathing-space defensive ploy that Farke wouldn’t like much, used to get-them-turned, get them running back to their own goal, something to chase…any player on the pitch could hit that ball 50 times a game…it’s ok, bit of old-school doesn’t-hurt-you football…

…then he does it.

He engages mentally. He puts a bit of shoulder into the defender. Who senses his pace and power. He distracts him a bit. Another nudge. Disturbed, the defender misjudges the flight and bounce. He uses his strength and gets across him. He runs on a line that blocks the defender. He cuts directly towards goal. He holds him off easily. He gets the ball out of his feet and opens the goal. He opens his body and gets his head up. He side-foot nudges past the onrushing keeper….

……that is perfection. Perfection!

Not Buendia. Not Wes. Not even Pukki.

I’d have gone mental as a coach as well. That’s what I’ve been waiting for. That’s what we dreamed was there. That’s it!

‘I’ll just show him replays of that goal on loop, on every screen at Colney, every minute of every day for evermore…!!...’

Buendia couldn’t  do it. Wes couldn’t do it. Even Pukki couldn’t do it (like that). 

Goals from nothing. No need to do anything clever by anyone else. And how do you stop it? Now that’s a weapon.Ooh weapons. Lovely!

Whisper it. Have we seen the future (again)?

Post of the decade.

Have to say that I've been surprised that more people weren't more excited by that goal, but couldn't quite articulate why.

You've just articulated why.

[Petriix 2,840]

The thing that I think you actually missed was the wonder of Kenny McLean as a central defender. It gives us a competent ball carrier who can (sometimes) pick a decent pass. Crucially it gives him the clear message that he should be fulfilling his defensive duties primarily and only marauding forwards with discretion.

I think people forget just how many of those lovely goals that Pukki and Buendia finished off stemmed from a well hit pass from the back. Kenny gives us something we've been missing from the defensive line.

The biggest bonus is that it means we don't have those positional errors in the midfield area. 

Will Wagner stick with this winning move? 

[Robert N. LiM 4,392]

1 minute ago, Petriix said:

Crucially it gives him the clear message that he should be fulfilling his defensive duties primarily and only marauding forwards with discretion.

The thinking person's Ozan Kabak?