What is the biggest mistake Norwich City ever made?

[TheRock 171]

Not backing Martin O'Neill as manager undoubtedly cost us 10 years in the abyss.

I'd say that selling Sutton to Blackburn was a pretty large mistake too.

[Badger 2,405]

21 hours ago, Son Ova Gunn said:

1. Net spend of £50m would easily suffice if no mistakes made which is clearly unrealistic but if targets had the main/sole priority of making the team PL ready rather than first consideration being will they sell on for profit then somewhere between £50-80m I would say would have been enough. Someone like Connor probably cost Palace very little.

2. A proper PL tier club owner could ensure this level of funds could be made available.

It's so easy that you sort of wonder why everybody else doesn't do it? Spend £50 to £80 million and have guaranteed PL status seems like a good deal!

Problem is that the real world proves you wrong time and time again. 🥴

[Badger 2,405]

17 hours ago, Monty13 said:

This bit in spades. An obsession with this policy can’t bring success in the PL IMO. It is impossible for the majority of players in the squad to be a former crock, player who’s recently underperformed but might get it back or a youngster with potential.

There needs to be a core of experienced pros who will play almost every week, aren’t learning on the job and who offer leadership and mental strength to those that are.

We were and still are IMO just too unbalanced in this regard. We may get away with it in the championship due to the overall quality we have, but not in the PL.

You mean like Watford last year?

[komakino 272]

On 05/11/2022 at 02:02, TeemuVanBasten said:

We have Chase to thank for everything you see at Colney today.

He bought 25 acres of greenbelt land, convinced the council to give him planning permission and then built the training ground.

Prior to that we leased a dilapidated, scruffy and very small training ground built in the 60s from the council. 

Bought in 1994, built in 1995, the year before Delia walked into the club. The fans used to sing "wheres the money gone". That's where the money went. 

McNally wouldn't have been able to achieve Cat 1 status, Webber wouldn't have been able to build what we see today, Bellamy would have accepted that Man Utd offer as a 15 year old, Maddison wouldn't gave come here over the numerous other clubs interested, and our new American investor said it was important to him that we owned the training ground. 

His legacy needs revisiting, no matter how sour and bitter things ended. Yes he was a bit shifty, I think think was a maintenence contract awarded by the club to a firm he owned or part-owned, but it was a relatively small sum from what I can remember, and I don't think Delia pays for her own charter jets to games, but he essentially sold players and bought and built Colney with the proceeds.

I find it difficult to distinguish between doing that and our £750k transfer spend after promotion under Webber to accept relegation on day 1 of the season and use Prem profits and parachute payments to invest in Colney.

It went a bit wrong, clearly, but it was progressive and long term thinking and we benefit from it immensely today. Yes the land purchases were probably designed to add asset value in advance of an IPO, which were common for football teams at the time, and yes he was trying to obtain shares on the cheap in advance of that likely IPO so he could flog some of them for a healthy profit..

...  but ultimately he walked away having gained little financially and we've gained a hell of a lot over the years from owning a large training ground. 

I'd pretty much agree with all of that. 

He did have to go, because the likes of Chase had run out of road as football was getting too big for the likes of a modest businessman from Halvergate and the club needed to build on what he had achieved, despite relegation. 

Unfortunately we ended with a couple of well meaning amateurs in Smith & Jones, which was exactly what the club didn't need. Since then, we have come nowhere near the highs of the Chase years and now we have some fans who accept the second tier as a matter of course, rather than having any degree of aspiration. 

 

[Monty13 2,231]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

You mean like Watford last year?

You think they got the squad balance right then?

[Badger 2,405]

1 hour ago, Monty13 said:

You think they got the squad balance right then?

You said,

"There needs to be a core of experienced pros who will play almost every week, aren’t learning on the job and who offer leadership and mental strength to those that are."

Well, they certainly had a core of experienced pros + have spent tens of millions trying to stay up - perhaps not as easy as you suggest? 🤔

[Monty13 2,231]

8 hours ago, Badger said:

You said,

"There needs to be a core of experienced pros who will play almost every week, aren’t learning on the job and who offer leadership and mental strength to those that are."

Well, they certainly had a core of experienced pros + have spent tens of millions trying to stay up - perhaps not as easy as you suggest? 🤔

What I said if you read the whole comment was I think we needed a better balance between experience and potential.

Watford had different issues.

[Badger 2,405]

8 hours ago, Monty13 said:

What I said if you read the whole comment was I think we needed a better balance between experience and potential.

Watford had different issues.

The point is that most promoted clubs have "issues" of some sort or another which is why most of them get relegated quite soon after promotion.

The idea that you can just spend £50 to £80 million on "the right players" is simplistic - more often than not, "the right players" don't want to come to a newly promoted club as they have better options elsewhere.

If it were as simple as some suggest, most teams would stay up - they don't.

[Monty13 2,231]

7 hours ago, Badger said:

The point is that most promoted clubs have "issues" of some sort or another which is why most of them get relegated quite soon after promotion.

The idea that you can just spend £50 to £80 million on "the right players" is simplistic - more often than not, "the right players" don't want to come to a newly promoted club as they have better options elsewhere.

If it were as simple as some suggest, most teams would stay up - they don't.

I don’t disagree. My only point was IMO we got the balance of our chosen model wrong.

[nutty nigel 7,533]

Our model isn't broken yet. The project is not complete and as far as I'm aware has not been abandoned.

[WD40 720]

On 07/11/2022 at 09:06, The Great Mass Debater said:

Naismith was the business in that game. I dont care what anyone else says. Like when we bought Gary Hooper, I thought, now that is quality and why you pay the money. I dont think the Naismith purchase was a poor decision - if he'd have maintained levels of performance like that it would have been money well spent. Im not sure where that Naismith went

I totally agree he was every we hoped and needed, was right on it. When the season ebbed away so did his interest. But if we were there with a bit more of a sniff I'd have thought he would have stayed interested.

[benchwarmer 625]

The biggest mistake was made by the fans - myself included - who forced Chase out in 1995/6.  He was no saint, but it has proved to be a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for'. 

When D&M took over, football stopped being no.1 priority and the club became a vehicle for Delia worship.  Many bought into the 'little Norwich' mentality which applauded underachievement and sowed bitter division among the fans.  Our identity as a football club has been distorted beyond recognition - what are we best known for?  "Let's Be 'Avin' You".  Says it all really.

Mea culpa.

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by benchwarmer

[wcorkcanary 4,334]

5 hours ago, benchwarmer said:

The biggest mistake was made by the fans - myself included - who forced Chase out in 1995/6.  He was no saint, but it has proved to be a classic case of 'be careful what you wish for'. 

Under D&M football stopped being no.1 priority and the club became a vehicle for Delia worship.  Many bought into the 'little Norwich' mentality which applauded underachievement and sowed bitter division among the fans.  Our identity as a football club has been distorted beyond recognition - what are we best known for?  "Let's Be 'Avin' You".  Says it all really.

Mea culpa.

 

Wish we had a W⚓ emoji/ reaction. 

You are Pig Mince and I claim my €4.40