Anybody else feeling pretty done with NCFC?

[kick it off 1,952]

Pre-covid, I would always make sure I was home at 3pm on Saturday to watch Norwich. I did 11 away games in the pre-covid season, several of them on my own and long trips..... Covid sucked a lot of the joy out of it but we had Buendia and were playing beautiful football with a cult hero manager and winning the league. Then we got back to the Prem and got battered every week. Again. I thought it was just my hatred for the soulless sack of **** league that caused my malaise. Then I thought it was Dean Smith that caused it. I went to Coventry away under Wagner and I was inspired, it felt like the dawn of a new era and we had our club back....but something just still felt a bit off... and then the wheels fell off Wagner's wagon and I realised what it was - I just don't care any more...... I will watch the games if I'm at home and not doing anything else, but the days where I would make sure I was at home so I could watch are long gone. I can't imagine me making the 2 hour each way drive up to Hull on a cold Novemeber night in horrific weather anymore....I will still go to games, and I will still watch them on TV when I'm around but something has fundamentally shifted in my psyche and I just don't have anything like the level of passion anymore.

Anyone else feel similar?

[By Hook or Ian crook 917]

I’ll always support Norwich. Some joy has been sucked out but I’ll put that more down to the standard of football on display. It’s unrealistic to expect amazing atmosphere at every game when the players provide very little worth cheering. 
 

one thing I will say is that having watched the welcome to Wrexham documentary on Disney plus I have formed an affinity for Wrexham. They will most likely now be my team I start with on football manager. 

[Petriix 2,838]

No, quite the opposite here. I enjoy the ups and downs and would far rather have the absolute uncertainty (and commensurate excitement) of genuinely not knowing whether we'll be battling for promotion or relegation next season.

The bad times are what make the good times good and I almost enjoy picking over the carcass of a defeat as much as basking in a victory. Of course I prefer winning, but winning is so much better when you don't expect it; those late wins under Farke were far better than, say, winning comfortably 2-0.

I'm looking forward to the next roll of the dice. Hopefully the fans won't feel quite so entitled as to boo their own team in possession next year. Don't give up! 

[shefcanary 2,409]

We're gonna come back better! 

 

Hopefully.

 

Where there's hope etc.

 

Does that make me a steadfast fan, when I never question my support, just those in charge?

[Google Bot 3,278]

I'm gutted it's the last game of the season Monday, Love this club, and feel excited for what a real Wagner team looks like, too many injuries and negativity surrounded us this season.  I really can't wait for the summer buzz and pre-season friendlies to come around again.

I had my dip a while back under Hughton, I was pretty depressed towards how we were playing and obviously he got dismissed, then I thought Adams may pull it out the bag - and that was shat on, and then Brazil world cup come round so went all in on that and watched as many games as I could - and then England shat on me.

I then had this weird feeling that I'd consumed too much football and felt sick and depressed with the game as a whole.  Never had that happen to me before.

Anyway - It took a fair few months for me to come around again.  Was later in the season when we THUMPED Millwall and Huddersfield at home, and of course we bounced back that year in the end.

Edited May 4, 2023 by Google Bot

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

1 hour ago, Petriix said:

No, quite the opposite here. I enjoy the ups and downs and would far rather have the absolute uncertainty (and commensurate excitement) of genuinely not knowing whether we'll be battling for promotion or relegation next season.

The bad times are what make the good times good and I almost enjoy picking over the carcass of a defeat as much as basking in a victory. Of course I prefer winning, but winning is so much better when you don't expect it; those late wins under Farke were far better than, say, winning comfortably 2-0.

I'm looking forward to the next roll of the dice. Hopefully the fans won't feel quite so entitled as to boo their own team in possession next year. Don't give up! 

Pretty much this.

I know of Saints fans who became almost disinterested with football over recent years, this with them doing quite nicely in the PL - since 2011(?).  It’s where we all want to be but when you’re there, if you can’t really break into the top 6-8, where do you go?  Leicester for a short while, now Brighton and Brentford are doing ok, but the chances are the circle will turn and it won’t last.

For all the ups and downs of supporting NCFC I don’t think I would honestly want it any other way.   I do really think there’s a strange covid hangover that we still haven’t shaken off - maybe a summer refresh will work wonders.

[Pyro Pete 1,897]

If you're a fed up with it all, take a break for a bit. It doesn't make you a worse supporter. Come back when you start to miss it. You'll enjoy it all the more.

If you don't want to lose your season ticket, why not lend it out to friends, use the buy-back scheme, or even give it to charity.

All clubs have ups and downs. And yes, we're going through one of our difficult patches.

But it won't last forever. I lived in Manchester when Man City were in the third division and Man Utd had won the treble!

[Duncan Edwards 2,237]

Football is about so much more than the result.

Seeing the familiar faces, the gallows humour when things are bad and the pure elation of winning, be that by demolishing teams and “learning them a thing or two” or nicking a winner or an absolute smash and grab when we’ve been second best. I think it’s the people though, those around you that you share this bonkers relationship with. Sharing a beer, picking different scapegoats, seeing someone as MOTM while your pal would have hooked them after 15 minutes. The afternoon in the pub disappearing into the evening as you chew over what has just taken place.

For me, the end of the season was - partly - ruined by the drum gang. Not because of the drum, not because they want to have a sing-song, not because they’re enthusiastic kids but because their presence crammed into a small section of E Block meant that people I’ve shared football with for a quarter of a century have been forced out of their own seats. That’s not the fault of the little crew, it’s the fault of those that facilitate their presence, instruct stewards and police to ignore ground regulations and basically look the other way. That said, had we been winning every week (most weeks) actually (some weeks) it probably wouldn’t have felt so abrasive.

I think a lot of people are rightly still pissed off by the enforced absence, I think it also meant a lot of people realised that they could simply do without football. And then people have also lost folk. So for many, I suspect there’s a level of resentment. I certainly feel that I was robbed of seeing one of the best talents we’ve ever had perform in the flesh for game after game.

But I couldn’t lose the love. Whether we’re great (we aren’t) awful (we aren’t) or something just a bit nondescript, I would miss meeting up with pals and doing all the stuff we normally do. As others have said, you have to take the shoite to truly enjoy it when it’s roight.

If the result was all that mattered we’d be changing clubs more often than Trevor Benjamin. Even Man City don’t win EVERY week. 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Duncan Edwards

[Captain Holt 522]

38 minutes ago, Pyro Pete said:

If you're a fed up with it all, take a break for a bit. It doesn't make you a worse supporter. Come back when you start to miss it. You'll enjoy it all the more.

If you don't want to lose your season ticket, why not lend it out to friends, use the buy-back scheme, or even give it to charity.

All clubs have ups and downs. And yes, we're going through one of our difficult patches.

But it won't last forever. I lived in Manchester when Man City were in the third division and Man Utd had won the treble!

Absolutely this, great post. There's nothing wrong with how you feel. 

[CirclePoint 202]

I can’t not support Norwich City FC. I’ve tried to break it off, but it just won’t let me go.

[Taiwan Canary 144]

Intersting talk on this subject on the Guardian football weekly podcast: 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/audio/2023/may/04/premier-league-manchester-city-haaland-watford-liverpool-football-weekly-extra-podcast

Chat starts about 44 minutes in.

[Surfer 1,547]

Nope, looking forward to another season competing against like-sized clubs , Ipswich,  Forest, Boro, Derby (hopefully soon), Coventry, QPR, Swansea, Cardiff, Southampton, Bristol, West Brom. 

Best league around by a long shot. 

[Terminally Yellow 2,448]

8 hours ago, kick it off said:

Pre-covid, I would always make sure I was home at 3pm on Saturday to watch Norwich. I did 11 away games in the pre-covid season, several of them on my own and long trips..... Covid sucked a lot of the joy out of it but we had Buendia and were playing beautiful football with a cult hero manager and winning the league. Then we got back to the Prem and got battered every week. Again. I thought it was just my hatred for the soulless sack of **** league that caused my malaise. Then I thought it was Dean Smith that caused it. I went to Coventry away under Wagner and I was inspired, it felt like the dawn of a new era and we had our club back....but something just still felt a bit off... and then the wheels fell off Wagner's wagon and I realised what it was - I just don't care any more...... I will watch the games if I'm at home and not doing anything else, but the days where I would make sure I was at home so I could watch are long gone. I can't imagine me making the 2 hour each way drive up to Hull on a cold Novemeber night in horrific weather anymore....I will still go to games, and I will still watch them on TV when I'm around but something has fundamentally shifted in my psyche and I just don't have anything like the level of passion anymore.

Anyone else feel similar?

Glory hunter.

[Leedscanary 340]

7 hours ago, Duncan Edwards said:

Football is about so much more than the result.

Seeing the familiar faces, the gallows humour when things are bad and the pure elation of winning, be that by demolishing teams and “learning them a thing or two” or nicking a winner or an absolute smash and grab when we’ve been second best. I think it’s the people though, those around you that you share this bonkers relationship with. Sharing a beer, picking different scapegoats, seeing someone as MOTM while your pal would have hooked them after 15 minutes. The afternoon in the pub disappearing into the evening as you chew over what has just taken place.

For me, the end of the season was - partly - ruined by the drum gang. Not because of the drum, not because they want to have a sing-song, not because they’re enthusiastic kids but because their presence crammed into a small section of E Block meant that people I’ve shared football with for a quarter of a century have been forced out of their own seats. That’s not the fault of the little crew, it’s the fault of those that facilitate their presence, instruct stewards and police to ignore ground regulations and basically look the other way. That said, had we been winning every week (most weeks) actually (some weeks) it probably wouldn’t have felt so abrasive.

I think a lot of people are rightly still pissed off by the enforced absence, I think it also meant a lot of people realised that they could simply do without football. And then people have also lost folk. So for many, I suspect there’s a level of resentment. I certainly feel that I was robbed of seeing one of the best talents we’ve ever had perform in the flesh for game after game.

But I couldn’t lose the love. Whether we’re great (we aren’t) awful (we aren’t) or something just a bit nondescript, I would miss meeting up with pals and doing all the stuff we normally do. As others have said, you have to take the shoite to truly enjoy it when it’s roight.

If the result was all that mattered we’d be changing clubs more often than Trevor Benjamin. Even Man City don’t win EVERY week. 

 Binner

[cornish sam 954]

10 hours ago, kick it off said:

Pre-covid, I would always make sure I was home at 3pm on Saturday to watch Norwich. I did 11 away games in the pre-covid season, several of them on my own and long trips..... Covid sucked a lot of the joy out of it but we had Buendia and were playing beautiful football with a cult hero manager and winning the league. Then we got back to the Prem and got battered every week. Again. I thought it was just my hatred for the soulless sack of **** league that caused my malaise. Then I thought it was Dean Smith that caused it. I went to Coventry away under Wagner and I was inspired, it felt like the dawn of a new era and we had our club back....but something just still felt a bit off... and then the wheels fell off Wagner's wagon and I realised what it was - I just don't care any more...... I will watch the games if I'm at home and not doing anything else, but the days where I would make sure I was at home so I could watch are long gone. I can't imagine me making the 2 hour each way drive up to Hull on a cold Novemeber night in horrific weather anymore....I will still go to games, and I will still watch them on TV when I'm around but something has fundamentally shifted in my psyche and I just don't have anything like the level of passion anymore.

Anyone else feel similar?

Ive been feeling similar for a while, but it's not Norwich, it's football in general. If anything Norwich are the only thing keeping me interested in football. As a kid and young adult football was life, since the turn of the century it's felt more and more removed from me. It's gone from being a sport to being a product and along the way lost me. If Norwich go down that path with MA then that will likely be me done with professional football, and I don't think I'll miss it (though I will miss some of the things around it).

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,322]

Nah, pissed off yes but never done. Ups, downs, stagnation - I can never be done with something that's in my DNA 

Edited May 5, 2023 by GodlyOtsemobor

[Deptford Yellow 258]

After the excitement of the Worthington-Lambert-Neill-Farke years this season really has felt like sinking back into the dross of the fallow years post our original demotion from the Prem … so I have some sympathy with the poster … Personally I find there’s nothing like pre-season to pep up the feelings (with irrational hope/belief)…

In the meantime I have found myself engaging to an unhealthy degree with the play-off hopes of Kings Lynn FC, and went with my kids to see Norwich Women away to AFC Wimbledon  last Sunday … (Their 16yr old midfielder Eloise Morgan will follow on the heels of Lauren Hemp and play for England - you heard it here first !😉)

[Deptford Yellow 258]

Just now, Deptford Yellow said:

After the excitement of the Worthington-Lambert-Neill-Farke years this season really has felt like sinking back into the dross of the fallow years post our original demotion from the Prem … so I have some sympathy with the poster … Personally I find there’s nothing like pre-season to pep up the feelings (with irrational hope/belief)…

In the meantime I have found myself engaging to an unhealthy degree with the play-off hopes of Kings Lynn FC, and went with my kids to see Norwich Women away to AFC Wimbledon  last Sunday … (Their 16yr old midfielder Eloise Morgan will follow on the heels of Lauren Hemp and play for England - you heard it here first !😉)

Morran not Morgan

[Kenny Foggo 1,116]

Yes, as a season ticket holder who has to travel 6 hours to get to Carrow Rd and back, I have been spending that money on gigs and going out with friends. Its not just City though, it's football in general and depressing reality that unless we have an owner with large pockets it's pretty likely we will fall further down the football ladder whilst the likes of Brighton continue to develop. But like the long term drug addiction, I can not give up my ticket in the hope... just end up giving to friends to use.. sometimes I forget we are playing.. oh well!

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,417]

It's football in general I've fallen out of love with in general. It's all rather depressing if you think about it too much.

[Jim Smith 2,322]

I still watch every game I can and the underlying passion is still there but yes I am experiencing a momentary “cant be bothered” type spell.

Part of it for me is the ownership. I feel they have wasted every opportunity we’ve had, for partly selfish (if understandable) reasons and have imposed a ceiling on the club that renders the question “what is the point” highly relevant. Most of the fan base have seen we have hit that ceiling, view promotion as a door to a season of misery and thus find it hard to get excited about the possibility of it any more. 
 

in addition, for me, it’s a stage of my life where my days out at the football are not quite as regular or as boozy as they once were apart from a few exceptions. I used to be at every game, and I used to spend the whole day with my mates. It was as much the day out as the game itself. Even when the team was really crap I had some great times following us everywhere.

now I don’t live in norwich so I often drive to games which is not quite the same. I have 3 kids so family commitments at weekends mean I can’t go as often as I did. When I do go I still enjoy meeting up with my mates but we are all a bit scattered about and torn by other commitments a bit more than we once were. It’s probably only half a dozen times a season now that the full group is about. That plays a part too I think. 

[king canary 7,609]

10 hours ago, Duncan Edwards said:

Football is about so much more than the result.

Seeing the familiar faces, the gallows humour when things are bad and the pure elation of winning, be that by demolishing teams and “learning them a thing or two” or nicking a winner or an absolute smash and grab when we’ve been second best. I think it’s the people though, those around you that you share this bonkers relationship with. Sharing a beer, picking different scapegoats, seeing someone as MOTM while your pal would have hooked them after 15 minutes. The afternoon in the pub disappearing into the evening as you chew over what has just taken place.

For me, the end of the season was - partly - ruined by the drum gang. Not because of the drum, not because they want to have a sing-song, not because they’re enthusiastic kids but because their presence crammed into a small section of E Block meant that people I’ve shared football with for a quarter of a century have been forced out of their own seats. That’s not the fault of the little crew, it’s the fault of those that facilitate their presence, instruct stewards and police to ignore ground regulations and basically look the other way. That said, had we been winning every week (most weeks) actually (some weeks) it probably wouldn’t have felt so abrasive.

I think a lot of people are rightly still pissed off by the enforced absence, I think it also meant a lot of people realised that they could simply do without football. And then people have also lost folk. So for many, I suspect there’s a level of resentment. I certainly feel that I was robbed of seeing one of the best talents we’ve ever had perform in the flesh for game after game.

But I couldn’t lose the love. Whether we’re great (we aren’t) awful (we aren’t) or something just a bit nondescript, I would miss meeting up with pals and doing all the stuff we normally do. As others have said, you have to take the shoite to truly enjoy it when it’s roight.

If the result was all that mattered we’d be changing clubs more often than Trevor Benjamin. Even Man City don’t win EVERY week. 

I think this speaks to the difference in experience for local fans with season tickets and us 'exiles' who are more armchair followers these days.

I can echo @kick it off's sentiments that as the season has worn on I've been less and less inclined to go out of my way to watch us when we're on TV. When you don't have the whole communal aspect and the 'theatre' of match day so to speak the performances and the results obviously become more the be all and end all of the experience. I've got two young kids who are too small to have any interest in football and thus if I want to watch us on a Saturday or Sunday I have to carve out that time specifically. This season it hasn't felt worth it and more often than not I'm finishing the game in a worse mood than I started, without a few pints down the Murderers afterwards to do a post-mortem. 

[Capt. Pants 4,238]

Nah I'm in it for the long haul until I physically can't get to the ground or they sling me in my box.

If we end up in League One again so be it, we've been there before and will be there again, football is cyclical.

I'm slightly concerned I have no affiliation with any of the current squad, they seem a soulless bunch. Hopefully that will change. Players, managers, owners, other hangers on all come and go but NCFC remains.

Looking forward to the final hurrah on Monday, and next season we do battle with the scum. Bring it on 👊

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

However depressing this season has been, it hasn't altered my love for the club. Its in the DNA. There is is no vaccine to stop it.

[nutty nigel 7,537]

That's a massive difference Kingo. If I couldn't go to games I doubt I'd be too fussed about it. The only time I regularly watched games on TV was lockdown and I didn't really enjoy that even though we were winning most weeks. I'm not a fan of TV football. It's a completely different experience. I'll always go while I'm able and can afford the ticket. But the game is fast becoming a TV sport. The very best times were when there was a game every Saturday alternating between first team and reserves.

 

 

[Mengo 823]

3 hours ago, nutty nigel said:

That's a massive difference Kingo. If I couldn't go to games I doubt I'd be too fussed about it. The only time I regularly watched games on TV was lockdown and I didn't really enjoy that even though we were winning most weeks. I'm not a fan of TV football. It's a completely different experience. I'll always go while I'm able and can afford the ticket. But the game is fast becoming a TV sport. The very best times were when there was a game every Saturday alternating between first team and reserves.

 

 

First team and reserves.  Yes those were the days. You saw what you were gonna get next. The Academy is a bit of a different animal , not quite the same . To much clever sports science , and jobs that apparently  are needed ( which also drains the club of 💰). Basic football where has it gone. Bunch of pansies locked up in Billy's soccerbot. Nice one That wonderful successful coach Ralph Ragnick (salesman of the decade). Red Bull sponsored.  

 

 

 

 

 

[TheBaldOne66 689]

16 hours ago, kick it off said:

Pre-covid, I would always make sure I was home at 3pm on Saturday to watch Norwich. I did 11 away games in the pre-covid season, several of them on my own and long trips..... Covid sucked a lot of the joy out of it but we had Buendia and were playing beautiful football with a cult hero manager and winning the league. Then we got back to the Prem and got battered every week. Again. I thought it was just my hatred for the soulless sack of **** league that caused my malaise. Then I thought it was Dean Smith that caused it. I went to Coventry away under Wagner and I was inspired, it felt like the dawn of a new era and we had our club back....but something just still felt a bit off... and then the wheels fell off Wagner's wagon and I realised what it was - I just don't care any more...... I will watch the games if I'm at home and not doing anything else, but the days where I would make sure I was at home so I could watch are long gone. I can't imagine me making the 2 hour each way drive up to Hull on a cold Novemeber night in horrific weather anymore....I will still go to games, and I will still watch them on TV when I'm around but something has fundamentally shifted in my psyche and I just don't have anything like the level of passion anymore.

Anyone else feel similar?

 

16 hours ago, kick it off said:

Pre-covid, I would always make sure I was home at 3pm on Saturday to watch Norwich. I did 11 away games in the pre-covid season, several of them on my own and long trips..... Covid sucked a lot of the joy out of it but we had Buendia and were playing beautiful football with a cult hero manager and winning the league. Then we got back to the Prem and got battered every week. Again. I thought it was just my hatred for the soulless sack of **** league that caused my malaise. Then I thought it was Dean Smith that caused it. I went to Coventry away under Wagner and I was inspired, it felt like the dawn of a new era and we had our club back....but something just still felt a bit off... and then the wheels fell off Wagner's wagon and I realised what it was - I just don't care any more...... I will watch the games if I'm at home and not doing anything else, but the days where I would make sure I was at home so I could watch are long gone. I can't imagine me making the 2 hour each way drive up to Hull on a cold Novemeber night in horrific weather anymore....I will still go to games, and I will still watch them on TV when I'm around but something has fundamentally shifted in my psyche and I just don't have anything like the level of passion anymore.

Anyone else feel similar?

I gave up in Farkes first season, not just because of the dire football on show but I’d fallen out of love with football completely! I used to make excuses not to go and decided to stop altogether.

Now 5 years on, even though I now work overseas, I can honestly say I don’t miss it at all. I rarely watch any football now, for me money has killed the game and I can’t see it ever changing. It’s sad, but as I said earlier, I don’t miss it at all, I still follow from afar but I can’t ever think I will go watch the games in UK again, men at least that is. 

[yellowrider120 763]

10 hours ago, Surfer said:

Nope, looking forward to another season competing against like-sized clubs , Ipswich,  Forest, Boro, Derby (hopefully soon), Coventry, QPR, Swansea, Cardiff, Southampton, Bristol, West Brom. 

Best league around by a long shot. 

When you look at that list I agree totally. You may well add Leeds and  or Everton to that list. Owls may also make it up through the play offs. That would make it one of the most seriously competitive line ups for years and one from which we will really struggle to escape from (NB - direction of 'escape' not yet known!)

[CDMullins 436]

Yep,

At this point they will not be my priority next season.

My life usually revolves around us, work, socialising, family time. It won't next year.

If I can't get to the (away) games or the Races, I'll get my parents to watch my 2 year old for a couple of hours so I can at least watch at home.

It was during the Rotherham game that I began thinking that if rather watch Cocomelon and play with my boy than watch Norwich.

[hogesar 9,676]

17 hours ago, Petriix said:

No, quite the opposite here. I enjoy the ups and downs and would far rather have the absolute uncertainty (and commensurate excitement) of genuinely not knowing whether we'll be battling for promotion or relegation next season.

The bad times are what make the good times good and I almost enjoy picking over the carcass of a defeat as much as basking in a victory. Of course I prefer winning, but winning is so much better when you don't expect it; those late wins under Farke were far better than, say, winning comfortably 2-0.

I'm looking forward to the next roll of the dice. Hopefully the fans won't feel quite so entitled as to boo their own team in possession next year. Don't give up! 

Excellent post