What will Stuart Webbers legacy at NCFC be?

[ridgeman 132]

Not cut out for a Sporting Director more of a building Director.

[Disco Dales Jockstrap 1,898]

Being the biggest tw*t in Norwich since Katie Price last paid the fine city a visit.

Or am I being unfair...

...to the size of Miss Price's tw*t?

OTBC

 

[Helsinki canary 242]

11 minutes ago, ridgeman said:

Not cut out for a Sporting Director more of a building Director.

**** up in a brewery director

[First Wazzock 902]

Soccerbot

 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,824]

28 minutes ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

Four great years? When two of those were our worst ever top flight seasons? Really? 

One of the first four was. The second relegation was our fifth year under Webber which is why, I imagine, Feed The Wolf said four great years. 

[hogesar 9,705]

Colney will be a long-standing part of this club so that will be part of his legacy. Plus the new ownership. 

[Worthy Nigelton 1,058]

Two amazing seasons, appointing one of our greatest ever managers, signing our best ever free transfer and one of our best ever players for a pittance, improving the training ground, but ultimately selling the crown jewels, not being able to even put up a fight at the top level, p*ss*ng millions and millions down the drain on bad players, appointing one very average manager and one poor one and ultimately leaving the club in a worse state than he found it. 6.5/10 but vastly inferior to McNally who he routinely criticised.

[4th floor 4]

In short, Webber's tenure has been classic gambler's tale.

He came in, made lots of small smart bets, won big, then lost a fair bit. He then totally lost his head by trying to chase modest losses and get a gigantic win.

He's still up on where he started (mainly infrastructure), but substantially down on where we'd be if he hadn't lost his head to such a significant degree.

Webber's situation shares some similarities to that of Chase, albeit the latter's success was a lot more sustained and reached much greater heights. I cannot see Webber being as well respected a generation from now, as Chase is at present.

Overall Webber will probably be viewed in years to come as something of a flash in the pan who lost most of what he won without really reaching his potential.

[repman 635]

While off the field he may leave a strong legacy, on the pitch he will leave us in a far greater mess than he found it. 

The parallels from when he took over are clear to see, the squad is too old and most of them will probably not be part of the next successful Norwich side. However, the big difference is that when he took over he was able to quickly release 5/6 of these older players and begin a squad overhaul. Knapper is lumbered with contracts stretching as far as 2026. That also ignores the fact that Webber joined in April, with the season over and nothing to play for. Whereas Knapper joins with us nowhere near safe from relegation, which means you can't even start planning for next year.

[ged in the onion bag 856]

2 hours ago, S_81 said:

Riding off the back of the success of his support staff - until he lost them - and then got totally exposed  

Am coming to the view you’re possibly right.  That said, he did appoint them! 
 

expect you’re referring to Messrs Farke and Scott.

[TheGunnShow 5,956]

It will be mixed. I would also point out the improved focus on youth and potentially this link with South America, especially if Sara becomes the player we think he might become and is sold for a commensurate sum, and another one or two come through. We also don't know how much he was involved with bringing the Attanasio family to the club so based on the following two complete guesses:

1. He did indeed find them as owners and,
2. They successfully take over / preside over a reasonable to successful period for the club

then those are measures where he may well be revised upwards in the opinions of the moderately critical.

Agree with Purple that Knapper's the last appointment, and if that transition goes well, it should reflect a bit on him.

[Clever Farke 65]

Dumping us in league 1 through spite.  

[duke63 543]

2 hours ago, alex_ncfc said:

Being worse off than when he started.

This is just plain idiocy. Some people have very very short memories.

His last few years have not been good but remember where we were when he came in.

 

[Kingston Yellow 220]

Arrogant. Out of his depth. Believed his own hype. Successfully appointed Kieran Scott. Total failure once Kieran Scott left. Took advantage of a couple of old pensions who are also well out of their depth.

[daly 506]

2 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

Well we're lower in the league and a worse balance sheet than when he arrived.

Some good times though that I wouldn't swap but it's ended in tears and humiliation as it often does when you overstay your welcome.

 

 

[daly 506]

Remember going to  AGM When he slated his predecessor regarding pissing all the money up the wall

Well you won’t want to put that remark on your CV because you’ve wasted millions more

Plus the guy is up his own ****

Edited October 28, 2023 by daly

[Yobocop 1,105]

3 hours ago, Mullet said:

Most of us hopefully want to leave some kind of legacy when we move on. He has invested in a PL training facility wow big deal. Player pampering clearly doesn't work.

Good question - probably setting the club up for the next 25 years. Difficult to see it now of course but that’ll be what he’s remembered for. 

very easy to tarnish the good work he has done. 

Time for him to go now though 

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

4 hours ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

Four great years? When two of those were our worst ever top flight seasons? Really? 

Yep. To all but the fans most incapable of seeing any positivity in anything.

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

2 hours ago, daly said:

Remember going to  AGM When he slated his predecessor regarding pissing all the money up the wall

Well you won’t want to put that remark on your CV because you’ve wasted millions more

Plus the guy is up his own ****

Yep... that comment really hasn't aged well, has it?

[hogesar 9,705]

21 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said:

Yep... that comment really hasn't aged well, has it?

Arguably shows the inexperience at top level I.e possibly thinking prem was easier than he thought to crack. After all, prior to us he'd built the Huddersfield side and planned their summer window. And they stayed up with little spend...

I dont think McNally should have gone when he did however the biggest difference between the two is Webber didn't p*ss all the money away - Colney, academy and scouting networks in Brexit-friendly regions.

[By Hook or Ian crook 917]

Built a nice swimming pool. Left us worse football wise than we were when he arrived. 

[The Real Buh 3,446]

He’s a failure and he always will be

[Monty13 2,235]

5 hours ago, duke63 said:

This is just plain idiocy. Some people have very very short memories.

His last few years have not been good but remember where we were when he came in.

 

Having spent 4 of the last 7 years in the PL and two more of those seasons getting promoted to the PL?

Our worst finish being 8th in the Championship?

That position?

I’m absolutely amazed at the Jedi mind trick Webbers somehow managed to pull where people believe we were in some long term terrible state before he arrived.

What was that about short memories?

Edited October 29, 2023 by Monty13

[The Real Buh 3,446]

Stuart Webber, drunk in a hotel bar, 5 years from now, dressed in mountaineering gear. Being politely asked to leave.

”I sIgNeD BuEnDia!!”

[7HAR1980 102]

Pukki, Emi, Soccerbot, a pool.

Selling the crown jewels.

Undoing any and all the good work.

[Canario 207]

Having a gang of pitchfork wielding angry middle aged divorcees march him out-of the Fine City.

Whilst a few good old boys from the city stand mutter "shame"

[TheBaldOne66 693]

4 hours ago, Feedthewolf said:

Yep. To all but the fans most incapable of seeing any positivity in anything.

How can you take positives from those two abject failures? It beggars belief when you say FOUR great seasons with those included! No doubt you think Wagner is doing a wonderful job too? Lord, give me strength, this is unreal ffs! 
 

Please tell us all what the positives in those two pathetic seasons were. 

[yellow_belly 226]

An arrogant piece of Emperor’s cloth, crumpled in the middle of SoccerBot.

 

[STAN 29]

The notion amongst some fans that Webber came in and transformed the club drives me insane. He has stunk the place out, the club currently feels rotten from top to bottom, and it will probably take many years to recover from his “legacy”.

Webber struck gold with Farke, Buendia and Pukki and I will probably cherish those promotion seasons forever. Ultimately though it was Farke who delivered that free-flowing football and feel good factor, not Stuart Webber.

When he arrived he was extremely critical of his predecessors, but if you compare all aspects of his and McNally’s time at the club McNally’s achievements far outweigh anything achieved by Webber. 

Going back to the 2016-2017 season. We had just been relegated from the Premier League, Alex Neil was sacked in March 2017 with us sitting 8th in the Championship. Alan Irvine was appointed caretaker manager, followed by Webber arriving at the start of April 2017. Irvine finished the season reasonably strong guiding us to 8th place finish (10 points off the playoffs).

Despite his predecessors apparently dashing our lottery winnings up the wall, Webber still inherited a number of players with a high resale value and/or high potential.

In the season he arrived we had already sold Redmond, Brady, and Olsson in multi-million pound deals. In his first full season Howson, Pritchard and Jacob Murphy all departed in multi-million pound deals. Second season Maddison and Josh Murphy. Fourth season Godfrey and Lewis.

As of today I’m struggling to see much resale value in the squad at all. Potentially Jonny Rowe (who was also at the club pre-Webber funnily enough) and possibly Gabriel Sara.

In his first interview after arriving at Norwich Webber said: “The job in a nutshell will be judged on how good the recruitment is and how good the head coach is, it’s no use the medical department looking fantastic if you recruit the wrong players”.

You can blow the shiny new training ground building trumpet all you like, but it’s currently delivering relegation form Championship football. Yes it needed improvement, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist/footballing guru to realise that. 

Ultimately he’s leaving us with a cr*p manager, a squad full of ageing journeymen, a disjointed fan base, uncertainty from top to bottom, and we look a million miles from the Premier League.

I’d give him a solid 1/10, the sooner he departs the better. 

 

 

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

5 hours ago, TheBaldOne66 said:

How can you take positives from those two abject failures? It beggars belief when you say FOUR great seasons with those included! No doubt you think Wagner is doing a wonderful job too? Lord, give me strength, this is unreal ffs! 
 

Please tell us all what the positives in those two pathetic seasons were. 

I said Webber's first four years were the good ones. That only includes the first PL season.

The positives to come from that were that before lockdown happened, we were within striking distance of survival despite having spent next to nothing. After lockdown, yeah, total unmitigated disaster.

The transfer dealings in the summer after our second title win where when it started falling apart.

And I've made my thoughts on Wagner clear elsewhere, actually... totally out of his depth, press conferences full of platitudes and bullsh*t. Needs to be sacked immediately.