Knapper's done an interview

[Grumpy 123]

1 hour ago, Peregrine Shorts said:

Yeah, look……..20 minutes of fluff

I am inclined to agree with you.Why use 5 words when you can fluff it up with many many more.

[Mello Yello 2,302]

4 hours ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

Wouldn't do any harm.

What's on show here makes him look like he's doing a stretch at a HMP establishment

Apparently on the back of Ben's grey sweat top is printed.....

                     I

                 LUVS

                BITTY!

[Bovril 219]

Lucky with the timing of the interview being after a good win with the team seemingly back on the up...

[norwich canary 76]

I said before he started , I said when he started and I say now he is a massive disappointment as a sporting director . 
 

how could the recruitment process go so wrong 

[Big O 225]

I personally thought he came across well and outlined what you would expect from a sporting Director of NCFC under current circumstances.

It must be hard for a new sporting Director to come into that environment, which was turning toxic, and retain an ability to make logical decisions.

we won’t all agree with keeping David Wagner on (I’m not a fan) but keeping his focus on building pathways, trimming the age etc and making use of the assets we have (I.e. getting talent out on loan, academy focus) has to be his start point.

you get the sense that he is gearing himself up for a challenging summer as (assuming we’re not promoted - which we might be!) he will have to resolve the following:

1. Is Wagner the man to take us forward?

2. Do we keep any of the out of contract players?

3. Do we need to sell a key asset to create the ability to invest across the team?

4. Are any of the young players out on loan ready to be part of a championship squad? 

5. where are we going to get value in the transfer market? Are we back to cheaper markets or players who burnt out from promising starts? 
 

sounds like quite a list to get through as next year the finances will be tight. 

[Feedthewolf 4,872]

1 minute ago, norwich canary said:

I said before he started , I said when he started and I say now he is a massive disappointment as a sporting director . 
 

how could the recruitment process go so wrong 

Great to know Waveney, thanks for popping by

[Big O 225]

2 minutes ago, norwich canary said:

I said before he started , I said when he started and I say now he is a massive disappointment as a sporting director . 
 

how could the recruitment process go so wrong 

You might be much better informed than me but how do you even know if he had any resources to make any changes.

id agree the radio silence hasn’t helped but it does bring it back to reality that he has only been here two months. What type of miracles were you expecting? 

[S_81 847]

Credit to him for doing the interview. And for taking his time to take stock and focus on the task at hand - learning about the role/us and focussing on performance/his first transfer window. 
 

He comes across considered and professional. 
 

He’s clearly recognised we have some sick notes hanging around and that’s placing the medical staff under extra pressure. He also touched upon ensuring there are clear pathways for young talent. 
But it will take a few windows to get to where he wants us to be. 
 

I would have liked him to have got rid of Wagner in week one. But the results have shown why he was right to not do so. 
I would also have liked him to have signed a CDM this window. But perhaps he’s secured Varane for this summer. Or someone else.

It’s encouraging, even if vague, to hear him allude to the fact we don’t want a load of old duffers and that over the course of a few windows he’ll get us to where he wants us to be. 
 

Good luck to him. He has my support. 

 

[sgncfc 1,253]

I've only read the extract on the BBC but everything he said seems to be based on winning the playoffs. Like many supporters I have a dilemma about that - wanting us to win every game, but recognising that if we do go up we will be completely unprepared (despite what he says) and will probably be even worse than Sheff Utd. Still can't believe the support for a coaching team who consistently do the same things and expect different results.

Yes, we beat Coventry - thanks to yet another piece of magic from two (Gunn and Saintz) of our players and very little to do with teamwork, tactics and strategy. We palyed some better stuff but created very little from that and we could easily have lost it as we lost at Leeds, West Brom, Millwall, Watford and also several home games solely because the tactics were, yet again, obviously wrong. Those games were thrown away by inept coaching, not because we had a couple of injuries. Like all the others, Coventry came through our midfield as if it wasn't there.

I still don't see us actually getting anywhere near the top 6 at the end of the season, and I'm not sure I want to be wrong.

[baldy09 160]

Not going to get promoted this season - Knapper almost said prize assets will be sold- could mean many many season mid to lower champ football - dont look good at

[AJ 1,224]

Well he can't really come out and say anything otherwise really, can he? I highly doubt we stand any chance of promotion this season now even if we do make the top 6 as 3rd and 4th are a country mile better than we are but the club still have to try because the financial ramifications of not getting promotion are of course huge. With keeping on Wagner I'm pretty sure he's aware that a lot of the issues come from the squad and not just the management, Farke at Leeds is showing his time at Norwich wasn't a one off and I'm sure some others will feel the same as me that it's still a shame he got the boot when the end result was the same and only proved it wasn't his fault. Saturday did feel like Wagner was starting to win over some of the 20% and divorcee's in the snakepit. Hopefully Knapper can undone the mistakes of Webber from the last few windows where the only real positive is the signing of Sainz

[nutty nigel 7,618]

We have to try to win every game because that's the whole point...

[RobJames 891]

6 minutes ago, sgncfc said:

I've only read the extract on the BBC but everything he said seems to be based on winning the playoffs. Like many supporters I have a dilemma about that - wanting us to win every game, but recognising that if we do go up we will be completely unprepared (despite what he says) and will probably be even worse than Sheff Utd. Still can't believe the support for a coaching team who consistently do the same things and expect different results.

Yes, we beat Coventry - thanks to yet another piece of magic from two (Gunn and Saintz) of our players and very little to do with teamwork, tactics and strategy. We palyed some better stuff but created very little from that and we could easily have lost it as we lost at Leeds, West Brom, Millwall, Watford and also several home games solely because the tactics were, yet again, obviously wrong. Those games were thrown away by inept coaching, not because we had a couple of injuries. Like all the others, Coventry came through our midfield as if it wasn't there.

I still don't see us actually getting anywhere near the top 6 at the end of the season, and I'm not sure I want to be wrong.

eh ?

Whereas we already have the necessary infrastructure in place - from ground to training facilities etc. Did Luton bleat out the same whine. Are the binners looking at their ramshackle ground and squad without any PK experience and saying 'we are not prepared'

If we do not go up, we face a massive £30m drop in income, and almost certainly players wanting to take up better paid contracts away from Carrow Road. You rather remind me of the chap who said while he played the lottery, he did not want to win as ge was not prepared for the win as his job took up much of his time, and it would not allow him time to spend the money.

We have hauled ourselves up to where we are now a couple of points off the playoffs yet that fight will somehow dissipate over the final games ? Because we 'are not prepared' ? Tell that to the squad. Tell them the money coming, from being in the PL, should not be their's because we are 'not prepared'.

We play to win, and see where that takes us. If it is the PL then great, we'll worry about new signings then.  And if we don't go up. or even make the play offs then we were not good enough. So be it. But let's stop with this ar se cringing we are not prepared, not worthy, littlle ole Norwich mentality.

[shefcanary 2,448]

1 hour ago, Bovril said:

Lucky with the timing of the interview being after a good win with the team seemingly back on the up...

Lucky my ****! The pink'un guys said only on Monday on their Q&A there was no invite, usually they'd flag such an interview was coming. The club's media team have reacted to the good vibe and performance on Saturday to rush him out while the going's good. I bet the invite to the interview went out by text overnight! 

Edited February 7 by shefcanary

[shefcanary 2,448]

Seriously though what did anyone expect from the interview. He isn't going to give any secrets away, he'll not say a bad word against people still at the club, he'll not want to undermine anyone at, or the supporters of the club. 

What he did very well was there we absolutely no WEBBERISMS! That in my view is a great leap forward. 

Well done Knapper. Great stuff.

We learnt nothing knew (I didn't expect that) but he kept everyone onside. A team player.

After Webber so refreshing.

[Danke bitte 967]

3 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

Seriously though what did anyone expect from the interview. He isn't going to give any secrets away, he'll not say a bad word against people still at the club, he'll not want to undermine anyone at, or the supporters of the club. 

What he did very well was there we absolutely no WEBBERISMS! That in my view is a great leap forward. 

Well done Knapper. Great stuff.

We learnt nothing knew (I didn't expect that) but he kept everyone onside. A team player.

After Webber so refreshing.

Basically he was professional and is media trained. Which Attanasio is too. It’s good to see and hear that people who are in top positions at the club have the ability to not let their ego talk for them. That for me is a small but promising sign

[cambridgeshire canary 6,795]

Do like how everyone was angry that he was not coming out and talking and now he has spoken many are angry at him.

 

 

[shefcanary 2,448]

1 minute ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Do like how everyone was angry that he was not coming out and talking and now he has spoken many are angry at him.

 

 

I did advise on here to all those demanding he speak that they wouldn't learn anything. Knapper as Danke Vitte says has no ego, accepted his media training, answered all questions without deflecting but without giving too much away.

Now, can we move on to a campaign for the club to demand from the EFL an early response to their investigation into Attanasio's role as Director and Owner. That way things will move on at the club.

[Branston Pickle 3,687]

4 minutes ago, Danke bitte said:

Basically he was professional and is media trained. Which Attanasio is too. It’s good to see and hear that people who are in top positions at the club have the ability to not let their ego talk for them. That for me is a small but promising sign

It’s good to not have the ‘all about me’ side of things, but there is also a happy medium that we’re missing if it is sanitised and media savvy to the nth degree.

[nutty nigel 7,618]

11 minutes ago, shefcanary said:

Seriously though what did anyone expect from the interview. He isn't going to give any secrets away, he'll not say a bad word against people still at the club, he'll not want to undermine anyone at, or the supporters of the club. 

What he did very well was there we absolutely no WEBBERISMS! That in my view is a great leap forward. 

Well done Knapper. Great stuff.

We learnt nothing knew (I didn't expect that) but he kept everyone onside. A team player.

After Webber so refreshing.

Of course they wouldn’t have done that after we drew at home to Bristol Rovers. But they only get away with it now because the fabled 20% are really just fickle fans who get behind our club if we win enough games to keep them happy. 

[BroadstairsR 2,203]

Unlike the last three, he comes over more as a football man, less of a chancer (an approach which sometimes worked, but often fails) and, if I may say it, more sincere.

I like that, and any criticism of him, considering he's only been here five minutes, is simply daft. Slating for slating's sake.

Already he has unloaded some deadwood, including probably ending the insufferable Adam Idah debate, and managed to make one (hopefully) decent signing.

Results are beginning to look up since his impact was felt, and it cannot be a total co-incidence, even though the return of the injured has assisted this hugely. Also, Wagner seems to have lost a bit of the 'crazy,' for want of a better word.

I'm loving the continued emphasis on the Academy (one of Webber's strengths to be fair) for that, along with the solid support base, is our bread and butter.

The "quiet man" seems just right for me. A calming influence after the bumpy and controversial ride that typified the end of the Stuart Webber era.

Edited February 7 by BroadstairsR

[Mello Yello 2,302]

February....soon be first deadline for 2024/25 Season Ticket renewals....Nicey nice nice an' it's much valued supporter time!.....

[RobJames 891]

I am not sure how much the turnaround is due to Knapper - he is more strategy than tactics. So the improvement in players combined with the return of others has no doubt been the real reason. Idah going out on loan has not only been asked for but long expected. Though I would say the loan club being Celtic must have surprised pretty much everyone. Others leaving were obvious enough that it did not need a DoF to sort out.

Perhaps like McNally he will refocus the club in areas that we have fallen short on. Overseas signing have been great, when we do not spend millions on them. Unlike the binners who tried to fund a Cat 1 academy by raffle tickets and jumble sales the club has funded the academy. And this summer (prior to Knapper0 we brought in a number of youngsters.

Some will succeed, others will fall by the wayside. But those who have succeeded have more than compensated for the cost of Cat 1.

 

[Commonsense 644]

2 hours ago, norwich canary said:

I said before he started , I said when he started and I say now he is a massive disappointment as a sporting director . 
 

how could the recruitment process go so wrong 

I’m rather glad you feel like this! Almost everything you post is bullsh*t anyway, so it’s good to know that you’re likely to be completely wrong again.

[S_81 847]

1 hour ago, Branston Pickle said:

It’s good to not have the ‘all about me’ side of things, but there is also a happy medium that we’re missing if it is sanitised and media savvy to the nth degree.

Did you think it was the latter? I think it was reasonably balanced. Factoring in confidentiality but also that he doesn’t have a huge amount to say yet anyhow. 

[hogesar 9,743]

20 minutes of saying absolutely nothing but I think it's what the fans generally want after Webber. Say nothing risky, don't push any boundaries, use a few typical corporate soundbites. So it comes across professional enough to at least 75% of the fanbase. It's probably the right call but we learnt nothing.

[Branston Pickle 3,687]

3 minutes ago, S_81 said:

Did you think it was the latter? I think it was reasonably balanced. Factoring in confidentiality but also that he doesn’t have a huge amount to say yet anyhow. 

I guess we’ll see - tbh I’m more interested in what the SD does rather than what he says, but they have to do some of the media stuff.

Webber was always a bit up himself, people didn’t mind at all when we were going ok but did when we weren’t…tbh I never really cared about all that.

[Branston Pickle 3,687]

6 minutes ago, hogesar said:

20 minutes of saying absolutely nothing but I think it's what the fans generally want after Webber. Say nothing risky, don't push any boundaries, use a few typical corporate soundbites. So it comes across professional enough to at least 75% of the fanbase. It's probably the right call but we learnt nothing.

Don’t you mean 80%?!

[Capt. Pants 4,276]

Yeah look....

Creating pathways for young player development allied to a trading model to bring in a bit of revenue is great and I think we all would prefer that to the old duffers being wheeled out week in week out. However, that needs to be done in conjunction with strengthening the main matchday squad and mounting a serious promotion challenge. I'm not convinced the January window really did that.

A decent enough interview without actually saying very much. I just detect a bit too much playing the 'long game' as opposed to the here and now. A clever tactic as it removes him from having to gain instant success.

Personally, rightly or wrongly, I wanted us to push on from the Webber era but this feels a bit like going backwards to move forwards. It might be the right thing to do, and we are about to find out.

 

[Monty13 2,251]

22 minutes ago, hogesar said:

20 minutes of saying absolutely nothing but I think it's what the fans generally want after Webber. Say nothing risky, don't push any boundaries, use a few typical corporate soundbites. So it comes across professional enough to at least 75% of the fanbase. It's probably the right call but we learnt nothing.

He said the job of a sporting director is to stay calm and think logically. Brutal destruction of his predecessor.

To be honest other than the absolute clangers Webber used to regularly drop I’m not sure how much more insight he ever gave.

Regardless it’s only been a few months, we are mid season as well so his job was just to reassure right now, was never going to be that interesting to be honest.