Worst Ever Managers

[Worthy Nigelton 1,051]

You can use whatever criteria you like, but who are your personal worst three managers in the club's history. Mine FWIW:

1. Glen Roeder - I have never hated a Norwich manager like I hated him. I was furious when he got the job and it got no better. Loathed him with every part of my being and was overjoyed when he got sacked. Horrible little man. Other than when we played Ipswich this is the only time I actively wanted the team to lose.

2. Chris Hughton - clearly we've had worse managers in terms of results, and there is an argument he 'did well' with what he had, but I've never had a time when football felt as joyless as when he was in charge. Just an utterly horrible two years to watch the team. The style he implemented is undoubtedly the worst in the club's history. Horrific football.

3. Bryan Hamilton - terrible appointment, terrible results, terrible all round. One positive was I think he brought Worthy in as a coach and he went on to be one of our best managers.

[Yobocop 1,099]

Chris Hughton was a bit of an enigma as he actually kept us up and didn’t relegate us 

there are plenty worse than him, Peter Grant being one that springs to mind instantly. 

the aforementioned Nigel Worthington whilst getting us promoted then couldn’t keep us there and struggled to get us back up, I’d argue he did worse than Hughton. 

[BroadstairsR 2,174]

Gunny wasn't up to much, although I think that the first result of that season against Colchester was a bit of a fluke and there were other factors (that 'keeper for a start,) and I believe he had a decent result after that, he did oversee relegation with some dismal results after a promising start.

Redeeming features? He brought in Grant Holt, and also the Colchester debacle resulted in the appointment of Lambert.

Overall though, as far as managerial nous goes BG was amongst the worst surely?

One of our best 'keepers. One of our worst managers.

Edited February 24 by BroadstairsR

[Old Shuck 183]

Grant had the decency to admit he wasn't up to the job and walk away.

A rare thing these days, managers rarely resign, however badly their time in charge of a club might be going, as it means they may not get a pay out. Ours seem to be either sacked or lured away for perceived bigger and better (Bond, O'Neill, Walker, Lambert) things.

Saunders quit after a boardroom row, Stringer resigned....but lots more were fired.

Gary Megson. His time marked by nothing very much at all really. But had a few decent goes of it elsewhere.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,768]

Sadly Gunn just was never a football manager and should never have been given the job permenantly. It didnt take David McNally long to identify that.

Word also for Peter Grant. Good coach I dont doubt but at least recognised his own shortcomings as a manager

[The Real Buh 3,444]

Dean Smith was without a single redeeming feature as a manager and some paraded him around like some sort of messiah it was a very bizarre time for the club.

It should be a reminder to some to assess situations properly without being emotionally compromised, I suspect it won’t be though.

[jonnyace1 26]

Dean Smith, Gary Megson and Peter Grant in that order. Roeder not far behind .

[Fen Canary 829]

Roeder, no doubt about that in my mind. Gunn may have taken us down but that season to me will always be Rodents fault. A team full of expensive poorly performing loan players who didn’t want to be there, playing some of the most disjointed dispirited football I’ve ever seen.

Gunn and Grant were poor but I didn’t hate them in the same way, they were just out of their depth. Megson, Smith, Rioch, Hamilton and Deehan were just mediocrity personified 

[daisy 138]

Roeder by a mile.

[non-scoring strikers 113]

As an aside, it kinda shows how bad we are at sourcing decent managers. Further, we don’t have the foresight to make changes when we need to.

Following Lambert with Hughton was mind-numbingly non-sensical. Then following Hughton with a local radio host was bizarre.

Alex Neil was given a whole calendar year longer than he should have. Villa away in the prem should’ve been his last game.

Hiring Dean Smith at all, let alone immediately after he was sacked from another job, is a sackable offence (one of many that Webber got away with).

The long, long list of jobsworths, shysters and schmucks we’ve appointed as manager is a very sorry reflection of how this club misunderstands football.

[dylanisabaddog 4,931]

Another vote for Roeder. 

I was invited to the Directors bar at Plymouth during his time. At 2.20 pm he was in there watching Newcastle play Sunderland. We lost 3-0 in what remains possibly the worst Norwich performance I've ever seen. Hardly surprising when your manager is nowhere to be seen before the match. 

As for the rest, Trowse training ground was like a holiday camp when Lol Morgan was in charge. 

Then I'll go for Dean Smith. 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,024]

Roeder, Hamilton and Smith for me...............

[Fen Canary 829]

7 minutes ago, non-scoring strikers said:

As an aside, it kinda shows how bad we are at sourcing decent managers. Further, we don’t have the foresight to make changes when we need to.

Following Lambert with Hughton was mind-numbingly non-sensical. Then following Hughton with a local radio host was bizarre.

Alex Neil was given a whole calendar year longer than he should have. Villa away in the prem should’ve been his last game.

Hiring Dean Smith at all, let alone immediately after he was sacked from another job, is a sackable offence (one of many that Webber got away with).

The long, long list of jobsworths, shysters and schmucks we’ve appointed as manager is a very sorry reflection of how this club misunderstands football.

Hughton did fine results wise, it was just tedious to watch. To be fair on your other point I don’t think we’ve done too badly with managers in the last 40 years, probably around 50/50 in regards to done well or poorly, which is probably better than most clubs.

[Branston Pickle 3,661]

I’ll go for Grant (nice guy, not up to it), or Roeder (not a nice guy and not up to it).

But I’d always mitigate any comment as it does depend on what division, and what else is going on at the club. In all honesty I think we’ve done pretty ok with managers in my lifetime.

Edited February 24 by Branston Pickle

[non-scoring strikers 113]

10 minutes ago, Fen Canary said:

Hughton did fine results wise, it was just tedious to watch. To be fair on your other point I don’t think we’ve done too badly with managers in the last 40 years, probably around 50/50 in regards to done well or poorly, which is probably better than most clubs.

He didn’t in our relegation season!

[Fen Canary 829]

4 minutes ago, non-scoring strikers said:

He didn’t in our relegation season!

My memory isn’t what it was, but weren’t we above the relegation places when he got the boot, albeit with a hard run in? In hindsight I think we got greedy not being happy with just staying up, especially when you compare it to the top flight attempts that followed,

The football was turgid though 

[BroadstairsR 2,174]

For good or bad, the timing of Hughton's sacking was one of the most bizarre events in the recent history of NCFC. Can't recall just how many games left in that season (all tough for us) but Adams hardly got a point, the Hoots might just have saved us.

[chicken 2,627]

Not sure how Worthington can be in any top three... or even five...!!

In my lifetime...

Roeder, Grant, Hamilton.

If you want another two for a five, Hughton and then probably Alex Neil... 

[Yobocop 1,099]

14 minutes ago, non-scoring strikers said:

He didn’t in our relegation season!

And yet we weren’t in the relegation zone when he was sacked 

[Fen Canary 829]

2 minutes ago, chicken said:

Not sure how Worthington can be in any top three... or even five...!!

In my lifetime...

Roeder, Grant, Hamilton.

If you want another two for a five, Hughton and then probably Alex Neil... 

Hughton gave us a top flight mid table finish and Neil a promotion, surely they’re sbove Megson or Rioch? 

[chicken 2,627]

2 minutes ago, Yobocop said:

And yet we weren’t in the relegation zone when he was sacked 

I think for me... it was his wholesale destruction of our striking department... Holt, Martin, Morrison out... Elmander, Wolfy and Hooper in.

Holt was massively better than Elmander and Martin was younger and better than Hooper. 

[non-scoring strikers 113]

4 minutes ago, Yobocop said:

And yet we weren’t in the relegation zone when he was sacked 

17th with Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd, Arsenal and Fulham left to play.

I know its a straw man argument at this point but the performances and results preceding this suggested that we would’ve still been relegated had we stuck with him.

[chicken 2,627]

3 minutes ago, Fen Canary said:

Hughton gave us a top flight mid table finish and Neil a promotion, surely they’re sbove Megson or Rioch? 

I was pretty young at the time of Megson, so he could arguably go in there. Perhaps the 2nd coming of Walker too?

Rioch, whilst not achieving anything did bring some respectability to the squad and I think laid the groundwork for Worthington later.

Neil seems to get a free pass by a lot of people. If Webber is guilty of squandering money, then so was Alex Neil as he held the management position before we had a sporting director set up and brought in players he wanted.

He achieved success with a team already performing well enough and assembled by previous managers, had a dislike of bringing through younger players and spent, at that time, the biggest sum of money given to one of our managers. Lambert would have loved that war chest. Brady, Klose and Mbokani were the best he signed IMHO. Dorrans, Mulumbu, Naismith, all a bit beige, or worse, Pinto at least had character. Mbokani was our biggest threat and he wasn't used like it.

[non-scoring strikers 113]

1 minute ago, chicken said:

I was pretty young at the time of Megson, so he could arguably go in there. Perhaps the 2nd coming of Walker too?

Rioch, whilst not achieving anything did bring some respectability to the squad and I think laid the groundwork for Worthington later.

Neil seems to get a free pass by a lot of people. If Webber is guilty of squandering money, then so was Alex Neil as he held the management position before we had a sporting director set up and brought in players he wanted.

He achieved success with a team already performing well enough and assembled by previous managers, had a dislike of bringing through younger players and spent, at that time, the biggest sum of money given to one of our managers. Lambert would have loved that war chest. Brady, Klose and Mbokani were the best he signed IMHO. Dorrans, Mulumbu, Naismith, all a bit beige, or worse, Pinto at least had character. Mbokani was our biggest threat and he wasn't used like it.

Don’t forget how he outright refused to play Maddison, sending him off to Scotland onloan, when he was clearly more than ready to be playing for us.

His stubborn refusal to play Mbokani, instead preferring the lifeless Cameron Jerome, was so frustrating.

Persuing Naismith for months and overpaying for him when he clearly didn’t want to come here might be his worst offence.

[Ulfotto 635]

I’ll put forward a controversial one : Alex Neil. Take away the play offs run and he preceded over a spell where we should have had enough to stay in the premier league already and given the club then had the likes of the Murphy brothers, Maddison, Godfrey, Lewis, Aarons, Toffolo, Morris, Cantwell at the club waiting in the wings. Talk about a missed opportunity to really establish ourselves in the premier league. To stay in the premier and then get promoted all we needed was to defend better and have a system away from home. The transfer business in this period was an utter car crash. 
 

Personal I don’t get the hate on Dean Smith he didn’t cover himself in glory but a strange time for the club. Hughton was dull but the decision to sack him and put Adams in charge with 4 games left was simply wrong. As the mild mannered Alex Terry said on the acn podcast Neil who

Edited February 24 by Ulfotto

[ZLF 274]

Roeder, Gunn Grant were the worst I have lived through.   Truly dire times

[Monty13 2,235]

In the last 30 years Roeder easily no. 1 IMO, came across extremely unlikeable and a terrible manager of the team both on and off the pitch. Set the groundwork for relegation.

Gunn unfortunately, he gets a pass in my eyes because he signed Holt but he never should have been appointed temporarily and giving the job permanently was madness.

I’d probably go Grant for 3, nice man, poor manager.

Hamilton probably gets more hate because of the Ipswich connections.

I think Hughton and Smith objectively weren’t despite the very real issues both caused during their tenures personally.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,735]

1 hour ago, The Real Buh said:

Dean Smith was without a single redeeming feature as a manager and some paraded him around like some sort of messiah it was a very bizarre time for the club.

It should be a reminder to some to assess situations properly without being emotionally compromised, I suspect it won’t be though.

Honestly I don't think Smith is a terrible or awful manager...

 

It's just clear he was not a good fit for this club, neither in terms of personality nor the kind of tactics that would have fit us.

 

That and him taking over Farke was an almost impossible job and I don't think any manager would have been liked after taking over from him

[By Hook or Ian crook 917]

Roeder, Grant, Gunn. 

[duke63 542]

Hamilton, Grant and Gunn