Light years from 2019!

[yellowrider120 763]

I've been as critical as anyone about the club, the team and Wagner this season and the 'disconnect' has been discussed 'ad nauseum' so no mileage in regurgitating that. Today was a training session with a truly abject opponent. That plus the lack lustre second half presumably dulled fans 'celebrations' but to see the ground almost empty by the team the players did a lap around the pitch is an embarrassing sight for a team who had just arrived in sixth position. In 2019, virtually no-one at this stage of the season would have left their seats. One can only imagine what the players felt at applauding an empty stadium!    

We have only four home games left to give ourselves a well deserved kick up the backside and roll the clock back 5 years. Yes. in many respects I'm terrified of promotion as this squad would be thrashed in the PL with only literally two or three players capable of competing at that level. However, at this moment in time that's not the point is it?. Play offs are well within our grasp and we need to push the team over the line. For Gods sake stay and salute the team at the remaining matches if we get the points needed. 

    

[Robert N. LiM 4,376]

Think the general point is fair enough but not sure today tells us much. The team very sensibly stopped playing after about 55 minutes, taking care of the players for the bigger battles to come. I was only watching online but considered turning it off during the second half - it just wasn't a contest. I'm not surprised people left early, or right on the whistle.

As for the more general point, I really hope that the recent excellent home performances, plus the injustice at Boro, will be that extra kick needed to really get behind the team in the run-in. There is every chance that we're playing for a play-off against the binners - and the opportunity, at the very least, to ruin their best season for about a thousand years. And of course we have a league game against them coming up. Doubt we'll reach 2019 levels - that was a very special time - but I'm sure the fans will come to the party, if they haven't already. Certainly sounded a really good atmosphere today - until we killed the game off. OTBC

Edited March 9 by Robert N. LiM

[RobJames 881]

I'm terrified as well as it would meaning winning at least one play off game, then off to Wenbley to win a trophy.

If only the club could find someone to invest £140 million odd to help us strengthen the squad. PerhapsSky/BT might offer, and then a hundred or so million as well if we are relegated

Terrified, what on earth are you bleating about. Try telling 40,000 City fans heading to Wembley that their team better lose as winning would terrify one snowflake.

[Paul101 93]

southstand and barcly where both pretty full still

 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,729]

Win 5-0 and the moaners still moan.

[Ulfotto 635]

If we get promoted this season although the result might be the same: relegation but I think that would also be the fans expectation. The problem with 19/20 and 21/22 was the fans were quietly optimistic of doing ok only to see two soul destroying seasons.

[......and Smith must score. 1,343]

I was there today and surprised how quickly the crowd thinned out towards the end. As someone said the entertainment petered out after the fifth but it looked more like we were losing 5-0

[yellowrider120 763]

14 minutes ago, RobJames said:

I'm terrified as well as it would meaning winning at least one play off game, then off to Wenbley to win a trophy.

If only the club could find someone to invest £140 million odd to help us strengthen the squad. PerhapsSky/BT might offer, and then a hundred or so million as well if we are relegated

Terrified, what on earth are you bleating about. Try telling 40,000 City fans heading to Wembley that their team better lose as winning would terrify one snowflake.

That's not what I meant if you actually bothered to read my post! 

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

I think there is just a huge disconnect which is really quite serious.

Like as the op said, we won 5-0. Yet the final whistle blew and quarter of the crowd had left. The second half minus the Sara goal was drab.

I get it saving players but that is not the Norwich way.

I am not moaning (although the second half was dull as old dish water)

But something stinks.

My feeling is that we as Norwich fans have had the football bubble burst. 

We know the prem doesn't want us and we cant stick there, we feel we are better than the championship but we struggled.

I think there is still a lot of apathy and what's the point with many fans going through the motions.

Something needs to change but there is a feeling that the old excitement we had has gone.

Idiots can bang drums and try to create an atmosphere but it's organic the fans have to feel it.

I think a large portion of Norwich fans just don't feel it anymore.

Bleak off the back of a great victory but we are playing pragmatic football under Wagner and it's not the Norwich way.

I used to come out of a game buzzing after a win, honestly today was nice with some great goals but I was not buzzing.

Also why did the snakepit / drum crew spend the first 30 mins of the game chanting shout Ipswich?? It was actually really dumb when you think about it, more concerned the scum lost than the fact we were winning.

 

 

Edited March 9 by Nexus_Canary

[Hackney Canary 97]

I think this is a really interesting observation, OP. I’ll be honest and say that I left 5 mins early today and I reckon I’ve done it 5 or 6 times in the last 18 months. Before that, I wouldn’t have been seen dead leaving early and I was happy to give scowling looks to those who do. Hell, I even stayed till the end of *that* Colchester game. Today, as I was leaving, I thought that it was a bit embarrassing, me leaving like that, not being willing to stay and cheer the lads after a comprehensive victory, and not even having anywhere pressing to get to. So, what’s it all about? I can’t say I have an original answer, nothing groundbreakingly new. The only thing I can say is that, for a multitude of reasons, I’m just not feeling it right now. Of course, I want us to win, I want us to get in the playoffs, I want us to beat Ipswich and I want us to go up - but it isn’t getting my juices flowing, not in the way it once did. Farke’s part of it - call me a ****, but I don’t think I’ll ever quite get over his departure and everything it brought to an end - but also it seems to me that we’re in a bit of a holding pattern as a club. We’re not quite sure about Wagner, we’re not quite sure what the investment from our friend across the pond will bring, we’re not quite sure where we’re heading. We’ve got some fine players - Sara, Sargent, Sainz, Nunez - but would you call any of them talismen, in the way you might Wes or Grant Holt, or Emi or Madders? I’m not sure I would. None of them feel like they’re here for the long term, none of them feel like they quite get the club, but perhaps that’s because they are, like me - and perhaps a few others - not quite sure what the club is at the moment. I suppose that’s another way of saying we have a bit of an identity problem - a stark change from the Farke years. It can - and almost certainly will - change, but for now, for me, it’s not quite happening. All that said, the OP has made a very good point. We’ve got an opportunity here, to salvage something quite special out of a very flat period in our history. In some ways, that would be as good an achievement as anything we did under Farke - I mean, got not be great and still go up? So, thanks OP. You’ve provoked me into giving my head a wobble. I won’t be leaving early again this season. Time to stand up and be counted. And maybe even to make some noise. OTBC. 

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,278]

The drab second half and game being won was always going to create a bit of a malaise towards the end.. I wouldn’t read too much into to it tbh. 

That’s not to say apathy doesn’t still remain. It does. Also, I just can’t shift my predetermined narrative that we’ll fall short of 6th place, or if we do manage to scrape in, we haven’t got enough over two legs to beat Ipswich, Southampton, Leeds or Leicester.

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

14 minutes ago, Hackney Canary said:

I think this is a really interesting observation, OP. I’ll be honest and say that I left 5 mins early today and I reckon I’ve done it 5 or 6 times in the last 18 months. Before that, I wouldn’t have been seen dead leaving early and I was happy to give scowling looks to those who do. Hell, I even stayed till the end of *that* Colchester game. Today, as I was leaving, I thought that it was a bit embarrassing, me leaving like that, not being willing to stay and cheer the lads after a comprehensive victory, and not even having anywhere pressing to get to. So, what’s it all about? I can’t say I have an original answer, nothing groundbreakingly new. The only thing I can say is that, for a multitude of reasons, I’m just not feeling it right now. Of course, I want us to win, I want us to get in the playoffs, I want us to beat Ipswich and I want us to go up - but it isn’t getting my juices flowing, not in the way it once did. Farke’s part of it - call me a ****, but I don’t think I’ll ever quite get over his departure and everything it brought to an end - but also it seems to me that we’re in a bit of a holding pattern as a club. We’re not quite sure about Wagner, we’re not quite sure what the investment from our friend across the pond will bring, we’re not quite sure where we’re heading. We’ve got some fine players - Sara, Sargent, Sainz, Nunez - but would you call any of them talismen, in the way you might Wes or Grant Holt, or Emi or Madders? I’m not sure I would. None of them feel like they’re here for the long term, none of them feel like they quite get the club, but perhaps that’s because they are, like me - and perhaps a few others - not quite sure what the club is at the moment. I suppose that’s another way of saying we have a bit of an identity problem - a stark change from the Farke years. It can - and almost certainly will - change, but for now, for me, it’s not quite happening. All that said, the OP has made a very good point. We’ve got an opportunity here, to salvage something quite special out of a very flat period in our history. In some ways, that would be as good an achievement as anything we did under Farke - I mean, got not be great and still go up? So, thanks OP. You’ve provoked me into giving my head a wobble. I won’t be leaving early again this season. Time to stand up and be counted. And maybe even to make some noise. OTBC. 

Work of art this mate.

Totally how I feel.

[Hackney Canary 97]

3 minutes ago, Nexus_Canary said:

Work of art this mate.

Totally how I feel.

Maybe we should start a support group…

[yellowrider120 763]

25 minutes ago, Nexus_Canary said:

I think there is just a huge disconnect which is really quite serious.

Like as the op said, we won 5-0. Yet the final whistle blew and quarter of the crowd had left. The second half minus the Sara goal was drab.

I get it saving players but that is not the Norwich way.

I am not moaning (although the second half was dull as old dish water)

But something stinks.

My feeling is that we as Norwich fans have had the football bubble burst. 

We know the prem doesn't want us and we cant stick there, we feel we are better than the championship but we struggled.

I think there is still a lot of apathy and what's the point with many fans going through the motions.

Something needs to change but there is a feeling that the old excitement we had has gone.

Idiots can bang drums and try to create an atmosphere but it's organic the fans have to feel it.

I think a large portion of Norwich fans just don't feel it anymore.

Bleak off the back of a great victory but we are playing pragmatic football under Wagner and it's not the Norwich way.

I used to come out of a game buzzing after a win, honestly today was nice with some great goals but I was not buzzing.

Also why did the snakepit / drum crew spend the first 30 mins of the game chanting shout Ipswich?? It was actually really dumb when you think about it, more concerned the scum lost than the fact we were winning.

 

 

Many thanks - excellent post. My old school friend (of some 40 years!) is a classic case in point. He has holiday booked for the Play Off Final weekend and seems not the slightest bit concerned at potentially missing us at Wembley. I would never, ever have booked holiday for then, you know 'just in case'. I know many would 'come out of the woodwork' for the Play Off Final IF we got there but make no mistake this is not the same as that late charge to Cardiff, the thrilling run in under AN or the 2019 jamboree! 

I do wonder whether we would shift all our allocation??  Would be the final embarrassment if we played 'them' and were outnumbered!!  

[ged in the onion bag 855]

1 hour ago, RobJames said:

I'm terrified as well as it would meaning winning at least one play off game, then off to Wenbley to win a trophy.

If only the club could find someone to invest £140 million odd to help us strengthen the squad. PerhapsSky/BT might offer, and then a hundred or so million as well if we are relegated

Terrified, what on earth are you bleating about. Try telling 40,000 City fans heading to Wembley that their team better lose as winning would terrify one snowflake.

Perhaps this comment should be kept in a special place on the forum if we get promoted.   So it can be referenced after each matchday, especially as your tune changes and blame and criticism take over... expect some amusement will be had.    There's 38 matchdays compared to 1 day at Wembley. 

We'd need much more than £140m.    Forest spent £300m and just about survived, now they are in trouble for spending that much.    There's plenty of fans that are apprehensive we might get promoted.   I am one.    We have not prepared anything for going up, we don't have athlete's, strong and speedy players, an effective playing philosophy, robust defensive system that's hard to breach and the manager is very limited.  Nice man mind!    Then there's the recruitment, not been too clever of late....  ... and of course, that would be the end for all this promising talent out on loan... they'd get no opportunity then and we'll likely lose them.   

The following players could potentially be effective in the league above.... Gunn and Sara, with possibles being Rowe, Sargent and Sainz!

The posters not a snowflake for those concerns, more a realist!   Probably fears the team will get thumped and worse, fail to compete.     Do enjoy your one day at Wembley though...   

Really no need for name calling for his opinion.    Bet you wouldn't do that to his face.    But you probably feel all hard and macho behind your keyboard..... and you're not talking for all 40000 City fans with that nonsense either. 

Edited March 9 by ged in the onion bag

[sonyc 5,525]

49 minutes ago, Hackney Canary said:

I think this is a really interesting observation, OP. I’ll be honest and say that I left 5 mins early today and I reckon I’ve done it 5 or 6 times in the last 18 months. Before that, I wouldn’t have been seen dead leaving early and I was happy to give scowling looks to those who do. Hell, I even stayed till the end of *that* Colchester game. Today, as I was leaving, I thought that it was a bit embarrassing, me leaving like that, not being willing to stay and cheer the lads after a comprehensive victory, and not even having anywhere pressing to get to. So, what’s it all about? I can’t say I have an original answer, nothing groundbreakingly new. The only thing I can say is that, for a multitude of reasons, I’m just not feeling it right now. Of course, I want us to win, I want us to get in the playoffs, I want us to beat Ipswich and I want us to go up - but it isn’t getting my juices flowing, not in the way it once did. Farke’s part of it - call me a ****, but I don’t think I’ll ever quite get over his departure and everything it brought to an end - but also it seems to me that we’re in a bit of a holding pattern as a club. We’re not quite sure about Wagner, we’re not quite sure what the investment from our friend across the pond will bring, we’re not quite sure where we’re heading. We’ve got some fine players - Sara, Sargent, Sainz, Nunez - but would you call any of them talismen, in the way you might Wes or Grant Holt, or Emi or Madders? I’m not sure I would. None of them feel like they’re here for the long term, none of them feel like they quite get the club, but perhaps that’s because they are, like me - and perhaps a few others - not quite sure what the club is at the moment. I suppose that’s another way of saying we have a bit of an identity problem - a stark change from the Farke years. It can - and almost certainly will - change, but for now, for me, it’s not quite happening. All that said, the OP has made a very good point. We’ve got an opportunity here, to salvage something quite special out of a very flat period in our history. In some ways, that would be as good an achievement as anything we did under Farke - I mean, got not be great and still go up? So, thanks OP. You’ve provoked me into giving my head a wobble. I won’t be leaving early again this season. Time to stand up and be counted. And maybe even to make some noise. OTBC. 

Raw honesty post of the season. 

It will come back I believe....but football has become more cynical generally and there's other stuff to do. The PL often bores me for example because there are effectively 3 leagues. And in Farke he somehow felt what the club was and could articulate it. So, I do think as you've hinted, that many haven't yet got over it... fully, anyway. 

If we do make the play offs Wagner will be gain more buy in. It's what the fans expected. I am starting to like some of his weird tactical formations, like his 4-2-2-2 at times. That has been an interest for me because I used not to fathom his style or selections. There's also interest for me in seeing players played in different positions (Lungi, McLean and even Nunez we've seen as a kind of sweeper). Clearly too, we've not quite had the luck (injuries, decisions, let alone matches where we just should have won). Luck plays a massive part in most matches. You can say things are often marginal and small things that make the difference but you still need luck. 

So, in conclusion, although I certainly agree with the drift of your well argued and thoughtful points, it has been interesting! Just not in an all out excitement sense. Sainz is the one who provides that for me. He is all that I like in a midfielder - if he is supported well enough of course.

OTBC....NMTD.

 

[Pyro Pete 1,897]

For some reason, when the team wins, they now do that thing where everyone gathers in the centre circle and hug one another for ten minutes.

Someone on the coaching staff must have read about it in a self-help book, or something.

Anyway, some of us have homes to go to. So either stand and receive our applause at full-time, or have a good cuddle. It's your choice.

 

[Google Bot 3,278]

5 minutes ago, sonyc said:

OTBC....NMTD.

You've just blown my mind, that's why you're called SONYC, isn't it?

[sonyc 5,525]

3 minutes ago, Google Bot said:

You've just blown my mind, that's why you're called SONYC, isn't it?

Yes of course GB. I've always loved the fact that we sing something like "Steady on....." It's one of the greatest songs and it's a matter of pride for many I reckon. 

Ps. When I joined some bugg3r had taken NMTD too!

Edited March 9 by sonyc

[Fen Canary 828]

10 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Yes of course GB

I’ve only just clocked that’s it’s sonyc, all these years I’ve been reading it as Sonya!

[Google Bot 3,278]

5 minutes ago, sonyc said:

Yes of course GB. I've always loved the fact that we sing something like "Steady on....."

So, no more Sonya Crosby then.  😞

You were such a lovely girl in my head, too.. Loved the club, reasonable intellect, had a dog with a comical expression.  Rich, good sense of humour.. Helped out at the local orphanage in-between your job as a model, always chatty, often seen going through the village on your moped to the local shop.

Ahhhh... Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

[mrD66M 99]

It's a very unfair comparison, this season vs '19. We were spoiled with Farkeball. At the moment there are a lot of things in flux and not defined in the club, SD, ownership, but overall it's the inconsistency, the poor communication from the management, the lack of character, the streaky patterns of good results/performances turning to mush like last Wednesday.

Can't really blame paying fans who do their best to support the club at a really tough time financially for many, yet feel they're not getting the connection - that isn't built just on results, it's putting the fans at the heart of everything the club does. 

Wagner ain't Farke, Knapper ain't Webber, Sainz ain't Emi but we ain't no mugs. We want desire, ambition, vision, intent, so NCFC needs to either s#it or get off the pot.

The club needs to value the fans, bring them on board to press forward in whatever direction is chosen by the powers that be, then clearly communicate coherence of intent in every action.

 

Edited March 9 by mrD66M

[The Bristol Nest 515]

Good game and great result. Very happy today.

[Daz Sparks 1,154]

8 hours ago, Google Bot said:

So, no more Sonya Crosby then.  😞

You were such a lovely girl in my head, too.. Loved the club, reasonable intellect, had a dog with a comical expression.  Rich, good sense of humour.. Helped out at the local orphanage in-between your job as a model, always chatty, often seen going through the village on your moped to the local shop.

Ahhhh... Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Made me laugh, but also made me feel like I was intruding on something...

[mannings bandy legs 389]

11 hours ago, Nexus_Canary said:

Work of art this mate.

Totally how I feel.

Me too.

[Hackney Canary 97]

11 hours ago, sonyc said:

Raw honesty post of the season. 

It will come back I believe....but football has become more cynical generally and there's other stuff to do. The PL often bores me for example because there are effectively 3 leagues. And in Farke he somehow felt what the club was and could articulate it. So, I do think as you've hinted, that many haven't yet got over it... fully, anyway. 

If we do make the play offs Wagner will be gain more buy in. It's what the fans expected. I am starting to like some of his weird tactical formations, like his 4-2-2-2 at times. That has been an interest for me because I used not to fathom his style or selections. There's also interest for me in seeing players played in different positions (Lungi, McLean and even Nunez we've seen as a kind of sweeper). Clearly too, we've not quite had the luck (injuries, decisions, let alone matches where we just should have won). Luck plays a massive part in most matches. You can say things are often marginal and small things that make the difference but you still need luck. 

So, in conclusion, although I certainly agree with the drift of your well argued and thoughtful points, it has been interesting! Just not in an all out excitement sense. Sainz is the one who provides that for me. He is all that I like in a midfielder - if he is supported well enough of course.

OTBC....NMTD.

 

Agree with all of this. Definitely feel the general cynicism about the Premiership, and about football more widely. Every year, it’s less a game and more a product, and less and less accessible to clubs like ours. That’s why the Farke years were so genius - he, the club, and the supporters bought into the idea that what mattered above all was the club and the way it represented itself - from the style of play, to the atmosphere and attitude of the supporters. Think of the great work Along Came Norwich did, and TNC for that matter. I loved all that and it played a part in creating an identity that for a few brief years made it seem as if we knew what we were about. For what it’s worth, I think the club - and Webber deserves credit for that - got the strategy exactly right: appoint a charismatic coach, develop a style of play that we stick to from top to bottom, promote youth and get the fans on board. If you ask me, that’s the approach we should go back to and see if this time we can hold our nerve, relegation or no relegation. And with that, I promise to stop talking about the past. Here’s to the future, which can be bright! 

[Well b back 3,208]

13 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Win 5-0 and the moaners still moan.

Says the man who slated Saintz on Wednesday in 4 different threads for costing us promotion.

[Well b back 3,208]

12 hours ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

The drab second half and game being won was always going to create a bit of a malaise towards the end.. I wouldn’t read too much into to it tbh. 

That’s not to say apathy doesn’t still remain. It does. Also, I just can’t shift my predetermined narrative that we’ll fall short of 6th place, or if we do manage to scrape in, we haven’t got enough over two legs to beat Ipswich, Southampton, Leeds or Leicester.

I think it’s likely Leicester and Leeds will go up auto.

The rest that could finish top 6 Ipswich, Southampton, West Brom, Hull, Coventry we have faired well against over 2 legs. 
Our problem has been the lesser teams ( not meaning to disrespect them ) away.

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

Tin hat.

Am I ok saying honestly happy to finish 7th?

Maybe too early 😕

[TIL 1010 4,748]

Some great posts on this thread which put into words what many of us having running through our heads and then there is Bill/City1st.