WORTHINGTON: SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

[Ramrod 258]

Worthington presides over a ship steaming along nicely so deserves to stay at the helm unmolested. This is not a thread for ridiculous questions about who supports or forgives him etc.

But he has clearly had a bit of a makeover in more ways than one and these issues are tantalisingly unaddressed.

Gone is the goofy socks and shorts look and in comes the suit.

Gone is the footballing philosophy and in comes the passing game which we refreshingly stick to in adversity.

Gone are the personal spats with players. McKenzie, a year from walking away for free is not for sale despite throwing his toys around and Nigel makes supportive comments about him.

Gone are the bland post match interviews, he now gives insights into tactics and team talks.

Gone are the fears of players in speaking their own mind, especially Huckerby who describes their friendly head to heads and players seem to be positively encouraged to say what they think.

You can probably think of other examples.

Why? Has Nigel re-invented himself, perhaps had a good look at the way he was coming across and undergone a re-think? If so he has done very well IMO.

Is Nigel actually under real pressure to deliver and chastened by the effect. I do believe he is at his best when forced to manage on lesser resources.

Have the Club told Nigel how it will be from now on and he is complying with the wishes of the Directors. If I owned the Club after last year I would have told him ''We are Norwich and we will pass the ball and respect the supporters.''

So many unanswered questions. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

PS I make no apology to the usual suspects who deride anyone for thinking outside the box and questioning why things are as they are, and yes, I am happy to enjoy the benefits I just wonder how they have all come about.

[Herb 0]

He''s still a young manager, it would be disappointing if he wasn''t still learning his trade. If he''s any sort of tradesman he''ll still be learning on the day he retires.

[Kathy 733]

Absolutely RR. I firmly believe that NW was told in no uncertain terms what was expected of him this season by the board. I believe that although they will probably deny it that they took more notice of the protests and the fans disquiet last season than a lot of people think. It takes a lot for Norwich City fans to make a fuss and I think the board recognised this. I will probably be derided by those that think they know better, but I believe that we played a small part in the turnaround this season and all the efforts and flack we took last season was worthwhile.

[canary cherub 1]

I heard somewhere that managers in the Championship have been given some sort of guidance about wearing suits, not sure if that''s true.

But Nigel has not just had a change of image, I get a sense that it''s more fundamental than that, and that being able to appoint his own coach has a lot to do with it.  

Credit where it''s due, under Nigel and Steve we got promotion and reached a playoff final.  But look at Martin O''Neill.  A key element of his success is the fact that wherever he''s gone he has taken his own coaching staff with him.  Martin wouldn''t consider taking a job if John Robertson and Steve Walford weren''t part of the deal.

Those who wanted a new manager may well have got their wish!

[mbncfc 1]

good thread this, and some very good points.

i think, with the club being happy to continue as an autocracy, any credit to fans for their protests will be limited. although the unrest was not settled by any rash/''popular'' decisions, it was made clear that everyone expected more from those in the club the following season.

behind closed doors, I''m sure points were made and, whilst expectations outside the club dropped, those inside were probably made perfectly clear (IMO obviously - i wasn''t there - i''m using the evidence at my disposal).

there were several issues that were wrong last year. complacency. staff attitudes. football matters. fans expectations. i think they''ve worked hard in the summer on many things, a bit of a make-over never hurt anyone.

team work. everyone pulling in the same direction etc. etc. i think us the fans have all got what we would have asked for after 5 games - be it by protesting, blind faith in the manager, supporting the club, booing hughes, personally attacking the manager, cheering the lap of honour, patting Michael Wynn-Jones on the back, hitting Neil Doncaster... and i think we all hope it continues through to May.

[EadiesRight Foot 0]

Maybe he is learning his trade as Herb alluded to. Hopefully he is taking on board the crticism from last season which I think is a positive sign! Lets hope it continues!!!

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

Tottaly agree with the gist of this thread, last season was far too complacent, perhaps stemming from the Premiership season where relegation was for some reason seen as a success by some at the club (relegation is ALWAYS a failure btw, especially when your points tally would have ALWAYS got you relegated in EVERY other season).

Fact is we were awful last season - unbalanced, unmotivated, disorganised - in fact there is nothing good you could say about the team last year - nothing.  Luckily we have players like Hucks, Safri, Ashton, Earnshaw and McVeigh at the club, players who can win you games in any team no matter how poor. Otherwise our finish could have been far far worse.  It really is no surprise a considerable numnber of people were seriously unhappy about the situation - in the end it was one mans responsibility, it was his side.  The shake up in the summer has had a good effect.

Maybe if the shakeup had happened with Worthy''s removal in January, we could have pushed for the play-offs last year with say Mike Newell in charge, but rightly or wrongly Worthy has been given a chance to atone for his many many mistakes.  So far he is doing so, long may it continue.

The club should never be allowed to get in the same state again.

[blahblahblah 2]

RR - A bit revisionist for my tastes, but some good points raised.  I see Worthingtons'' tranformation as evolution more than revolution, mainly because I don''t believe that things have been as bad previously as you paint them.  He seems to be more at ease this season, part of this might be a clearer definition of the manager / coach relationship with Hunter than there was with Foley.  When you''re not worrying about the staff under you, you can concentrate on getting on with your own job.  The good start helps too I would imagine.

Regarding relationships with players, no two situations are the same, and some times people get things wrong.  Without full possession of the facts, I find it more comfortable to give all sides the benefit of the doubt than to take sides, each to their own.  I agree that McKenzie was handled well.  The club stood by him last season, and in putting in his request after 3 games he put himself before the club.

[quote user="Herb"]He''s still a young manager, it would be disappointing if he wasn''t still learning his trade. If he''s any sort of tradesman he''ll still be learning on the day he retires.[/quote]

This is a very good point Herb.  When Worthington was taken on, it was on the understanding that he was a new manager learning on the job.  To an extent the board could only back their man last season on the basis that they had taken him on initially as a new manager, and that last season was the first that NCFC failed to fulfil expectations on the pitch.  Being realistic, relegation is the most likely outcome for any newly-promoted Premiership team with our resources, and last season was the first truly poor full season we have had to endure at championship level since Hamilton.

As for the boards'' opinion of protests - Delia Smith said this in an interview in the Guardian :

[quote] ''To motivate a relegated team is very, very hard. It takes a long time for players to bed in. We did have a very difficult time and the fans were correct in protesting because there were some dire games. Because we are supporters first and foremost we understand. We are only here to serve the supporters.''[/quote]

Full story here - http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1833477,00.html

The board can''t come out as a group and say that the protests were the right thing to do because it would make future protests against the club more acceptable.  On that basis, people will have to come to their own conclusions.

 

[rich 0]

interesting thread, one of my chief complaints about nigel last season was that he hadn''t learned from previous seasons as all managers should be. This season he seems to have picked up a lot of plus points for being willing to develop and learn a few lessons as long as he doing that that can only benefit the club. NO manager has no question marks about him, and the managers who recognise that and do something about it are the managers you want in charge of your club.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,024]

Good post by RR. I agree with what Herb says about NW is still learning his trade, not sure I would agree with the "young" tag, he is the same age as me (although I look loads younger than him!!) and people call me "old"!! Like Kathy I think that the fans unrest had more effect than has ever been admitted (and like Bx3 I agree it would be wrong for the club to publicly state this was the case), although I do not think it was the protests that shook them, more the level of correspondence from the "silent majority". I certainly think that NW being able to appoint his own coach has been a catalyst and I am sure he has is learning from Martin Hunter (and that Martin Hunter is learning from NW). It has been a good start and we are meeting the average of 2 points per game target needed to achieve promotion, but there are still 41 games to go, so we have to sustain the good start we have made.