Totally unrealistic

[ron obvious 1,514]

I am sick & tired of reading the hate-filled vitriol promulgated by some of the posters here.

Norwich is a lovely city, a very small city, geographically isolated from the main population centres of the UK. I would compare Norwich to, say, Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, York, Canterbury; how many of these possess teams of the calibre of NCFC?

You think it''s easy to attract top flight players? Potential premiership players? You saw what happened on the last day of the window, trying to sign an unproven 18 year old who promptly gets snatched by a premiership club.

But of course this is all down to Worthless. If it wasn''t for him you''d be turning them away in droves. Because they all hate him too; nothing to do with financial incentives, kudos, the possibility of moving down the road to a bigger club, or the lack of a glamorous nightlife (after all, footballers are notorious in their appetite for 12th Century ecclesiastical architecture).

Norwich have a limited budget &, to my mind , have made some exceptional signings. Huckerby & Ashton are top drawer, Earnshaw is an excellent Championship player, Etuhu has Premiership potential, possibly Colin & Shackell too. Saffri is class, Drury, Doherty & Robinson more than adequate. Croft is turning out to be a cracking buy. Some signings haven''t worked. I can''t think of a manager who hasn''t made uncuccessful signings. I feel the balance has been on the plus side.

We all know the squad is thin - but what do you do; buy more Hughes''s or bide your time for a Croft? Don''t forget you have another talented, if perhaps lazy, player who can provide excellent cover for midfield & attack. Now might be the time for the Jarvis brothers to come through (injury permitting).

This is a decent club run by honest people with players trying to play the best football they can. At bottom they still hold the principles of the beautiful game dear; cheating & kicking lumps out of the opposition is not the Norwich way.

The next few weeks are going to be very difficult & the team desperately need all the support & encouragement you can give them. Try to put your personal egotistical vendettas to one side & support THE WHOLE club, they really need it.

[Dicky 0]

I agree with most of what you have to say Andrew - shame about the dig about Hughes there, but otherwise spot on.

[Canary02 0]

Indeed. Don''t forget, you have to praise everything about the club to be a true supporter. Especially Hughes. He''s a football genius...

[AP16 0]

 I agree with the majority of it too. If you would have posted that last year I would have laughed at you, but credit where it''s due, I''m loving the football that I''ve seen from us so far this year, well, coventry being the exception of course.

 

However, I don''t agree that Robinson is more than adequate, we really could do with someone else there, but at the end of the day, we''ve got a stupidly thin squad.

[canary cherub 1]

There''s plenty of criticism on here of various aspects of management of our club both on the field and off it.

But "hate-filled vitriol"?  Not any more, not much anyway. 

Last season I was so ashamed to witness the protest degenerating into a hate campaign that I cancelled my season ticket, so I''m as sensitive as anyone to that sort of thing.  I''ve never been a Worthy Outer in any case.

But the majority of posters on here at the moment are attempting to address unanswered questions in a constructive way.  Andrew, you have the same right as anyone to express your point of view, but please don''t try to send us back into the dark ages by polarising the debate all over again.  We''re trying to move on.

[Evil Monkey 52]

Well said, Mystic... [:)]

[gissing canary 2]

Has anyone been to york?

I lived there for 4 years, its much smaller than norwich, and with a tiny catchment area.  If there was a massive city where Diss is, then that would be more realistic.  We are a much bigger club than all of them, york has a tiny ground.

I cant remember who said it on this board, but someone said a long time ago, that we are between 15th and 25th biggest club in the country, so the UEFA cup years were over achievement, and some recent times have been under.

You look at premiership attendances, we beat many of them, a lot of the time, fulham, portsmouth, people have stopped going as much to blackburn, bolton, wigan and reading.

People some times expect too much, I think most managers even great ones get only 60% of signings right.

some people expect too much, but lets not let off some times when we can expect a reasonable amount.

 

[Ken Aries 0]

Well said, Oscar. Norwich may be a relatively small city but its football club could never be described as small, not now anyway. I honestly believe we could be averaging 30,000 plus gates in the Premiership if Carrow Road had enough seats to fit all that lot in. There must be several clubs in the Premiership who envy our attendance figures, and I''m sure the majority of Championship clubs would love to see crowd figures like ours. So are the fans being unrealistic to have such great expectations of their beloved club, particularly since having had a recent taste of the promised land? In my opinion the answer has to be no.

[E I E I E I O 0]

I totally disagree with the statement with regards people not wanting to come here. For instance the Brummies seem to have No problem getting in players and I would certainly rather live in Norwich than that area of the world! Players are also not stupid and will have looked at the likes of Crouch, Ashton, Bentley etc... using the club in recent times as a stepping stone to larger things. So No I cannot see your point with regards why we cant get any players in! There is no excuse and your example certainly is''nt the reason.

We were also voted the 2nd most desired side in the Football league last year! So are more than an attractive package. With regards to wages as an excuse we are the 15th most supported side in the country so why can we not compete?

The blame lies somewhere!!!!

[E I E I E I O 0]

You are quite right it is totally unrealistic that we will ever have good away form under this manager. Our away record is beyond belief you must realise now that a change is required. 4 games 2 points, 4 points would of been unacceptable! Changes are required.

[ron obvious 1,514]

Thanks for the comments - a complete lack of hate-filled vitriol, I''m glad to say!

Actually, I agree that that remark was a bit OTT, but I could see signs of the board returning to the state it was in last season. Populations are interesting: 2001 census

Norwich       121,553

York             137,585

Canterbury     135,287

Durham           87,712

Oxford           134,248

Cambridge      105,679

I was more comparing the character of said cities than their absolute populations.

I was not having a go at Hughes, by the way, I rather like him - but my question still remains.

What were Norwich''s gates like during the glory days? Was the ground capacity less or more then?

I''m sorry, but I think Brum is a much more attractive proposition for the average 20-something footballer than Norwich, Ecclesiastical architecture notwithstanding.

Unfortunately it strikes me that a billionaire owner has more impact on players wages than excellent attendances. I agree that some of the more perceptive players may see NCFC as a stepping stone, but I''m afraid I think there are other teams who are more likely candidates for this role.

Dissatisfaction & ambition are healthy & natural, but it''s always best to be constructive in your criticism & perhaps realise that there''s a lot going on you''ll never know about. Other people''s jobs are often much harder than they look.

Above all ........    SUPPORT YOUR TEAM!!!

 

[Making Plans 940]

[quote user="andrew young"]Norwich is a lovely city, a very small city, geographically isolated from the main population centres of the UK. I would compare Norwich to, say, Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, York, Canterbury; how many of these possess teams of the calibre of NCFC?[/quote]

Well I''ve heard some crap arguements in my time, but this reaches new boundaries. What has any of the above got to do with Norwich City Football Club (and yes, I did read the rest of your post)

The difference is that we are, in the main, used to having a relatively successful football club. For a large proportion of the last 30 years, we have been brought up on a diet of Division 1/Premiership football and we have played in Europe.

Please don''t insult us by putting us in the same bracket as Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, York and Canterbury.

Oh, and in case you haven''t seen the result yet, we couldn''t beat Southend - but then again, based on your theory, we shouldn''t have done anyway.

[ron obvious 1,514]

[quote user="Making Plans"]

[quote user="andrew young"]Norwich is a lovely city, a very small city, geographically isolated from the main population centres of the UK. I would compare Norwich to, say, Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, York, Canterbury; how many of these possess teams of the calibre of NCFC?[/quote]

Well I''ve heard some crap arguements in my time, but this reaches new boundaries. What has any of the above got to do with Norwich City Football Club (and yes, I did read the rest of your post)

The difference is that we are, in the main, used to having a relatively successful football club. For a large proportion of the last 30 years, we have been brought up on a diet of Division 1/Premiership football and we have played in Europe.

Please don''t insult us by putting us in the same bracket as Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, York and Canterbury.

Oh, and in case you haven''t seen the result yet, we couldn''t beat Southend - but then again, based on your theory, we shouldn''t have done anyway.

[/quote]

What it has got to do with NCFC is placing it in context with cities of a similar ilk. The fact that it is a relatively successful football club is all the more remarkable.

Sorry to insult you by comparing Norwich to such inferior places.

I think you''re doing a fair job of boundary reaching yourself.

[The Fish Seller 0]

[quote user="andrew young"]

Thanks for the comments - a complete lack of hate-filled vitriol, I''m glad to say!

Actually, I agree that that remark was a bit OTT, but I could see signs of the board returning to the state it was in last season. Populations are interesting: 2001 census

Norwich       121,553

York             137,585

Canterbury     135,287

Durham           87,712

Oxford           134,248

Cambridge      105,679

I was more comparing the character of said cities than their absolute populations.

I was not having a go at Hughes, by the way, I rather like him - but my question still remains.

What were Norwich''s gates like during the glory days? Was the ground capacity less or more then?

I''m sorry, but I think Brum is a much more attractive proposition for the average 20-something footballer than Norwich, Ecclesiastical architecture notwithstanding.

Unfortunately it strikes me that a billionaire owner has more impact on players wages than excellent attendances. I agree that some of the more perceptive players may see NCFC as a stepping stone, but I''m afraid I think there are other teams who are more likely candidates for this role.

Dissatisfaction & ambition are healthy & natural, but it''s always best to be constructive in your criticism & perhaps realise that there''s a lot going on you''ll never know about. Other people''s jobs are often much harder than they look.

Above all ........    SUPPORT YOUR TEAM!!!

 

[/quote] Source http://www.citypopulation.de/UK.html Norwich 174,047 Middlesbrough 142,691 Bolton 139,403 West Bromwich 136,940 Watford 120,960 Blackburn 105,085 Guess size really isn''t everything..... And I live in Brum, believe me there''s not much here for the 20-something well paid footballers other than large pay packets. They all tend to head for the big smoke of London for a proper night out and I''m sure you''re well aware that''s a travel distance of exactly the same as from Norwich. Villa, Blues, Wolves and WBA have all been guilty of paying hugely overinflated wages to players in recent years just to bring the players in. Of course Blues and Wolves had millionaire backers (in the good old days when millions were enough) quietly pumping fortunes into the club during their non Prem years enabling them to pay well over the odds to attract players who wouldn''t otherwise have likely signed.