Champions

[Blainsey 2]

A few great summer signings, some cracking results and 1st spot will be but a matter of months away.

Mark my words it will happen.

We will get promoted this season.

[Old Shuck 188]

Hope so mate!

Like the optimism. Heres to it....

[Bomber 50]

Excellent - thats what I like to see - a bit of positivity for a change - roll on the new season - I am sure Granty will get his men to ride us high 

[ca 1]

Yes I agree, this could well be our season so lets stop being so negative and get the postive vibes going.

[Mello Yello 2,302]

Ah! "The Champions!"

Craig Stirling, Richard Barrett and the classy and beautiful Sharron Macready. Agents of Nemesis, awarded special powers from an unknown civilisation......

We''ll definitely win the league if we acquire their special powers......

 

 

[Arthur Whittle 0]

believe it or not i bloody well hope your right old bean.

[alex_ncfc 664]

Sorry to bring this thread down (as I will undoubtedly be accused of doing) but unless you are a clairvoyant, I would just like to know:

* Where are these "great signings"?

* "Cracking results", well the season hasn''t started yet so...err?

* There is no evidence to say we will win the league - quite on the contrary, we do not have a hope as things stand.

[Fordy 0]

Here here!

Lets do more than hope this year and turn the negativity towards the players into more voiceforous support so opposition teams are worried about playing an attacking norwich side again!

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

Yes, and by 2010 we will have completed the quadruple!

Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League all in one season!

The money''s gonna come flooding in and we are gonna spend big when we get promoted.

"I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our 12 yard box, to ride out the storm of a Manchester United counter attack, and to outlive the menace of Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney et al, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.

At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of Norwich City Football Club (Plc) -every man of them. That is the will of the players and the supporters.

The defence and the attack, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength.

Even though large tracts of the FA Premier League and many old and famous clubs have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Yanks and all the odious apparatus of Americanised rule, we shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in the Munich Stadium again, we shall fight on the Carrow Road turf and every other ground in the Premier League, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our goal, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight for the ball, we shall fight in the pouring rain at Barnsley in an FA Cup reply on a cold Wednesday evening , we shall fight on the pitch and in the boardroom, we shall fight the dreded scum; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this football club or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our rule of Europe, armed and guarded by Gary Doherty in defence , would carry on the struggle, until, in God''s good time, the New Norwich City Football Club, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

come on you yellows........

 

[Huddy 0]

I have a feeling in my bones, Granty going to make smudger and co regret their negative words and lead us too a tartan based promotion charge!!!

[Alex Moss 2,165]

Love the way you apologise in advance for being accused of bringing the thread down when you know full well you are!!. Miserable as ever!. What''s wrong with being optimistic exactly then Alex_ncfc?

[canary cherub 1]

[quote user="Blainsey"]

A few great summer signings, some cracking results and 1st spot will be but a matter of months away.

Mark my words it will happen.

We will get promoted this season.

[/quote]

If you were in a position to make it happen Blainsey I might take you seriously.  You''re not. 

[hogesar 9,724]

I believe a play off spot may be on the cards, not automatic promotion i''m afraid.

[Northern Canary 0]

I would quite like to finish a season with positive goal difference. Just been looking at the table of 03/04. Good times.

[Branston Pickle 3,680]

[quote user="Alex"]

Love the way you apologise in advance for being accused of bringing the thread down when you know full well you are!!. Miserable as ever!. What''s wrong with being optimistic exactly then Alex_ncfc?

[/quote]

Quite - predicting doom and gloom seems to be so ingrained into the psyche of some that positive predictions don''t seem to compute any more!  For me being optimistic about your club''s chances is part and parcel of the whole thing - there''d be precious little point in us all wasting the many thousands of £''s watching the football we do if we expected us to lose all the time.

I doubt many gave us too much of a chance of winning the league the season we did - the signings weren''t particularly spectacular and nor was the start to the season, but it only took one signing in Hucks (+ less so the loan of Crouch) to transform things; it doesn''t need a team of stars and multi million purchases to create a very good side for this division, you just need something to ''click'' - and we are as capable of getting that mix right as anyone else, we''ll just have to wait and see if it happens.

[Wings 0]

Nice to find some optimism. Let''s hope it comes true, ehh?

[alex_ncfc 664]

What''s wrong with being optimistic exactly then Alex_ncfc?

Why raise your expectations only to be let down again? I admire the optimism of some, who believe we are one of the great teams in this league - stature wise maybe, playing wise, most definitely not - the last two seasons show that we do not have as great a squad as some of you will have us believe.

I love the way how after the last 3 seasons we''ve had the captian come out saying, "Last season''s gone now - it''s history. We can''t do anything about that, we just have to improve next season" - obviously not a direct quote, but you get the gist. Until I see signs of this "improvement" and see the club showing some ambition rather than just talking, then I will continue to be realistic whilst also being extremely pleased should Blainsey''s 3 unfounded predictions come true.

 

[Branston Pickle 3,680]

I love the way how after the last 3 seasons we''ve had the captian come out saying, "Last season''s gone now - it''s history. We can''t do anything about that, we just have to improve next season" - obviously not a direct quote, but you get the gist. Until I see signs of this "improvement" and see the club showing some ambition rather than just talking, then I will continue to be realistic whilst also being extremely pleased should Blainsey''s 3 unfounded predictions come true.

What exactly do you expect the captain/players to say after a season such as we''ve just had?  That the side is dead pleased they underperformed and hope to repeat it next year?  I guarantee you''d be among the first to moan if they did - proving that whatever they do they cannot win. 

Not letting the past go, and continually having to harp on about, it is not particularly positive or useful to anyone - I guess this is why the self-proclaimed ''realists'' go on about it all the time.

 

[alex_ncfc 664]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]

I love the way how after the last 3 seasons we''ve had the captian come out saying, "Last season''s gone now - it''s history. We can''t do anything about that, we just have to improve next season" - obviously not a direct quote, but you get the gist. Until I see signs of this "improvement" and see the club showing some ambition rather than just talking, then I will continue to be realistic whilst also being extremely pleased should Blainsey''s 3 unfounded predictions come true.

What exactly do you expect the captain/players to say after a season such as we''ve just had?  That the side is dead pleased they underperformed and hope to repeat it next year?  I guarantee you''d be among the first to moan if they did - proving that whatever they do they cannot win. 

Not letting the past go, and continually having to harp on about, it is not particularly positive or useful to anyone - I guess this is why the self-proclaimed ''realists'' go on about it all the time.

 

[/quote]

...and well done to BP for missing my point entirely.

The time for talking is over. In fact, it was over long ago. But we just hear them bang on about the same things, the same excuses, the pathetic "we''ll get it right" - and I don''t JUST mean the players - that was purely an example. It''s the attitude from the whole club, almost an attitude of "we''re allowed to make the same mistakes time after time after time, but so what, the fans will just keep coming back, so lets feed them more spin and bullsh*t excuses" - and, sad enough as it is, a lot of people here fall for them.

[Branston Pickle 3,680]

[quote user="alex_ncfc"]

...and well done to BP for missing my point entirely.

The time for talking is over. In fact, it was over long ago. But we just hear them bang on about the same things, the same excuses, the pathetic "we''ll get it right" - and I don''t JUST mean the players - that was purely an example. It''s the attitude from the whole club, almost an attitude of "we''re allowed to make the same mistakes time after time after time, but so what, the fans will just keep coming back, so lets feed them more spin and bullsh*t excuses" - and, sad enough as it is, a lot of people here fall for them.

[/quote]

Sorry, I didn''t miss your point at all, I just forgot what it was and went off on a tangent in my rush to get posted .

IMO we''ll just have to wait and see what the Summer brings us, there''s been nothing but rumour at the moment, though from external sources we have heard of some promising activity: if we choose to listen to the good stuff things could be decent (Marshall, Sharp, Otsemabor, Rae, a couple from Europe, a loan from Man U, sort of thing)...but if we listen to the crappy rumours then it isn''t quite as good!

[Smudger 0]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"][quote user="Alex"]

Love the way you apologise in advance for being accused of bringing the thread down when you know full well you are!!. Miserable as ever!. What''s wrong with being optimistic exactly then Alex_ncfc?

[/quote]

Quite - predicting doom and gloom seems to be so ingrained into the psyche of some that positive predictions don''t seem to compute any more!  For me being optimistic about your club''s chances is part and parcel of the whole thing - there''d be precious little point in us all wasting the many thousands of £''s watching the football we do if we expected us to lose all the time.

I doubt many gave us too much of a chance of winning the league the season we did - the signings weren''t particularly spectacular and nor was the start to the season, but it only took one signing in Hucks (+ less so the loan of Crouch) to transform things; it doesn''t need a team of stars and multi million purchases to create a very good side for this division, you just need something to ''click'' - and we are as capable of getting that mix right as anyone else, we''ll just have to wait and see if it happens.

[/quote]

The signing of Hucks and Crouch were two moves that enabled a very solid and experienced Championship side who had in the two previous seasons been in the play-off final and just missed out on the play-offs move on that one step further and got them in to a position where they were capable of challenging for automatic promotion...  we were top of the league at Christmas and invested a fair bit of money then to never look back until promotion (and the league title with it) hasd been clinched.

Look at what you lot are posting here... there is no evidence to suggest that we will come anywhere near a promotion push this year... in the year we won the title it was apparent from early September that we were going to have a real good shout of promotion that year.

To say we have a chance of repeating that this season is quite frankly laughable!!!

[Alex Moss 2,165]

I''m just personally looking forward to the new season as I HOPE something good may happen. Nowt wrong with that.

P.s, I remember not so many months ago when Smudger was telling us all we were fools ETC for being optimistic that Norwich could avoid relegation. He had us down without question. But, y''know......Who''s laughing now? Surely not the optimists???!.

[macdougalls perm 0]

Yes, Smudger, in Jan/Feb you and your cohorts were raving about what ''misguided sheep'' people were being for suggesting that we would avoid relegation this season (and also subsequent relegations following that from the more wildly deluded of you)! You were completely wrong then so I don''t see why you might not be wrong now. I''m not saying we will be promoted but to be as pessmistic as you are this early in the close season is as foolish as anything I have seen on this board.   

[Arthur Whittle 0]

NO no no im sorry but i really have to agree with smudger on this one. Us city fans are seriously becoming what i call the ''''England effect'''' whereby we feel that we have a right to a playoff place/automatic promotion every year. The fact is that unless we have some very large investment into the team this season we really are going to struggle again because like it or not there are teams in this league who are far more ambitious and are prepared to take certain risks instead of hoping for the best. Sorry but that really is how i see it at the moment.

[Blainsey 2]

I think there is cause for optism provided we can get in between 3-5 good signings.

If you look at our team player for player i do believe that we have the ability (combined with those signings to be a top 6 side).

I have reservations about;

Gallagher, Doc, Hughes, Thorne, Colin - these are decent enough players but not of the quality to get us into the top 6 and even that is debatable as some will argue Doc is good enough and others will invariably list players not mentioned who they think are not good enough.

The squad has a lot of very talented players in there. Provided Grant can make it gel and add those signings we WILL compete in that top 6.

 

[Ginja 26]

[quote user="Arthur Whittle"]NO no no im sorry but i really have to agree with smudger on this one. Us city fans are seriously becoming what i call the ''''England effect'''' whereby we feel that we have a right to a playoff place/automatic promotion every year. The fact is that unless we have some very large investment into the team this season we really are going to struggle again because like it or not there are teams in this league who are far more ambitious and are prepared to take certain risks instead of hoping for the best. Sorry but that really is how i see it at the moment.[/quote]There is a difference between hoping for the best and expecting it, and I believe hoping for it is what most city fans do, it is certainly what this thread is all about. I expect 80-90% of fans would say that no team including city has a right to success, we may want it and hope for it but it doesn''t mean we feel that city should just get it.I quiet agree with you Arthur that the majority of success in football comes with investment and spending but not necessarily large amounts (although the definition of large is very much relative) we must remain careful in the risks we take, for instance when we gambled on spending for hux it was a calculated gamble with good odds that it would pay off. I won''t bother getting into a debate about investment foreign or otherwise as it is a pointless issue that seems to have no real conclusion. It is still early days to say whether the team has been correctly invested in and correct money spent on players and I won''t be writing the season off til May 2008 after all isn''t that when the season is decided?Anyway I''d much rather join in this optismistic view of city being promoted than the doom and gloom of Smudger....

[CambridgeCanary 0]

[quote user="alex_ncfc"][quote user="Branston Pickle"]

I love the way how after the last 3 seasons we''ve had the captian come out saying, "Last season''s gone now - it''s history. We can''t do anything about that, we just have to improve next season" - obviously not a direct quote, but you get the gist. Until I see signs of this "improvement" and see the club showing some ambition rather than just talking, then I will continue to be realistic whilst also being extremely pleased should Blainsey''s 3 unfounded predictions come true.

What exactly do you expect the captain/players to say after a season such as we''ve just had?  That the side is dead pleased they underperformed and hope to repeat it next year?  I guarantee you''d be among the first to moan if they did - proving that whatever they do they cannot win. 

Not letting the past go, and continually having to harp on about, it is not particularly positive or useful to anyone - I guess this is why the self-proclaimed ''realists'' go on about it all the time.

 

[/quote]

...and well done to BP for missing my point entirely.

The time for talking is over. In fact, it was over long ago. But we just hear them bang on about the same things, the same excuses, the pathetic "we''ll get it right" - and I don''t JUST mean the players - that was purely an example. It''s the attitude from the whole club, almost an attitude of "we''re allowed to make the same mistakes time after time after time, but so what, the fans will just keep coming back, so lets feed them more spin and bullsh*t excuses" - and, sad enough as it is, a lot of people here fall for them.

[/quote] I think I have a slightly different take from you both whilst agreeing with what you both say - in so far as it goes.

We have to let go of the past and move forward.  Refighting the Chase battles on this Board reminded me of nothing so much as the Marxist battles of the seventies over whether the Communists had sufficently accepted that Stalin defamed trotsky.  Fascinating history, very divisive and an excuse to refight the old battles once more but not relevant to where we are today.

I think BP is wrong to this extent.  It is not enough to move on.  The reasons for failure must be understood as only then can there be any confidence that the same mistakes will not arise.  Just saying that it was a bad season and hopefully we''ll do better is just not good enough. Mr Drury.  It is meaningless claptrap.  That repeats the old Worthy failing of hoping we''ll improve whilst offering no evidence that mistakes have been dealt with (Think happy thoughts!!!).  One reason that Fulham is still so raw is that we don''t understand what happened.  No one has ever explained or even apologised for the debacle of that day.  We do need to close things before we can move on.

I do believe in positive thinking.  I don''t want an endless public inquest into what happened last season.  What I do want is closure and that for me means understanding that at least the Club/Granty knows what went wrong and has positive plans to deal with and prevent us slipping back into the same patterns of behaviour.

Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it is a cliche but like all cliches has a kernal of truth and profunidty.  I need to know that the Club understands its history and will not be repeating it.

[nutty nigel 7,598]

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]

 I think I have a slightly different take from you both whilst agreeing with what you both say - in so far as it goes.

We have to let go of the past and move forward.  Refighting the Chase battles on this Board reminded me of nothing so much as the Marxist battles of the seventies over whether the Communists had sufficently accepted that Stalin defamed trotsky.  Fascinating history, very divisive and an excuse to refight the old battles once more but not relevant to where we are today.

I think BP is wrong to this extent.  It is not enough to move on.  The reasons for failure must be understood as only then can there be any confidence that the same mistakes will not arise.  Just saying that it was a bad season and hopefully we''ll do better is just not good enough. Mr Drury.  It is meaningless claptrap.  That repeats the old Worthy failing of hoping we''ll improve whilst offering no evidence that mistakes have been dealt with (Think happy thoughts!!!).  One reason that Fulham is still so raw is that we don''t understand what happened.  No one has ever explained or even apologised for the debacle of that day.  We do need to close things before we can move on.

I do believe in positive thinking.  I don''t want an endless public inquest into what happened last season.  What I do want is closure and that for me means understanding that at least the Club/Granty knows what went wrong and has positive plans to deal with and prevent us slipping back into the same patterns of behaviour.

Those who do not understand history are doomed to repeat it is a cliche but like all cliches has a kernal of truth and profunidty.  I need to know that the Club understands its history and will not be repeating it.

[/quote]

I get so fed up of these "quotes" in the press from players after poor performances and this time a poor season. But to be fair I would imagine that the players are contracted to give these interviews and the comments are a result of questions asked. I would like to know what question Drury was asked before he said: “That season''s gone now, gone for everyone. We''ve got a fresh start and a new season to look forward to. “It''s a fresh start for everyone - players, management, fans and I hope we can all be pushing in the right direction.”

Cambridge - I agree with much of what you say about moving on as long as we learn from our mistakes. But I would suggest that a line was drawn under a lot of it last October when Worthy was sacked. A new season under a new manager will be a fresh start. I know Grant was here for 7 months of the last sorry season but times have changed and it''s much harder for new managers to have an impact during a season since the transfer window came in. There were some good signs since he took over not least of which was the improvement of our dreadful away record.

Getting back to the topic of the thread I believe it would be a miracle if we were promoted as champions next season. Using history as a guide I have seen us promoted to the top division on five occasions. Three of them were the season after relegation with the same manager and much the same players (''75 Bond, ''82 Brown & ''86 Brown). The other two (''72 Saunders & ''04 Worthington) are more relevant to our current position.

Ron Saunders took over after the club finished 13th in 1969. We finished 11th and then 10th before being promoted as champions in his third season. Saunders hadn''t had much money to spend but in the main he spent wisely but he was lucky in that he inherited some massive characters who were the cornerstone of the side for many years. Keelan, Stringer, Forbes and Foggo were already here when Saunders came in.

Nigel Worthington took a similar amount of time. He took over mid-way through the 00/01 season and guided us to finish 15th then we finished 6th & 8th before being promoted as champions. Worthy probably spent comparatively more money than Saunders but to be fair it was different times and he inherited more dross. But Worthy was lucky like Saunders in that he inherited Green, Fleming, Mackay and Roberts who were also the cornerstone of the side. 

Using these two examples it seems to me Grant has an extremely difficult task to turn us into promotion candidates. He hasn''t inherited many big characters, probably only Hucks, Dion and possibly Earnshaw. (To be fair there could be others because Mackay and Roberts were not recognised as such when they were first at the club). The best I can predict is play-offs but I would love to be proved wrong and see us promoted as champions again.

 

[Smudger 0]

[quote user="macdougalls perm"]Yes, Smudger, in Jan/Feb you and your cohorts were raving about what ''misguided sheep'' people were being for suggesting that we would avoid relegation this season (and also subsequent relegations following that from the more wildly deluded of you)! You were completely wrong then so I don''t see why you might not be wrong now. I''m not saying we will be promoted but to be as pessmistic as you are this early in the close season is as foolish as anything I have seen on this board.   [/quote]

It was no further wide of the mark than people who at the same time were saying that we would finish 10^th, 11^th or 12^th though was it???

 

We all know it could have been so different if it wasn’t for Lappins last minute free kick at Luton.

 

Let us not forget that there were many posters on this forum who only a month or so prior to the Luton match were still talking of a play-off place… so to suggest that those who said we would be relegated were wide of the mark is just hilarious!!!

 

I openly admit that I exaggerate a little on some of the stuff that I post… as I feel that this needs to be done for so many of the sheep to even think about opening their eyes to reality.

 

I am confident in saying at this moment in time however that a play-off place just ain’t going to be ours at the end of this season and quite frankly for the 3^rd season running that just will not be acceptable in my opinion.

 

We have Charlton, Watford, Sheff Utd, Wolves, West Brom, Southampton, Leicester and probably one or two others that are all likely to finsih above us this coming season so yet again unless we keep the players that we already have and spend at least £3million plus then we have absolutely no chance of a play-off place let alone an automatic spot or winning the title!!!

 

[7rew 0]

[quote user="Smudger"]

Look at what you lot are posting here... there

is no evidence to suggest that we will come anywhere near a promotion

push this year... in the year we won the title it was apparent from early September that we were going to have a real good shout of promotion that year.

To say we have a chance of repeating that this season is quite frankly laughable!!!

[/quote]

Isn''t still only June?