Chase the board

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

I posted this in the other thread about Chase and I am not sure if it got a bit lost in there, or if people just thought it was tripe?  Anyway can those who are currently backing the board please answer or attempt to answer the points raised.

I am more than happy to answer any questions in reply.

Thanks.

"Yes I agree it was such a disastorous fall from grace, the way we were relegated, after those heady days in Europe, Martin O''Neill, money apparently disappearing, conspiracy theories etc etc.

However, with hindsight would we be any worse off now with Chase?  And believe me I wanted Chase to go, I made my own ''Chase out mug''. 

If relegation and subsequent failure to bounce straight back was not good enough under Chase.  Can all the pro board people please explain to me how it is acceptable under the current board?

Furthermore, if you plotted the clubs performance on a graph since say the original relegation season in the 90''s to now, including both on field performances, and off field, including finances, you''ll probably find the club is at its lowest ebb NOW.

Yes I know football has changed etc etc.

But if losing top flight status and European football was so unthinkable that we protested for the Chairman to pack his bags, why do we now appear to be content with where we are now?  And if we are not, how many more years do we give this board to achieve this?

I beleive Norwich City FC as a football club are capable of getting into the top flight and staying there for a few years, yes getting relegated again at some point in the future, but then going back etc.  Under the current board I don''t honestly believe this is possible, we may by some stroke of good fortune get promoted, but we would come straight back down again.

Have people lowered their expectations of Norwich City and if so why?  Is it like a self fulfilling prophecy?  We are constantly told about little old Norwich, small, friendly club, don''t expect too much in so many words, that we have come to believe it and that a top half Championship finish would be a good season?

I would really appreciate a reply from some of the people who ''back the board'' so to speak.

Cheers"

[canary cherub 1]

If Chase had stayed Norwich City would have gone bust, simple as.  But . . . plenty of clubs that have gone bust have come back stronger.  We might or might not have been one of them.  We''ll never know.

In the first five years of the current regime we were patient because we believed them when they said it would take time to recover from near-bankruptcy.  We were patient also because we''d made Robert Chase into the bogeyman and overidealised his successors by comparison.  We had three or four years of success which had more to do with Nigel Worthington''s determination to roll a big boulder up a steep hill than most people are willing to give him credit for.  Now we''re back to where we were before, and it makes me wonder if we were right to be so patient at the beginning.  I suspect we were conned (partly because we wanted to be) by a group of people who lack the basic competitive instinct and desire which is a prerequisite to running a successful football club. 

In financial terms we''re better off under the current board.  In footballing terms? - probably not.

 

[Steve Ritchie 0]

Wow..... I never cease to be amazed!!

We only just scraped European football, because Arsenal did the cup double. Just think how many times we would have qualified for Europe under current rules, pre 92/93, if it was not for the ban on English clubs. How about complaining about that!! But that was a different time. We could have gone bankrupt and closed. These days, you can go into administration, rob the local business who supply goods and services to you and start with a clean slate. Was that available then?

I''m staggered that people have the cheek to claim we are being conned by the current board.

"...you''ll probably find the club is at its lowest ebb NOW.." - What?! Back that up with some stats.

"...why do we now appear to be content with where we are now..." - Who is claiming that? Do you think people sleep better after a disappointing season?!

"....we may by some stroke of good fortune get promoted..." - Not by picking an up and comming hungry manager and watching and supporting his developments?!? Are you serious?

Blimey....

Steve

[mozzaman 0]

Good man steve. Im backing your sentiments.

Clearly, a modicum of patience is required.

I used to come onto this message board frequently to catch up on transfer natter etc but was put off my some of the negative posters who use this board to fill time in their clearly vacuous lives. The piss poor spelling is a good indicator of the collective brain power of some of the users. I have never even come close to feeling the compulsion to write on the board myself until now. This debate is so premature I felt motivated to attempt to put an end to it. Grant has been given a roll of the dice by the board so ought not we just be patient and perhaps revisit this argument when Grant''s "vision" has been fulfilled?

"blimey"

mozza

[Syteanric 1]

i chased the board once.. collapsed after 5 minutes due to being unfit, was in hospital for a week!

jas :)

[Citizen Journalist Foghorn 0]

[quote user="mystic megson"]

 We had three or four years of success which had more to do with Nigel Worthington''s determination to roll a big boulder up a steep hill than most people are willing to give him credit for. 

[/quote]

I must admit this one statement has perhaps altered my recent thinking on Worthington''s regime.  It has to be said that the way even the Huckerby signing was a battle with some very cautiaous prudent unambitious people...  Our board had a hard time being convinced to buy the winning lottery ticket!! 

No he might not have been up to the premiership and messed it all up with his subsequent blinkered work rate thinking, but he was exceedingly successful up until promotion against all the odds.

[Steve Ritchie 0]

In what way was the Huckerby signing a battle by cautiaous (sic), prudent and unambitious people? Please explain.....

 

Thanks,

Steve

[7rew 0]

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]

Thanks.

"Yes I agree it was such a disastorous fall from grace, the way we

were relegated, after those heady days in Europe, Martin O''Neill, money

apparently disappearing, conspiracy theories etc etc.

1) However, with hindsight would we be any worse off now with Chase?  And believe me I wanted Chase to go, I made my own ''Chase out mug''. 

2) If relegation and subsequent failure to bounce straight

back was not good enough under Chase.  Can all the pro board

people please explain to me how it is acceptable under the current

board?

3) Furthermore, if you plotted the clubs performance on a graph

since say the original relegation season in the 90''s to now, including

both on field performances, and off field, including finances, you''ll

probably find the club is at its lowest ebb NOW.

4) Yes I know football has changed etc etc.

But if losing top flight status and European football was so

unthinkable that we protested for the Chairman to pack his bags, why do

we now appear to be content with where we are now?  And if we are

not, how many more years do we give this board to achieve this?

I beleive Norwich City FC as a football club are capable of getting into the top flight and staying there for a few years,

yes getting relegated again at some point in the future, but then going

back etc.  Under the current board I don''t honestly believe this

is possible, we may by some stroke of good fortune get promoted, but we

would come straight back down again.

Have people lowered their expectations of Norwich City and if so

why?  Is it like a self fulfilling prophecy?  We are

constantly told about little old Norwich, small, friendly club, don''t

expect too much in so many words, that we have come to believe it and

that a top half Championship finish would be a good season?

I would really appreciate a reply from some of the people who ''back the board'' so to speak.

[/quote]

some answers to your points (now numbered for ease of reference).

1) With hindsight yes we are better having got rid of Chase - If he

hadn''t left we would have gone bust and had to start again.  If

that had gone really well we might have managed to work our way up to

being a top conference/bottom league 2 team by now.

2) But we didn''t just get relegated and not bounce back under Chase, we

went Europe, Easily Relegated, Stay Down.  This is a much steeper

decline than Promoted, Regated on last Day, Stay Down.

3) I doubt we are at our lowest ebb now... The near bankruptcy and the

first season under worthy where we were actually in the relegation

battle (rather than skirting it) were probably worse times.

4) Its good you acknowledge that - but you can''t ignore it like you are

trying to.  Football is much more of a business now.  This

has changed the game in ways that are too massive for real comparisons

between eras. 

As a particular example: signing players - a couple of months ago

blyblybabes was complaing that we didn''t buy unknown british strikers

like we had in the 70s - it turned out that the player was one that had

a blinding start to the season in div3 (now league 1).  basically

it was a player like Varney or Sharp - but while then he was an unkown,

now we know alot about clubs at that level so the players are known.

5) These are about the aspirations of the fans - I don''t believe that

any fans has lowered their expectations, we still expect NCFC to be the

best club in the world and to (eventually) show every one else

this.  What has changed is the time scale, which has to do with

our current status. Under this board we have improved, on average and

slowly, our situation (up to 3 years ago) and we are improving again

now.  Unfortuantely during the 10 years or so of this board there

has been a general drift apart form the Championship/Division 1 and the

Premiership where most of the money is.  Personally, I think that

this board is more likely to get us up and keep us up than many of the

boards we could have, especially the ones that splash the cash hoping

to make even more.

Will that do you.

[megson 0]

[quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]

Yes I know football has changed etc etc.

[/quote]

There is your answer.

Comparing the Chase days to know is extremely difficult to do as football hasn''t just changed, its unrecognisable from the game it was, even when we dopped out of the prem.

We left hte prem at probalby the single worst time to do it, and it was so clearly coming but nothing was done.

Even In January we looked fairly confortable, but anyone watching that team could see we were only going one way. A new manager was needed and some swift investment to keep us there. Neither happened, mainly becuase of the way the club was run which came down to the chairman.

Had he swallowed his pride and looked for a manager to manage rather than the easy fix he appointed, and had the finances been better managed (remeber we got £5m for sutton at the start of that season) we would of had cash there to invest in a player or two to bolster the squad and keep us up.

Its all a bit hazy memory now as it was so long ago (which also makes this debat difficult) so feel free to correct if i''ve got some facts wrong, but that''s how I see it.

I distinctly remember my mate telling me we could still get back into europe if we put a run together, and me replying we were going down at a very early stage.

[chicken 0]

[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="mystic megson"]

 We had three or four years of success which had more to do with Nigel Worthington''s determination to roll a big boulder up a steep hill than most people are willing to give him credit for. 

[/quote]

I must admit this one statement has perhaps altered my recent thinking on Worthington''s regime.  It has to be said that the way even the Huckerby signing was a battle with some very cautiaous prudent unambitious people...  Our board had a hard time being convinced to buy the winning lottery ticket!! 

No he might not have been up to the premiership and messed it all up with his subsequent blinkered work rate thinking, but he was exceedingly successful up until promotion against all the odds.

[/quote]

You could also argue that he was successful up untill the last day of the Premiership season. But I guess thats another argument.

In some ways I don''t think its such a bad thing that the board take convincing about buying expencive players - its just a shame that they seem quite happy to let the managers sign no end of cheap ones without the same scrutiny.

[Mr.Carrow 378]

[quote user="chicken"][quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="mystic megson"]

 We had three or four years of success which had more to do with Nigel Worthington''s determination to roll a big boulder up a steep hill than most people are willing to give him credit for. 

[/quote]

I must admit this one statement has perhaps altered my recent thinking on Worthington''s regime.  It has to be said that the way even the Huckerby signing was a battle with some very cautiaous prudent unambitious people...  Our board had a hard time being convinced to buy the winning lottery ticket!! 

No he might not have been up to the premiership and messed it all up with his subsequent blinkered work rate thinking, but he was exceedingly successful up until promotion against all the odds.

[/quote]

You could also argue that he was successful up untill the last day of the Premiership season. But I guess thats another argument.

In some ways I don''t think its such a bad thing that the board take convincing about buying expencive players - its just a shame that they seem quite happy to let the managers sign no end of cheap ones without the same scrutiny.

[/quote]

Chicken, the ONLY times the board have been convinced to buy expensive players has been when the fans funded them through the share issues (Huckerby,Ashton) or as a small portion of a massive incoming fee (Earnshaw). Don`t kid yourself, in ordinary circumstances the board do not have the balls to commit big fees for top young players. It is apparently much more prudent to sign a load of journeyman rejects who are either rubbish or disinterested and who play out their decent contracts whilst contributing little to the club.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

[quote user="megson"][quote user="norfolkbroadslim"]

Yes I know football has changed etc etc.

[/quote]

There is your answer.

Comparing the Chase days to know is extremely difficult to do as football hasn''t just changed, its unrecognisable from the game it was, even when we dopped out of the prem.

We left hte prem at probalby the single worst time to do it, and it was so clearly coming but nothing was done.

Even In January we looked fairly confortable, but anyone watching that team could see we were only going one way. A new manager was needed and some swift investment to keep us there. Neither happened, mainly becuase of the way the club was run which came down to the chairman.

Had he swallowed his pride and looked for a manager to manage rather than the easy fix he appointed, and had the finances been better managed (remeber we got £5m for sutton at the start of that season) we would of had cash there to invest in a player or two to bolster the squad and keep us up.

Its all a bit hazy memory now as it was so long ago (which also makes this debat difficult) so feel free to correct if i''ve got some facts wrong, but that''s how I see it.

I distinctly remember my mate telling me we could still get back into europe if we put a run together, and me replying we were going down at a very early stage.

[/quote]

Megson.

IMHO this is just about the biggest spin and cop out of all.

There''s still 20 clubs in the prem and 24 in the chump. Each field a team of 11 men with 2 legs each who kick around a ball for 90+ minutes once or twice a week for most of the year.

It''s just that rather more clubs are better at it than us in recent years than used to be the case.

The big question is why?

In any organisation worth it''s salt, as US President Harry Truman said, the buck stops at the top.

In our case the top is the NCFC board and, in particular the controlling shareholders.

They have failed in their mission.

Time to chase them out.

But PG can stay for a while and show us if he has what it takes. I do think that there''s a chance that he has - and he''s passionate (in the real sense, rather than the PR sense beloved of some). Problem is he needs more support from the board and he probably ain''t going to get enough.

I wish him good fortune.

OTBC

 

[ron obvious 0]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"] .... who are either rubbish or disinterested and who .....

[/quote]

It''s "uninterested", not "disinterested".

 

[DONT REMEMBER YOUR TENURE AS ENGLAND MANAGER 0]

[quote user="ron obvious"][quote user="Mr.Carrow"] .... who are either rubbish or disinterested and who .....

[/quote]

It''s "uninterested", not "disinterested".

 

[/quote]

And your point Mr Oblivious

I forgot my trunks but remembered my homework!

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="ron obvious"][quote user="Mr.Carrow"] .... who are either rubbish or disinterested and who .....

[/quote]

It''s "uninterested", not "disinterested".

[/quote]

You might be right, unless Mr. Carrow was using the word in the context of the players actually being impartial as to what activity was being conducted on the pitch, in which case you might be wrong. I would have thought that was fairly Obvious ( Ron ).

[Mello Yello 2,303]

[quote user="ron obvious"][quote user="Mr.Carrow"] .... who are either rubbish or disinterested and who .....

[/quote]

It''s "uninterested", not "disinterested".

 

[/quote]

I''m not really interested if it is uninterested or disinterested..........as I''m free from selfish motives and impartial......[:|]

Picky picky swotty spotty schoolboy prefects never imperfect........[8-|]