Time to face a few hard facts

[All dots 0]

1. We are not a “big” club and never have been. We are a club which enjoys excellent support which is probably one of the largest in terms of attendance/population ratio. However, in finite terms, potential attendance levels, even assuming an expanded stadium, are nothing like as large as many other clubs : Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc

 

2. We are an isolated club in terms of geographical location. We are not in or near London and we are not in one of the conurbation centres such as the south coast, West Midlands, North West or West/South Yorks.

 

3. Road, rail and links into and out of Norwich are poor – we are out on a limb in rural East Anglia. Norfolk is one of the largest yet lowest populated counties in Gt Britain. The A11 has been described as the longest cul-de-sac in the world.

 

4. A key requirement for any potential investor in a football club with ambitions to get into the Premiership is the ability of the club not only to stay in the Premiership but also to thrive in it and gain entry into European competitions and therefore access huge revenue. Size of fan base or potential size of fan base is critical to sustaining a club at the highest level.

 

Given all of the above, the potential return on any investment in the club is limited. Therefore, the likelihood of any genuinely super rich investor identifying Norwich, ahead of other clubs in the Championship, as an attractive investment opportunity is truly remote unless it happened to be someone who has a personal affection for the club. This was of course why DS invested but sadly for us fans she is far from being categorized as “super rich”.

 

I know the above is a pretty bleak assessment and probably reflects my current state of mind with regard to the club I have supported man and boy but, if not spot on, it is definitely not far from the truth. That doesn''t mean to say that there is no hope for the future but cutting to the chase (pun intended) under the current regime of solicitors and accountants headed up by a celebrity chef (however well-meaning and sincere) frankly I am feeling nothing but despair.  

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Old Salt"]

1. We are not a “big” club and never have been. We are a club which enjoys excellent support which is probably one of the largest in terms of attendance/population ratio. However, in finite terms, potential attendance levels, even assuming an expanded stadium, are nothing like as large as many other clubs : Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc

 

[/quote]

With the possible exception of Sheff Wed, that analysis is total nonsense. I suggest you research attendance levels at these named teams when they were in the top flight.

[Buncey 1]

I am bored of these posts. Go away please.

[Barclay_Boy 0]

sorry that''s rubbish, do you honestly believe that Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc have a history of attracting the same level of support that we still enjoy. I suggest you go back and check. this is the same old excuse about these areas being heavily populated. True, and they have all got neighboring clubs on their doorsteps. Look at poor old wolves - they''ve got WBA/Birmingham/Aston Villa/Wallsall/Coventry/Shrewsbury/Leicester, or Sheff Wed - Sheff Utd/Leeds/Doncaster/Derby/Bradford/Notts Forest and it ain''t far from Sheffield to Manchester! We''ve got....now let''s see - Ipswich and Colchester plus that massive Cambridge Utd, oh hang on they''re now non - league. We do not have to be small, you are just helping to perpetuate the myth! there are enough people living in Norfolk and Suffolk to regularly give us a 35000 attendance, we''re getting 25000 now to watch absolute crap!  

OTBC - Norwich potentially a massive club.

 

[tommy 0]

rubbish

[kdncfc 0]

Some of the big cities may have higher population but there are several clubs competing for support, if you include the suburbs like Sprowston, Drayton Hellesdon etc Norwich has a population of around 250k, Sheffield has around 500k but has 3 teams competing for support so we have at least as much potential as them. There are a lot more people outside the City of Sheffield but then clubs such as Barnsley come in to the equation so they don''t gain as much from the larger population.

[Creative Midfielder 2,203]

[quote user="Barclay_Boy"]

sorry that''s rubbish, do you honestly believe that Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc have a history of attracting the same level of support that we still enjoy. I suggest you go back and check. this is the same old excuse about these areas being heavily populated. True, and they have all got neighboring clubs on their doorsteps. Look at poor old wolves - they''ve got WBA/Birmingham/Aston Villa/Wallsall/Coventry/Shrewsbury/Leicester, or Sheff Wed - Sheff Utd/Leeds/Doncaster/Derby/Bradford/Notts Forest and it ain''t far from Sheffield to Manchester! We''ve got....now let''s see - Ipswich and Colchester plus that massive Cambridge Utd, oh hang on they''re now non - league. We do not have to be small, you are just helping to perpetuate the myth! there are enough people living in Norfolk and Suffolk to regularly give us a 35000 attendance, we''re getting 25000 now to watch absolute crap!  

OTBC - Norwich potentially a massive club.

 

[/quote]

Sorry but it isnt rubbish - even if we were getting 35,000 it doesnt even take us close to being a massive club.

Double it, get a couple of hundred thousand to sign up to your own TV channel, market your mechandise worldwide and then you can start talking about being a massive club.

 

 

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Creative Midfielder"][quote user="Barclay_Boy"]

sorry that''s rubbish, do you honestly believe that Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc have a history of attracting the same level of support that we still enjoy. I suggest you go back and check. this is the same old excuse about these areas being heavily populated. True, and they have all got neighboring clubs on their doorsteps. Look at poor old wolves - they''ve got WBA/Birmingham/Aston Villa/Wallsall/Coventry/Shrewsbury/Leicester, or Sheff Wed - Sheff Utd/Leeds/Doncaster/Derby/Bradford/Notts Forest and it ain''t far from Sheffield to Manchester! We''ve got....now let''s see - Ipswich and Colchester plus that massive Cambridge Utd, oh hang on they''re now non - league. We do not have to be small, you are just helping to perpetuate the myth! there are enough people living in Norfolk and Suffolk to regularly give us a 35000 attendance, we''re getting 25000 now to watch absolute crap!  

OTBC - Norwich potentially a massive club.

 

[/quote]

Sorry but it isnt rubbish - even if we were getting 35,000 it doesnt even take us close to being a massive club.

Double it, get a couple of hundred thousand to sign up to your own TV channel, market your mechandise worldwide and then you can start talking about being a massive club.

 

 

[/quote]

Rubbish remains rubbish.

Just tell me the last time Wolves, Leicester, Sheff United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City ever got gates of 35,000. (Bristol City oh deary me!)

Nobody is claiming that Norwich is a massive club but to claim that the aforementioned are so much bigger than us is palpable nonsense.

[All dots 0]

Just logged on to read the responses to my original post and as usual the mindless "rubbish" brigade are out in force. I don''t stoop to moronic and empty-headed responses to other peoples'' messages so I find it hard to appreciate unconstructive replies to mine but that''s reality. I suppose that the fact is that many people find a dose of the truth hard to swallow so resort to dismissive insults. The point I was making was this : given the immense revenues increasingly available to succesful clubs in the Premiership seriously rich investors are being drawn into the game. In the new era which the game has entered the clubs I mentioned, with significant investment, can not only achieve premiership status but survive and prosper and attract large numbers of hitherto inactive fans to assist in sustaining that status.  I guess that one of the underlying points of my post was that Norwich fans are remarkable by their active support for their club despite the decline in its fortunes on and off the pitch. How long this will last with continued failure remains to be seen.      

[gazzathegreat 0]

[quote user="Old Salt"]

1. We are not a “big” club and never have been. We are a club which enjoys excellent support which is probably one of the largest in terms of attendance/population ratio. However, in finite terms, potential attendance levels, even assuming an expanded stadium, are nothing like as large as many other clubs : Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City etc

 

2. We are an isolated club in terms of geographical location. We are not in or near London and we are not in one of the conurbation centres such as the south coast, West Midlands, North West or West/South Yorks.

 

3. Road, rail and links into and out of Norwich are poor – we are out on a limb in rural East Anglia. Norfolk is one of the largest yet lowest populated counties in Gt Britain. The A11 has been described as the longest cul-de-sac in the world.

 

4. A key requirement for any potential investor in a football club with ambitions to get into the Premiership is the ability of the club not only to stay in the Premiership but also to thrive in it and gain entry into European competitions and therefore access huge revenue. Size of fan base or potential size of fan base is critical to sustaining a club at the highest level.

 

Given all of the above, the potential return on any investment in the club is limited. Therefore, the likelihood of any genuinely super rich investor identifying Norwich, ahead of other clubs in the Championship, as an attractive investment opportunity is truly remote unless it happened to be someone who has a personal affection for the club. This was of course why DS invested but sadly for us fans she is far from being categorized as “super rich”.

 

I know the above is a pretty bleak assessment and probably reflects my current state of mind with regard to the club I have supported man and boy but, if not spot on, it is definitely not far from the truth. That doesn''t mean to say that there is no hope for the future but cutting to the chase (pun intended) under the current regime of solicitors and accountants headed up by a celebrity chef (however well-meaning and sincere) frankly I am feeling nothing but despair.  

[/quote] I can''t believe you think Conventry, Leicester, Southampton and Bristol City are bigger than us. How have you worked this out, stadium size, season ticket allocation, cup wins, what? The only exception is probably Sheff Wed, a club who has not had any success for years, but still has a large and passionate fan base. Hope they bring them all on Saturday to add to the atmosphere.

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Old Salt"]

Just logged on to read the responses to my original post and as usual the mindless "rubbish" brigade are out in force. I don''t stoop to moronic and empty-headed responses to other peoples'' messages so I find it hard to appreciate unconstructive replies to mine but that''s reality. I suppose that the fact is that many people find a dose of the truth hard to swallow so resort to dismissive insults. The point I was making was this : given the immense revenues increasingly available to succesful clubs in the Premiership seriously rich investors are being drawn into the game. In the new era which the game has entered the clubs I mentioned, with significant investment, can not only achieve premiership status but survive and prosper and attract large numbers of hitherto inactive fans to assist in sustaining that status.  I guess that one of the underlying points of my post was that Norwich fans are remarkable by their active support for their club despite the decline in its fortunes on and off the pitch. How long this will last with continued failure remains to be seen.      

[/quote]

Unfortunately most of the clubs you mentioned with the possible exception of Sheff Wed and maybe Wolves have neither the history nor the crowd potential to be an obviously better investment prospect than Norwich City. Perhaps you might to back up your assertion with a few facts.

I therefore maintain my "moronic and unconstructive" position that teams like Bristol City, Leicester,Sheff Utd,Coventry etc etc are no more likely become desirable investment oppotunities than Norwich City.

[GJD 0]

I agree with some of your points, but here are my opinions.

1 - We are not a massive club and never will be in this country or be a marketing mans dreams. Then again Chelsea were not a massive club until huge investment of late. They were always smaller than Spurs and Gunners in London with support.

2 - We are isolated and that is an advantage for us. We have about I guess 1 million potential fans. No club within 50 miles to challange us.

3 - Road and rail links are poor and don''t I know it living away from the fair county. Still that may put some professionals coming here, then again the quality of life is great in Norfolk IMHO.

4 - On attendences over the last seven years we are a very big club in this league. We still take a very large following away which for those travelling from Norfolk always amazes me.

To sum up we are a club with potential to be in the Prem. Whether thats an investors dream is a point that can be argued. However let''s not knock our potential.

OTBC

[Flying Dutchman 766]

Dont be daft......

We have never been a big club? Are you kidding. i am not even going to dignify that claim.

Moving on - we have ''excellent support''??? I may ruffle a few feathers here.

I am a big City fan, but unfortunately i moved to Lincolnshire and work most saturdays mornings. I probably manage to get to about 15-20 games a season on average home and away, when i can. When I dont manage to get to the matches I finish work at 1pm and head off to with friends to watch their respective teams - Grimsby, Lincoln, Hull and Scunthorpe. I enjoy the chance to watch another team and see how passionate the fans are. And in return, my 15-20 trips to see City are accompanied by all these friends that support these local teams.

Now let me say - the support, the singing (even when we aren''t winning), the general love for their team (thats the TEAM - not individual players) is fantastic amongst these friends of mine. And whenever we watch City they always seem that little bit disappointed with the fans.

This has been going on for a few seasons - before Hull and Scunthorpe were in the championship - and Norwich was the biggest game they would see for a while. And yet they were STILL diasappointed with the fans. I am not having a go at the fans at all - I am just saying that a true fan picks his team - in our cases it was Nowrich all them years ago. Now we are with them all the way. Players and managers and even boards will come and go - but we remain. I read a report ealry in the season that was suggesting we made Carrow road a fortress... Well then LETS DO IT!!!

Let those 11 guys know that we are behind them even when things aren''t looking so peachy. Because I bet that, as it is with these local teams around here, that noise, that support, that passion will transfer into the players in some small way - but it might just make the difference.

I''ve said my bit - now I shall just wait for the inevitable slating of my post - but thanks for reading!

[Vegetushorribleglove 0]

As a Veggie team and (its true) a joke against a Meat eating  championship teams..we must sort it out.

We are going DOWN....Nuff said and DEF info.....GRANT OUT.

 

[Cluck 0]

We were a yo-yo team for years...and it was great fun. Now we are adrift in a sea of also rans devoid of ambition and flair.

By thinking small it becomes endemic....and that''s all that separates us from the Blackburns and Middlesbroughs of this world. Until we deal with that we''re out of the race....and it needs a top to toe clear out to make such a change possible.

 

 

[Gingerpele 0]

Is he a norwich fan?this kind of thing is pathetic, what does it matter in E.anglia, lots of players love it in norwich (hux for example after his loan) and the train isnt that bad, and if norwich where in the premireship, extended the ground or got a new one there whould be even more fans so that post is piontless, we dont need a really rich invester, it would be nice, so we could actually buy our targets (sharpe, eastwood ETC)  so thats that.

[charlies dad 0]

[quote user="Fellas"]I am bored of these posts. Go away please.
[/quote] Damn right. Laughable list of bigger clubs - coventry?????? bristol city????? you forgot ipswich.

[All dots 0]

[quote user="charlies dad"][quote user="Fellas"]I am bored of these posts. Go away please.
[/quote] Damn right. Laughable list of bigger clubs - coventry?????? bristol city????? you forgot ipswich.[/quote]

The point about my post was this. Firstly, to respond to so many posters on here who describe our great club as a big club. Sorry but that is just self-delusion. I have passionately supported Norwich throughout my life but I have never deluded myself into thinking that Norwich is a big club, I have never felt the need to. For years now we have compted well in terms of crowd levels with the likes of Wolves and others and even West Ham. But the second point I was making was in response to posters on here banging on about the need to get rid of Delia and for a rich investor to take over as is starting to happen at other clubs.  The "laughable list of bigger clubs" was not a list of clubs which are currently bigger than us but a list of clubs which because of their large populations and therefore future potential attendances and their locations would be more obviusly a target for a rich investor who after all would be looking for a handsome return on his investment in years to come. I don''t think Norwich falls into that category and I thought I would say so as objectively as possible. This doesn''t mean that I don''t love the club and to accuse me of beeing a non-supporter is frankly just crass and moronic. All that having been said, I firmly believe that Norwich can compete at the highest level with the likes of Blackburn, Bolton etc but in order to do so there needs to be major surgery at Board level and a fresh and vigorous change of direction. Otherwise, instead of going up we might just go down. 

 

[Bogbrush 0]

[quote user="Old Salt"]

[quote user="charlies dad"][quote user="Fellas"]I am bored of these posts. Go away please.
[/quote] Damn right. Laughable list of bigger clubs - coventry?????? bristol city????? you forgot ipswich.[/quote]

The point about my post was this. Firstly, to respond to so many posters on here who describe our great club as a big club. Sorry but that is just self-delusion. I have passionately supported Norwich throughout my life but I have never deluded myself into thinking that Norwich is a big club, I have never felt the need to. For years now we have compted well in terms of crowd levels with the likes of Wolves and others and even West Ham. But the second point I was making was in response to posters on here banging on about the need to get rid of Delia and for a rich investor to take over as is starting to happen at other clubs.  The "laughable list of bigger clubs" was not a list of clubs which are currently bigger than us but a list of clubs which because of their large populations and therefore future potential attendances and their locations would be more obviusly a target for a rich investor who after all would be looking for a handsome return on his investment in years to come. I don''t think Norwich falls into that category and I thought I would say so as objectively as possible. This doesn''t mean that I don''t love the club and to accuse me of beeing a non-supporter is frankly just crass and moronic. All that having been said, I firmly believe that Norwich can compete at the highest level with the likes of Blackburn, Bolton etc but in order to do so there needs to be major surgery at Board level and a fresh and vigorous change of direction. Otherwise, instead of going up we might just go down. 

 

[/quote]

 

Two good posts Old Salt. Shame that so many of us on this MB are so quick to abuse anybody who because of their tiny little minds thinks are being disloyal to the club rather than making constructive points.

[Mr.Carrow 394]

Old Salt, i can see where you are coming from but people are describing your post as laughable because it seems to be based on a myth rather than any facts.

With the proposed boundary changes Norwich will have an official population of nearly 300,000 people and the club draws support mainly from Norfolk and North Suffolk-an area with a population of over 1 million. Transport links are perfectly adequate and when you consider the complete lack of competition from any other club or even major sport in this area, the potential to increase support is obvious. After all areas such as Cardiff, Leicester, Leeds etc. at least have big rugby clubs, speedway, ice hockey etc. to vie for sports fans attention. Even our ultra-conservative board stated that demand was there in the promotion/Prem. season to sell 35,000 tickets week on week which would put us in the top 10 in the country.

To compare our season ticket numbers and demand for tickets with the clubs you listed over the last few appalling seasons just strengthens the argument further. Just imagine what demand would be if we were actually any good!

I`m sorry but the "little Norwich" thing is just a self-perpetuating myth which continues simply because people are prepared to glibly go along with it rather than look at the reality.

[blahblahblah 2]

I would see geography as more of an issue where recruitment of players is concerned than anything else.  Wigan, Portsmouth, Fulham, Bolton and Reading have proven that it is possible to stay in the top flight for more than a season with low 20k attendances, as can be seen in this table of Premiership attendances.  Once you''re in the Premiership, you''re on the map in many countries, regardless of your actual location, and richer than the 21st richest club in the country in terms of cash flow, even if the 21st team is Sunderland with gates of 40k, as would have been the case last season.  On this basis, my assumption is that it is possible for us to compete at the highest level without any further stadium development.The trick for any manager of NCFC is to convince young rich men with talent and time on their hands to spend their working lives 2 hours away from London, 3 hours away from Birmingham and Sheffield, and 4 hours minimum from Manchester.  Maybe we should buy some helicopters to ferry around these youngsters ?  Dunno.  However, the signings of Ashton and Earnshaw have proven that decent players will sign for us for a season or two as a step up to the Premiership.  Strihavkas'' signing proves that we should also be capable of signing foreign players who want to make the step up, as discussed in Rick Waghorns'' latest column.  I can''t see an Abramovic type buying Norwich though, and that''s nothing to do with any of the points raised, more that Mr and Mrs Smith would fight any take-over from a rich foreign investor tooth and nail, and Mr and Mrs Turner probably feel the same way.

[Saint Canary 0]

I don''t like to consider myself to overly negative but we can talk about catchment area, big or little club, transport and geographical location as much as we like.  We can talk about finances and whether we have spent enough and argue what the “facts” are until the cows come home.

 

The one fact that matters to me (and one that is undeniable) is that we won this league 4 seasons ago and in the 2 seasons in this league since, we have not got close to promotion.  Last season we could not even make top half.  We have heard all the reasons/excuses (delete as you see necessary) but to me the reason why we have struggled is not an overly complicated one.  It’s not about lack of spending or where Norwich is on a map, it’s entirely down to the club working on a reactionary basis to everything in the past few seasons and often they reacted too late.  That is why we have failed to meet the “target” of promotion.  We needed a striker from the offset in the Prem, we got one in January.  Worthington needed to go a full season before he did and stayed too long.  We waited too long to sign players in the transfer windows while other clubs had signed players and I could go on.

 

The simple truth to me is that the club has let things happen to it rather than going out and making things happen. 

 

[All dots 0]

[quote user="Saint Canary"]

I don''t like to consider myself to overly negative but we can talk about catchment area, big or little club, transport and geographical location as much as we like.  We can talk about finances and whether we have spent enough and argue what the “facts” are until the cows come home.

 

The one fact that matters to me (and one that is undeniable) is that we won this league 4 seasons ago and in the 2 seasons in this league since, we have not got close to promotion.  Last season we could not even make top half.  We have heard all the reasons/excuses (delete as you see necessary) but to me the reason why we have struggled is not an overly complicated one.  It’s not about lack of spending or where Norwich is on a map, it’s entirely down to the club working on a reactionary basis to everything in the past few seasons and often they reacted too late.  That is why we have failed to meet the “target” of promotion.  We needed a striker from the offset in the Prem, we got one in January.  Worthington needed to go a full season before he did and stayed too long.  We waited too long to sign players in the transfer windows while other clubs had signed players and I could go on.

 

The simple truth to me is that the club has let things happen to it rather than going out and making things happen. 

 

[/quote]

 

Flipping heck, I wasn''t talking about the past but I fully agree with your comments on that subject. I got fed up with people going on about us being a big club, kicking out Delia and the Board and attracting a seriously rich investor. The point I was making is that we are not a "BIG" club (nor for that matter are we small club i.e. "little Norwich") and because of our comparatively small population and relatively remote location compared to many other clubs we simply are not an attractive investment proposition for the future for a seriously rich businessman/investor who has no personal affiliation for Norwich i.e. Derek Whelan is seriously rich and always supported Wigan - that''s why Wigan are where they are, Fayed is seriously rich and wanted Fulham as well as Harrods to further enhance his Britishness credentials and that''s why Fulham are where they are, Delia apparently had special affection for Norwich but is only wealthy rather than super rich and has placed far too much reliance on her solicitor/accountant directors and that''s why Norwich are where they are.  Portsmouth have been owned by extremely wealthy hard-nosed businessmen who appointed a shrewd, hard-nosed manager and the combination has been formidable and, because I am a Norwich exile living in Hants, great to see their success but ...... Portsmouth will have a new ground soon and their potential attendances are 40K plus and their investors always planned for that. You are right in what you say SC - we actually made it to the promised land and completely blew it - thinking back it was a bit like a climber grappling with the north face of the Eiger, finally making it to the summit and then deliberately throwing himself off. With the current PWA Board I just cannot see any way at all that we will win promotion again and, like I said, a few weeks back "we''re crap and we know we are" ..... but nothing is being dome to change it.

[Mr.Carrow 394]

Old Salt, as you seem to accept that Portsmouth have the potential for 40k crowds, can i ask what you think the difference is in catchment area/potential between the two clubs and why we apparently have no potential, yet they have plenty? I think you might find the only major difference is one of outlook......

[Cluck 0]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]Old Salt, as you seem to accept that Portsmouth have the potential for 40k crowds, can i ask what you think the difference is in catchment area/potential between the two clubs and why we apparently have no potential, yet they have plenty? I think you might find the only major difference is one of outlook......[/quote]

Hear hear....but then blinkers do cut down the field of vision..........

[London_Canary 0]

[quote user="Baron Bludgeon"][quote user="Old Salt"]

[quote user="charlies dad"][quote user="Fellas"]I am bored of these posts. Go away please.
[/quote] Damn right. Laughable list of bigger clubs - coventry?????? bristol city????? you forgot ipswich.[/quote]

The point about my post was this. Firstly, to respond to so many posters on here who describe our great club as a big club. Sorry but that is just self-delusion. I have passionately supported Norwich throughout my life but I have never deluded myself into thinking that Norwich is a big club, I have never felt the need to. For years now we have compted well in terms of crowd levels with the likes of Wolves and others and even West Ham. But the second point I was making was in response to posters on here banging on about the need to get rid of Delia and for a rich investor to take over as is starting to happen at other clubs.  The "laughable list of bigger clubs" was not a list of clubs which are currently bigger than us but a list of clubs which because of their large populations and therefore future potential attendances and their locations would be more obviusly a target for a rich investor who after all would be looking for a handsome return on his investment in years to come. I don''t think Norwich falls into that category and I thought I would say so as objectively as possible. This doesn''t mean that I don''t love the club and to accuse me of beeing a non-supporter is frankly just crass and moronic. All that having been said, I firmly believe that Norwich can compete at the highest level with the likes of Blackburn, Bolton etc but in order to do so there needs to be major surgery at Board level and a fresh and vigorous change of direction. Otherwise, instead of going up we might just go down. 

 

[/quote]

 

Two good posts Old Salt. Shame that so many of us on this MB are so quick to abuse anybody who because of their tiny little minds thinks are being disloyal to the club rather than making constructive points.

[/quote]

 

Your hilarious Baron Bludgeon, you have ago at people for useing insults in their posts with an insult of your own! [8-)]

 

If he''s going to claim that clubs like Wolves, Leicester, Sheff Wednesday and United, Southampton, Coventry, Bristol City have bigger crowd potential than Norwich then he''s talking utter rubbish, what evidance is their of this, those clubs mentioned have plenty of other clubs nearby, some of which are bigger and better which will only reduce the number of people in their area to support that particular club, we on the other hand are far away from any big clubs so that''s why we have a larger fan base than most in this league. Our club lacks in several aspects to become a big club but fan base wise is not one of them.

 

Do any Norwich fans truely believe were a massive club though? I mean I honestly think were one of the bigger clubs in the Championship all be it were not showing on the pitch right now, but in responce to your original post where you claim were not an attractive club to invest with I agree with that to an extent because most big investers don''t like to touch a club in the championship, so that would go for all championship clubs not just our one, although if were to gain promotion (big if I know) then we could potentially become an attractive club for a big investor because we have the potential to become a big club.

[beelsie 0]

Old salt, your replies to Charlies Dad  Fellas etc. I think are just about right, as is your assessment of club size in relation to prospective investment.  I''m afraid however that many posters'' obsession  relating to size borders on the Monty Python portrayal type sketches where the very small and insignificant person in the square is protesting to all and sundry how large and important he is an all of a sudden from the heavens comes down the very large foot on his loudly proclaiming self and splatters him into the insignificant piece of matter that he really is.  It is not, IMHO how we perceive ourselves, it is how others see us that matters and how we perform in the competition that we take part in.  Many see our teams over the past three seasons as easy touches and lightweights under pressure.  What we proclaim to be carries no weight, nor do our statements as to our desirability regarding location etc, etc.  Financially ,as I have stated on these boards for the last four seasons we cannot punch our weight as a team and therefore we cannot cannot attract the young class players that we feel will carry us to the promised land simply we cannot afford to pay their inflated wage values.  So support what we have and and maybe fortune will favour the brave, however small or big we actually are. OTBC!!!

[Buncey 1]

Oh yes im sorry, bristol city..... enough said.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

[quote user="Baron Bludgeon"][quote user="Old Salt"]

[quote user="charlies dad"][quote user="Fellas"]I am bored of these posts. Go away please.
[/quote] Damn right. Laughable list of bigger clubs - coventry?????? bristol city????? you forgot ipswich.[/quote]

The point about my post was this. Firstly, to respond to so many posters on here who describe our great club as a big club. Sorry but that is just self-delusion. I have passionately supported Norwich throughout my life but I have never deluded myself into thinking that Norwich is a big club, I have never felt the need to. For years now we have compted well in terms of crowd levels with the likes of Wolves and others and even West Ham. But the second point I was making was in response to posters on here banging on about the need to get rid of Delia and for a rich investor to take over as is starting to happen at other clubs.  The "laughable list of bigger clubs" was not a list of clubs which are currently bigger than us but a list of clubs which because of their large populations and therefore future potential attendances and their locations would be more obviusly a target for a rich investor who after all would be looking for a handsome return on his investment in years to come. I don''t think Norwich falls into that category and I thought I would say so as objectively as possible. This doesn''t mean that I don''t love the club and to accuse me of beeing a non-supporter is frankly just crass and moronic. All that having been said, I firmly believe that Norwich can compete at the highest level with the likes of Blackburn, Bolton etc but in order to do so there needs to be major surgery at Board level and a fresh and vigorous change of direction. Otherwise, instead of going up we might just go down. 

 

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Two good posts Old Salt. Shame that so many of us on this MB are so quick to abuse anybody who because of their tiny little minds thinks are being disloyal to the club rather than making constructive points.

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I''m not quite so confused now [*-)] One and the same I think [:|]

 

[BigFish 2,282]

[quote user="Mr.Carrow"]Old Salt, as you seem to accept that Portsmouth have the potential for 40k crowds, can i ask what you think the difference is in catchment area/potential between the two clubs and why we apparently have no potential, yet they have plenty? I think you might find the only major difference is one of outlook......[/quote]

Possibly Mr Carrow, but to get 40k crowds we would need to invest in the ground and look where a obsession with bricks and mortar has got us so far! [;)]