a1canary 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Hello people,Not been on here much since the end of the season but i feel compelled to share my thoughts with my fellow NCFCers on this awful day.We should be used to it buy now but you never do get used to losing like that. It hurt at Italia 90 with waddle and pearcey, Euro 96 with southgate, France 98 with Ince and Batty, and NCFC in 2002 with, well, everyone i think except the man Robbo! But this one seems worse than all of them. Why? Because we really thought we could win it? Don''t think so, it was the same in 90 with Linekar, Robson and co, in 96 with Shearer and Sheri, in 98 with Owen and this time with Rooney. I guess actually, (please don''t crucify me for this!) NCFC in the 2002 play off final hurt least of all of them, perhaps because deep down we never really believed it was going to happen until Iwan popped up. Maybe it''s just because it''s still so fresh. Didn''t sleep last night, just kept replaying Sol''s goal in my head. Would you believe it - talk about deja vu! And what is it with Owen? Every time, he scores on the BIGGEST stage of all, when it really really matters, and every time we lose. Argentina, the wondergoal, we lose. Romania, opening goal, not disimilar to last night, and we lose. Brazil, opening goal, decidedly similar to the goal last night, and we lose. And Portugal, opening goal, and we lose. The boy must think he''s cursed. But actually, what it tells us is, everytime, except perhaps Argentina where we played fantastically, the goals have been similar route one jobbies that we''ve nicked at the beginning of the game and then sat on it, stopped playing, sat back and waited for the inevitable. The lesson? Bring back Hoddle!! (If only he wasn''t certifiable). Cheers people, nice to get that off my chest.A1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BedsCanary 0 Posted June 25, 2004 The Play-Off Final hurt more than any England defeat ever couldEspecially for me - I was in Minnesota on the Saturday morning and travelled all the way back to Blighty for the match Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anderz 0 Posted June 25, 2004 a1, I''m not gonna crucify you for this at all as we''re all entitled to our opinion, but IMO England being knocked out on penalties pales in comparison to losing to Birmingham in the playoff final...Got up this morning and looked at Teletext and read the reports, have read some newspapers and got on with the day...After the playoff final, I was in a daze for days (no pun intended...) and it took me until about mid August to accept that we were still in Div One...For me, England losing is disappointing, but City losing was devastating...Like I said though, I''m not having a go, each is entitled to their opinion and own feelings... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DumbleDelia is Magic 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Gotta agree with Bedford and Anderz here. Last night was NOTHING comapred to Cardiff. Nothing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
a1canary 0 Posted June 25, 2004 Well i find that interesting! I certainly couldn''t say that last night was ''nothing'' compared to Cardiff. Maybe ''cos it''s all in hindsight now and not to mention the small matter of us actually being in the prem now (wohoo!). But did anyone seriously think we were going to end up in the premiership for the 2003/04 season? I did for about the three minutes we were in front in the play-off final. And yes, i can recall every detail of the game and the aftermath and the sickness i felt. But i''m still struggling to come to terms with last night. When it comes to football, of course I love my club, but i love my country just as much. Am i alone in that? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arganth 0 Posted June 26, 2004 To be fair though mate, the best team went through.Had we played as well as they did, and then lost on pens, I''d feel a whole lot worse than I do. Plus, after our season, who really cares too much about England? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MasterNagus 0 Posted June 26, 2004 I''m with the Cardiff camp on this one...That Birmingham game built me up, tore me down, ripped my guts out, broke my heart and then trampled them into the ground. I still remember the feeling at the end of the game. I was physically shaking, I couldn''t speak, I felt numb, drained physically and mentally, and simply destroyed.Compared to that, England losing on pens against Portugal was a piece of cake Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Raven 276 Posted June 26, 2004 At Cardiff I knew that when it went to penalties it was game over for us. With England there is some hope, although that''s now Germany, Argentina and Portugal so my faith in penalty shoot-outs for both club and country has now dwindled considerably. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cantley 0 Posted June 26, 2004 Include me with the Cardiff-ers. Thursday night was annoying, and I lay awake in bed for a while thinking about it and feeling hard-done-by. But Cardiff for me was like bereavement - absolutely shattering. I think this is because club football is law of the jungle, and there are no depths to which a club cannot sink (including extinction) if it gets things badly wrong.That old story of two blokes watching a dog chasing a rabbit across a field. The rabbit got away, and one bloke said "Ah, you see the rabbit was running for his life, but the dog was just running for his lunch".That''s really the difference - Norwich are running for their lives, England are just running for their lunch. At Cardiff it seemed like City''s last chance had gone. After Thursday, England just start preparing for the next tournament. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
a1canary 0 Posted June 28, 2004 I still don''t believe that any of you SERIOUSLY thought for more than a moment that we were going up that year - and for that reason, we were slightly prepared for the disappointment that followed, although i admit that having the carrot dangled so improbably close only for it to be snatched away was futting. But, as we have proved fool, we weren''t running for our lives that day, we were setting the foundations for one of the most successful seasons in our history. I for one, DID feel that we would go on from that day.At club level, England losing the other night is more like losing the second, third or fourth play off final in succession when you have been one of the favourites every time. Just ask binner fans!! Losing a final that no-one expected us to get to and that we only got to play in by virtue of one solitary goal over the entire season wasn''t as bad as all those losses in succession that the binners suffered, i''m so glad we''ve not had to go through that before ''cos it certainly would be worse than England losing. (Not that i''m sorry for the binners or anything - their continual play off failures were the moments that kept me going during the dark years!) But i still can''t say that England losing like that again, with the disallowed goal and pens, pales into insignificanse alongside a final we were never expected to be in, let alone win.If England won a Euro or World Cup it would be great for the domestic game. Southern Europeans teams (and France!) still don''t really respect English Football. And this really was our chance - people, public and experts alike, really thought we could do it this time, unlike NCFC in 2002. Think of it: English football - the best league in the world, many of the best players in the world AND the best national team in the world/europe. We''d have it all and Norwich would be are there too, right at the very top level. I hope when/if England finally do win, that we''re still in the prem.''Just preparing for the next tournement'' with England has become so demoralising - it''s a long way off and how many times do we have to do it as also rans? 38 years of hurt and still counting! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
