a sobering statistic

[gary 0]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[Paul Spector 0]

Didn''t actually know that!

For my mind the problem with NCFC is the majority of fans'' hyper-inflated opinion of the stature of our club anyway.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

Okay then, what do you feel the majority think our level ought to be, and what do you think our level ought to be?

[city-till-i-die 7]

[quote user="We Want Lappin Back"]

Didn''t actually know that!

For my mind the problem with NCFC is the majority of fans'' hyper-inflated opinion of the stature of our club anyway.

[/quote]ummm...we should be a stable championship side pushing for the play offs at least...it that HYPER INFATED?????   I DONT THINK SO!!!

[city-till-i-die 7]

[quote user="city-till-i-die"][quote user="We Want Lappin Back"]

Didn''t actually know that!

For my mind the problem with NCFC is the majority of fans'' hyper-inflated opinion of the stature of our club anyway.

[/quote]ummm...we should be a stable championship side pushing for the play offs at least...it that HYPER INFATED?????   I DONT THINK SO!!![/quote]#inflated#

[BigFish 1,986]

[quote user="Graham Humphrey"]Okay then, what do you feel the majority think our level ought to be, and what do you think our level ought to be?[/quote]

Depends what you think a football club is. Is it the ground and famous fixed assets? Is it the fans? Is it the team? Is it all the other staff. Tradition?

Truth is the table doesn''t lie, so it looks like we are heading towards being a well supported League 1 side roughly on par with Leeds. A more intersting question is what it would take to get promoted back to the Champs & then to kick on into the Prem. Unfortunately the peak of our expectations these days is probably 8th in the Prem if we got everything sorted. Without getting anything sorted we are mid-table in Div 1.

[gary 0]

I suppose that seeing as we were promoted from Division 3 in 1960 and not dropped back since , then to the majority of supporters the rightful place is Div 1 / 2 because that is teh only place they have seen us play - including  me

However for my grandad who started watching NCFC at the Nest , he would consider NCFC to be rightfully lower down the scale 

I suppose that if we can get back out of Div 3 quickly then it will be seen as a blip rather than a pattern   

 

[Paul Spector 0]

I would say Norwich should be a mid table Championship side - but a lot of fans have a much higher perception, and see our rightful place in the top flight.

[CambridgeCanary 0]

[quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]

Call me picky but 34+27+20 = 81

34 is not a majority of 81.  It may be the highest place but we have spent more time out of Div 3 than in it.  That suggests it is not our natural home.   Also, much of the 47 years out of Div 3 is the last period of time so again, we used to live in Div 3 but haven''t done so for more than 40 years.

Doesn''t really stack up for you.

[I am a Banana 0]

[quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]

we need to be in division 1 equalling  it out a bit??

[lobstercatcher2 0]

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"][quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]

Call me picky but 34+27+20 = 81

34 is not a majority of 81.  It may be the highest place but we have spent more time out of Div 3 than in it.  That suggests it is not our natural home.   Also, much of the 47 years out of Div 3 is the last period of time so again, we used to live in Div 3 but haven''t done so for more than 40 years.

Doesn''t really stack up for you.

[/quote]Thank god ,i thought i was the only one on here who could count!!!!

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]Hang on recount stewards inquiry 

[nutty nigel 7,509]

[quote user="city-till-i-die"][quote user="We Want Lappin Back"]

Didn''t actually know that!

For my mind the problem with NCFC is the majority of fans'' hyper-inflated opinion of the stature of our club anyway.

[/quote]ummm...we should be a stable championship side pushing for the play offs at least...it that HYPER INFATED?????   I DONT THINK SO!!![/quote]

I agree with that. Problem is there are over 40 clubs whose fans think they should finish somewhere between the top of the Prem and 6th in the Champs and 40 doesn''t go into 26. That''s why there are usually one or two of these clubs in the third division.

 

[Graham Humphrey 13]

[quote user="We Want Lappin Back"]I would say Norwich should be a mid table Championship side - but a lot of fans have a much higher perception, and see our rightful place in the top flight.[/quote]

Do they though? Or do you think that most people are just frustrated because we can''t be competitive in the Championship anymore.

It is true that the table doesn''t lie and where we are is where we deserve to be. We will probably go down and we deserve to, and as things are I can''t see things getting better anytime soon.

We don''t have a divine right to anything but surely with having been in the Premier League fairly recently, the fact that not once have we even looked like troubling the play-offs and only once finishing in the top half of the table, despite having 20,000 season ticket holders, and having wasted God knows how much of all the money we got, from parachute payments, player sales and the like, people aren''t going to be happy and I don''t think anyone at the club whether that''s in the boadroom, or on the football side, can be defended in any way whatsoever.

I''d say at worst we should be a mid-table Championship side. I''d agree with BigFish in that in the best-case scenario, we couldn''t expect to finish higher than seventh or eighth in the Prem. Being in the top flight isn''t the be-all and end-all, not being there doesn''t mean failure and I''m sure the majority on here will recognise that. I don''t think it''s unreasonable to expect us to be competitive in the division we''re in. Especially when you see some of the teams and how well they''ve done in both the Premier League and the Championship, and how far some of these teams have moved forward while we''ve just gone backwards.

[William Darby 0]

1. 202. 33+2 (graph two years old)3. 27

[Graham Humphrey 13]

And without wanting to seem like I''m being incredibly picky I thought we spent 21 seasons in the top flight in total.

[gary 0]

i said I had a quick tally and I meant we have had more seasons in division 3 than any other  , I know there is room for interpretation on the figures as there always is . I just wanted to illustrate that we are not historically a club that should expect higher level football , I agree that over the last 40 years we have been shooting above our weight to a degree - but lower to mid div 2 or higher Div 3  is probably where we should be  

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="Graham Humphrey"]And without wanting to seem like I''m being incredibly picky I thought we spent 21 seasons in the top flight in total.[/quote]dunno? Gary and the graph I found agreed it was 20...

[William Darby 0]

i said I had a quick tally and I meant we have had more seasons in division 3 than any otherwe haven''t though, we''ve had more seasons in the 2nd tier

[canary cherub 1]

[quote user="Guy Gibsons dog."][quote user="Graham Humphrey"]And without wanting to seem like I''m being incredibly picky I thought we spent 21 seasons in the top flight in total.[/quote]

dunno? Gary and the graph I found agreed it was 20...
[/quote]

It''s 21 if you include 2004/5

 

[GeeBee 0]

I think both recent (last 40 odd years) history and current average matchday attendance (we''re about 18th in the country) would suggest that we don''t belong anywhere near nowadays league 1.

I''m not sure whether Gary isn''t the nom de plume of our current CEO trying to justify our inexcusable fall from grace?

[ricardo 7,348]

[quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]

Not really because all those div 3 seasons were in our early years.

Over the last 50 years our rightfull position has been lower 1st to upper 2nd.

[The 4th Official 0]

[quote user="gary "]

did a quick look back and summarised NCFC league history as

Div 3 - 34 seasons

Div 2 - 27 seasons

Div 1 - 20 seasons    

 

So are we really only returning to our rightful level seeing as that is where we have spent the majority of our league life

 

[/quote]

http://stats.football365.com/hist/postwar/atavgpos.html

In the 56 seasons between the war and 2001/2 Norwich''s average position was 30th - middle of the second tier.

Since then we''ve finished 28th, 21st, 19th, 29th, 36th and 37th. So probably slightly lower, but still mid-table in the 2nd division..

[mickey phelans tash 0]

Isn''t it refreshing to talk about the leagues in Division 1 2 3 4 form again ! 

[shefcanary 2,389]

I''ve just had a look at national statistics as another way of looking at league rights based on population.  Allowing for more than one team in some cities, Norwich rank about 58th in terms of population per club, which again would leave us in the bottom half of the 3rd division.  Currently we are punching above some of the lesser London clubs (Brentford / Orient etc), Leeds, Leicester (but probably not much longer), Bournemouth, Tranmere, Luton, Southend, Aldershot, Gillingham, Northampton, Bristol Rovers and Notts County on this basis. 

On current average attendances of course we are currently 19th in the country.  Put the two of the above together and of course there is quite a remarkable statistic of the club attracting  attendances some 40 places above where we should be in League terms.  This level of support is probably why our club has been able to compete at such a high level for so long (or is it that other places have been so poor for so long that people have given up supporting them - given the findings of the first paragraph thus is not true, as none of those clubs that have struggled have ever had a fanbase like ours except Leeds / Leicester who still have held on to most of their support even in the third). 

So my point.  Let''s hope that somehow the club can get out of the present rut, to contniue to defy the odds.  However there is no right to be where we are and somehow we have to find some form of investment to kick start things again. 

[Mr Brownstone 0]

We do have high expectations of where we think the club should be, and rightly so. It annoys me to the point where i want to break things when people compare our expectations with that of clubs like Wolves, Reading, Southampton, Charlton, Palace etc etc. If you take our recent history, say the last quarter of a century we have accomplished the following: 2 FA Cup Semi Finals, a Playoff Final, a Championship Title, a League Cup Win, 3 top 5 Top Flight Finishes and a famous UEFA Cup run. How many clubs in the Championship, or for that matter the lower half of the Prem can match that?! Not bloody many! So yes, our expectations maybe high, but with justification.

[Mr.Carrow 376]

[quote user="shefcanary"]

I''ve just had a look at national statistics as another way of looking at league rights based on population.  Allowing for more than one team in some cities, Norwich rank about 58th in terms of population per club, which again would leave us in the bottom half of the 3rd division.  Currently we are punching above some of the lesser London clubs (Brentford / Orient etc), Leeds, Leicester (but probably not much longer), Bournemouth, Tranmere, Luton, Southend, Aldershot, Gillingham, Northampton, Bristol Rovers and Notts County on this basis. 

On current average attendances of course we are currently 19th in the country.  Put the two of the above together and of course there is quite a remarkable statistic of the club attracting  attendances some 40 places above where we should be in League terms.  This level of support is probably why our club has been able to compete at such a high level for so long (or is it that other places have been so poor for so long that people have given up supporting them - given the findings of the first paragraph thus is not true, as none of those clubs that have struggled have ever had a fanbase like ours except Leeds / Leicester who still have held on to most of their support even in the third). 

So my point.  Let''s hope that somehow the club can get out of the present rut, to contniue to defy the odds.  However there is no right to be where we are and somehow we have to find some form of investment to kick start things again. 

[/quote]

Those population figures are misleading and arbitrary sheff. as it all depends on where the local government decides to draw the boundaries.  Our official population is 128,000, but in all the "unitary authority" debates in recent years talk was of a Greater Norwich with a population of nearly 300,000 (ie. including the suburbs).

Take ipswich for example- an official population of 150,000 but that is the entire area including suburbs and some outlying villages.