Whats happened to Norwich City (an outsiders request)

[Irish canary 0]

As stated already, thank you for this, it really is the best post iv read on here! Its also very sad reading, the further afield this post goes, the more its read and the more exposure it gets to other websites or papers the better! Thank you Bigfeller! [Y]

[Chris Gorehams Alter Ego 0]

[quote user="Barclay_Boy"]

[quote user="thebigfeller"]Hi concerned-scouse,

First, thankyou for a wonderful, heartwarming post. It''s gratifying to know there are people out there who still remember what this club once stood for. I''m going to answer your question in as complete a way as possible: hopefully it''ll trigger debate, if nothing else!

So, what went wrong? Here''s a potted modern history of Norwich City Football Club, with the most important mistakes emboldened.

1. Failure to quickly remove John Deehan as manager when it was clear he was floundering. That win in front of the Spion Kop occurred under him - yet having inherited the greatest side in our history, he won just two games out of 19 over the rest of 1993/4. Victory at Anfield was like a tribute to the European heroes of six months earlier - but it already felt like a distant dream. The club went into decline the moment Mike Walker departed for Everton, and Ruel Fox and Chris Sutton left soon afterwards.

2. Failure to back him properly, especially in terms of strikers - and Deehan''s failure to adequately replace Bryan Gunn when, on one of the most pivotal days in our entire history, he broke his leg in a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in late December 2004. Open, passing sides need a great goalkeeper. We''d already been winging it for much of that season; in his absence, we suddenly had no protection. Cue one of the worst second half of the season collapses in EPL history, and relegation right at the moment when big money was starting to come into the game - but wiser fans had seen it coming.

3. Failure to come straight back up. Chairman Robert Chase appointed Martin O''Neill on the proviso he would be given ample funds that weren''t there. When O''Neill realised this, it was only a matter of time before he left; when he did, the atmosphere around the club quickly turned poisonous, and the team started to slide. As soon as it became clear we weren''t going to achieve promotion, the banks called in their debts - and suddenly we faced a battle for the club''s entire survival. Thanks to the late, great Geoffrey Watling, who to my mind did more for NCFC than anyone else in our history, Chase was forced out - but having started 1995/6 confidently expected by pundits up and down the land to swiftly return to the top flight, we ended it severely diminished, and effectively back at square one.

4. Our financial position meant many years would have to be spent fighting our debt, meaning little or nothing was made available either to the returning Mike Walker or his successor, Bruce Rioch. Appallingly, and to their eternal shame, Delia Smith''s new board sacked Walker - who against his better judgement, had effectively ridden to our rescue in Summer 1996 - prematurely; then treated Rioch quite disgracefully, hanging him out to dry, describing him as a "square peg in a round hole", and conniving with Director of Football Bryan Hamilton, who effectively stabbed Rioch in the back. Hamilton, despite a managerial CV which made Alan Ball look like Bill Shankly, was immediately appointed, with catastrophic effect - and by Xmas 2000, Norwich were staring at the abyss of the old Third Division.

5. Now, more by luck than judgement, the board finally got something right. Hamilton was replaced with his assistant Nigel Worthington, and relegation avoided. With the board under mounting pressure because of their poor record and Ipswich''s success around that time, Worthington was able to face them down and demand real funds, which he spent wisely. ITV Digital''s deal with the Football League had enabled us to push the boat out a bit; but when it collapsed, it effectively forced us into gambling on promotion. Spending money we hadn''t yet received meant we could only recoup it through a return to the EPL, and failure could''ve left us in an even worse position than we are now. Darren Huckerby''s permanent signing later, as well as those of Leon McKenzie, Matthias Svensson, and the loan signings of Peter Crouch and Kevin Harper, helped us sail to the title in 2004.

6. But here, the mistakes started again, and have never stopped since. Worthington''s decision to release talismanic captain Malky Mackay left the side short of leadership and spirit in the top flight; the board''s failure to sign Dean Ashton in Summer 2004 rather than January 2005 left us short of goals. Even then, the appalling lack of quality within the bottom four that season left us with every chance of survival - but Worthington had never figured out how to win on the road (if you look at his record with Northern Ireland, he still hasn''t!), and leads in crunch games were thrown away like confetti. Norwich were relegated thanks to a humiliating 6-0 clobbering at Fulham: a defeat which has cast a pall over the club ever since, and we''ve never recovered from.

7. Back in the Championship, we were again expected to challenge - but something within the team was wrong. Very wrong, in fact. The manager''s new signings flopped badly, and we spent much of the first half of the campaign in or near the relegation zone. Nigel was clearly past his sell by date, as happens to all except the most exceptional managers eventually; but rather than quietly take him to one side in late Autumn 2005, thank him for the memories and send him on his way, the club staggeringly failed to act. Worthington was allowed to flounder on amid a divisive atmosphere, our crucial parachute payments over halfway to being exhausted.

8. When he finally left in October 2006, time had already almost run out. Into our second and final season of parachute payments, the club needed to appoint a proven manager with a decent track record: some sort of equivalent of Tony Mowbray, if you like. Instead, we plumped for completely unproven Peter Grant. Grant certainly loved the club, and did his very best - but his utterly non-existent man-management skills, appalling signings and tendency to be a one man slag it off if it moves brigade led morale in the dressing room to collapse, and Norwich to slump to bottom of the table - now minus parachute payments - just after his departure in October 2007.

9. Our fast deteriorating financial position meant the idea of any return to the Premier League was now risible. Making matters still  worse was the club''s decision to build the new Jarrold Stand in 2003, and securitise it against future season ticket sales. This increased capacity - but also meant a large proportion of the extra revenue brought in must now necessarily go towards interest on and paying off the loan taken at the time. Other investments in property around the stadium by the board proved wildly optimistic too.

10. Caught between a rock and a hard place, instead of appointing the equivalent of, say, Neil Warnock, who knows his way around this league and even this year, has kept Crystal Palace in a comfortable position while Norwich and Southampton, relegated with Palace in 2005, have plunged towards League 1, the board yet again got it wrong by appointing Glenn Roeder. To be fair to him, Roeder inspired a revival at first; but the signs were bad even by the end of last season, with his and the club''s disgraceful treatment of Darren Huckerby a sign of how out of touch and arrogant he and they were becoming. This season, it became far worse: Roeder''s obsession with loan signings destroying any cohesion or continuity within the team; his contemptuous dismissal of paying supporters who dared question his judgement - and were horribly aware of his dire CV in management - threatening to destroy the one positive remaining at the club: the bond between it and its public.

11. The board had already openly acknowledged it had run out of ideas, and made a complete mess of the approach of wealthy businessman Peter Cullum last summer, as well as losing an anticipated £2m of investment through the abrupt departure of Andrew and Sharon Turner. Just how hard they sought new investment is open to question: many believe Delia''s insistence on only a bona fide Norwich fan being suitable effectively made it close to impossible, and her board''s apparent over-pricing of the club did the rest. With City again in serious relegation trouble, surely this time they''d look for a proven manager? Someone like Aidy Boothroyd, with prior connections to and genuine affection for Norwich, say? But no. Instead, in an utterly reckless gamble, they gave the job to club legend Bryan Gunn - with no prior managerial experience whatever - on the strength of one single game as caretaker.

12. What has followed since has hardly been Gunny''s fault: we all love him, and he stepped up to the plate in extremis. But he should never have been put in such a position in the first place: our predicament demanded wisdom on the part of the board, and they failed utterly. It''s not working for Alan Shearer at Newcastle; it hasn''t worked for Bryan Gunn at Norwich.

Relegation - barring a wholly undeserved get out of jail free card being brandished on Sunday - hasn''t come out of the blue. In truth, there''s been a smell of death about Norwich City FC for at least four years now. You may have noticed the lack of "whatever happened to Norwich City?" articles in the press, in contrast to pieces looking at Charlton, Southampton, or before them, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday or Leeds. There aren''t any because the club sells itself so chronically short. Despite almost 25000 fans continuing to turn up to watch utter dross for four straight seasons, despite being the only club in an entire county, despite the entrepreneurs who''ve moved to Norwich in order to travel into London over the past decade (I appreciate the credit crunch has put the kybosh on this now, but it hardly did so during ten years or so in which the rich got richer and football clubs grew out of all recognition), the club styles itself as "little Norwich", unable to compete, and unwilling to either behave ruthlessly or what it myopically perceives as sell its soul in order to succeed.

For Delia Smith''s board, community comes first every time; winning a poor second. Preposterously, this led them to term our relegation season of 2004/5 a "success"; it''s also led them to place an impossibly high bar on securing new investment and, indeed, to think it''d be alright on the night if we appointed a "Norwich man" as manager. Abundantly clear throughout has been the chronic lack of real footballing expertise within the board, and more latterly, a complete lack of vision or any plan for the future. Smith''s strategy failed when we came down in 2005 and failed to go back up by 2007: she may even have been disillusioned by what modern football seems to have become. But rather than throw the kitchen sink at courting a new buyer, she just became more stubborn than ever: spurning Cullum''s advances as the board muddled on to nowhere fast.

Some observers admire this club for its refusal to bend to the realities of modern football, and maintenance of high principles. But while it''s all very well having a Unique Selling Point, it''s another thing entirely when that refusal to change just results in ever more precipitous decline. Within the last week, Ipswich Town demonstrated their very obvious ambition by appointing Roy Keane as manager, and promising him substantial money to spend on players. Ipswich were taken over last season by someone who is considered good enough as a donor by the Liberal Democrats, but wouldn''t have passed Delia''s fit and proper person test in a million years. Their future is risky, hard to predict in the longer term, but bright; ours - the fabled community club - is all set to be at our lowest level in almost 50 years. The contrast could not be more stark: and if one group of people are to blame above all else for the decline of this football club, it''s Delia Smith and her board. And - perhaps worst of all - I don''t think they''ve learned a thing throughout the entire journey.
[/quote]

BUMP! In case anyone hasn''t read it yet. I am going to email it to Doncaster as I know a few others have as well

[/quote]

 

I could feel the blood boiling whilst reading this post.  Excellent read, makes you miss the old Norwich but now is time for us to put that right.  If only Delia and her cronies read this, it might finally remove thier heads from thier a*ses. 

[komakino 272]

Epic post from the big feller.

All I am going to say is quote Mike Walker when he was sacked from the club: ''You are allowed to have an opinion at Norwich City, as long as it''s the same as Delia Smith''

[Chris Gorehams Alter Ego 0]

Could the Admins make big fellas post a main thread, so it is easier to link to from elsewhere.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

Also maybe a thanks should go to the Liverpool fan who started this whole topic in the first place. [Y]

[John 0]

[quote user="thebigfeller"]Hi concerned-scouse,

First, thankyou for a wonderful, heartwarming post. It''s gratifying to know there are people out there who still remember what this club once stood for. I''m going to answer your question in as complete a way as possible: hopefully it''ll trigger debate, if nothing else!

So, what went wrong? Here''s a potted modern history of Norwich City Football Club, with the most important mistakes emboldened.

1. Failure to quickly remove John Deehan as manager when it was clear he was floundering. That win in front of the Spion Kop occurred under him - yet having inherited the greatest side in our history, he won just two games out of 19 over the rest of 1993/4. Victory at Anfield was like a tribute to the European heroes of six months earlier - but it already felt like a distant dream. The club went into decline the moment Mike Walker departed for Everton, and Ruel Fox and Chris Sutton left soon afterwards.

2. Failure to back him properly, especially in terms of strikers - and Deehan''s failure to adequately replace Bryan Gunn when, on one of the most pivotal days in our entire history, he broke his leg in a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in late December 2004. Open, passing sides need a great goalkeeper. We''d already been winging it for much of that season; in his absence, we suddenly had no protection. Cue one of the worst second half of the season collapses in EPL history, and relegation right at the moment when big money was starting to come into the game - but wiser fans had seen it coming.

3. Failure to come straight back up. Chairman Robert Chase appointed Martin O''Neill on the proviso he would be given ample funds that weren''t there. When O''Neill realised this, it was only a matter of time before he left; when he did, the atmosphere around the club quickly turned poisonous, and the team started to slide. As soon as it became clear we weren''t going to achieve promotion, the banks called in their debts - and suddenly we faced a battle for the club''s entire survival. Thanks to the late, great Geoffrey Watling, who to my mind did more for NCFC than anyone else in our history, Chase was forced out - but having started 1995/6 confidently expected by pundits up and down the land to swiftly return to the top flight, we ended it severely diminished, and effectively back at square one.

4. Our financial position meant many years would have to be spent fighting our debt, meaning little or nothing was made available either to the returning Mike Walker or his successor, Bruce Rioch. Appallingly, and to their eternal shame, Delia Smith''s new board sacked Walker - who against his better judgement, had effectively ridden to our rescue in Summer 1996 - prematurely; then treated Rioch quite disgracefully, hanging him out to dry, describing him as a "square peg in a round hole", and conniving with Director of Football Bryan Hamilton, who effectively stabbed Rioch in the back. Hamilton, despite a managerial CV which made Alan Ball look like Bill Shankly, was immediately appointed, with catastrophic effect - and by Xmas 2000, Norwich were staring at the abyss of the old Third Division.

5. Now, more by luck than judgement, the board finally got something right. Hamilton was replaced with his assistant Nigel Worthington, and relegation avoided. With the board under mounting pressure because of their poor record and Ipswich''s success around that time, Worthington was able to face them down and demand real funds, which he spent wisely. ITV Digital''s deal with the Football League had enabled us to push the boat out a bit; but when it collapsed, it effectively forced us into gambling on promotion. Spending money we hadn''t yet received meant we could only recoup it through a return to the EPL, and failure could''ve left us in an even worse position than we are now. Darren Huckerby''s permanent signing later, as well as those of Leon McKenzie, Matthias Svensson, and the loan signings of Peter Crouch and Kevin Harper, helped us sail to the title in 2004.

6. But here, the mistakes started again, and have never stopped since. Worthington''s decision to release talismanic captain Malky Mackay left the side short of leadership and spirit in the top flight; the board''s failure to sign Dean Ashton in Summer 2004 rather than January 2005 left us short of goals. Even then, the appalling lack of quality within the bottom four that season left us with every chance of survival - but Worthington had never figured out how to win on the road (if you look at his record with Northern Ireland, he still hasn''t!), and leads in crunch games were thrown away like confetti. Norwich were relegated thanks to a humiliating 6-0 clobbering at Fulham: a defeat which has cast a pall over the club ever since, and we''ve never recovered from.

7. Back in the Championship, we were again expected to challenge - but something within the team was wrong. Very wrong, in fact. The manager''s new signings flopped badly, and we spent much of the first half of the campaign in or near the relegation zone. Nigel was clearly past his sell by date, as happens to all except the most exceptional managers eventually; but rather than quietly take him to one side in late Autumn 2005, thank him for the memories and send him on his way, the club staggeringly failed to act. Worthington was allowed to flounder on amid a divisive atmosphere, our crucial parachute payments over halfway to being exhausted.

8. When he finally left in October 2006, time had already almost run out. Into our second and final season of parachute payments, the club needed to appoint a proven manager with a decent track record: some sort of equivalent of Tony Mowbray, if you like. Instead, we plumped for completely unproven Peter Grant. Grant certainly loved the club, and did his very best - but his utterly non-existent man-management skills, appalling signings and tendency to be a one man slag it off if it moves brigade led morale in the dressing room to collapse, and Norwich to slump to bottom of the table - now minus parachute payments - just after his departure in October 2007.

9. Our fast deteriorating financial position meant the idea of any return to the Premier League was now risible. Making matters still  worse was the club''s decision to build the new Jarrold Stand in 2003, and securitise it against future season ticket sales. This increased capacity - but also meant a large proportion of the extra revenue brought in must now necessarily go towards interest on and paying off the loan taken at the time. Other investments in property around the stadium by the board proved wildly optimistic too.

10. Caught between a rock and a hard place, instead of appointing the equivalent of, say, Neil Warnock, who knows his way around this league and even this year, has kept Crystal Palace in a comfortable position while Norwich and Southampton, relegated with Palace in 2005, have plunged towards League 1, the board yet again got it wrong by appointing Glenn Roeder. To be fair to him, Roeder inspired a revival at first; but the signs were bad even by the end of last season, with his and the club''s disgraceful treatment of Darren Huckerby a sign of how out of touch and arrogant he and they were becoming. This season, it became far worse: Roeder''s obsession with loan signings destroying any cohesion or continuity within the team; his contemptuous dismissal of paying supporters who dared question his judgement - and were horribly aware of his dire CV in management - threatening to destroy the one positive remaining at the club: the bond between it and its public.

11. The board had already openly acknowledged it had run out of ideas, and made a complete mess of the approach of wealthy businessman Peter Cullum last summer, as well as losing an anticipated £2m of investment through the abrupt departure of Andrew and Sharon Turner. Just how hard they sought new investment is open to question: many believe Delia''s insistence on only a bona fide Norwich fan being suitable effectively made it close to impossible, and her board''s apparent over-pricing of the club did the rest. With City again in serious relegation trouble, surely this time they''d look for a proven manager? Someone like Aidy Boothroyd, with prior connections to and genuine affection for Norwich, say? But no. Instead, in an utterly reckless gamble, they gave the job to club legend Bryan Gunn - with no prior managerial experience whatever - on the strength of one single game as caretaker.

12. What has followed since has hardly been Gunny''s fault: we all love him, and he stepped up to the plate in extremis. But he should never have been put in such a position in the first place: our predicament demanded wisdom on the part of the board, and they failed utterly. It''s not working for Alan Shearer at Newcastle; it hasn''t worked for Bryan Gunn at Norwich.

Relegation - barring a wholly undeserved get out of jail free card being brandished on Sunday - hasn''t come out of the blue. In truth, there''s been a smell of death about Norwich City FC for at least four years now. You may have noticed the lack of "whatever happened to Norwich City?" articles in the press, in contrast to pieces looking at Charlton, Southampton, or before them, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday or Leeds. There aren''t any because the club sells itself so chronically short. Despite almost 25000 fans continuing to turn up to watch utter dross for four straight seasons, despite being the only club in an entire county, despite the entrepreneurs who''ve moved to Norwich in order to travel into London over the past decade (I appreciate the credit crunch has put the kybosh on this now, but it hardly did so during ten years or so in which the rich got richer and football clubs grew out of all recognition), the club styles itself as "little Norwich", unable to compete, and unwilling to either behave ruthlessly or what it myopically perceives as sell its soul in order to succeed.

For Delia Smith''s board, community comes first every time; winning a poor second. Preposterously, this led them to term our relegation season of 2004/5 a "success"; it''s also led them to place an impossibly high bar on securing new investment and, indeed, to think it''d be alright on the night if we appointed a "Norwich man" as manager. Abundantly clear throughout has been the chronic lack of real footballing expertise within the board, and more latterly, a complete lack of vision or any plan for the future. Smith''s strategy failed when we came down in 2005 and failed to go back up by 2007: she may even have been disillusioned by what modern football seems to have become. But rather than throw the kitchen sink at courting a new buyer, she just became more stubborn than ever: spurning Cullum''s advances as the board muddled on to nowhere fast.

Some observers admire this club for its refusal to bend to the realities of modern football, and maintenance of high principles. But while it''s all very well having a Unique Selling Point, it''s another thing entirely when that refusal to change just results in ever more precipitous decline. Within the last week, Ipswich Town demonstrated their very obvious ambition by appointing Roy Keane as manager, and promising him substantial money to spend on players. Ipswich were taken over last season by someone who is considered good enough as a donor by the Liberal Democrats, but wouldn''t have passed Delia''s fit and proper person test in a million years. Their future is risky, hard to predict in the longer term, but bright; ours - the fabled community club - is all set to be at our lowest level in almost 50 years. The contrast could not be more stark: and if one group of people are to blame above all else for the decline of this football club, it''s Delia Smith and her board. And - perhaps worst of all - I don''t think they''ve learned a thing throughout the entire journey.
[/quote]

 

In the years i''ve read message boards, of any kind, be it football, or something entirely different, i have never read a post, article, comment, or whatever form a statement may be in, of such brilliance.

Fans have never been able to put what has happened to our club into words, up until now i believe. It was so entirely satifying reading that post, as it really does sum up the overall truth of it all

Have this post shown across the land, let it be known what happened to our once beautiful club, now on it''s death bed.

[Barry Brockes 147]

Having followed City through thick and thin since 1962 (my first match was at home to Charlton ironically enough) I am still in a state of shock at the very likely prospect of having to watch them in the third tier of English football next season for the first time. An excellent post big fella which has done nothing for my morale but it does bring home the shocking state our club has got itself into courtesy of half a dozen well-meaning but totally incompetent board members. The only point I would add would be in the area of paragraph 11. For me, the final proof that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing was their totally misguided approach to the Northern Irish FA for permission to speak to Nigel Worthington. Whatever the terms of whatever they had in mind is totally irrelevant. How out of touch with reality can you be to even dream up such a plan. How these board members can have been ''successful'' in their other jobs allowing them the priviledge of ruining, sorry running, our great club will forever remain a mystery to me. 

[Yella7 0]

Great post Big Fella sums it up to a tee

[Saint Canary 0]

Again I would like to add that the post by thebigfeller is the best post I have read for a long time.  Point by point the nail has been hit firmly on the head but the best point for me was the very simple sentence that the board have learnt nothing.  I 100% agree and this is why we are where we now are and why for the first time in my life, I will be watching City play in the third tier of English.  I would add a final point that the board have be been completely reactive in their tenure and in no way proactive when it has come to footballing matters.  Time and time again we have seen procrastination over whether to sign players because of the fear of "doing a Leeds".  Well, from being the polar opposite to Leeds we are likely to find ourselves in exactly the same situation, in league 2 struggling to service  debts.  I posted on here shortly before Grant left us that before too long there will be a phrase about not wanting to "do a Norwich".  In the same way that Leeds'' overspending has cost them, our chronic underspending will cost us just the same. 

[Mr.Carrow 376]

Further to your post Saint, one thing us, Charlton and Saints have got in common is being £20m plus in debt.  Now as blinkered apologists such as "T" are quick to point out, you cannot get bank loans to pay for players, therefore these debts (other than director loans) have been built up to pay for infrastructure.  In other words these clubs have been quite happy to spend big money, just not on the team.

I think current evidence indicates that building up huge debts to pay for infrastructure whilst the quality of the team declines, is even more likely to lead to financial and footballing decline than splashing out on good players.

[Southern Canary 0]

Best post i have ever read on here, great work Bigfella.

I have sent the post onto Mr. Doncaster, and lets see what the reply is!

 

 

Lets keep getting this post the exposure it deserves.

[WeAreYellows49 0]

Couldn''t agree more AshGower

[kdncfc 0]

Excellent post, I only wish I was clever enough to put what I feel into words as you have done. Well done bigfella.

[Fluff 0]

simple really

http://www.pinkun.com/cs/forums/1658435/ShowPost.aspx

[Taxing 0]

[quote user="Fluff"]

simple really

http://www.pinkun.com/cs/forums/1658435/ShowPost.aspx

[/quote]

 

Ha ha, the succint and to the point version !

[AP16 0]

[quote user="John"]

[quote user="thebigfeller"]Hi concerned-scouse,

First, thankyou for a wonderful, heartwarming post. It''s gratifying to know there are people out there who still remember what this club once stood for. I''m going to answer your question in as complete a way as possible: hopefully it''ll trigger debate, if nothing else!

So, what went wrong? Here''s a potted modern history of Norwich City Football Club, with the most important mistakes emboldened.

1. Failure to quickly remove John Deehan as manager when it was clear he was floundering. That win in front of the Spion Kop occurred under him - yet having inherited the greatest side in our history, he won just two games out of 19 over the rest of 1993/4. Victory at Anfield was like a tribute to the European heroes of six months earlier - but it already felt like a distant dream. The club went into decline the moment Mike Walker departed for Everton, and Ruel Fox and Chris Sutton left soon afterwards.

2. Failure to back him properly, especially in terms of strikers - and Deehan''s failure to adequately replace Bryan Gunn when, on one of the most pivotal days in our entire history, he broke his leg in a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in late December 2004. Open, passing sides need a great goalkeeper. We''d already been winging it for much of that season; in his absence, we suddenly had no protection. Cue one of the worst second half of the season collapses in EPL history, and relegation right at the moment when big money was starting to come into the game - but wiser fans had seen it coming.

3. Failure to come straight back up. Chairman Robert Chase appointed Martin O''Neill on the proviso he would be given ample funds that weren''t there. When O''Neill realised this, it was only a matter of time before he left; when he did, the atmosphere around the club quickly turned poisonous, and the team started to slide. As soon as it became clear we weren''t going to achieve promotion, the banks called in their debts - and suddenly we faced a battle for the club''s entire survival. Thanks to the late, great Geoffrey Watling, who to my mind did more for NCFC than anyone else in our history, Chase was forced out - but having started 1995/6 confidently expected by pundits up and down the land to swiftly return to the top flight, we ended it severely diminished, and effectively back at square one.

4. Our financial position meant many years would have to be spent fighting our debt, meaning little or nothing was made available either to the returning Mike Walker or his successor, Bruce Rioch. Appallingly, and to their eternal shame, Delia Smith''s new board sacked Walker - who against his better judgement, had effectively ridden to our rescue in Summer 1996 - prematurely; then treated Rioch quite disgracefully, hanging him out to dry, describing him as a "square peg in a round hole", and conniving with Director of Football Bryan Hamilton, who effectively stabbed Rioch in the back. Hamilton, despite a managerial CV which made Alan Ball look like Bill Shankly, was immediately appointed, with catastrophic effect - and by Xmas 2000, Norwich were staring at the abyss of the old Third Division.

5. Now, more by luck than judgement, the board finally got something right. Hamilton was replaced with his assistant Nigel Worthington, and relegation avoided. With the board under mounting pressure because of their poor record and Ipswich''s success around that time, Worthington was able to face them down and demand real funds, which he spent wisely. ITV Digital''s deal with the Football League had enabled us to push the boat out a bit; but when it collapsed, it effectively forced us into gambling on promotion. Spending money we hadn''t yet received meant we could only recoup it through a return to the EPL, and failure could''ve left us in an even worse position than we are now. Darren Huckerby''s permanent signing later, as well as those of Leon McKenzie, Matthias Svensson, and the loan signings of Peter Crouch and Kevin Harper, helped us sail to the title in 2004.

6. But here, the mistakes started again, and have never stopped since. Worthington''s decision to release talismanic captain Malky Mackay left the side short of leadership and spirit in the top flight; the board''s failure to sign Dean Ashton in Summer 2004 rather than January 2005 left us short of goals. Even then, the appalling lack of quality within the bottom four that season left us with every chance of survival - but Worthington had never figured out how to win on the road (if you look at his record with Northern Ireland, he still hasn''t!), and leads in crunch games were thrown away like confetti. Norwich were relegated thanks to a humiliating 6-0 clobbering at Fulham: a defeat which has cast a pall over the club ever since, and we''ve never recovered from.

7. Back in the Championship, we were again expected to challenge - but something within the team was wrong. Very wrong, in fact. The manager''s new signings flopped badly, and we spent much of the first half of the campaign in or near the relegation zone. Nigel was clearly past his sell by date, as happens to all except the most exceptional managers eventually; but rather than quietly take him to one side in late Autumn 2005, thank him for the memories and send him on his way, the club staggeringly failed to act. Worthington was allowed to flounder on amid a divisive atmosphere, our crucial parachute payments over halfway to being exhausted.

8. When he finally left in October 2006, time had already almost run out. Into our second and final season of parachute payments, the club needed to appoint a proven manager with a decent track record: some sort of equivalent of Tony Mowbray, if you like. Instead, we plumped for completely unproven Peter Grant. Grant certainly loved the club, and did his very best - but his utterly non-existent man-management skills, appalling signings and tendency to be a one man slag it off if it moves brigade led morale in the dressing room to collapse, and Norwich to slump to bottom of the table - now minus parachute payments - just after his departure in October 2007.

9. Our fast deteriorating financial position meant the idea of any return to the Premier League was now risible. Making matters still  worse was the club''s decision to build the new Jarrold Stand in 2003, and securitise it against future season ticket sales. This increased capacity - but also meant a large proportion of the extra revenue brought in must now necessarily go towards interest on and paying off the loan taken at the time. Other investments in property around the stadium by the board proved wildly optimistic too.

10. Caught between a rock and a hard place, instead of appointing the equivalent of, say, Neil Warnock, who knows his way around this league and even this year, has kept Crystal Palace in a comfortable position while Norwich and Southampton, relegated with Palace in 2005, have plunged towards League 1, the board yet again got it wrong by appointing Glenn Roeder. To be fair to him, Roeder inspired a revival at first; but the signs were bad even by the end of last season, with his and the club''s disgraceful treatment of Darren Huckerby a sign of how out of touch and arrogant he and they were becoming. This season, it became far worse: Roeder''s obsession with loan signings destroying any cohesion or continuity within the team; his contemptuous dismissal of paying supporters who dared question his judgement - and were horribly aware of his dire CV in management - threatening to destroy the one positive remaining at the club: the bond between it and its public.

11. The board had already openly acknowledged it had run out of ideas, and made a complete mess of the approach of wealthy businessman Peter Cullum last summer, as well as losing an anticipated £2m of investment through the abrupt departure of Andrew and Sharon Turner. Just how hard they sought new investment is open to question: many believe Delia''s insistence on only a bona fide Norwich fan being suitable effectively made it close to impossible, and her board''s apparent over-pricing of the club did the rest. With City again in serious relegation trouble, surely this time they''d look for a proven manager? Someone like Aidy Boothroyd, with prior connections to and genuine affection for Norwich, say? But no. Instead, in an utterly reckless gamble, they gave the job to club legend Bryan Gunn - with no prior managerial experience whatever - on the strength of one single game as caretaker.

12. What has followed since has hardly been Gunny''s fault: we all love him, and he stepped up to the plate in extremis. But he should never have been put in such a position in the first place: our predicament demanded wisdom on the part of the board, and they failed utterly. It''s not working for Alan Shearer at Newcastle; it hasn''t worked for Bryan Gunn at Norwich.

Relegation - barring a wholly undeserved get out of jail free card being brandished on Sunday - hasn''t come out of the blue. In truth, there''s been a smell of death about Norwich City FC for at least four years now. You may have noticed the lack of "whatever happened to Norwich City?" articles in the press, in contrast to pieces looking at Charlton, Southampton, or before them, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday or Leeds. There aren''t any because the club sells itself so chronically short. Despite almost 25000 fans continuing to turn up to watch utter dross for four straight seasons, despite being the only club in an entire county, despite the entrepreneurs who''ve moved to Norwich in order to travel into London over the past decade (I appreciate the credit crunch has put the kybosh on this now, but it hardly did so during ten years or so in which the rich got richer and football clubs grew out of all recognition), the club styles itself as "little Norwich", unable to compete, and unwilling to either behave ruthlessly or what it myopically perceives as sell its soul in order to succeed.

For Delia Smith''s board, community comes first every time; winning a poor second. Preposterously, this led them to term our relegation season of 2004/5 a "success"; it''s also led them to place an impossibly high bar on securing new investment and, indeed, to think it''d be alright on the night if we appointed a "Norwich man" as manager. Abundantly clear throughout has been the chronic lack of real footballing expertise within the board, and more latterly, a complete lack of vision or any plan for the future. Smith''s strategy failed when we came down in 2005 and failed to go back up by 2007: she may even have been disillusioned by what modern football seems to have become. But rather than throw the kitchen sink at courting a new buyer, she just became more stubborn than ever: spurning Cullum''s advances as the board muddled on to nowhere fast.

Some observers admire this club for its refusal to bend to the realities of modern football, and maintenance of high principles. But while it''s all very well having a Unique Selling Point, it''s another thing entirely when that refusal to change just results in ever more precipitous decline. Within the last week, Ipswich Town demonstrated their very obvious ambition by appointing Roy Keane as manager, and promising him substantial money to spend on players. Ipswich were taken over last season by someone who is considered good enough as a donor by the Liberal Democrats, but wouldn''t have passed Delia''s fit and proper person test in a million years. Their future is risky, hard to predict in the longer term, but bright; ours - the fabled community club - is all set to be at our lowest level in almost 50 years. The contrast could not be more stark: and if one group of people are to blame above all else for the decline of this football club, it''s Delia Smith and her board. And - perhaps worst of all - I don''t think they''ve learned a thing throughout the entire journey.
[/quote]

 

In the years i''ve read message boards, of any kind, be it football, or something entirely different, i have never read a post, article, comment, or whatever form a statement may be in, of such brilliance.

Fans have never been able to put what has happened to our club into words, up until now i believe. It was so entirely satifying reading that post, as it really does sum up the overall truth of it all

Have this post shown across the land, let it be known what happened to our once beautiful club, now on it''s death bed.

[/quote]

 

I am speechless. What a post.

[Yellow Wal 314]

The Susan Boyle of the Forums ........ brilliant, truthful, excellent ...... and leaving us in tears!

[Herman 9,756]

Firstly thanks to our Scouse friend.Very kind words and very much appreciated!!

Also brilliant post to the  ''thebigfeller''.Yes it is long. It will also make you wince,cringe,cry and bang your head on the wall but it is a ''MUST READ''.Cheers pal.

(Cheers also to the people who ''bumped'' it,been at work all day with the strop on and may have missed an essential post.)

[Disco Stu 0]

Superb post bigfella. everything you said was so so true.

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]

Nice work bigfeller - as  many others have said, this is an excellent account. I agree with 90% of it, and how astute of you to trace the beginning of the end all the way back to Gunny''s injury and Deehan''s lack of judgement in replacing him. Simon Tracey - the name just makes me feel sick.

I have one tiny correction - Malky was never captain, and while he did provide leadership, I think the biggest mistake was in not replacing him, rather than in letting him go. I think he would have been seriously out of his depth in the Prem (just as Craig Fleming was, who read the game much better than Malky at the back).

And I have two questions. How did Hamilton stab Rioch in the back? I am not disputing this, I''ve just not heard it before. Anyone who can provide further info about the end of the Rioch reign, that would be much appreciated.

Why was building the Jarrold a mistake? My understanding was that the old South stand had to be pulled down. We needed more capacity - how else were we supposed to pay for it?

Any thoughts on these two matters greatly appreciated. But, again, top post. It''s great to read such a considered account - makes a change from the childish point-scoring.

[/quote]Hi Robert,To answer your questions: a few months after Rioch left, I spoke to a prominent NCFC staff member from the time (from the commercial side, not the football side). He was horrified at what happened, and described it as "constructive dismissal". The problem was that Hamilton had the ear of Smith, Wynn Jones and the appalling Bob Cooper: they liked him, were fooled by his charm and blarney, and increasingly came to the view that Rioch didn''t ''fit'' Norwich whereas Hamilton did. In the weeks before Rioch''s exit, rumours began circulating that the board wanted to scrap the reserve team and reduce the first team squad to an absurdly low number: it was too much for Bruce, and naturally so. So he left - whereupon in a desperate attempt to prove their ''ambition'', the board allowed Hamilton to sign a bunch of no-marks on transfer deadline day just for the hell of it. Bear in mind that BH was only caretaker manager at this point - yet they''d clearly already decided to install him regardless.Did they at any point bother to check out his frightening prior record? Quite clearly, they did not. The local Norfolk press is among the most placid and docile in the whole country - yet even they turned against Hamilton and the club the following season, because reports coming out of Colney were so alarming. Iwan Roberts explains what Hamilton was like in his autobiography: and from memory, at one point we faced the prospect of all four of our most important players being out of contract and leaving at the end of 2000/1. In the end, Hamilton only left because the players had a vote of no confidence against him: and what did the board do? They blamed the press for ''forcing him out''. It was disgusting - and astoundingly myopic. But did they learn anything? No; I don''t believe they did.Sure, we had to pull the South Stand down. But did the Jarrold Stand have to cost as much as it did - and could we afford to pay for it through securitisation? The board made a series of ludicrous financial estimates at the time, as well as punts on property which did not pay off; and because securitisation locked us in, it meant we''d never see the commercial benefits of an increased capacity filter through to the team. That''s a big reason why, despite our gates, we''re continually told there''s no money: much of the cash from ST sales goes to paying off the loan! So long term, has the Jarrold Stand delivered what it was supposed to? No - as our league position abundantly demonstrates.

[Old Shuck 183]

Thankyou Scouser and thankyou BigFella, Concerned Scouse for his thoughts and Big Fella for his epic post, the "Paradise Lost" of the Pink Un messageboard.Being known in these ere'' furrin parts as a Norwich fan, I have had lots of people who support other clubs on at me about us-all season, and especially now. They simply can''t believe what has happened to the club-it seems clear that our stock is high with fans of other clubs and amongst players as well (Jamie Carragher is very complementary about us in his autobiography), I think people are half thinking "...if it can happen to Norwich, then it can happen to us..." and there is a lot of ''there but for the grace of God go we in their thoughts.Chatted to my Dad today, said I wasn''t upset as much as I was angry-the sentiment of so many on here.When we lost the play off final to Brum, I cried-seems silly now, football match and all that, but the club still seemed something to be proud of then, so the reaction was a natural one. Last night-no sadness, no tears, just anger and a feeling of great impotence that we, fans that go every week, many regularly, others, like me, as much as they can, can repeatedly be ignored, repeatedly not have our hopes and wishes for the club acknowledged, repeatedly be taken for granted......and then I thought, of course we can be ignored, of course we can have our hopes and wishes for the club disregarded, of course we can be taken for granted-we''re only the fans for f''s sake!I hope Ipswich storm the league next season. No, really. It will show how we are polar opposites and be very, very uncomfortable for our board to witness. As it is,  Peterborough, a club that had a plan, a club that had ambition, they are going to be where we ought to be,  and we, if we go down, are going to be looking up at them. Times have changed. Good luck to them as well.Seismic changes are needed at Norwich and starting NOW! But do those at the club realise this or are they going to fumble and bumble along some more, thinking all is well? Suspect the latter. The more things change...

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="canary cherub "]

Excellent post from the Big Fella I agree. 

Just one minor quibble with point 5 though.  The collapse of ITV Digital was a temporary blip which was more or less covered by the share issue in 2002.  It also affected every club in the division so we cannot claim to have suffered at the expense of our rivals. 

Our financial problems arose after that when the board massively overborrowed in 2003, trebling the club''s debt overnight and saddling themselves with a repayment schedule which has dictated how the club spends its money ever since.  It will continue to do so for another 9 years, barring substantial new investment. 

 

[/quote]Hi CC,The share issue got us out of a deep hole, I agree - but medium and long term, we were still in trouble. ITV Digital''s collapse affected many clubs: but its implications were especially serious for Norwich and Watford, both of whom had spent significant amounts in the transfer market in the expectation of being reimbursed through the TV deal. When it collapsed, Watford flirted with administration and toiled for several seasons afterwards. Norwich had the chance to escape the implications by winning in Cardiff - but we blew it, and I remember my Spurs-supporting brother telling me that he''d read an interview with Doncaster in which he stated that if we weren''t promoted by 2004, we''d have to make very serious cuts. So when we really pushed the boat out and went for it in 2003/4, my conclusion was that the club figured it was a case of "in for a penny, in for a pound": it was our last chance to make it basically, and by doing so, we escaped the worst of what could''ve resulted by bringing in a season''s worth of EPL revenue.

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="Barry Brockes"]

 The only point I would add would be in the area of paragraph 11. For me, the final proof that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing was their totally misguided approach to the Northern Irish FA for permission to speak to Nigel Worthington. Whatever the terms of whatever they had in mind is totally irrelevant. How out of touch with reality can you be to even dream up such a plan. How these board members can have been ''successful'' in their other jobs allowing them the priviledge of ruining, sorry running, our great club will forever remain a mystery to me. 

[/quote]That''s an excellent point Barry. I completely agree.

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="sgncfc"]

I agree that Big Fella''s post is superb - so nice to see some intelligent, structured comment on what is usually a kiddies rant site. Just one thing omitted in my opinion and that is the effect of Sky money and player greed during the period of our demise. Very few boards or managers could have done anything vastly differently in my opinion because of this millstone.

Put simply, wealth cascades downwards. So we now have clubs like Newcastle and Middlesbro about to leave the Prem despite their wealthy backers, because most of the clubs above them have BIGGER wealthy backers. The successful Championship clubs (with one or two notable exceptions) also have wealthy backers. The reason we, Charlton and Southampton are going further down the tree is because we can no longer even compete with this level. Our backer isn''t big enough.

Look at the clubs coming up from League One. Look at the ones making moves upwards in League Two and the Conference. With almost no exceptions they have financial muscle.

When you have a player like Lee Croft supposedly after £9,000 a week it illustrates the problem. I like Crofty as a player. He works hard. But lets be honest, even if he may be the best player in the 42nd best football club in England is he really worth this kind of money? Let me re-state that - He may be the best player at the 42nd best club in England. He is in his early 20''s and he wants almost half a million pounds a year in salary. In a recession. From a club about to be in the Third Division.

What income does he generate? How many people pay to see him? Would 1200 people not go every week if he wasn''t here? Crucially - why does he think he should get this kind of reward for failure?

But he can easily get that at 20 of the 41 clubs ranked above us. Maybe more.That''s our problem.

Yes, Doncaster is an overpaid, incompetent, uncommunicative buffoon. Yes, Delia and MWJ have made mistakes. Yes, our managers have been poor. But all in all while the Liverpools and Chelseas and Man Utd''s cream the money and make everyone else sprint to keep up, those of us who can''t have no chance.

So Mr Scouser, I accept your tinted memories with the good grace they were offered - but please don''t try to pretend that you are not part of our problem. Until the FA and the Premiership sees the bigger picture and  redistributes the cash or Sky withdraws the big bucks, we and clubs like us have no chance.

[/quote]Sure, modern football''s changed. But does that either explain or excuse the cascade (to use a word you employed) of mistakes the board have made throughout their tenure? No - no it does not. What does SKY''s hold over the EPL have to do with their inertia for a whole year when Worthington should''ve dismissed, and ridiculous appointments of Grant, Roeder and Gunn (not that the latter is to blame in any way)? Nothing. Instead, it''s given them a ready made excuse: "We can''t compete. Football isn''t fair." But that spineless attitude is a complete betrayal of the fans of this club: as I said, the board prioritise community over winning, and look where it''s got us.The two year window of parachute payments has made it very difficult for clubs who fall out of the EPL if they don''t get back within that period - but that means the board needed to be at their most focused and on the ball between 2005 and 2007, yet they proved the exact opposite. Failing to dismiss Worthington - then hedging their bets, and refusing to back him properly in the transfer market either - was utterly disastrous. The repercussions have left us where we are today; yet the board learnt so little from the saga that, as Barry has said, they even tried to get him back a few months ago! Meanwhile, Charlton and Southampton are in such a dire position because of boardroom incompetence worse than or at least equal to our own. Charlton spent two seasons'' worth of money in a single summer when Curbishley left and Dowie was appointed; then panicked and sacked Dowie prematurely; then appointed the ludicrous Les Reed! Relegation devastated them, because they''d overspent so catastrophically. And Saints, who already had a bloated, largely useless squad under Harry Redknapp, gave George Burley crazy amounts of money to spend when he was appointed - because their board thought a large transfusion of cash was about to come their way via external investment. But the investment didn''t happen, meaning they had one chance to gain promotion or be destroyed. When Derby knocked them out of the 2007 play-offs on penalties, the die was cast: they were *this* close to administration that very summer, and the slide has continued ever since.What the parachute payments system has done is separate the wheat from the chaff: the well, ruthlessly run clubs from the lazy, ineptly run ones. For a club our size to be relegated from this league, you have to be run with the most staggering level of incompetence: that certainly applied to Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Queens Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City when they went down; it applies to Charlton, Southampton and Norwich now. But it doesn''t apply to West Brom, Birmingham, Reading, or at a more moderate level Crystal Palace; and it certainly doesn''t to Stoke, Hull, Preston or Burnley. All smaller clubs than ourselves; all doing very nicely thankyou. Good grief: Blackpool have stayed up for a second straight season, Doncaster have survived as well - how can they do it, but not us? Answer: our board.

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="Old Shuck"]I hope Ipswich storm the league next season. No, really. It will show how we are polar opposites and be very, very uncomfortable for our board to witness. [/quote]It''s no coincidence that Norwich finally got our act together around the time Ipswich were doing so well in the top flight. It focused minds and put pressure on the board; and the gap was closed remarkably quickly. I hope Keane is unsuccessful there, but strongly suspect he''ll be the very opposite; and if it takes Ipswich to prosper for us to finally wake up to ourselves, so be it,

[Barry Brockes 147]

Spot on again bigfeller.  I''m just a simple Norfolk soul who doesn''t pretend to understand many of the detailed financial discussions which take place on this forum but what I do know is that we have received significant parachute payments, have one of the top three home crowds in this division and over the last few years have sold a number of players for profits running into millions of pounds. A number of clubs who, the odds are, unlike us, will be in this league next season have no more a wealthy benefactor than we do, have not received parachute payments, have derisory home gates and have not sold any million pound plus players. Rather points the fickle finger in the direction of the board room doesn''t it. 

[canary cherub 1]

[quote user="thebigfeller"][quote user="canary cherub "]

Excellent post from the Big Fella I agree. 

Just one minor quibble with point 5 though.  The collapse of ITV Digital was a temporary blip which was more or less covered by the share issue in 2002.  It also affected every club in the division so we cannot claim to have suffered at the expense of our rivals. 

Our financial problems arose after that when the board massively overborrowed in 2003, trebling the club''s debt overnight and saddling themselves with a repayment schedule which has dictated how the club spends its money ever since.  It will continue to do so for another 9 years, barring substantial new investment. 

 

[/quote]

Hi CC,

The share issue got us out of a deep hole, I agree - but medium and long term, we were still in trouble. ITV Digital''s collapse affected many clubs: but its implications were especially serious for Norwich and Watford, both of whom had spent significant amounts in the transfer market in the expectation of being reimbursed through the TV deal. When it collapsed, Watford flirted with administration and toiled for several seasons afterwards. Norwich had the chance to escape the implications by winning in Cardiff - but we blew it, and I remember my Spurs-supporting brother telling me that he''d read an interview with Doncaster in which he stated that if we weren''t promoted by 2004, we''d have to make very serious cuts. So when we really pushed the boat out and went for it in 2003/4, my conclusion was that the club figured it was a case of "in for a penny, in for a pound": it was our last chance to make it basically, and by doing so, we escaped the worst of what could''ve resulted by bringing in a season''s worth of EPL revenue.
[/quote]

I take your point big man - but what did you make of the palaver over signing Hucks?  The nearest thing you''ll ever get in football to a guarantee of automatic promotion and it so nearly didn''t happen.  Apparently it took Carl Moore approaching Barry Skipper (note: not the club chairman, chief exec or majority shareholders) on Christmas Eve to rescue a deal that appeared dead in the water.  If we really were pushing the boat out what was all that about, any ideas? 

In my view you don''t give Worthy enough credit for what he did with a not particularly big or expensive squad.  He may have run out of ideas by the end of 2005/6 but we still finished 9th.  Look at the record of the managers we''ve had since 1996 and his stands out a mile - 15th (caretaker season, took over when 20th), 6th (playoff final), 8th, 1st, 19th (Prem) and 9th.  A level of achievement we can barely dream of now. 

 

[Saint Canary 0]

[quote user="thebigfeller"] Failing to dismiss Worthington - then hedging their bets, and refusing to back him properly in the transfer market either - was utterly disastrous. [/quote]I agree and when talking to friends at the pub after games or at work I always point to this as being the boards biggest error.  There are a lot to choose from but I still think this was the big one.  For me this sums up perfectly a point I often make about our board sitting around on their hands watching things happen rather than making things happen.  That summer to which you refer is probably the the biggest reason we are where we find ourselves now.  The board "backed" Worthington publicly all through (and at the end of) our first season back in the Championship.  However, they clearly did not back him, it was just hot air.  Worthy wanted Howard, the board refused and we signed just 1 player, Lee Croft, before that window closed.  Later we signed Dublin and despite how it turned out, it was a desperate signing.  Now whatever Worthingtons failures were as a manager I just cannot accept that he just didn''t identify more players.  The board clearly did not trust him to spend money anymore and should of got rid of him.  I said at the time and I still believe it now, that they only kept him so long because he was acting as a shield.  Worthington was the one taking the blame and Delia et all were happy for everyone to blame him because very few were pointing the finger at the board room.  It didn''t take long after Worthington''s departure before people started to look to the board.  I think it speaks volumes about how little of a clue the board have that they went to the NIFA to talk to Worthy when Roeder was sacked because it was partly his fault we were in the poo in the first place.  More than that though (and I can''t work out if this was ignorance or just arrogance) I can''t imagine for 1 second that Worthington would have entertained the idea of coming and working for someone who had treated him so poorly.  Firstly by not buying the players he wanted and letting him take the full blame for the poor form and then the  shameful way he was publicly given 2 games to sort it out and then sacked after so quickly after the Burnley match.  I wanted the man gone but the way he was treated was disgusting. 

[Mello Yello 2,289]

"YUM YUM Bigfeller, YUM YUM!" [Y][:D]

[thebigfeller 200]

[quote user="canary cherub "]

I take your point big man - but what did you make of the palaver over signing Hucks?  The nearest thing you''ll ever get in football to a guarantee of automatic promotion and it so nearly didn''t happen.  Apparently it took Carl Moore approaching Barry Skipper (note: not the club chairman, chief exec or majority shareholders) on Christmas Eve to rescue a deal that appeared dead in the water.  If we really were pushing the boat out what was all that about, any ideas? 

In my view you don''t give Worthy enough credit for what he did with a not particularly big or expensive squad.  He may have run out of ideas by the end of 2005/6 but we still finished 9th.  Look at the record of the managers we''ve had since 1996 and his stands out a mile - 15th (caretaker season, took over when 20th), 6th (playoff final), 8th, 1st, 19th (Prem) and 9th.  A level of achievement we can barely dream of now. 

 

[/quote]That''s a fair point. Even though there was a wholly different attitude around the club that season - look at the sheer quality of the loan signings in the first half of it - and were pushing the boat out to an extent, we weren''t going nuts. We couldn''t afford Hucks'' wages, so Carl Moore bailed us out: the board got lucky in that, but for once, their prior actions had warranted it. Had we failed in 03/4 though, I think the cuts which would''ve followed would''ve meant we jumped forward around three years to where we were at the start of last season: in big trouble on and off the pitch.As for Worthington: I was a huge fan of his during his first three years in charge, and gave him the benefit of the doubt for 04/5. During our successful spell under him, he demonstrated a tremendous amount of practical common sense - and to some extent, was the "don''t fuck with me!" Saunders character I''d wished for for so long. But like the club, he was simply too undemanding during our year in the Prem, and completely lost it afterwards. It happens: look at Burley at Ipswich by the end. Except that Ipswich acted and got rid of him; we didn''t. There was a three game spell in which we were humiliated at Luton and QPR and lost spinelessly at home to Sheff Wed: any other club would''ve acted at that point, not least one well into its first season of parachute payments. But we didn''t, the atmosphere was poisoned, and even though we ended up 9th, it was a horrible season: one in which the fans booed even as we won games at CR!I wonder what it was about his tactics which made our record so good at home, and so appalling away? That pattern was present even in the good years, let alone the bad ones. I agree that he was treated appallingly in the end though: the board''s behaviour was spineless and embarrassing, and just a taster of what was to follow.