Nigel Worthington

[USA Canary 7]

I just thought since more than half of the threads on this message board are pertaining to a certain previous manager, maybe we should have a thread about Nigel. Please post any comments here. Although his tenure did not end on a good note, I think it doesn''t quite leave the bad taste in your mouth as others have.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Loved the guy! Best manager for a generation until Lambert came[Y]

 

 

[Gingerpele 0]

Is he looking for another job?

[lake district canary 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Loved the guy! Best manager for a generation until Lambert came[Y]

 

[/quote]

 

 

 

Rebuilt a team from nothing really,  after the Hamilton/Rioch debacle - was Bruce Rioch really our manager??     Great until the premiership season when he was found out, but great memories of the play off final and promotion year - and the MU match - that second goal was a peach.  

 

 

 

[Legend Iwan 30]

Not taking the shine of Worthington because as NN says he really was one of the better managers we had. However, out of the starting 11 used for most of Rioch & Hamilton period, nine of them started the play-off final for Worthington two years later. So he didn''t really rebuild it from nothing. We had a good base. He turned them into winners and added the extra touches we needed, though.

[lake district canary 0]

[quote user="Legend Iwan"]Not taking the shine of Worthington because as NN says he really was one of the better managers we had. However, out of the starting 11 used for most of Rioch & Hamilton period, nine of them started the play-off final for Worthington two years later. So he didn''t really rebuild it from nothing. We had a good base. He turned them into winners and added the extra touches we needed, though.[/quote]

 

 

Yes, that''s why we didn''t win the thing.   He improved what we had and we weren''t ready that year.   Look at the team that got us promoted and tell me how many of them were in that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Legend Iwan 30]

Your logic seems as watertight as Wiz''s and Hope Powell. If you don''t win it means nothing. Personally I don''t subscribe to that route of thinking. But then, I guess that''s what makes football so unique.

Worthington did a superb job for us, there''s no doubting that. But the prior-mismanagement saw us fall so far.

Also, there was seven in the promotion team. Six if you don''t want to include Green.

[First Wizard 0]

Worthy Out!

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

I would have far more respect for NW if he had left when he realised that he was past his sell by but he hung on until he got his compensation and dragged the club down.

[CanaryOne 0]

Once we dropped from the Prem he did seem to lose the plot big time , we still had players like Ashton and Huckerby  so a few decent signings we should have been able to challenge no problems , then he signed the likes of  Peter Thorne , Jason Jarrett and Andy Hughes . After that we sunk and continued to do so untill the arrival of Lambert.

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="ridgeman"]I would have far more respect for NW if he had left when he realised that he was past his sell by but he hung on until he got his compensation and dragged the club down.[/quote]I disagree, things got a lot worse for us when he left until PL came in

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Well there''s nothing like concentrating on the negatives! He came in when we were heading towards League One and gave us some amazing times before those negatives came in. He was still far better than anything that followed until Lambert. In fact Hucks and Dion (who he was mercilessly criticised for signing) kept us up for the next 2 managers.

 

 

[Syteanric 1]

Worthy was a very good manager when he first came in and gave us some fantastic moments.

Doomcaster didn''t help but worthy made the very best of it.

I do think he started to believe his own nil sh*tin the prem and this was the start of his downfall. He lost the dressing room through sheer bloody mindedness and arrogance. Had he have taken a step back he might have been manager today.

[AndyCanary 0]

NW at his worst was far better than Grant, Roeder or Gunn at their best.

[RvWs 4 year contract 0]

If I knew how awful his successors were going to be (not inc. PL or CH) I''d have appreciated Worthy more.Know what I mean?

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="Grant Holts 3 year contract"]If I knew how awful his successors were going to be (not inc. PL or CH) I''d have appreciated Worthy more.

Know what I mean?
[/quote]

 

I know what you mean. I was also pleased that Worthy didn''t take the managers job at Sheffield Wednesday, although perhaps he was only holding that one in his pocket to get a better deal at NCFC. After all, most of them do that. Do you know what I mean? [:|]

[CanaryOne 0]

[quote user="AndyCanary"]NW at his worst was far better than Grant, Roeder or Gunn at their best. [/quote]You have to hand it to Delia ,when it came to appointing a crap Manager she was a real world beater . Who else would have appointed Gunn once let alone twice.

[BlyBlyBabes 0]

My wife never rated Worthy.

 

My wife rated Lambert very highly.

 

Odd how often my wife is right about such things.

 

[;)]

 

OTBC

[Mister Chops 7]

The public execution in the home game to Burnley was a pretty disgraceful day in the club''s history and the board deserve no credit for the way they jumped on the bandwagon being pulled by the more frenzied/foaming at the mouth supporters and effectively gave him a one match (yes, I know they said two but who believes that?) ultimatum.  When you look at his time and achievements here, he deserved better than he got.I never really warmed to his style of football, but let''s be kind and call it "pragmatic".  I''m all for taking a two-nil lead at home, but not so much for then putting ten men behind the ball and challenging the away team to score twice isn''t.

[smooth 114]

Worthington brought through a good team to the play-off final and that run of games to get into the play offs was superb and will be remembered fondly. He brought in Hux, Crouch and Harper and took us to a high level... and hux''s signing was that moment that inspired us to win the league and take on the premiership.No Ashton till January, and a few personnel mistakes but the key was the striker position. Then follwoing relegation the worst bunch of signings ever to grace Carrow Road to take us back up to the premiership. That was where it began to show huge cracks in Worthington''s reign. Failure to even make the play-offs was when he should have been removed, in fact probably earlier. The board at that time needed a reshuffle.Worthington never built beyond the first 11, our cover was appauling... Flem and Malky were older statesmen and had Shackell as cover prior to Doc and Charlton arriving (the shortest centre back ever). We were really lacking depth to match the quality of our first 11.But that season following the premiership season was appauling and that is where I lost faith in Worthington.

[king canary 8,758]

Love Worthy, my first season ticket was 01/02 and I was 13 so I bloody loved that season and the following couple. Fantastic memories.He obviously had his flaws- his insistence that he could play and striker with some pace out on the wing was especially annoying (Henderson in particular) and he didn''t quite seem to know what to do with the youth players (with the notable exception of Robert Green). We had a solid crop of youngsters in his time, Henderson, Jarvis, Hayes, Shackell but he never seemed ready to let them have a chance unless it was forced on him.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,035]

re: Worthington, in short, he marched us up to the top of the hill and he marched us down again.

[canarydan23 4,762]

In reply to Legend Iwan''s earlier comment about 9 of the playoff final starters being Rioch and Hamilton''s, no.

Easton, Rivers, Drury and Nielsen were all signed by Worthy and whilst McVeigh and Nedergaard were not, they were rotting in the reserves before Worthy took over.

He did great things for our club and had he been allowed to sign Ashton prior to the start of th Prem season, who knows how different the last 8 years might have been.

[blahblahblah 2]

I think time has shown Worthington to be one of the better championship level managers of the era he was managing in. Probably because the board had to purchase a new stand, he never really got the financial backing to turn us into a Premiership team, or really to get the relegated team back into the Premiership. The football was arguably not the most "attractive", but it was effective and at times very enjoyable under his leadership. The campaign to remove him got very nasty. Lessons were learned at board level, that you had to back the manager with hard cash post-worthington - shame it took 3 managers to get one deserving of the cash. Eventually we''ve got a club run as a "co-operative" in McNs words, where all available money is used on the pitch.

[chicken 0]

I''m not sure why people think poorly of Rioch - he did well with little funds. Anselin and de Blasiis we quality signings that were eventually hampered by injuries. But he did make some good solid signings.

Hamilton was shocking. His scattergun approach to signings meant that at least one or two had to turn out alright. Shame about the other dozen players mind you.

Worthington was a breath of fresh air. He didn''t seem to care about the tight limits he had to work in and motivated a group of players very well. A bit like how Lambert initially only made a couple of signings and then worked with what he had.

I kind of feel for Worthington as he was very much a victim of his own success.

Despite what people may say and think he wasn''t really tasked with getting us into the premiership. His main task was to turn us into a mid table 1st Division (as it was then) team that could at least try for a play-off spot.

We got to the play off finals which was great but looking back I am bloody thankful we didn''t win. We would have got slaughtered in the prem at that time with a lot of teams in the assention.

But when you look at it, we didn''t drastically improve the team from that season to promotion. We became tighter defensively and then added Huckerby and Crouch.

As much as people blame him for relegation from the premiership we did so by one point. When you look at the amount of games we managed to draw and think that Ashton from the start could have given us one goal, in one game to turn one draw into another victory you realise how close we came. Then you look at that squad - very few of those players went on to better things. Again - he got the best out of them.

If anything his biggest downfall was putting too much faith into some of the old guard. Shackell was a bit of a revelation in the premiership and should have got more games. Edworthy was too slow, Helveg was too slow.

When we were relegated it seemed to take the winds out of the sales. Worthington had to deal with rebelious players and things went down hill. The club gave him less and less money. The squad became stagnant and altimately Dion and Huckerby held the dressing room together. I don''t think it was entirely wrong that he went but I do think that they failed to identify a satisfactory successor.

Grant was a risk that didn''t pay off. Roeder should have been better but I think we will be the last time he ever manages a team - his mentality just did not gel with the players or fans. After seeing glimpses of the old Huckerby at Drury''s testimonial you have to wonder if he could have played on another couple of seasons for us. He still has the pace - it''s rediculous.

The downfall after Worthington was not caused by him. It was caused by indecision - and for that I mostly blame Doncaster. He had such a layed back negative approach that seeped through for all to see.

We needed relegation to League One to clear the decks, clear old the old hangers on and to get in people that were passionate. Sometimes these people only come to the for when in times of desperate measures. McNally is incredibly pro-active. It''s clear that he has many contacts and uses them to constantly re-asses the situation at our club and how it could be improved.

I would have loved to see what Worthington could have done with the backing that Lambert recieved.

[PurpleCanary 6,387]

This thread is perpetuating the myth that Worthington wasn''t backed financially for that Premier League season. Bearing in mind how much less money was available to clubs then, bearing in mind our own financial position, which was OK but no better than OK, and could turn nasty if we overspent, and bearing in mind that we''d had no choice but to rebuild the South Stand...the board backed Worthington as much as it could.

What is always forgotten is that the winter before, when already in an automatic promotion slot, the board provided money to bring in Huckerby, Mackenzie and Svensson. That - putting ambition ahead of prudence - pretty much guaranteed promotion (we finished eight points clear of second) but reduced what was available in the summer. If we had, say, brought in Mackenzie that winter and just finished first, or second behind WBA, and then signed Huckerby and Svensson, in addition to the six other players who joined in the summer (Safri, Helveg etc) no-one would have accused the board of putting prudence before ambition.

[Legend Iwan 30]

CD23, very true. I was wrong. Had gone off memory of who played which included Sutch and Roberts instead of Nielsen and Rivers. And again starting 11 should have been side/team.

[Buncey 1]

[quote user="PurpleCanary"]

This thread is perpetuating the myth that Worthington wasn''t backed financially for that Premier League season. Bearing in mind how much less money was available to clubs then, bearing in mind our own financial position, which was OK but no better than OK, and could turn nasty if we overspent, and bearing in mind that we''d had no choice but to rebuild the South Stand...the board backed Worthington as much as it could.What is always forgotten is that the winter before, when already in an automatic promotion slot, the board provided money to bring in Huckerby, Mackenzie and Svensson. That - putting ambition ahead of prudence - pretty much guaranteed promotion (we finished eight points clear of second) but reduced what was available in the summer. If we had, say, brought in Mackenzie that winter and just finished first, or second behind WBA, and then signed Huckerby and Svensson, in addition to the six other players who joined in the summer (Safri, Helveg etc) no-one would have accused the board of putting prudence before ambition.

[/quote]I''m sorry but I can''t agree Purple. Despite the spending the season before, the board''s decision to not sanction Worthy signing Ashton in the summer was a critical mistake that ultimately led to us being relegated. The board should have trusted his judgement and have assessed the long term benefits of signing such a proven, quality young player. That decision was only exasperated by the u-turn in January and having to pay more for him then, whereby it was too late for him to help us stay up. That started the rot of selling our best players and not replacing them with adequate replacements. I am of the opinion that if we had signed Earnshaw at the start of the season, instead of as a stop-gap after selling Ashton, we would have gone straight back up. Whether that was an option at the time I do not know, however Doncaster was repeatedly guilty of short-selling our chances on the pitch.I firmly believe that the wrong man was shown the door and that it was Doncaster who should have gone and not Worthy. I think time has been kind to that opinion and we have seen that he was an incompetent CEO here and he is still one north of the border.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

I''m wondering if half the people on this thread ever went to games. King canary went to the same games as me!! I remember great times after those poor seasons post Chase. Worthy always got the players playing for him. And he always added a flair player to the mix. He was the first to recognise what McVeigh could bring to the side, Hamilton signed him and ignored him. Viva Marc Libbra!! David Nielsen!! Darren Huckerby!! Always a player in attacking positions who could do the unexpected. I think we miss that even now.

 

He never lost the dressingroom. The players had huge respect for him even at the end. He lost the fans and there''s no way back from there.

 

 

[PurpleCanary 6,387]

[quote user="Fellas"][quote user="PurpleCanary"]

This thread is perpetuating the myth that Worthington wasn''t backed financially for that Premier League season. Bearing in mind how much less money was available to clubs then, bearing in mind our own financial position, which was OK but no better than OK, and could turn nasty if we overspent, and bearing in mind that we''d had no choice but to rebuild the South Stand...the board backed Worthington as much as it could.

What is always forgotten is that the winter before, when already in an automatic promotion slot, the board provided money to bring in Huckerby, Mackenzie and Svensson. That - putting ambition ahead of prudence - pretty much guaranteed promotion (we finished eight points clear of second) but reduced what was available in the summer. If we had, say, brought in Mackenzie that winter and just finished first, or second behind WBA, and then signed Huckerby and Svensson, in addition to the six other players who joined in the summer (Safri, Helveg etc) no-one would have accused the board of putting prudence before ambition.

[/quote]

I''m sorry but I can''t agree Purple. Despite the spending the season before, the board''s decision to not sanction Worthy signing Ashton in the summer was a critical mistake that ultimately led to us being relegated. The board should have trusted his judgement and have assessed the long term benefits of signing such a proven, quality young player. That decision was only exasperated by the u-turn in January and having to pay more for him then, whereby it was too late for him to help us stay up. That started the rot of selling our best players and not replacing them with adequate replacements. I am of the opinion that if we had signed Earnshaw at the start of the season, instead of as a stop-gap after selling Ashton, we would have gone straight back up. Whether that was an option at the time I do not know, however Doncaster was repeatedly guilty of short-selling our chances on the pitch.

I firmly believe that the wrong man was shown the door and that it was Doncaster who should have gone and not Worthy. I think time has been kind to that opinion and we have seen that he was an incompetent CEO here and he is still one north of the border.
[/quote]

 

I would agree, IF the money had been comfortably available, but no-one has ever demonstrated that it was. Bear in mind that it was Paul Lambert who said this time last year that only an idiot manager spends all their transfer money in the summer, because you don''t know what injuries you''ll get.  Even if we could have scraped the money together, that would have been it for the whole season. If Huckerby (or indeed Ashton) had done his knee five minutes into the first game we would have been screwed. There would have been nothing left for a replacement.

The other point about trusting Worthington''s judgment is that I don''t, and the board would have been silly to. He is on record as saying that season we should have followed the example of Hull (yes, that Hull...) and spent an extra £10m - I''ll repeat that figure in case it looks like a typo - an extra £10m on players! Total fantasy.