My take on Mr Christopher Hughton

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

Not really to sure how the assertion that Hughton "overperformed" last season can hold water. He was brought in with the brief to keep us in the PL. Which he did .Just. By the skin of our teeth. In fairness, as fatr as I''m aware there was no clause that dictated that the style of play should be attractive, or whether he should be "nice".

So, imho, he just about fulfilled his side of the deal . Clearly we do not know what private objectives he''s been set for this season, but, with the transfer budget and activity, it''s a fair bet that it''ll involve some sort of improvement in points tally, and performance, particularly in the "goals for" column.

Of course the thoughts of the OP are his opinions, but he''s only thinking out loud what many thousands of NCFC fans are thinking privately.

[A Load of Squit 5,116]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="Overrated Overpaid and Over Here"] Hughton will not pull that extra 10% out of the players like Lambert did nor will he be crafty enough to mastermind a win against all the odds. He''s nice and safe but we''re are in with the big boys now and the stakes are ''Sky'' high....[/quote]Plenty of opinion but with very little in the way of evidence to back it up.

[/quote]Well he did say he was a consultant!

[nutty nigel 7,509]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"]Not really to sure how the assertion that Hughton "overperformed" last season can hold water. He was brought in with the brief to keep us in the PL. Which he did .Just. By the skin of our teeth. In fairness, as fatr as I''m aware there was no clause that dictated that the style of play should be attractive, or whether he should be "nice". So, imho, he just about fulfilled his side of the deal . Clearly we do not know what private objectives he''s been set for this season, but, with the transfer budget and activity, it''s a fair bet that it''ll involve some sort of improvement in points tally, and performance, particularly in the "goals for" column. Of course the thoughts of the OP are his opinions, but he''s only thinking out loud what many thousands of NCFC fans are thinking privately.[/quote]

 

What hold''s more water then Reggie.... Is it that Hughton over performed last season or is it that we survived relegation by the skin of our teeth?

 

 

[T 190]

[quote user="Houston Canary"]Rating managers on points per money spent is not reliable unless you factor in how each additional point earned costs on average much more. Put another way, the first 40 points, which almost every team earns, cost much less than the 2nd 40 points, which are earned by only the elite. If the equation rates each point equal, then inevitably low budget midtable managers will rank highest. But how long will that dog sing?[/quote]

HC, appreciate someone for once coming up with a a decent counter argument rather than the usual denial and abuse. You make an entirely fair point. The top 6 clubs are indeed basically on another scale on the wages graph and are not directly comparable so it would be fairer to say that CH was second out of the remaining 14. What is very clear is that both Lambert and CH have defied the odds given the very strong correlation between points and wages and that NCFC were substantially handicapped by the 20m external debt that the club was obligated to pay. On an objective basis the critcism of CH to date does not hold water. On a subjective basis if people want to say that they much preferred Lambert''s attacking style over CH''S more defensive style no matter what the consequences then I think that is perfectly fair argument for fans to make as that is a subjective personal preference which has nothing to do with how much you really know about fottball.

The point how about how long will the dog sing is equally a vaild point as the recent BBC article found that a football club will over the long term find its natural level driven by its financial position regardless of who is manager. I suspect Moyes is the only person to regularly outperform the club''s financial position and even then not all the time. In that NCFC case as it does not benefit like similar size clubs from rich benefactors that that natuaral position is about 17th  with an avarege swing of a a couple of places. Consequently, regardless of maanger according to the finding s in the BBC article NCFC will typically be relegation candiates and at some point be relegated unless the financial fair play rules become stricter.  

[Rustyboy 2]

Our plastic moderators should put a cap on how long each post should be!

50 words max I say :-)

[T 190]

I also have a short attention span :-)

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

What hold''s more water then Reggie.... Is it that Hughton over performed last season or is it that we survived relegation by the skin of our teeth?

 

 

[/quote]

Don''t really understand the question, Nigel. To suggest that CH overperformed is a matter of your opinion, to which you are perfectly entitled.

The assertion that we narrowly avoided relegation is a fact. An uncomfortable one for some, but a fact nontheless.

I do agree with the poster who said that these multiple "Is CH up to it ?" threads are now going round in circles. Another poster suggested that those who are questioning this "do not know anything about football" . Well, it''s fair to say that none of us know the intricacies of football like a professional manager. In the same way that when I get on my flight at the airport I do not need to know the intricacies of flying a Boeing 737. I rather expect the two guys at the front to deal with that.

[KeelansGlove 0]

I am fully behind the concept that we have bought well in the summer and that players need time to gel.

But 2 games into the season with both team selections being a joke it appears CH has learned nothing from last season.

He has a game plan to counter attack against teams that will come onto us looking for a win (home or away) but seems to be clueless as to how to actually attack a team.

Saturday for me was just a rerun of Newcastle at home last season a team there for the taking if only we had some idea of how to do the taking.

We have been crying out for a goalscoring number 10 to link with RVW and chip in with double figures and here we are and we still don''t have one.

We have an excellent box to box midfielder who can probably do a job there in tough away games (Fer) but we are no closer to finding a lineup that will take the game to the opposition.

The fact that RVW has yet to actually have a shot along with the stats of the smallest number of touches in 90 minutes surely shows it just isn''t working. What next he goes marauding across the front line out to each wing trying to get the ball and then we have nobody in the box (sound familiar mr Holt ?)

Add to this the fact that we have simply forgotten how to pass the ball to a yellow shirt and I am more than a little concerned.

My biggest disappointment is in the light of our game against Everton with limited possession and even more limited shots and striker possession time we line up in the following game with 4 holding midfielders in the team against a newly promoted side without a point or goal on the board. They then go down to 10 men and we don''t bring on another striker.

Regardless of what happens for the rest of the season it may take me all year to forgive that.

Things can only get better surely ??

[ricardo 7,339]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

What hold''s more water then Reggie.... Is it that Hughton over performed last season or is it that we survived relegation by the skin of our teeth?

 

 

[/quote]

Don''t really understand the question, Nigel. To suggest that CH overperformed is a matter of your opinion, to which you are perfectly entitled.

The assertion that we narrowly avoided relegation is a fact. An uncomfortable one for some, but a fact nontheless.

I do agree with the poster who said that these multiple "Is CH up to it ?" threads are now going round in circles. Another poster suggested that those who are questioning this "do not know anything about football" . Well, it''s fair to say that none of us know the intricacies of football like a professional manager. In the same way that when I get on my flight at the airport I do not need to know the intricacies of flying a Boeing 737. I rather expect the two guys at the front to deal with that.[/quote]Continually repeating this mantra does not make it a fact. We did not narrowly avoid relegation anymore than the 6 teams between 12th and 17th who finished with fewer points than we did. The team that finished 18th managed to get their average points per game up to 0.95 due to a decent late run. Even accounting for our poor second half of the season we still managed to average 1 point per game during that period.Some people wet their pants after Xmas but as I stated at the time, there was never much danger of us going down. Stoke, Sunderland and WBA had even worse second halves than we did and none of those went down either.Any narrow avoidance of relegation is in your mind and not in the statistics.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

Ricardo. I''m not interested in other teams. Just Norwich. And (yes I will repeat it) it is a fact that with 2 weeks to go before the end of the season it was touch and go whether we stayed up or went down . Fact.

In the end, we stayed up, which was great. But the truth is that we dug ourselves out of a hole . The correct way to deal with holes is, once you''ve got out of one , you make damned sure you don''t fall in one again.

[ricardo 7,339]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"]Ricardo. I''m not interested in other teams. Just Norwich. And (yes I will repeat it) it is a fact that with 2 weeks to go before the end of the season it was touch and go whether we stayed up or went down . Fact.

In the end, we stayed up, which was great. But the truth is that we dug ourselves out of a hole . The correct way to deal with holes is, once you''ve got out of one , you make damned sure you don''t fall in one again.[/quote]Touch and go for you maybe but that doesn''t make it a fact. Anyone can make a case for relegation with a few games left if you expect your team to lose and everyone else to win. However that was no more likely a scenario for us than half a dozen other teams. The relegation places were cut and dried long before Xmas and as I stated at the time were any 3 from QPR, Reading, Wigan, Villa and Southampton. Teams dropping from midfield to relegation is a popular misconception. Anyone doubting my word only has to look at the stats to see that it is quite a rare phenomenon.Anyway, on to this season, anybody worrying about relegation after 2 games really needs to see a doctor. If we are below a point a game after a dozen games it will then be time to become concerned. Until then lets give it chance to settle down because the relegation candidates will become obvious soon enough.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

Obviously the bookies in Apr did not share your complacency Ricardo. As I seem to remember that at the beginning of May we were second favourites for the 3rd relegation spot . there are plent of examples in all leagues of teams being sucked into a relegation spot.

And, thanks for asking, but my health is fine, and I''ll not be visiting the Doctor. Simply because , I am not, at this moment "worrying about relegation". What I''m keen to see ,though, are performances over the next few weeks that ensure that that state of affairs remains the same. Unlike that last Saturday. Which is what, I guess your reference to a point a game after 12 matches, is all about. On that we can agree !

[nutty nigel 7,509]

Well.. all I can say to you Reggie boy is that the skin of your teeth must be so thick that the dentist uses drill extensions...

 

 

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

Well.. all I can say to you Reggie boy is that the skin of your teeth must be so thick that the dentist uses drill extensions...

 

 

[/quote]

You lot are clearly desperate for me to visit at least one of the medical profession.

Yesterday someone (I forget who) suggested that I was in need of a consultation with the Doctor.

Now Nigel is advocating a trip to the Dentist.

Better check that my insurance cover is up to date.....

[CambridgeCanary 0]

Whilst checking your insurance, why not also check the dictionary with special regard to the meanings of "fact" and "opinion"?

 

Both are equally valid words but they have very different meanings  which  you seem to confuse.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]

Whilst checking your insurance, why not also check the dictionary with special regard to the meanings of "fact" and "opinion"?

 

Both are equally valid words but they have very different meanings  which  you seem to confuse.

[/quote]

Well, that''s me told then, Cambridge. Who rattled your cage this morning ?

There is no confusion, surely ,in the FACT that Norwich City did indeed avoid relegation last season, and it was done in the final 2 weeks of the campaign and by a 5 pt margin.

Or is there something I''m missing ?

[CambridgeCanary 0]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"]Ricardo. I''m not interested in other teams. Just Norwich. And (yes I will repeat it) it is a fact that with 2 weeks to go before the end of the season it was touch and go whether we stayed up or went down . Fact.

In the end, we stayed up, which was great. But the truth is that we dug ourselves out of a hole . The correct way to deal with holes is, once you''ve got out of one , you make damned sure you don''t fall in one again.[/quote]

 

"Touch and go" is your opinion which you are entitled to and which I respect.   Some agree and others do not.

 

It is not however a fact no matter how often you say that it is.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

Well.. all I can say to you Reggie boy is that the skin of your teeth must be so thick that the dentist uses drill extensions...

 

 

[/quote] You lot are clearly desperate for me to visit at least one of the medical profession. Yesterday someone (I forget who) suggested that I was in need of a consultation with the Doctor. Now Nigel is advocating a trip to the Dentist. Better check that my insurance cover is up to date.....[/quote]

 

Well you''ve come to the right place Reginald. There''s an eminent doctor posts on here. Perhaps he''ll give you the once over...

 

 

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

[quote user="CambridgeCanary"]

[quote user="Reggie Strayshun"]Ricardo. I''m not interested in other teams. Just Norwich. And (yes I will repeat it) it is a fact that with 2 weeks to go before the end of the season it was touch and go whether we stayed up or went down . Fact.

In the end, we stayed up, which was great. But the truth is that we dug ourselves out of a hole . The correct way to deal with holes is, once you''ve got out of one , you make damned sure you don''t fall in one again.[/quote]

 

"Touch and go" is your opinion which you are entitled to and which I respect.   Some agree and others do not.

 

It is not however a fact no matter how often you say that it is.

[/quote]

OK, Cambridge. You are clearly in a very aggressive mood for some reason, so, if it makes you feel any better, I''ll qualify my remark by saying "we were a bit less touch and go for relegation than were Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle".

I still maintain that we came too close to the drop for comfort last May. Though, of course you''ll no doubt see that differently too.....

[Overrated, over paid 22]

Remember reading this months ago, agreed wholeheartedly with everything posted. you called it and if the majority on here at at Carrow road still feel our manager has what it takes the they need their head read. He had his chance, he''s blown it! Yes, we played well yesterday and we''re unlucky not to score. But it was at home versus a newly promoted team FFS. We should have hammered them comfortably, Houghton is a rot that''s set in, time to cut it out!

[Waveney Canary 0]

What I find insulting on this thread is people comparing hapless hughton to the Messiah. They are not on the same planet, the same universe.

When the Messiah left McNasty promised us something better. We should report him to trading standards for selling us a puppy.

Hapless is a good championship manager and that''s where he will be managing us next season if Mcnasty doesn''t act soon

[crabbycanary 2]

What was David McNally''s reply to your thoughts?

[Waveney Canary 0]

[quote user="crabbycanary"]What was David McNally''s reply to your thoughts?[/quote]

He has gone very quiet on twitter etc I think he is burying his head in the sand and pretending the Messiah never left

[Herman 9,710]

Lambert was booed off yesterday!

[morty 0]

[quote user="Herman "]Lambert was booed off yesterday![/quote][:)]

[crabbycanary 2]

Oh yes, I forgot that Twitter is the only way to have a constructive conversation with someone, about multi million pound decisions. 

[JF 694]

Don''t do twitter, had Mcnally posted anything since yesterday?

[Mr Brownstone 0]

He actually deleted his Twitter a few weeks ago, I can only assume he was tired of the abuse he was getting from a certain moronic section of the fan base. He came back on a few days ago to make a couple of Tweets regarding the racist comment made about Hughton, but I assume he''s gone again now.

[crabbycanary 2]

So REC, what did McNally reply to you when you said he was burying his head in the sand? I presume you gave a detailed critique of where he was going wrong in his decision making. Go on, let us in on the conversation.

[Matt Morriss 69]

[quote user="CDMullins"]Welcome, nice, clearly well thought post.

However I must disagree with you on many fronts.

Last years league position was simply outstanding, lots will say ''But we were only 5 points off 17th'' and that can be countered by ''We were only 5 points off 8th''

But the truth is, we finished 11th, our highest position in over 2 decades.

He didnt particularly have much of a budget last year, which makes the achievement even bigger.

This season he has brought in players to play a much more expansive, attacking positive and successful game. But Rome wasn''t built in a day, we have had a least 5 players that may become first team players out for the first 2 games. We didnt have a great or smooth pre-season so we are still learning and gelling. Yes Hughton''s set up and team selection on Saturday wasn''t great or what i''d have picked but to be having this conversation after 2 PL games is ridiculous.

Also, the old ''Hughton is too nice'' doesnt wash with me, non of us know what he is like behind closed doors. Some players will play better for managers they respect than for managers that shout the loudest. CH always comes accross very well infront of the media and thats exactly how it should be.[/quote]

Last years position was outstanding? What utter nonsense. Our 11th position was pure luck. West Brom had nothing to play for, Man City had no manager and nothing to play for. This is the only reason we finished 11th.

People bang on about 11th, those last two results clouded the truth. Had we had to play a team battling relegation or trying to get into Europe we wouldn''t have won both games.

West Brom and Man City both played well, well below par. This is the only reason we won, we could have very easily finished 17th.