Losing my love for Norwich City FC

[Year of the tiger 54]

What I cannot understand with many posters is that argument that "it was a very good team we played & it''s only 4games into the season" . The whole point is the style of play is the same as last season.We played the same way at such luminaries as Wigan, qpr, Reading, & Stoke. We''ve supposedly upgraded the players but as far as I can see nothing has changed. Watching Wolfie you can understand how Holty suffered.

And also if I ever bother to listen to what our manager says I want to hear about Norwich, not how good the opposition bre it Tottenham, hull or even Luton for god sake.

And before anyone accuses me of pant wetting etc I''ve been watching City away since the mid 60s

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Don''t get me wrong, as an exiled fan, I go to a lot more away games than I do home, and they have been poor for the last couple of years, let me see, Sunderland 3 - 0 us, Newcastle 1 - 0 us, a couple of good result at spurs but then Wigan 1 - 0 us and also a Wigan 1 - 1 us. I fully understand how drab it can be, but let''s take a reality check here.

Despite our £26m splurge in summer, we still have one of the lowest budgets in the division, probably bottom 5 of that league, we have had a 12th place and an 11th place in our debut 2 seasons in the premiership, eclipsing the likes of Fulham, Sunderland, Stoke and Villa on both them seasons.

We have to realise how dangerous that trap door is and our time is not yet to take off with some stellar, erratic away day performances, yes we could be a little better, but on the whole, we have to be happy with our lot.

Even this season (and maybe i''m in a still positive mood as i''ve been t both the home games and only streamed the away games) we are sat in 14th on a point a game average and that is deemed a bad start?

Now the season ticket, if you don''t want it, i''ll gladly take it, as we''re usually a pleasure to watch at home and astoundingly good there for a team that has spent about £40m in the last 10 years. Away from home though, we have to realise that a team finishing mid table like ourselves is never going to get more than 15 points or so.

Whilst the away performances are disappointing, it''s certainly no time to panic and i''m sure once Pilkington, Hooper and Olsson are fully fit, we''ll be able to shake things up away from home and be more competitive against teams that are more our level than free spending Spurs.

I hope it''s not the Spurs game people are disappointed with and more the freak result at Hull where our fragility going forward really got exposed.

One team you might want to look at is Southampton:

In their front four, they have a £17m striker, a £12m bloke on the bench, a £7m striker and 2 full england internationals and yet still they can''t score, not only away from home but at home too. This league is a tough league and I still feel priveliged we are here. Give me the dire performances and results every other game as opposed to the wins over the likes of Doncaster and Yeovil every day of the week.

[Nicko 0]

This thread is terrible.

We lost and were made to look terrible because Spurs played excellently. They beat us in every area of the pitch. There is NO conspiracy, no ''defensive'' tactics.

They look like title contenders. To go to WHL and EXPECT a result or an upset is just plain arrogance. We were outplayed, simple as that. It was nothing to do with tactics.

And to the people moaning about subs - what would bringing on Hooper have achieved? RVW barely had a sniff all game so why would Hooper change that? We were overrun in midfield - this is entirely down to a lack of quality (which is expected) and what prevented us from giving RVW and Elmander any kind of service.

Dembele has been a constant thorn in our side for the past 2 years and he ran the show yesterday.

[ROBFLECK 132]

Smooth, I share your feelings about football. I grew up in the eighties too. But I''ll keep supporting my club...whatever happens to football. I have to admit that I''ve started to enjoy other sports more too and football less...

[militantcanary 0]

I think that people are up in arms not because we were outplayed by a team that cost 150 M to assemble but because we were outfought and lacking in ambition, the subs to most of the away end were a sign on this.

Hughton was at best bolting the stable door after the horse had gone at worst looking to see out a 2-0.

I do agree that the litmus test is Stoke away and Cardiff at home to name two matches in the near future, we must compete better there.

Witihout Fer playing well we are in real trouble in the midfield as Johnson and Snodgrass look miles off it a the moment in terms of form and confidence

[*** 0]

[quote user="Matt Juler"]From Walker to Lambert, whenever I''ve had a chance to watch City I''ve either made the 2+ hour trip to Norwich or travelled the country to away games.  Living in London a trip to White Hart Lane would take me only 45 minutes by foot, but I just can''t be bothered.  I had the game streaming yesterday but spent the whole second half in the kitchen, I''m just not interested.  We were cr@p under Peter Grant, Roeder was useless and Gunn took up to our lowest position in years, but I still enjoyed the buzz of a Saturday and going to football, but now its just gone.  Home games are bearable, but away from home I need to stay away otherwise it could be terminal.

One man is destroying our club, one by one people are starting to see what he''s doing, and I really hope it changes before it''s too late.  Forget expanding Carrow Road, you might as well look at building a new hotel if things don''t change.  I''ve been brainwashed and will keep renewing my season ticket regardless of how we play and what league we''re in, but not everyone is as stupid.
[/quote]

 

 

Huzzah, Huzzah and Huzzah x10 again!

 

Drive the sod out.

[Nicko 0]

[quote user="militantcanary"]I think that people are up in arms not because we were outplayed by a team that cost 150 M to assemble but because we were outfought and lacking in ambition, the subs to most of the away end were a sign on this.

Hughton was at best bolting the stable door after the horse had gone at worst looking to see out a 2-0.

I do agree that the litmus test is Stoke away and Cardiff at home to name two matches in the near future, we must compete better there.

Witihout Fer playing well we are in real trouble in the midfield as Johnson and Snodgrass look miles off it a the moment in terms of form and confidence[/quote]

I disagree with this re. subs. What was the alternative? Bring on Hooper instead so he to was to be starved by a lack of service? For me, the midfield needed to retain the ball - something we didn''t do all game. Tettey is better at this than Johnson. As is Pilkington better than Redmond. To me, the subs made perfect sense but were never going to turn around the game. It wasn''t our day and Spurs were ''in the mood''.

[ricardo 7,395]

Perhaps we can now understand why stadium expansion has been put on the back burner. Four games in and the weak are already starting to fall by the wayside. Thankfully the cushions have been consigned to history otherwise they''d be on the pitch at the first sign of a home defeat.It''s been a long ride up but I fancy that we are now beginning to see the arrow tilt downwards. It''s a funny old game but what goes up must come down.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Hooper coming on in that game would have given him a much needed run out in a game effectively over. We''d then not have the excuse this weekend of "well he''s not played yet, so bench only for him".

It was the perfect game for him to dip his toes in rather than gamble him from the start versus Villa when he could go either way on performance.

[Tetteys Jig 830]

Ricardo, i''d like to think the arrow is tipping sideways as opposed to down.

The difference between 11th in the premiership to 6th in the premiership is bigger than that from the top of league 1 to the bottom of the premiership in my book.

[I Love Fernando Derveld 0]

[quote user="Matt Juler"]From Walker to Lambert, whenever I''ve had a chance to watch City I''ve either made the 2+ hour trip to Norwich or travelled the country to away games.  Living in London a trip to White Hart Lane would take me only 45 minutes by foot, but I just can''t be bothered.  I had the game streaming yesterday but spent the whole second half in the kitchen, I''m just not interested.  We were cr@p under Peter Grant, Roeder was useless and Gunn took up to our lowest position in years, but I still enjoyed the buzz of a Saturday and going to football, but now its just gone.  Home games are bearable, but away from home I need to stay away otherwise it could be terminal.One man is destroying our club, one by one people are starting to see what he''s doing, and I really hope it changes before it''s too late.  Forget expanding Carrow Road, you might as well look at building a new hotel if things don''t change.  I''ve been brainwashed and will keep renewing my season ticket regardless of how we play and what league we''re in, but not everyone is as stupid.[/quote]Don''t bother going to the home games either then. Get a grip man! Are you seriously suggesting that life under Hughton is worse than the dross under Worthington, Grant,  Roeder et al 2005-2009? The 2 home performances have been decent, the 2 away performances awful - But I can''t really remember a time when NCFC haven''t been inconsistent away from home. If you really can''t be bothered to support us I suggest you go and find a local non-league club to follow - it might re-ignite your love for the game.

[......and Smith must score. 1,346]

[quote user="morty"]Binner.Seriously.[/quote]Seriously ? Matt''s NCFC through and through Morty. Like many of us I suspect he''s getting a little dis-enchanted the way things are at Carrow Rd under the present manager. Of course no one wants to lose heavily at a place like White Hart Lane but there just seems to be no ambition at all when we play away. This didn''t happen anything like so often under the previous manager.I don''t think many people really expect us to match teams like Spurs and the others who make up the top six but do expect our team to put up a bit of a fight.

[morty 0]

[quote user="......and Smith must score."][quote user="morty"]Binner.Seriously.[/quote]Seriously ? Matt''s NCFC through and through Morty. Like many of us I suspect he''s getting a little dis-enchanted the way things are at Carrow Rd under the present manager. Of course no one wants to lose heavily at a place like White Hart Lane but there just seems to be no ambition at all when we play away. This didn''t happen anything like so often under the previous manager.I don''t think many people really expect us to match teams like Spurs and the others who make up the top six but do expect our team to put up a bit of a fight.[/quote]I think people need to have a little context. We had a stinker on Saturday in a game we were very unlikely to get anything from anyway.I''m as hacked off as anyone about it, but falling out of love over it?Behave.

[Cerberus 0]

Matt is only expressing how he feels. There is no right or wrong answer here and no words expressed on this forum are going to change someone''s perception.

[nutty nigel 7,542]

So why post it here then Louis? If it''s not up for debate why not just write a blog?

 

 

[Cerberus 0]

Because this is a forum for expressing and sharing thoughts about NCFC. Give the guy a break.

[nutty nigel 7,542]

What have i been doing that I should give him a break from?

 

This is a discussion forum.

 

 

[Cerberus 0]

Funnily enough, I was actually trying to address the OPs post and express some sympathy to how he is feeling. There will be few City fans that are feeling great at the moment.

[Jim Smith 2,324]

I get entirely what Matt is saying and I think he is very much not alone.

I was an away season ticket holder for many, many years and followed us home and away. Now i can;t quite get to as many games so when i do get the chance I am usually chomping at the bit but over the last season and a half I have not felt anything like the same degree of excitement at attending away games because i know what a soul destroying experience it is likely to be. It has got to the extent now where i am considering giving the Arsenal game a miss despite the fact its a local game for me an therefore easy to get to. I just cannot see anything other than a depressing defeat where we are in damage limitation mode from minute one.

I accept we were sh*t and negative under Worthington away. That wasn;t right either and used to do my head in as well. Had we won just once away in our season in the prem under him we would have stayed up which shows you how damaging his approach was that season. Clearly in the intervening years we have also not always been great away from home but in many ways it was easier to handle because we just were not very good full stop for much of that period. I think, why i find the current approach SO frustrating and demoralising is that this time around, with the players we now have, I really feel we are capable of so much more than we are currently delivering in our away performances and seeing that potential being stifled and the confidence drained from our players on a fortnightly basis is really quite hard to take.

Ok the performances are not the only thing that has perhaps taken a bit of the edge off away days for me. I''m now older, have been to the ground many times before and find the "sanitised" away experience at many premier league games these days much less enjoyable in many ways than visiting some northern dump in league one but all those going "we just had a stinker" on Saturday are just burying their heads in the sand in my view and I fully understand why the likes of Matt (who I know has followed us home and away through thick and thin because he''s often sorted my train tickets!) feel as they do because I don;t feel much different myself.

[Cerberus 0]

Jim,Good post, but you shouldnt have mentioned Worthy - that is still a raw nerve for some.

[nutty nigel 7,542]

Louis... for someone who seems so concerned for some posters why do  you continually provoke others...

 

Oh and you didn''t say what I was doing that you feel I should give Matt a break from.

 

 

[Cerberus 0]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

So why post it here then Louis? If it''s not up for debate why not just write a blog?

 

 

[/quote]Nigel,You are probably one of the most provocative posters on this board, so I dont see why there is any sensitivity on your part.As for my give the guy a break comment, it was in response to you suggesting that he ought to post these comments elsewhere in a blog. He is perfectly entitled to post what he wants, so give him a break and let him air his views. Of course, you may disagree with his views, which is perfectly reasonable.Now rather than focusing upon me, perhaps you could address the subject of the thread as started by the OP.

[nutty nigel 7,542]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

So why post it here then Louis? If it''s not up for debate why not just write a blog?

 

 

[/quote]

 

This is what I said Louis.

 

 

[Cerberus 0]

I know that is what you said and that is why I quoted in my previous post which in turn was only a response to questions that you  raised directly with me.You asked me to repeatedly respond to my "give the guy a break comment" and so I did. Now what are you suggesting, that your words somehow didnt imply that Matt should have posted his thoughts somewhere else?I wish I hadnt taken the bait as it pointless trying to have a logical discussion with you. No doubt, you will now tell me that I have completely twisted your words next!!!!Last plea - can we stick to the thread. What do you think of Matt''s views?

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Louis Cyphre"]Last plea - can we stick to the thread. What do you think of Matt''s views?

[/quote]If I may interject, I think the first thing he needs to do is dry his eyes. Crying like a baby to elicit sympathy because the team you support is only halfway up the Premier League is hardly grounds for the cyanide pill.God, how I wish some of you lot had sat through some of the years of endless dross us older fans have suffered.

[nutty nigel 7,542]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

''kin hell!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I thought Worthy was apparently the worst. Anybody would be better than him I was told. Not going again until he''s sacked were the constant cries on here. Since then we''ve had grant, Roeder, Gunn, Lambert and Hughton.

 

Hughton is now worse than the lot. people who went through that whole Grant/Roeder/Gunn period enjoyed it far more than the current manager. Despite the fact we finished 11th in the premier league and got to the quarter finals of the league cup. Despite the fact we beat Man Utd, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Everton in the process. Despite the fact we have 4 points from our first 4 games this season, they enjoyed Grant/Roeder/Gunn more....

 

OK......

 

 

[/quote]

 

This was my view Louis as posted earlier. You may not like it but as this is a discussion forum I''m still at libert to post it. If however I didn''t want it discussed I could always have put it on a blog......

 

Have you got any views?

 

 

[Joey Deacan 0]

The patients have taken over the asylum again

[BigFish 1,988]

What a solipsistic thread this has turned out to be!

Why these turn into a debate around whether the poster was entitled to the OP and whether ther posters are allowed to criticise his post rather than debate what was said.

As has been pointed out the OP was very dumb - the idea that Hughton was destroying the club being pure hyperbole compared to the experiences of say Portsmouth or Wimbledon. This probably speaks more of where Matt''s head is rather than anything about the club as has been pointed out in some rather poignant and thoughtful replies here.

The sanity of loving a professional sports team is rather more debatable than that of falling out of love. The better team won on the day, the better team will finish higher in the League and tha is just the way of the world. Those of us whose memories are longer will remeber many games where we have just not been at the races, looked negative, not bothered etc. They come and they go.

What is stranger is the group-think on this message board and amongst the fans that this related to negativity on Hughton''s behalf, or Calderwood''s, in particular. Strange, after a transfer window largelt focussed on buying expensive attacking players. (And don''t give me any rubbish about losing the dressing room or tactics not desigened to use them etc)

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="BigFish"]

What a solipsistic thread this has turned out to be!

Why these turn into a debate around whether the poster was entitled to the OP and whether ther posters are allowed to criticise his post rather than debate what was said.

As has been pointed out the OP was very dumb - the idea that Hughton was destroying the club being pure hyperbole compared to the experiences of say Portsmouth or Wimbledon. This probably speaks more of where Matt''s head is rather than anything about the club as has been pointed out in some rather poignant and thoughtful replies here.

The sanity of loving a professional sports team is rather more debatable than that of falling out of love. The better team won on the day, the better team will finish higher in the League and tha is just the way of the world. Those of us whose memories are longer will remeber many games where we have just not been at the races, looked negative, not bothered etc. They come and they go.

What is stranger is the group-think on this message board and amongst the fans that this related to negativity on Hughton''s behalf, or Calderwood''s, in particular. Strange, after a transfer window largelt focussed on buying expensive attacking players. (And don''t give me any rubbish about losing the dressing room or tactics not desigened to use them etc)

[/quote]Very much this ^^^^^^

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="nutty nigel"]

''kin hell!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I thought Worthy was apparently the worst. Anybody would be better than him I was told. Not going again until he''s sacked were the constant cries on here. Since then we''ve had grant, Roeder, Gunn, Lambert and Hughton.

 

Hughton is now worse than the lot. people who went through that whole Grant/Roeder/Gunn period enjoyed it far more than the current manager. Despite the fact we finished 11th in the premier league and got to the quarter finals of the league cup. Despite the fact we beat Man Utd, Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Everton in the process. Despite the fact we have 4 points from our first 4 games this season, they enjoyed Grant/Roeder/Gunn more....

 

OK......

 

 

[/quote]EXACTLY this!some people really are in a bloody fantasy land!we''ve got as far as we are going to go unless some dodgy Arab Arms dealer wants to embezzle his billions of war money into us to turn us into a soulless club with a bunch of glory hunters like Citeh, or Chelski....lets take both of those above... Chelsea, before Abramovic would have been grateful to have even finished in the top half of the premiership... in their ramshackle stadium.... Man City, Believe it or not, were a club not much bigger than Norwich before the billions came in... forever in the shadow o;f their big city neighbours.... they still are!if that money hadn''t come in where does the OP think those clubs would be now??we aren''t going to progress beyond our current level.. so sit back, enjoy the ride, and lets see if we can win a cup in the next 5 years.