Sacking Hughton was the only option (blog)

[Daniel Brigham 0]

Despite the outrage in the national media, Chris Hughton had to be sacked. By Daniel BrighamIt''s a strange feeling, waking up to find that Norwich are no longer liked. With

one sacking we''ve gone from being patronised and patted like a

loveable, gormless pug to being hunted down like a monstrous, two-headed

canary. ''Hope Norwich'' was trending on Twitter last night, and

it was inevitably followed by ''get relegated''. We were branded “deluded”

and “bonkers” by Gary Lineker, a man who tends to think before he

tweets but has spent too little time thinking about Norwich to offer an

informed opinion. So he settled for adjectives.Norwich''s crime

was to sack the nicest man in football. Spurs and Newcastle fans – two

of the loudest supporters in the country – fuelled the fire on message

boards and comment sections. How dare little Norwich axe their beloved

Chrissy? Who do Norwich think they are, going around sacking their own

manager without consulting them? What impertinence to replace Chris

Hughton with a man that no one in the Match of the Day or Sky Sports News studios had heard of. Let''s hope they go down now. That''ll teach them a lesson. Of

course, it''s easy to be myopic about your own club. Sometimes it''s

healthy to see what the neutrals are saying about Norwich. It adds

perspective, takes you out of the goldfish bowl. Many have

rightly pointed out that we are five points clear of the drop. That we

are in control of our own destiny. This is true. But they are just the

facts at the tip of the iceberg, like stating that The Beatles were a

band from Liverpool. It misses the story going on below sea level –

which only those who have seen the majority of Norwich matches this

season have seen – and it was clear Hughton wasn’t in control of

Norwich''s destiny. He hadn’t been for a long time. We have

floated from defeat to draw to defeat to occasional win. There was no

pattern to it, no momentum, no direction. We were a zombie of a football

team, occasionally taking a chunk out of the opposition but mostly

stumbling about with no soul, no life, no passion. We needed to be put

out of our misery.One former Norwich player who played under

Hughton – and liked him – says that the manager was often anxious in the

dressing room ahead of matches. Game by game, drip by drip, this fear

has taken over the players and over Carrow Road. It spread insidiously

and, following shambolic away defeats to Aston Villa, Southampton and

Swansea, Saturday was when the inevitable anxiety attack finally hit

Carrow Road. Nerves and doubt had crept over the players to such

an extent that they looked utterly incapable of playing with any

freedom or with any confidence. They were devoid of wit or intelligence;

they were panicked and hurried. After that performance – in which Wes

Hoolahan, Russell Martin and Alex Tettey all had their worst games in a

Norwich shirt – the fans no longer believed that Norwich could go to

Craven Cottage and beat Fulham. For the first time, it looked as if the

players no longer believed either.That belief, slowly eroded

away by football that urged strict caution over adventure, had become an

irretrievable wreck. Hughton, a decent man who did a good job last

season, had allowed fear to creep in through his insistence on creating a

culture where players were afraid of making mistakes. When the same

mistakes started to be endlessly repeated, where does a man of caution

go when caution fails him? The Hughton era had flatlined.There

was no choice but to change things. The timing has baffled many, but it

may prove to be perfect. Bringing in Neil Lennon or Malky Mackay months

ago would have left us playing the same negative football with no

guarantee of better results. This way, at least, Norwich haven''t

committed to a long-term manager, the crowd will be galvanised and the

dead cat may well get to bounce one vital, final time.Sacking Hughton wasn’t just the right option to take. No matter what the likes of Lineker think, it was the only option. Daniel Brigham is features editor of The Cricketer. He tweets at @cricketer_dan

[Snoots 0]

Good, enjoyable read and pretty much on the pulse. Thanks.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

Why not use the opportunity to herald the new man stepping in? Oh, and he''s a well nice man too[;)]

 

 

[Daniel Brigham 0]

Nutty - got to keep my powder dry!

[lake district canary 4,831]

Well put, Daniel.

[ricardo 8,034]

Nail hit squarely on head Daniel.The Board had no choice in the end. In football management results are everything. He must have known that time was up on Saturday, everybody could see it.

[ncfcstar 342]

Very good blog, agree with all of it except that Russell Martin''s worst performance for Norwich was most certainly Leyton Orient away.

[Daniel Brigham 0]

Ha, true. I meant to say their worst in the Premier League. Written in a rush!

[Indy_Bones 444]

Probably one of (if not your best) blogs so far Daniel.The reaction from the press and pundits has been stronger than I expected tbh, but clearly shows how little they actually know about Norwich as a whole, rather than simply looking at a league table and making general guesses...

[BOO 0]

Well done, a well written and accurate appraisal.

[Bill 1,788]

Why concern yourself with what supposed neutrals say ?It does nothing but confirm what you should already know. Chris Hughton is one of these ''national treasures'' that should be loved by all. And in that light presenters will happily read out what is written down for them - just as City players came on the screen denying that there was any rift between players and manager. Something that they now wish to claim was happening.But then these are the self serving smug gits who will not express an original opinion, will happily sit next to Captain Beaky (Le Tissier) who freely admitted to taking a bribe to change the course of a game, without saying a word.Hughton was a disaster who has taken us close to relegation, set back the development of virtually 25 players and yet should be allowed to continue, because apparently he is a nice man.... ye gods !Unfortunately you have actually stuck your head in a goldfish bowl, that of the incestous football media. one where the IQ is slightly above that of a goldfish ie enough to know where their bread is buttered.Personally I don''t give a flying fu  ck what they or some dimwits from Newcastle or Brum think. It is our decison and it is us who have sat through some of the worst football I have seen in over four decades of watching City.He should have gone last May when the players kicked off before.Maybe if he is so nice these dyed haired sycophants can shove up a bit on the couch and let him comment on games, and they can share their fee with him as wellor perhaps he not THAT nice ?

[vlad666 207]

Excellent blog Daniel. My favourite so far.

Also under Hughton my love for Norwich was diminishing. I feel positive for the first time in ages and I''m really looking forward to our next game.

[MancCanary 0]

Very good post Daniel. You should look at getting your articles on more things, like MyFootballWriter maybe?

It sickens me that the only thing people are reading are opinions of idiots like Lineker and Savage and the tw*ts that write for the tabloids, would be good to get more exposure of articles written by people who know a little bit about our club.

[im spartacus canary 0]

Like i said on another thread it has been the biggest national outpouring of grief since Princess Diana died, i''m surprised newcastle and spurs fans aren''t lining the road out of norfolk chucking flowers at hughtons car as he leaves town [:D]

[Daniel Brigham 0]

Thanks for the kind words - very generous (although I''ve read City 1sts rants three times and I''m still not sure what point you were making!). Hopefully there''ll be something positive to write about soon. Hopefully ...

[canarycol 0]

Of course the BBC will take up the opportunity of having Mr Nice guy working alongside Mr Cheese and Onion crisp man on MOTD

Won''t they ?

[morty 0]

[quote user="Daniel Brigham"]Thanks for the kind words - very generous (although I''ve read City 1sts rants three times and I''m still not sure what point you were making!). Hopefully there''ll be something positive to write about soon. Hopefully ...[/quote]Kinda sums up most of his posts[;)]Totally agree that basically the board only had one choice.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Morty

"We''re not relegated yet, we''re not even in the bottom three, have we been all season?

I''m not some blind idiot, as some may like to think, its obvious something has to change in the summer, but I think he''ll do enough to get us over the line, and peoples logic of "well (insert name here) couldn''t do any worse just isn''t logic, its desperate knee jerking.

Morty

"Totally agree that basically the board only had one choice"

Is somebody hacking into this account?

[mozzaman 0]

I always look forward to your insightful blogs Daniel. Not surprising that a cricket journo makes a superior footy writer.

Sadly the decision to sack Hughton came just a few days too late for me, who amongst many others, handed back their away season tickets last week.

[morty 0]

Oh Dear Brienne, are we playing the "sift through old posts to try and score petty points" game?

 

All you have succeeded in doing is making yourself look a bit of a tit.

 

 

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Feeble reply, a subtle shifting in your position is it?

There''s no shame in that my man.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Brienne"]Feeble reply, a subtle shifting in your position is it? There''s no shame in that my man.[/quote]

 

What position would that be, because if it is the thing about Hughton keeping us up, then I''m not sure if you have heard the recent news....

 

But to answer you, the line you saw fit to drag up was based on me assuming we''d beat West Brom, we would be three points better off right now, and we wouldn''t even be having this discussion.

Did you assume we would win against West Brom? Should I go and trawl through old posts to see where you predicted us losing?

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Is it desperate knee jerking?

[morty 0]

[quote user="Brienne"]Is it desperate knee jerking?[/quote]

 

It is an act of sheer desperation by the board, a massive gamble, the only choice they had left, and no one external to the club would have taken the job.

 

So, did you predict we''d lose on Saturday?

[It's Character Forming 1,204]

Good blog by the OP.  For me, having supported Hughton, the concern has been that away from home we''ve gone from some games when we played well but were unfortunate to lose, like West Ham, to poor performances where we didn''t really turn up, Swansea being the obvious example - you''d never believe they were below us before that game.  When that infected our home form on Saturday, I came to the conclusion it was unfortunately necessary to sack Hughton otherwise we''d probably sleepwalker to relegation.

 

For anyone to say they don''t care what the national media say about us is silly really... by posting on a thread about it you demonstrate that it matters to you. 

I disagree with much of what is said in the nationals about my team, but I still care what they say.  I just wish they were better informed about us.

[Ginja 43]

[quote user="morty"]

[quote user="Brienne"]Is it desperate knee jerking?[/quote]

 

It is an act of sheer desperation by the board, a massive gamble, the only choice they had left, and no one external to the club would have taken the job.

 

So, did you predict we''d lose on Saturday?

[/quote]

I have to agree with Morty on this, I too thought Hughton would keep us up and that we would win on Saturday.

Things were really bad at the weekend, not just the performance but the mood in general, it''s no wonder there is no tunnel cam this week. In the hard cold light of day there really was little option left to the board.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

morty wrote the following post at 08/04/2014 2:10 PM:

Brienne wrote:

Is it desperate knee jerking?

It is an act of sheer desperation by the board, a massive gamble, the only choice they had left, and no one external to the club would have taken the job.

So, did you predict we''d lose on Saturday?

An act of desperation which became necessary because of a failure to act sooner, despite all the evidence clearly showing that things were going badly wrong.

A shocking failure in fact which you of course merrily supported.

There is no shame in admitting you were wrong.

[Ginja 43]

[quote user="Brienne"]An act of desperation which became necessary because of a failure to act sooner, despite all the evidence clearly showing that things were going badly wrong.

A shocking failure in fact which you of course merrily supported.

There is no shame in admitting you were wrong.[/quote]

There is no right and wrong in football, only what has been done, there is no way you can prove that sacking Hughton earlier would mean we''d be in a significantly better position.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

It would have meant that we would have avoided the "desperate knee jerk reaction" as Morty calls it. Or do you think Norwich would sack two managers in one season?

[Jacks Back 0]

Not even the biggest keyboard warriors could disagree with this. Well put.