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Canary On The Wire

I believed we'd get the job done in the end. I was wrong.

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So Norwich City are all but relegated to the Championship. But whodunnit? Was it Ricky van Wolfswinkel drifting aimlessly in deep midfield? Was it Robert Snodgrass taking thirty years to cross? Or, perhaps, was it Sebastien Bassong strolling through Premier League matches like they''re testimonials?

The answer is none of the above. For me, the buck stops with both coaching staff and Board alike, as this is not, and has never been, a poor squad. In bringing in Chris Hughton, I guess our Board saw a man capable of steadying the ship, as after the momentum of the Lambert years ground to a halt following his departure, we needed to make sure we didn''t drop like a stone with the fabled ''second season syndrome'' in full effect.

So in came Hughton and what followed was a season of unambitious football, doing just enough to grind out results and even throwing a quite remarkable ten game unbeaten run into the mix. Hughton''s NCFC became renowned for their organisation, a solid, dependable and hard to beat outfit, though hardly leaving spectators on the edge of their seats.

Essentially, we did enough in both halves of the season to achieve comfortable safety. Having accepted that this was probably necessary having been left in the lurch post Lambert as to what would come next, we waited excitedly for the new season and what our multi-million pound new signings would yield.

But things didn''t change. The lack of ambition in our tactical setup led to a lack of confidence in the players. The self-belief Lambert instilled in the players he left behind had finally dissipated entirely and the comprehensive shut-outs just seemed to stop. These expensive new signings either didn''t gel or didn''t seem to buy into Hughton''s reactive ethos, or a combination of the two. It just didn''t work. That much was patently obvious. Or so we all thought.

Due to the smattering of victories in between uninspiring defeats, many fans (admittedly including myself, until it was too late) were blinded to the truth. This was a woeful team. Yes, it was comprised of a fair few talented individuals, but they had no belief in themselves or each other. Hughton was allowed to carry on, staggering blindly through the desert of the dogfight from beating to beating, occasionally pulling out a bold defensive performance that had become his trademark. It just wasn''t enough anymore.

What did for our NCFC in the end was Hughton''s failure to throw caution to the wind and tell those players that we need to get at teams. Get to the byline, get beyond them, push them back and make things happen. It was his philosophy to react and nick a goal, and he was stubbornly unwilling to change until he himself realised it was beyond him and he became a picture of cowardice, essentially making the substitutions shouted at him from the terraces and tactical changes to appease the fans whether or not it was the right thing to do in the context of the match. Pathetic, and desperate. We didn''t accrue anywhere near enough points before this thankless run in because we just didn''t believe we could have a go, so poor old Neil Adams put himself in the firing line because he couldn''t say no to a job so close to his heart.

It lifted the players, but so shot was their belief that they just couldn''t quite take the spoils when it mattered most. That''s not to say they didn''t have a bloody good go in the run in, but after so much time of being taught how they should stop these superstars rather than impose themselves on them told- we didn''t have that extra yard and confidence to go beyond when we needed it.

As a Club, we deserve this, because indecision at the top and mismanagement out on the grass left us with a totally thankless task. I am almost glad, that even though we could (though probably not) beat Chelsea and Arsenal- we''ll probably still go down even if we do. That will prove that there is no point those in positions of power at the club bleating about how hard the run in is. It''s the Villas and Hulls and West Broms and Swanseas where we wouldn''t say boo to a goose (or indeed a swan), that has sent us down.

So Mr McNally, if you''ve still got a copy of that seven year plan collecting dust at the back of a drawer, get it out and dust it down.

It''s put up or shut up time. Get us back in the Premier League.

OTBC CTID

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Is the corner infill in front of the holiday inn on the back burner agin now then?! After all McNally said back Nov that he''d rather death than relegation.....he obviously did it spot the rot before it set in then.

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Personally I feel we have a good squad but just had the confidence sucked out of them and coached into a negative frame of mind. I also feel Hughton had his favourites and some players would never play and some would constantly play, whatever their form.I really hoped we would stay up but if you''re a team in the Premiership trying to grind out 38 draws, you''re going to get relegated.

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A touch premature COTW full of valid points but the finale is yet to come.

If we do end up level points with Sunderland the long wait for their one point deduction will prove a testing one for all our defeatists.

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