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crabbycanary

Is relegation all that bad?

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I have just watched a programme I had recorded from a long time ago with Tom Watts (Lofty Eastenders etc) travelling from Arbroath to Swansea, and along the way visiting teams like Accrington Stanley, Scarborough. Basically checking out the grass roots of football and how certain Clubs function/survive/progress/die off.

It made me hanker for some more of that ''proper'' football experiences, that I have had before with Norwich , and made me think of the ''sanitised'' Premier League experience.

Please don''t take this as me wanting us to go down, far from it. I want my Club to be the best it can be, wether it is champions of the World, or not. It''s just me wanting my cake and eat it I guess. With the way the Premier League is run now, I probably am wanting something that will never exist in my lifetime again.

In years gone by, when we have been in the top Division, I got my kicks out of Norwich being successful, and I got my ''proper'' football experience. It just doesn''t (can''t?) happen anymore, and in some ways I feel for a certain generation of supporters who have only the Premier League experience to go by.

There are one or two (older than this old git) posters on here, who have seen a broader experience than I have, and could add more to this ramble. Perhaps they prefer the Prem ''thing''?

IF(I know, I know) we go down, then I am reassured that we could have a similar season to our last stint there, with a stronger squad (however that comes about) a much more stable Club (which, with the parachute payments will help with the quality of the squad) So in reference to that programme, we won''t become a Scarborough or Rushden and Diamonds. We have been too well run over the last 4/5 years, and will stay, at the very least, stable.

Do I want us to stay up ? Hell yes, and wouldn''t it add a twist to this crazy year if RVW scores the goal(s) to keep us up.....?

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If you live far away from Norwich or are too poor to go to many games then yes, it''s a nightmare. For regulars no, once the optimism comes back after hopefully a decent summer and a few early wins, we''ll all be as happy as we''ve ever been.

To be completely honest, since supporting from like ''97 our league one and championship years under Lambert were my favourite supporting thus club by a long way.

An obviously quality manager and a hard working, identifiable team is much better for fan harmony than simply competing in a higher league. I''m looking forward to next season to be honest, hopefully after we clear out these lazy wasters that don''t deserve to wear the shirt.

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[quote user="crabbycanary"]So was the Lambert years experience, because we were winning games, or purely down to the hard working bit DCTO?[/quote]

Both, we loved that team because they gave it their all every game and never gave up. No way in hell did we have the second best team in The Championship that year, we got promoted because we were the hardest working team in that league and we scored a lot of late goals because of our high fitness levels and because we never let our heads drop, there was a reason we won so much

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It''s more frustrating that we have unnecessarily thrown away an easy opportunity to secure a 4th season, bring in a decent manager (not from the Championship this time) and spend properly on real quality.

With Villa stagnating, Sunderland topsy turvey, Hull facing second season syndrome and Burnley, Leicester and a PLayoff winner next season 5 consecutive seasons would have been likely too.

Overall though, we''ve been in the Championship many years before, we are no bigger than Forest, Wednesday, Derby, Leeds, Rovers, Bolton, Boro etc and so have no predestined right to sit in the Premiership and will no doubt get promoted again one day in the future.

We seem to be that sort of club. Flitting between the top 2 divisions.

If you don''t like it support Chelsea!

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[quote user="Phillip J Fry"]It''s worse than death.[/quote]Not really.Or I''ve died 7 times and been resurrected.

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To be honest I''ll be glad to just get it over with.Getting kinda bored of hearing the word "relegation".

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[quote user="Cantiaci Canary"]It''s more frustrating that we have unnecessarily thrown away an easy opportunity to secure a 4th season, bring in a decent manager (not from the Championship this time) and spend properly on real quality.

With Villa stagnating, Sunderland topsy turvey, Hull facing second season syndrome and Burnley, Leicester and a PLayoff winner next season 5 consecutive seasons would have been likely too.

Overall though, we''ve been in the Championship many years before, we are no bigger than Forest, Wednesday, Derby, Leeds, Rovers, Bolton, Boro etc and so have no predestined right to sit in the Premiership
and will no doubt get promoted again one day in the future.

We seem to be that sort of club. Flitting between the top 2 divisions.

If you don''t like it support Chelsea![/quote]

Careful CC, they will be accusing you of "Little Norwich Syndrome" with that sort of attitude. Reality is very difficult for some on this forum.

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Is relegation bad? Yes it is.Would a decent season in the Championship where we win perhaps more than half our games be better than wondering if we will stay up at the end of the season perhaps winning at best a third of our games and probably only a quarter of them?Most definitely.

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I''m now in my 46th year of active support ( since a 9 year old) and I''ve seen many many ups and downs. We are a top 8 Championship side or a bottom 8 Premiership side. This is our window I reckon. I did feel that with this board that we might, just might be preparing to try and be a top 10 premiership team for the next few years. But I have felt let down by the board this time. For the last 3 to 4 years they have been brilliant though. There''s more to life than football and Premiership millionaires. The Champs is more honest.

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It is what it is. It''s just a reflection of being one of the three lowest points totals in your division. So next year you start over... no need to go overboard on that it''s just football after all. And if we are lucky we''ll be at or near the top of the division as we have a better squad - which comes from much better finances - and that just might mean we go back up again - like WBA did.

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I''ve got to say the most enjoyable season I''ve ever had as a Norwich fan was the year we were in League One after we were last relegated. Constantly in the top 2 and pushing for the league title with our strikers scoring for fun and a number of the best players in the league. I can''t really say I''ve enjoyed more than about 2 hours of the last 2 seasons of football played by Norwich in the Premier League. Good riddance to it I say.

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Pretty much agree with you,Cantiaci - of course it''s not what we want, and does feel as though it was avoidable, but if it happens it happens and we have to suck it up. We''ve been there before and have never really been a ''cemented in'' top flight side - maybe we never will be, along with many others, and if people can''t cope with this need to grow a pair or support Man U/Chelsea where they rant and wail at being 7th!

To a large extent it changes little for me, I love going to games and wont change who I support. I''ll still go as often as i can (and will see other games when I can''t get to see NCFC). To me most of the sides are interchangeable anyway (do I really care any more about WBA, Stoke, Fulham, Palace, Villa etc than Forest, Derby, Leeds, Blackburn?) though I''ll have to miss a few more due to the extra m-w games.

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Differing preferences for differing situations. I am a so-called country supporter, ie. I now live too far away from the centre of excellence to realistically make more than the fleeting visit to the Carrot Patch.

 

Premier League status means to me:-

 

A high profile club in the news and playing some of the World''s best teams.

 

A pitch on MotD on a regular basis.

 

A club which is financially sound and can, in theory, attract high class players to grace the Carrow Road turf. Oh how I envy you locals at times. 

 

Last and most ..... streams. I haven'' t missed one minute of any match this season because of my, apparently illegal, use of these.

 

Dropping too Div. 2 , or whatever , will immediately dissolve most of these positives.

 

Let''s hope we can make a hasty return.

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It will be bad cos we won''t attract the new players, and we''re just not a championship side!

If we were to keep them, I think RvW, Hooper, Redmond, Murphy twins, Elmander etc. would really excel in the Championship. RvW and Hooper could get a load of goals and really boost their confidence and give us fans something to cheer about.

There are pros and cons to going down, but I''m sure that we would go straight back up again, but this time with a good manager, confident goalscorers and happy fans! :)

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Relegation is part and parcel of supporting a club like ours we''ll be promoted again and relegated again that''s a certainty. The important thing was to clear the debt, the next for me was to see the club try and play attacking football, premier league status without the other two means nothing to me.

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If we do go down, these would be the games I''d look forward to - i.e. grudge matches...

Ipswich

Leeds

Forest

Derby

Reading

QPR

And most of these are clubs pretty much our "equals" in terms of size - so a pretty competitive league.

Birmingham

Blackburn

Blackpool

Bolton

Cardiff

Charlton

Fulham

Middlesborough

Millwall

Preston

Sheffield W

Watford

Wolves

That only leaves these four clubs that we don''t have much of a "history" with over the years...

Bournemouth

Brentford

Brighton

Huddersfield

So would playing against that group of clubs be all bad - IMO, no it would not....

(Above assumes that Cardiff and Fulham come down, Wigan go up, Doncaster go down and Preston comes up)

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[quote user="Bor Bor Bor"][quote user="Phillip J Fry"]It''s worse than death.[/quote]It''s actually worse than the holocaust.[/quote]
Bor, I know you''re only taking the pi$$ but some of us have relatives who died in the holocaust, I happen to have lost most of the paternal side of my family, and my Grandfather was imprisoned in Mauthausen concentration camp. A little bit more taste with your sardonic wit please.

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Cantiaci I can only agree that we have wasted a great opportunity.

Is relegation bad - well right now thats the way we are heading and it feels really bad.

But I have also been around for long enough to know that every season starts with hope and keen anticipation whatever division we are in.

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[quote user="kick it off"][quote user="Bor Bor Bor"][quote user="Phillip J Fry"]It''s worse than death.[/quote]It''s actually worse than the holocaust.[/quote]
Bor, I know you''re only taking the pi$$ but some of us have relatives who died in the holocaust, I happen to have lost most of the paternal side of my family, and my Grandfather was imprisoned in Mauthausen concentration camp. A little bit more taste with your sardonic wit please.
[/quote]

Nothing more than an observation, but seems strange that your avatar is a VW badge - Hitler''s car company if I''m not mistaken?

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[quote user="morty"]To be honest I''ll be glad to just get it over with.Getting kinda bored of hearing the word "relegation".[/quote]

Me too. I just want to look forward to the games again.

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Seems all that bad at the moment. In reality, it''s just one of them things. It won''t stop us supporting our club, it won''t hinder our enjoyment.

From a personal point of view it''s made me realise how extremely lazy I''ve been with attending games, now there will be no streams to watch I''m really looking forward to getting in some more games.

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Guess the answer to that will depend on how we do next season. If we are flying a Xmas walking the league and playing some good football then great. If we are mid table, struggling to find our rhythm and have lost to Ipswich then maybe not. The appointment of the next manager and backroom staff along with the players in and out needs to be spot on and done relatively quickly-hopefully most of the ground work for the manager has been done already-my only concern is transfers as until we get a manager we won''t have any targets and could miss out- ending up signing your Carl Robinson''s, Andy Hughes type players as all the decent ones have gone. Possibly a more important summer than the last.

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YES, if I am being a selfish plastic ex-pat supporter who has been able to watch every game live home and away and not just being reliant on occasional trips back to UK for my fix.

NO, absolutely NOT, if I am giving it serious thought, looking back on our history, current financial situation and understanding that this is all part of being a Norwich City supporter........................you see, regardless of this possible relegation, the club has actually come a long way in a very short space of time when compared to previous times, it really has, and so many are forgetting that.  OTBC regardless of what league we play in and if we do go down I am very confident we will bounce back within two seasons, probably next!! 

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It''s so good to read some of the well-written and sensible posts above after so much petulant sniping and gnashing of teeth over the past couple of seasons. I agree with almost all of the points already made. For me, relegation feels unpleasant because it is failure and that is never a nice feeling. There''s also the nagging feeling of what could have been and a disappointing sense that we have under-performed after the optimism of last summer.

On the flip side, I have experienced several previous relegations and I know that a week or two into the summer break I will regain the excitement and optimism of building up to a new season and wondering what lies ahead. In common with many above I enjoy the chase more than the prize, so to speak. Of course I want my club to be competing against the elite and giving a favourable account of themselves (this past season has been largely disappointing in that respect), but I enjoyed many of our Championship campaigns as much (and more, where successful) than our recent stints in the PL. Even if we are crap for the next five seasons, I know our time will come again eventually.

Events in my personal life over this past month have put football into even clearer perspective than ever before for me. I nearly lost my new baby to a serious congenital heart condition and his future is still very much in the balance. I just can''t get worked up over which division my team is playing in through any given season when I am focused on making the most of every minute my boy is alive. Going forward, I couldn''t care less whether NCFC are plying their trade in the Premier League or in the Conference, as long as he is around to witness it.

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