IS THE CURRENT FRUSTRATION ACTUALLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT N.W. SEEMS INCAPABLE OF LEARNING?

[Bernard Futter 0]

As a Worthington sceptic from the beginning - he was instantly available and cheap - it may seem strange for me of all people to call for patience.

Four games into a season with over forty still to go is precious little time to jump to managerial conclusions.
However, I believe that the disquiet felt by many supporters is less to do with the current situation (however parlous), but more to do with the fact that there is wafer thin evidence to support the contention that the man can recognise his mistakes/shortcomings - let alone do something to rectify them.

Identified on this platform ad nauseum, the litany includes regular fall outs with players who never have an opportunity to prove themselves (Heckingbottom, Briggs), questionable signings (Rivers, Docherty), blatant favouritism (Fleming, Holt), players regularly used out of position (Brennan, Charlton) (naive tactics (defending too deep, old third division style punts up the field, eg crucially at Fulham).

I wouldn''t mind betting that if the team manage a play-off place this year, no thought will be given beforehand from the management/coaching staff as to who will take the penalties in the event of a draw aet! (Anyone - apart from XXL16 - got Darryl Sutch''s home telephone number?)

A well coached team plays better than the sum of the parts, I would suggest City may well not achieve that under N.W.''s stewardship.

If Delia and co couldn''t countenance the thought of Bryan Hamilton resigning after seven straight losses, I fear that nettles are unlikely to be grasped in this instance, irrespective of whether the situation worsens...

PS To head off the chuntering, one eyed brigade, how about Dario Gradi - now his teams always manage to play better than the sum of their parts!

[Norfolk Dan 336]

Nothing to add to that post apart from a pat on the back. You are correct my friend.

[FatMan Fat 0]

A plain common sense post.

[Creative Midfielder 2,203]

That''s another pat from me.

I think this is exactly what the ''Worthy is useless'' v ''its only 4 games'' debate has been missing.

There are plenty of positives that Worthy''s defenders can point to, and plenty of ammunition for the critics. To me the failure to learn from past mistakes and address long standing problems is probably the most damning criticism. 

[Barry Brockes 157]

Absolutely on the nail. Yet again at the start of a season we start off completely clueless which has been a feature of the Worthy rule. No shape, no tactics, lack of quality coaching, no resolution of long-established frailties, bad transfers in, no idea as to what our best team is and, if any of the number of rumours in circulation are to be believed, still frantically trying to bring in players who should have been brought in weeks ago to do the job which needs to be done. Exactly who at NCFC is asking the questions which need to be asked? Things need to improve dramatically in the next few games. 

[Rasputin was a C... 0]

No doubt that during Nigel Worthington''s reign Norwich City have played some very good football and some very bad football. Most of it last season and this is where the problem lies with Worthington as you have pointed out. We play brilliantly but don''t seem to carry it into the next game, or we play poorly with players being at fault for either bad defending, little creativety or a lack of composure in front of goal. All areas that the fans can see with ease yet come the next game a player that has done reasonably well during a period of games finds himself on the bench to allow players that don''t produce the goods consistently. I honestly doubt that now is the time to get rid of Worthington but I like many others am starting to feel that if Norwich City are to take the next step up we are going to need a manager who learns from his errors, doesn''t have favourites based on personality over performance and has the ability to bring young players through. If Worthington shows that he is able to change his thinking on certain areas then all well and good but if not maybe its time to go our seperate ways.

I am a Worthington supporter by the way so this isn''t a rant because I can''t stand him or something stupid like some I know, but like I say maybe Worthys taken us as far as he can.

[Mello Yello 2,571]

Excellent post Mr Futter! It''s not dissimilar to how 25.000 fans see a blatant handball, and the ref and his assistant''s don''t. In other words: "What channel are the Board, Delia, Micky Wynn & Chairman Mumbles watching? When the ''larger'' percentage of NCFC support- can see where the problem lies, by just listening to the radio!

P45''s are not the answer at this moment in time, but a questioning by the ''Board'', of where, when & how- our manager and coaching staff are going to alter the predictable tactics, post match comments etc. After all, it is now 15 months since our last away win! 

I am a tolerant man, but as the hungry vulture says to his chums: "Patience my A$$ I''m gonna'' kill something!" OTBC ;~) 

Fingers and toe''s crossed! our first morale boosting away win against the ''Dons'' tomorrow! 

[breaker 0]

Wrong time to get rid of Worthy - we need stability at the moment, but if there were to be a change how about Peter Taylor currently at Hull?

[Saint Canary 0]

This is an excellent topic with some excellent replies.  I sit on the wall when it comes to Worthy, I appreciate what he has done both positive and negative.  I think the thing I would most like to know is similar to a point raised by Yellow Rider about back slapping.  Is Worthy actually accountable to the board?  I would like to think that after just 3 points from 4 games that the board would call him in and ask questions of where we are going and why we have had a poor start.

Ultimately he does have to learn from his mistakes or he will never be able to move the club "Onwards and Upwards" and he makes a few too many at the moment but I am hoping that he is learning. 

[sheded 0]

[quote]As a Worthington sceptic from the beginning - he was instantly available and cheap - it may seem strange for me of all people to call for patience. Four games into a season with over forty still to g...[/quote]

As a long time admirer of Dario Gradi`s obvious  talent  , I have to agree  on that point !    what baffles me is why  , with his CV , he still sticks with Crewe ?   maybe  he`s on a big percentage  of the fees from the sale of his pupils  ? 

As you mentioned  , it IS far too early to start yelling for Worthy`s head  !   the last four games  have featured  our strikers hitting the sticks ....  IF  they had   done the job they get paid for  , we would  now be up there with the leaders !!