I knew you wouldn’t let us down John Life as a Norwich fan truly must be awful as you keep climbing that table.
Spare a thought for Sutton who played all the football in our match and lost to goals by the 2 least effective players on the pitch.
Spare a thought for Harrogate. Lost 1 game in 10. Form team in the division. Recently held the leaders Stockport. Decent result tonight and they’ve climbed from the bottom 7 into a play off place. They lose 9-2.
Spare a thought for those Leeds fans as traumatised as yourself. Their away form was a concern. Now they seem to have forgotten how to lose away.
Let’s especially spare a thought for Southampton fans who have just seen their team lose for the 1st time in months. The next few days will be ones of unparalleled debate and anxiety. Have the wheels come off? Have they been “found out”? Is it just a blip? Is it the time for changes?
Ever thought you might actually be doing just fine? Small club punching well above your weight repeatedly. Your local rivals have lost faith in their hugely entertaining football and signed Keiffer Moore as they slip at exactly the wrong moment and now face McKenna being routed around the EPL lower reaches at exactly the wrong moment. If I were a Norwich fan I’d be enjoying life right now.
Now remember, all answers involving money are banned
I used to work with Roger Maddams who I believe is chairman of Sutton. Great guy and a real football fan.
The fact we are in the top six playing the way we are is indicative of how poor the championship is this year.
The reason Wagner comes under a deal of criticism is because he’s a very poor second to Farke. You only have to look at the way Leeds are playing to see what we are missing.
One of the most despicable parts of football for me.
Nothing wrong with planning for the future in the way of Brighton “identifying and following” De Zerbi. That wasn’t public until the appointment was made.
Very different to putting out there (and it will be Norwich themselves who put it out there) that you’ve identified the next manager and the current incumbent is on their way out.
I’m sure he’ll never say so but one must wonder about the extent similar behaviour put Roy Hodgson in hospital.
“Normal service has been resumed” after Tuesday’s blip.
Right-o @dave-marshall, your lot’s turn next to keep things interesting!
On an unrelated note, why have “they” pushed mid-week kick off times to 7:45? Following the Saints game (on the Beeb website) this evening, I see that it’s 10 to 10 o’clock and there’s still probably 10 minutes to play, if one counts the inevitable “overtime”. So finishing(ed) around 22:00.
Last week, we had a FA cup replay mid-week. I would normally go in on the choo-choo - there’s a really good shuttle bus between Soton Central station and St. Mary’s; ideal for old codgers like me - and free with my OAP Bus Pass!
But if the game had gone to extra time, and penalties(!) I would have been either dossing on a bench at Central…or really p1$$ing off my dearly beloved to get out of bed and collect me! So in the end I drove and parked - hardly very “green”…
That’s arguable to say the least. My Norwich supporting friend was at the match and said it was a minority but a very vocal minority as they always are. At theor loudest when the match ended and most were heading out.
Same as everywhere then. We got boos after playing just fine but losing at home to Bradford. Had they booed during the match they’d have been well and truly sorted by the fans around them. On the way out, much harder. People use their “right” to express an opinion at very convenient moments when they can appear really hard but are just as hard to locate.
Equally let’s remember that Klopp had a go at Liverpool fans and yet “survived” the best part of a decade. Ditto Arteta. Some bloke called Pep does it repeatedly. Roy is an exception at Palace and it’s very clear Wagner is safe for this season but your hierarchy have rightly recognised, as they failed to do so with Farke, that they have a manager capable of getting them out of the EFL and into the PL but likely straight back down.
When Leeds go up I’d expect Farke to last until Christmas at the latest.
Farke is a far better manager than Wagner. All Wagner has done is fill the team with old men who can’t play the ball out from the back with any pace.
Farke developed youth and played exciting football as can been seen at Leeds.
He’s light years ahead of Wagner.
It’s obvious that Knapper realises this and hence the rumoured approach for the Arsenal assistant.
As for our owners, having taken us into our current mess we can only hope they support Knapper though judging from past performance I doubt it.
They’ll probably blame the other 80% of supporters for not being sufficiently optimistic.
As for your friend in the ground, I sit in the South stand well away from the Barclay and Snake Pit and I can assure you the majority of fans are thoroughly fed up with the owners and the dull football we’ve witnessed since they sacked Farke.
There is literally zero evidence as to who is the “better” manager between Farke and Wagner. There are different ways to achieve success and both have failed to achieve above Championship level. Until one of them does then their records are pretty much the same. Overall Wagner has won more.
Having sat in various football grounds for 50 odd years I think the wisest thing anyone can say is that your perception of what happens in other stands versus what actually happens are more often than not miles apart. I spent decades taking the mick out of a stand that doesn’t sing. When I sat in there for several years as our stand was being rebuilt I discovered that they always sang; sang louder than us and it just didn’t carry.
Similarly, very loud group of fans to my left always used to boo if the score was 0-0 at half time. From the noise most of us would have said there were around 500 of them. Sat with a mate in that area 1 day and saw for myself it was literally 20 idiots.
Our own views of how good or bad things are get coloured by evidence which suits our narrative. It doesn’t make us right.
My mate was sat slap bang in the middle of the fans Wagner had a go at. By his estimate they tried to raise a noise during the game and were shouted down. There were at best 50 of them. Immediately after the final whistle they booed again. They were again shouted down.
Was always going to be a tough game v Argyle who have a good record at home. Apart from minutes 46 to 60 we were much the better side although we’re a less effective side without Bamford, we miss a genuine 9. Our success, such as it is (so far) is built on our defence. This is refreshing. The top teams have the best defences. To have that and play attractive football is as good as it gets.
Farke’s record in the Championship with ourselves and Norwich is peerless. No one in their right mind would swap Farke for Wagner even though Norwich were one of the best teams we’ve seen at ER this season - well organised rather than exciting. That said if we end up in the play offs it’s entirely possible that Wagner could have the last laugh.
I thought the halcyon days had gone with Bielsa. It wasn’t just the football, it was ‘the man’. Farke has much of the same ‘the man’ stuff about him which means you want him to win rather than just wanting the team to win, something you always want. As someone not fussed about playing in the EPL these are great days again at ER. Long may it continue.
Feel fortunate just now but know, because it’s football and because we are the very best at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it could change very quickly. Ups and downs!
The values of the manager help to make the whole experience better. Winning is great but winning playing great football under a manager who clearly shares some of your own values is even better. Farke’s stats are outstanding. The issue, as you know, is in the EPL is it lack of backing or lack of ability which undoes Farke. Time will tell, should we pull off the great escape.
Was watching the Leeds game prior to going to the City game and the commentator made an interesting point that at the same point in the season Farke is ten points ahead of where Bielsa was when he took Leeds out of the championship.
As for the game at Carrow Road it was one of our better performances but it has to be said that Cardiff were by far the worst team I’ve seen this season.
Despite being all over them we managed to go a goal down. It was the definitive 0-1 massacre.
However, we finally started putting away some of the numerous chances we created to put ourselves in the frame for the play offs. It’s a very strange season.
Life as a Norwich fan truly must be awful as you keep climbing that table.
