I first went to Carrow Road in 1950 when I was 5 years old and have missed very few home matches since. This is now my 62nd year as a City supporter and in that time I have experienced wonderfull times such as the 1958/59 cup run and our first unexpected promotion to the top tier in 1972. I have witnessed distinctly average times such as the period in the 1960's when we seemed to change our Manager every fortnight and went up and down like a whores drawers without ever looking likely to be promoted or relegated. I have witnessed bad times such as relegations and the spell in the 1957 when it looked like our Club was going out of business and was only kept going by an appeal organised by the EDP and supported by local business people such as Geoffrey Whatling. I can still remember taking my pocket money to school to help the appeal as we had a collection bucket in the main hall. Nothing, however, was as bad as the start of the season before last. Bottom of the third tier of English football, a Manager who was clueless, a team that was useless and a Club sliding into administration. Then the miracle happened and I can honestly say that the period that has followed is the most incredibly wonderful time of my Norwich City life and will not be bettered even if I live to be a hundred. I can also say that in my 62 years at Carrow Road I have NEVER booed my team not even when we were 7-1 down against Colchester. Yes I have been disappointed in my team many times over the years but I am a supporter and that means accepting that your team is doing its best and getting on their backs does not help. To anybody reading this thread who booed on Saturday I say, quite bluntly, you should be ashamed of yourself and you should remember where we were when McNally and Lambert took control of the situation. If you really think that we have come so far that we can just expect to beat a team who in the last few seasons have qualified for Europe then you are living in cloud cuckoo land!!! OTBC!!!
totally agree 1950. just posted this on a different thread but felt it apt so i'll repeat it below... i have to agree with lambert that the crowd overall was flat on saturday. far too many people seemed to turn up expecting a win. i think there is a real lack of football knowledge amongst a number of our fans - fulham have been an established top flight side for over ten years and have only really ever been involved in one relegation battle in all that time. they are strong physically and mentally, have skilful players, are quick on the break and extremely well organised at the back. fulham are the kind of team we should aspire to be - a well run, solid, mid-table premier league team who challenge in europe and for domestic cups. anyone who thought we could turn up and roll them over based on attendances or club stature is clearly a fool and we definitely had a 'foolish' element in the crowd on saturday. lambert's 'dig' will hopefully have the right effect. remember, much of fulham's success was partly down to our very own david mcnally!
To anybody reading this thread who booed on Saturday I say, quite bluntly, you should be ashamed of yourself and you should remember where we were when McNally and Lambert took control of the situation Well said and the same applies for any fan that does that. I too have been through the peaks and troughs since I started watching in late 1975 but have never even contemplated booing our own players - not even Dean Coney (arguably the worst striker we have had in that time)
Excellent article, really good read and a whole host of great points raised there. I must admit to booing once last season, it was against Burnley I believe, and the attitude of the players was shocking, they looked as if they couldn't care less. I feel like an idiot for booing though, seem to remember we battered them second half!
i must admit, i didn't hear any booing from my position in the barclay but there obviously was some as its been pointed out by many fans since the game. i have booed my team once, during worthington's final game against burnley where the team completely fell apart - i didn't really mean to boo, it just came out through pure frustration and anger that the situation had got to that stage really. but that was a completely different situation to saturday and people who booed need to get a grip on reality.
Some people look at it as fulham who are in the bottom quater of the league (so they must be struggling, a sure victory) Others though look at it as a team who have been in the top flight for 10 years, more than double us over the amount we have been altogether and the fact they were in a european final is no mean feet. A draw to someone like fulham is a very good result in my eyes especially when you see the strength in depth of there squad! As you say, anyone who thinks its a bad result then they havent got a clue! OTBC
i think it was a good result in the circumstances. had fulham not scored early on and had something to sit on then the game may have panned out differently. likewise, had we scored the equaliser with 20 minutes to go i think we'd have won the match with the momentum we had but its those who turned up thinking we'd just roll them over who are seriously deluded
I remember that Burnley game all to well, most of the ground (except Burnley fans - all 300 of them) was booing and I could understand why. Worthington had lost the dressing room and the players knew a bad result on that day would see him leave (most of the fans knew it too). I did hurl a torrent of abuse at Worthy that day with total frustration at what had happened that season, it was time for him to go and board needed to know exactly how the fans felt that day. As bad as the booing was, to a point it was justified that day.
1950 - I can relate with you every step of the way, I started following us very soon after you did. As you say, there´s not been a spell of success to match these last two and a half years, since the Walker days and Bayern Munich. Unfortunately success breeds expectation, and some fans I´m sure on Saturday just thought that we would stroll past Fulham, which hopefully has proved to them that there are no easy games in this league, and nor are there any teams that we can disregard out of hand.
I've heard booing a fair bit at Carrow Road. I booed during the Colchester thrashing actually I went ballistic that game was an absolute disgrace and at Mark 'Dickhead' Fotheringham during that Coventry when he flipped the bird at the Barclay. As for the Fulham game we were all over them in the 2nd half and they defended superbly, some teams are going to be hard to break down. The major problem is loads of people have got so used to seeing us win or be all over teams like we were back in League One and The Championship, these fans have some really unrealistic expectations if you ask me. To be honest with you that's why I prefer away games as most people sing and get behind the team.
I see the Ipswich Christmas comedy special has returned for a New Year's follow up. You only have yourselves to blame after the comments of Hampy, Jonah and Spanish over the last few months. Those deluded boys were always going to have egg over their faces.
Season ticket holder mate and have been for over 25 years and I go to a large number of away games so yes I guess that makes me fickle! On the other hand you are currently having your "golden era" under the best manager you have ever had and ever likely to and some of your lot still aren't bloody satisfied!
Clearly our manager is not in the same league as Paul Jewell. P.S. JWM, have a look at your posts over the last 6 months and then look up the word fickle.
The Radio Norfolk commentary team simply mentioned "one or two boos" at the half time whistle, so there can't have been that many involved. The answer is for the rest of us to drown the boo-boys out -- as PL said afterwards, it was "quiet", so where were we? A lot of the problem IMO is that a sizeable number of today's Canary fans have grown up in the years when City were mostly doing well in the top flight and seem to take that level for granted ("Fulham" to them is probably synomymous with "League Two"). The posts from the old'uns (I'm one) are a reminder that that is a skewed perspective on our post-war history. In reality, we have been out of the top division many more years than in it. A final point: feeling that the Carrow Road crowd is letting his team down is about the only thing I can think of at the moment that would persuade Paul Lambert to seriously consider leaving. If the people booing want us back in the Championship, that's the best way to go about it. PS (edit): Fulham 2 -- Arsenal 1 FT
robbie you make some very valid points and to just cast aside the usual banter for a moment, this reminds me of the 1980/81 season when some Town fans were doing the same thing towards Bobby Robson! You are now in your golden era with a fantastic manager whose services will be much sort after by bigger clubs come the end of the season. Don't give him any excuses to leave that is all!
You just have to have a look at your fans comments though over the past few years of mediocrity. How some of your lot turned on Magilton, when you got in Keane and proceeded to give it the biggun that one crashed and failed, then Jewell with his team full of has been journerymen, beware of those false dawns lads.
JWM - you are a top man, I genuinely like you! I just wish your team would start living up to their potential for your sake!
