It seems that unless you're a top 6 club, the best you can hope for is mid-table obscurity! Will this change? http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...uestion-is-this-as-good-as-its-going-to-get/?
A massive if, if FIFA sort out football finances and sugar daddys then yes, I don't see why not. We have a decent fan base But unlikely Get established and try and get into the europa league!
Potentionally, we have a massive fan base as the only Premier League club in the East of England. We can but dream, the problem we have always had is that when we do produce a half decent team/manager they are then 'cherry-picked' by the big boys.
I would like to add that even in the 'dark days' of league one, our fan base was still excellent and for most home games I'm sure well over 20,000 fans were in Carrow Road cheering our boys on. Fair comment that some of our up-and-coming young players will possibly only be with us for a few seasons, but I am optimistic that a good few will stay so that they have the opportunity to play most weeks, rather than go to one of the wealthier clubs where they will be 'warming the bench' more often than not. What has impressed me most this season is that the backbone of our team is to a large extent the same as it was in league one, with the addition of some very shrewd buys to 'give the lads a hand' as PL says. We all know that one day, he too will be off to another club, but hope he'll be here for at least another season. His relationship with DM and other members of the board is sensational, as it is with the team and the fans who I'm sure would agree with me that the best thing that happened at Norwich City was when 'Doomcaster' decided to 'leave' and so open the door for DM to join us. The rest is history and I for one am enjoying the ride!!!!
I echo Max, if UEFA have the balls to actually suspend clubs from European competitions if their finances aren't up to standard then we may find the league evening out a bit as some of the less fashionable clubs will start to get some of he European money while the likes of Chelsea and the Manchester clubs get themselves sorted out. Of course this will never happen as which of these would UEFA/FIFA prefer as a Champions League group? Man Utd, Milan, Marseille, Munich or Villa, Chievo, Lorient, Tromso? FIFA can spout on about cleaning up the game all they want but ultimately they are only interested in profit. That's why countries like England and Spain can have their fourth placed side in the 'Champions' League, but the champions of countries like Ireland and Norway have to go through countless qualifying rounds. That being said, if we can get into the Europa and do reasonably well, then there's no reason why we can't push on a establish ourselves as a top half team.
You only have to look at stoke to see whats possible if its done the right way (off the field issues, not so much on ) Theyve been careful with how theyve gone about there business, improved there team as and when needs be. 3 years ago they went up and not to return. improving on the nucleus of there team each year like lambert has done with us and look at them now being able to buy a £10mil striker and not have to so much worry about it. I will welcome the day when we can do the same and without outside investment!!
Yes it can happen take Spurs for an example their right in the thick of it, but they've been empire building for seasons, back in 2008 they finished 11th that wasn't too long ago and in my opinion they're now a top 4 team.
tottenham are a much bigger club than norwich though so its probably an unfair comparison as their budget has always been substantially bigger than our own. they spent an absolute fortune bringing in the best young players in england a few years ago - some have worked, some haven't but our club will never be able to afford the fees they conjured up. what we should aim for as a club is long term stability. staying in the premier league should be the main goal for the next few seasons so that we can increase the capacity of carrow road to what i believe is our 'fighting weight' of around 35,000. this is a realistic capacity which would definitely be filled for premier league matches. this would, in the words of mcnally (7-year plan and all that) allow us to become self sufficient without the need for premier league money to keep the club afloat. that should be, and i'm sure is, the big, fat, juicy pie that delia and the board are striving to bake. if we achieve all of that, then i'm not sure how much further the club can push on without over-stretching itself. that may sound a little negative but when you think about how much would have to happen just to get to this stage it should put things into perspective! we shouldn't kid ourselves - we aren't suddenly going to become manchester united - but as said above, were the financial fair play regulations to hit any clubs hard - and they might do - we just don't know if it will even work or not, then we could be in a position to capitalise. in the mean time, surviving is the main aim - possibly trying our hand in the cups, maybe even this season and possibly even getting into europe. but we can hardly say we are established at this level yet. even if we do stay up this season, which i'm sure we will, next season will probably be even harder. i don't believe lambert is going to leave any time soon - i really don't think he will - so we can continue to build and progress at a rate which is maybe not quite as incredible as we have so far under his guidance! the great thing is, i trust the people at the club to get it right, on and off the pitch
I know it's an old saying, but sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate as long as it's done with - dare I say it? - pruden.... Nope, I can't even say it let alone dare
basically what i'm saying in that rather long-winded post above is that we need to be patient, unlike say, the qpr fans!
Magnificently put, Dazz Plus the worst thing for me is that teams who crash out of the Champions League (pah) get the safety net of automatic entry into the frickin Europa League Protectionism at it's most blatant - especially if you come from Hungary, Bulgaria, Austria, Denmark etc.
Don't be fooled into thinking Stoke are self sufficient and have been building purely because of premier league money. They have an amazing charman who has more or less single handedly bank rolled the clubs success on top of the obvious windfall from being a part of the Premier League. He has put in tens of millions of pounds of his own money. Just cannot see anybody coming forward to do that at Norwich. Even the Stpehen Frys or Hugh Jackmans of this world havent got the resources to pump anything near enough money into the club to compete with the big boys (that's if they were passionate to do it in the first place). It would need to be a multi-millionaire of epic proportions to get anywhere near the top six and even then does that guarantee further success? Looking down the A140 suggests money is not everything - but then again we already kinda know that after the last 30 months! Personally I am getting more satisfaction of competing at this level without the superstars than I thought was possible. Long may the team win over hyped up gold-digging prima donnas!
ChrisAcle08 - Thanks for enlightening us re Stoke. If we'd to play football as they do, then I'm not sure I'd want to watch it every home game as I do at CR. "Personally I am getting more satisfaction of competing at this level without the superstars than I thought was possible. Long may the team win over hyped up gold-digging prima donnas! " I couldn't agree more and even if all we achieve is to finish mid-table most seasons with our team devoid of superstars, then I think the vast majority of true Canaries fans would be happy with that!!!!
Spurs are a bigger club and they've invested money, but they have been perennial under achievers for decades my point is the top six isn't a closed door it will need investment but I think at some point a team with the right work ethic who hasn't splashed the cash will break the mould, when that will exactly happen who knows.
Under Lambert League one - promotion championship - promotion prem season one - good finish, top half? prem season two - Pushing for europe? anythings possible!
Financially it's difficult because actual matchday turnover only contributes about 1/3 of income, and a lot of that is down to corporate boxes (not the average fan through the turnstile). 1/3 media related and the big issue for us is our comparatively low level of commercial revenue depsite the brisk trade in the Mall shop. Stoke have actually had quite a lot of investment, 40 -50 million. Financially we can never compete, but that doesn't mean we can't get a top six finish and get into Europe
you could make a case that everton managed to do that under moyes a few seasons ago so i agree its not impossible. good post by chrisacle08 as well i'm perfectly happy to be patient and build a steady, solid base from this point - its all been a bit manic for the past three years - progression from here is bound to be slower. i'm enjoying that we can compete doing it our way - i'm not craving anything more at the moment but as charlton found to their peril, the push to the next level can be fraught with difficulty. re: stoke, its only the past year that they've thrown money at the team big time and i wonder how much of that is to do with qualifying for europe and the demands on that - they were scouring the lower leagues for talent before that, but they are certainly bankrolled so slightly different to us - they have far more resources despite having a similar background and capacity to us
Just to clarify the stoke investment; they have I think spent approximatley 20 million per year for the last four seasons. Their biggest spend was in 2008-9. It is clealry a sustained investment and I also think that this year is their lowest net spend.
