I must be as I thought it’d be a good idea to look on here this morning! Been away for personal reasons (some of which are bad, some of which are good - thanks for the kind messages - sorry not been able to reply to them all yet) so not sure what has been said by others over the past few weeks or the general mood, though I imagine it’s not been too good! As you will all know I’ve 100% backed Hughton at this club and will continue to do so while he is in the dugout. However, I think last night was the point of no return for the former Spurs legend - I don’t think he can survive long-term now and the whole point of keeping him would be to keep him long-term. The home defeat to the increasingly annoying Fulham was a tough one to take - it was the moment Hughton fell overboard. But he could still have saved himself, he could still see land! Last night it was announced that he is now lost at sea. Can he be rescued by his players? Do they even have a lifeboat? Do they even care? Probably. But it saddens me to say that I think the club will have no option but to remove him from his position or the club will eat itself. For whatever reason it’s not happening at City. Is it him? Is it his coaches? Is it simply that following Lambert was a near-impossible challenge? I don’t know. His signings (overall) have been very good (and continue to be in the shape of the versatile Gutierrez). I know that he is a fine man, a fine coach and I’m positive he will get a job elsewhere in football very rapidly and be a success (which will be frustrating but hey ho). I don’t believe he has ever been fully accepted by a large proportion of our supporters which is both daft and massively disappointing. He did a good job last season yet he got a rough ride from some people, many of which I’m sure still pined for the previous manager. It meant he’s always been fighting against his own as well as the opposition. Whoever comes in next CANNOT be treated the same way. No good can come of it. I don’t think he should be sacked today. I think we have to stick with him for Hull and if he wins then great. We then have another home game afterwards so land could be in sight and maybe, just maybe, he will drag himself out of this. If he doesn’t then the axe will have to fall on Saturday evening because the atmosphere will be appalling and it will be irrelevant whether he can turn it around after that or not. The weight will need to be lifted. It’s crazy to think that a couple of back-to-back home wins will almost certainly have us sitting in the top half of the Premier League and really, that should be enough incentive not to panic, but I’m afraid too many fans have panicked this season and they really haven’t helped matters. I spoke to two of our bearded players just the other day and both agreed, quite clearly, that the players are not enjoying playing at home because of the uncomfortbale atmosphere. Should players be strong and ignore it? They are not robots. It doesn’t matter who we appoint - we will still struggle because we are one of the 10/11 teams who are much of a muchness and could be relegated. We will struggle again next season (assuming we stay up). Quite why anyone has been surprised by this is beyond me. Expectations were stupidly high simply because of the amount of money we spent but I’m sorry, we spent that money to stay afloat in this league, not to push on and up. Injuries have hit hard this season and stopped any kind of rhythm being found. All clubs get injuries but we are not in a position to cope well with that amount. I thought it was fairly obvious that we would be amongst the contenders - maybe that’s why I’ve not panicked - but I have to admit that results and performances haven’t been good enough since early December. We had a chance to sit in 10th and would probably be on around 26/27 points by now but we blew it in that awful Fulham game. It was THAT game that signalled the end for Hughton. It could be THAT game which comes back to bite the club on the bum in May. I don’t think it will. I don’t think we will be relegated with Hughton in charge or without, but it will be close. When you have that many teams involved, it will always be close. I think 36 points will be enough for survival this season and wouldn’t be surprised to see as many as 8 teams still fighting to stay up on the final day. Whatever happens, get behind the lads on Saturday because they need us more than ever. There is no confidence in that side and creating a bad atmosphere will only hinder the club further. We should ALL prefer to win on Saturday and keep Hughton than lose to Hull and lose the manager. If you feel otherwise then I really would have to question your loyalty to the club. We need the points. OTBC
I'm hoping for a win at Hull and I think a win there will see a change in the attitude of a lot of fans. I hope Hughton does turn it around, I can see potential in him but at the moment the dire football is emotionally draining our players, they just don't seem to want to be there.
Good to have you back Supers - you have been missed and we all hope that all is well with you again. We'll all be cheering on Saturday - there's nothing we all want more than the club to dig itself out of the hole it's in. We will all be behind the team from the off and we hope that this transpires onto the pitch and inspires them to perform and go on and win. I think a change is necessary now but it will not alter our undying passion for the club and anyone who wants us to lose so that it brings up Hughton's demise is just plain daft.
good to see you post Superman, and all the best to you. very sombre post and interesting to see what the players think about playing at home.
Viewing this from afar.. It is admirable that the club has been sticking by the manager.. he spent some money in the summer and has been given (some) time to keep working with the squad and turn things around. However when the mood turns, it is nigh on impossible to rescue and he has clearly been teetering on the cusp for some time (some would argue he fell face first many months ago) I always find it interesting that when a club spends a bit of money and the signings don't work out (or hit the ground running) the players are immune to fact they are under performing and it's the manager that bites the bullet. You could say that is the case for nearly all of the sackings so far this season
Supers, good to see you back and i know me and you have had our run-ins in the past, I'm hoping the not so good aren't so ****ty and good things are bloody fantastic in you life away from the board. now back to your thread and being totally serious here and no petty bias, you know my feelings on Hughton as a manager from the beginning but i think you hit the nail on the head when you say about it being an impossible job to follow Lambert, even one of the great manager of this time would struggle just simply because Lambert done so much in a short space of time. I will leave at that.
Good to see you back supers and I have to say that in the 5 or so years that I've supported the Canaries, I've NEVER felt so angry as I did on Boxing Day. We got a slightly lucky goal and then we just sat back and invited them to attack us and I think it was R Bennett virtually gifts them the equaliser. My biggest complaint this season though is that most of the goals we concede are 'soft' goals, rather than skilful play by our opponents - ie free headers in the box, not closing down quickly enough etc. IMO, the message supers is trying to convey is spot on!! <hitsnailonheademoticon>
Firstly, welcome back fella And secondly, as much as it pains me to say it I have to say that I am 100% in agreement with every word you posted and I now also cannot see a way back for him. Last night was awful, absolutely bloody horrific from the moment I saw the starting XI right up to the final whistle. So many questions came out of the selection and tactics: Why on earth did Snodgrass play 90 minutes??? Why on earth did Elmander play up front on his own??? Why on earth was David Fox now allowed to leave our own half - ever???? Why did Wes not play behind the striker??? Why on earth did Ricky not start??? Why on earth was Ricky playing in midfield for the last 15 minutes??? It was simply beyond belief. The moment for me when the penny finally dropped and I realised that he's a dead man walking was at some point during that dreadful first-half when a chorus of âthereâs only one Chrissy Hootunâ rang out and I knew that it just had to be ironic and that nobody could really have actually meant the sentiment of the lyrics as they bellowed it out. The ironic cheers when we won a corner in the first half as well had to make me laugh, it was like weâd won the bloody world cup - really, really not good at all. Iâve backed him up until now and whilst Iâve never said heâs a brilliant manager or anything Iâve not seen the sense in sacking him and havenât agreed with those who say that we should. Iâm afraid last night was the tipping point for me however and I really cannot see how heâs going to pull himself back from this. I didnât hear Canary Call (thankfully!) or his interview after the game, but can guess what it would have gone like. I woke up this morning feeling thoroughly sick, it wasnât the fact we lost 3-0 and are out of the cup, it was the manner of the defeat from start to finish, and the fact we made an incredibly ordinary Fulham side look brilliant. Something has to change, and for the first time since he took over Iâm afraid that I am now in the camp of people who believe it has to be the manager. Bad times
The thing that hit home for me was that I didn't hear one round of 'Hughton's yellow army', but instead it was 'Delia's yellow army'. I really enjoyed going crazy when we got that corner in the first half! Just a shame they went straight up the other end to make it 2-0!
Good to see you put in (more than a cameo, we hope? ) appearance Supers. It's just a shame that possibly our most inept, dismal attempt at a performance for years has triggered your return. Shame it couldn't have been one of the (few) occasions when we can puff our little Canary chests out with pride and have some positive stuff to discuss. We're floundering dangerously on the rocks - surely McNally can't just sit back and wait for us to capsize, can he?
He doesn't seem that concerned, I think he's banking on our loan of Gutierrez and a Pilks/Tettey Return to keep us up, we do have some signings coming up. Personally I think CH is here until the end of the season and he will just keep us up, probably 17th I'd say.
For me all the omens are that we will be beaten by both Hull and Newcastle at home. It is clear to all that the players have almost given up playing for CH. Why this should have happened has been discussed on these boards for many weeks. We are on a downward spiral which many of us have seen before in the past at this club and many others. The answer then, as it is now, is to change the catalyst of the problem - the manager. The players hold all the aces - the manager may not be worthy of all the blame, but if the players do not want to play for him then fans and directors feel the disappointment when the poor results come one after the other.
First of all, welcome back Superman. We haven't always seen eye to eye but it's good to see you back on here. I've read your post twice and I have to say I found it incredibly sad. I also admired its honesty and sharpness, and I could feel how much writing it seemed to wrench you in two. (I hope that doesn't sound in any way patronising - I swear it is not meant to be.) As for what you say, I agree with a lot of it. Although I over-react during and immediately after games, I don't think Hughton is 'clueless' or anything as crass as that. In my opinion, he needs to go back to the Championship (and I'm sure he will be snatched up once he is available) and build his career from scratch again. I'm sure he will do well at that level, get a team organised, and probably eventually promoted. That's when I think we'll find (and he will too) whether he has learnt enough from his Norwich experience to become the top manager you believe he can be. I personally think he needs to learn to let go and trust players more once he has talented ones in his ranks. I suspect trying to control everything may have been the root cause of his failure over the last year. Saturday threatens to be no fun at all for anybody. Let's hope I'm wrong.
It took a long time but I have finally come round to the view that Hughton isn't the manager for us. It's a shame, he was the man I wanted when Lambert left and was ecstatic when he was named, but it's all gone horribly wrong. It isn't the losses to teams but the manner, it isn't where we sit in the table but the rudderless way we have arrived there. Hughton appears to have a talent for bringing in quality players, but he doesn't seem to be able to then get the best out of them and I don't know why. You can see glimmers of the squad's ability, but it isn't shown nearly enough. On a completely personal level, it's made all the worse because of the amount of time I spend traveling up to the games and the outlay it involves. I go to be entertained but at the moment I just feel deflated - not good when it's a 5-6 hour roundtrip.
Good to have you back Supers. We should never lose sight of the fact that there are some things that are more important than football, so I hope it's all working out fine. I lost faith in Hughton a couple of months ago. I do agree with a lot of what you say, particularly your last and second last paragraphs. So no, you're definitely not a fruit loop coming back, because a lot of what you say makes sense! The one thing I would say is that I don't believe Hughton will be sacked on Saturday or indeed before February because he has lasted this long into the transfer window - I think they might appoint someone on Saturday like Rene Meulensteen was first appointed at Fulham (how about Steve Clarke??) - but I suspect he will keep his job until February at least. I also don't entertain the idea that we might lose to Hull (I just simply can't believe we will!) and a draw would probably not be good enough reason for McNally & Co. to fire him. You might argue I am reading too much into it, but one particular piece of information from his interview last night speaks volumes, to my mind, for how he is presenting himself to the board and what has kept him in a job: Nothing we didn't know, and he's right: (1) he should have been sacked (to my mind) in early December after the maulings we received - that was quite probably a tougher period than right now (2) he could have been sacked in the run in last season, when it looked like we were plummeting down the table - that was possibly tougher than right now (3) there are teams just ahead of us who are supposed to have had a good season. That is odd from a purely objective point of view and explains why external commentators don't resoundingly think Hughton should lose his job. However, it doesn't explain the fans' gripes - the style, the motivation, the manner of defeats, the tactics used and the feeling that some of the points we have gained have been pretty fortunate given how we play. I'm inclined to suspect that McNally tends towards looking at it as purely points on the board, which means it will be that which foremost causes Hughton to lose his job, rather than the reason that I (and most people on here) seem to want him out
The problem is that the performances have been so poor that it's sucked the life out of the home crowd. It was like morgue when I was there at the first leg of the Fulham game. We need 3 points on Saturday and we have to get it so it would be great if everyone just got behind the team and lifted them to a result. The gloves need to come off and the players need to help the crowd feel lifted though and it just hasn't happened.
Welcome home Supers FC, I am not convinced this will be case, and more that he will be on borrowed time. Even if we stay up, and scrap that survival, I don't see the levels of confidence in CH rising that much. I do believe the damage has been done, and it is going to be very, very hard to undo it.
Maybe I'm just being hopeful and optimistic. I think we played some great football last season, having said that most of the players were ones that CH inherited, seems like now he has chosen his squad things have got worse.
