Although some might think us close to death row We´re not on the gallows just yet, Before that time there has to be, below Maximum two teams, don´t forget Even if results tomorrow pan out In such an unfortunate way, So that when Spurs come, we´re all in a pout There´s nowt a good win won´t allay And I followed Tottenham in the Ukraine When they lost by one goal last night, And although they were missing just the odd name They didn´t cause much of a fright No doubt they will all return in full force When Sunday afternoon appears, But there´s no telling how games run their course Nor which team will end in arrears Last game at home we pulled out all the stops And will need to do so again, In fact if we are to stop all talk of drops We must do it from now to the end By no means impossible, if, as we saw When Man City visited here, We give´em an earful, a right Norfolk roar To show they´re not any we fear So for those who´re lucky enough on the day To be settling into their seat, Please help lift the roof, as in the last home fray And with luck we may better that feat. OTBC
Well done again RBF, I have predicted a draw, but I fancy we may just sneak a victory if the crowd perform as they did against Citeh! Let's hope that Sherwood is ready to give to the poor as he did years ago in his forest!
Don´t suppose ´Sir Tim´ will admit it dave, but I dare say he might have a soft spot, both for Hughton and for City, but we may need to beat him, before he´ll own up.
I think he knows very well that he won't be there next season, although I am certain that he's professional enough not to lose the game on purpose! I loved him when he played for us and he went on to even greater things with you!
This season has proved that anything can happen in football, so our luck could turn around at any point, why not this Sunday against Spurs? OTBC
With all this pressure on both CH and squad could we see an "all guns blazing" performance against Spurs? Back to the old 4-3-3 system? Sorry folks - had a bit of relapse. Expect normal service to be resumed and a 0 - 0 draw or a narrow defeat.
Slicker - I expect to see nothing less than a repeat Man City performance, what we get at the end of it, goodness only knows, but nothing less will do.
While traditionally the image of a trapdoor often recurs in the context of relegation, talk of the gallows is wholly misconceived IMO. DM's saying that relegation from the PL is a fate worse than death was as silly as Bill Shankly's similar pronouncement about the importance of football. The fact is that we are one of an almost division-sized group of clubs vying with each other to feed for a period at the PL trough before reverting to the Championship and recommencing the cycle. Our current average attendance puts us 14th in the Premier League and 15th overall (Premier and Football Leagues combined; Brighton have a slightly higher average attendance this season). There are, however, at least 10 clubs in the Championship and 2 in League One with ground capacities either comparable or larger than ours. Several of those 12 clubs are surrounded by greater concentrations of population and all have featured in the Premier League (NB the Premier League, not the old First Division) for varying lengths of time. They include Leeds, Leicester, Derby, Forest, Middlesborough, the Sheffield clubs, Coventry and Ipswich. The majority of these clubs also have the potential for increasing average attendances well beyond ours even if we were to increase the capacity of Carrow Road to the maximum envisaged in the recent feasibility study. Augmenting that list with Stoke and West Brom, whose average attendances are slightly below ours this season but whose ground capacities are greater, we can say there are 16 clubs who on ground capacity and potential attendance alone are comparable to ourselves and who potentially form with us a "natural" league intermediate between the "bigger" Premier League clubs and the relative minnows making up the also rans of the Championship. Instead of setting their face firmly against reality, the sensible clubs in this mini-league will factor this yo-yo existence into their planning. In particular they will make quite sure that when relegation does come, they are equipped to survive it financially and, in terms of on-field resources, to continue to compete at the top end of the Championship with a good chance of promotion once again. For all McNally's bluster, the fact is that we are showing all the signs of being exactly such a sensible club. My complaint about DM is that his words belied our situation. Rather than appeasing our large number of excessively unrealistic fans, he should be educating them as to the realities facing us.
See I think that's your mistake Robbie. There is no should about it. People don't always want to be educated. Most want to be appeased. You can't, as much as you might like, force people to do and think like you.
Too true; but that's not a reason for not expressing one's opinion. As to whether DM was wise to say what he did, we shall be better able to judge in due course.
True. My initial judgment is that it was spot on, because it was empty rhetoric but better than the resounding silence like Mike Ashley
Robbie - I´m sure that after seeing how his words have been interpreted not only by the majority of fans, but also by the media, he´s probably wishing he´d kept his mouth shut, but too late for that now. I´m just hoping he´ll have no need to act on those words, as we safely secure our Premier League place for next season with some sparkling end of season football.
Chances of us being a yo-yo club is much greater than becoming the "next Everton", and no doubt every season we're factoring in the risk of relegation. The only thing that concerns me about our stay in the Premier League is how well it's equipping us for future promotion bids. Being positive, the lack of debt and improvements to the academy are things that will help us, but one of our greatest assets is our support, and I don't think we've got the ground capacity to make the most of that. An extra 8000 seats could bring in as much as £3-4m extra a year, which is pretty significant for a championship club! McNally said at the start of the season that ground expansion was being put on the back-burner for the immediate future, which I'm not convinced is a wise decision.
They need to have everything drawn up and ready to start in the close season before our first season back in the Championship giving them the following season to get it completed. I still think they should consider building a new stadium on the land between the A11 and the railway line with connections for train, bus and car
Isn't there a big disused quarry just off the A140 - not quite near to the A11 as you say, but closer to the railway line and equally good access
I agree with this, Robbie, as it identifies another aspect of the split in City fans. Usually, it's put down to over-expectations, or glass half-full or half-empty but it's all to easy to let 'wants' become 'needs'. The key thing for me, is that the half-full fans look at performances as well as results. All to often, those in the half-empty frame of mind look only at the results, as that makes it much easier to blame Hughton. Thus the commendable draws against Newcastle and ManCity become simply 'not-wins'. Similarly that City were the better team against both Cardiff and West Ham is ignored, because that would make it more difficult to put all the blame on Hughton.
Fulham are the only bottom 3 team winning so we are above the relegation zone still as it stands ,going into the Spurs game
