Firstly, I make NO apologies re making this a new thread as opposed to lumping it into the General Football thread and I IMPLORE everyone (ESPECIALLY Dave and FML) to read it and note what Supers is saying -PLEASE!!! So how is it all going? Am I impressed? Disappointed? Indifferent? It’s been a mixed bag. I think they’ve made a ‘reasonable’ start. ‘Start’ being the key word though. I think the strategy is spot on, but the style of play perhaps isn’t quite tickling everyone’s fancy just yet. Given time and patience, I suspect it’ll evolve and so too will fans perceptions. We were told from the early days of Webber’s reign that this would be a long-term project. “Four or five transfer windows,” he said, “to see serious progress.” I can’t see any reason to disbelieve that still isn’t the case. Off the pitch we’ve definitely made bigger strides than on it. The wage bill is still higher than would be deemed ideal, but the finances are now largely under control thanks to some big sales, shrewd signings and valuable assets. The ball has been set rolling on making the academy state of the art thanks to the recently announced Bond Scheme, something that I was shocked to read so many negative opinions about the other day. It appears a very clever idea to me, even if I won’t be participating in the offer myself. And if you don’t like it, just ignore it!!!! Let’s put it this way: Imagine we’re driving from Nelson’s County to the beautiful Lake District. We’ve planned it all and everyone is excited about getting there. We’ll climb above Ullswater, trek the Old Man of Coniston and have a picnic overlooking Windermere. Whichever way we turn there’ll be views to take our breath away. But for now, we find ourselves stuck behind a rusty old tractor doing 20mph near Sutton Bridge. The drive is a tedious one and the kids in the back are getting restless.“Are we nearly there yet?” “Afraid not. We’re not even half way. We’re in The Fens.” “But it’s sooo boring! I can see for miles and miles and there’s nothing to see!” “I know. But the landscape will become a bit more exciting once we progress a little further.” To bring this back to the topic, that’s where we’re at as a club – the footballing equivalent of The Fens. Desolate. Bleak. Stark. Flat. Yes, The Fens. And yes, our football at times this season. “Are we nearly there yet?” yell the kids in the Snakepit? “Afraid not. We’re not even halfway to creating our new club philosophy.” “But it’s sooo boring!” “I know. But the landscape will become a bit more exciting once we progress a little further.” “I need a wee.” “Just go. It’s not like you’ll miss anything exciting.” What I’m saying is that we can’t just teleport to the summit of Scafell Pike! We have to endure the odd bit of nothingness throughout the journey. Once we get on to the Snakes Pass, we’ll all enjoy the views. So let’s get a little perspective. We’re in transition, after all. Except, aren’t all teams constantly in ‘transition’? The concept is comparable to Southampton. Buy low, sell high – but I think a better example is probably Swansea City, given the nature of the style of play that has been introduced. A little over a decade ago they decided to do exactly what we’re attempting now. In a rut on the pitch with no money off it, they made the bold move to completely reshape and remodel the entire club, with one key factor: to remain loyal to their chosen philosophy – possession football. Edit – they also don’t have to pay for the upkeep of their stadium, as that belongs to the City Council!!! It worked. A major trophy was complemented by successfully staying in the Premier League since 2011. They have their flaws but generally we’d all have been happy with their lot. There’ll be times when we want to tear our teeth out at what we’re watching, but long-term plans should never be ripped up because of a little unrest in the early stages. Getting things right off the pitch is arguably more important than anything happening on it at the moment. As fans, we want to be entertained and see wins, but I just wanted to see a sense of direction; a club that knew what it wanted and where it was going. I feel I’m getting that but in very small doses at the moment. There’s an awful lot of work still to be done. Of course, you’ll never please everybody. I recall fans moaning that we were ‘too cavalier’ when Mike Walker nearly won the league title in 1993. They were correct to be fair! If you don’t enjoy the style of football, tough doo-doo! It’s not what I personally would chose to play either, but this is our philosophy now, so stop getting wound up and instead, try to enjoy the fact that we are attempting to be more composed than our peers. It’s not as though it won’t be adapted when the personnel changes. Moving forward, I would like to see more urgency around our opponents box. I’m not saying ‘cross after cross’ or ‘mix it up’, but it is possible to play neat, attractive football and move the ball creatively at speed. I’ve no issue with possession football, nor passing it patiently around at the back – I see the sense in that, even if some don’t. I certainly don’t want to see us aimlessly booting it forward to the big lad up top. The biggest problem we have is that we don’t quite have the right mix of players yet. We urgently need a striker who can play off the shoulder. Some may say, ‘why didn’t they sort that out in the summer or January?’ Well I’m sure they tried. Perhaps the player they wanted wasn’t available at that time. Every penny is precious – there’ll be no overpaying from now on. Patience is the name of the game, both on and off the pitch. The team will be built around young lads – hopefully a few will be through the academy system. They will be tremendously fit and technical on the ball. I can’t see a problem with that vision – every fan should buy into that. The shining light of this campaign has been James Maddison. A young, prodigious talent, who will outgrow the club rapidly – if he hasn’t already (though I wouldn’t be quite so sure he won’t still be here next season). If you cut him open – and many Championship defenders have literally tried to – he’ll have ‘England International’ written right through him. The best young player I’ve ever seen at the club. One thing is for sure, by the time Webber has made some serious progress in towards our long-term aim, the midfield maestro will be long gone – and you can expect a high turnover of players for at least two more windows. Bar Madders and the odd interloper, this season has been a bit of a chore, particularly at Carrow Road – and home form tends to set the barometer for fan sanity. It’s fine margins between success and failure and our inability to break down poor teams on home soil is an annoyance. Convert four of those draws to wins and there’s a different feeling around the place. I like Daniel Farke. He’s been a tad naive at times, but I think that was inevitable when hiring a young coach who is still familiarising himself with the rigours of second tier English football – and there’s more experienced guys than him who have struggled with far greater resources. The really pleasing thing is that I hear the young players absolutely love working for him, and some of our approach play has been wonderful to watch. There are certainly a few chinks of light. You could probably argue that bar the inspired addition of Grant Hanley, the most disappointing purchases were the proven Championship players. You’ll never get all transfers spot on – the key is to get the majority right. We have some highly technical players at our disposal. It’s now about developing the style further and adding to that. There’ll be more high-profile outs and low-profile ins – that’s just the way it’ll be from now on. The hideous errors of previous regimes, both on and off the field, will continue to haunt us for a while yet. Huge financial fails in the transfer market combined with losing parachute money could have lead to a very messy crash landing. I feel our best progress has been the way we’ve managed to steady ourselves. We should land with a bump rather than disintegrate into the dust now. Not very aspirational admittedly, but things could have turned really sour. I still hanker for new owners but that isn’t going to happen. We will have to continue to contend with having, on paper at least, the poorest owners in the Championship. It is impossible in this day and age for that lack of financial muscle not to hinder us on all fronts. But aside from that, I’m pleased we’re driving down the current road. In my opinion, it’s the only route that gives us any chance of success without wealthier backers. I hope to see a greater scale of progress next season though. Our owners pay people around them to run the club. They put their faith (perhaps too much) in those people. If it goes well, those guys get the credit; if it doesn’t, Smith ‘n’ Jones will get the pelters. That’s football. They’ve been in the game longer than most. They are vastly experienced owners and ultimately, if you take out a small handful of seasons, they have a fairly poor track record, spending the majority outside the top flight. I think Steve Stone is doing a fine job. The jury will be out on Stuart Webber for a while yet, but I think overall he has also done fairly well. He certainly has a clear and positive vision for the club – one that in general, I share and respect. I know it’s boring to hear but it will take time. Everyone will need to be very patient. There was never going to be a quick fix. At least we are now being given more insight than ever before into the plans the club has and I think we should all appreciate that. IMO, you can’t argue with any of super’s article!! Full article here - http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...roller-coaster-but-ultimately-worth-the-wait/
Not sure why you wanted me to read it, I am whole-heartedly in total agreement with it. No surprise really, I have always thought Supers knew exactly what he was talking about, much to the annoyance of a few on here. The future is bright, the future is green and yellow. OTBC
I always liked supers posts, didn' agree with them all, but they We're always well argued and generally thought provoking. this one is no different, I agree with much he has said but I would still like to see greater progress to make me believe in Farke. Delia has expressed her wish to have a manager for 10 years, Danny boy may get to prove doubters like me wrong! (or right!) Bah!
I don't think there's any new insight there to surprise Norwich fans. Perhaps just reinforcing that this process of change will take longer than simply one or two transfer windows. Nice analogy with the road trip.
Or slow motion car crash that you saw happening a few years ago when we didn't buy a proper defence and more recently when we didn't buy anyone that scores goals ? How many goals have the players Farke brought in scored ? Not enough to threaten anyone. Most of our wins have been 1-0 grind outs and I can't remember a less scoring more boring home season. The cup games against Arsenal and Chelsea were gritty but we still lost . The only thing we have left to play for this year is pride and to catch Ipswich . Neither of which we will achieve. Supers is certain that the arduous car journey is going to end well with Farke at the wheel but nobody knows. I would argue that we will continue selling our brake pads ,along with our part exchanged engine ,seat belts and put our gearbox on gum tree in the summer too and risk hitting a brick wall.
We'll catch the binners, or my name's not ColuMike - oops! This year is screwed for sure, Farke will clearly be here next year so we'll have to see. In the meantime, you have to feel for the paying punters.
Some great posts thanks and mixed views. I guess my own thoughts are that we may get tantalisingly close to 'the Lake District' and then our 2nd hand engine finally blows up!!!!
I'm not sure we'll get anywhere near the lake district, our cheap foreign satnav will get confused, we'll get lost somewhere around lge1 and get stuck in somewhere like Rotherham! Who would wish Rotherham on even their worst enemy! Bah!
Good article, hitting the main points in a rather long winded way. It is a long-term restructuring, though, so patience is required for the whole journey. This season is now a preparation for the next, where a known and understood method of play is applied by coaches and players who now understand the league and the challenges it provides. Long term development is the aim, but progress needs to be made and results achieved that keep us in the hunt and our fans on board.
Long winded for sure, the curse, I suppose, of the enthusiastic amateur. I'm afraid I no longer have the patience to read anything that long. Maybe a couple of pictures may have helped. I did skim through it and agreed with most of it, so next time I'd be happy to help condense any post into the requisite 3 paragraphs, which is the maximum attention span of the average football fan (including me)
