Who organises the dates of these fixtures - the clubs or the F.A.? - They've gone and clashed it with Mothers Day
He did a great job last season, this season its tough to say, but given our position I can't say its a great job, we're bottom and 6 points adrift. yes there has been mitigation with injuries and he ceertainly wasn't dealt the best hand with transfer spend, but great no. Given the mitigation I think our position was likely. I also think we should stick with him. My hope perhaps naively is that we can now do as Burnley did. They retained most/all of their key players, spent £20m to improve and have since stopped yoyoing. We will likely lose a couple of the star younguns, if it stops there then I think Farke can win promotion and with this seasons learning, some decent additions (Burnley then spent ~£40m upon promotion) and we might be ready as a club to stay up. As for affordable replacements, luckily we don't have to know, Webber will have a short list of candidates, even if he goes we can just check who is currently coaching Dortmund reserves? Bah!
Nice, balanced post GM. Re. your hope, and the idea of mirroring Burnley, the latter's survival has hinged on committing to an approach which has de facto proved fit for purpose in the EPL (however much we may scoff and denigrate how Burnley play). Same is true of Sheffield Utd. To be "ready as a club to stay up" crucially involves getting that fundamental requirement right. Your hopes (and those of most on here) are based on the belief that our current approach is also fit for purpose, and it's just a matter of "doing it better next time". On that, I'd say the jury is still very much out.
We can only ever shine a mirror on ourselves. We went up too early and we are wearing those clothes, some of which are fashionable and we will sell on for a massive profit, only to go down to a lower division with cash aplenty and still a swagger about us (naked as we maybe).
You question the suitability of our game plan, but surely the same would be very much true of Burnley's. Clearly they failed and got relegated too. Was their game plan also flawed? or was it that they just didn't quite have the players/experience to stay up that first time. The parallells are strong and many performances this season make me believe that if we could for example get a bigger and stronger Lietner, that alone could transition us to a side able to stay up. We have a game able to escape the championship, can we keep the players or enhance the team to make it easier and take a step closer to being able to stay up next time? Time will tell when the vultures start to circle. Bah!
I agree, GM. For me the key positions are 4 healthy CBs (IMO the main reason we've struggled), a really effective CAM (Buendia?) and a Yaya Toure or Kante like DM. Amadou looked the part, but never really broke through at DM and Tettey can't go on forever.
Would you guys take an F.A cup win and spend the next 10 years strughling in the lower leagues like Pompey and Wigan ? Or get knocked out and bounce between the top two divisions like we usually do ?
To combat the spread of Coronavirus Ipswich have agreed to play their games in an empty stadium. https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town-games-behind-closed-doors-coronavirus-1-6557666
Neither, I'll take the win, promotion next season and a few seasons back in the PL before Webber moves on and we decline beck to being a yoyo/championship club. Bah!
It was hypothetical, I don't think we are going to win the cup , BUT would you take 10 years of Wigan/Portsmouth type struggling for some proper silverware? A first F.A cup would be incredible.
It would largely be forgotten come the start of next season. Whereas survival would be the mother of all building blocks towards being more like PL ever-presents. I know which I'd prefer, given the choice.
I would definitely take the 2nd option without doubt, for a number of reasons 1. Our finances going forward would be in much better shape with Premiership money + parachute payments . 2. Players would more likely want to come to Norwich if we were either playing the Premiership or at least had a realistic chance of getting there. 3. It might also prove that our current style of play is not completely flawed as some would have us believe. 4. The euphoria of winning the FA would bring would be comparatively short lived whereas playing in the Premiership( or competing to get there ) would bring us years of enjoyment , and admittedly heartache, along the way. Winning some silverware would be very nice indeed but not worth anywhere near the price of drifting into obscurity.
Haha, yes Dave, and that is one the many reasons we take the pi** out of them. They will be in more need than ever before of their distant glory day memories as they contemplate a 2nd season season in Division 1. Poor sods
I would take an FA Cup win. The lower divisions are more fun these days. Ok, it’s always best to see our club in the top division, but the cup win lasts forever.
Yes GM, it would have been true of Burnley at this same point in time, i.e. when they suffered immediate relegation. Events have since shown their game plan to be fit for purpose. That will be true of us too, or not as the case may (the latter being, as everyone knows, my opinion; my post (Sunday) on the Season 2019--2020 thread also refers).