This George Long clip is a hard watch https://x.com/ncfcpain/status/1914416060196848044?s=46&t=eNUxKZQ4GDywJtSbgmpm6A
We will be travelling to Wrexham next season. They have just achieved their third promotion in 3 seasons. Quite an achievement.
Yeah, they'll have to make a few good signings to compete next year I'd have thought, but 3 in 3 years is quite some feat
Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz have been named in the Championship team of the season. "Despite a disappointing collective campaign for the Canaries, the free-scoring duo have impressed with their individual performances and goal contributions. Sainz and Sargent are the only players included in the team of the season who play for a team outside of the top four. Leeds United forward Joel Piroe is the only player in the division to score more than Sainz, with Burnley’s Josh Brownhill the only other player to better Sargent. Sargent has recorded 20 goal contributions in 31 Championship appearances. His 15 goals have come despite a 14-match absence through injury. Sainz enjoyed a blistering start to the Championship season, netting 15 goals prior to the end of November. The Spanish winger has led the goal-scoring charts for the bulk of the campaign. The full Championship team of the season is: James Trafford (Burnley); Jayden Boyle (Leeds United), CJ Egan-Riley (Burnley), Maxime Esteve (Burnley), Harrison Burrows (Sheffield United); Ao Tanaka (Leeds United), Jobe Bellingham (Sunderland); Dan James (Leeds United), Gus Hamer (Sheffield United), Borja Sainz (Norwich City); Josh Sargent (Norwich City). City were also handed the EFL Community Club of the Season Award, which celebrates based on its commitment to and the impact within that community. The Canaries claimed the accolade after the Community Sports Foundation engaged with a record-breaking 45,828 participants during 2023/24."
Well we finish the season in 13th position which is pretty much where I expected us to be this season. Lots to be sorted ahead of next season
Pretty pointed that we had two of the league’s best players and still finished bottom half. All those doubting the fairness of JHT’s sacking, look no further.
You could also point at the fact that he provided the platform for a team to have these 2 players in the top scorers list by creating tactics that got them into goal scoring positions. Our attacking play was good this year, our defence was poor both should be attributed to JHT
For me, the main problem all season was a failure to achieve a balance between attack and defence. Yes, there were individual errors at times, but the bigger problem was defenders being caught upfield when the ball was lost. As JW said, too often we conceded soft goals and then had to chase the game, which didn't suit our style of play and results worsened as a result.
A Tale of Two Seasons: Season P W D L GF GA GD Points Pts/g Position 2017--18: 46 15 15 16 49 60 -11 60 1.3 14th 2024--25: 46 14 15 17 71 68 +3 57 1.2 13th In 2018, Webber and the board held their nerve, backed their man, and strengthened where needed. In 2025, Knapper and/or the board, lost their nerve, sacked their man, and ....................................
There was a major difference though. Farke took over a squad that had been stripped of most of the best players who had been, or were being replaced by players from the lower German leagues. Thorup took over a team that had made the playoffs the previous season and been enhanced with new players at a cost of over £20m. At the end of Farke's first season Webber then knew that Maddison could be sold for over £20m to finance a rebuild that would include Pukki and Buendia and others. The result was a move from 14th to champions.
Oh please I’d love to know how the squad had been enhanced by £20m when factoring in the losses of key and/or experienced players such as: Hanley Gibson Giannoulis McCallum Sara Rowe Fassnacht Idah Barnes (Kamara) And replaced them with young promising inexperienced players. If you don’t recognised that the squad underwent a massive rebuild this season similar to that of the Farke season then there is no point debating. We basically spent the money that we got for Sara on purchasing replacements for the above players. That team wasn’t just Maddison, there was Hoolahan, both Murphy’s, Jerome, Oliviera, Klose, Hanley, Tettey, Leitner, Pinto was still plenty of experience in that team from what I can remember and The German players were given a year to bed in under Farke and then kick on in the second season who’s to say that couldn’t have happened again with the younger players form this season supplemented by some more quality and experience from the sale of a Sainz/Sargent/Nunez
The arrival of 'all the Germans' was actually a big plus for Farke, because it meant much of the core of his team were already familiar with many aspects of the style of play and training methods. He was also able to bring in his own staff, unlike Thorup who, apart from Riddersholm -- with whom he had never previously worked -- had to make do with a Knapper-assembled coaching team. Yes, we can point to all sorts of differences, but the salient difference is that Webber and the then board held their nerve and backed their man where Knapper and the current board did not.
I take your point, but Hanley, Fassnacht and Barnes didn't leave until January, having featured very little up untill then. McCallum, Idah, Rowe and Kamara left by their own choice, not Knapper's. Crnac was a like for like replacement for Idah who also wanted out. What Farke didn't have was the quality and experience of Sargent, Sainz, Núñez, McLean, Stacey and Gunn. Robbie is right that Farke's imports from the lower German leagues did comprehend his tactics but the rest of the squad had to adjust. We accepted that JHT would need some time to make progress, but the progress didn't come and things got worse towards the end when the games were hard to watch. For whatever reasons, he had clearly lost the players. It's sad, because he was such a likable person and a good communicator.
I think that further adds to the point that this squad isn’t as good. The big experienced senior players that were part of it until January - Hanley, Barnes, Fassnacht didn’t have the quality to be in the pitch. The experience players from Farkes first season were first team regulars. We essentially haven’t had a front line option at RW all season to replace Rowe, Crnac as you say is a striker, Hernandez couldn’t play 90mins, Gordon not at the level, Jurasek injured the whole time, Dobbin typically played in the left and then injured. This position must have had the most amount of change through the season. On the quality and experience I would suggest the following comparisons for the players mentioned: Sargent/Jerome Sainz/Either Murphy Nunez/Leitner McLean/Tettey Stacey/Pinto Gunn/Younger Gunn Only the younger Gunn there would be less experienced and less quality, albeit a very important position. I completely agree with the last paragraph and having looked back through some games this season and the club videos it seemed to me that he made a shift away from some of his principles after the turn of the year and all of the injuries. At the start of the season we were a high pressing team but that didn’t seem present at all in the second half of the season. Were the players not fit enough to carry that through the season, was this the reason for so many injuries? Or was it a tactical attempt and failure to be better defensively by dropping players back behind the ball.
