I don't think he should be given a clean slate and I definitely think that whatever judgements you have made so far should be carried over, I would just recommend being flexible and allowing your opinion to change
I am not arrogant as I do not think i am superior compared to others and did not tell you what to do!! I said "If"!! If you are happy to interact with memeber from the norwich or any other teams board then this is the forum to be on! But respecting people who are only on here to wish us well for the future is in my eyes a must. Even if you think his opinion is worth nothing it is still his right on an open forum to give it. I took offence to you calling someone an arse for giving his opinion and the childish manner you did it in, school ground behaviour. But i am not going to start a war of word with you as that is not who i am or what i do.
I wouldn't wish to be impolite to others with out any provokation, but I think he has come on here as ILD says with in all probability very little experience and observation of CH teams in the last two years and basically been disparaging to anyone who has the audacity to doubt CH. I'm with Vietnam and some others in that I harbour doubts as to whether he is the right man to take us forward. However if the board maintain his employment(as would seem likely) I shall continue to support the team and be positive at the games I attend. If we continue to play anti football I won't take any pleasure in telling anyone I told you so (well may be Gandalf or Beef). I want him and us to do better (or may be more pertinently play better more entertaining football with a degree more positivity) I wonder though, if when Worthington just went on that bit to long, were there a few decenting voices to start with who, had this medium been available then, would have been expressing their doubts, seeing signs of problems ahead, would they all have been getting the same stick? Bah!
Negativity followed by more negativity. We've just succeeded in staying up and then another dollop of negativity. Makes me glad I'm an optimist! Gandolf, I appreciate your positive outlook and apologise for the whinging canaries. For the record I think next season will be very different to this one and everyone will be praising Mr CH. It doesnt hurt to be optimistic.
Surely the more pertinent point is that people here are making negative judgements about "Hughton-style football" largely (or maybe even entirely) on the basis of what they have seen over a single season at Carrow Road. I would have thought that it was hugely relevant to hear (and take account of) the views of Toon supporters who watched another Hughton team playing for longer than we have, and in a different context in terms of financial clout and squad resources. Likewise, before forming such judgements it would be sensible to find out what Birmingham City fans in general felt about the team he managed there, again in a different context, but which included a Europa League campaign. Gandalf may not have seen much of us or Birmingham City under Hughton, but he did see Newcastle United under Hughton. How much did Hughton's critics on this board see of either club when he managed them?
So if you go to the movies and watch a movie but its crap you don't say it's OK because the directors other films were good. You comment on what you see before you every single game. Each one on its merits. Sunday's was very, very good and entertaining. Stoke was dire and disastrous. I could comment on every game but there is no point. The fact remains, too many of us thought the style of football served up from the New Year until Sunday was in the main dire and boring. And if you can't give an opinion like that then there is something wrong.
Your right of course I am primarily judging him on how we have played this season, I am not telling Gandalf and the Geordies "Hopefully that'll shut up the delusional contingent..." w.r.t. Pardew! I would not also dismiss other fans veiws out of hand, he has afterall had experience watching CH newcastle side. However as you say the context of his other teams positions are very different. I am looking at a full season in our context, I am happy we stayed up, the style inwhich we achieved it just leaves me believing it was an adequet job not a sterling A1 primo good job. I did not expect us to be charging towards europe, I didn't even fully expect us to stay up, I could be called an optomist in thinking that we had enough quality with a bit of a minor tweek to stay up! I did not want him sacked before the end of the season (to disruptive and often counter productive, for every Di Canio there is a Terry Conner) and I only want him sacked if the right person is available, and yes I know it would be a gamble (so is keeping CH) But I will question things I don't like or see fault in. And in CH there are a few, Might he have learnt from this season and bring about improvements with some new signings? Yes, most likely. But he really struggled to do anything mid game and during the season and that I find alarming, don't you? If RvW struggles with the pace of the PL and the goals are still not there come October, will we see the negativity in approach both home and away? What if in october we have only won one game in 10, does he have any tactical insight to change and improve, not on this seasons showing! But may be Glen Roeder was a good manager he just had a bad year with us? May be Worthy was having a bad year, the preceeding one wasn't half bad! Honestly can you say that you don't doubt him in the least after the second half of the season? You don't think the board should be seeking assurances that improvements will be made? a plan B will be available? because one formation with little changes makes us rather predictable for the oposition. Bah!
Robbie that is completely and utterly insulting. I have based my opinions and views from watching my team play home and away, I've missed probably 2 games all season, It's cost me a flaming fortune as I buy season tickets for my family and casual tickets if and when I can get them. I've watched therefore 35 games in the Prem this season plus cup games. If my views are not relevant to you and you would rather take on board the comments of someone who has only seen us twice, then that is your prerogative, but don't you dare suggest that my observations aren't valid! Tell me that the Luton cup game was approached positively, it was embarrassing, I sat and watched some of the worst football I've ever seen at Wigan & Stoke, when we, (that's the team & the management) should have been scrapping for their very existence in the Premiership. Did I stop supporting my team, did I not turn up with 7 other members of my family for all the next games to give our support? You are entitled to your opinion and to argue your point, but to accept someones point of view who doesn't watch my team over mine is pretty galling. We started this season with pretty much the same team as last season, the biggest difference was and is the Manager!
Honestly, I don't doubt him in the least. I went on record at the start of the season (as I mentioned earlier on this thread) saying that IMO keeping us in the PL this season would be an achievement matching anything Paul Lambert did for us. Well, CH has done that, and that in itself is a reason for confidence, particularly when combined with the shrewd signings he has made (remember the howls of derision when he went and signed Mark Bunn?) and the way he has set about not just keeping us in the league but doing so by addressing the most urgent problem bequeathed to him by Lambert, defensive frailty. Paul Lambert kept us up, but did nothing that improved our chances of longer term survival. CH in contrast started straight away building for the future, while also keeping us up. What I see is a man who knows what he is doing, and who knows what needs doing to fashion a team that has a chance of becoming established in the PL. He has made a number of courageous but crucial decisions -- like signing Bassong, Turner and Bunn, insisting Holty stayed, sending certain players out on loan -- which indicate to me a man who knows his own mind and whose judgement can be trusted. I see no justification for all the negativity. In any respect I can think of we are going in the right direction: this is early days in the process and to talk as though this is the end product is, as I've said before, IMO ludicrous.
ILD, can you please tell me what is wrong with my suggestion that, if people wish to form an opinion about Chris Hughton as a manager and the style of football his teams play, it would be a good idea to look beyond just this season when he has been our manager and take into account how he managed and the style of football played at both Newcastle and Birmingham. I cannot see that that is in any way insulting to anyone. It seems to me a perfectly obvious and extremely relevant suggestion. (I also think it is relevant to look at Chris Hughton's own playing career, the team(s) he played in and the style of football they played etc., and the teams he coached but never managed).
Agree with every word Robbie.I have also noticed, and not just during the last few great weeks for the Youth Team, how much academy staff and youth players have appreciated Hughton's interest in their development. Neil Adams has mentioned this in several interviews. Hughton is here for the long term. He was schooled for years at Spurs to play an open passing game; I have no doubt that this is what we will see from his Norwich team here next season.
I agree with that, GG, and the long-term development of our club is vitally important. There are many aspects that played on the second half of the season like losing Ruddy for 5 months, not being able to afford silly prices for RvW or Hooper in January, and a decline in confidence in players after four straight losses and then a difficult run following that. It is not just the manager. IMO, it was no coincidence that the team performed better with Ruddy back in goal last Sunday. Bunn has done a great job, but JR is a hugely important player for this team. I also agree that CH's ambition for the team is the Spurs style of play, not the 'defensive shackling' and 'confidence sucking' attributes that he has been accused of. With quality additions to the squad, there will be genuine competition for places and the performance will improve accordingly.
I think it is a sad that I am not allowed to have my own opinion about Hughton without being called negative, disloyal and other adjectives. I have based my opinion on the evidence before me , not past history. I have been a Norwich supporter for longer than most people on here, I had players like Paddon and Keelan as my childhood heroes. I have seen many managers come and go, good and bad. I think I am entitled to an opinion without being condemned. My biggest fear is based making game changing decisions, poor team selection and poor substitution. Hughton showed himself to be completely incapable of making positive decisions, always too little too late. Yes we survived, yes that was his remit, so I admit job done. This was not planned, the man only has one plan....defend. I fear it will be more of the same next year but with more expensive players. We have paid 8.5 million for a striker, has anyone noticed he does not play the role of a lone striker? Watch the videos. I do not believe Hughton will have a complete change of plan next season, I think it will be more of the same dross. Just for the record, I will stand by what I have said, get rid of him . I would rather have Gus Poyet. Whatever happens I will always be a Norwich supporter.......................OTBC PS Wouldn't you all agree Sunday's victory was playing to our strengths...............see it does work '' Who Dares Wins''
This is beginning to get a little frustrating. Please point to me where people (aside from the odd person who is obviously WUMming) are calling you negative, disloyal and/or other adjectives. Tell me where people are not allowing you to have another opinion. It seems that those who oppose Hughton's continued position as our manager (who are a small minority judging by the poll) have jumped onto this bandwagon of claiming their views are somehow being stifled. If anything, the stifling seems to be the opposite - they are far and away the most vocal on this board and as soon as there is a hint of positivity on this board it gets slapped down. Of course you are a fan, of course you are not a negative person - we are allowed to criticise and/or challenge your opinions though! I have made my views quite clear on Hughton - he is on last chance saloon. Everyone is entitled to differ from that view one way or another, but be prepared to back up your view and have the courtesy to listen to my reasoning
On the subject of RvW, he's clearly been sold some kind of vision by McNally and Hughton which he's bought into, the fact he could outline our summer targets (positions) would certainly point to this. For him to come, he's clearly liked that vision, as there'd would have been other suitors as soon as our bid fell through and other clubs realised what was possible. Either he's happy playing as a lone striker, despite that not being his current role (and he's been promised support from 3 attack minded midfielders), or we'll be seeing a change in formation next season. It's going to be interesting.
Having watched the match between Benfica and Sporting, where RvW certainly did play as a lone striker, I have to ask whether I'm missing something? Is it that he plays with another striker at home, and as the single striker away from home? I suspect it may well be something similar for City next year. As for his 'giving away City's transfer plans', he later said that he was misquoted by the journo. IMO, the squad will move forward next year with quality players replacing the remaining L1/CL players (eg. Barnett, Tierney, Fox and Jackson) as the 'evolution not revolution' continues. The focus should be on quality, not quantity now. I, for one, look forward to that!
2 strikers at home and one away sounds pretty good to me, and I'd like to see that happen - certainly against "lower end" opposition. Fair enough on him being misquoted, didn't realise that, although it makes me curious as to what he really said, surely there has to be some basis in fact? Or am I putting too much faith in journos? Agree with the evolution not revolution, there's perhaps another couple of names we could see leave, but I'd much rather see us buy 4 £5m players than 7 £3m ones.
