From the Pink un David McNally spoke of his determination to keep the Canaries in the Premier League, but refused to be drawn on whether Chris Hughton will remain as manager. In an interview on BBC Radio Norfolk, Mr McNally said he would âprefer deathâ rather than being relegated to the Championship. But when asked whether Chris Hughton had the backing of the Norwich City board, he said: âHe is preparing the team for Saturdayâs game. The brief is to keep out of the bottom three and that is what we are doing. We will not contemplate relegation, in a sporting sense it is worse than death.â âWe are in the entertainment business and results are the only thing that matters. Whether Chris has a long term at Norwich City or whether I do, it is about how well we do in our jobs and the only real measure is results. We are down there with eleven other teams separated by six points and we do not have the budget that a number of our peers have.â Mr McNallyâs comments came after the club was knocked out of the FA Cup last night 3-0 by Fulham in a third round replay with many fans calling for the manager to be sacked. Attentions now turn to a crucial Premier League home encounter with Hull at the weekend. He added: âWe have a history of playing attractive football and the board is absolutely committed to playing attractive football. We are in a trough where performances have disappointed at times and results have not been what we liked.â âI would prefer death rather than relegation. There is nothing more important than keeping this football club in the Premier League. We are all focused on that.â Not much of that sounds to encouraging for Hootun. But then if we start winning and playing attarctive football all of a sudden then he's laughin! Bah!
prepare for death then! maybe a 'vote of confidence' coming up? that game last night was a bit of a 'Sam Alladice' moment for us - can we turn it around like they did at Cardiff?
But if CH's mandate is to stay out of the bottom three at what point will he get the sack?, when we are in the bottom three and it's too late!
Start winning AND play attractive football? Like that's about to happen ! His interview should have read: Thank you for trying Chris,but our search for the new manager starts this morning.
But what if we draw? Like Palace away I felt if we'd have lost that was it but a draw just leaves us all hanging! For me it's got to be win or bust.
Interesting that sky sports are reporting that as McNally backing Hughton. I got the distinct impression that he's gone if Hull goes badly he side stepped the question where he could have backed him and all he had to say on his future is that Hughton is preparing the team for the next game, not he's preparing the team for the fight or anything particularly supportive.
bath, i got that impression too, about the SSN article. the way the title is written comes across wrong.
My interpretation: We are above the relegation zone when Hughton's target is to avoid relegation therefore he is doing his job so why would we sack him?
Thats my interpretation as well, he explained the parameters required from the manager. He hardly endorsed him however. Pesonally, I think he wants to get rid of him but he doesn't like his present options and the axe will fall at the end of the season.
I don't imagine McNally showing even that much emotion. Think your right about present options, but I'm fairly confident that if a good option does come up before the end of the season and we're still in the mire, McNally will have no hesitation. My only concern is that there is something in Hughton's job description/mandate and the targets set by the board (which you could say is one reading of McNally's comments) which would make it harder to sack Hughton and, therefore, more expensive.
McNally has a hell of a lot to lose from all this. At the moment he seems to enjoy a reputation among many fans as some kind of super, mean CEO who never puts a foot wrong. If this all goes down the pan because the board are seen as dithering and waiting too long to make a decision, that reputation is in tatters. I personally get the feeling he took his eye off the ball for a while, but he's on the case now. And his first concern (as would be the case with any top manager) is going to be his own reputation and, ultimately, the potential income that this brings. If he has to toss CH to the wolves, he will. But right now he'll be working out how none of the mud can possibly stick to him if things turn belly up. For example, the 'death or relegation' speech. What was the purpose of that other than to bolster his own image as a tough guy and to show the fans how much he cares. What matters to us is how good he is. He can be as self-serving and manipulative as he likes if it's ultimately to our benefit as a club. Recent events suggest he may not be this superhuman hero, though. If so, then we're really in trouble.
McNally may not be perfect (who is?) but just cast your minds back to who we had before he and Bowkett got hard nosed and sorted the club out. I for one don't want to go back to the days of Doomcaster and the other planless and cluelsee ditherers we had.
Part of the problem is almost certainly that we completed our 5-year plan in 3 years. Had to re-strategise!
I get what you're saying VC, but with respect I don't think this really takes into account what McNally's actual brief is. McNally owes his duties (legally and professionally) to the shareholders of Norwich City Football Club. He doesn't owe his duties to the fans. In fact, he doesn't particularly owe anything to the fans, beyond accepting that they form part of what you might call the "customer base" of the Norwich City Football Club business (along with sponsors, etc.) His reputation is, in fact, lower on his list of priorities than his professional/legal obligations and his reputation amongst fans is lowest of all. So while I agree with your assessment of his "death or relegation" speech, I do not agree that he has "a hell of a lot to lose". I don't even think his reputation will be in tatters if we go down - it might be for you, but professionally he is an absolute success. He is one of the highest paid directors in the country (on a par with many FTSE 100 chiefs), let alone the Premier League, he has helped make the NCFC business profitable beyond the imagination of any of us in 2009. He will walk into just about any job in his area of expertise after this, even if Norwich fans think he made a mistake in failing to sack Hughton. So I very much doubt he has taken his eye off the ball. I just feel that his ball is slightly different to mine and yours. We don't, for example, know the cost of replacing Hughton or when McNally could justifiably sack Hughton. We barely have a clear idea of Hughton's brief, let alone McNally's. I also don't think recent events have suggested he is any less a superhuman than he was before - just because he hasn't done what I think he should have done, doesn't make me think he's incompetent. If anything, it reaffirms my belief that McNally is one of those ruthlessly successful businessmen who stands by their own convictions and his own brief, rather than listening to people like me who have an agenda (enjoying watching football) beyond his purely financial/business concerns. If I was to criticise McNally at all, it would be that he went on Twitter and attempted to "listen" to the fans. There was some merit in this, but I think the mistake was that it made Norwich fans somehow believe that we were his priority, we were close to him and that he cared what we think. He realised it was a mistake and stopped Tweeting. Which also tells me another thing - when he makes mistakes, he realises it, and acts on it. There's nothing I can really do about Hughton being in charge or not, but the one thing I am convinced about is that even if we get relegated because Hughton wasn't sacked, and therefore McNally arguably made a mistake, I will remain convinced that he is the best director to (a) stop Norwich going bust and (b) cement us in the Premier League.
Rob, the general point I was making is that McNally's first priority is to McNally, not to NCFC. I am pretty sure that the 'death or relegation' line was cooked up beforehand by some marketing/PR people with the express purpose of building up McNally in the public's eyes, with a message of 'look how tough I am and how much I care about NCFC', and a subtext of 'unlike that weak, dithering Hughton who is totally to blame for everything that has gone wrong'. (Note also how the thing about the quality of play was slipped into the interview and has never been mentioned before? I'm convinced that was a decision made beforehand in liaison with the marketing people, too.) McNally is covering his ass, and that was the reason he requested the radio interview. You don't get to where he has got by being a nice man or giving a damn about anyone else. I agree that his ultimate responsibility is not to the fans, but to the shareholders. I also agree with you that things like a Twitter account to speak directly to the fans were insincere gestures and playing to the gallery. I suspect he himself now sees this as a mistake because he has raised expectations of dialogue that will never be achieved. And yes, he is a very successful executive and he would walk into another job without any difficulty, but he still doesn't want a blot on his copybook or his reputation. This kind of person is driven and cannot accept or cope with failure. CH's problem is that he has made it all too easy to be the fall guy in this. He deserves to go based on the football we have played, but it seems unfair that he takes all of the blame.
