I was listening to the Monday Night Club last night and obviously they talked at decent length about us and the current situation and the general consensus was - just like that from much of the media - that sacking Hootun at this stage is bonkers. Steve Claridge (who I actually usually really like) was particularly scathing, and even suggested that as well as consigning us to relegation, this move could sully the good reputation NCFC has amongst neutral fans as a likeable club. He suggested we'd been disrespectful to Hootun for the way it was dealt with and of course he harped on about the throwaway comment McNally made in that press conference a couple of weeks back about having a plan in place should all go wrong. I found this really annoying, because for me the statements released by the club thanking Hootun for last year's achievement, for being a good ambassador for the club and for the dignity he maintained throughout his reign were anything but disrespectful, quite the opposite in fact. I don't think we've done anything wrong at all, we don't owe anyone a living and even for a confirmed supporter of the manager as I have been pretty much all season I can absolutely see the logic and agree that it was the right thing to do. Gary Lineker has been putting the boot in on Twitter as well, though I did tweet him yesterday to remind him about what can happen when BBC pundits make such bold statements about NCFC - I don't think any of will ever forget this classic bit of insightful predicting from Lawro... [video=youtube;ufZRA5gyXhQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufZRA5gyXhQ[/video] ...who himself would appear to have not learned as he's up to it again! http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/mark-lawrenson-norwich-sacking-hughton-3383838 Can't wait to turn Fulham over on Saturday and shove it down their throats - LET'S BE AVIN' YOU NEEYUL!!!!
I think these guys are told what to say. I don't think they actually come up with it themselves. No-one could be that stupid or intellectually dishonest. There's always been a bit of a media mafia behind Hughton - every criticism of the club from the outside has been quick to point the finger at the board, the fans or the supposed lack of quality in the team. Never Hughton. It's quite clear we are not welcome in the Premier League amongst those who see themselves as the game's "elite" or "veterans". While unorthodox, and potentially high risk strategy, this quote from the LMA (via the Guardian) struck me: So actually, the timing couldn't be (statistically) more perfect. Of course, it's such a broad generalisation that there is no guarantee we will actually benefit here, but I do think the timing has sense.
i've come to the conclusion none of them are expects. Lineker has gone down in my estimation, he's turned into a cocky idiot. claridge probably knows very little about what happens in NCFC
munky, we could almost write lawro's prediction for the game on sat now. norwich are bonkers to sack hughton....they've brought a manager in with no experience...strikers can't score..last 4 fixtures are horrific... fulham 2 norwich 1
I am finding all of these comments by pundits, experts and fans that the timing of the sacking is madness, and I wholeheartedly disagree. We have 1 game in which to save our PL status, and there is probably no better opportunity than this coming Saturday at Fulham. I can only imagine the mood within the team may has been raised (or hopefully has), the mood of the fans certainly has, and hopefully this will convert on to the pitch at Craven Cottage. We all would have had a pretty good idea of what to expect had CH been organising the team for this game, now no one has any idea of what is going to happen - will we be gung-ho, defensive, or a something in between? there is nothing Fulham an do in advance to stifle our game, as they will have no idea what our game plan is. All they can do is plan to play a game, and see how it goes. I would like to think this could also work in our favour. On Saturday evening, I was dreading the Fulham game, but I now have some renewed enthusiasm, and am looking forward to watching it.
as i alluded to in my essay yesterday, the national media have absolutely no idea about norwich city. they don't know how passionate the fans are, they don't know how good our CEO has been for us, they don't know how difficult many fans have found the last 18 months, they don't know how scathing many have been about the standard of football on offer. what they do know is that delia smith likes cakes and booze. they spend all season patting us on the head, treating us like next doors cat who flitters in and out of their lives like a cute inconvenience, so when we do something controversial (in their eyes - perhaps less so in ours), they are startled by it - its like we've started ripping up their furniture and pissing on the kitchen floor! here's a perfect example from the irish press - apparently david mcnally is a clown - http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/english-league/2014/0408/607471-dunphy-rails-against-clown-owners/?
I think most pundit's opinions are unworthy of consideration due to the fact that the vast majority of them are either failed managers (Lawrenson and Shearer) or have never had the courage to try management in the first place.
and when you bare in mind that i am one of the few norwich fans who was rather alarmed by our actions on sunday evening, even i find the patronising and ill-informed drivel these gobshite pundits spout about us as typical of the media's portrayal of norwich city. they literally know nothing about us because they simply don't care unless we've done something to upset them. if we do something they like, its glossed over. always has been the case. sure, they want to defend hughton - i've no problem with that. christ, i've defended him enough myself! but seriously, there are some massively deluded people out there.
What I find remarkable is that (despite our club having backed Hughton to the hilt, having stuck with him through bad times and worse, following multiple record breaking defeats and failed substitutions, crowd displeasure and baffling team set-ups) when we are at even odds to be relegated and staring down the barrel, they label this a "panic sacking". I don't think there could be less panic about it. It seems like the most drawn out and patient sacking ever witnessed. If anything, my concern is that the board were too patient and didn't panic enough... Mindless.
It doesn't help that every article on Norwich in the main media either refers to Alan Partridge or Delia... Because there is nothing else in Norwich apparently... But this idea that we're this little club who should know its place has been going on for years. Remember the comments from some Bayern officials after being drawn with us? It hasn't changed in 20 years. Ferguson once referred to us as building our own little empire out here... Whilst I don't think he was being patronising, it shows how removed from the rest of the country people perceive us to be. Comments that the board are mad... no the board are bold, but they always have been, how did we get Paul Lambert? Was that a knee-jerk reaction? Maybe, but my did it work! Is the reaction now knee-jerk, maybe. Will it work? We'll see... if it does he's a genius (although we'll never know whether Hughton would have done it)! And the media will ignore it and never admit they were wrong. But if it doesn't work we'll never stop hearing about it from the media (Even a broken clock is correct twice a day). The Irish press is obviously defending one of their own without thought about anything else. The board know nothing about football? Any Norwich fan could tear that argument to shreds pointing to the double back-to-back promotion and 3 years in the top flight... Yeah clearly he doesn't know what he's doing, making us debt free and competing with one of the lowest budgets in the top flight after two years previously we were in the 3rd tier... As you say in your other comment, everything good we do is glossed over, ignored. Nope it didn't happen, just luck, not interested... but when there's a chance to say something negative about us and then they're all over it like vultures over a carcass. This is why I come on here and read people's comments. Yes we're divided on opinions at times. Great! Adds to the debate (as long as it doesn't get personal). We're much much more informed about Norwich then almost anyone else in the media, and passionate (goes without saying). I now treat the media comments on us like I do the negative comments section on the BBC website. I read them, if I want the perverse pleasure of winding myself up. But I have come to learn that journalism these days is rubbish, where people get the opportunity to talk about stuff they don't have a clue about, without critical thinking and reasoning or even evidence in some cases. The BBC have had one good contributor in the last few years (Gary Anderson for F1 and they got rid of him this year as well!). They probably thought he was too smart and well informed for the masses, we must dumb stuff down for them... Anyway, rant over. Work must begin!
Can we just get one thing straight, this is just one man we are talking about, not the whole of the Irish press. Eamon Dunphy is a complete prick who should have been put out to pasture years ago. He courts controversy because it's the only way he can get attention (not unlike the rest, then).
Do we think the media reflects the opinion of the public in their reporting of Norwich as a little team on the periphery? Or does the media's reporting of us, in these belittling terms, act as the basis for this seemingly universal perception? Either way, this perception definitely seems to exist. I got talking to a Blackburn fan in the pub a few months ago and we got into a conversation about how "big" we perceive our respective clubs to be. These conversations are always a bit silly and are largely based on arbitrary measures but what was surprising was his reaction to me feeling that Blackburn are not a "bigger" club than Norwich. He was astonished by this. I appreciate that Blackburn have won the Premier League in the not-too-distant past but I can't say I look at Blackburn and feel overawed by their presence. I don't wish to denigrate Blackburn in any way and I don't think it is a case of this Blackburn fan having delusions of grandeur. I think it is more to do with how Norwich are viewed by the wider football public as a small team who don't really belong in the Premier League.
Comparison with Blackburn is not really a great choice to make a point. They have been in the PL for 18 of the 21 seasons since its conception, to our, what? 6?
Does that make them a bigger club though? I think I'm right in saying Wigan have been in the Premier League for more years than us and I doubt you think they are bigger than us? In any case, that wasn't really what I was getting at. What I was trying to demonstrate is that the football public at large sees us a lesser club.
I think a lot of people forget that we were a founding member of the Premier League and almost won it in the first season! We've had our downs since then but We have spent more years in the Prem than plenty of teams in this country that I'm sure consider us small fry because we don't have a big trophy cabinet.
It certainly makes them more successful, so people will perceive them as bigger. I don't disagree that we are and always have been somewhat overlooked by the media.
