Very few managers survive such long winless runs at this stage of the season. Fans can contribute to a manager's demise; the majority of fans are on Neil's side right now, but a thrashing at the hands of Man City followed by a home defeat to Newcastle would change that.
Don´t agree - the only time McNally would even contemplate sacking him, is if he loses the dressing room, and the players stop playing for him. Any amount of calling for his head from fans, I don´t think will make a scrap of difference, especially now that McNally has already gone public guaranteeing him his job even if we are relegated. And anyway, I don´t sense that much discontentment from the terraces at all, I think most people can see the way the pendulum´s been swinging for quite a while now, if they really thought we´d have had a fighting chance with someone new/available/affordable, I think they´d have been up in arms a month or so ago.
Indeed, the natives becoming increasingly restless proved the tipping point (or a big factor in) the decision to remove Hughton. There;s not been anywhere near that level of backlash so far this time around. Nor do I expect to see it. There's always a bit of booing when we lose a home game - sometimes even when we 'only' draw but I think 99% of fans are more realistic / philosophical this time around. Plus we were many pundits faves for the drop before a ball had been kicked, sadly. At least we're not disappointing all those 'itk' critics and journalists in that regard!
I do believe we could have/could still get someone affordable and who would give us a better chance of survival (Nigel Pearson), the only reason that I have not jumped on the AN out band wagon is that I hope and to an extent believe that he could be a very good manager in the longer term and that if he saves us this season or gets us promoted next then I hope with some better signings we coyuld get football that is generally desirable to watch coupled with stability to become a middling PL club. Someone like big Sam may offer the stability side, but the football! In many ways there are parallels with the should we shouldn't we get rid of Hootun. The reason I am still behind AN (though only just!) is that Hootun was so overly negative that any joy was sucked out of the football, AN in my opinion still wants us to play abit. Yes he has lost his way a bit, but I hope that a Championship campaign and some squad evolution may put us in a better place for another tilt at the PL with the way he wants to play. Like Hootun I think he is also a good bet to get us out of the championship, in Hootuns case I think it's his level and ceiling. For Neil though I think that it may currently be his level but not his ceiling. I think he will have learnt from this season and come back stronger for it. All of that said if McNasty sacked him this morning and installed Pearson, I would not be overly disappointed, because this run has been bad enough that it has certainly cast doubt over AN and I genuinely believe our chances of staying up would improve. That's my ten peneth sat hear getting splinters on my fence! Bah!
Spot on Commandant Absolutely nailed it - and I think that's why McNally has publicly given him the aforementioned backing, he can see this too.
That's a very fair appraisal of where we currently are and with just a bit better finishing, we could get away with the defensive lapses and at the very least turn defeats into a share of the points - both of which I think we've warranted in our last 3 games!!!!!
Yes - another way of looking at it is the same debate with whether we should play youngsters. Neil is a manager "for the future". We are giving him experience now so as to get a return on investment in the future. It's a risk, but I am confident that whatever happens, Neil will be a considerably better manager at the end of the season than at the start (when he got us promoted). So why get rid of him on the off chance that another manager might grab a few results (I'm not convinced anyone else is any better placed tbh)? I know it's a risk getting relegated, but of the teams that have been relegated recently, who are the ones who have bounced straight back up or are looking good to? (1) Burnley (2) Hull (3) Us (4) QPR (two seasons ago) (5) West Ham (6) West Brom (7) Newcastle Obviously Hull and Burnley aren't promoted yet, but we are the only club since Newcastle to not have kept faith in a manager near the end of the PL season and still bounce back up in recent years (West Brom lost Mowbray but he was poached by Celtic and left the Baggies in good shape for Di Matteo).
From Michael Bailey Michael Bailey @michaeljbailey Judging by the noises coming out of the north east, it does sound like Steve McClaren will go this week - it's just a matter of time.
Not really Dave, Because of their brilliant start to the season it took the focus off a bit. I think they are too far ahead to be worried, a bit like the Swans and to be honest for a club like Palace they will accept just not being relegated I think.
The Newcastle match could well be AN's Waterloo. We will get thumped big time on Saturday by Citeh that'sa given, Newcastle will have Moyes installed as manager when they visit us and an ELEVENTH defeat in TWELVE is then definitely on the cards. If the natives aren't calling for AN's head then I would be amazed. What a lot of you fail to realise is that when we get relegated our better players (of which we don't have too many admittedly), will move on and what we will have left is an aging nucleus which I doubt very much will be good enough to take us straight back up. We still have a chance to stay up but our record suggests that we will probably not win again this campaign. The only chance we have of survival is a change NOW but McNally will once again wait until the fat lady has already stretched her lungs. I would love to be proven wrong and to suffer dogs abuse from you lot on here but unfortunately I don't think I will be.
P.S. I notice the Binmen are keeping their powder dry, that's something else we've got to look forward to
You have missed out the West Brom game I think. I'm sorry KIO, but this simply merits a . With the greatest respect, it really does. What happened last time? We sold Snodgrass and Fer, and that was it. Didn't do us much harm. I'm not sure who we'd sell this time round - Brady probably? And we would get a good return on that one. We would inevitably sell one or two of our best players, but we have absolutely no need to sell as we know. Our club has benefited from four seasons worth of investment in the PL (and a season in the Champ with parachute payments). That's huge, and means that even if we do sell four/five first teamers, we will have again one of the strongest squads in the Championship. And this time with some players who have been through TWO promotions. Who will be this "ageing nucleus"? Or do you actually mean "highly experienced nucleus"? Without them we won't get promoted and we also won't survive. I'm sorry, but I'll allow you your perfectly reasonable opinion that AN should be fired, and your opposition to Delia and Co. But this, together with your mindless attacks on McNally really only merits a . There won't be "dogs abuse" - that stays with those who seem happier when our club is failing and they can say "I told you so". We'll all be too delighted! But the idea that the "only chance" we have of survival is change now is ridiculous. Hand on heart, if we beat both Newcastle and Sunderland at home I will say here and now that we will survive. That's our only chance of survival. And we can still do that. It won't be easy, but we can. And I am more than happy to take the dogs abuse if we fail to stay up having beaten both of those teams.
the Championship's greatest servant? You can't seriously be bothered about them! When they've had four seasons in the PL they can come back to us, although I'll be willing to let them give us a bit of a ribbing if they get promoted... Otherwise for now they are just a joke shop.
Risk of playing devil's advocate for a moment, but allow me two brief scenarios: 1) A team looking lost, out of it's depth and floundering at the bottom of a league possibly a little above it's current station - player and boss wise. 2) A team playing with flair, swagger at times, winning more games than it's losing, and people down the pub on a Saturday night with joy instead of despair in their hearts. Watching our own youth products, play, gain in stature and experience, watching the gaffer learn from any perceived previous mistakes in a lower division and go back to (1) in a year or two with far less of the floundering (ideally) and far better equipped to make a decent fist of things next time around. Alternatively, the KIO way, boot AN out, get some mercenary in who keeps us up by goal difference (if we and he are lucky!) and flounder all over again next season because everyone else has signed the top players as we're still not deemed an 'attractive proposition'. (P.S. I'm not saying I want relegation, but there are and will be several silver linings if the worst comes to the worst - imho (P.P.S One was far briefer than the other!! )
I'm not sure I agree with most of this, if nothing else there must be at least 3 scenarios in there!. Whilst you are right in that a championship season or two may well be more fun and give the youth a fair crack at first team football. There is no way in my book that it would be anything other than a backwards step and a big one at that. If we go down (Still if KIO!) we become far less attractive to players who we need to improve and become stable in the PL. A team that is in it's second consecutive season in the PL might just have got the french striker, A newly promoted Norwich in a couple of years who have fallen further behind the established PL clubs financially - no chance! In the championship even as a big fish paying above average wages, we still will not get the players we need to improve at PL level. And this is the Crux of it and why I'm on the fense with AN. I think there are options such as Pearson or Moyes who might keep us up. They are also more experienced and known within the game and that plus the fact we are then not one of the very high risk newly promoted clubs could really help us get players and improve the squad ready for another tilt at PL midtable. I don't see how relegation is anything other than a disaster in a progress sense, most of our players who arn't good enough for the PL will be too expensive to offload if we don't want them any way and then we're stuck with a failed PL squad like last time, this is what seems to have happened with our defense. In the championship they are good and there is no great need to improve them, well apart from left and right back and maybe 1 centre half! But if we stay up we have to replace and improve them and I believe we would. Progress! Bah!
I just can't get too carried away with our current plight. My attitude is probably based on history. When I first went to Carrow Road in 1950 Norwich were, and always had been, in the lowest division and by 1957 we were bottom of the league and bankrupt. We were completely underperforming for a Club of our size. We first got into the Championship equivalent in 1961and the Premiership in 1972 and since then have flitted between the two.IN MY OPINION we have in those years over performed for a Club of our size. We will probably go down this year.So what!! If not this year it will probably be next year.The majority of Clubs would swap their recent history for ours and many of them are a lot bigger than us. Our squad should be good enough to perform in the Championship and we have an excellent young Manager who is proven in that division. We are financially stable and have several promising looking youngsters. I just cannot accept that we will ever be an established Premiership Club and I do seriously believe that being a yo-yo club is as much as we can expect and, to be fair, is something we would have accepted quite happily before the last few years.I realise that my views are not accepted by most but then everything is a matter of opinion.
I think most of us agree entirely with your summing up midway, only a minority have delusions of grandeur!
Well I completely and wholeheartedly disagree, if the likes of Stoke, WBA etc can establish themselves in the Prem I'm ****ing sure we should be able to. You should always aspire to be, compete with the best if not what's the point of existing in the first place. We once dined at the top table for every year bar three from 1972 to 1995, I was there, I witnessed it and all you losers who simply accept that we should be grateful for the odd foray in the top flight should **** off and follow that shower of **** down the A140 ! Rant over
