Hughton is doing OK at Brighton in the Championship as he did with Newcastle, perhaps that's his level ? Plenty on here were defending him until the bitter end although some of us could 'see the wood for the trees' long before he got the chop. (See what I did there ) My overriding memory of him will be that he oversaw one of, if not THE most, embarrassing performances in our history when we became the first Premier League side to be knocked out of the FA Cup in a home tie against non-league opposition.
Yes KIO, that is quite true and maybe as you say, he is more suited to getting the best out of teams in the Championship. Couldn't agree more re the defeat to Luton!!!!
I see it as this, so I agree that 8 is possible - 26-Sep West Ham V Norwich 15:00 - 1 03-Oct Norwich V Leicester City 15:00 - 1 18-Oct Newcastle V Norwich 16:00 - 3 24-Oct Norwich V West Brom 15:00 - 3 31-Oct Man City V Norwich 15:00 - 0 We would then over a third (nearly half way) to safety!!!!!
But of course we'll just forget the wins against United, Arsenal and Citeh shall we, not to mention the ten match unbeaten run and highest league finish for more than 20 years because they don't fit in with the image of complete and utter failure that some of you love to portray him as. It can never be proven, and it's clearly nothing but conjecture, but I'm convinced that if we didn't have so many arseholes as fans who created such a negative atmosphere at Carrow Road we'd have been ok that year, though I guess we'll never know - and anyway I'm not complaining too much as we wouldn't have Alex Neil as boss now, and as much as I think Hootun got a hard deal, I definitely wouldn't swap AN for anyone.
Apologies Munky - I omitted to mention the 10 game run and some of those amazing wins. IMO, the way in which he talked about the quality of the opposition before most games resulted in the fans feelings of negativity. Yes, I was talking to another fan yesterday and he was saying what a find AN has turned out to be. I just hope that IF we do go on a bad run at some point, that the fans remember these last 8 months and not criticise him or McNally for failing to sign any more players in the transfer window!!!!
I'm really sorry, but to me that is just utter nonsense - but if there is any truth in it then it's worse than nonsense, it's absolutely bloody ridiculous and just further proves to me that some people were looking for any excuse to get on at him. Some people were determined to not even give him a chance from the word go, he was pretty much on a hiding to nothing, and to me it's very interesting to see how he has fared at his two other clubs Newcastle and Brighton (so far) where the fans took to him and got 100% behind him. But that's all history now and as I said I wouldn't change our current situation for anything.
I have to agree with TonyMunky here. Hughton succeeded in his first year in the PL, as Lambert did. This year, AN can only emulate that. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge admirer of AN and I think his focus and concentration will see us through this season, but I feel uncomfortable with those who want to rewrite history by saying that Hughton was a failure from square one. He wasn't. In the end, the revival in the second half of his last season never quite happened and he paid the price for that. Personally, I'm pleased that he has now found success so far with Brighton.
To be fair I think everyone except Carrabuh was behind the Hughtondeu appointment from the start. I know I was. However whilst his first season was far from a failure in mine and many others view it was certainly a portent of doom to what was coming. The second half of that season was dire on so many levels. The crowd was not lost over night and he had some credit in the bank because of the 10 game run. But it was so often dire the crowd was always gonna turn. It might have done quicker than it should have, but I honestly don't believe any amount if support was gonna turn around the turgid, negative tripe he and the players were serving up! Are we really going here again? Things under a potentially great manager are great. Do us city fans so despirately need to argue? Back to the Newcastle game I don't feel to positive as it's a 4pm SS Sunday game. They never seem to go too well! Bah!
I think the biggest trigger for arguments on here is the lack of balance in people's arguments. People seem to form an opinion and then just run with it, ignoring all other evidence to the contrary. I think this is something that most people do (myself included) but it does seem to be particularly prevalent on here.
I agree General. Let's look to the future!!! I'm sure there will be 'blips' along the way - players have a 'mare, defence going AWOL etc, etc; but at least with AN in charge, I'm confident he can motivate the players to perform better in the next game!!!
I also agree that we should look to the future and that future looks bright with AN in charge, but too many people expect too much too quickly. We are probably the poorest team in the PL and that will tell at times, but the absolute concentration and focus of AN and the character of the players under him I'm sure will see us through. There will be times when doubts are raised - you only have to look at the 'how long do we give him' posts on all the boards (this is one of them) after the Southampton debacle. The truth is that even with that debacle, we've done very well so far and there are many reasons for optimism. A little patience would go a long way.
I have tosay, 6 games in that I do not think we will be relegated with AN in charge, he simply won't let it happen. The NE clubs look in desparate trouble already and I think both clubs will have new managers by the end of the year. I wonder if all 3 promoted clubs might survive?
Today's offering from Paddy - http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwic...ame_against_premier_league_s_finest_1_4256170 and I'm sure CR will be packed tomorrow afternoon for what I'm hoping will see plenty of goalmouth action from both teams.
I've read that JR, and the bit I like best is AN saying: “I see that tactical side as one of the biggest facets of my job really, making sure that tactically we can cope with whatever is coming and that we can impose ourselves on the opposition. It is a side I enjoy. It is a lot better being in the Premier League, in terms of preparation for games, particularly when you can focus on the opposition. You can’t really do much in terms of focusing on the next one until the previous game is out of the way and at this level you have a lot more time with the lads on the training pitch during the week.” He does seem to love working out the tactics needed and then putting that across to the players. It's at the heart of our success so far.
That's quite possibly his biggest asset, the way he analyses the next opposition and selects his squad / team / tactics based on how best to counter their perceived strengths Some of his predecessors appeared to have a one-size-fits-all approach, which was intransigent and the oppo. could easily work it out and negate it. Sir Alex has no room for being out-thought or complacency
The other key is improving the squad with new players over the summer to provide a range of options that makes it difficult to second guess.
