As one of the deaf posters on here, I would like to give my response to this piece.
The main ideas in this article are (roughly in order):
1) That people are conflating the 'disconnect' between the supporters and the club with the performances on the pitch. The author seems uncertain whether the disconnect is real or not, because he states both that it only exists because of this conflation between disconnect and not winning games, yet also states that there
is actually a disconnect because people
believe there is a disconnect.
2) The club is still engaging with the local community.
3) The breakdown of the relationship between the club and the local media was caused by the media, and especially their coverage of Webber's plan to climb Everest.
4) There are many fans who are determined to find fault with the club and whose minds are made up and closed. This is perhaps happening 'unconsciously'.
5) It is unreasonable to expect Webber to give a public apology for last year's recruitment or for hiring Smith.
6) An unrealistic belief grew up that Norwich would always bounce back after relegation.
7) Smith has not yet got the best out of this group of players because there have been so many changes in the squad.
8) The key reason why fans have not taken to Smith is that they cannot move on from Farke.
9) Making the play-offs would be a major achievement this season.
1) I can't follow the logic here.
2) Yes, but not with the fans and not with the local press. And I hardly think TNC is a good example of engagement with the community.
3) We can never know as outsiders who is more to blame, but it's worth pointing out that the PinkUn journalists deny the claim that they broke the story of the possible American investment after being asked not to. They also claim that they have made several approaches to the club to mend fences and that these approaches have been ignored. We can decide who we choose to believe, but we can never know the truth, and I suspect Dennis can't either.
4) I'm sure there are
some fans who are like this, just as there are
some fans who are still strong supporters of Smith. I find the idea that this desire to find fault is happening 'unconsciously' insulting, as if fans are incapable of rational thought.
5) This seems a reasonable statement to me. Personally I don't want him to apologise, I want him to do something to sort out the mess.
6) Interesting that Dennis gives the credit for the 97-point season to Webber, not Farke. Having said that, I think it's likely that we have underestimated the difficulty of going straight back up and overestimated the players in the squad, but IMO we are still underachieving, in terms of both performances and points.
7) There haven't been that many changes in the squad, especially since Sara and Hayden have played so few games. I interpret this as a poor attempt to deflect Smith's responsibility for his failure to get the best out of the players.
8) There may be a grain of truth to this, but again it is insulting towards the fans, as if they are starry-eyed groupies with posters of Farke on their bedroom walls and they are incapable of accepting that the club (and Farke) have moved on.
9) Absolute nonsense. Automatic promotion would be an achievement; play-offs should be an expectation.
In conclusion, there are too many ideas jammed together in this article without much logical flow of thought to connect them. Grouping different ideas together and then using headings might have helped the reader to separate out the various arguments. As it is, it is hard sometimes to grasp the key ideas, but I personally disagree with most of them and think they are weak and poorly argued IMO. Finally, I find the repeated use of 'Because football. Because the Championship' a feeble attempt at a rhetorical flourish. What is this to do with anything?
Apologies for the length of my post, but I am sick of all of us being held in contempt on this board.
Totally agree Suffolk.
