Is the End Nigh for Wagner (at the end of the season) ?

There have been reports that Norwich are after the Arsenal Assistant Manager Carlos Cuesta to replace David Wagner at the end of the season. Wagner is highly likely to remain at the club until the end of the season with City concentrating on trying to get into the play-offs, but Cuesta is known to Knapper after he worked with him for over 3 years when he was loans manager at Arsenal .

Cuesta is 28 years old, speaks 6 languages, and is regarded as one of the best young coaches in the world, and this would be his first senior role

More on link below

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-2-carlos-cuesta-norwich-manager-championship

 

Really unhelpful timing for that article. We don’t need Wagner distracted and thinking about his next job. It makes sense that we would part ways if we don’t get promoted though.

 

Yeah I thought it was a lot of 1+1=3 personally, but agree timing is annoying

 

The timing could be indicative of how seriously the big northern clubs are having to take Arsenal's title credentials.

 

I wondered if it was a case of seeing Wagner criticise a “small” portion of fans, so quick let’s get the new manager article out

 

Closer to home, it also happens to coincide with the mailing of season ticket renewal invitations?

 

Hope this has been firmly put to bed. Distinctly fed up with criticism of manager's performances when they are doing all they can and achieving the best we could reasonably hope for.

 

"The best we could reasonably hope for"???

 

Wouldn't be so sure this has been hibernated. Away from this forum there's an undercurrent rumbling, especially about the poor away form and questions over Wagner's tactical game management. There's also questions about who initiated the Hoijdonk loan/permanent signing, giving an obvious reluctance to play him.

Should we not go up this season and lose 3/4 of our better players, don't be surprised if next season he (should he still be there) only gets 10-12 games to maintain us in the top 8

 

I think you’re probably right. To be honest I think if we don’t go up he’s gone anyway.

(Not taking away from Farked19’s point though)

 

The issue of Wagner's future is raised by Connor Southwell in the latest, post-Preston, Pink'Un Podcast, prompted by Wagner's implicit criticism of Knapper in repeated comments about the size of the squad.
https://www.pinkun.com/podcasts/
The relevant bit starts around min 39 of the podcast.

 

The original Guardian article at the top of this thread is dated 15 February 2024, so is hardly raising the issue now. Southwell is pretty lightweight IMO as is Seaman, and I don't listen to the podcasts as I find them tedious. I have some time for Paddy Davitt but stick to the articles.

Wagner did not criticise Knapper, but expressed concern about the reduction in the squad size after the injuries to Hernandez, Giannoulis and Rowe. Since then, Gibbs has also been ruled out for the season which to my mind raises doubts about Knapper's decision making. If Wagner gets us into the playoffs and then is replaced by Knapper I will lose interest in Norwich big time. I wouldn't think the players would be overly impressed either.

 

In January our chances of promotion looked remote and the money men would have been telling Knapper that he had to start planning for next season in the Championship with no parachute money hence the actions he took. I also have to agree with a comment made earlier that the favorable impression of Wagner on here is not shared amongst the punters attending the games. I further suspect that the deal to bring in the Arsenal lad was tied up sometime ago and that Wagner is aware of the situation and is working hard to enhance his reputation to get future jobs.

 

Ref. 06.12 for the prelude to the comment. Wagner's actual words: "The decision was made to go with such a thin squad, and I had to accept". It takes some mental gymnastics to read that as anything other than an implicit criticism of Knapper. He could, after all, have said "We made a decision ......", but he didn't.

 

I don’t think they looked remote did they? After the West Brom game (just to pick the middle of Jan) we were in 8th and just 2 points off 6th place. I think we were firmly in the mix. Part of the grumbling at the time was it seemed odd when we had seen an improvement in performances since Sargent was back and we were back in the top half.

In reality, any wise money men would be saying you need to plan for that unless you’re miles ahead at the top of the league (and look at where Leicester are now for whether you should still cater for the worst).

I can believe there are fans in the ground who moan. I bet they complained in the Lambert years too.

 

The decision was not made in Jan - it had to be implemented in Jan. The decision would have been made in Nov when we were 16th in the league and performances were abysmal. With contracts etc you have to base a plan over a period of time and not leave it to the last minute and our money men, faced with one of the biggest wage bills in the division, would need that to be seriously reduced in Jan and the process completed at the end of the season. As for people moaning perhaps you need to look back to earlier in the season when people were queuing to get out at half time having paid hundreds of pounds for their season tickets. That sticks in their minds far more than a few recent improved performances especially when they are faced with renewal of their season tickets.

 

I don’t disagree generally regarding a discussion in November, but firstly we were still not that far off in November (eg five points after the QPR game) so it was not season’s over scenario and secondly you have plenty of years under your belt that you don’t need me to tell you things can change rapidly in football - not just results but whether a manager is hired or fired - and budget for player spend. I don’t believe for a minute that the Norwich board would have fixed their decision in November as to whether to spend in January; they might have had a heavy leaning towards it, but they would have been willing to change.

Is our wage budget one of the biggest? I had understood it was in the 6th-8th largest. So yes top half but not even close to a Leicester.

I’m not denying that people remember the bad results. I’m just saying that there are people who love to moan and always will.

 

There are a lot of factors involved. If Knapper favours a change in HC he has to convince the board to approve the change. Attanasio was saying in November that there was money available to strengthen the squad and that he didn't understand why teams here changed coaches so often. Delia and Michael expressed similar views. Had results not improved after the return of Sargent and Sainz it would be a different situation.

They have improved though, in spite of losing Rowe for 11 games. As Rob says, there will always be disgruntled fans, at least that's seemed the case over the 50+ years I've seen. Every year some season ticket holders leave and others come in. Evolution not revolution. The euphoria at the Ipswich performance and result left Wagner in a strong position. If we make the playoffs now I can't see Wagner leaving and if he is shown the door l won't be the only disgruntled fan.

 

I have more than enough years under my belt to understand how things can change in football but I also have over 40 years experience as an Accountant so I know how business works and whether we like it or not NCFC is a business. A budget plan is based on the 'likely' with one eye on the 'worst'. Any business who budgets on the basis of ' lets hope for the best ' usually ended up with the likes of me in there sorting out an insolvent Company. Getting in the play offs does not guarantee promotion. Only being in the top 2 guarantees that and in November we were 19 points off that. The 'likely' suggests that next season we will still be in the Championship with no parachute money. Excluding the 3 teams who came down with players on Premiership wages we were joint second in the wage table. The financial team knew what our wage bill had to be next season(X) if we were to survive. They knew which players were out of contract in the summer of 2024 and the savings in wages then(Y). X minus Y left a balance which Knapper had to find during the Jan and summer windows plus any savings to fund new incomings. It was no good getting rid of players out of contact in the summer as those wage savings had already been accounted for in Y so Knapper knew he had to trim his squad as best he could in Jan. I fully accept that there are lots of people who like to moan all the time but if you have paid a lot of money to attend and the entertainment is so bad that you walk out at half time I think they have a right to moan and wonder whether they want to risk it for another year.

 

The results & performances in 2024 have been very good , coincidentally Gunn Sargent & Barnes returned.

No coincidence however that results at the start of the season with an almost intact squad had us right up the top .

I like many others thought a change should be made with Wagner in November /December but injuries clearly hit us hard .

Ben Knapper came in & it looked like the hammer would drop but results improved as well as performances .

There have been way way worse seasons than this & if some misery guts doesn't want to renew their season ticket because we aren't winning the league then perhaps the seat should be filled by someone that still likes watching Norwich.

Attendances were down when the weather was freezing & the games were on telly because it just wasn't fun .

Since Webber left the toxic relationship with the fans & the Aristocracy has improved along with the match experience.

Webber turning on the fans made his position impossible, his ridiculous comments about Aarons & other players being a knife criminal drug dealer if it wasn't for football has probably cost him a future in the game .

Aarons being one of the most grounded professional polite players ever to wear the shirt.

Mainly down to having a good supporting family around him not Webber & the pay checks.