Agree (with Kick it off linked article) - expresses my sentiments too. Anyone in doubt should have "experienced" watching a bit of Coventry v. Sheff Utd live on Sky this afternoon from Coventry's temporary home at Northampton - spectators standing on grassy knolls and basically a million miles from where we would want to be. Don't wish for relegation at all, but especially from the EPL where we are lucky enough to get to see some of the top players in the world. Mid-table survival, hopefully with gradual improvement through the seasons, is fine by me.
In 08/09 being relegated was the best thing that could have happened to us, it allowed us to make a sweeping set of changes to management both on and off the field. Now though, as proved by the announcement in the week we're one of the run clubs around and our "Mutual" Football club model is sure to be copied by more than a couple of clubs in the near future. There is nothing good that could come out of being relegated that we don't have already. As for Go down and win a cup or stay mid table this is a massively false dichotomy. There are essentially 4 options Stay up/win cup, Stay up/no cup, Relegated/win cup, Relegated/no cup. I've set those out in my order of preference. The argument tend to hinge on the idea that winning a cup is remembered in history, True, but if our aim is to win a cup we need as good a team as possible, which we will develop best in the premier league, the winners are almost always in the premier league and rarely actually get relegated (wigan were the first team to win the FA cup and get relegated) for me the issue is not that the desire is wrong, the whole premise that the argument is based around is entirely wrong.
Downes is, as I understand him, objecting to PL survival being prioritised over having a serious go at winning a Cup, resulting in weakened teams being put out in the Cup competitions. So he is saying "Let's take the Cup competitions seriously even if it increases our chances of being relegated". By implication he is also saying "Don't use Cup competitions to rest our best players and give match time to our less able ones". This particular dilemma applies even when you are a team which is never going to struggle for survival but are trying to secure a Champions League place (hence all the grumbling about the top teams de-valuing the Cup competitions by playing their development players). It also arises if you are e.g. a Championship team with a serious chance of promotion that year. You have to be a safe mid-table side with no immediate prospect of anything better if you are to make winning a Cup your priority. Downes' mistake is to think we are ALWAYS going to struggle to survive in the PL.
I know Steve, as he also lives in Cromer. He said on twitter last night that the abuse he's had for writing the piece is unbelievable. Here's Edward Couzens-Lake's take on it : http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter...the-comfort-and-challenge-of-the-second-tier/
Some of us are old enough to remember a time when the Cup WAS really the only relief from a mid-table win some/lose some diet, with promotion to the top flight something you barely even dreamed of. Those days weren't remotely comparable to the heady days last time we were in the Championship I can tell you.
Initailly, I wqasn't sure about posting a link to Steve's article, but as I said in my initial post, everyone is entitled to their opinion, as after all this forum is about debate. cromer - I totally agree that there is no need for others to be abusive and I really enjoyed reading Edward Couzens-Lake views on the matter, as he really puts a completely different slant on it. I would like to se carrabuh's views on the debate!!
Beefy bor, there's a lot of common sense in that ol' Norfolk nut of yors. Well said and bootifully expressed. We have to plough our own furrow, so to speak. I certainly don't want a return to those days of counting our pennies. We have achieved financial stability now, let's build on that. Finance is the governing body of football nowadays, imagine where Man U would be without that stability ? Heck, I can take defeat, used to that over the years and to much inferior teams than those we currently oppose. Who wants to be where our country cousins currently abide ? There is no guarantee of success in football, you get there by hard work, good management and a hell of a lot of luck. To quote the maxim for the benefit of that journalist: If you can't stand the heat, keep out of the kitchen!!!
He has already cut this new stick to beat Hughton with. He posted some time ago before his self-imposed gardening leave that having spent so much and made so much of the better quality in the squad and given how great a manager CH is, there is absolutely no excuse for him playing weakened teams in the cups and not making a serious effort to go as far as possible.
if ever there was a case of 'little old norwich' it was this abomination of an article by steve downes. it concerns me that he is not alone in this way of thinking. i honestly believe that some norwich fans are completely unable to cope with premier league football. they fail to understand the clubs position in the football spectrum. great piece by beefy by the way, really superb. when he says it feels like 'the beginning of the end', it was precisely how i felt when i wrote an article about why i have to accept that hughton will some day, possibly sooner rather than later, be forced out by a section of our fans whether right or wrong. this is not a condition which solely blights norwich fans but it does seem to be one which grows within many, once their club feels to them as though it's become part of the premier league furniture. and beefy is absolutely right - it is 'pathetic'.
So he wants to see us lose a lot of our players, the tv and commercial sponsorships associated with being a Premiership club and more worryingly he wants the club to entail the debt associated with being relegated and having to settle clauses in contracts etc, that makes a lot of sense...
yep, makes loads of sense cos we might win loads of games in the championship! then, if we do win loads of games we'll get promoted to the premier league, and then we'll lose loads of games and we'll all be miserable but it'll be worth it for a year cos then we'll be back in the championship, winning loads of games again. then, if we do win loads of games we'll get promoted to the premier league, and then we'll lose loads of games and we'll all be miserable but it'll be worth it for a year cos then we'll be back in the championship, winning loads of games again. then, if we do win loads of games we'll get promoted to the premier league, and then we'll lose loads of games and we'll all be miserable but it'll be worth it for a year cos then we'll be back in the championship, winning loads of games again. then, if we do win loads of games we'll get promoted to the premier league, and then we'll lose loads of games and we'll all be miserable but it'll be worth it for a year cos then we'll be back in the championship, winning loads of games again.
