Saturday 22 August 2009

Quel surprise

Walking up the stairs today entering Carrow Road someone said to me "Have you seen the team ?". When he explained who was in, who was out, I was seriously worried. Well, thank goodness I was wrong.

Otsemebor looked good, scored a goal, stopped dawdling and played well. Curetone looked good, slim, and much more mobile whilst the whole team looked solid. Yes, there is room for improvement in central defence with the new partnership needing time to bed in, but overall Norwich look full of goals and with quality crosses from McVeigh and marticularly Lappin, who was outstanding, Grant Hoult is guaranteed to add to his five already this year.

Overall, a big well done and a big surpise.

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Monday 17 August 2009

The real reason why Gunn was sacked

The fact that Norwich are still in negotiations with a new manager and did not have anyone lined up when they fired Bryan Gunn last week underlines what a useless bunch the board are at Norwich right now. But it also highlights why they sacked Gunn last Friday.

The truth of the matter is that they feared that a result in Norwich's favour on Saturday and tomorrow at brentford would prevent them from sacking Gunn. That in itself is appalling. The board feared Gunn becoming a success so got rid of him leaving the team rudderless and possibly in the position of losing points in vital games.

Saturday 15 August 2009

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink for Norwich ?

Apparently the rumours are that Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will be the new manager of Norwich. If true this is astonishing risk taking by the Norwich board. We need a manager who has the neccessary skills to get Norwich promoted. Instead we are likely to have a "name" with no managerial experience who could be great, but could equally be awful.

I wanted a Mark Robins type or Aidy Boothroyd. But this board really have not got a clue.

Update : Apparently the club Chairman has deined the rumour and says JFH will NOT be the new Norwich manager.

Friday 14 August 2009

Gunn Gone - Right decision, terrible timing

I was one of the few who felt that appointing Bryan Gunn in the first place as manager was a terrible decision. Sentiment does not win you football matches and his record of winning gour out of 20 games since being put in charge has proved that.

If the board had sacked him on Sunday, I think we could all have said it was the right thing to do. But to sack a manager after a four nil win seems wrong somehow, even though I think in the long term it will probably serve the club better to have a new manager in.

On a personal level, I am enormously sad for Bryan Gunn. One of the reasons I didn't want to see him as manager was that I didn't want to see him with no role at the club in the future as Gunn has been a loyal servant of the club and it is sad that he now has no role to play at Carrow Road.

I heard someone on the radio say just now "We need a big name manager". Time for a reality check. We are League One, we have no money. What possible attraction would we be for a big name ?

Tuesday 11 August 2009

What a difference three days makes

Wow. Yeovil nil, Norwich four.

Listening to the match on the radio it was clear Norwich dominated for long spells, and if they had taken chances as clinically as Colchester did on Saturday, it could have been seven or eight to Norwich.

Well done. Nuff said.

Saturday 8 August 2009

So bad it was almost funny

Well, I was wrong. I, like 23000 other Norwich fans turned up with so much hope only for this to evaporate in to thin air through a mix of terrible defending (Q - Who passes back to the keeper with a lob. A- Jon Otsebebor), sloppy goalkeeping, a failure to attack the first ball or attempt to win the second ball, no running and terrible management (why Bryan Gunn did you keep the same team for 60 minutes then only make two subs ?).

Things can only get better we hope, although with Southampton only nine points behind us on minus nine, things could actually get worse.

Reasons to be cheerful. 1, 2, 3.

Three reasons to be cheerful about today's kick off in League One.

1) Norwich have bought well. For years many fans have had doubts about the packing of the Norwich team with loan players who lack any commitment to the club whilst some signing have left a lot to be desired. Some of these signings have shown a real lack of loyalty in wanting to leave the club at the earliest opportunity too, so signing players who want to play for a team in league one, but who want to improve and get better is a positive thing. The signings of Grant Hoult, a prolific goalscorer in the lower leagues, Simon Whaley, a proper winger with a decent shot, and Nelson in defence (an absolute rock and hard as nails) gives the team a really good look already. Coupled with Matt Gill (a local who wants to play for Norwich who can add a bit off bite in midfield) and Tudor-Jones, the team has a strong spine.

2) We might see some home wins ! I've forgotten what it is like to see regular back to back wins at Carrow Road. We, like the team, had almost become used to losing home games on a regular basis. Without wanting to count any chickens or assume promotion, I expect us to do much better at home this year and that is a good thing.

3) 20,000 fans. We may have sold a few thousands less tickets, but home attendances will still be over 20,000 and I wouldn't be surprised to see 22,000 fans there today. This will intimidates some teams and will drive Norwich on. We have though got to learn to make more noise and really be the 12th man.

So, I am looking forward to this afternoon, even if it is in League One.