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Norwich City Blog Entry No 6

That was the season that was. May it now rest in peace. 

With the dying embers of the 2007/2008 season now being raked over, thoughts are already turning to next season and quite rightly so. It’s no good dwelling on the past as long as lessons are learnt from it. 

It is important, however, to dissect the season just finished in order to move forward. Football is a game of ups and downs and ever changing fortunes – just ask big teams like Leicester and Nottingham Forest. Today if you really go on the slide you can find yourself out of the Football League before you have time to blink. 

It might be a totally insane idea of thinking of King’s Lynn in the Football League and Norwich playing non league. Of course that’s not really in the realms of possibility unless something goes horrendously right at the Walks and horrendously wrong at Carrow Road. But it is no longer the impossibility that it might have been 20 or even 10 years ago, Football has become much more fragile with more and more teams competing for a slice of the big boys’ cake. 

So what really should be learnt from last season? First and foremost that reputations count for nothing. Yes City have the fans and set-up for Premier Division football but it will never be their right. Many famous clubs have spectacularly fallen from grace over the years and today, as already stated, there is further to fall than ever. 

Of course there’s certainly no reason to be pessimistic. The board have learnt that positive action has to be taken and fast. Arguably they needed to take stronger action earlier and then we might have seriously been play off contenders rather than simply toying with the concept. 

We have learnt that having the right man in the manager’s position is essential – just look at what Neil Warnock has achieved at the Palace irrespective of whether they make it into the Premier Division or not. A season can never be a total waste of time, there are always things to learn. 

Last week City issued a list of nine players not being retained. Eight of the names on that list were no surprise and that of Darren Huckerby was almost expected, albeit a little sad. 

I have to agree with fans who have commented to me that the “Huckerby situation” could have been handled better in order to give supporters the chance to say a proper farewell. 

The player has said that he will not play for another club against Norwich. Whilst I can accept the reasons behind this I am disappointed. In a previous column I wrote about the handful of Norwich players who got standing ovations on returning to Carrow Road. Darren would be numbered amongst them and his reception by the fans would be one way of appreciating just what he has achieved at the club. 

Whether the decision to release him is the right one only time will tell. All I will say is it will be entirely tied up in how city perform and where they finish in the Championship next season. 

There will be some point in the season (probably quite early on) when it will become evident whether we will be challenging for the title, pushing for the play-offs, in a comfortable and boring mid table position or, heaven forbid, struggling at the wrong end again. That’s when the comments will come. Let’s hope they will be of the “well getting rid of Hucks hasn’t really upset or spoiled the team,” rather than the “we knew he shouldn’t get rid of Hucks. That’s when it all went wrong.” 

Of course Norwich managers have previous for letting players go a season too early and once again I refer to the likes of Messrs MacKay and Roberts. 

We will probably never fully understand the reasons behind Hucks’ departure. Rumours have suggested a fall out between player and manager and others suggest Hucks is past his sell by date anyway. The wage bill situation couldn’t have helped either. Is it possible that a Huckerby on a much lower weekly wage might just have been offered a 12 month contract? We will probably never know. 

There were no surprises amongst the other names on the list as none could be viewed as potential first team regulars in the future. The Jarvis brothers have been living on borrowed time for many seasons. Bally Smart has speed and ability but probably not at Championship level and Patrick Bexfield, Andrew Cave-Brown, Steve Arnold, Matt Halliday and Juan Velasco have only been bit players in the Carrow Road drama. Velasco is a strange situation. The man has obvious credentials in having played for Spain on four occasions and also for Seville, Celta Vigo, Athletico Madrid and Espanyol. He just seems like another foreign player who has sadly lost his way. 

People have accused me of being too pro Glenn Roeder. All I can say is the man delivered exactly what he promised. Indeed he never said he would lead us to safety but that he would have a damn good try at it. On the night of his appointment the manager was open and forthright with the SCG and he has already said that leading Norwich to safety has been the greatest achievement of his career. I would rate Roeder’s achievement as the second greatest success by a manager in City’s history only being eclipsed by Ron Saunders taking a relatively average team into the top flight for the first time ever in the early 1970s – and that in itself merits respect. 

The manager will acknowledge that he is only as good as his last achievement. The hard work is just beginning. He will be fully judged on who he signs and how he fashions a team for next season when it won’t be a papering over the obvious cracks situation. Roeder now has the task of turning the Canaries into a genuine winning team and that is on what he will ultimately be judged. 

One thing is certain – there are interesting times ahead. We now need the long haul and not the quick fix. I just hope the manager doesn’t start to have visions similar to those being foisted on us by the national FA who are making bland statements on England’s progress over the next few season. The concept seems to be that if you state an aim and write it down it will automatically happen. I always freeze when I hear the words vision or strategy as they usually lead to sweeping statements. Just look at what politicians promise and still they are planning to close rural post offices (sorry for that quick political point, I’ll try and stick to sport). 

So Glenn as we go into 2008/2009 season please don’t have any strategic rushes of blood to the head and state that Norwich  will be back in the Premier League by 2010. Let’s just take it day by day and match by match as you try to build a team in your likeness. 

In my book people who talk about vision, rarely have one. Let’s stick with the basics. Let’s hope that Glenn is a genuine man of vision without having to talk about it. But I have to say I must now jump on the bandwagon. Come the new season I have a vision. A vision of a skilful Norwich City who can compete with the best and who regularly win matches. That’s a starting point and from there – well who knows?