“I really did struggle.”
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to come up with an insightful, original piece of prose to sum up the present plight of our beloved club.
I’ve struggled, become depressed, watched them spiral deeper into the mire and come up with nothing.
Imagine my suprise when the club comes out and gives me that little spark I needed with the jaw-droppingly thrilling appointment of Glenn Roeder. Be still, my beating heart…
So to begin, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Whatever thoughts that I (or allegedly Dave Carolan) may have, the fact is Glenn Roeder has officially pulled on the shirt, so to speak, and as such has my full support.
Speaking as some-one who relentlessly sang the name of Chris ‘Wales number 15’ LLewellyn for six years, I know myself to be of that group of supporters who actually do what they can to ‘support’. Glenn Roeder is no different.
However, the club is in a dreadful, sorry mess at the moment. Whatever, and whoever, you blame for this is irrelevant; the facts must be acknowledged before we stand any chance of moving on.
The league table paints a clear picture – I think few people can deny we are bottom of the league. In our present state, there are no worse teams in the division.
We’ve not had ‘a tough run of games,’ or ‘woeful bad luck’.
But it is more than just league position. We have a group of fans so solidly experienced in our decline they have no belief or fighting spirit left (I count myself among them).
We have a board who are embarrassed by the decline of The Worthy One and the never-out-of-the-blocks failure of Grant. This has left them almost completely silent for fear of further reprisal.
We have a team full of players who seem unable (or unwilling) to play themselves out of trouble, and a star player who so joyously announced Norwich would be his last club, now saying that he’s totally fed up and thinking over his options.
So into the breach steps Mr. Roeder.
You can’t question the facts – he turned around a Newcastle side in a lot of trouble a couple of years back, and before that he did pretty well with West Ham for a time.
Unfortunately, equally undeniable is the fact both clubs subsequently fell apart following a year or two under his stewardship. Surely the last thing this club needs is another stop-gap solution.
His managerial stats are underwhelming: 349 games played; won 117 – almost precisely one third; lost 137.
He has experience, but of what? Almost relegation with Gillingham, sacked before relegation with Watford, relegation with West Ham, and Titus Bramble at Newcastle.
So why have the board chosen him?
Well, he’s fairly quiet and unassuming, unlike his predecessor. He’s got a fair few years of coaching and management under his belt, unlike his predecessor. He’s spent all of his career in English football, unlike his predecessor. He has already refused to publicly criticise his players…er…unlike his predecessor.
Can you see the pattern forming here?
For me, herein lies the rub. While I personally feel the present state of the club is so bad, any manager would be a miracle-worker to keep us up, I can’t shake the feeling this appointment has been all about avoiding past mistakes instead of looking forward to future glories.
The board liked Peter Grant; they liked him a lot. Now they have egg on their faces, much like they did with Bryan H*milton (I still consider that name to be slightly profane).
To me, Glenn Roeder feels as if they’re saying: “Well okay, if what we thought didn’t work, we will do the exact opposite. Then if it doesn’t work either, you can hardly blame us, can you?”
What this misses is, when all is said and done, at the end of the day, when push comes to shove and any other cliched phrase you may prefer, us supporters don’t care who’s right, so long as somebody is.
I didn’t like Worthington’s appointment, but the promotion certainly helped me get over it.
What the club needs is someone who isn’t afraid of telling certain players their cause is to entertain the good people of Norwich, nothing more.
Someone willing to admit that the present crop of players isn’t good enough, and tell them so without alienating themselves.
Someone who commands fear, but respect too.
Can Roeder really be said to fit that description?
Someone who knows what an attacking midfielder is wouldn’t go amiss either. Natch.
Bysies,
Game, Set & Natch OTBC