Savvy offers his view of events over the last week…
It seems so long since the last time I wrote for Vital Norwich however it was only around a month ago and after the AGM.
I’m not going to mull over the Adams era too much as we need to move on. However the timing was a bit of a shock, and the speed of action of the hierarchy was equally as surprising.
Believe what you want but Adams was definitely pushed and the club clearly already had a shortlist of options to replace him – with Alex Neil’s name right at the top.
After the ‘scoured Europe’ debacle of the summer, McNally was not going to get caught out again without a cast iron pre-prepared succession plan should Norwich City again be in the market for a new manager.
Like a manager scouting a promising young player, Alex Neil has clearly been on the radar for a while, whereas most of us (if we’re honest) had never heard of him and have been googling his name furiously since Wednesday.
Age-wise it seems a massive gamble, but from what I’ve read, Neil has all traits to succeed in management at the highest level. It seems that McNally has attempted to unearth the next Eddie Howe or Mick McCarthy and has been convinced this time to roll the dice in the quest for sustained success and Premier League football.
Some fans have said to me (quite rationally) that rather than trying to find the next Eddie Howe why didn’t we just go and get Eddie Howe and put more money than he’s ever seen in his life in front of him?
I think that’s a good point and I don’t really know the answer. I guess Eddie Howe might not want to leave Bournemouth but I’m not convinced that it would be McNally’s style to go after a ‘name’ or go after the obvious. After all the criticism he’s had, I think he wants to show everyone how clever he is, and if he pulls it off he will be extremely justified to do so.
The removal of Neil Adams and appointment of Alex Neil was ice-like, it was ballsy, it was decisive and it was expertly executed. It was very similar to the Lambert appointment 5 years ago.
Finally, it feels like we’ve but our McNasty back!
Importantly McNally and Neil have both called for unity. By all accounts Neil seems to have moved mountains up at Hamilton Academicals, and the fans up there appear to have nothing but good things to say about him. He will know that when this club works together and the whole place is rocking, there is no limit to what we can achieve together.
So let’s get behind the new man, trust in his decisions, offer our unconditional support and see what happens!
OTBC