Saturday night was passing by as usual for the Canary Nation when an innocent tweet from a Twitter user, Stewart Lewis, who suggested that City might be better off selling Josh Murphy, prompted a reply from a sleeping giant, ex-Chief Executive David McNally.
Like Smaug the dragon being awoken from his slumbers by thieving dwarves (and a hobbit), McNally returned to Twitter and started an unexpected, but highly opinionated, question and answer session.
The crux of which was that he thought City were well placed when he resigned in May 2016, only to have finished last season in an “embarrassing” position, having made little progress.
He’s not wrong about that embarrassing bit. If you’re not on social media (very wise) then you can catch up with the thread below.
Sad to say it, but I'd be happy if #ncfc received & accepted a good offer for Josh Murphy. Some great moments, but overall not as strong a contribution to the team as we need. Can do better with the money
— Stewart Lewis (@StewartLewis2) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005541082799722497?s=21
https://twitter.com/canaryscots/status/1005542212669763584?s=21
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005543167146459136?s=21
You don’t agree David? I tend to lean with Stewart here, performances inconsistent at very best, when good v good but too passive in his play majority of the time. There’s room for improvement without doubt but maybe move will assist that, happy to be proven wrong next season..
— John Wilson (@JohnWilson0812) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005544702047866880?s=21
https://twitter.com/scottjdack/status/1005545141371834368?s=21
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005546310831935488?s=21
Aren't #ncfc in this mess because of poor transfers such as Naismith and that West Ham bloke that no one can remember his name etc 😉
— NCFC Nodge (@OTBCuk) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005548358839267332?s=21
A fair point; as a fan I enjoyed your tenure. But you left, with no reason, at a key time. I am still disappointed with this decision and find it hard to find solace in the promotions you reference as I believe that your ill-timed departure secured the following relegation.
— Josh Jenkins (@JoshJenkins5) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005550430234038272?s=21
I agree with what you’re saying David about May 16 but surely some of the issues were poor previous recruitment which left us with ageing squad on big contracts and an inexperienced manager, who did appear out of his depth. Hindsight great on many levels I guess.
— John Wilson (@JohnWilson0812) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005553053955706881?s=21
I don't really know why nobody has ever said why really. I think the whole situation was a massive shame; it felt like we really could build something in the PL at one point. How do you feel about your time at NCFC, David? Were you able to enjoy it?
— Josh Jenkins (@JoshJenkins5) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005554001432268801?s=21
What would you have done differently last season??
— Aaron Walker (@azza082) June 9, 2018
Promotion https://t.co/qpcZh7Nmeo
— David McNally (@davidmcnally62) June 9, 2018
easier said than done,out of 24 teams in championship a good half will be fancying their chances start of season
— Merv Honeywood (@mervhoneywood) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005561643827367937?s=21
Any reason we didn't properly strengthen the Striker/Centre back positions when we were promoted David? We were always going to be relegated with Jerome/Martin/Bassong in those key positions….
— Neal Black (@MrBlack1902) June 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidmcnally62/status/1005572868778921985?s=21
Fair enough, Thanks for the reply….Like a few others have said, getting writing a book 👍
— Neal Black (@MrBlack1902) June 9, 2018
It’s not really clear why McNally decided to reply to Stewart Lewis and then engage in this Q&A with fans. I missed it all myself as I was watching the farce that was Tyson Fury’s return to professional boxing and didn’t catch up with it until this morning.
There are a few interesting points though. The first is that McNally feels that we underachieved last season. Fair enough, so do I.
The second is that he sounds like he would’ve thrown money at the problem to get promoted, had he been given that opportunity. Without any “benefactor money” he oversaw three promotions but also two relegations from the Premier League.
Whilst he was the right man at the right time to sort out the mess after relegation to League One, he also oversaw the signings of RvW, Leroy Fer and Johan Elmander which ultimately assisted our relegation under Chris Hughton.
He got so much right early on in his tenure, Paul Lambert, Grant Holt etc but also got so much wrong when the PL became his area of operations.
He made some costly errors in the transfer market that Norwich are still wearing round their necks in millstone form but he also bought James Maddison. You win some and you lose some in the transfer market and no-one has a crystal ball.
As for his talk of getting promoted, hindsight is a wonderful thing and never wrong. Norwich are currently operating a sustainable model in the Championship. Had we thrown money at it we could be another Aston Villa in the making.
Personally, I think we should’ve gone somewhere in between.
Thirdly, he said that new defenders and strikers weren’t bought in the summer of 2015 due to “cash and yet directors’ loans were repaid.”
That suggests that directors’ loans were repaid at the cost of the playing budget. Something that the club have always played down.
The suggestion from some is that McNally should write a book about his time in football, because there are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding his time at Norwich and his departure.
It would certainly be worth a read but perhaps, like the rest of us, David McNally should move on and concentrate on the future rather than dwelling in the past.
OTBC