James Shiplee urges fans to stick together and support the team rather than criticising. He also contrasts the support Torres gets with that of Morison and asks us all to stop the moan
Norwich City Football Club. Three years of success. Endless wins. Countless goals. Mental celebrations.
And what has it done to us? Made us greedy, over-expectant and over-critical.
Never did I expect to be sitting in this comfortable a position in the Premier League in the first season back and to see people still fed up, and unsatisfied.
This is a rant, yes, and you may, or may not, agree, but it needs to be said. Bear with me and read it all?
Coming into the Premier League we were always going to expect more than we should because of how easy the success has come in the last two seasons. Now I`m not saying that we`re here just to enjoy it and not worry if we lose, I said that we weren`t a few weeks back.
However, in recent weeks, there`s been more and more moaning creeping into the games and it`s getting silly. “Ruddy`s not good enough”, “Surman`s not good enough”, Martin`s not good enough” and so on. These are players that got us out of League One, that got us out of the Championship and that got us to mid-table in the Premier League. There`s a reason we stuck with them, and a reason that they got us there; because they are good enough.
The main source of bashing has been Steve Morison. Yes, he hasn`t been on form in recent weeks and has come in for a lot of criticism, “he`s not good enough”, “he`s lazy”, etc. and this has brought about various rumours which all City fans will be aware of. Now, regardless of everything that`s going on, and what you may have heard, remember one thing, he is a Norwich City player. Getting on his back every time he does something will not help him; see Fernando Torres and his goal drought for that. Support him, give him time, let him do what he does and the form will come.
The same with the defence. Yes, there`ve been times this year when they`ve been a bit dodgy, but remember they`re still rookies in this league, except maybe Drury, but he hasn`t looked out of place, even at 33! They will make mistakes, they`re a growing side. I heard people say that Ryan Bennett isn`t good enough after his first game for us. This is a lad who is still an U21 player, in his first game in the Premier League and people were saying he wasn`t good enough. Just what are people expecting? We are not going to buy a player like Chris Smalling or Phil Jones like Manchester United can who will are good enough straight away. This is a club that will get better with time, and we need to accept that. We are not going to waltz into the Premier League and suddenly occupy a top 6 place, it just doesn`t happen!
We are in the Premier League. A place I didn`t think I`d see again with Norwich for years when we went to League One. However, we have a young squad, a determined squad, a squad that will grow and get better. We have a lot of players here who will go on to represent their country. They are going to make mistakes at the moment but they`ll get better and we are still a decent Premier League team even allowing for that.
Admittedly, I`ve complained a few times and at Blackburn I got very angry, but this is why you build up points as soon as possible in the season, so that if you have a bad run, you`re safe. The Blackburn game was an off day, it`ll get better, and we will get back to winning ways.
Whilst you are at a match supporting Norwich City, remember the players ARE Norwich City, as are you. We all need to pull together in the same direction, support and follow the players, because if little sections start moaning, muttering complaints, it reverberates through the ground and the players can sense it. A tweet by Stan Collymore summed it up better than I can: “Anyone can support a guy or team when they are winning. Support the man when he’s struggling, that`s the only mark of a true fan.”
I trust Lambert and his squad. The question is, do you?
OTBC