When Glenn Roeder accepted the job as Norwich City boss a little over a year ago his brief was a simple one – keep the club in the Championship.
The club was on its knees. The steady decline that started with a 6-0 hammering at Fulham under Nigel Worthington as Premiership safety beckoned was getting steeper by the day, with a team made up mostly of SPL rejects and journeymen sitting five points adrift at the bottom of the league.
If you had offered supporters a seventeenth-place finish come May most would have bitten your hand off. Make no bones about it; Glenn Roeder did a tremendous job keeping us up last year.
He knew we needed solutions and fast, so he turned to the loan market. Players like Martin Taylor, Ched Evans and the like ensured that come August we were looking forward to games against the likes of Birmingham, Wolves and Ipswich as opposed to Yeovil, Brighton and Stockport.
However, just a few short months later and we’re right back in the brown stuff, staring into the abyss. So how did it all go so wrong for Roeder so quickly?
He decided quickly (and correctly) that the squad needed a complete makeover, and as such got rid of many players who had been out on the periphery, but many point to the departure of one man for when it all went the way of the proverbial. Darren Huckerby.
Roeder’s treatment of a man rightly regarded as a legend in the eyes of supporters was nothing short of disgraceful, and the rift caused with supporters irreparable.
Worse was to come at the AGM, when Roeder’s suspect PR skills were on display again, and the knives were sharpened.
From that point on an increasing number of supporters began voicing their concerns, and as the team slid slowly but surely down the Championship table fears of a repeat of Roeder’s much-maligned ‘second season syndrome’ looked to be coming to fruition.
Post-match interviews became more bizarre almost by the week. Question answered with counter-question. It was the referee’s fault. We played brilliantly but lost 1-0. We played brilliantly but lost 2-0. You don’t know what you’re talking about. And on, and on, and on.
The argument was between those who believed we couldn’t afford to sack him, and those who believed we couldn’t afford not to.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t join the second camp until very late. Until last night, to be precise. Up until that point I was resigned to the fact that we were stuck with him so just make the best of it, in short, but after yet another spineless display against Charlton in the FA Cup replay last night, it was clear even to me (and I’m hardly an optimist) that his time was up.
There can be no question that Charlton (h) to Roeder became what Burnley (h) was to Worthington and QPR (a) was to Grant before him,so he simply had to go.
Glenn Roeder took on the people. And the people won. The next manager, whoever that may be, cannot afford to make the same mistake.
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