It's happening again so

I'm going to express my views again (sorry Jayson Blair). Some bloke called Bob Franklin posting on the Pink 'un messageboard is coming out with pro-Gunn nonsense so here goes..

I am more than a little fed up with
all those people who keep suggesting that this is Gunn's team etc etc.

Bryan Gunn is a club legend who made a very big mistake in accepting the manager's job. The fact that he was offered it at all speaks volumes for the lack of football knowledge of those who appointed him.

It was painfully obvious to those that paid attention to detail, that as we fell towards relegation he was tactically naive (and that's being generous). His complete inability to 'read' a game of football was demonstrated week after week as we sank - poor or late substitutions, poor selection, no plan B etc etc

Now it's pretty obvious that if that was what we saw on Saturday whatever was going on in training wasn't much better. Loan after loan was tried and maybe some of them were half decent players but they were coming into a team with no shape and no understanding of how it was supposed to play.

Then we came to preparations for this season and thank God that the Board, after foolishly appointing Gunn full time after his abject performance, managed to get hold of David McNally. He arrived at a club which had very few permanent professional players and oversaw the putting together of a 'squad'. He clearly didn't like what he saw in pre-season (and let's not get carried away about a few results in meaningless friendlies) and after witnessing the opening day debacle decided enough was enough. Remember the reasons given for Gunn's removal; poor preparation for games, poor tactics, poor performance analysis - all observed by a man who had worked with some of the best in the game (notably Martin O'Neill).

So McNally took the first truly professional action regarding team management made at Norwich City since the removal of Nigel Worthington. The stupid 'family values' which had characterised 'nice old Norwich' were discarded and (like nearly all other clubs) we went out and pinched somebody's manager. At last!

And that man has come in (very much in the style of his mentor, O'Neill) and properly 'managed' with the resources he had available. Yes some of those Gunn signed (Holt, Hughes, Askou) have been key players but he has seen the quality of the kids, seen the failings of other Gunn signings like Maric and Theoklitos, brought out the best in Hoolahan, Lappin, Russell, Martin and Drury and more than that, made us a team with a plan, difficult to break down, fitter and with spirit. The last time I remember feeling as confident as I do now when we play is when O'Neill was briefly our manager and we started that season so well, winning at places like Molineux and The Hawthorns.

I really believe if we still had Gunn as manager we'd be in the bottom three. This is not his team because he never had a team. It is Lambert's team and just happens to contain some players Gunn signed.

Finally, let me state - I am not a Gunn hater. How can I be? He is, and always will be, a club legend and I believe he is a top bloke. BUT HE WILL NEVER BE A FOOTBALL MANAGER and he made the biggest mistake of his professional career in thinking he could be when the game had moved on immensely without him realisisng it while he was selling hospitality packages.

So don't let anybody fool you into thinking 'this is Gunn's team' There never was a Gunn team. Lambert is the man to take us forward.

Posted By: BillySteele on October 11th 2009 at 17:45:36

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