The departure od Doherty is

another sign that we have at last got a manager who is prepared to be ruthless. Gunn coming in and making Doherty captain encapsulated the whole silly sentimental Norwich approach which has pervaded the club from boardroom down in recent years and which had itself seen Gunn appointed to a position for which he was simply not qualified.

McNally's arrival signalled a change and now Lambert shows that he is the first manager since Doherty arrived to look coldly and squarely at performances and make professional judgements. Doherty has played at the heart of a defence which has lurched from one crisis to another for the last four years, giving away countless free-kicks around our box, making errors every game and over the years he must have trotted forward for about two thousand set pieces and scored about five goals . (And that from a man who supposedly can also play up front)

he might be a nice chap but I, for one, will not be at all sorry to see him go and at least we'll be sprde his almost weekly statements in the EDP about the fans deserving better.

There will be no quick turnaround in our fortunes under Lambert since he inherited a shambles but he will make us hard to beat then start to build our attacking strenght; this is pragmatic management in the Saunders?Clough/O'Neill style and if we are patient it will bear fruit.

Posted By: BillySteele, Sep 17, 09:41:49