I think there is something else to it as well...you were a Norwich fan coming from another

continent when we were unfashionable (respect for that!). Since we've spent only one year out of the Premier League in the last 5, we've gained more and more foreign fans from all over the world.

(Forgive me as this message became longer than I had intended!)

So, not to make excuses or to reduce the respect to you supporting from far away, you can also consider that now you are quite possibly not the only one. In fact there are probably many fans who jumped on the bandwagon. In that case they cannot do quite the same for you all the time as they might be expected to do the same for all fans travelling from abroad and that they simply do not have the time or resources for.

As a sports coach myself, I know that the "non sport" part is a necessary evil (even though you might enjoy it!) but extremely irritating. Sponsor gatherings, fan meets, etc can all be a lot of fun and really nice to meet those people (although some are utter lunatics you would be scared of being stalked by) but all the time you are at them, you are thinking of the preparation you COULD be doing for the next practice or next game. And I don't just mean running around a practice field. These days Premier League footballers and staff will be doing what we do with American Football - instead of watching daytime TV all afternoon or playing Playstation they will be watching film of the last game, practice, and next opponent which has been prepared by the staff.

The other thing is that we occasionally joke about footballers sitting on their arses all afternoon in front of the TV when not at training or in the gym. Well that's important time too as they need to save their legs and let them recover in time for training the next day. Even walking around shopping or meeting fans etc is work on the legs which they would have to budget rest time for.

Being a young manager and having been a professional footballer during these far more professional times rather than the smokes, beer and packet of crisps days, Alex Neil might well be stronger on those rules of rest and focus on football-only related activities than his predecessors.

If that were part of it as well, I would totally understand.

It is a real shame because it moves the team further away from all of us as supporters. But it's the way sport is today. I am currently doing some work on leadership techniques in business learning from sport and vice versa, and one of the most important parts of that is the principle that you set your goals clearly, make sure that everybody knows them, and then you do everything you need to do in order to reach them, and NOTHING which doesn't contribute toward them (that's wasted time). It's the most efficient way of getting the most out of your resources and critical for a team in Norwich's position with less resources than many of the opponents. This goes not only for the playing and coaching staff but all the staff around the club too. Sadly it may also result in a bigger distance between the team and its fans.

It's a good question on how to strike a balance, as I do agree that without the fans you have no club. And without the customers you have no business. It is just an issue with sports that the very people who you need to be finely tuned and focused to do their work are the ones the public wants to see / meet. It's not like an IT company. Nobody wants a photo with the lead systems architect of Aviva's IT department.

Posted By: Steve in Holland, Nov 5, 11:41:54