At the risk of repeating myself

I've just re-read my first post ever which was on October 25th.
Nothing's changed! In fact it's all got a whole lot worse!

My thoughts on the Worthington debate

The Duke Of York referred yesterday to fans of 40 years' standing who, when the score was three nil on Saturday, wanted us to concede six or seven so that something would have to be done. I fall into that category (nearly). I have followed City since my first match in April 1970 and have rarely in all that time felt so disillusioned as I do now. I have to say that I never wanted Worthington as manager in the first place; I think he is a totally uninspiring individual, he was dull as a player and is dull as a manager. However, I have to say that he has surprised me in the past three or four years and certainly deserves enormous credit for the way he turned things around after the appalling Hamilton era.

What he did was apply some solid methods, based on sound practice, fitness, hard work and discipline and in so doing showed that security in the Championship (or whatever you want to call it) is not that difficult to achieve. Nonetheless in his early days there were many frustrating away games where we began defensively, went one or two down, then started to play, often after the introduction of Libbra. The Worthington style was already there for us to see and it is, and always will be, RE active and not PRO active. We see what the opposition does then respond. He is a defender first and foremost, which is what makes recent events even more worrying and also explains his obsession with strikers and total lack of understanding of midfield play.

We all, I think, found the promotion season a bit of a surprise - Hux and Crouch offered something different and by the end (Crewe away) we were a joy to watch. However, even in that season we rarely went for it..never really killing off the opposition totally (Burnley away was possibly an exception but they were awful) always just holding back in that reserved, calm Worthington style.
Then Worthington was found out. Limited understanding of the transfer market produced some awful signings (the most terrible and desperate being that of Graham Stuart) and we all now see that what was wrong with our Premiership challenge was fear - we simply did not believe - and that is down to the manager and nobody else. It is actually the same failing which has hampered all our cup campaigns under Worthington - we never went to, say, Southampton or Everton, with anything other than fear and a bit of hope..hence the brave failures. Now whilst I despise Neil Warnock just look at the way his teams have played in cups in recent years, feisty, aggressive and basically 'wanting it'...alll the things NCFC under Worthington are not.

Nigel Worthington is an absolute gentleman.(Not sure I think that anymore!) His post-match interviews last year were characterised by dignity and a refreshing refusal to blame referees for anything. In that regard he stands out in the modern age (as different from Warnock as it is possible to imagine!). And perhaps therein lies our problem.
Thank you, Mr. Worthington, for what you have done for Norwich City but the time has come for us to move forward. We want to remain dignified, hard-working, professional, smart, punctual and all the other things you have instilled but we want to see a team which is tactically prepared, balanced, defensively sound and, above all, motivated in EVERY match. We want to see a Norwich City team which takes the game to its opponents (most of whom are, to be honest, pretty mediocre) at home AND away.

Consider all this the ranting of a miserable old (or middle-aged) fan but I want to see us play aggressive, attacking football noy measure ourselves against the likes of Hull and Millwall. (now add Derby and Brighton)
As for a replacement..we have, I suppose, to be realistic. Yes I would like it to be Keegan (and before you all start saying Oh No! just imagine what fun it would be to see some 4-3's or even 3-4's compared to the crap we're watching now!) but doubt that we could even begin to afford him so we have to look for somebody younger or less well-known. What I want is a CHARACTER - somebody with a bit of style!

Posted By: BillySteele, Feb 25, 19:43:11