A good post from the pinkun site

April1st 2006?.a date that may well prove to by pivotal in the history of Norwich City Football Club. It was a day that sent out a very clear message to a board of directors. We can only hope that they were at last willing to receive messages and take them on board (excuse the pun!).

The day started with the sight of ?Worthy Out? posters around the city. Around 2:15 a small group of well intentioned individuals tried to whip up enthusiasm for their campaign but, watching from the sidelines I couldn?t help feeing that, as they passed a grinning Neil Doncaster in the street, they knew they were wasting their time.

The game got underway and the tactics of hoofing the ball long to the midgets was immediately evident. A midfield without an ounce of talent or ability (and yes, I include Safri for much of Saturday apart from his super ball to Earnie). Then it happened. The crowd started to turn on the players. Hoofing was jeered and Green?s long punts were greeted with similar derision. The message got to the players a lot quicker than it has to the management or the board. It was almost amusing to watch. Fleming, Docherty and Shackell suddenly found that they had the ball at their feet and their normal option had been taken away from them. Not by Nigel Worthington but by the paying public. Jeers started to rumble when they contemplated the long punt and they were forced to clumsily play it around amongst themselves until an unfortunate midfielder came into their field of vision and they gratefully passed to Hughes or Robinson who, as far I could tell failed to find their own players all afternoon and, given that hoofing was outlawed, managed to lose the ball on numerous occasions to a pretty inept Leicester side.

The River End was treated to a gesture from Robert Green which said, ? I don?t care. Ray Clemence is here. I?m off to the World Cup and then to Everton. You ain?t gonna see me again unless we draw you in the cup?. For me his gesture said it all. The management lost the majority of the public months, if not years, ago ? probably at Cardiff if we are honest. The board has now lost it too and finally, on Saturday 1st April, the players were told in no uncertain terms by the supporters what they didn?t want to see. They responded immediately in their own clumsy way. How difficult would it have been for a professional coaching team to have got the same message across if they wanted to. That?s the message for you Delia and Co. They play this way because its how they are instructed. No excuses, no debates, no discussions. This is how it will be in the future unless you do what the players did - change things

Posted By: phrankin, Apr 2, 12:45:58