When I heard Glenn Roeder had been appointed Norwich manager this morning, the blood nearly drained out of my face. I have to say, he wasn’t my first choice, or my second. In fact, he wasn’t even on my choices list! Maybe Jewell was a touch ambitious and Bruce was always a non-starter (he wouldn’t have come here) but even some of the lesser names (Tilson, Grayson) would have given me a bit more of a lift than the perennial failure that is GR.
Okay, disclaimer out of the way. Yes, I hope he does well, yes I will be there on Sunday, yes I will get behind the team, yada yada yada. That’s the whole bloody point of being a supporter regardless of who is manager. Its not like we were going to cheer Ipswich on Sunday, even with Duffy in charge. I just feel very disappointed with what we have got - an out of work manager with a poor track record everywhere he has been. If that took three weeks to sort out then it suggests a) he was not first choice and b) that some of the candidates must have been truly shocking.
What I find baffling is the way Norwich fans are so forgiving. Already the feeling is that, “well this is the board’s last chance”. Erm, no actually. I think they have had enough last chances. NCFC has been run incredibly poorly over the last few seasons and change is still needed. Delia and Co have to push this club forward and sadly it will have to be without their input (plus Doncaster and the rest). The club has to be offered to potential buyers, be it the Turners of somebody else who has the drive and the capital. Whether Roeder is a success or not does not change the fact that the club is a complete mess from top to bottom.
The other thing that seems odd is over the last few weeks, I have not heard a good word said about Mr Roeder in the endless managerial debates. Indeed at the recent ‘Meet the Board’ event, his name brought a large groan from the assembled throng (did that not register with the directors who were there?). So why is GR now being lauded as a saviour in many quarters (especially by puffed up MP’s)? Is it because Norwich fans are too blind to accept that their club is actually capable of making mistakes (some of the happy clappers would never admit the club and their beloved Saint Delia are wrong). Other team’s fans are laughing at us - trust me they are. What does that tell you?
The thing that really sticks in my claw is being implicated as disloyal because I think Glen Roeder is a dodgy appointment. As I said in an earlier blog, I’ve supported Norwich up and down the country over several decades through good and bad times. I know what its like for us to be crap (albeit not this crap) but I just feel that finding out GR is manager was on a par with finding out Megson was taking over in December 95. He might keep us up, but what happens then? Surely a short term contract till May was a better option than two and a half years.
As for Sunday, I can’t wait. I love derby games regardless of whatever situation we’re in. Yet if people are naïve enough to think a victory against Ipswich will change everything overnight and make heroes of the board and Roeder forever (and yes, people do really think like that) then they’re in for a shock. Fans need to look at the bigger picture at the club, and that is the situation that is still of great concern.
I’ve just got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that after a few weeks, it will go horribly pear shaped again and that in a year or so we will still be at the bottom of the Championship or languishing in League One, have the fans at each others throats, be without a manager again and people saying, “well this is the board’s last chance - they HAVE to get it right this time”. Perhaps I’ll be wrong - god I hope I am, but that is seriously how I feel right now. I'd rather be honest than pretend to be happy when I'm not.
Good luck Glenn, you’re seriously going to need it at this club, but I hope you can turn it round and get some decent players in. Sunday would be a good start.