Kick The Whistle

No one wants to say it. But Paul Lambert will, sooner rather than later, leave Norwich City to manage a footballing giant. So what will we do?

OPTION 1: IMPLODE

Sir Paul’s departure will be taken hard by the fans who have idolised the Scot since he won the League One title. The players who had built their City careers under Lambert might face a similar kind of depression, and the club’s form could suffer, resulting in Norwich slipping out of the Premier League and back into Championship obscurity.

OPTION 2: PICK THE WRONG REPLACEMENT

Paul Lambert’s replacement faces a daunting task. Just how do you follow successive promotions to the top flight and comfortable safety in the first Premier League season? The worst thing the Norwich board can do is appoint the wrong manager to replace those rather large shoes – especially who comes out in the media and says “I’m not Paul Lambert, I’m my own man”. Any such talk in the press will put the new man immediately on the back foot against the Yellow Army and could quicken the implosion and a return to the Championship.

OPTION 3: PICK THE RIGHT MAN

The current board of directors at City have shown that they have a little bit more about them than any of their most recent predecessors. For this reason, I have faith in David McNally and his like picking the right man to replace Lambert, one who might take a little time to win over the fans, but eventually carries on the stunning work and turns us into an established Premier League side.

So… what will Norwich do?

It’s odd how two identical results can bring about such contrasting emotions. Last Saturday I watched Norwich City get dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship Leicester after a dreadful performance, lacking in any fluidity or drive, and I was distraught at the final whistle that the team just hadn’t shown what they can do.

On Sunday, the referee blew for full time and we had been beaten by the same scoreline – 2-1 – by Manchester United and without even thinking I rose from my seat and, along with nearly everyone else in the Barclay, gave the players a standing ovation. I had not seen Norwich play as well as that for a long time, and I genuinely can’t think of the last time they performed at such a high level.

Twice now John Ruddy has defied belief. Last month in the goalless draw with Chelsea, he somehow tipped a Fernando Torres shot around the post when it looked certain to be heading for the bottom corner. Our free transfer from Everton did it again against United, stopping Danny Welbeck from scoring with what looked to be a perfectly placed shot.

Both of the champions’ goals were scored by players who had evaded their markers and ghosted in at the back post, which on the face of it suggests there were lapses in defence but on watching Giggs’ winner especially the quality of the cross could not really have been accounted for.

When Sir Paul of Lambert replaced Simeon Jackson with Wes Hoolahan at half time I was slightly nervous. While Wessi may be our most technically gifted player, he has a tendency to give the ball away and that can be fatal against Man United. The Irishman was fantastic though and added to our attempts to get level.

And level we got. What more can be said about Grant Holt, other than where the hell is his England cap? Norwich haven’t had a player like Holt for a long time, a figurehead and a talisman, hated by opposition supporters but each and every one of them wishing they played for them. There is a myth that he scores only with his head, but his goals at Stamford Bridge in August, against Everton in December and this wonderful strike on Sunday were of astonishing quality worthy of any team in the world.

There was a cruel twist though. We had done more than enough to get a point – we maybe should have won the game – but winning when up against it is what Manchester United do. Their celebrations at the end – as if title number 20 had been secured there and then – was a sign of just how hard they had to work and it’s nice to think if they do go on to win the league again they’ll probably look back to this sunny Sunday afternoon in Norfolk as a major point in their triumph.

The game, despite the defeat, did however give me great confidence for the future. Norwich City are capable of beating anyone.

It is amazing when a football club is on the right track. I have never been more proud to support Norwich City. The subject of our successive promotions from League One to the Premier League has been done to death, but it is worth nothing that it happened without any significant investment and, in fact, five of the team that started in the 5-0 revenge at Colchester United almost two years ago to the day started in the 2-1 win at West Bromwich Albion last Saturday.

Everyone at the club, from the directors to the management to the players and to the fans, are singing from the same hymn sheet and working together and it is proving successful. The Chelsea game today was a perfect example of this. We hadn’t kept a clean sheet all season, in 21 matches, and we were suddenly very close to achieving one against the star-studded Blues. The crowd cheered each and every man as his legs began to tire, and the supporters had as much of a part to play in closing out those last few minutes as Paul Lambert. It was a tremendous effort.

Now with 29 points from 22 games it seems unlikely that we’ll be staring at the bottom three in May, but many like myself will not say the ‘s’ word until it is mathematically certain. Staying up would be another incredible chapter in the story of our last few years – not just to go up, but stay up.

Norwich City are on the verge of making their first move of the January transfer window, with Leeds United accepting a £2m offer for their midfielder and captain Jonny Howson.

The news broke last night, and Leeds confirmed it through a statement on their website today, although expressing their disappointment that the matter had been made public at such an early stage.

There is anger and outrage that Leeds will ‘reluctantly’ let the 23-year-old leave. The Championship club have spent the past year trying to get the born-and-bred Yorkshireman to sign an extended contract, but Howson wasn’t convinced his boyhood club could bring him Premier League football and refused to sign.

In order to avoid him walking free in the summer like Bradley Johnson did last year, Leeds have decided to cash in on Howson by accepting the offer from the Canaries. How far the £2m will help strengthen the Leeds squad, however, is questionable – especially with former Norwich slugger Matty Pattison a potential new signing.

If the player agrees personal terms with the 9th-placed Premier League outfit it will still be a while before fans see him in a yellow shirt. In December, Howson picked up a nasty knee injury which threatened his season. A specialist decided that it was not serious to require surgery, though, and he is likely to be back in February or March.

Some may wonder why Howson’s arrival is so urgent for Paul Lambert that he decided to part with £2m now rather than wait until he is freely available in the summer. Well it’s likely that he would have had a pick of a number of clubs looking for his signature by then and he most likely wouldn’t have chosen to move to Carrow Road.

Norwich need to go for the jugular when they take on West Brom at the Hawthorns on Saturday, to gain some revenge on the west midlands club for their fortunate 1-0 win at Carrow Road back in September.

Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of the game in the opening minutes on a balmy Sunday afternoon after an error by Richie De Laet. Declan Rudd, making his Premier League debut in goal as John Ruddy was suspended after being sent off a fortnight earlier at Chelsea, was powerless to stop the striker netting from six yards.

It was the second home game of the season for Norwich, and in the games that have passed since none have left such a bitter taste in the mouth and those lucky West Brom players that day. With the return fixture coming up this weekend, a stronger and more capable Canaries should be able to put on a much better show. Not to mention the fact the Baggies have been struggling to win on their own ground. They’ve lost four of their last six at home.

Norwich City have a dismal record in the FA Cup. Making it past the third round on only three occasions in sixteen years has led to the draw being disregarded, rather than anticipated. The third round weekend is here again.

Annoyingly, City have been given a home tie against Burnley, who are 10th in the Championship. We haven’t been drawn against a giant that we could quietly go out to and concentrate on staying in the world’s most lucrative football league, we’ve got a side who are at around our level but still far enough behind us so that a defeat would be billed a giantkilling.

Oddly, last season went out at the first hurdle but still made it further than 2009-10 owing to the fact Championship sides kick-off in round three and League One teams in the first round. Two years ago the Canaries were absent on third round weekend, having lost 3-1 at Carlisle United in the previous round, that preceded a 7-0 thrashing of non-league Paulton Rovers in the first stage.

Last year, a second team put out by Paul Lambert were totally lacking in inspiration and created almost nothing as they went out 1-0 to Leyton Orient. No one around Carrow Road seemed to care. We were free to concentrate on the league and it certainly paid off. Orient went on to beat Swansea in the fourth round and take Arsenal to a replay in the fifth.

Gone are the days of Norwich’s great FA Cup runs of 1958-59, 1988-89 and 1991-92. They made the semi-finals in each of those seasons, most famously in ’59, but City have never made the FA Cup final. These days the FA Cup has been a chance for the people who don’t have season tickets at Carrow Road to get to a game, and child tickets are usually cheaper as well, allowing youngsters to see the first team.

Tomorrow, I expect Burnley to win. I don’t make score predictions, but I expect the Clarets to win. Norwich just don’t do the FA Cup. If we do stay in the Premier League, however, it will all have been worth it.

Norwich City haven’t had it so good for nearly twenty years. 9th in the Premier League going into Christmas, this is a good time to look back at how far this great club has come in recent years. Let’s take a look back to when the Canaries were in the third tier.

On 24th December 2009 Norwich were enjoying a bit of a break having beaten Huddersfield Town 3-0 at Carrow Road on the 19th. That was a game many pundits had chosen as the one that would halt the club’s recent progress up the League One table, and for City to win so convincingly in difficult icy conditions was a real boost.

LEAGUE ONE TABLE 19TH DECEMBER 2009

1. Leeds United (21 games, 50 points)

2. Charlton Athletic (22 games, 46 points)
—————————————————-
3. Norwich City (22 games, 42 points)
4. Colchester United (21 games, 39 points)

Considering at this stage Norwich were a full eight points behind leaders Leeds, and that the Yorkshire club had a game in hand, it is amazing how the Canaries ended up winning the division by nine points, while Charlton fell away to lose in the play-offs and Colchester finished in mid-table.

At this point of the campaign, Norwich were the 47th best team in the English leagues by league position. Today, they are the 9th best – a rise of 38 league places in 24 months

With the year having flown by and 2011 nearing its conclusion here are Kick The Whistle’s selections of the single biggest moments from each month of this year for Norwich City.

January

The first day of 2011 was the most memorable of its first month. Norwich’s 1-0 win over Championship leaders Queens Park Rangers at Carrow Road proved that City had what it takes to get automatic promotion. Russell Martin’s superb strike past Paddy Kenny and an excellent defensive performance, putting maverick winger Adel Taraabt in the pockets of the back four, gave Norwich a vital three points on New Years’ Day.

February

Again, it was 1st of the month that Kick The Whistle will remember most. Stumbling towards a disappointing 1-1 draw with Millwall when Norwich had bigger fish to fry, it was the new loan signing Henri Lansbury who squeezed in in stoppage time to score one of City’s several ‘Norwich time’ goals of 2010-11 and do the Lambert thing of turning one point into three.

March

The cameras were on Carrow Road when Norwich took on Bristol City for more stoppage time madness. The game was a dire 0-0 until two very late goals secured the points for Paul Lambert’s team who by now were marching confidently towards the Premier League.

April

1p5wich. If Norwich fans thought the season couldn’t get any better, it turned it could when their boys went to the home of the greatest rivals and murdered them. Never had their been a clearer indication of how times had changed in East Anglia than this balmy Thursday night, when crowd trouble from outside the ground before the game had been tidied up enough for the large army of Yellows to cheer each of the 5 goals slotted away.

May

The 2nd of May was a momentous day for the world. Everyone woke up on this Bank Holiday to the news that the planet’s biggest terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, had been killed. That evening the Sky Sports cameras were trained on Fratton Park as Simeon Jackson headed in the most perfect cross from midfielder David Fox to finally put the seal on Norwich City’s promotion back to the Premier League after a six-year absence. How sick must Cardiff fans had felt – they had been thumped 3-0 at home in the earlier game by Middlesbrough.

June

Norwich City were at the top table of English football once again, and a shrewd piece of marketing ensured the club went viral in June. The team’s entire strip, and training wear, had been made by Scottish manufacturers Xara for a decade, and this summer the job was given to Italians Errea. The fantastic video produced to market the Canaries’ smart new outfit was a fine example of a successful club not being afraid to make fun of themselves, and the promotion showed Paul Lambert reading Gazzetta Dello Sport, John Ruddy drinking an espresso and Wes Hoolahan leaving Colney on his Lambretta. Very few fans of other clubs had a bad word to say about it and the club’s popularity increased.

July

Paul Lambert’s Premier League squad was beginning to take shape and Norwich kicked-off their pre-season programme with a 7-0 win at Gorleston, with Bradley Johnson – free from Leeds – one of the new faces to make it onto the scoresheet.

August

The big Premier League kick-off. Norwich made their return to the top flight at the DW Stadium in a 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic. A nervous Ritchie De Laet gave away a penalty that was put away by Ben Watson before Wes Hoolahan smashed in an equaliser on the stroke of half time when keeper Ali Al-Habsi had dropped the ball. This was the same day fellow new boys QPR were thrashed 4-0 at home by Bolton, so this result was well received back in Norfolk.

September

The first sign that the 2011-12 Norwich City team were better than the 2004-05 edition. The Canaries were magnificent at the Reebok Stadium and came away with all three points after a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers. It was the first Premier League away win for Norwich for 17 years – and seven years before the Yellows didn’t win at all until mid-November.

October

It would have been easy to say that the well-earned point at Anfield or the battling performance in defeat at Old Trafford were the biggest moments of 2011 – but Kick The Whistle says that accolade belongs to the 3-1 win victory over Swansea City at Carrow Road. It is often said that if you want to stay in the Premier League you won’t be expected to beat the top six clubs, it’ll be about what you do against the teams around you. The way Norwich came out of the block against the Swans, and how Paul Lambert was tactically a class apart from his opponent Brendan Rogers, gave great optimism along the River Wensum.

November

Another one of those wins against the teams in the lower half of the table – Norwich beat QPR 2-1 at Carrow Road on the 26th November in a month that was interrupted by international breaks.

December

Norwich recovered from their first hammering of the season, 5-1 at Manchester City, to beat Newcastle United 4-2 at Carrow Road. The Magpies had been up near the top of the table merely weeks before, and the Canaries took advantage of their depleted defence with four headed goals. It was an important win that increase confidence on the terraces ahead of the tricky Christmas period.

What a year 2011 has been for Norwich City Football Club. All attentions will be on May 2012 now, to see if the Canaries can remain a Premier League team. Let’s not forget that Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City will all be visiting Norfolk too.

Paul Lambert said after Norwich’s 1-1 draw at Everton that if you draw your away games and try to make your home ground a fortress in the Premier League you can expect to stay up. The saintly Scot certainly has the right formula with City exactly halfway to the precious 40-point mark with more than half of the season still to go.

Everton made enough chances in the match to be worthy of at least a point. John Ruddy was called into action on several occasions, pulling off some stunning saves to keep his former club at bay. Russell Martin also re-enacted his heroic goal-line clearance against Arsenal last month. At one point it seemed as if the unthinkable might happen and the Canaries might keep their first clean sheet of the season – but of course that didn’t happen as with ten minutes to go Leon Osman’s deft touch sent Royston Drenthe’s shot into the bottom corner of the net.

For all of the chances Everton created, Norwich were dealing with it well until David Moyes introduced Royston Drenthe. The Dutchman was getting regular games for Real Madrid before he fell out of favour in the Jose Mourinho era, and is now on loan with the Toffees. It’s been a tough season up to now for the Goodison Park club, but Drenthe has said he is enjoying his time there and wishes to make the move permanent. His pace and trickery was ultimately what got Everton through the Norwich defence at last.

It’s been a long while since Norwich had a complete cult hero. Grant Holt is edging nearer to legendary status at Carrow Road. He gets a bad press at times from fans of other clubs – that he dives (he does a bit but we don’t care because he’s ours) and that he’s fat (which is misguided and plain moronic) – but his goal, spinning almost on the spot and slotting a perfect shot into the far corner of the net, was simply special. If Wayne Rooney had scored it, we would have been talking about it for years to come.

The fact is brought up to tiresome proportions but this club were playing in League One two years ago. Two years ago tomorrow, Norwich beat Huddersfield 3-0 at Carrow Road and the Yellow Army thought they were enjoying the good times. These are the good times. How this squad of mainly lower league players has adapted to the top flight is remarkable. The whole Blackpool thing from last year – top half at Christmas but relegated – will be playing on the minds but there is a belief that with Lambert in charge he just won’t let that happen.

Score: Manchester City 1-0 Norwich City
When: Tuesday, 25th September, 2007
Where: City of Manchester Stadium
Competition: League Cup 3rd round

Norwich City travel to the Premier League leaders this weekend, and some will be hoping to get off lightly with a result similar to the last time the Canaries played at the City of Manchester Stadium.

On that occasion, Georgias Samaras, who now plays for Celtic, scored a last-minute winner for the home side to knock out a battling Norwich out of the League Cup under the management of Peter Grant.

The last league meeting between the two sides was the 3-2 win for Man City at Carrow Road in February 2005. The game is famous for Delia Smith’s half time drunken ‘let’s be havin’ you’ rant.