FAN’S VIEW: 24/25 – No.2: NORWICH AT HOME & MORE

OUR OPPONENTS

Norwich were in the top division of English football for six years before the Premier League was created in 1992/93. They finished third in that inaugural season. In the 32 years since it began the Canaries have spent ten in the top league, 21 in the Championship and one in L1. They’ve recently become one of those yo-yo clubs that parachute payments help spring back to the Premier League after they’ve been booted out for not being good enough. Relegated in 13/14, promoted in 14/15, relegated in 15/16, promoted in 18/19, relegated in 19/20, promoted in 20/21, and relegated in 21/22. They made the play-offs last year but then got slaughtered by Leeds at Elland Road in the semi-final second leg. So this will be their third season back in tier two meaning this will be their last set of parachute payments. That will be 10% of the basic TV money payment each Premier League team receives. In year one it was 55%. Wonder if they feel a bit desperate particularly with Ipswich going straight through from L1 with no financial handout?

Delia Smith and her husband are 83 years old now. They used to be majority shareholders. Or should that be steak holders perhaps (no stop it).

Between them until recently they owned 40% of the club (that may now have been diluted further), with American businessman Mark Attanasio, through his Norfolk FB Holdings group, having the same percentage. The Canaries Trust owns some of the other 20%.

Their last published accounts take us up to y/e 30 June 2023. They’re lengthy. Here’s a few brief extracts.

They sold 33,000 replica shirts, a record for them.

The Artic Monkeys played Carrow Road in June and Delia’s Canary Catering benefited, taking £213k at the kiosks and bars on the night.  

Revenue £75.6m, Operating Loss (excluding player trading) £1.5m and Loss before tax £27.3m.

Wages to turnover was 75%.

On the balance sheet the club, following successive loss generating periods, has gone from a net asset position of £5.6m to a net liability position of £21.7m.

They sold 20,835 season tickets and their average home league attendance was 26,131.

I think by almost any measure we’re going to come out as the smallest club in the Championship. Revenue. Expenditure. Ground capacity. Season tickets sold. Fanbase. Potential fanbase, maybe? League position over the last x number of years.

Which feeds into the chances of us…

STAYING UP?

I don’t want to become obsessed with this, I want to enjoy this season the best I can, whatever it may bring. But this is a question which is impossible to ignore. I’ve already covered it in FV no.1 of 24/25.

Perhaps I’m overstating Plymouth being in trouble with Wayne Rooney as manager but they are second favourites to go down after us. The best odds you can get on each club currently are us 6/4 and the Green Army 9/4.

I also suspect some clubs will be having trouble with their owners and finances. The Championship is a basket case of a division. Massive investments chasing the dream of the Premier League. Don’t make it and a club can soon be in the mire. Owners possibly being wrong ‘uns just looking to make a tidy profit for themselves. Owners being naïve and then being unable to keep funding what was really just a vanity project.

In 20/21 Wednesday had a six point deduction. They went down.

In 21/22 Derby had a 21 point deduction. They went down. Reading had a six point deduction but stayed up. Next season they again had six points taken off them and this time got relegated. As did Wigan. Their punishment was to lose three points.

No team lost points in this way last season but Sheffield United start this time on minus two for defaulting on payments to other clubs during their 2022-23 promotion season.

Don’t know if, who and when but this type of thing is quite likely to come into play again and impact final positioning. And I don’t think it will be us. Could quite easily add to the number of teams that finish below us.

How have small clubs done at this level in the recent past?

Burton, who are nowhere near as big as us, finished 20^th in 2016/17 and a year later 23^rd.

Wycombe, bigger than Burton but not as big as us were 22^nd in 20/21. Their one go at Championship level is something we don’t like to think about.

Then there’s Rotherham. Certainly no bigger than us. 2014/15 and then the same again a year later finishing one place above the drop zone on both occasions. Then 2016/17 bottom. In 2018/19. 22^nd and relegated. Same again in 2020/21. In 2022/23 they hit, for them (and possibly us), the dizzy heights of 19^th. Last season was a dismal one for the Millers. Bottom on 27 points with a negative goal difference of 52. For survival 51 points and a GD of only minus ten was the requirement.

Forget Norwich then – there’s only one club amongst the 92 with such a strong claim to be the yo-yo champions but I wonder what Rotherham fans feel after every battering and bruising in tier two.

Perhaps I should mention Peterborough too. I’m never quite sure how big they are but shouldn’t get hung up on size should I? Could have been them facing Bolton at Wembley.

I’m going back a bit further with them. Championship 2009/10. Relegated after just one season back at that level. 2011/12 18^th in the Championship. Next season 22^nd, relegated. Since then they’ve only had one season back there: 2021/22. Relegated after finishing 22^nd.   

Gloomy reading but what about Luton and Bournemouth? Yes the latter have had massive investment but their ground is tiny and back in the day we were bigger than them. Same with Brentford?  

There’s so much that can be argued about on this front but it’s what each of the competing clubs puts out on the pitch and how those selected perform as a unit and individually that will ultimately decide promotion, relegation and survival.

As I’ve already said I can hardly remember the names of some of our new players let alone know much about them as footballers. In our recruitment team I have to trust, whilst acknowledging it is a dog eat dog world out there with rivals having bigger wads to wave about to tempt that elusive player to complete the puzzle which needs to be cracked for success. Like a prolific goal scoring front man for instance. There aren’t many of them around. Only two players scored over 20 goals in the Championship in 2023/24.

So yes a lack of goals worries me but fans of many clubs will have the same thinking and we do tend to share them around. Without doubt though finding the back of the net will be more difficult this season than last.   

Whilst considering our attack we have to talk about Josh Murphy or more accurately the lack of.  It goes without saying that he was absolutely crucial in getting us up. His form in the second half of the season was something else altogether. He’d not scored for us the previous season and there was nothing at all to hint what was to come. Quite rightly it had been suggested to him that it would be better to find a new club. If he’d departed last summer none of our fans would have shed a tear. His first goals in an Oxford shirt didn’t come until 7 Nov 23 when he bagged two in the tin pot trophy against Chelsea U21s. There was still some wait for his first league goal. That arrived on 13 Feb in the 4-2 beating of Wigan at the Kassam. In the next 12 games he scored six, the last being in the 5-0 drubbing of Posh on 13 April. He didn’t score again in the three remaining games of the regular season or either leg of the play-off semi-final but his next two, in what has turned out to be his last game for us, will never ever be forgotten.

Clearly it wasn’t just his goals he brought to the party. Although I’ve not really thought much about how many good chances he created for colleagues, his devastating pace had the oppositions’ defences all at sea. This fitted a treat with us being happy not to have the ball for two thirds of a game.

“Josh Murphy, we want you to stay” sang the fans. So did I and was a tad disappointed when he signed for Pompey but nowhere near as much as I thought I would be. I got over it almost immediately. There were a few others who would have made me much more depressed if they’d departed. He’d done nothing for most of his time with us and there was no guarantee his season ending form would have continued at the start of this one. He’ll be up against better defenders. He’ll be 30 in February. Fair play to him for taking the Portsmouth offer. A three year contract with the possibility of a year’s extension. That’s a big risk for his new employers to take. There’s a possibility Murphy won’t be available for Portsmouth’s opener having taken a knock in a pre-season friendly.  

Scoring goals is one thing; stopping them at the other end is another. That was something we’d nailed when we went on that impressive run after losing 5-0 at Bolton. Pre-season we seemed mostly to have continued in that vein. For the best part of the game against Palermo we looked solid but in the blink of an eye they undid us with some class striking. I’m curious to know how good they are compared to the sides we’ll be facing in the months ahead and will be looking out for their results in Serie B. If they would only slot in as a mid-table Championship outfit I’d be rather worried.  

CHAMPIONSHIP: OXFORD UNITED 2 NORWICH CITY 0

I’ve always looked forward to the first game of a new season but never more so than this. Quite apprehensive about it too because one never knows what’s coming. I woke at 6:00 a.m. with thoughts of our return to tier two fully on my mind. Didn’t think I’d be able to get back to sleep but I somehow managed it. Still had to get up earlier than what used to be the norm for a Saturday home match. We were the main game on Sky but all other Championship matches were kicking off at 12:30 too. Can’t really moan about these start times; could have been much worse. Just imagine if we’d had to travel to Norfolk?

The fans are never in the thoughts of the broadcasters and those who sign the deals to get the money which, understandably, is grabbed with outstretched hands by each and every football club.

So great sympathy with the travelling canaries and also Swansea fans who went to Middlesbrough, Cardiff fans who went to Sunderland, Pompey fans who went to Leeds and Bristol City fans who made the trek to Hull.

We arrived in very good time with the roads on this occasion providing no obstacle. Using a laid on bus is never going to work for me if it is scheduled to arrive only half an hour before kick-off. Probably not even if it left much earlier either. Sorry. I had to pick up my pre-ordered Coventry ticket and I like to have a walk about and chat with some of the many fellow yellows I’ve got to know over the years before entering the stadium. Time just flies by.

It wasn’t the hottest day of the summer but the sun was out. The club had announced that all tickets had been sold. There was anticipation. There was razzmatazz. Yellow and blue smoke. Flames being shot in the air. Music, noise, banners. Des Buckingham arms aloft and “we didn’t come this far to only come this far”.

We were back. Not just back, but back BACK.

Everywhere was yellow – and the visitors being yellow too obviously contributed to that with their colours in the away section. But understandably there was a buzz about our fans that I never quite detected amongst theirs although that is hard to gauge from the opposite side of the ground.

About 10 minutes in I was thinking, wow what a pace the game is being played at. Wondering if we would be able to keep it up for the entirety without tiring. We did. There was a short period in the second half when it looked as if this might not be so but we got over it. This brought home to me the need to have a really strong bench and I was a little surprised that we only made three substitutions.

The blatantly obvious time wasting and gamesmanship we’d become accustomed to was non-existent. That might be the way things are in the Championship or down to the fact that our visitors never had a lead to protect.

Free-kicks were taken instantaneously. No dawdling here. No goal-keepers mysteriously getting cramp. I can’t remember their physio coming on at all and I think Amy Cranston only appeared once to treat Cameron Brannagan.

The ball moved about quickly and any sideways backwards stuff at the back wasn’t done at sleep inducing walking pace.

We never let them settle. Our defensive shape, a carry-over from the end of our promotion season, was excellent and we emerged worthy winners. I’d even go as far as saying that 3-0 wouldn’t have flattered us.

All teams and individuals make mistakes but here when we did so we just got on with it. No moaning. No recriminations. A team-mate would help out. When Norwich cocked up I sensed there wasn’t the same togetherness in their ranks.  

Early on we didn’t deal convincingly at all with a high long ball. Although £8m man Josh Sargent was the only Norwich man on the premises, we very nearly gifted him a goal. Sam Long running backwards got his head under the ball and Jamie Cumming had to get the palm of his right hand on it and give away a corner. Rather messy and for once a lack of understanding.

Will Vaulks gave the ball away just outside our penalty area and this could have been very costly but again the day was saved.

Any individual mistakes were more than made up for many times over. There were no weak links in this side, a side that contained nine of the Wembley starters with only two of our new boys beginning this game.

Long in at right back surprised many. The expectation was that Peter Kioso would start. On that showing SL will be hard to drop. He did his defensive work, got forward too and delivered some useful balls into the box including providing the assist for our second. The other full-back berth is now occupied by Joe Bennett. His experience and reading of the game is invaluable. There were times when he was quicker than one would expect a 34 year old to be. What a signing he has been.

The two centre-halves make a formidable partnership and in front of them Vaulks, another really good experienced reader of the game, is part of the overall defensive barrier. He does a lot of unsung graft. He very nearly put us 2-0 up after Angus Gunn had carelessly passed out to our man.

We know what Cameron Brannagan is and he was very much that on Saturday.

I’d been of the opinion for quite a while that Ruben Rodrigues is the type of player who could flourish in the Championship, looking even better than he had done in L1. That was based on me thinking he would have a bit more time on the ball without being physically hassled. If Saturday was any indication of what the Championship is going to be like that was way off the mark. Nevertheless he looked classy on the ball and knows how to win/buy a free-kick. Legal of course but could possibly be classed as low level game management.

Norwich’s physicality surprised me a bit. Good hard challenges are part and parcel of the game but I thought they left a bit on our players when they got the chance and on a couple of occasions elbows appeared to be used in aerial challenges. The general consensus was that referee Andrew Kitchen had a good game. Whilst recognising the need to keep the game flowing and understanding that officials can back themselves into a corner by brandishing cards willy nilly I thought he should have shown a yellow to the visitors long before he did. The final tally was three cards to them and one to us. The records show that they committed 14 fouls to our four.

Tyler Goodrham doesn’t look out of place at this level. He’s a confident young lad and his dribbling skills will cause problems for those facing him.

Przemyslaw Placheta looked fit and quick although he never got going as a flying winger firing crosses in. Much of his carrying of the ball was coming across field and he was switched on defensively making one really decisive intervention in the second half. Pity in the first half he wasn’t quite so tuned in when a Vaulks shot was pushed away.

One starter left to talk about. Mark Harris. He’s been described as a workhorse. For many that means a player who will absolutely give their all but has connotations that they may be lacking in the skill department. After performances like this in a formation like we play I can have nothing but the highest praise for our Welshman. He’s still that lone man up front in our 4-1-4-1 formation. That’s what it is isn’t it and not 4-1-2-2-1? I’m never quite sure.  He got 15 league goals last season and opened his account 28 minutes into this one. Yet I and many others still don’t look on him as a goal-scorer. Unfair surely. This one came with him chasing a very long ball out of defence from Ciaron Brown. Grant Hanley didn’t deal with it and when Harris gave him a little shove (no-one appealed for a foul) down went the Norwich no.5. Harris collected the ball, came inside Shane Duffy and fired through the legs of Gunn, the ball finding its way to the back of the net via the inner ankle of the keeper’s left foot. From the back row of the SSU we couldn’t work out how it had got there because Gunn had seemingly made a save. All an optical illusion. We were on our way.

The second in the 58^th minute was a team goal which showcased individual talents and what we were all about on the day. Having won the ball we knocked it about and it ended up with RR on the edge of the box. He came up with one of those little feints that I absolutely love. Went to go left but didn’t play the ball instead twisting back on himself on the spot. Then on to Goodrham on his right who in turn found the over-lapping Long. Our Bicester boy arrowed the ball first time back across the box to Brannagan, who sweetly despatched the chance. It was one of those where the keeper has no answer. Gunn’s feet didn’t move, not even when he knowingly sunk to his knees with the ball beyond him. That could have been CB’s second of the afternoon having earlier had a shot deflected onto the bar.

With the afternoon still young I felt no rush to get home as I would have done had it been a 3 o’clock start. As it was we were back in time to watch most of the Community Shield, not that this fixture could do much to hold my attention. I’d just had a proper football fix. A fix I’d waited 25 years for.

With time for a couple of celebratory pints before our evening meal I walked into Bicester town centre. I didn’t spot any Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea shirts. What I did see were half a dozen or more yellow Oxford shirts and t-shirts. That was so pleasing. Even more so because they were mostly youngsters. The future. A little group of teens or early twenties and a Dad with his kids.

Back to earth. I had told myself not to get too despondent if we’d lost or carried away if we won. There’s still 45 games to go. Need to ask how good were Norwich on the day? Reading their forums the fans were not happy before the season started and certainly are not now. They really don’t rate the centre-half partnership of Hanley and Duffy. One supporter on the Monday before the game predicted that we would win 2-0 and that Johnny Rowe would refuse to play. He must have one of the best crystal balls on the market. Apparently Rowe, who is some talent but has an ego to match, was in the starting line-up. Their planning was thrown into chaos when Marseille submitted a bid on Friday and Rowe said he did not want to turn out for the Canaries against us. So, not a happy camp.

But, and I don’t intend to sound arrogant, you can only beat what is in front of you. Beat them we did and very well too. Could not have asked for more.