Expectations and hopes.

[morty]

Hopefully most of us will be looking forward to the new season, and, also hopefully, most of us are fairly optimistic about our chances.

But how strong is your resolve?

Last season was disappointing whether you supported Hughton or not. Everyone at the club has really pushed the togetherness theme, and Neil looks to be inspiring confidence and team work.

But what about you? Can you let last season go, and start with a clean slate? Do you think the first time we lose there will be rolling of eyes, gnashing of teeth, and the usual forum meltdowns?

 

[wcorkcanary]

Nah, Mort, i've been involved with too many teams for too many years and although you don't forget, you do move on....or at least should. Maybe there should be some kind of pagan rebirth of the football season. a cleansing ,if you like. Like halloween but about footy . like...'the king is dead, long live the king'.

 

[Warren Hill]

Hmmm.

So many ways that it could pan out. Hughton caused a huge rift in the support and that won't be easily mended; the door of Hughton has become a very convenient dumping ground for pretty much anything and everything. Without doubt he played a fundamental part in our relegation but to think that it was all down to the manager is, well, foolish. 

However; Adams was a choice that underwhelmed many and if we start poorly I can envisage some of last seasons vitriol bubbling back to the surface - probably to be directed at the board rather than Adams - and the atmosphere to suffer. On the other hand, whereas Hughton had the unenviable task of following Lambert, Adams gets to follow Hughton - a man whom it was deemed by many that ANYBODY would be better than. If the players don't perform, they might be regarded as Hughton's players and Neyul may get afforded an easier ride simply because he isn't CH.

The best thing would be for us to start well and win a few games. Nothing unites a fanbase like success. 

 

[morty]

I think its fragile frankly, if we don't get off to a flyer I don't think the grumbles will be far behind, as you say Warren, a few wins would soothe the angry beast.

I think there is still skepticism by a fair few regarding Adams, and he really needs to win them over, and quickly!

 

[barclay seats 48/49]

I agree with Warren Hill ,, and As I stated in my thread last night ,, I am not feeling confident at all .

Particularly unhappy that I was immediately refered to as a pant wetter ,, I thought we were leaving that behind !

I am bothered by a few things ,, in my opinion ,, certain members of the team last night did not look either " up for it" or maybe "fit" .

Redmond looked almost disinterested ,, Ruddy must have butter on his gloves these last two friendlies,and Whittaker is patently not good enough !

To add to the feeling of discomfort , is the apparent lack of the coaching team being able to see a few of the problems ,, specifically that Whittaker was getting skinned on every attack ,, and while Redmond was his cover ,, he just didn't bother to track back ,,, Lambert would have been on his feet yelling instruction ,, our current manager and assistants seemed not to see what was happening .

I could go on ,, but this is the gist of my reply to Morty maybe ,, who said I think he was happy in general ,, I respect your opinion Morty ,, but cannot reflect your optimism .

However ,,, I will be there as always ,, noisy ,,, wishing for the best ,,, I don't mind being wrong !!

 

[Yellowfuture]

I think a lot of the reaction will be determined by the way we play rather than just results. Our fans may be a bit more forgiving of a loss if they think we have had a go and done our best. NA is already acutely aware of this and the Hughton era will be too fresh in his mind for him to risk repeating the same mistakes.
I suspect the fans will cut NA a bit of slack if things don`t get off to the perfect start, anger is more likely to be directed towards the Board as they are seen by many as having let the fans down by not getting rid of CH around Christmas time, and then messing up on the appointment of his successor. 
As far as message board melt downs are concerned, that`s not much to do with fans, it`s more about the people that are registered on the forum!
For my part I`ll be giving the team and the manager 100% support during the game and backing my club to the hilt, what else can fans do?

 

[barclay seats 48/49]

I agree with the comment that it's more about the attitude than the results ,, also agreeing with Morty that this state will be fragile ,, needing some results pretty soon !

Otbc

 

[morty]

In other news Nice are one nil up in a friendly with Barcelona.

So by my football reckoning, that makes Norwich City better than Barca.

 

[CJRV2014]

Oh why did someone have to mention Lambert. I miss him. Well the way i think there season and our season will start he could be back here before 2015. Not going to happen tho is it.

 

[Yellow Fever]

I think there are a lot of Villa fans who would like to see Lambert out of there. He did a great job over his three years at City, but he was running out of ideas and inspiration at the end, IMO. Performances fell away hugely in the second half of the PL season and I think we'd have struggled under him had he stayed. I'm impressed with Adams, Holt and Martin so far and am looking forward to the new season.

 

[Yellow Fever]

Nice 1 - 1 Barca (Both goals were penalties)

As Morty says, interesting considering our 5-1 demolition of Nice.

 

[mustard gas]

If we don't win 3 of our first 2 games some posters ( on other boards ) will have the knives out and hurl abuse at all connected with the club.

 

[Robert Brompton]

Obviously I hope that we will start well and that will settle people but I expect the first 5 games to be a steep learning curve.  Remember the optimism and expectation that we all took into the first game in League One and then the next season in the Championship. We came badly unstuck in both but still went on to have fantastic seasons. That's why I am unlikely to be panicking if we find ourselves in the bottom half after 5 games - I still believe that we will win promotion.

 

[CanaryOnTheWire]

Barclay seats. I did not refer to you as a pant wetter just because you were negative, as negativity is often apt if you're a Norwich fan, last season was testament to that.

I referred to you as a pant wetter because the comment 'We don't look like we could win a single game in the Champs' is absolutely ridiculous.

I hope you understand why that is a total over reaction to a pre-season friendly.

 

[Andy]

I hope that the players and management team are firmly focused on winning the Champs this season then we might just pull off promotion. I remember earlier this year, I think it was after the Newcastle game, when John Ruddy was in the Gunn club for the post game interview. He said then that we only needed to win 3 games to be safe. I thought at the time that we would cruise it - West Ham, Cardiff, Villa - what could go wrong?

Now when I think about it, why was JR thinking that way when we had nearly half a season yet to play? I'm not trying to stoke up pointless arguments about the previous management team but it seems to me that some players got cocky and complacent and we can't afford that mindset in the Champs.

I hope that our players can get their heads around the fact that we are in the Champs for a reason. I also hope that the fans can let the odd inevitable defeat against weaker opposition go without having a meltdown and in the great man's words "go again".

 

[Yellow Fever]

Winning "3 of our first 2 games" is a pretty big ask, Mustard Gas! (Or were you being sarcastic - there should be a sarcasm smiley). I find it absolutely incredible that so many of our 'supporters' have to emphasize the negatives so much of the time. Before the window, it was 'we're going to lose all of our players' (some are still saying that),and that we have a 'rookie manager who will cost us promotion'. We've had a good pre-season against good teams, the new players have settled in well and Adams looks anything but a rookie to me. He's 48 years old and knows the game inside out. Let's try being positive for a change.

 

[mustard gas]

I was being totally sarcastic YF. Some posters will never ever be satisfied. In real life are probably ignored so the keyboard is their weapon to become important.

 

[Scott]

Expectations - Top 10

Hopes - Top 2 haha

 

[Yellow Fever]

Fair enough Mustard Gas. Not always easy to read these things! Like you, I get frustrated at times.

 

[Canaryboy]

A lot will depend on who we lose and who we can bring in between now and 31st August. 

The season could probably be considered a disaster if we don't finish top 6, that should be the minimum expectation. I think we will finish top 3 or 4, hoping for automatic of course.