Along Come Norwich - Stuart Webber interview.

[morty]

This is a fantastic read, and really makes me think that we are in very good hands.

http://www.alongcomenorwich.com/articles/stuart-webber-the-interview

 

[OldRobert]

Many thanks Morty for posting this link.  I can but agree with your comment, he's certainly very impressive, let's see how it all unfolds.  Am intrigued to know who he has tagged for Head Coach!

 

[morty]

Delia let it at the fans social thing the other night that they have interviewed 7 people for it. She'd had a few, and Joe Ferrari was shushing her and rolling his eyes.

 

[OldRobert]

Best she goes back to cooking before the cat really does escape, and Webber walks in disgust!

 

[morty]

Best she goes back to cooking before the cat really does escape, and Webber walks in disgust!

She was just enjoying the evening and giving fans something to be interested about, she certainly didn't reveal any names!

 

[OldRobert]

She was just enjoying the evening and giving fans something to be interested about, she certainly didn't reveal any names!

Only joking!

 

[Fenway Frank]

Doesn't hold back does he ? ?

 

[morty]

Doesn't hold back does he ? ?

Can't really disagree with any of it. But its easy identifying whats wrong, I think most of us can see that, the difficult bit is finding solutions.

 

[Fenway Frank]

Quite brave to have a dig at the supporters so early, I don't mind as I agree with him but I bet there are a few people on another forum getting all precious about it 

 

[Canaryboy]

Doesn't hold back does he ? ?

Cautiously optimistic, but slightly worried that this hard talk is going to precede a disastrous period like the one we saw under Glenn Roeder and his "new heroes" lingo, when he released Huckerby, forced Dublin out (would have played another year if Huckerby did), and left us playing Darel Russell as a striker whilst Chris Martin is out out on loan. Ironically Roeder was given a job as part of a three man 'committee' to replace the role of 'Sporting Director' this year at Sheffield Wednesday. 

Stuart Webber comes across as extremely confident, but there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. In six months time he's either a complete hero or a complete zero. One one hand he is pretty much promising to do exactly what he has literally just done at Huddersfield, that's enough to make me feel optimistic.

On the other hand Pepe Guardiola, one of the best managers in the world, pretty much plucked a top class player out of a ridiculously sh*t league and gifted him to Huddersfield for the year, and I think when he ends up playing regularly for Man City next season or being sold to a top half side we'll look back at Huddersfield's season as one which was helped by a pretty big dose of good fortune.

But we've got nothing to lose from taking a big gamble, something needed to happen. We were only going one way so I'll take a flip of the coin. 

 

[Canaryboy]

"Then I look at some glaring holes, this is a club where we don’t own a left back at first team level. We’ve got a number of number 10's but we don’t own a left back, that’s not me speaking out of turn or criticising anyone. Everyone can see if you write out the squad list that we’ve got alot of that, loads of them, but not many in these areas. So I think it’s clear, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, we know we need to strengthen areas, but there’s some real positives."

Hallelujah! Yes, it is bleeding obvious, but it feels nice to hear somebody at the club just say it how it is. 

 

[Canaryboy]

My god, he's pretty much saying what I keep saying. About Maddison and the Murphy loans. OK, I like him, a lot. 

 

[morty]

Quite brave to have a dig at the supporters so early, I don't mind as I agree with him but I bet there are a few people on another forum getting all precious about it 

Lets be brutally honest, a lot of our fanbase are oldies who go out of habit, but will whinge endlessly about it, and carry on going year after year. If it wasn't for the noise generated by the  (mostly lower) Barclay and the snakepit, the place really would be a library.

He mentions about attracting younger fans.

 

[Canaryboy]

I think he should have at least balanced it out by acknowledging how great our away support has been this season, considering our away form, I've seen some miserable games this season - some midweek and in the freezing cold- but the fans generally still manage at least a bit of gallows humour, always managing to take 1000+ to some proper sh*tholes up north despite promotion not looking like its on the table and despite our challenging geographical location.

Also, if Carrow Road was rocking this season he wouldn't be here. Unhappy fans is the reason for this change, giving them something to cheer about again is basically his job description.

Like all that he has to say about the squad though. 

 

[morty]

I think he should have at least balanced it out by acknowledging how great our away support has been this season, considering our away form this season, seen some miserable games this season but generally still manage at least a bit of gallows humour - always managing to take 1000+ to some sh*tholes up north when promotion doesn't feel like its on the table despite our challenging geographical location.

Also, if Carrow Road was rocking this season he wouldn't be here. Unhappy fans is the reason for this change, giving them something to cheer about again is basically his job description. 

Like all that he has to say about the squad though. 

I don't think anyone should get too precious about it, I don't think a lot of fans have been good enough, and completely agree about his opinion of the groans because Murphy shanked a shot. Some moaning has been justified, but a lot hasn't, and its rarely helpful.

And I would add to it people booing our Captain before the kick off of his 300th game, absolutely pathetic, whatever your opinion is on the general state of our club.

I think Webber can be the catalyst for the change we desperately need. 

 

[Canaryboy]

The answer to the problem is safe standing in the Lower Barclay, no stewards telling people to sit down in that section, literally turn that big food area in the lower barclay into a Wetherspoons style pub and remove anything child orientated. I know exactly what Webber is talking about, we've gone too far with that nice little middle class family club mantra and become a 'boutique club', lost that bit of edge which most other clubs have. I like the idea of trying to appeal to 18 to 35 year olds who want to get tanked up, get rowdy, then hit the city after the game. Sell cheaper standing tickets. 

Simply by removing seats you'd significantly change the demographics of that section of the ground. Young kids and old people out, people fit enough and tall enough to stand up for 105 minutes are in. McNally hated the idea of safe standing for some reason, which I found odd because it is by far the cheapest way to increase our capacity. 

Surely Webber has noticed that our casual prices are a bit steep for your typical working class 21 year old though? That's why we get Talk Norwich City from Mulbarton contemplating whether to buy sushi or hummus for his half-time snack, instead of turning labourers from Heartsease into a new generation of 'football lads'. We've got this fan base by design. 

You can't have stewards telling everybody to sit down every 2 minutes and then complain that the atmosphere is boring. 

 

[morty]

I agree re safe standing, though I have been in Block E for a few games this season and stood the entire game.

I don't think the safe standing thing is quite as easy as just buying some rail seats and whacking them in though. There will be people who have season tickets that may not want to stand, but don't want to move either. Its a logistical nightmare that could be tricky to administer, and whilst I agree with "edgier" lets not go too far the other way, and basically tell people, who have maybe been loyal fans and sat in the same seat for years, that they are not welcome there if they don't want to stand, and have to move somewhere else.

There has to be consultation and balance.

 

[Canaryboy]

If we decide to make the lower Barclay a safe standing area then they've basically got no choice but to stand or move, presumably though they'd be people from other parts of the ground who would then want to move to the Barclay (most of the Snakepit I should imagine), so I doubt people would end up seatless. 

I was always surprised that McNally wasn't all over this idea, considering how much effort he went through several times to find ways to squeeze a couple of hundred more seats in. Didn't he pretty much dig a trench around the entire edge of the pitch on all four sides to squeeze a couple more rows in? 

Could reach 30,000 by turning the lower Barclay into safe standing. No idea how much it would cost, but a fraction of the cost of knocking down and rebuilding the City stand I should imagine. I see that as the longer term solution to bringing back a bit of the 'football lad' culture. All those once noisy men in the Snakepit are in their fifties now, we never really replaced that generation. I know that we'd basically be asking for an increase in the number of incidents of football related violence, a bigger invoice from Norfolk Constabulary, and potentially hairy derby days... all in return for a bit of noise, but its a spectrum and we've probably got scope to move down it a little. 

 

[morty]

I think the biggest issue is that it has yet to be sanctioned by either the football league, or the Premiership PLC, so its not even an option as yet.

The replacement of the City stand will become a necessity more because of its outdated facilities, as opposed to just wanting to increase capacity.

The thing is re atmosphere, its generally a reflection of whats happening on the pitch. I don't remember the atmosphere being that great in the 90's, but it was fantastic in the two promotion years under Lambert.

We need to attract these younger fans in first, before we cast those of us that are past it, aside!

 

[Canaryboy]

We probably missed a trick by not making the Jarrold our new main stand, and sticking the television cameras on top of the City Stand. The Jarrold Stand put the club under financial pressure as it was so I guess that would have added a lot of cost by the time you'd built dressing rooms, board rooms, referee quarters, medical rooms, the reception, directors boxes, and such like, but we'd probably be less concerned about the ageing facilities in the City Stand if the Jarrold was a new main stand, could have stuck the away fans in the half of the city stand closest to the Snakepit. 

They'd then be a lot more room in the CIty Stand for amenities, just by knocking down walls which are currently dressing rooms etc. 

I suspect that because the South Stand was practically falling down they hadn't even done any sort of analysis on the cost of replacing the City Stand, wasn't the priority, and that if they'd understood the grim realities of the complexity and cost of replacing the City Stand they may have thought a little differently when planning the Jarrold. 

Could well still be an option I guess. 

When we were planning the Jarrold didn't they initially propose foundations and steelworks capable of holding a second tier, but then due to cost the finished version didn't actually have those deeper foundations?