Best Ever Norwich City Manager

[SussexYellow]

Sad to say that I'm old enough to remember them all!  :lol:

I voted for Dave Stringer because he was the first manager to take City as high as 4th in the top division as well as two FA Cup semi-finals by carefully building a solid squad with very little money. Taking over a good squad when Ken Brown retired, he built it into a highly effective squad that Mike Walker was then able to take into Europe. Norwich City through and through, he stayed for five years and then retired. My sort of manager.

Must be an age thing Rick. Same vote from me.

 

[eatonparkboy]

I went for Ron Saunders. He revolutionised the club and got us to the 1st Division and Wembley for the first times in our history and when he wanted to advance us even more he was denied by the belligerent Arthur South and resigned. His parting shot, when denied the opportunity to by a new striker, he put on a full back as striker just to prove a point. His football, with us, was direct and his training methods harsh but he was the genesis of the current club.

He moved to Manchester City and took them to Wembley as he did Aston Villa where they beat us and won the 1st Division title and had guided them the quarter finals of the European cup before walking out.

 

[bloodwagon]

I Went for Walker. City have the record of being the ONLY English team to beat Bayern München in there own back yard, which was managed by Walker.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Interesting on looking down the bars on the poll the real dirth we had between Walker and Lambert. Worthy deserves some votes, as getting that team promoted and almost keeping us up was a big achievement. Also Martin O'Neill could have done with us what he did with Leicester had he stayed, but it wasnt to be. Aside from them though it really was desperate wasnt it?

 

[ZLF]

achievements in the top flight outweigh any excitement lower down.   For me it is a close call between the goalden era Brown, Stringer and Walker,  and while there is no doubt he, to misquote newton, was able to take us further it was by standing on ye shoulders of giants,  walker was able to enhance a good team into a great one and achieve truly great things.

O'Neil and Lambert were fun,  but inspite of being different footballing times still pale compared the achievements of the true legends of brown stringer and walker.  

 

[mustard gas]

Just trying to be comprehensive I think personal experience counts. You cant say Pele is the best player in the World if you've never seen him play. Vote should be based on personal experience in my opinion, so if Lambo is the best you've seen give him your vote

But this skews the result in favour of the more recent incumbents. All voters will have experience of Lambert, many less of Bond and Stringer, let alone Saunders.

 

[nolegs]

It's an age thing,but Walker for me by a hairs breadth,first manager to break the lil 'ole norwich syndrome imo

But it's hard to to forget those post match interviews on match of the week  by John Bond with Gerry Harrison..."We were wunnerfull Gerry"!!

 

[Lake District Canary]

I find it impossible to decide who is our best manager. Each one had his merits and faults, but every one has been important to the club even if it is for the wrong reasons!  Saunders was of course the manager who dragged us kicking and screaming into the top flight - for the first time ever - and that was really the biggest deal in the history of the club's development.   So he could be said to be the best.   John Bond was an inspired choice and gave us incredible kudos as a club and brought some great players in.  We wouldn't have had Martin Peters without John Bond.  So he could easily be said to be the best.   Brown was magnificent too, with the cup win, Channon et al.   Stringer simply raised us to a new awareness and sophistication that we could only dream of - and Walker's success was fantastic, too.    Worthy was successful,  Lambert of course too.

Too difficult a question for me!   My favourite would be John Bond, but that is a different question.

 

[GJP]

Just going by the ones I've really been old enough to appreciate it's got to be Paul Lambert.

I don't think anyone really gave us the belief and excitement that he did. Certainly with Hughton coming in after him the contrast was stark. It went from feeling like we could give anyone a game to feeling that we were beaten before we set foot on the pitch.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

But this skews the result in favour of the more recent incumbents. All voters will have experience of Lambert, many less of Bond and Stringer, let alone Saunders.

Unavoidable unfortunately, otherwise how can younger fans who have never seen these managers take part in the vote? I know nothing of the managers prior to Walker - have a vague awarerness of Stringer. Agree the more experience someone has the more value their opinion probably carries (interesting we dont seem to respect experience in this country, writing our older generation off as dinosaurs), but the only way to have a truly fair vote would be to only allow people to vote who were alive since 1902!

If you're incapable of commenting of certain managers, best to stick to what you know in my opinion, than bullshit about what you dont 

 

[Dubai Mark]

Interesting that Paul Lambert is currently number one in the vote, perhaps reflecting the age of posters and what they can remember? That said, it was a terrific achievement getting us in to the EPL after where we had been. Now reading the comments about John Bond reminded me just what an impact he made at the time, the foundations were set for his predecessors no doubt and the stock and reputation of the club had been raised several notches. 

 

[morty]

Walker was manager when I first started watching City, but I just missed the European run (I actually moved to Germany, and pre internet it was pretty difficult to keep involved)

Worthington doesn't get enough credit for what he did, up against some fairly stiff financial constraints, but really it has to be Lambert for me.

The level of success we achieved with back to back promotions was amazing, even more so considering the $hit state we were in after our drop to league one ( David McNally and the board deserve massive credit also) and also the feel good factor after some years of mediocrity, made supporting City fun again. Take a look at Ipswich, that so easily could have been us.

 

[GJP]

I agree, Worthington doesn't seem to get the credit he should.

It's almost as if he's only remembered for getting us relegated from the Prem rather for than actually winning Div 1 and getting us promoted to the Prem. I'd have fancied him to keep us in the Prem if he'd have had the financial backing needed - he came very close without it.

 

[eatonparkboy]

Although not my OP choice I do agree that Worthington has had a bad deal from many Norwich supporters. He is still doing good things at York.

I guess if much of the support has fallen out of love with you, as many of our managers have found out, it probably is best to move on though. And despite the self praise that many Norwich supporters heap on themselves, there is an element of support that is just as vicious and nasty as any other club possesses.

 

[Keckers]

I agree that Worthy is due a lot more praise than normally given. People only remember the whole mess at the end. Some of our supporters are hugely short sighted.