Southampton model

[cornish]

For clubs the size of Norwich there has yet to be a model that has proven to deliver long term success. We are unlikely to (and imho should not) buy success so when we are in the PL we are always going to be one poor appointment or run of poor form or spate of injuries or back luck etc from being in a relegation fight. This is the same for Southampton, Swansea and a whole host of PL/Champ mid-sized clubs who will all go through periods of success and stability and periods when things don't go so well. With the risk of sounding like Delia, the 'ambition with prudence' model is possibly the best model for teams such as ours to adopt. It won't deliver success year after year but it will give a better chance of bouncing back from poor seasons.

Moo

I think that it depends on your definition of long term success. The Swansea model should deliver established premier league competition with the occasional flirtation with Europe and relegation, however after a few years of this that is unlikely to still be considered success and that is where the real challenge will lie, converting the club from being a mid-sized PL/Champ club into a big PL club and that is where so many models fall down. Of course the swans were given a bit of a boost along the way by the Council building them a shiny new ground with peppercorn rent to allow them to get debt free without them having to go through the pain that usually entails. We have now achieved the more difficult part (being debt free),we just now need to ingrain the Norwich way to the football, which will be helped if we can leverage the academy to deliver first teamers that have been playing that way for their formative years.

 

[mustard gas]

Have used it because auto correct changed something so ludicrously and I failed to proof read properly.

 

[Yellow Fever]

Long term 'development' with young players coming through is the key, IMO, and hopefully the new management will be able to achieve that.