Updated: Mike Phelan is the new First Team Coach

[morty]

Whilst not wanting to get carried away, you know when something happens and you think "one day I will look back at this point in time and see it as important"?

This.

 

[Personal Trainer]

Listening to the Non-League Show on R5L I heard that a large number of ex-players are coaching / managing at the lowest levels because they struggle to exist outside a world many have been in since they were 12. I suspect Phelan has now reached that stage and Championship offers a new start.

 

[Moosheep]

Good appointment. Lets hope it works out.

Moo

 

[Dubai Mark]

Not surprised we have appointed somebody to be honest as I couldnt see the club freeing up a position and not filling it....BUT, I am surprised by the quality of this appointment, top notch coach and even has City playing experience. A late friend of mine will be looking down on this and be really chuffed that "Micky Mustard" as we used to call him has come back to the club.....and I love Morty's comments on this, as that's just how I feel too!

Having watched him a bit more recently as a TV pundit a few times over here, we have just signed one of the best coaches around, he is a little dour, but I get the feeling he will give us a major kick start.

 

[Yellow Fever]

I also think that this is a great appointment. Unlike others, I don't see this as a future manager in waiting. Neil Adams deserves a reasonable period as manager before the moaners intervene.

 

[Canaryboy]

Very impressive that we've managed to persuade him to join as a first team coach, considering he was being linked with the Bolton managers job just last month and his last job was as assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson. . 

With Phelan and Holt at the club we have two people who could possibly be given an opportunity as a caretaker manager if things don't work out with Adams? We have plenty of form for promoting internally (e.g. Worthington) so it wouldn't surprise me at all if the board (or football board) have taken this into consideration. 

I'd be interested to know whether Adams has chosen Phelan as a coach or whether the football board has chosen him in consultation with Adams. I actually hope it is the latter, what would be the point of the football board if it weren't to make decisions like this?

 

[Dandy Mountfarto]

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me, and Mike Phelan's good.

 

[Trevmuttley]

Great news today, first class coach he must have learned a lot from Sir Alex. I have been feeling flat about City over the last month or so, I hope now that we can get back to winning ways

 

[Dubai Mark]

From the press statement it says he joins on Wednesday......so not here for the Brighton match or should it say joined us Wednesday? Anyway, when I was just over on "the other side" something sprang to mind that I expect to happen very soon....knowing how ill advised our club is on the PR front, expect a Mike Phelan interview that includes gushing praise of his new boss, what an excellent young manager he is and lots of other old toffee.....just saying

Note: well I guess he can't say that he has only joined us on the understanding that he will be taking over from NA at the latest in January........

 

[Canaryboy]

Note: well I guess he can't say that he has only joined us on the understanding that he will be taking over from NA at the latest in January........

Unlikely that he has joined having been told that. But I do wonder whether he has joined because he senses that an opportunity may arise. Don't want to make us out to be a "small club", but to go from assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, to being linked with Championship jobs, to taking a coaching role at a mid-table Championship team hundreds of miles away from his home..... he either fancies a quieter life back in Norfolk or is thinking about the potential to step up? (and yes, we are currently a mid-table Championship team!). 

 

[Yellow Fever]

New appointment with loads of promise and it has to be turned into conspiracy theories on the first day. Pathetic. Let's look at what the appointment can bring before speculating about future changes.

 

[gerryinromania]

Agree with Yellow Fever on this..Why can't people,whoever,wherever, just accept that this is a superb signing, the best of the year by far for NCFC. negativity and conspiracy theories are not needed. ..If the players can't respond to this, then I think they should opt out of playing football and be dog walkers or something..This has just been reported on the sports news here. Famous in Romania..Yaaaay 

 

[Canaryboy]

New appointment with loads of promise and it has to be turned into conspiracy theories on the first day. Pathetic. Let's look at what the appointment can bring before speculating about future changes.

Its not really a conspiracy theory to point out that our club has a long history of appointing managers internally, sometimes to great success, and that our board thinks that appointing Adams was the "Norwich way". It would make perfect sense for the club to appoint people who they felt capable of stepping up to the plate if necessary, just like Swansea nurtured Garry Monk for several years as a player coach with a view to him becoming a future manager. It is possible and sensible for the club to think this way, with "the future" being an undefined and indeterminate point in the future, without any sort of hidden agenda or conspiracy being at play. 

Neither is it unusual for people to take a job on the strength of the prospect of progression in the future. I think its a great thing that we have somebody of Phelan's experience, and somebody of Holt's potential (did a great job at Falkirk) at the club. Not only for what they can offer now in a coaching capacity, but for the fact that they could one day step up to the plate, whether a few months or five years down the line. It is a welcome change in direction after having had Calderwood and Trollope at the club under Hughton, two failed managers who we would never have identified as possible "future managers", if working this way is good enough for Swansea then it is good enough for us. 

 

[Boyerboy]

But Canaryboy what is wrong with following that logic through and giving Adams his chance? We have potential managers if the present setup fails but that has not happened. All this looking ahead just undermines the manager and will become self fulfilling.

The witch hunt of Adams on Twitter and Facebook today is repugnant and does not show City fans in an attractive light. This forum operates at a higher level but the subliminal message that Adams is gone is here. That is unfair and possibly self destructive. Why deny a talented manager the chance to hone his skills and prove himself? If he succeeds, we are all winners.

Phelan has come in to help achieve that and should be allowed to do so without added pressure.

 

[morty]

Whilst I don't disagree boyer, Adams hasn't really shown himself to be a talented manager yet, has he?

 

[Canaryboy]

But Canaryboy what is wrong with following that logic through and giving Adams his chance? 

Nothing is wrong with giving Adams a chance with Phelan in the set up, didn't say otherwise, whether people will be quite so defensive of Adams if we lose our third consecutive game on Saturday after an international break is doubtful though. 

Fair to point out that we are 19 games into his reign though, 24 if you include last season. As far as 'chances' go, many would argue that he has already been given it. He is already the 65th longest serving manager from the four professional English leagues (92 clubs). 

I still have doubt as to whether he would survive a defeat in his next two games, and I'm not convinced that Phelan's appointment is a vote of confidence in Adams, it may have been a vote of no confidence in Robson (either by Adams, or the 'football board'). We don't know whether Phelan has been brought in by Adams, or whether the football board makes these appointments now.

I'm actually surprised that we haven't appointed Phelan as an 'assistant manager', not sure why we've made that position redundant. Most other managers still have one.

 

[morty]

And, further to my point, we deserved better than potential or trainee, this season, all things considered.

 

[splutcho]

Yeah, Adams has done nothing to warrant the title "talented manager". Time will tell, but so far he's underachieving big time.

 

[GJP]

Impressed with this appointment on the face of it. To be honest, after leaving Utd I thought Phelan would just be sitting on beaches or strolling around golf courses etc etc

But good news that he appears to have the hunger to get back in the game and that the club went out and got him here.

So now we have a pretty strong squad, better resources than most and we've recruited a coach who used to work for one of the biggest clubs in the world... it doesn't leave much room for excuses.

 

[Yellow Fever]

If Adams had won all 15 matches he still wouldn't be a proven manager. Nobody was complaining after the good start to the season, but a sticky patch in a handful of games makes him a failure to some people. The Board will be more patient than this 'knee jerk' reaction to a couple of bad results.