Norwich City Football Club

It's going to be interesting to see just how far woman's football has come on Sunday, With the refusal of the EFL and Sky changing the kick off time by 45 minutes, which lets face it wouldn't be difficult, fans have a few choices to make.

• 1. Stay away and watch the final.
• 2. Watch first half in Pub and get to ground for kick off.
• 3. Go to ground early watch game and then watch second half.
• 4. Go to the game and just keep looking at the phone.
• 5. Watch the Millwall game and just ignore the final " Ah it's only girls kicking a ball it's not proper football" (not my opinion!!!!!)

I'm almost lucky as the choice has been taken away from me as I'm away working so have no choice but watch the matches on TV, luckily I can watch both at the same time!

I do wonder however if this had been the mens final what would have happened. I know we would have been on an international break and all of that but it still just seems that the equality isn't quite there yet. It's getting there and the fact that it's now televised and makes the front pages is brilliant but more of course still needs to be done. Maybe it's time for the NCFC ladies team to get a bit more promotion through the club and even remind us supporters that there are two teams?

Or maybe the groundsman could unfortunately not be able to find the goals until late in the morning delaying kick off by let's say 1 hour? Just a thought.-

Well he's gone then. Been great for this club and I'm kind of happy that we have been the club that turned his career around. Got him back into the Dutch national team when after his time at Newcastle he could have ended up bench warming for other teams. His antics when facing a penalty will always be my favourite memory of him. I hope he gets to play more as first choice at Luton he deserves it!

Well I didn't get the score right but some interesting things over the first three matches of the season. Jon Rowe, just wow. That's all I'm going to say on that. The fact we are scoring late on in games is quite striking. It shows not only a desire to win and a work ethos but also just how much fitter the squad is this season. Sometimes it's not about being the most technical it's about being able to keep on with the energy required in those last minutes and to have the desire as a group to win a match. This looks like it could be one of those seasons!

It’s a cup game tonight and I’m thinking that the team sheet will look a little like the weekend. So I’m going for …… QPR 1 -3 NCFC

It’s the EFL ( no body gives a crap) cup up next away at QPR, Cup run anybody? I’ve got to say I’m not that bothered as usual. I think it’s time to give some of the fringe players the opportunity to make a name for themselves to give Sara, Rowe, Duffy etc. A bit of a rest seems like a good thing to do. Sometimes tough I think winning is a habit but it’s just not worth picking up silly injuries or red cards for a cup we have historically not done particularly well in!

It will be a shame to see him go. He’s been great for this club. I remember when we signed him after the long lay off due to injury with Newcastle. He was always a great keeper and was a much needed man at the back. His penalty saves were a thing of great joy! But time moves on and we have a Gunn in goal again and with a bit of strength in front of him now (although 4 at Southampton) here’s looking forward to many clean sheets!

Unfortunately I had to make do with audio commentary due to me being in Europe and no video feeds working for me. However from what I’ve been told it was a hell of a game! 4-4 well you could knock me down with a feather! Grandson informed me that the penalty at the end was “soft” I bet we won’t get any this season! Oh well it sounded pretty good on the radio and I think we might do ok this season. Rest the troupes for the nobody gives a shit cup and give Millwall a proper doing over and it’ll do me just fine.

Well it’s the day before Southampton Norwich City tomorrow. For a laugh I thought I’d do some match predictions! Not sure about this one. Ward Prowse not playing so that’s the free kicks out of it. Heart has it as a 1-2 but realistically I’m probably going for a 2-0. Here’s hoping that the heart is right!!

Well that’s it then he’s off to the south coast. Various amounts of money being banded about one source says £7 million PinkUn has it at £12 million. I wish him well and I’m sue he will do well for Bournemouth.

Hmm, Leeds or Bournemouth. I know which one I'd prefer him to go to. It will be a shame to see him go but I feel that maybe his time has come. I didn't think it would be right for him to go to Leeds and be reunited with DF. Something new and probably a bit more money with him going to Bournemouth! If it happens of course.

Not really NCFC but incredibly important. mens mental health isn't on the agenda enough and it's so important. We have spent years being told to man up and get on with it. I'm of that age when it just wasn't a thing. Having sorted out my own "Black Dog" I'm one of those who is out there speaking about it to my work colleagues. In my job we all work away from home a great deal and are often in high pressure situations and it's easy to fall into times of depression and alcohol abuse so talking to each other is so important. If you need to talk there's always someone out there ( or even here!) don't think no one cares, don't think you are on your own and don't think you are being weak by admitting there's a problem. Back to football next post!!

Do you know what. He probably does deserve a bit of luck and just a little bit of slack too. I can't imaging what it must be like to go to work and if I make a bit of a fuck up I get 20,000 people giving me shit! I know he is a pro, however he is still young and has time. Som maybe just maybe we might need someone else to have a go at doing the 90 minutes at Carrow Road. I know that bloody idiot in black that can't seem to give us a penalty that's who should get the crap!! Just a thought :-)

Just a thought stop time wasting before complaining about the amount of time added on. And as we always have to remember it’s a minimum amount of time to play not a finite amount. Maybe we should adopt a rugby style system where the clock is stopped for injury and when the ref calls time off?

Well that was a turn up for the books. I don't do match reports as I kind of miss things with all the singing and shouting that I do and I also know that anything I write is my own opinion so feel free to disagree! First off due to train times I ended up under the Barclay with over an hour before kick off. The new layout is pretty good plenty of bar space so no queue for my pint! A definite improvement. I got to my seat and there are a few new faces. We have lost a few supporters and it's not surprising considering the last couple of seasons and the style? Of football we have been subjected to, as ever though I always start off the season in high spirits. Seeing the team on the pitch for the first time it struck me just how much bigger we looked. The addition of three rather large units has changed the look of the team and even Hernandez looked like he has bulked up. He must have got some free weights from Argos and been working out! My take outs from the match are, Max who? Stacey looks a much better player and was more open to the overlap and kept on going for the full 90. He put a real shift in and has a good cross that he hits early, we need to get Sarge to get in the box earlier and get on the end of those and it could be a good source of goals. Duffy just looked in control. Positioning and physically dominating for most of the game. I can't remember him doing anything that made me panic. Not the same could be said for Gibson. It was down to his mistake and I feel for him . I try to imagine what it must be like to be in front of 20000 people and have that kind of pressure but that's his job. Giannoulis I thought had one of his best games. I guess if he wants to go then he needs to put himself in the shop window by performing at his best, makes you wonder though. McLean was as McLean is functional not rushed and kind of did everything I would expect of him. It was interesting to see Sara in the back line occasionally playing it out. I thought he played some great through balls and broke up play really well. I'm almost looking forward to the McLean Sara axis for the rest of the season. Barnes is a lump. He and Sargent are going to take time to get the understanding but I have high hopes. I seem to remember just thinking OK thats a proper front man. Sargent well I want him to do well but he seems to be missing something at the moment. Maybe he just needs to smack a few and just give it the "Have it!" And put his laces through the ball. With the crosses coming in he will need to get on the end of a few more. That just leaves Jon Rowe. Well that was some goal and some game he played. I'll leave it at that I think. If he carries on like that he will be some player. A shout out for Idah. Every year there's one player that those around me like to get into and after the first touch it looked like it could be Idah. So when he managed to stay onside and poke the winner in it the first rubbish touch was quickly forgotten! I've got to say thats the first time in a long long time that I've left Carrow road with quite a jaunty step and enjoyed my pint and the train trip home. For me unfortunately that's my last game for a while. I work away and wont be back now until probably Leeds at home! OTBC

It’s game day!! And where the hell has the summer weather gone. We should be thinking about the heat and the sun in our eyes hands up shielding from the bright sunshine, instead I’ve got out my coat and almost a hat! Oh well could be worse I suppose. No going back now the die has been cast let’s see use how the season unfolds and I for one am kind of glad that the ups and downs will continue and I hope that I will enjoy the ride without losing my temper too much this season!

If you are going to the match on Saturday by train remember there's the usual rail disruption! This means I've got to get to Norwich a whole hour before I would usually do so. Hmm pub??

Did we give them a fair crack? I was firmly in the belief that we were going down so might as well stuck with a manager that walked the Championship ( twice ) knowing that the reason for our departure wasn’t anything other than the budget we have always worked to. It’s almost always going to be like this until an oil rich nation gets involved and if that happens then I’m not sure if it’s in our best interest!

As usual my forever optimism kicks in about now. I know I shouldn’t but I’ve seen the results of the pre-season and all the new signings and every year I think to myself “ Well they look pretty good “ and think top 2 is on again. I’d like to walk the Championship this year for once so we don’t have to go through all the soul searching and the long discussions in The Barclay about who’s shit, why we can’t seem to play in the “Norwich” style and how it was better when we had ……. Insert any name but Glenn. I can remember getting all excited when RVW signed and managed to get in the way of a ball and it falling in the net. Oh yes we had a player there and we were going to light up the Championship with goals galore! Three months later we were discussing the fact he had got a horse for his then girlfriend and where he kept it and if it would make a better striker than him. What kind of year do we hope for and more importantly what kind of year will we have?

Looking forward to the first game of the season, Hull at home let's just hope we get out of the traps early on the season! It will be interesting to see how much fitter we should be as last year we seemed out for the count after the first 50 minutes!

I spent a fair while looking on Lemmy for a NCFC place and so far nothing was to be found so I thought why not start my own. On my own instance. Feel free to join in and don't forget be nice!