The musings of a northern-based Canary…

12/23/2024 11:36 AM

Me and my good friend, the late Martin Penney, had three things in common. We were both long-time City supporters, we both followed Spurs as our second team, and we both loved rock music.

Unlike our Martin, who was a resident of the Fine City in the Fine County until his untimely passing, I haven't lived in Norfolk for many years.

But, living afar from my team sometimes offers a different perspective and has left me questioning if football is as 'tribal' as many suggest. If this is the case, why do so many support teams in other parts of the country where they never get to see their team play live?

For many years I have lived in Lancashire and within the triangle of Preston, Blackpool and Fleetwood. Add to that the slowly emerging AFC Fylde, once known as Kirkham and Wesham FC.

For my sins, over the years I have been to all of those ground in the home end, even when playing against City.

I originally gave my City season ticket to a friend in 1980 when I moved to Yorkshire – a ticket I had owned for 12 years. Unfortunately, I found that working in Yorkshire and with a young family made it impossible to maintain my regular visits to Norfolk.

Between 1980 and 1982, I went to places like Rotherham, Barnsley, Sheffield United and Wednesday to see City play, usually in the home end with new friends who supported local sides. In most cases, I received a good reception.

As my work took me away from the UK and far-flung places, I saw emerging leagues in Nigeria, Cameron, Egypt, and Israel.

In the time I was in Israel, I was in Tel Aviv for a friendly match between Germany and Israel. It reminded me of a time when supporters didn’t want to fight but instead spent 90 minutes trying to out-sing each other. No abuse or nastiness – just 90 minutes of supporting your team.

Today football, and football support, is different. 

Most supporters have an expectation of success. Their team must win something (even though no team has a divine right to win anything).

Equally, supporters moan about ticket prices but then also moan about the money spent on transfers. Yet it’s all part of the same business model, where you need to spend to improve and if you don’t you stagnate or, even worse, get relegated.

(We should know … we’ve been there often enough.)

In terms of City in there here and now…

We currently appear short of numbers in defence but won’t recall players who are doing well on loan. We are told that they need to continue their development, so we end up either buying or loaning in a player who then fills a spot that our own loaned player could have filled.

Tricky, right?

In terms of the current squad, can it improve? Yes.

Can it decline? Also yes.

Is the squad fit for purpose at present? For me, no.  

For better or worse, we have a possible 11 players at different levels within the club who can leave at the end of the season, which is a major chunk of the present and academy squads.

Also tricky.

In terms of transfer gossip, today we learn that City are in talks with Egil Selvik – a 27-year-old goalkeeper who currently plays for Norwegian side FK Haugesund, who is available on a free from 1st January.

Does this mean Angus Gunn, or his agent, has refused all offers? Or does he have a better offer already on the table?

As far as other senior players go, Grant Hanley and Onel Hernandez are also out of contract, albeit Hernandez has an additional one-year option. Will it be taken up?

In terms of Borja Sainz – the current jewel in our crown – perhaps it is it a case of no news being good news. No pending big offers have been rumoured.  

The official line is that Sainz – already our player of the season-elect – won’t be allowed to leave in January at any price. But how many times have we heard that?

I’m in the camp of taking a big offer if one comes in and then using those funds wisely to help fund the rebuild that we still need. It's a 'team' that is going to bring success to the Johannes Hoff Thorup era, not individuals.

In recent games, without Sainz scoring, we have looked bereft of ideas, so has the team become too reliant on him getting the goals? It's not the first time we have seen a City team rely on one player to save its season.

There have already been calls for JHT and his newly assembled backroom team to go, but in the real world, they need to be given time to achieve their aims. The players are clearly still learning this new style of play and some, at the same time, are having to adapt to a new country.

New language. A new league. And individuals within the wider group, like Jack Wilshire, have never coached a first-team before. So it's like putting a jigsaw together without a picture or all of the pieces.

They all need and deserve time.

Finally, I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

My hopes for the future are very simple: that all the injured players return to the squad and then stay fit; that those serving suspensions learn from their errors; and lastly, we all enjoy a much more successful second half of the season.

OTBC