where has all the yellow gone?

Strategic Planner, Nick Backhouse, gives us his season synopsis for NCFC. True to Planner form, he even manages to get a 'statistical analysis' in there.

You know what they say guys, 'every cloud...'

Well it’s over at last. The Canaries’ season started pretty badly and basically didn’t get better. The truth is that we weren’t really good enough.

So let’s get the technical bits over first. Delivering 49 points with a goal difference of less than -20 in the past would have meant safety, but not this time. It shows how tight the lower and middle levels of the Championship were this year. But that isn’t an excuse, it’s just an observation. So where did the real problem lie?

Whether Gunn was, or will be, the right man isn’t the issue. The die had already been cast when he took over. The real problem was Roeder’s use of the loan system. Too many players coming in who weren’t match-fit. Once they had regained their touch and started to forge a relationship with the rest of the squad they were either recalled or got injured. But was this the manager’s fault?  Possibly not?  Perhaps the real issue lies with the structure of the game and how it affects teams who aspire to better things but don’t have the financial muscle to deliver.

This prevalent use of the loan system is just sticking plaster. Let’s hope next season City can deliver a squad of permanent players with a good blend of home-grown youth and experience willing to go that extra mile for the club’s fight for promotion.

Ok that’s  the technical bit done, which will have lost half the Agency ( primarily the female half I suspect). Now let’s have a look at how the Agency’s support  over the last nine months has gone.

I am surprised that as the leading communications business in the area whose major client is the Canaries’ sponsor, we haven’t been more positive.

Looking at those in the Agency who are interested in football, we seem to break down into discrete segments.

Firstly there’s a group  of lads who live, work and maybe were born in the area who support a north London team (which by the way around Christmas was not pulling up any trees and whose manager will walk off when the going gets tough next season ) . Yes guys, you know who I’m talking about!  Why not make Norwich your second team and get behind them next season instead of using the Premiership as a reason to bite the hand that feeds you?

Next.  There are some of us who follow the team but only really when they get free seats, usually unused season tickets. OK next season let’s be ‘aving you. Stump up and support for all the home games.  Fair-weather support won’t be good enough in Division 1.

Interesting group this next one.  It comes  out of the Dad’s Army school of  ‘we’re all doomed’. Well for next season that isn’t going to be good enough. If you are a supporter, stop whinging and be positive.  Despair can be as contagious as swine flu . The motto has got to be ‘ let’s look on the bright side’.

Now I come to the most disturbing, and possibly the most destructive, typology. Season ticket holders who go some of the time but rubbish the performances, win or lose, all of the time. Having completed a statistical analysis, there is actually a direct correlation, with high confidence  limits, between their attendance and home points dropped. Basically a negative Brand Payback situation! Again they know who they are and if this makes them see ‘red’, so be it.

Finally, here are some suggestions that the Board may want to take up to help support the team      (and indirectly, our major client’s sponsorship budget).

1. During the season, on Fridays and mid-week match days, everyone wear yellow and green
2. All senior management bonuses to be donated to the club's transfer funds
3. All client entertainment to be held at Delia's or Yellows
4. All work time conversations, or use of the internet, relating to North London or East Midlands football teams to be banned
5. All agency promotional material to be co-branded NCFC

 

'Join me through the keyhole...who works in an office like this?'

Bearded Canary.

 

Comments

[anonymous]

Having just read Bearded Canary’s synopsis of the 08/09 Norwich City Football season I feel he has omitted a significant and potentially dangerous supporter segment within the Agency. That is the Crystal Palace fan who has now become ‘local’ and believes he is a die-hard fan because he owns one yellow polo shirt. Still we’ll see where his true allegiance lies when Norwich are away to Yeovil next season.

The Tricky Tree