‘Come on, there’s a chance, a real chance’ – Wagner’s rallying cry
David Wagner is warning his Norwich City squad they have entered the last chance saloon in the Championship promotion race. City sit three points and one place outside the top six during the international break, after league draws on the road at Huddersfield and Stoke. Wagner knows the club’s stated aim of automatic promotion has […]
Paddy’s Pointers: Five observations from Norwich City’s superb 3-2 win at Millwall
Paddy Davitt delivers his Millwall verdict after a top notch 3-2 Championship comeback win. 1. Statement of intent What a goal from Gabby Sara. What a goalline block from Grant Hanley. What a comeback against a play-off rival who had not lost on home soil in the Championship since September 14. David Wagner had the […]
Paddy’s Pointers: Five observations after Norwich City’s insipid 0-0 draw at Wigan
Paddy Davitt delivers his Wigan verdict after a Championship stalemate. 1. Joyless At the end of this instantly forgettable affair – between two teams who seemingly still have it all to play for in the Championship – one of Wigan’s backroom staff came towards the near touchline and lifted, what you presumed to be his […]
Paddy Davitt: Have City reached the same crossroads?
As honeymoon periods go David Wagner can surely not have had time to unwrap all his presents. Burnley was dispiriting because it underlined the gulf between a team Premier League-bound and one treading water. But, to be fair, the Clarets are not the Championship currency Wagner needs to deal in right now. It still remains a […]
Paddy Davitt: Clarity is Wagner’s biggest asset
Clarity was the most impressive facet of those first two Championship wins engineered by David Wagner. Both at Preston and Coventry it was not only the result, or the number of goals scored that smacked of precision and uniformity, it was the manner they achieved two uplifting victories. The same group of players who by the […]
Paddy Davitt: Dean Smith’s demise is a sad City story
Goodbye, Dean. Not sure you will be missed by too many Norwich City fans. A head coach who won fewer games in charge than Glenn Roeder, and seemingly fewer friends judging by the toxic reaction that accompanied Smith down the tunnel against Blackburn and Luton. A people carrier swept him and his assistant, Craig Shakespeare, […]
Dean Smith has ‘no regrets’ over Blackburn barbs
Norwich City head coach Dean Smith had his say on the fall out and reaction to his fan comments after the Blackburn defeat, ahead of the Championship Boxing night trip to Luton. This is a transcript of what Smith had to say, exclusively to the PinkUn, on the events during and after last weekend’s defeat to […]
Paddy’s Pointers: Five observations after Norwich City’s 2-0 defeat against Blackburn
Paddy delivers his Blackburn verdict after Norwich City’s 2-0 Championship defeat. 1. Toxic The first sustained chants directed towards Dean Smith were clearly audible 10 minutes into the second half. By the end they had reached a crescendo. When the dial shifts from a disgruntled minority then the red warning light should be on inside the Norwich […]
Boro chief Scott aiming to copy City model
City’s former head of recruitment Kieran Scott reckons Middlesbrough’s big name coaches Michael Carrick and Jonathan Woodgate makes his job easier than when he worked with Daniel Farke at Carrow Road. Boro’s head of football is finalising his January window transfer plans to push the Teessiders into the Championship promotion mix, under recently appointed former […]
Paddy Davitt: Smith, Farke and a changing of the guard
Dean Smith clearly had an inkling of the personal as well as the professional challenge that awaited him when he took the Norwich City head coach job. You can peel those layers away, with the benefit of hindsight, for a revealing glimpe of how Smith was thinking upon replacing Daniel Farke as we approach his first […]