I felt for Nigel Worthington today as I left Carrow Road. I watched him standing forlornly by the side of the pitch rather like the Captain of the Titanic on the Bridge of the ship as it sank. That was, I did feel for him as a person, but as a manager, I felt very let down by him.
With 20 minutes to go, he brought on poor old Andy Hughes, the butt of many fans jeers and jokes, a player who always gives 100%, but is far from consistent enough to gain the fans love or trust. At that moment in the game, the fans getting restless, some players looking as though they had already given up, what the game needed was a player to get the fans going, a 100% effort player (like Hughes), but one the fans would forgive, a local lad, a youth teamer, Ryan Jarvis perhaps ? But no, Worthington sent Andy Hughes out to the lions, and at full time, there was an altercation between two fans and Andy Hughes.
Now I didn't see the incident, but if Worthington was any sort of manager, he would not have put Hughes in that position, and that, to my mind, was exceptionally poor.
For his recent team selections and for some of his signings, as well as the abject team performances, which Worthington always seemed so willing to excuse, Worthington needed to go. But for his exceptionally poor man management, the Hughes issue I highlighted being typical, he should have gone long ago .
3 comments:
Ah yes Andy Hughes hmmm what can I say. The boys in Berkshire laughed all the way to the bank when Norwich paid £500,000 for him. Yes he always gives 100% game in and game out - trouble is he is crap and could not cross a ball if he tried. He must have played in about six different positions whilst at Reading and probably did the least damage at Left Back
Well I'm sorry that Norwich are doing badly, but for Burnley to do well somebody has to. Anyway, having heard the coverage on 606, especially Burnley fans bemoaning the treatment of Worthington by Norwich fans -- which made victory easier for us -- I was wondering whether time in the Prem. had not brought a whole lot of fair-weather fans to Carrow Road. Were they prominent among the boo-boys and girls. Incidentally, I'm also a LibDem, but there hasn't been a LibDem MP in Burnley since about 1906!!!
It isn't just fair weather fans. To be honest, Norwich had 24,000 people there today for a game on Sky and they have had a hard core solid support for a few years now.
I personally think the old "Hard Core" were the more vocal today in their wish to see Worthington go, indeed, the only person I knew who liked Worthington (even today) was a new(ish) fan.
The problem is that it isn't just a few games, Norwich have been like this ever since the Fulham game (last game in the Premiership 2005).
As for Hughes, I feel for him as a person too. He really does try his best, but I'm not sure his best is good enough !
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