Norwich City Season 2 Part 1
New season brings a stonking new transfer kitty of £1.5m, the club made £16m by winning promotion and they've given me less than 10% to try and stave off relegation.
Approach Darren Huckerby, whose contract is expiring, and sign him on a free, Danny Mills follows him on a free from relegated Leeds who are desperate to clear the wage bill. Centre-back seems the most pressing concern, so splash out 2/3 of the budget on Marco Zanchi from Juventus. Add a couple of loan signings, Dimitar Berbatov who offers a striking alternative to Zema Abbey and Michael Stewart who provides cover in central midfield.
We win 2, draw 4 and lose 1 of the pre-season fixtures. Injuries hamper proceedings; Lionel Morgan fails to play a single minute, Adam Drury only 45, Phil Mulryne is injured in the final fixture and Berbatov was injured when he signed. This is how the squad shapes up.
Opening fixture, a time that mixes optimism with warm sunny weather, well apparently not at Goodison Park where it’s a Baltic 5°C, anyway the optimism part is covered as Abbey sets up Alex Notman for what turns out to be the winner.
We blank (0-0) against Blackburn despite 40 minutes with a man advantage and then struggle against Southampton (0-2). Dominate against Charlton before succumbing to a kick-in-the-balls 89th minute equaliser. Scoring just two goals in the opening four games against 'average' sides could be an early indicator to the issues we face.
A 1-1 draw away at fellow promoted side Coventry shows promise, Mulryne and Morgan have returned to fitness and make the bench as we take on Wolves, they've lost their first five games and are reduced to 10 men after nine minutes but who cares about them, we win and score goals, plural, three of them in fact without reply. Abbey continues to defy the doubters, namely me, he then adds an 11-minute hat-trick in the League Cup for good measure.
Two more draws follow in the league, away to Birmingham and then at home to Man City, this isn't the Pep vintage of City as can be seen by the scorers, but after conceding in 31 seconds and trailing 2-0 for most of the match Huckerby last minute equaliser feels like a winner.
The morale is high and flows into the next match, a brace from Abbey puts us 2-0 up at White Hart Lane, come under pressure after conceding but manage to hang on. So that's 14 points from the opening nine matches, with only one defeat and sitting comfortably at 8th in the table.
Approach Darren Huckerby, whose contract is expiring, and sign him on a free, Danny Mills follows him on a free from relegated Leeds who are desperate to clear the wage bill. Centre-back seems the most pressing concern, so splash out 2/3 of the budget on Marco Zanchi from Juventus. Add a couple of loan signings, Dimitar Berbatov who offers a striking alternative to Zema Abbey and Michael Stewart who provides cover in central midfield.
We win 2, draw 4 and lose 1 of the pre-season fixtures. Injuries hamper proceedings; Lionel Morgan fails to play a single minute, Adam Drury only 45, Phil Mulryne is injured in the final fixture and Berbatov was injured when he signed. This is how the squad shapes up.
Opening fixture, a time that mixes optimism with warm sunny weather, well apparently not at Goodison Park where it’s a Baltic 5°C, anyway the optimism part is covered as Abbey sets up Alex Notman for what turns out to be the winner.
We blank (0-0) against Blackburn despite 40 minutes with a man advantage and then struggle against Southampton (0-2). Dominate against Charlton before succumbing to a kick-in-the-balls 89th minute equaliser. Scoring just two goals in the opening four games against 'average' sides could be an early indicator to the issues we face.
A 1-1 draw away at fellow promoted side Coventry shows promise, Mulryne and Morgan have returned to fitness and make the bench as we take on Wolves, they've lost their first five games and are reduced to 10 men after nine minutes but who cares about them, we win and score goals, plural, three of them in fact without reply. Abbey continues to defy the doubters, namely me, he then adds an 11-minute hat-trick in the League Cup for good measure.
Two more draws follow in the league, away to Birmingham and then at home to Man City, this isn't the Pep vintage of City as can be seen by the scorers, but after conceding in 31 seconds and trailing 2-0 for most of the match Huckerby last minute equaliser feels like a winner.
The morale is high and flows into the next match, a brace from Abbey puts us 2-0 up at White Hart Lane, come under pressure after conceding but manage to hang on. So that's 14 points from the opening nine matches, with only one defeat and sitting comfortably at 8th in the table.
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