Alex Neil celebrated a year in charge of the Canaries last week, interestingly, the first of his 50 games in charge saw the team travel to Bournemouth, our opponents last weekend. There are many parallels that can be drawn between ourselves and Bournemouth, a quick look at the current Premier League table will tell you that much, just two points separate the sides that have both entrusted young British managers to guide their respective teams to Premier League safety.
Not only are the clubs similar in set-up and philosophy but there are also some recognisable faces in the Bournemouth team, that of Andrew Surman and Lewis Grabban, the former being sold only this week for a fee believed to have been around £8,000,000. What a fabulous bit of business that was.
Firstly, what a bloke we have at the helm! Coolness personified in front of a camera (even if he is donning the Errea beanie) yet not afraid to scream out instructions from the sideline. Furthermore, something tells me that when he gets in the dressing room after a poor first half, he isn’t afraid of getting the hairdryer involved, Scottish managers like to do a bit of that it would seem. The man goes about his business in an understated manner, nevertheless, he has a done a terrific job thus far.
It couldn’t have started better really could it? First game away to the top of the league side Bournemouth, and the new gaffer appears from his seat in the stands, makes some tactical tweaks and watches Cameron Jerome fire in a volley from outside the box. It is important not to underestimate what was a fantastic away win.
Last season will always be remembered fondly for the luxury of four games against that team. Four! That’s the stuff of dreams. Neil was in charge of 3 of them and walked away undefeated. I like to think that the gaffer still hasn’t had to buy a pint in the fine city.
Wembley was pretty special. I like Carrow Road, don’t get me wrong but Wembley is a behemoth among stadia (trust me, I was top row!) and was a special host to what seemed to be the easiest game of the season. No, I shouldn’t say that, it’s an injustice to the way Alex Neil and his staff done their homework and set the team up perfectly. We properly ‘did a job’ on that Boro team.
Neil’s transfer activities are something which I believe deserves credit, Brady and Mulumbu are the standout deals for me, two tremendous players. And it is not just the new arrivals, established players such as Alexander Tettey are playing out of their skin, Tettey made the front pages in Norway after that goal at Old Trafford (what a day that was) and backed it up a couple of weeks later with another goal at home against Southampton, the man is on fire.
The next couple of speculation filled January weeks should be interesting but I trust the gaffer and that’s what is important. For too long managers came to our club and packed the squad full of useless players, it made Canary Call a worthwhile listen but otherwise landed the club in trouble. Think of the loan players Roeder bought in, sparking the chant ‘we play in yellow and green, we don’t own our team and its off to League One we go’, The Troy Archibald-Henville’s and Julian Brellier’s of this fine city’s past are long gone and I for one feel like my beloved football team are in capable, progressive and ambitious hands.
