Leicester Away - Isn't This What It's Supposed To Be Like?

ISN’T THIS WHAT IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE?

OK I’m not claiming to be the only one who’s noticed it. In fact everyone’s been talking about it. Just how ‘together’ as a bunch are the current Norwich City team? When the dressing room camaraderie actually becomes palpable, when we in the stands can see it, can actually feel it, what a massive positive force it can prove to be.

At Leicester last night we saw one of the most memorable away performances for a long time. Others will report of the game itself – Wes’s brilliance, Wilbrahimovic’s first goal, Crofty’s energy, Foxy’s passing, Wardy and Zak’s aerial domination etc – but what will stay with me is the positive energy being generated by St. Paul and his men.

Wilbrahimovic has been waiting for that goal. He’s come close a few times, even in the last seconds against  Preston, and it must have been weighing on his mind. How good for him, then, not only to break his duck but to see the enthusiasm with which his team mates celebrated his success. Even after the final whistle he was being congratulated by those who had been on the bench. That’s what makes dressing rooms tick.

And Leon Barnett has been out since his hamstring injury against Reading. Yet when Holty smashed home the penalty last night the team goal celebration, though not original, was a tribute to Barnett’s recently born offspring. He has not been forgotten. He’s still part of things.

It is possible, too, for us to feel part of it all. Maybe the instant nature of communication today helps – we quickly hear interviews with manager and players for example- but I, and I have heard other fans say this, can never recall a time supporting City when I have felt quite so much that this is my team. I have written before about how our captain seems like one of us, an ‘ordinary hero’ and if he has the same effect on his team as he seems to have on the fans then I can understand why they are so motivated. The players need us to support them and they seem to want us to be part of things. Their goal celebrations, their energy, their responses to our support both on and off the pitch suggest a togetherness with us which is genuine. It is hard (and painful) to remember now Glenn Roeder’s alarming verbal assault on a fan at a formal meeting, his superior ‘detachment’ born of a completely different attitude to the fans from the one which Paul Lambert has generated.

At Leicester last night City fans enjoyed themselves. Perhaps forgetting the pressures of work, financial stresses, health worries or any of the other day-to-day issues which might touch our lives negatively we not only saw but almost became part of a great away performance. We cannot play for Norwich City, though there won’t be many of us who have not, at one time or another, dreamed of pulling on the yellow shirt, but we can sing, clap and roar our support for the team. We can urge them on with our energy to go a bit further, run that little harder and put in that extra tackle. The consequent performance on the field and the ‘feelgood factor’ off it, possibly explain just why we bother. We are football supporters for nights like last night. We put up with the bad times for exactly nights like Leicester and seasons like this.

Paul Lambert has consistently spoken of the importance of the fans. He then talks of the players. The fact that there is now a perceived relationship between the two is proving crucial at this critical time of the season. Our lives are being enhanced by their performances and their football is being powered by our support.

 Isn’t this what it’s supposed to be like?