Whatever It Takes 15th NOVEMBER 2009

BLOG 3

WHATEVER IT TAKES?

When David McNally appointed Paul Lambert to succeed Bryan Gunn one thing he said amidst the mayhem of those hectic few days was that promotion this season was a must. The penalty shoot-out win at Swindon  last Tuesday has now set up a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy semi-final and some City fans are wondering whether or not we should start taking the competition a little more seriously. Should we put out a full-strength team at St. Mary’s? Or is the risk of injury to a key player too great despite the massive prize on offer of a Wembley date, more than likely with Leeds United?

To date, although he has repeatedly insisted that he is ‘in it to win it’,  Lambert’s selections for the JPT have indicated that he has viewed it as an opportunity to give experience to youngsters, to reintroduce recovering players to senior action and to have a look at various different permutations. Indeed some people even suggested that the late bookings picked up at Paulton by Grant Holt and Simon Lappin, which guaranteed their one match suspensions would be served in the JPT and not in the all-important league, were clear evidence that Lambert was even prepared to employ a little cynical gamesmanship to preserve the gathering momentum of the Canaries’ promotion push.  Few committed City fans would question this policy and though a few particularly righteous types have said that they did not approve of Lambert’s cynicism, some even calling it cheating, most feel, as I do, that there is little wrong with taking advantage of the system as it stands. Indeed isn’t it about time ‘nice little Norwich’ showed a bit of a mean streak?

However, cheating has been in the news a lot recently hasn’t it? Many of our MPs have set the tone by cheating every tax payer in the country and watching our top Premier League teams week in, week out, and then listening to their apologist managers doesn’t do much to restore your faith. David Ngog’s outrageous dive to earn Liverpool an undeserved point against Birmingham this week sparked understandable outrage. Would the penalty have been given at the other end?  Or at St. Andrew’s? Who knows? What is indisputable is ‘big club syndrome’. Referees are intimidated by certain managers and clearly favour the big sides at key times. They probably don’t do this deliberately, they just aren’t strong enough to withstand the pressure from a glowering Benitez, a ranting  Ferguson or a brooding Wenger. I well remember Darren Huckerby racing clear at Carrow Road in our home game against Arsenal in our  2004-5 Premiership season only to be virtually rugby tackled by the last Arsenal defender. We howled for the obligatory red card to be produced but to be honest in a Norwich v Arsenal game it was only ever going to be yellow, wasn’t it?

So before anybody accuses Paul Lambert of cheating or gamesmanship let’s just get things in perspective.  Ensuring that your best players serve a one match ban in a lesser competition than the league hardly stands alongside the blatant ‘simulation’ of Ngog, Drogba and the like. Nor does it bear comparison with the pressure exerted upon officials by various Premier League managers. There are obviously managers (and players) in the game who will do ‘whatever it takes’ to achieve success, even if it means cheating. Anybody who remembers Don Revie’s Leeds will surely know what I mean  - read David Peace’s ‘the Damned United’ or watch the excellent movie if  you don’t – but Norwich’s ‘playing of the system’ can hardly be called cheating.

Holt and Lappin were able to return in the crucial, if somewhat hard-fought win over Tranmere (which, ironically, saw City awarded what some might call a ‘home’ penalty) that keeps us in touch with the top few in the table. Whilst the lure of Wembley might cloud the issue a little when Lambert and his ‘think tank’ sit down to select the team for the JPT semi I’m sure that Mr. McNally’s assertion that promotion this season is the club’s main goal won’t be far away from their thinking. The thoroughness which has characterised the team’s preparation and performance under the present regime should guarantee that they will, hopefully without cheating or breaking any rules, continue to do ‘whatever it takes’ to keep the promotion push on course.

If that happens to include a trip to Wembley then there won’t be many complaints from City fans.