SO WHAT DO YOU KNOW, ALL YOU SO-CALLED FOOTBALL PUNDITS?

SO WHAT DO YOU KNOW, ALL YOU SO-CALLED FOOTBALL PUNDITS?

Headed by the alarmingly unfunny Mark Lawrenson, the nation’s football experts made Norwich City favourites for relegation when the 2011-12 Premier League season began. However, not only did Paul Lambert’s team finish in a comfortable 12^th position, but in truth they never looked in danger of relegation at any stage. Add to that the facts that they took points off every other team except the top two, and had in Grant Holt the highest scoring Englishman apart from Wayne Rooney, and you begin to see not only the magnitude of Paul Lambert’s achievement but also the sheer ineptitude of the lazy, overpaid couch potatoes employed by the nation’s football media.

‘Ah, that’s just wisdom after the event,’ some may say. But I beg to differ. The truth is that such is the media’s obsession with the Premier League that only those with a genuine interest in football in the lower divisions pay proper attention to developments outside the top flight. Hence there were few if any pundits properly aware of the remarkable work that Lambert and his staff had already done at Carrow Road in the previous two seasons.

Thus it was all too easy simply to trot out the clichés as the season unfolded. Yes Lambert took players without Premiership experience and molded them into a formidable unit. Clearly he and his staff were able, like Brian Clough and his ilk in years gone by, to instil into their charges a belief and team spirit which allowed them to mix it with the higher paid stars of the domestic game’s elite.  However, what they failed to observe was that this had already been going on for two years.

Both League One and The Championship are notoriously difficult from which to gain promotion. Just look at the travails of ‘big’ clubs like Leeds United, both Sheffield teams and former top flight fixtures like Derby County and Nottingham Forest. Yet Norwich City had gained successive promotions at a canter, playing open, expansive football, scoring goals freely and backed by tremendous support. Additionally they had demonstrated a remarkable determination when times were tough, evidenced by their incredible record of scoring late goals in important games.

Any truly astute observer should have recognised Norwich City’s potential and seen that they looked a far more likely survival prospect than several of the other teams whose annual fight against relegation had become almost traditional.

As things unfolded the same lazy ‘journalists’ fell back on timeworn excuses for their inaccurate predictions; Norwich had ‘momentum’ they said, gained from their two years of success, they were apparently unafraid of their opposition as their players were not scarred by previous failures. Sorry, chaps, but these are just facile attempts to cover up a blatant lack of knowledge.

When, around February, I heard the far too smug Lawrenson observe that Paul Lambert did not have the depth of squad to rotate his line-ups like the big teams the end of my tether was close. He had clearly paid no attention to the way that the Canaries were set out in game after game. Such were Lambert’s regular changes of line-up, even during games, that even the most avid Norwich followers were unable to predict his selections. Few, if any, teams adapted as frequently as City to the challenges posed by different opposition.

The BBC’s ‘Match Of The Day’ programme remains the nation’s flagship football programme and eventually its researchers picked up that many Norwich fans were dissatisfied with its coverage of their side. Thus we heard Gary Lineker make reference to this and the overpaid, under-prepared ‘experts’ it employs claimed that they had always given Norwich credit where it was due.

What they seemed not to realise was that their failure lay not in recognising good performances when they arrived but in their surprise and disbelief at them. The same could be said of the crass and excessive response to Swansea City’s similarly impressive Premier League season. Had these football legends been watching properly as Brendan Rodgers developed his philosophy at The Liberty Stadium they would have been less taken aback by what they saw; the Welsh side had already passed their way to promotion week in, week out through the previous season.

At least next year the same pundits will not be able to hide behind the same old ‘breath of fresh air’ platitudes and will be forced to come up with something new. Both Norwich City and Swansea will be faced with the challenge of building upon their impressive first seasons back in the Premier League. Those who explain their performances to the nation will have a challenge, too; to wake up, pay attention and properly to understand what they are watching.