For the Judge - take blood pressure pill first

Here's the output from the Toady Propagnda Machine today

Wynn Jones: Worthington's position safe

City's majority shareholder Michael Wynn Jones emerged from last night's potentially testy annual general meeting with his vision of the 'Charlton Project' - one with under-fire Canary boss Nigel Worthingon at its core - still firmly intact.

Wynn Jones and his wife, TV cook Delia Smith, have long made clear their admiration for the Addicks - the way that the the south-east London club have not only entrenched themselves deep within their local community, but have also stuck with manager Alan Curbishley through good times and bad.

With the formal proceedings of last night's Carrow Road meeting lasting just four minutes, a slick, 15-minute video highlighting City's ever-deepening relationship with the people of Norfolk suggested that Norwich were arguably over-taking Charlton on the community relations front.

All eyes, however, were on the second strand of Wynn Jones' thinking - whether, after what all admitted was a dreadful start to the new season, Worthington could still be Carrow Road's Curbishley.

Of the 21 questioners who stood up to quiz the board and the manager in a two-hour Q&A session in front of some 600 shareholders, only one openly declared himself to be firmly in the 'Worthington out!' camp. Higher profilecritics stayed silent in the background as a mood of mystified frustration summed up the night as opposed to the open and poisonous hostility many feared.

?I think it went very well,? said Wynn Jones, re-elected to the board unanimously in the midst of the brief, formal proceedings.

?This was an opportunity for people to put their points of view and I thought Nigel answered them as succintly and as honestly as he can,? said Wynn Jones, with Norwich's tendncy to hit it long and hope Dean Ashton delivers being one of many tactical misgivings aired by a polite and wholly reasonable audience.

?An open meeting like this is probably not the best occasion to talk about people's thoughts on specific tactics and formations - we could have been here to two o'clock in the morning doing that,? said Wynn Jones.

?But I was genuinely impressed with the reasoned support that was evident,? added City's owner, well aware that the club's shareholders bear little resemblance to a younger generation who make the internet message-boards their home.

?This is a different section of the club's constituency, if you like. These are long-standing supporters who, to a large extent, have come to the same conclusions as Delia and I - and, indeed, the board have - that we hold our nerve and keep faith in all the principles that we have adhered to so far.?

The one time Worthington did let rip was when the subject of rumours was raised - in particular those that do the rounds on the message-boards.

?I can honestly say, hand on heart, that these rumours are unfounded,? said the City chief, a big believer in people having the courage of their convictions - above all, putting their real name to a statement.

?I just think it's a shame that people can get away with this type of thing and that no action can be taken against them because they haven't got the guts to put their name to it.?

Hughes backs Worthy

City skipper Andy Hughes strode firmly into line behind under-fire Canary boss Nigel Worthington ahead of this evening's crucial home clash with Cardiff City (7.45pm).

Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday - Norwich's fourth straight defeat as City's miserable autumn stumbles on - ensured that the clamour for Nigel Worthington's head grew ever louder.

Five defeats on the spin would, of course, match the miserable run that preceeded Bryan Hamilton's exit in December, 2000.

There is, however, one big difference. Hamilton quit having lost the dressing room. Hughes insists that Worthington has no such fears - the boys are backing the gaffer.

?How much do we want to win tonight for the manager? Massively,? said Hughes, as form and fortune continue to slip through Worthington's grasp. Dean Marney's return to Spurs after partially rupturing his Achilles tendon on Saturday simply sums up everyone's luck.

?I can't emphasise that enough - just how much we want to get it right for the gaffer and for the staff. We're all going out there to give it 200 per cent. We want to do it.?

Quite why it isn't happening is, of course, the $64 million dollar question - a question that grows in urgency every time City slip nearer the relegation zone as their one-time promotion rivals disappear off over the horizon.

Luck certainly comes into it as Ritchie Partridge's shot on Saturday merely proved. It could have gone anywhere off Robert Green's body. In the event it opted to fall on Chris Brunt's toes and the rest was so much bitter history.

?That's the thing - teams always seem to get those sloppy goals against us; we're not getting them. Maybe it's a case of us being more ruthless, but it would be nice if we get one of those sloppy-type goals.

?But all we can do is keep going and try and keep our heads.?

The fact that Wednesday's late winner had this terrible air of inevitability to it as City, having huffed and puffed in a half decent first half, again found themselves sticking their chin out and falling to Wednesday's sucker punch is something that the Canaries are just going to have to deal with, says Hughes.

?There will always be stages in games when it goes a bit flat, but if people do start thinking that this is not going to happen for us today, they've just got to battle through it,? said the battle-hardened City skipper, whose early days at Reading were dominated by similar calls for the manager's head. Alan Pardew survived that storm and went on to lead the Royals into the Championship.

?It was a similar situation when I first went to Reading, we weren't winning games, people were calling for Alan Pardew's head, but he turned it round and we went on to get promoted.

?And it was just a case of everyone sticking together. The boys want to do this - not just for the gaffer. For ourselves, the staff at the club, people in the city, every one. We want to do it. And we will do it.?

Marney's exit is, of course, another big blow on the injury front, but at least Peter Thorne's timely return from injury offers Worthington one, older head to throw in alongside Dean Ashton. The fact that the former Bluebirds' favourite is up against his old employers tonight may - for once - just find that working in City's favour.

With no Marney, Ian Henderson could find himself on the right with Darren Huckerby out on the left. Ryan Jarvis is still struggling with a knee knock, while Jason Jarrett will be a late check on a foot injury he sustained in training last week.

Worthy fury at faceless rumours

CHRIS WISE

Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington took a furious swipe at the faceless people spreading ?unfounded rumours? about his players to bring a surprisingly smooth annual meeting to life at Carrow Road last night.

The gathering of the club's shareholders had been a rather routine affair, with only the occasional awkward question on City's poor start to the season, when Beverley Johnson stood up and asked the manager about the stories currently doing the rounds about various individuals' private lives.

The rumours have been largely peddled by anonymous contributors to websites and message boards and Worthington spoke of his disgust at their antics as he firmly refuted suggestions that issues outside football were contributing to his side's lack of success on the pitch.

?I can honestly say, hand on heart, that these rumours are unfounded,? the Norwich boss told the 600-plus shareholders who made it standing room only in the Barclay Stand's Norfolk Lounge.

?I think it's disgusting and an absolute disgrace that people should stoop as low as that. It's an easy thing to do because they don't even put their name to what they are saying. They just stick something on a website, message board or whatever - and then run off.

?The individual that has been mentioned is then left with different things hanging against his name.

?None of the rumours that are on the circuit are true. The spirit and camaraderie at the football is first class. And all the rumours that are going round are doing nothing but damage to individual players, which is downright unfair.

?I am sure there are one or two Norwich City fans throwing petrol on the fire, but people from outside the county, who support other clubs, can stick things on as well. I just thing it's a shame that people can get away with this type of thing and that no action can be taken against them because they haven't gut the guts to put their name it.

?They can get away with saying such downgrading things and that really annoys me.?

Worthington's hard-hitting speech drew a big round of applause from the packed gathering. And although the manager did come in for some criticism for his side's poor record this season the mood of last night's meeting was generally supportive, with the majority of shareholders who stood up doing so to voice their support.

The first person to have his way, Peter Worsley, set the tone for much of what was to follow as he gave Worthington his full backing in what has become a regular address to fellow shareholders.

?Nigel is a straight-talking, honest, hard-working manager with a proven track record. There have been one or two hiccups on Delia's yellow brick road this season but I still believe there is a rainbow at the end of it. I say 'don't sack him, back him!?

Terry Pyle, chairman of the Norwich City Shareholder's Association, added: ?Nigel deserves time to put matters right and I am sure he will be given the opportunity to do that.?

Paul Sykes was also firmly behind the man at the helm, saying he was merely having an overdue poor spell after five largely successful years in charge.

?We must look at the bigger picture,? he said. ?I am sure everyone in this room has had a bad time of it at work over the past five years - but I'm sure not too many of them have been sacked for it! Nigel lost five very good players during the summer and since the start of the season he has had a lot of injuries to contend with. I don't think he has been able to name the same side twice in a row. Now it's not the time to make a hasty decision about his future.?

As you would expect from supporters of a club currently 20th in the table after losing three leagues games in the trot - and eight out of 16 in total - there were also some dissenting voices in the audience, although there no was groundswell of opinion suggesting the manager should go.

Alan Mallett accused Worthington of a ?lack of joined-up thinking? on his approach to games while Dennis Ward felt he relied too much on a long-ball game, with hopeful lofted passes towards the head of Dean Ashton. Another shareholder accused the boss of never having a plan B to fall back on when things weren't going well, while fears were also expressed that things could from bad to worse for City during the transfer window if leading players were sold.

The manager answered his critics by stating once again that he was confident of turning things around at Carrow Road.

?The players at this football are first class and have been all the way through, ?he said. ?They let the fans down in one game in a huge way and that was QPR away. In other others there have been some mixed performances, but there have been periods in which we have played well. That's life in football, like it or lump it. I would love my team to go out there and play silky football for 90 minutes every week and win every game. But I'm not Jose Mourinho and I haven't got Roman Abramovich as my chairman. We'll focus on what we are trying to do, believe in what we are trying to do. Yes, we are having a disappointing time at the moment but between the management, board and players - and they are the most important people - the belief that we can turn it around is immense. We'll stay calm, stay focussed and we'll succeed.

?We will turn the corner, there's no doubt about. But people like you, stick with us, keeping believing because it is our club. It's my club too because I am a shareholder just the same as you.?

Majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones had a relatively quiet night, but Delia had her say when one shareholder suggested the club were putting prudence before ambition by not spending enough on new players.

?I had the privilege of sitting next to Sir Bobby Robson on Saturday and when I told him when we went up to the Premiership Nigel had ?4m to spend on transfer fees and wages he could not believe it - that we were competing with clubs who had multi-million pound players with a budget like that.

?That is what we could afford. We have gone the extra mile and I just can't agree that we should go into deeper debt. The survival of the football club is the most important thing. We have seen clubs who have gone up into the Premiership - one not far down the road - who have overspent and then gone into administration. I'd much rather we kept our balance. We are ambitious - and no-one is more ambitious than Nigel.?

Posted By: Old Git, Nov 1, 14:21:36