Moxey Quits (?) – Big Dunc’s Verdict

This season is just plain weird.
Top of the league, manager of the month, couldn’t beat an egg, managers a clown, chairman in sequins, Brady departs with a “meh”, no-impression Canos leaves to Norfolk-wide derision, lb90,000 payments, lb1 shares and now Moxey jacking it in after 6 months.

Cue widespread joy.

Really though? In all honesty I’m not sure we’ve a huge amount to judge him on. People will point to the outrageous ticket prices for Southampton, the speech at the AGM that would have sounded more sincere had Jimmy Carr delivered it and THAT video. Added to that he remained somewhat distanced from supporters groups and social media did for him. During a poor period on the pitch (one we might still be in the midst of) he became a somewhat convenient dumping ground for the overflowing discontent.

It’s easy to see why. He wasn’t likeable. From his greasy, almost spivvy, appearance through the over rehearsal and lacklustre delivery of his soundbites all the way to his apparent head-below-the-parapet positioning at our worst. He didn’t display obvious leadership, he lacked charisma and he never won the fans trust.

There might be a bit of the Chris Hughton about it all though. Just as Hughton followed Lambert, Moxey found that the shoes he had to fill weren’t your average size 9s and he never looked like being able to.

McNally wasn’t universally liked but he was respected; the feeling was that Moxey was neither.

That said, he stayed until the end of the window, got the Brady business done, secured a record fee and facilitated the Eyes Wildschut deal. At the least that suggests that he has professional integrity and that rowing with Delia or not, he had enough respect for the club and pride in himself to get the job done.

Irrespective of that, it’s clear that swathes of fans, Delia and Jez have all seen enough to decide it isn’t working. Reports have already surfaced that Jez and the board didn’t see eye to eye, some of our fans will be between a rock and a hard place deciding which of those sides to pick, but it isn’t unheard of in business for a CEO to be all at sea with owners very quickly. The demeanour of Moxey never felt very Norwich City, the fans appeared to grasp that very early.

It’s nigh on impossible to make a rational judgment about his abilities in the role; he wasn’t here long enough.

But, the fact he’s gone so soon leads me to two, one of which is admittedly speculative, conclusions. Firstly, it has been a dreadful appointment and we need to learn from it and do it better this time around. Secondly, it appears to me that the board would rather find a new CEO than a new manager. That could be a damning indictment on how replaceable they felt Moxey was or a huge indicator of the esteem they hold Alex Neil in.