The Price We Pay

As Norwich fans, we’ve found ourselves in a strange and unenviable position. Our team is bottom of the Premier League – but it doesn’t feel like they deserve to be there.

For one thing, there’s been some truly outstanding individual performances. At the time of writing no English midfielder has scored more Premier League goals than Todd Cantwell this season (he’s one of our own, in case it hasn’t been said enough). Emi Buendía has created 62 chances and is rapidly catching the attention of the league’s big boys.

There are moments when the Farkeball of last season appears, and suddenly it’s sublime passes and flicks and tricks that make you think ‘how the hell did he manage to pull that off?’

Then there are the moments that leave you with your head in your hands.

The capitulation against Sheffield United.

Christoph Zimmermann, always the last man off the pitch, heading straight down the tunnel.

The loss to Wolves, which came in a game where we played some of our best football of the season.

Connor Wickham scoring his first Premier League goal since November 2016 to deny us our first three points at home since September.

But as fans, we’re not angry with the players or the coaching staff – which to outsiders looking in must seem a bit strange. Take Watford: four managers, including Hayden Mullins in a caretaker role, have graced the home dugout of Vicarage Road so far this season.

Everton, Arsenal, Spurs, and West Ham have also given the managers they started the season with the proverbial boot. Daniel Farke on the other hand doesn’t seem like he’s about to go anywhere. He’s not even backed by the bookies as the next Premier League manager to get the sack, an honour which goes to either Eddie Howe or Dean Smith.

The reality is the overwhelming feeling around Carrow Road isn’t one of anger (unless VAR is involved, but I’m trying to steer clear of that). It seems almost impossible to imagine looking down at the pitch and genuinely believing that these players don’t deserve to be playing for Norwich, or that Farke is no longer the right man for the job.

You’re unlikely to hear anyone say ‘he just doesn’t get what it means to wear the shirt,’ because we know they all do. We’ve watched this team rise up from being written off by their former clubs, by the media, by the fans, into deserved title winners. We’ve formed a bond with them.

That, of course, is what’s making this season so tough.

It would almost be easier if the players weren’t giving it everything. How simple it would be if we could point at the pitch and say ‘well, he clearly doesn’t fancy it.’ If we could claim ‘Farke’s lost the dressing room.’ If this team had never shown they were good enough to stay in the Premier League.

This is not a team full of new faces, untested at Carrow Road. Instead it’s the same familiar players who gave us so much joy, who provided us with moments we’ll never forget. It’s those dizzy highs that are making the current lows sting so much more. It is the relationship and the bond we’ve formed with this squad that makes seeing their heads drop at the end of another gutting result that much harder to take.

The same bond that makes every low point feel like a punch to the stomach also makes the high points that much sharper. Teemu Pukki’s hat-trick. Emi Buendía making a mockery of the Man City defence. Vrançic celebrating his long-awaited return to the starting eleven with a goal against the Champions League finalists. It is the fact that we’ve seen these players grow from relative unknowns that makes their triumphs that much sweeter.

This isn’t something we can take for granted.

Granit Xhaka, Arsenal’s captain, found himself being booed off the pitch in a draw against Crystal Palace, and turned to swear at the fans.

Manchester United fans seem to relish complaining that their players ‘will never understand what it means to play for United.’

Everton fans sung ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ to their own manager after losing against us in November.

At Carrow Road, this team are clapped off the pitch regardless of the result. The flags in the Barclay still fly. On The Ball, City, is still sung loud and proud.

There is little doubt that the lows of this campaign would not cut as deep if we didn’t care about the players or the manager. Seeing the looks of despair on their faces after a VAR decision (sorry), or a goal conceded, or a match lost would mean less.

It’s the price we pay for a connection that is so unique in English football. Maybe it would be easier if we could all leave the ground complaining that our players don’t care, our manager hasn’t got a clue, our owners aren’t interested. But they do, he does, and they are.

We’re lucky to have this team and this manager, to appreciate them before they move on to bigger and better things. One day the individuals who have given so much to this club will be gone, and we’ll be left with the memories they’ll leave behind for us.

Yes, it’s difficult to see our team rock bottom of the league when we know they shouldn’t be. It’s not easy to feel the pain of defeat, but under the circumstances if we didn’t feel the lows so keenly, the highs wouldn’t mean so much.

All football fans want to believe they can influence the result of a match. Wearing lucky socks or walking a certain way to the ground isn’t going to do it. For now, all we can do is back our team until the very end, and hope that they start getting the results we know they deserve.