Premier League: how things change...!

We are now twelve weeks through the 2012-13 football season.  For me, so far, this has been a tale of two teams, and their changing fortunes...

Yesterday, Norwich City beat Sunderland in the Premier League - extending an unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions.

Impressive as this is in itself, a glance at the League Table shows just how much of an achievement this is:

Premier League Table as of 3rd December, 2012

Norwich City are currently 12th in the Table (the same position in which we finished last season).  We haven't lost in eight Premier League games, and that includes victories of heavyweight clubs Manchester United and Arsenal.  What really stands out for me, though, is that we suffered some pretty heavy defeats at the beginning of the season - 5-0 to Fulham, and 5-2 to Liverpool - but that now, we are ahead of Fulham in the Table, and level on points with Liverpool.

At the start of the season, I had to read, and listen to, a lot of people telling me how badly Norwich were playing, and how we were almost certain candidates for relegation this year.  OK, we had a shaky start to the season, but I don't think it was ever as bad as some people tried to make out, when they were piling on the Norwich-slating bandwagon - and there were some pretty close results, even early on (like the 1-1 draw with Spurs, which could so easily have been a City win).

I think it just took a while to settle into the new season, following a turbulent summer with a change of manager, new players coming into the squad and doubts over the futures of other players - but we've got there now, and we're in good form; the fact that we're able to keep pace with the likes of Liverpool, even after the 5-2 thrashing they gave us, just shows how competitive we can be.

It has been just the reverse for poor old Chelsea, of course.

After such a bright start to the season, Chelsea hit a slight wobble, panicked, and sacked their manager Roberto Di Matteo - in my opinion, a very poor decision.  Bringing in Rafael Benítez instead was an unpopular choice with the fans, but I can hardly believe that there is already talk of Benítez' being replaced by formed Chelsea boss Avram Grant!  Admittedly, a 0-0 draw with Fulham, and a 3-1 defeat at West Ham (I swear more Premier League matches are London Derbies than are not London Derbies?!) is an inauspicious start to Benitez' reign, but surely even [famously tempestuous Chelsea owner] Roman Abramovich can see that you need to give a new manager more than just two matches in which to make an impact?!

The managerial merry-go-round at Chelsea brings nothing but instability and a lack of direction, and until Abramovich starts putting the club's needs ahead of his own whims and fancies - instead of sacking a manager who is the current holder of the Champions' League and the FA Cup, whose team is firmly ensconced in the Top Four of the Premier League, and who is adored by the fans - I can't really see things improving for them.

#MOTD - Big club bias on the BBC

As a Norwich City fan, I cannot agree with the BBC's Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker that it has been "a brilliant start to the Premier League season".  Still searching for our first Premier League win of the season, we (Norwich) have been very poor at time, while at other times just unfortunate.  However, at no point have we actually ceased to exist...

Why, then, was there no mention of Norwich in last night's Match Of The Day?

The Chelsea/Norwich game was the first to be featured on Match Of The Day last night.  They showed clips of all the highlights, and then interviews with both managers.  And then Lineker, along with Alan Shearer and Martin Keown, gave us their analysis of the game - or rather, their analysis of Chelsea.  Not a word about Norwich was there to be heard in the analysis.

Yes, Chelsea beat us 4-1 (and fair play to them - they're a great team, and likely to be challenging for the title this year) but we weren't exactly invisible in the game.  In fact, it was Norwich's Grant Holt who opened the scoring in the game.  Is that not even worth a mention?!

The one-sided analysis consisted of the three presenters fawning over Chelsea's performance: "oh, look at Chelsea's fluid style.  Aren't they so special?  They're like Britain's answer to Barcelona!"  (A less surprising comparison than you may think, given how many Spanish or Brazilian players feature in Chelsea's first team squad.)

The analysis is meant to give us the experts' opinion on all the pivotal moments of the game - not give us the chance to listen people waxing lyrical about one of the teams, while the other team gets totally ignored.  I'm not bitter about Chelsea winning the game (I'm disappointed, yes - but not bitter) and don't resent the Match Of The Day analysis showing their goals, and discussing their style of play - as I've already said, they are definitely title contenders this year, so they deserve the plaudits they received last night.  I just feel that there may have things which Norwich players did that deserved a mention too: Holt's goal, in particular, and some very impressive saves by John Ruddy too.

Personally, I enjoy watching football, but I'm getting a bit tired of the bias towards the so-called "big clubs" on the BBC; it takes two teams to make an exciting game of football, and I believe an experts' analysis should be impartial.

A quick note on Grant Holt's #NCFC Transfer Request

Today, it emerged that Norwich City Football Club striker Grant Holt had put in a transfer request to the club, which was subsequently rejected.  As a Norwich City fan, I'd like to say a word of warning to other fans, who are probably just as shocked and worried by this news as I am...

At present, very few people know what is behind this surprise move.  It is hard to imagine a player wanting to leave a club whose profile has been raised almost beyond recognition in the past few years - a club where he has been the top scorer for three consecutive seasons, and where he is adored (idolised, even?) by the fans and players alike.  For these reasons, it's hard to make any kind of judgements about this bizarre situations - and it would certainly be advisable not to jump to any conclusions.

What worries me most of all, though, is some of the comments from Norwich "fans" about this situation, which are now emerging on Twitter and on Facebook.  I am shocked at how quick some people have been to turn on Holt, and at the vitriol of some of the comments directed towards him.

Personally, I would urge Norwich fans to show some restraint.  Nobody understands this sudden move, and I am just as saddened by it as the next Canaries fan - believe me! - but are we showing ourselves, and our club, in the best light by such tribalism?

This is clearly a very strange sequence of events.  I hope very much that Holt will stay.  He has been a huge part of Norwich City Football Club for the last couple of seasons, and I would love to see that continue.  Some of these comments are hardly the kind of talk that's likely to make someone want to stick around, though, are they?

These past few years have been amazing for all of us.  This has been a fantastic time to be a Norwich City fan; back-to-back promotions, followed by Premier League survival, has been the stuff of dreams.  We have surprised and impressed everyone with our performance in Premiership this season, and have raised the profile and reputation of our club almost immeasurably - surely the worst thing we can do is to undermine all that hard work now, by having a little temper-tantrum over this Transfer Request business?

Having impressed the world of English Football so favourably over the past few months, and with a second season in the Premier League to consider already, we can't afford to sour the image of our club by becoming angry and embittered with our top striker, before we're even aware of all the facts.

So, although I completely understand the feelings of confusion and hurt that some fans are experiencing right now, I would appeal to their rational side instead; this has been the most incredible season for us, and the success the club has experienced recently has been fully deserved - please, please don't spoil all that now!