Football

Delia delivers warning shot

"A warning shot across the bows of the good ship Worthington."

With those words the editor of the Canary fanzine Y’army summed up the two paragraph statement issued on Monday, 25 September, 2006 by majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones.

They say supporters deserve more and Jon Day, speaking on BBC Radio Norfolk certainly agrees.

"I think the supporters are becoming increasingly unhappy and if you're one of the merry band that traipsed down to Plymouth on Saturday I imagine absolutely mortified would be the words," he said.

"I think last season it was probably pertinent to give the support to Nigel because of the fact that teams often suffer a hangover when they come down from the Premiership, but I think now we've got a very good squad the time is now to start performing.

"It's like having a Ferrari and driving at 40 mph with the squad we've got and the performances we're getting out of them," he added.

Club statement

The club sent out the statement and made it clear that there would be no interviews about it. 

"We expect this situation to be rectified at our next home game on Sunday and at our next away game," it said, giving a clear timetable to Nigel Worthington.

It comes as a contrast to last season when the manager enjoyed unwavering support from the boardroom.

"I think there is a crack opening up and I think it's fast becoming a chasm," said Day.

"I think the board has finally realised the time has come for a change, if not in terms of the manager just yet, in terms of the results and performances that are expected of this football club.

"And time is fast running out.

"The parachute payments are going to run out this year and once that happens if we're still floundering around in mid-table we're going to lose our best players to Premiership sides and have turned full circle and become a run-of-the-mill football club again," he said.

Time to go

Day said he thought the time had now come for the manager to bow out gracefully.

"Nigel Worthington has probably run his course at Norwich City Football Club," he said.

"I think he's done a very good job. But now would be the time to leave and resurrect his career elsewhere and leave Carrow Road with his dignity intact."

So are these warning shots across the bows of the good ship Worthington?

Day reckons the manager is feeling the pressure.

Maybe rather than warning shots it would be useful to think of the SS Worthington, steaming along, and picking up a submarine on the radar.

It could yet sail away. Or it could fire a torpedo and sink Worthy for good.