Chris Goreham: It's time for Farke to repay Norwich City's faith in him

Ditching the car on a match day isn’t an attempt to flaunt my green credentials or appeal to the delegates at COP26. It’s been a purely selfish move.

It means being able to beat the Premier League traffic jams which have returned along with the supporters this season. It provides an opportunity to clear a head that can be busy with the result and the commentary just gone. A chance to come to terms with all of those things I wish I’d said on the radio or the questions that didn’t occur to me in time for the post-match interviews.

The best thing about those strolls to and from the ground is the ability to reconnect with a proper football atmosphere. Arriving at a stadium earlier than most supporters, leaving later than them and being on the gantry during the game is a privileged position.

The pay-off is an enforced separation from the actual beating heart that is the Carrow Road crowd on a match day. Having a little taste of the pre-match anticipation, spotting the yellow and green scarves on people, the overheard conversations about score predictions, the smell of onions from the burger stands near the ground, it’s all part of the magic that can be missed when you work at football.

Trudging back on Sunday evening after City’s latest defeat at the hands of Leeds United there were two distinct tribes on the busy streets. Some had been to the match, others were heading out trick or treating. Unfortunately, the football crowd looked more haunted than those out celebrating Halloween.

Daniel Farke has been backed to turn things around at Carrow Road by the City hierarchy. (Image: ©Focus Images Limited www.focus-images.co.uk +44 7813 022858)

It may only be 10 games into the season but the yellow and green ghost stories are feeling all too familiar. Norwich City are becoming Premier League pumpkins again. If you’re not already watching through the cracks in your fingers, you soon will be.

Even the rare treats don’t stay sweet for long. What a moment Andrew Omobamidele’s first senior goal should have been. It was the first Norwich City goal in the league in front of a packed Barclay since before the first lockdown. Yet the 19-year-old was only allowed to bask in the glory of an important equaliser for a matter of moments before Leeds scored their winner.

Another comeback never looked likely. For all Norwich’s endeavours they struggled to create many clear-cut chances. Stuart Webber produced a stirring defence of the way City have conducted their business over the summer when he spoke last week. There is a genuine belief around the club that they have built a squad capable of making a real fist of this Premier League relegation battle.

Yet, after the game, Daniel Farke felt the need to spell out again the difficulty of competing in the top flight for a club like Norwich City.

Canaries' supporters know from bitter experience how hard it is but even they expected better than just two points and three goals from 10 games.

If the recruitment has been as shrewd as Webber believes, supporters have every right to question why that quality isn’t being converted into points. Nobody thought Norwich would be troubling the top half of the Premier League but neither did they expect to be eight points adrift of safety before October was out.

Daniel Farke has certainly been afforded more leeway than most managers at most other clubs.

He needs to find a way of repaying that faith, and quickly, or the strong bond he has built with the Carrow Road faithful is going to be damaged beyond repair.

Farke has done an awful lot of good for the club and delivered many memorable moments. The Premier League is brutal and unsentimental. As soon as sticking with a manager feels like a more controversial decision than sacking one it’s a problem. While Farke is still in charge there is always the chance of redemption but the good will is ebbing away and it’s sad to see.

There was so much going round in my head after getting back from Carrow Road on Sunday that I had to take the dog out to have an extra walk round the block to process it all.

Brains trust

It was enjoyable to be part of Norwich Science Festival last week.

So what crazy experiments did they want to carry out on the mind of a football commentator? Thankfully I didn’t need to go near a Bunsen burner or any test tubes.

Instead, I hosted a debate called ‘Football and the Brain’. It was about some of the important work going on at the University of East Anglia looking at possible links between professional sport and diseases like dementia.

Former Norwich City player Jeremy Goss and Freya Holdaway, who captained Crystal Palace Ladies, shared some incredible stories of how they played on despite suffering numerous blows to the head.

It’s an issue that has been put into the spotlight in heart breaking circumstances by people like Chris Sutton who lost his own father and fellow former Canary, Mike. There are numerous other examples of ex-professionals who have gone on to suffer neurodegeneration as they’ve got older.

Dr Michael Grey is leading a big study at the UEA called The Scores Project which aims to better understand the risks that come from playing sport. Several former Norwich players, including Jeremy Goss, are helping with that research.

It’s an important study but one that has had to fight for funding. Given the number of stakeholders involved in football there seems to be a collective fear of what might be discovered further down the line.

No individual club or governing body wants to find itself accused of not protecting players from what could amount to an industrial illness.

The questions here and the intention of The Scores Project are more important than any potential legal action. This isn’t about apportioning blame. The key now is to understand what has happened in the past in a bid to be able to better protect the players of today and the future.

One would hope it’s an ambition that everyone involved in football could unite behind.