NCFC 25/26 • Birmingham City (A)

Manning is gone. Clement is in. Unfortunately, it's the same old Norwich we've seen this season.

The new manager seems like a shrewd signing from everything I've listened to, and some are surprised we landed him, especially given the position the club is in. He speaks well and is clear in what he wants. He's also said he was aware of the situation he was coming into, and if he wasn't before he certainly is now.

My journey to the game was mostly spent driving though heavy rain, but surprisingly little congestion until I was no more than 200 yards from the car park and I had to get across a main road that was being constantly blocked with traffic from the right, as seemingly nobody in Birmingham understands what a box junction is (it took 20 minutes for the 10 or so cars in front of me to get across and even when I was at the front I needed two light changes). Due to a few minor delays on the way in and losing 20 minutes here I didn't have time for any food before the game, so took an arse about face route to the stadium but got in and went straight to my seat.

There was pyro, fireworks, even a dog mascot hitting the griddy. Certainly more than we have at Carrow Road, but maybe they put on a show for the their 150th anniversary, alongside various videos and short interviews with ex players.

I was hoping the pink third kit may have been a surprise lucky charm. Alas, we conceded within 4 minutes, and were 2-0 just after the 20 minute mark. We managed to pull one back with Kvistgaarden proving to be one of the few positive aspects of this team currently, and everyone was shouting shooot every time Kenny had the ball anywhere near the half way line after his heroics in midweek for Scotland, but conceding the third right before half time really put any hopes of a comeback to bed.

The fourth goal on the counter sealed it and at that point I think most people wanted to go home (alongside "this place is a shit hole, I want to go home", someone eventually cracked out my favourite version of this which is "you have to live here, we get to go home"). Overall everyone seemed in remarkably good spirits actually, resorting more to humour to deal with the situation than outright toxicity (aside from a few Knapper out chants after conceding). The best one was "you can shove your fucking chimneys up your arse", in reference to the host's newly announced stadium plans, which look like the result of asking ChatGPT to turn Battersea Power Station into a football stadium. The chap behind me was also trying to work out who had dropped their guts about 70 minutes in (it wasn't me, not that time anyway). And the fact this sort of thing was the highlight of the day really sums up the game. Nobody seemed to have a clue what to do and as this is I think the heaviest league defeat of the season, there's certainly no immediate new manager bounce. I don't think anyone expected him to have a huge impact immediately, but this was a sobering reminder of where things are at. I'm less concerned about missing the first home win of the season on Tuesday when I'll be at Stamford Bridge.

Leaving the ground I was starving so went to the burger van I had walked past on the way in, paid £8 for a double cheeseburger that may have had some meat content to it but I'm pretty sure was primary made from blended yoga mats and squash balls soaked in grease, and trudged back through traffic to the car park expecting to sit in queues for ages on the way out of town, only to end up on the M6 in no time at all for an uneventful journey home, where I sat and consumed all the usual depressing post match content.

There's certainly a lot of work for Clement, and it'll need to happen fast. Knapper took a lot of responsibility in his round of pressers during the week, but he was right in saying that talk is cheap, and the only thing that matters is winning games. Sadly, I think at this point you could have Pep Guardiola in charge and Norwich would still be playing League One football next season. Lose against Oxford midweek and QPR at the weekend, and I think that's it. It would need promotion form until the end of the season to turn that ship around and I don't think anybody can see that happening. What a sorry situation.