Opinion: 'Who cares? We care, David!'
Matthew Soakell, North East Canary
I’ve criticised David Wagner this season when I feel he’s been worthy of criticism and I’ve also praised him for his second half of the season turn around. Do I think Norwich City finishing in the play-offs is a success? No. Do I think given that where we were at Christmas, that Wagner’s done well in 2024? Yes. That said, as Norwich limped over the line on Saturday at St Andrew’s after a dismal performance, my first thought was "If we play like that against Leeds, we haven’t got a chance". So when I heard Wagner say “It wasn’t great but to be totally honest, who cares?” after the game, honestly I was seething! And I’ll tell you for why…
My frustrations aimed at City’s head coach are nothing personal; he comes across as a lovely man who I’d have a pint with. But we all know the play-offs are all about momentum and we’ve lost any possible momentum in our last three games. Two draws and a lacklustre defeat meant we passed up the chance to finish 5th and with it, there was a fair bit of optimism and positivity sucked out of the fans as a consequence.
I know we’re in the play-offs.
We might get to Wembley.
We might get promoted.
I’m not saying let’s be negative — far from it!
However, Wagner’s comments were almost him saying “I’ve done what I was tasked with doing and I don’t care how we’ve done it”. This surely isn’t the attitude to have going into two - hopefully three - huge games?
If we were in the Premier League and we’d survived by playing poorly but we’d got over the line, then the sentiment would be totally different. But we aren’t. We have one of the highest wage bills in this league and fans - rightly or wrongly - demand more than what we’ve seen against Bristol City, Swansea City and Birmingham City of late.
So here’s hoping that Wagner, his team and staff are up for Sunday’s game against Leeds United. I know the fans will be. We definitely care. And I know that he cares, but there are ways and means to get or keep fans onside; there are ways and means to go into the play-offs; Wagner’s not quite helped himself with either of these, but let’s be loud and proud this weekend and show the whole footballing world watching just how much we care!
You can listen to David Wagner's full post-match interview after the Birmingham game here.
