In his final days, Dean Smith cited plenty of facts and figures to defend his tenure as head coach.

He talked about possession and expected goals and various other stats.

At the same time, friends of mine who support other clubs who were surprised that I wanted a change at the top pointed out that City at the time were fifth in the league.

Heard of lies, damned lies and statistics?

There was an amusing/annoying/slightly bizarre irony that after Smith packed his bags and before Allan Russell/Stuart Weaver took charge of their first game, City had fallen six places in the table due to other teams winning games in hand.

At the start of 2023 and after another depressingly poor defeat (and yes basically it was against Watford's reserves) we find ourselves uncomfortably in mid table of a pretty average Championship league. (Take Burnley and Sheffield United out and no-one impresses me much at all).

The Pink Un: Norwich City head coach Dean Smith held his Sheffield United pre-match press call at ColneySmith tried to use statistics to say he was punching his weight.

Sadly, a catalogue of facts greatly contradict that and show just what a troubled position Norwich City find themselves in. 

Thanks as always to the excellent @ncfcnumbers account for several of the stats I'm going to use below.

David Wagner now looks certain to be appointed as the new head coach - and what a job he has got ahead of him.

Let me make it 100pc clear I'll be totally behind him and so hope he can succeed.

But we have to face uncomfortable facts.

The Canaries are in 11th place - 20 points off the top, 15 off the automatic promotion places and only 10 ahead of the relegation zone.

The team has now conceded in the 80th minute or later in five out of the last six games.

In the season as a whole, nine goals have been leaked in the final 10 minutes/added on time.

It is the first time Norwich have conceded after the 80th minute in four consecutive games for 35 years.

Surely that says a lot about lack of fitness, poor game management, not using subs well enough and lack of stomach for a fight in the key part of matches?

A successful, cohesive and exciting team is synonymous with late, late goals. The opposite can be said about a side which lacks confidence and robustness.

Compare this year's situation to Daniel Farke's swashbuckling title winners of 2018/19.

A quick bit of maths reveals we scored 26 times in the final 10 minutes of matches in that season.

And it was the impact those goals had in unbelievable victories and even some crucial draws.

Remember those 92nd and 97th minute strikes by Teemu Pukki and Jordan Rhodes in that phenomenal victory over Millwall?

Think back to Onel Hernandez's stoppage time double against Notts Forest.

Then there was THAT 97th minute free kick by Mario Vrancic against Sheffield Wednesday.

I could go on and on....

City have only won one of the last nine games at Carrow Road - with just three victories in the past 15 Championship matches.

Oh and since September 4, there have been more British prime ministers than Norwich home wins.

Even if the Canaries win every remaining game, they can only get 96 points, which was one less than in 2020/21.

As a normally pretty upbeat City fan, I'm even depressing myself as I type.

Without sounding like a paid up member of the Carrow Road retrospect committee, I feel Stuart Webber and the board acted too late in changing things.

The warning signs have been there for such a long period of this season and the new regime will have to wave a pretty special wand to be able get us anywhere near realistic promotion candidates.

In some ways Sunday's FA Cup match against Blackburn is a free hit. A win will give some much-needed confidence, especially as home wins are like hens' teeth.

While I always hate losing cup matches but the significance of the competition has diminished so much over the years.

The real key is that run of league games starting at Preston on January 14.

Come on City. Prove me wrong and start record stats that really matter.

Drumming up support

Where do you stand on the great drum debate?

It sit in the top tier of the River End, so am more than 100 yards away from the man with the drum - but I'm a fan.

There's no doubt that - for obvious reasons - the atmosphere at Carrow Road has been pretty bleak for the bulk of this season, so anything which can lift the mood has to be welcomed.

Would I feel the same if the guy was sitting (or standing) right next to me?

Yes, I would.

It is wrong that when more than 26,000 people are in one place watching a match that there are long periods of time when there is such quietness.

Let's remember Carrow Road is a football stadium, not a library or a museum.

Maybe we need some more musical instruments in other stands....the River End bugle? The South Stand accordion? The City Stand euphonium?

Crazy money

If ever you doubted that football has gone completely mad, consider the salary Cristiano Ronaldo will be on.

Just a few weeks after leaving Manchester United following his infamous TV interview with Piers Morgan, Ronaldo has become the best-paid footballer in history after signing a contract with the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr.

He will earn a scarely believable £172m per year. Yes, you did read it correctly - and that translates to £3.3m a week.

And let's remember that Ronaldo already has personal wealth reportedly heading towards £500m.

When we have billions of people in this world dying of starvation, how can that be allowed to happen?

Millions in this country are being forced to choose between heating and eating as the cost of living crisis bites.

The football authorities have to take a long hard look at themselves and do something about these crazy salaries.