It is June/July and many fans are unhappy. The directors are very concerned. Norwich City sack the manager and a within 12 hours a new man is appointed.

It is June/July and many fans are unhappy. The directors are very concerned. Norwich City sack the manager and a within 12 hours a new man is appointed. The size of the directors' board is increased at NCFC.

No new players have been signed by the Canaries. The World Cup is played. England win.

Having been given local papers from 1966 it has been a fascinating read contrasting then and now. The sacked manager was Ron Ashman, one of City's great players, who had seen seven managers come and go in his playing career. By the end of the 1965-66 season poor performances after Easter had seen crowds drop by more than 50 per cent to under 8,000.

His successor was Lol Morgan, reported by the Eastern Evening News as, “one of soccer's bright young managerial stars”.

The paper spoke of “new thinking” at the club with the appointment of Arthur South and Kent Howard to the board of directors.

The chairman, Geoffrey Watling stated: “We are doing all we can to win back our supporters to Carrow Road.” However, the dismissal of Ron Ashman was not seen as a solution to the problem by all supporters with some threatening to stop attending matches.

Whatever the solutions favoured by supporters this summer to what all would agree was a wretched, disappointing and disastrous 2005-06 season it is amazing that the support and love for NCFC means that season ticket sales remain so strong. These are indeed true Canary fans.

However, it is clear that this situation will change if results and the quality of football do not give the club a fair crack at promotion this season.

During the summer months NCISA has continued to express its concerns to the directors. The committee are seeking to provide an October AGM which will allow our members to ask their questions and have their say.

The club's response to last season and subsequent actions will not have pleased all supporters and only time will show if the directors and Nigel Worthington are on the right lines for 2006-07.

The first 10 games this season have a significance even greater than the 10 that followed the arrival of Huckerby and Crouch on loan. So it is On the Ball, City for players, club and fans.

And did the change of manager in 1966 make the difference? No. Lol Morgan's team could only finish 11th, ninth and then 13th before he made way for Ron Saunders, but that is another story.