Thousands of angry fans will give Nigel Worthington the red card when they take to the streets in a protest against the under-fire manager before Sunday's must-win clash with Burnley. Download your red card hereDownload your red card here
Thousands of angry fans will give Nigel Worthington the red card when they take to the streets in a protest against the under-fire manager before Sunday's must-win clash with Burnley.
The pre-match protest organised by the Worthy Out campaign (www.worthyout.co.uk) will take place outside the directors' box on Carrow Road before Sunday's game in front of the Sky cameras.
Supporters have been urged to download special red card posters for the protest which is still going ahead despite the club's owners giving Worthington just two games to “rectify the situation” in a shock 113-word statement on Monday.
Mark Thorndyke, 37, who is behind the Worthy Out campaign, said up to 3,000 red cards had been prepared for the game and would be used inside the ground at periods during the match as well as in the protest before kick-off.
“Hopefully the Sky cameras will pick them up and upset a few of the board members and make them realise that the fans want something done,” he said.
Some fans questioned whether the protest should go ahead in light of the unprecedented statement issued by joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones, which followed Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Plymouth, which might have meant less people turning out.
But organisers have insisted the protest must go ahead to let Worthington and the City board know the strength of feeling that exists among many supporters.
Mr Thorndyke said: “These two games are ones we should be winning if we were genuinely up for promotion. The bluff though is to make it sound like pressure is being put on Worthington and that with the forthcoming live game on TV the last thing they want is fans being, shall we say, disruptive.
“If we don't protest, then some of that much-needed pressure gets taken off Worthington. It's better having two forces on him than one.”
Worthington has so far refused to comment about the shock statement and said he would deal with the protests and “protect the players as much as I can”.
But even if the embattled boss manages to ride out Sunday's protest storm, fans are already plotting to give Worthington another hostile afternoon in the game against QPR on October 14 in what could be his last match as manager.
“I know a lot of fans going down to QPR,” said Mr Thorndyke. “I've got tickets hopefully to see him off shall we say. It's hard - we want to win because we're Norwich but it's a case of playing badly to get a change for the better.”
Paul Meek, 46, who has been supporting Norwich since 1972, will be one of the thousands of supporters protesting on Sunday.
He said: “We backed off at the beginning of the season after our good start, but we're back to the situation we had at the end of last season - we've never taken the campaign (Worthy Out) into the ground, but I think it might happen on Sunday.”
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