Sunday 9 October 2011

Trialist Report - Mark Fotheringham



News broke this week that Greg Abbott's obsession with central midfielders was being satiated by a trial signing of ex-Norwich captain Mark Fotheringham. Canaries fan Andrew Woods gives 'Keith Mincher' the lowdown. It's not pretty reading...

When midfielder Mark Fotheringham joined Norwich City in 2007 as a free agent (he had played three games for Celtic), he was one of a slue of sub-standard Caledonians that fellow Bhoy Peter Grant brought to the club in a bid to turn Carrow Road into ‘Fortress Shortbread’. Yet, when clipboard-waving Grant – his shortbread empire soon turned to mush – and his successor Glenn Roeder left the club, the man they nicknamed ‘Fozzy’ somehow defied natural selection by both escaping the inevitable cull and retaining his captaincy (cheers Roeder) under his third boss Bryan Gunn. Organ grinders came and went, but the monkey remained, clashing his symbols.

Fozzy was the sort of player fans shied away from for fear that he’d sign their shirts. A man so average, even his ‘Fozzy Flick’ which saw the ball chipped over both his and his opponent’s heads – was a pathos-inspired plaudit from the terraces for this sometimes laughably awry ‘trick’. Seventy six appearances, with just four goals, this was not a schoolboy’s poster-pin-up. Fotheringham had all the grace and flair of a creaky filing cabinet rusting in a ditch.

Fozzy was no Joey Barton either, with his rather lacklustre backtracking and mistimed tackles. Norwich City were not a great side during this period it is true, but Fotheringham seemed to embody the mind-numbing limitations of the squad. A poor passer without a creative bone in his body, Fozzy huffed and puffed all over the park but to no avail. To put it politely, he was less van de Vaart than Van Morrison.

Fozzy’s final game, saw him booed off as he was substituted and stripped of his captaincy. Fotheringham angrily marched down the tunnel for his early bath, in a passion-filled hissy fit that gave the City fans their first – and last – taste of fireworks from the man. His final Fozzy Flick involving a half-filled bucket of water.

11 comments:

  1. Poorest captain of the poor Norwich side

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  2. To put it politely, 'Fozzy' is absolutely useless. Steer well clear would be my advice!

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  3. a con man, how he thinks he can play football is beyond me. He is no more a footballer than my granny. Think she would do far better.

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  4. One of the worst players I have ever seen play for Norwich (and I've seen plenty of shite) and certainly the worst captain. You don't want him at Carlisle.

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  5. Terrible footballer with an attitude to match. Send him packing I say...

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  6. Yes we all know that he wasn’t generally very good, and got the hump and stormed off down the tunnel when he was subbed off at home to Coventry. But there was something there as a footballer and we did see it as City fans a few times. In the 3-2 win at Luton, he came on as a sub for Dickson Etuhu who was having one his disinterested games and he helped drive us to the first of two crucial victories that helped preserve our Championship status. In the first home game of the 2007/08 season he came on as half time sub against Southampton and he played well helping City come back from goal behind to a 2-1 win. Towards the end he was carried off with a nasty ankle injury and was out injured for quite a while. Who knows how it might have turned out for him?

    But overall there were many more mediocre games than good ones and I shed few tears when he departed.

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  7. Norwich's highest paid player at the club in his final season.

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  8. worst ever norwich player FACT

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  9. Interesting comments. I saw him p[lay some amazingly good games and some amazingly bad. Its all about who is around you as well as your own ability. he's an ok player. nice fella too.....

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  10. Racist.... you wouldn't talk about 'Fortress Naan' if he was an Indian, would you?

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