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As two horrendously out-of-form teams prepare to meet at Carrow Rd in an attempt to kickstart their season, Billy Grant catches up with Jon Rogers (@BigGrantHolt) to chat Elvis, Alex Neil & the invisible duo of Alex Pritchard and Sergi Canos.

It’s a marathon not a sprint. Norwich got out the blocks pronto at the start of the season and were looking like they would be coasting to victory. Since then, they seem to be taking a holding position. Any cause for concern? 

If losing seven in a row, no clean sheet since the day Elvis died and injuries piling up like Christmas presents, is a cause for concern….then yes, the majority of us have cause for concern. We just aren’t playing to our squad’s potential. That is the fans worry. And we’ve dropped like a stone.

Last time we played you a couple of seasons ago, you were playing free-flowing football – passing the ball around aplomb (I’ve been wanting to use that phrase for ages) and getting it up the to front men who were, at times, lethal. You have the core of that same team now. So how come you have’t been able to replicate that form ?

Aging legs, lack a freshness in our footballing spine but overall… lack of confidence. Taking a pumping each and every week in the Premier League is mentally and physically exhausting for both player and fan.  2016 has been a dreadful year for all – and even more so for a Norwich fan.

Sebastien Bassong is backing Alex Neil to come through this sticky patch but Neil seems to be coming under fire from Norwich fans. Jack Reeve from Talk Norwich City talked about sacking Neil on our Pride of West London podcast below. Do you think it’s time for a change?

Personally, yes.  It doesn’t mean he’s a crap manager. I personally haven’t enjoyed the football we play. It’s pedestrian. It’s very congested. It’s sometimes slow and dull.  The transfers we’ve made have been overly poor, or we haven’t seemed to get the best of the talent we’ve bought.   If you beat us on Saturday, he is gone. No question. 100% no going back. The atmosphere will be like if Honey G revealed she was actually David Cameron.

Some folk are saying that the club has taken a backward step since ex CEO Dave McNally was sacked/resigned. Is that a fair statement?

I dunno. It’s David’s players and manager still. David, hmmm.  I interviewed him for a podcast. Has about an hour with him. He was charming, focused and interesting. Talked about his ten year legacy. Three weeks, later he’d tweeted out his resignation at 1am in a weird online altercation with a fan.  There were a lot of happy people after he left at the club and some ex-footballers too. I’ve heard stories that shine a different light, what you cant ignore he was in charge of the best years for a long time.

You’ve not been afraid to splash the cash – even to the extent of hoarding players that you are unwilling to field. Ex-Bees Alex Pritchard and Sergi Canos have been resigned to the Norwich reserve side. Both players would walk into the Brentford 1st team at the moment – a team that potentially could be only 2 points behind Norwich at 5pm on Saturday. Do you think you maybe need to offload some players and give new blood a chance?

If you told a Bees fan, we’ve ruined Canos AND Pritchard and neither can get in our team or squad, they’d look at us like we’d tried to eat their shoes.  The one of the unwritten issues with coming down from Premier League, players love to stick about collecting £200 when they pass GO.  This window coming up is key for us. Ship out the expensive underperformers. Get us some Andre Grays and Scott Hogans type players in.  Or just buy Scott Hogan (have you got a spare £12m?- Ed). 

Saturday sees two teams who aren’t on the best of runs. Norwich have lost 6 games on the trot. Brentford have won 1 in the 8 matches (although beating QPR at Loftus Rd has made the run more bearable). We can both score goals but we can both be also suspect in defence. Are we looking at a 5-5 draw?

Suspect in defence is like saying Donald Trump is slightly underprepared. I’m hoping for a sh!tty 1-0 win. A poopy, off an arse, own goal, 55th minute, bore-a-rama -1-0. Then we start again. Get this monkey off our back, as its biting our ears and weeing down our back like no tomorrow

Give us a score prediction.

3-1 – Head.  1-0 Heart.

THAT’S how bad it is.

Billy Grant
@BillyTheBee99