LOW AND CARROW
Blame us players says Hernandez as fans turn up heat on Delia & board
ONEL HERNANDEZ knows Norwich fans have had a raw deal but insists there is no point blaming Delia.
Carrow Road is in foment again after Swansea strolled to their easiest victory of the season, a sixth in seven games.
The fans who hounded out Dean Smith as manager in December are cutting current boss David Wagner some slack for now.
Instead it is sporting director Stuart Webber, responsible for dreadful recruitment for last season’s short-lived Premier League return, who is Norfolk enemy number one. Chants of ‘ We want Webber out’ reverberated around the stadium until Olivier Ntcham’s second- half strike added to earlier goals from Joel Latibeaudiere and Liam Cullen.
Then it emptied rapidly, with only a fraction staying to boo at the final whistle, and clap Swansea manager Russell Martin, nine years a Norwich player in (mostly) happier times.
It wasn’t just Webber they wanted out though. Calls for the whole board to go were also heard, which would mean an end to Delia Smith’s time as joint majority shareholder. The original TV celebrity chef joined in 1996.
Cuba winger Hernandez (below) sees things differently however, though he knew full well how the supporters felt after a fourthstraight home blank and ninth loss.
“They come and spend their own hard-earned money to see us and we just destroy their afternoon,” he said. “This was horrible.
“We are the ones that have to perform for good results – not the fans, not the coaches, not Delia. When I see on social media, ‘Delia out, Stuart Webber out’, they have nothing to do with that. We’ve got two games left. We have to make sure we perform like proper men and show a little bit of pride for ourselves. We have to perform better.”
Swansea’s only problem is that their super form has surely come too late to gatecrash the play-offs.
They looked like a side that meant business when Latibeaudiere headed home from Liam Manning’s corner and Cullen nodded in from the same supplier soon after.
Norwich were already doomed when last man Sam McCallum saw red for felling Cullen just before the break, and Ntcham’s goal, when he nipped in between Andrew Omobamidele and Max Aarons, was the only highlight of a final 45 minutes played at pre-season pace.
“We’re on as big of a high as we have been all season,” said Cullen. “To come here and do what we’ve done is unbelievable.”