As an Ipswich supporter, I’m not a fan of Delia Smith, because of her Norwich connections.

But she did go up in my estimation on Thursday, when she was promoting her new book and talking about football in League One on Radio 5 Live.  She made the statement that she’d rather go to Hartlepool than Chelsea to support Norwich.  She also said she had nothing against the fans of Chelsea, but that she had to wait for an hour before she could leave because of the security surrounding Abramovich and his entourage.

If I was the Chairman of a football club and they had treated me like that, then I wouldn’t go.

Round two of our back to back games against League One’s triumvirate of ex-Premiershit “Big Boys” tonight. After, frankly, what was a football lesson against the whippet-worrying dole scum (that’s Leeds United to you) on Saturday, this should be a tough night for the Seagulls. But, we are good away, and the boys seem to relish playing in the big stadiums, so it’s all up for grabs. I’ll stick my neck out and go for a sneaky 1-0 to us. Gavin Hoyte returns from his three match ban to sit on the bench and no Nicky Forster!!! Dickinson starts with Murray up front.

Three minutes, 1-0 to Norwich, fuck me ragged. Tunnicliffe didn’t clear and they get a tap-in at the far post. Dickinson is sounding lively, getting amongst them. Crofts has one saved, we’re still well in this match. Norwich hit the bar – hoofing game! Cox gives it away, bang! 2-0, that should be it folks. Wankers.

PUNCH UP!!! Both teams scrapping in the centre of the park. Cox is having a ‘mare, gets booked for starting the melee with his foul. Can’t see him starting the second half. Disallowed goal for Norwich, we are going to get mauled here tonight folks, we are shite. Half-time, a pretty sad act.

Cox is off, McLeod on. Adam El-Abd, the much maligned utility defender is having a good game here, good on him. TUNNICLIFFE!!!!!!! 2-1!!!! McLeod wins a corner, a scramble and Tunny bangs it in. Ah fuck off! Own goal – Elphick, although it seems he might have been fouled. 3-1 to City. Goodnight and God bless.

It’s looking like a bad night all-round for us tonight, all our relegation contenders apart from Stockport are doing well. It’s now 4-1 on 81 minutes, Smith should have saved, boy do we miss Kuipers. Shocking. Murray goes off for Davieees. Hoyte gets a run out for the last pitiful five minutes, replacing Whing. It’s ten past two in the morning here in Kabul, I’m up at 7am for a full day’s work – worth staying up for and a red-eye day tomorrow…….? I still say yes. We are a long way off the standard required to progress from this league, Leeds and now Norwich have showed us how it’s done. Next up is Charlton – oh dear. Well played to Bomber El-Abd, my Man of the Match. I’m off for a shite night’s kip. Toodle Pip.

The Hovian’s Albion Team Performance :   3 out of 10

The Hovian’s Albion Man of the Match : Adam El-Abd

Albion Team (goalscorers in bold):

(4-4-2) Smith; Whing (Hoyte 85), Elphick, Tunnicliffe, El-Abd; Bennett, Crofts, Dicker, Cox (McLeod 45); Murray (Davieeeees 83), Dickinson

Subs:  Pelling, McLeod, Virgo, C Davies, Navarro, Hart, Hoyte

JPT... Whites paired with Accrington.

LEEDS UNITED have been paired with League 2 side Accrington Stanley in Northern Area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The tie will be played midweek on December 14.

Simon Grayson’s side have so far beaten Darlington and Grimsby in the competition whilst Accrington have overcome Oldham, Shrewsbury and Bury to reach the semi-finals.

The other northern semi-final sees Carlisle entertain Bradford whilst the southern section see Southampton take on Norwich and Hereford against the MK Dons.

Higgs... contract extension.

WHEN Simon Grayson swooped to sign Cheltenham Town goalkeeper Shane Higgs in the summer, few eyebrows were raised.

After all Higgs had been with Cheltenham for nine years and all he had to show were two Division Three play-off final victories – surely a club of Leeds’ stature should be looking at a bigger name with Championship experience at least? Though to be fair to Higgs he did have a brief loan stint at Wolves towards the end of last season, but didn’t make any appearances.

We were all aware Grayson was after another player between the sticks to add competition for Casper Ankergren, but seriously, Shane who?

Now just a few months down the line Higgs has established himself as the regular number one and has been rewarded with a new one-year contract extension which takes his deal till the summer of 2011.

Higgs has kept six cleans sheets so far this season, but his good form has recently been halted by a thigh injury, allowing Ankergren to stake his place for the goalkeeper’s jersey.

Ankergren... backup keeper?

Grayson cannot be praised enough for the signing of Higgs and the competition it has developed in what has previously been a troublesome area for the Whites. Grayson said:

“We’re delighted to have Shane for another year. He has done well since he came in, and it’s good to have that competition with Casper. Shane did well in pre-season, got his opportunity, and he took it with some good performances and some good saves. He is out injured at the moment but is making good progress. Casper has come in and he has done well and I am pleased with the competition we have there because we have two good goalkeepers.”

I’m sure that when Higgs does recover from his groin injury he will be thrust straight back into the fold, regardless of Ankergren’s form, as Grayson tried to do in the Norwich game.

Hopefully Higgs’ 100% play-off final record won’t need to be mentioned this season – but with more astute signings from Grayson and Higgs between the sticks, maybe next season it will.

Outside Edgeley Park - Not a great photo, but you get the gist.

Today saw me make one of my occasional forays in to being a Norwich City fan as I went to see them play Stockport.  I have no link to Norwich other than one of my mates supports them and I sometimes go with him.  I suppose that, since they’re the team I’ve been to watch most, other than Liverpool, they are my de facto second team.

It was my first experience of League One football, although I’ve been to Edgeley Park before when both clubs were in one division higher.  Any details that I relate about the match itself are likely to be suspect.  You don’t always get the best view when you’re in the stadium and, to make matters worse, I didn’t know who any of the players were.

We seemed to have arrived before anybody else.

We got in to the ground at the ridiculously early time of two o’clock, but the pre-historic open away end soon filled up with Canaries fans, and the hour soon passed.  The home support dribbled in a little slower, but away fans are always more enthusiastic.  The Norwich fans gave the Stockport fans some stick for the level of their support, but you can’t really have a go at the people who turn up.  It’s the ones sat at home that are the problem.

What I assume are the Norwich players warming up.

I’ve always been impressed by the size of the Canaries away support at every game I’ve been to.  If anything, some of them need to calm down a bit.  I’m not sure of the attendance figures but there seemed to be as many away fans as home supporters.

Lots of Norfolk folk

As the game kicked off, it was virtually impossible to see anything, as the sun was directly in our eyes, but County made the brighter start of the two teams.

The home fans. Not a great photo, but you can see as much as I could.

Despite Stockport’s superior possession, Norwich took the lead on 16 minutes via Grant Holt and seemingly an awful blunder from County’s goalie.  We were at the other end of the ground, so we couldn’t see exactly what had happened.  The Canaries came back in to it for a little while following the goal, but Stockport recovered, although they couldn’t get an equaliser.  It was 0-1 at half time.

My ears were ringing at half time after listening to the continuous call of ‘yarmy’ from the away end.  I assume that ‘yarmy’ is a contraction of the phrase ‘green army’, but it just ends up sounding like a Buddhist chant.  One thing is true in football: away fans are really annoying – even when you are one of them.

The second half started more evenly, although Stockport looked more dangerous than they did in the first half.  There was also the bonus that the sun had gone down now and I could now see.  On 69 minutes, Norwich got a penalty, which was slotted home by Wes Hoolahan.  The second goal came just at the right time and the visitors were coasting.  Until, on 81 minutes, they conceded a soft goal via a deflection.  This made things a little nervy until Holt struck again on 90 minutes, and Norwich sealed the win.

Being a neutral at a football match is quite a strange experience and some of the chants took on a surreal quality.  I was particularly amused by ‘Dur dur de de Simon Lappin’, which doesn’t sound funny now, but was hilarious at the time.

It wasn’t the greatest exhibition of football I’ve ever seen but I enjoyed it all the same.  It has to be said that a draw would have been the fairest result, but winning when you perhaps don’t deserve to is a skill in itself.

I actually read some newspapers this weekend, the kind that are printed on paper and you hold in your hands and everything. I was particularly interested in the reporting on those essential games in league one that get all that high-profile coverage. After having leafed through 3 or 4 reams of back pages and supplements, it was clearly not the place to find out about another Norwich win, albeit probably not a very exciting one. But that’s fine. I’d much rather have an entire season being ignored by popular press if it means we can quietly slip up a division while nobody is looking.

What did occur to me, however, as I perused the stats like some anorak, which I am, was that notwithstanding the lack of press coverage, there are still an inordinate number of people who will religiously attend the games at Carrow Road, whatever the prospects for entertainment. I know, because I am one, that Norwich fans generally like their entertainment to be painful, cringe-making and exhausting, which presumably explains the 25,000 attendance to a game against the mighty Swindon. That’s 25,000. That’s not only the highest attendance in league one, its higher than most championship games. In fact, as far as I could make out, its the 10th highest attandance in the entire football league. Even if you throw in Scotland, only Rangers got more, so Norwich had the 11th highest attandance this weekend in all divisions in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and even the Channel Islands.

Norwich City fans are bloody marvellous.

Those of you who know me will have an idea where this blog is going!

Yesterday evening the Sky cameras rolled into Elland Road to watch Leeds and Norwich City battle it out for 3 valuable points.

To cut a long story short, 90 minutes of battling, desire and creativity from Norwich ended up in an all too familiar result, defeat.  On this occasion a 92nd minute error from the City keeper gifted Jermaine Beckford a glorious opportunity which he duly dispatched to the delight of the majority of the 19000 fans.

It’s not the first time that I have seen Norwich leave a game with less than they deserve and it certainly won’t be the last, but on this occasion I saw a different Norwich City.  A confident Norwich City, with slick passing and committed tackling.  Driving forward at every opportunity, perhaps what was missing from Norwich was the end product, 11 shots to Leeds 17 in the game and the sub keeper was rarely tested in the second half.

Still, I saw enough last night to convince me that Norwich will be in the thick of it at the end of the season.  This is a team which is still growing and bonding, but Lambert has the team playing in a way that’s not been seen in several years and come January will no doubt add a few players (if he is watching we could do with a centre back, right back and maybe a centre forward) and we will stroll on.  You don’t need to beat the likes of Leeds every week to get promoted, you need to beat everyone else and that has not been much of a problem as of late.

I would like to think that Norwich have two potential visits to Wembley on the card this season, a glorious play off final win so that we get our day out and the cameras allow many more Norwich fans to watch (obviously I will take automatic promotion if its on offer!!) also a further chance of glory in the Johnstones Paint Trophy, where a script may well be unfolding for Norwich to exact revenge for last nights robbery against the oh so dirty Leeds United.

I’m off to Wembley, who is with me?

Grant Holt....goal machine

*Listening to Local Natives – Daytrotter Session*

The aforementioned NME Tour was typically youthful and typically NME pap-music. Barring Local Natives of course, it appears I now have what some would call an “obsession.” It’s their own fault, they shouldn’t make such brilliant music.

Another week meant another week of avoiding working. I Like Trains’ new single got a going over, as good as usual in brief. And then there was the further promoting of the Norwich scene came courtesy of electro funsters Apollo 101. Seemingly proper crazy and catchy enough for a possible future.

The bane/love/whatever-you-want-to-call-them, of my life Norwich City are, for once, seemingly on fire lately causing no annoyance to me at the minute. And now I’m pretty sure I’ve jinxed them so this is most likely about to change. Starting this weekend away at Carlisle. A trip I was contemplating, but an autumn BBQ sounds like a lot less stressful, some would even say enjoyable.

I love this phrase, you can pretty much apply it to any walk of life and it still makes sense.

Take my normally temperamental Football team Norwich City, who now find themselves amidst a  5 match unbeaten run which includes winning the last 3 games.  Perfect timing if you ask me ahead of away games against Carlisle and……….Dirty Leeds.

I’d like to think you can also apply it in a looser sense to your personal life.  I started my current job 2 and half years ago, working in affiliate marketing.  I did not have drop of experience in this sector and the closest I had even come to Marketing was a tenuous B2B sales job where I sat on the phone all day.  OMG gave me my chance and I pretty much started at the bottom, poor man’s salary and dirty work to pass the day.

2 and a half years on I find myself leading a small team and becoming ever more relied upon train, advise, lead and represent the company, a role which I thoroughly enjoy.  The more success I achieve within my role, the more driven I become to achieve more.

Obviously the biggest threat to me here, is me.  Over confidence is not a good trait and so I am still keen to learn as much as I can.  Next week I will be attending the A4U expo in London for the first time, a great chance to meet people, talk about the company and get to some conferences to allow me to learn more.

If you know anyone who works within affiliate marketing, whether it is for an agency, as an affiliate, for a network (like myself) or anything else – all of them will happily sit and talk to you for hours about what they do.  It’s still a young industry and I still get the buzz of responding to the blank look on peoples faces when I tell them what I do, or informing someone of how to use cashback sites for the first time for them to come back to me 2 months later bragging about how much they have made.

Maybe ask me again after a tiring few days next week, but my confidence comes from success – my passion comes from the job and the job is the root of my success so we have come full circle.

See you at the Excel.

https://www.a4uexpo.com/london/

We know we are guilty of mourning Filbert Street’s passing on here, so let’s have Ten Great Moments since the move from Filbert Street to Filbert Way…

1.  10/8/02 - Opening Day – the first 30,000 plus crowd in many years, the excitement of being in our new home, and a great 2-0 win over Watford thanks to two goals from Brian Deane.

2. 14/12/02 – Despite Stevie Claridge’s first minute goal, City thrash Dennis Wise’s Millwall 4-1. 31,904 City fans fill the ground, but away fans are banned.

3.  27/4/03 - Micky Adams and his side celebrate promotion to the Premiership after a 1-1 draw against Norwich City.

4. 15/9/03 - City stuff Leeds 4-0 and Lilian Nalis scores a magnificent opener, all in front of the Sky cameras.

5. 8/11/04 - Craig Levein’s first home game in charge brings a 3-0 win over neighbours Coventry with goals from Nalis, Tiatto and Heath.

6. 26/11/2005 - An otherwise drab season is lit up by a fine 4-2 win over Sheffield United, Hume (2), Smith and Hammond finding the net.

7. 4/3/06 - City win a thriller against Hull 3-2, with Joey Gudjonsson scoring from the half way line.

8. 25/8/07 - It all clicks together for Martin Allen’s side as they beat Watford 4-1, with goals from Hume, Campbell, Sheehan and De Vries. 

9. 13/4/09 - Steve Howard’s late header against Leeds brings a 1-0 win and huge step towards the League One title.

10. 24/4/09 - Nigel Pearson’s side are presented with the League One trophy after a 2-2 draw with Scunthorpe, bouncing back from Division Three at the first attempt…

Last night Brentford crashed out of a second cup competition in as many months by going down to a solitary Chris Martin goal against Norwich. This is not really that big a deal to be honest, but there are interesting bits and pieces to be gleamed from the match:

• Firstly, we played 4-3-3 instead of our usual 4-4-2.  Presumably Andy Scott used the opportunity to experiment a bit, seeing as the result didn’t really matter all that much, but it makes a bit of sense given some of the players available.  Bung Carl Cort up front in the middle of the three and put pacy wingers like Myles Weston and Cleveland Taylor either side of him and you should do well.  Except we played Steve Kabba up front.  Oops.
• A new central defensive pairing got a chance to play a competitive game.  Karleigh Osborne made his first start of the season and Leon Legge made his first appearance for us, with Kevin O’Connor back in his old position at right back and Danny Foster switched to left back.  This gives us different options at the back, which I will discuss later.
• Marcus Bean played ninety minutes for the first time this season.  He would give us a bit more of a goal threat from central midfield, and in theory playing three in the middle could allow you to accommodate Bean, O’Connor and David Hunt in midfield.  Would mean leaving a few others out though, so I can’t see it happening, but it’s an option I guess?

There’s a full match report on the official Brentford website, which also has interviews with Andy Scott and Karleigh Osborne. Andy’s piece is interesting as it reveals some of the thinking behind the selection for the Norwich game, but also shows up a slightly worrying defensive problem we have:

“With Dicko injured and the transfer deadline closing today if Sam had played and been injured we wouldn’t have had a left sided defender for Saturday as Ryan Blake has a niggle as well.

“It was a case of who we couldn’t risk because of these competition rules where there have to be six first team players out of the first eleven – and out of that we’ve got Alan Bennett, Ryan Dickson and Mark Phillips injured. James Wilson is away on international duty.”

Wales Under-21s are playing on Friday night, so unless they release Wilson prior to that I can’t see him playing for us against Charlton on Saturday. Bennett and Dickson are probably out for a couple of weeks or so, but there’s no clear indication on Phillips. He could have just been left out as a precaution, having picked up a knock that he’ll easily have recovered from by Saturday, or maybe he’s had both his legs broken. The former is admittedly slightly more likely, but if he’s not available we’re looking at Osborne and Legge in central defence against Charlton, assuming we don’t throw a curve ball and put O’Connor there or something. It could work?

Andy also moved to quash those naughty little rumours about him going to Barnsley:

“I’ve heard nothing. When vacancies become available at clubs then names are always banded about but I’ve heard nothing from Barnsley. I’m getting on with doing my job here and until someone tells me otherwise I’m going to continue. I’ve put a good squad together here, I think we’ve got a really good chance and I don’t want to detract from what we’re doing or take attention away from that, I’m very happy at Brentford and have assembled this squad for a reason and I want to make sure we can compete against Charlton on Saturday – it’s a big game and our concentration is fully on that.”

Not surprising really as there’s a good chance we’ll be in the same division as Barnsley next season, but they’ll be on the way down while we’re on the way up (hopefully). Plus Andy will get better offers than Barnsley if he keeps doing well at Brentford.

I liked Karleigh’s interview as well. I’m not sure if it’s because he seems really enthusiastic or because I don’t recall any such interviews or anything with him before, but there you go. Bit of quotage for you:

“It was amazing, these are the places you want to come and play – look at the stadium, it’s great. It’s good to play in front of 12,000 and it’s funny as I made my debut in front of a similar figure, so it felt like it was my debut again!”

“I prefer playing centre-back, although I’ll play anywhere just as long as I’m on the pitch.”

See what I mean about the enthusiasm? I can’t see how Karleigh won’t be playing on Saturday really, and hopefully he’ll do well. He’s a good defender with a bright future ahead of him, but he has two main weaknesses. The first is his distribution, with far too many of his passes or long balls forward ending up with the opposition or in the stands. As a central defender this isn’t the biggest worry, but it gets shown up a bit more when he plays at right back. He does get it right some of the time though, so room for improvement there methinks. The other problem is that he usually makes one mistake every game. I think it was against Gillingham last season where he needlessly fouled an opponent to give away a penalty, and he nearly did the same in the Norwich league match a few weeks ago. Get rid of those types of errors and it’d really help, but then he’s young and he’ll learn as he gains more experience.

Anyway, yesterday I mentioned Marvin Williams’ departure and subsequent move to Torquay. Today there’s a nice little piece on the Brentford website from Marvin about how he left, why he’s chosen Torquay and to wish Brentford all the best. Given that he’s been frozen out this season he could so easily have sulked a bit, or even worse just hung around to pick up his pay and not do anything to warrant it, but instead he got on with it, moved on and has been very nice and courteous about the whole thing. I always thought he seemed a decent enough guy and this just happens to confirm in, and this kind of attitude will serve him well in future. Fingers crossed for a successful season for both Marvin and Torquay then!

A napokban lejárt Fraser Forster egy hónapos kölcsönjátéka a Bristol Roversnél és ismét elpasszoltuk, ezúttal a kapusgondokkal küzdő Norwich City-nek.

Fraser Bristolban kétszer őrizte meg kapuját a góltól, négyszer szerepelt csapatában, akik jó rajtjuknak köszönhetően a 4. helyen állnak.

Kevésbé szerencsés eddig a Norwich City szezonja, a nyitófordulóban elszenvedett 7-1-es vereséget követően menesztették a vezetőedzőt. Az azóta lejátszott három mérkőzésen a csapat egy győzelmet, egy döntetlent és egy vereséget ért el, így gyorsan elkerültek a kiesőzónából.

Fraser kölcsönvételére elsősorban azért volt szükség, mert kapusuk, Ben Alnwick hétfőn csúnyán ütközött Frazier Campbellel a Sunderland elleni mérkőzésen és bizonytalan a játéka hétvégén a Hartlepool ellen. Forster egyébként múlt héten is a Victoria Parkban járt, 2-1-re győzőtt a Rovers-szel, a Hartlepool-drukkereknek valószínűleg lassan az agyára megy a fiatal kapus.

There’s a part of me that rather wishes I were writing a book on this club. Here is a very brief precis of their past season and a bit:

Glenn Roeder gets sacked about last Christmas for poor results – the team are fannying about round the relegation zone – and more specifically for being an odious tool with the supporters (criticising them for criticising him), generally being sarky, and living up to the Rodent tag.

Legendary goalkeeper Bryan Gunn is appointed caretaker and achieves a tremendous and untypical result in his first game in caretaker charge by beating fellow strugglers Barnsley 4-0. Gunn ‘handed reigns’. Twenty-odd games later, Norwich are relegated: in a must win final match of the season they are 3-0 down at (already relegated) Charlton Athletic before thirty minutes are up; meanwhile fellow strugglers Barnsley win away at Plymouth and survive with ease. This drops Norwich into the Third Division for the first time in fifty years. By a majority of about 90% fans say: thanks for the experiment with Gunny, now get a proper manager in.
Board appoint Gunn full time. After completing this work, both chairman and chief exec resign by jumping before they’re pushed.

In the close season Gunny brings in twelve new players and they shape up well by winning most of the friendlies. But then they lose the opener proper 1-7 to Colchester United (0-5 at half-time) to record biggest home defeat ever. Three days later, on a Tuesday night, they beat Yeovil 4-0 away in Carling Cup. Team stays down in west country, as following fixture is at Exeter. Friday afternoon, twenty-four hours before a match, the new chief exec/chairman sacks Gunn. Having no wheels down in Devon, the legendary keeper apparently makes his own way back to Norfolk by train. Team draw with Exeter, though football matches are, by now, something of a side show.
The following Monday, Norwich appoint Paul Lambert as new manager. Nine days earlier it was Lambert who was in charge of the 7-1-Norwich City-thrashing Colchester United. (Are you keeping up? Or, as the title voiceover to Soap used to say: Confused? You soon will be!). Lambert watches his new side lose 2-1 away at Brentford the following night. In his first full match in charge Lambert makes 6 changes: Norwich beat Wycombe Wanderers (who Lambert formerly managed) 5-2 to record first League win of season.

Last night Lambert made 6 more changes which only served to see Norwich lose 4-1 at home to ‘Premiership Sunderland’ in the Carling Cup. Once more they were 3-0 down in thirty minutes, the first goal down to an all too typical ‘clownshoes-falling-on-arse’ act by defender Gary Docherty. ‘The Doc’ is worst player I have ever seen, but until last week he remained club captain – The Doc got himself sent off by rugby-tackling a Burnley player in a match that finally earned Nigel Worthington the sack a couple of seasons and four managers ago (opening goal scored by ex-Stokie ‘Super’ James O’Connor). Just before the end of last night’s game a youngster called Mickey Spillane was sent off for clattering Sunderland striker Fraiser Campbell, who in turn clattered Norwich keeper Alnwick, who retired with a nasty cut to his face. Having used all their subs Norwich were forced to put an outfield player between the sticks. Another young lad called Cody McDonald (who was putting up scaffolding for the London Underground twelve months ago, unless he was otherwise engaged playing for Dartford) took up the green jersey. At about 5 ft nothing, and with a tattoo of his date of birth on his neck, McDonald seemed quite easily the shortest player on the pitch, so naturally the job was his. He did, however, keep a clean sheet for the last five minutes plus stoppage time; recent events have seen Norwich City fans develop enough black humour that they were in quick to sing, ‘England’s, England’s Number One…’ to Mr McDonald…

On the upside, they’ve seen 20 goals in three matches at Carrow Road: at some clubs, fans won’t see that this side of 2010

It’s been a hectic past week at Norwich City Football Club, with a fans favourite turned manager sacked, only to be followed less than a week later by a new man in charge.

Paul Lambert  has now been given the task of brigning the club back to it’s feet again and making sure the season ends much better than how it has started.

Whether you were in Byan Gunn’s corner or not, the way the board went about letting him go has caused many people to vent their anger at the people ‘up stairs’ in the boardroom.

“The decision wasn’t based on the past two weeks, it was the accumulation of results over the last seven months that led to us believing we needed at new man at the helm” said David Mcnally, the Chief Executive.

Although many Canaries fans still have the up most respect for the former goalkeeper, many believed that he should not have been appointed in the first place. He got of to a flying start in his first game at Carrow Road, demolishing a weak Barnsley side 4-0 which led to calls for him to get the position on a permanent basis.

Yet, we often see that when a new manager comes in, players suddenly up their game in order to make an impression on the new man in charge, but then after a few weeks when they have found out their destiny in his plans, things may start to change a bit.

There is no denying, Glenn Roeder was one of the most un-popular managers the club has ever seen. If anything, the 4-0 victory over Barnsley early in the new year, was proably due to the players feeling relieved of the fact they had seen the last of Reoder.

Respect must be paid to Bryan Gunn, for he showed bravery of the highest order. He took over the club when they were in a dire situation and knew that if things went wrong, then he could loose everything, just as he has now. No, he didn’t have nay coaching qualificationa and didn;t have any real coaching experience to back him up, but he did have guts.

This is where you need to start looking at the players. The final game of the season against Charlton Athletic, Norwich City needed to win to stay in the Championship. You wouldn’t of thaught it though. Norwich were battered, and not only that, were completley effortless except for a young youth prodigy trying to save the club that he had been brought up with.

And it hurt Gunn as much as it did any Canaries fan that day. He was representing the green and yellow army, but nothing he could say was able to mildy inspire his team to believe that their fate wasn’t destined for League One. O.k, the manager is the most important figure at a football club and the blame lands with them in the end, but the fact is, the players have to go out and do the business and unfortunatley for the Canaries they haven’t been doing this for a while.

Footballers, you would hope play football becuase not only do they love the game, but they want to win. Millions of players all over the world would give their right arm to just play some form of professional football  and they never get the chance. But sometimes whatching Norwich City last season, you could really put into question whether some of the players actually wanted to be out on the pitch playing.

Leadership. Despite bookmakers odds at the start of the season, putting Norwich as second favourites to be promoted, it is very unlikley this is going to happen. The club hasn’t got any leaders, and the closest they came to having one, got sent home on the train after being told he wasn’t needed.

We’re talking about players who take the game by the scruff of the neck, fight every cuase, scream and bark orders on on the pitch and are the first ones to celebrate with the goalscorer. Remember the film Gladiator, when Maximus is in the Collesuim for the first time and takes hold of the situation, first by organising his troops and then by leading by example. This is the mould of a definitive leader.

It may only be a film, but there are fine examples of other players who have graced the game and been able to dominate, not only on the pitch and in the dressing room, but the club itself. Roy Keane at Man Utd, Tony Adams at Arsenal, Alan Shearer at Newcastle.

This summer Man City were desperatley trying to break the bank to try and lure John Terry to the City of Manchester Staduim. I wonder why? All due respect to Terry, he isn’t the most technically gifted of players you’ll ever come across but he has one the the endearing qualities that cannot be coached. He is a born leader. And that is precisley why Mark Hughes was so desperate to land his man. He realised the importance of having such a figure at his football club, and realsied it is a pre-requirement if any team is to be successfull.

Norwich lacked this against Colchester when they lost 7-1, and has been lacking in their last two league outings. Look back to the glory days in the 90’s when City had a truimphul run in the UEFA Cup and were hitting the highs in the Premier League. The team was packed with full grown men. Leaders. Ian Crook, Bryan Gunn, Rob Newman, John Polston and the list goes on. The players would have no query about having a dressing room bust up at half time if things weren’t going well. But at least it would show they cared.

Even more recelty when Norwich got promoted to the Premier League, players such as Malky Mackay, Darren Huckerby and Craig Fleming all had a key influence in the dressing room. You look at the players there now though. Gary Doherty is club captain, and although no one can ever say he doesnt try, he certainly doesn’t have an impact behind the scenes and if he does he appears to be a lone soldier.  

Recently Steve Claridge was exaplining about one of his famous dressing room bust ups with former Cambridge Manager John Beck. Claridge had returned into the dressing room at half time of a game agaisnt Ipswich, only to be confronted by an angery John Beck throwing every swear word in the book at him. Claridge responded by telling him to go away in no uncertain terms.

Beck then tried to head-butt Claridge, narrowly missing before Claridge threw a right hook at his manager before getting him in a head lock on the dressing room floor and continuing to throw blows at his head. After all was broken up and the players went back out on the pitch to win the game, Beck came in after the game and said “i wish everyone showed the same passion as him”.

This isn’t at all insinuating that Norwich players should try and punch their new manager. Its more an example of showing commitment and passion to the game, all be it, in a every strange way. Look at the Norwich players body langauge when they were getting drubbed by Colchester. Heads to the ground. You would of preffered to see players having an angry yell at each other becuase at least then you knew that it bothered them.

Yes they were dispointed and probably very embarrassed, but wouldn’t you rather they show some guts and actually try and do something about it, instad of hoping the grund would swallow them up. People will say its the manager’s job to inspire these players. It is in a way, but the players must find the drive and hunger that made them want to become footballers in the first place. WHen they dreamed about running out in front of a full house and playing well.

There is not substitute for hunger and dedication. A player may not be blessed with blistering pace or terrific skill, but if they have the determination and will power to become the best they can be, it can always make up for lack of talent. Robbie Savage and David Batty have become International footballers through being a work horse.

The players are the ones who have to go out on the pitch and perform. The manager isn;t out there with them. Now is the time to show some guts.

David Hunt made one and scored one as Brentford defeated Norwich City by two goals to one.

After recovering from the head injury that forced him off against Brighton on Saturday, Hunt kept his place in central midfield alongside Kevin O’Connor, and with Carl Cort fit enough to face his former club, it meant Andy Scott could name the same side that had started the previous two league matches.

However, it was the away side, keen to impress with new manager Paul Lambert in the stands, who started the brighter, Grant Holt and Cody McDonald combining very early on almost put McDonald clean through on goal, but in truth, none of their efforts troubled keeper Lewis Price, although he did what he had to do well, distributing the ball well with some quick throws to set counter attacks on their way.

For Brentford, it didn’t initially go too well. Myles Weston again looked well contained, and skipper Alan Bennett went down in the centre circle halfway through the second half and had to be replaced by Karleigh Osborne. Bennett wasn’t going up for set pieces before his injury, and hadn’t played all that well, so perhaps he was already carrying an injury, but from the way he left the pitch it didn’t look too good.

One player who stood out was Sam Saunders. The right winger was marauding across the pitch, finding space and generally using the ball well, and he also had a good looking free kick deflected over the bar by a team mate. It wasn’t quite enough to fashion a clear cut opening though, with Norwich keeper Ben Alnwick largely untroubled.

The second half was a different matter however. The pace up front, the quick passing and the good movement that had shone in previous matches returned, and the Norwich defence started looking uncomfortable. As such it wasn’t a surprise when Brentford took the lead, although the manner of the goal was somewhat more unexpected. Hunt launched one of his much-maligned (by me anyway) long throws from the right, and Ryan Dickson timed his run and leap to perfection, looping his header over Alnwick into the far corner.

It was no more than Brentford, and Dickson, deserved. Ryan never seems to get too many plaudits, but he’s clearly one of our best players and looked as excellent as ever today, both in attack and in defence, and in the air and on the deck. Hopefully he’ll add a couple of goals to his game this season, as he has the ability to get a few.

Brentford continued to be good value for their lead, threatening to punish a now somewhat deflated Norwich side further, and when a free kick was given literally inches from the penalty area Hunt stepped up and thumped the ball into the back of the net, giving us the comfort of a two goal cushion to defend for the last portion of the game.

In the end we needed the second goal, as Holt was fouled by sub Cleveland Taylor just outside the area and Owain Tudur Jones blasted the resulting free kick past Price via Dickson’s head. Norwich threatened to perhaps steal a point at the death, but didn’t quite manage a clear cut opportunity. In truth it would have been very harsh on Brentford not to pick up all three points, and Norwich would have been fortunate to take something from the game.

This was the ideal response to Saturday’s goalless draw against Brighton, as players who were quiet on Saturday played well tonight and the goal threat returned, although both goals came from set pieces. Norwich are also clearly a good side, perhaps a bit disorganised and lacking in confidence at the moment, and that’ll be something that Lambert will have to address when he takes charge. For now though, we deserved to beat them and beating a team of Norwich’s calibre is only going to give the players more confidence. Roll on Saturday’s match at St Mary’s!

It is, of course, much too early to tell the engraver to get the Coca-Cola League Two championship trophy ready to be presented at Notts County’s Meadow Lane ground, but through their first two league matches, the Magpies certainly look like they’re on their way towards picking up the silverware at the end of the season.

Just days after signing ex-Manchester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, the son of Peter and former player under County director of football Sven-Göran Eriksson, the world’s oldest professional club team have completed the signing of ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Johnnie Jackson on a three-year deal from Colchester United.  Jackson never set the Premier League world alight – which explains his past loan spells at Swindown Town, Watford, Coventry City and Derby County – but it is nonetheless another notable signing for Nottingham Forest’s older (but new-money) neighbor across the River Trent.

Jackson was Colchester’s player of the year despite the Us’ relegation from the Coca-Cola Championship two seasons ago, and it will be interesting to see whether or not he features in County’s League Two match on Wednesday away to Chesterfield.

Manager Ian McParland will be hoping that Jackson proves a positive influence for the Magpies in the dressing room and on the pitch, and the club’s supporters will be hoping that the 27-year-old helps the club stay at the top of the league table, where they currently sit with a – are you ready for this? – +9 goal difference after its first two games (5-0 at home to Bradford City, and 4-0 away at Macclesfield Town).

Chesterfield won its last time out in a 1-0 triumph over Northampton at home, but they will be facing a very different proposition on Wednesday as County make the trip to Derbyshire.  The Spireites may be one of the favorites to reach a play-off spot this season, but they may well have trouble defending at Saltergate if Notts County’s first two league matches were anything at all to go by.

Other midweek fixtures of note in the Coca-Cola Football League:

Championship: A founding member of the Premier League, Coventry City is leading the promotion pack early on, and the Sky Blues will try to keep the ball rolling on Tuesday as they visit Doncaster Rovers at the Keepmoat Stadium.  Donny have experience a largely indifferent start to the league season, drawing 1-1 with both Watford and Preston North End, but they will be looking to turn it around against what on form is the West Midlands’ best side in any professional division so far this season.  Elsewhere, Middlesborough is off to Scunthorpe United on a Tuesday night – no, really, hold your applause – while Plymouth Argyle hosts Cardiff City, Championship newboys Peterborough United and West Bromwich Albion square off at London Road, and Roy Keane and Neil Warnock meet Tuesday at Portman Road where Ipswich Town face Crystal Palace.  A right meeting of the minds there, then.

League One: After putting to bed rumors that Norwich City were in talks to sign Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink as their new manager, the Canaries head to the capital to face Brentford at Griffin Park on Tuesday night.  Club chief executive David McNally says the Carrow Road outfit are in talks with their preferred managerial target, though, and caretaker manager Ian Butterworth will be hoping to pick up three points from West London in the meantime.  In other League One action on Tuesday night, Leyton Orient and Charlton Athletic will square off at Brisbane Road in one of the rarer of East London derbies, while Walsall welcomes Leeds United to the West Midlands, MK Dons travel up to Birkenhead to face John Barnes’s Tranmere Rovers, and early leaders Colchester welcome Gillingham to Essex.

League Two: Notts County isn’t the only undefeated and undrawn side in League One; Bournemouth and Dagenham & Redbridge also share the title, and they both be looking to keep hold of that title on Tuesday night.  The Daggers have far and away the tougher task as they welcome Shrewsbury Town to the capital, whereas the Cherries take on Aldershot Town at Dean Court.  Further down in the League Two table, No. 5 plays No. 6 as Cheltenham travels to Rochdale, Burton Albion hosts Torquay United in a meeting of two of last season’s promoted sides from the Blue Square Premier, and Grimsby Town hopes to get out of its early hole of zero points from six and a -5 goal difference as they host Rotherham United at Blundell Park in Cleethorpes.

Matthew Semisch

For Norwich City fans, last season could not have gone any worse following a relegation to League One – but after a successful pre-season, spirits are once again raised at Carrow Road.

Manager Bryan Gunn, himself a new signing in many ways much to most fans’ delight, has secured the signings of 12 players with only one – Ben Alnwick – having signed on loan, from Tottenham Hotspur.

Michael Theokiltos signs for Norwich’s new season

The 22-year-old keeper will provide an experienced back-up to Australian goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos.

Big central defender Michael Nelson has impressed in the games he’s played, as well as showing he could be a serious threat from set pieces in the opposition’s penalty box.

Danish defender Jens Berthell-Askou, recently signed on a two-year contract and also looks to be a great acquisition by Gunn, after being largely impressive in the Canaries’ tour of Scotland.

“We were hopeful of getting some new faces in and adding to the squad and making it very competitive,” said Gunn.

“This will give us the best chance of being successful in League One,” he added.

Gunn hasn’t been afraid to shop locally for his new squad.

After securing his dream move from Exeter, Norwich-born midfielder Matt Gill has already showed signs of the grit and determination which will be needed to win the tough midfield battles this season – he brings with him lots of experience in the lower leagues.

Midfielders Stephen Hughes and Owain Tudur Jones will provide strong competition for a midfield starting place, while winger Simon Whaley will add pace and an alternative attacking threat to the side, which will accommodate for the departure of Lee Croft, who joined Derby County.

While failing to capture striker Alan Lee, Gunn finally secured Grant Holt and Goran Maric at Carrow Road.

Grant Holt hopes to bring his goal-scoring skills to the Canaries

Holt, who signed from Shrewsbury Town recently after being linked with the Canaries towards the end of last season, scored an impressive 20 goals for the Shrews last season.

He’ll be hoping for a similar return for the Canaries in League One over the coming months.

Simon Lappin and Matty Pattison also appear to be back in Gunn’s first-team plans and along with the return of youngsters Chris Martin and Michael Spillane from their successful loan spell at troubled Luton Town, Gunny’s squad appears to finally be taking shape.

Wes Hoolahan will be looking to re-capture the form that persuaded former manager Glenn Roeder to sign him from Blackpool.

His performances during the closed season have gained rave reviews and City fans will hope his skill and eye for a killer ball will lead to many assists in the new campaign, but the future of Darel Russell remains increasingly uncertain, with the club rejecting a recent offer of £500,000 for the player from Premier League new boys Burnley.

Positive pre-season

On the pitch, pre-season results have been extremely positive.

After big wins over local non-league sides Fakenham Town and Dartford Town, City embarked on their now regular tour of Scotland, in which they won every game.

Gunn has been happy with the way pre-season has gone for his team and the quality of new players he’s been able to bring to the club.

Norwich City players prepare for the new season at Carrow Road

“The way the lads have been working in pre season has been very encouraging and it’s also given me the opportunity to bring in players to fill a lot of the spaces we had after the end of last season,” he said.

“We’re delighted with the standard of players we’ve brought in.”

City’s new look side recently played their first game back at Carrow Road in a pre-season friendly against a Manchester United XI.

Although it was a rather inexperienced United side with little first-team experience, the touch and technique of possible future Premier League players proved to be a good test for the new-look City team.

While City fans may have been expecting one of the new signings to put on a show, the name on everyone’s lips after the game was that of Tom Adeyemi.

Some Canaries supporters may be un-familiar with the young youth prospect, but the coaching staff have clearly sat up and taken notice of his emerging talents.

As well as scoring a superb long-range effort which proved to be the Canaries only goal of the game and his third so far this pre-season, the young midfielder showed great strength, composure and ability which was somewhat reminiscent of watching a young Patrick Vieira.

Everything now looks to be in place in time for Norwich City’s first game of the season against Colchester United on Saturday, 8 August, at Carrow Road.

Norwich City fans, as ever will be right behind the team and a full house at Carrow Road every other week is sure to spur the players on.

The attendance of 13,381 at the Manchester United game would have been the third highest crowd attendance in League One last season.

Chris Goreham will commentate on every game for BBC Radio Norfolk

BBC Radio Norfolk’s Norwich City correspondent Chris Goreham has followed the Canaries throughout their pre-season campaign and believes City’s build-up so far has been highly impressive.

“Preparations could not have gone better and I think all Norwich fans will now be cautiously optimistic,” he said.

“I just hope that the success the club has had so far this summer can be translated into league success in the coming season.”

After the disappointment of relegation at the end of last season, this summer was always going to prove a crucial time for getting the club back on its feet again.

From a new chief executive to 12 summer signings, Norwich City Football Club appears ready to compete in League One this coming season.

Pre-season for the Canaries has not only proved valuable time for players to regain fitness and mould the squad together, but has given manager Bryan Gunn the chance to shape things the way he wanted and give the Canaries the best chance of having a successful season.

Hear exclusive commentary of every match, home and away, with BBC Radio Norfolk on 95.1, 95.6 and 104.4FM.