Brazier Hands

Walsall P-P Norwich City

The more time I spend watching football the more convinced I become that the actual 90 minutes when the match takes place are purely incidental when it comes to going to a game. This proves it.

We saw no football. Yet the Norwich supporters who had travelled the 3 hours (4 on a coach) to Walsall on this Bank Holiday Monday still returned to Norfolk with an excellent story to tell.

Every fan of any standing will have at least one or two of these 'the day they called off the game when we were already there' stories.

Given half an hour I could tell you about trips to West Brom and Burnley that ended with a good view of the ground but no actual match.

This Walsall one was ridiculous though. The official word came at 2.15pm but it had been clear there might be a problem for a good 45 minutes before that.

Norwich's manager Paul Lambert and chief exec David McNally had both been on the pitch digging the heels of their smart shoes into the turf, or at least trying to, as they convinced themselves it was too hard and frozen for a game a of football.

The odd site of a dozen or so braziers on the pitch when I arrived at about 12.30 originally convinced me that every effort was being made by Walsall to get the game on. They are now front runners for this seasons 'Best Use of the Youth Team' award. The Sadlers youngsters had spent the morning filling these metal barrels with wood to keep the fires going.

The fact the braziers remained in position an hour before the scheduled kick off was a sure sign we could start packing our bags.

Ref Mark Haywood gave us an interview, trotting out the usual line about 'players safety being the priority'. It's a point you can't argue with - if serious injury was a possibility then yes, the game should be called off. What I would rather have heard though was 'the fans are the priority'. The decision could have been taken mid-morning thus saving those who pay a lot of money to follow their team a whole, fruitless day on the road.

Football is in danger of taking its fans for granted - witness Norwich's FA Cup tie at Carlisle with the ridiculous kick off time of 5.15pm, making a return journey by train impossible. While I know the modern game has sold its soul to TV and cannot afford to turn down their demands with the cash at stake they would do well to remember that TV will only be interested while enough people want to watch the matches at home. They may not be the back page stars or posses valuable 'image rights' but the good old football supporter can only be ridden rough shod over so many times.

No Millwall, WE Fear No Foe

Norwich City 2-0 Millwall

Boxing Day and a routine win at Carrow Road with Wes Hoolahan and Grant Holt scoring. That's 20 already for Holt - some effort as the league season reached its precise mid-point.

I have always felt a little sorry for Millwall. Yes, I know events at West Ham earlier this season did not do much to help the club shake off the image of football's trouble makers in-chief but it is entirely possible to have a decent straight forward match with Millwall.

Even those who have barely a passing interest in football have an opinion on Millwall. I have lost count of the number of times I have had that conversation in recent weeks that starts with someone asking "So what are you doing for Christmas?" Once I have got past the bit that always goes "fairly quiet, we'll be spending most of it with family" I then mention that I'm covering the Norwich game on Boxing Day and that we are playing Millwall at home.

"Millwall!" - That's the usual response, followed by a sharp intake of breath.

The Lions have learned to live with the reputation that can reduce many grown adults to whistling through their teeth and asking whether you are 'expecting any trouble' when they know you are going to watch them play.

'No-one likes us, we don't care' has been the refrain from the terraces for years and it's now made it onto the pitch after a fashion. This year's Millwall shirts have 'We Fear No Foe' written beneath the number. It doesn't have quite the desired effect when they are 2-0 down.

You Can Hang Your Hat on it

Norwich City 3-0 Huddersfield Town

There's only one Ginger Pele. It was fabulous to hear the Barclay chanting in tribute to Gary Doherty after he'd smashed in his 4th in 3 games to wrap up a very good second-half display. I would have taken my hat off to him if it hadn't been so bloomin' cold.

Being mainly a winter sport, football doesn't lend itself to being warm and cosy to watch. Six days before Christmas, with snow on the ground, this was the coldest match of the year so far. I think the most freezing I have been at a match was about years ago at Coventry. The bit of the ground we needed to get into wasn't quite open when we got there and Neil Adams and I couldn't stand being outside so we hid in the ticket office at the Ricoh Arena. A few minutes later a Cov fan entered to buy his seat for the match. He was wearing shorts and flip flops. I doubt he made it through the afternoon. Forget the latest replica kit, real football supporters know that a decent set of thermals is what you need for much of the season.

Then there's the headwear fashion. I am quite boring and straight forward in going for the 4-4-2 of the hat world a black, woolly effort. Your older fan likes the flat cap - perhaps yearning for the days when Norwich played at The Nest and every supporter wore one and 2-3-5 formations were all the rage. At the other end of the spectrum was this man sitting just to my right hand side. I don't think I could compare it to a well known formation - if I could it would be something only Brazil whould have the chutspar to play.

He had an extraordinary creation on. it was mainly red with pretend snow, reindeer antlers sticking out the top and red flashing lights. Only Wes Hoolahan's marvellous goal and then pass to Chris Martin for the second was as remarkable.

Oh

Southampton 2-2 Norwich City

(Southampton win on penalties)

I can't tell you a huge amount more than the facts above here having not been at the game.

Gary Doherty did score again though. No doubt this time.

I must admit, this came as quite a blow because since the start of the season. Actually, if I'm honest, even since relegation from The Championship started to look like more than just something to be a bit worried about back in February I had become convinced that Norwich would win the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in 2010.

Maybe it was my way of cushioning the impact of actually having to play in the good old JPT for the first time but whatever the reason I had long since been visualising the canaries running out at Wembley and triumphantly climbing up to the Royal Box to get the infamous cup.

Even though Southampton equalised with the last kick of the game I still wasn't worried. We would easily win the penalty shoot-out because we ARE going to win the Cup.

Must take back that Wembley suit.

The Goal With Five Scorers

Yeovil Town 3-3 Norwich City

One of my bugbears about modern-day football is that it is taken far too seriously. There is far too much chin stroking about formations, people being under pressure, financial implications and clubs in 'crisis' whenever they lose two matches in a row. This was one of those games that serves as a reminder as to why people really watch football.

I'll go further, it wasn't even so much the match as one brilliant moment right at the end. Norwich's 94 minute equaliser which made it 3-3. They had gone 3-2 down in stoppage time before one stupendous moment of utter chaos when, with City's goalkeeper Fraser Forster joining in the attack, Russell Martin fired one last desperate ball into the Yeovil penalty area. GOAL!!

But who had scored it? That isn't a comfortable question when, as a commentator, you are supposed to be right on top of things at all times. Had Martin's effort gone straight in or was there a touch among the forest of players in the penalty area. Gary Doherty certainly seemed to be claiming it, but the Yeovil PA man gave it to Darel Russell.

Second later, after the final whistle, it emerged Norwich's official website had given the goal to Grant Holt. Confusion no reigned, so there was one thing for it - ask the manager. So before the post-match interview with Paul Lambert I asked whether we should be crediting the dramatic equaliser to Doherty, Russell Martin, Darel Russell or Holt. "I thought it was Jens Berthel Askou." Lambert said. We now had 5 possible scorers.

Doherty was quick to make sure we all knew it was indeed his feather-like touch which had made all the difference and given him two goals in the game with Chris Martin getting the other.

A point at Yeovil will not even raise the most excitable of eyebrows when written down in cold record-book form. But those Norwich fans that were there were beaming long after full-time at seeing a moment of true, organic, unpredictable drama.

Forget the talk of 4-4-2's, 4-5-1's, and diamond midfields - football's better when the unexpected unfolds in front of you.

After Doherty's celebration Yeovil will have to re-work the above sign.

'WARNING! During the match, beware of Gary Doherty entering the stand.'

A Penney For Your Thoughts

Norwich City 2-0 Oldham Athletic

There was many a wise old sage at Carrow Road before this one who saw it as their job to calm things down a little.

With City in such good form and Oldham struggling and decimated by injury problems it wasn't difficult to find home supporters predicting 4-0 or 5-1 wins. 'Expectation levels are getting too high' was the headmasterly warning from the more sobre, weather-beaten fans with some even pointing to the pressure a promotion push could pile on the team. I don't think it's a bad thing.

It is understandable that football managers and players will talk about there being 'no easy games' and that the 'opposition will make it difficult for us' because any bullish pre-match predictions leave them open to much egg on face. Fans don't have to worry quite so much.

Surely it is a good thing that supporters are turning up and see a win by a four goal margin as realistic. It means the team must be doing something right and as for the pressure, well, this kind of 'promotion battle' pressure is infinitely preferable to the relegation worried of previous years.

Oldham were beaten by first half strikes from Holt and Hoolahan. Their manager Dave Penney came up with a novel way of avoiding the glare during the game by appearing on the touchline in a tracksuit top bearing the initials 'LD'. I have never quite understood why being a manager entitles you to wearing your initials on your chest but they all do it.

While football supporters can be a demanding bunch they are are also a breed that few can match when it comes to pessimism.

Things have been going very well for Nowich lately, dare I say too well. There's an unspoken inner fear around Carrow Road, with its roots in the let-downs of recent years, which says 'somethings going to go wrong soon'.

This feeling was exposed when Great British professional football's top goal scorer so far this season, Grant Holt, hit the deck like a big old sack of spuds after a shin high challenge. The communal intake of breath at Carrow Road spoke volumes. 'That's it, he's out for the season.' You could almost hear people thinking it. Gradually Holt clambered back into a vertical, if unsteady, state and couldn't join in with the next two attacks as he hobbled around the halfway line.

Holt completed the game though and when I asked him about the challenge afterwards he replied: "The shin pad did its job."

That's the trouble with scoring 19 goals by early December. It makes people want to kick you.

An Unhappy Maric

Southend United 0-3 Norwich City

No trip to Roots Hall for me, due to those pesky earlies, but Grant Holt (2) and Korey Smith's second half goals helped prove that Carlisle cup defeat was not anything to be too worried about.

It was just after this game that Paul Lambert revealed he had reached agreement with Serbian striker Goran Maric to release him just four months after joining the club.

Maric made the briefest of substitute appearances in the Carling Cup at Yeovil and then started the JP Trophy win over Brentford. His fate was sealed in that game. Lambert's constant hair pulling, swivelling on the spot and kicking out at thin air every time Maric touched the ball was probably the most obvious show of frustration about one player's performance I have ever seen from a manager.

It had all looked so promising in pre-season. Goran Maric was a demon on the tour of Scotland, scoring a couple of goals and looking like a lively customer. I wrote back in July of my great hopes for this Serbian striker but alas, and we should have learnt by now, a player on trial can be a different beast from a player with his inky fingermarks on a contract.

This is going to sound dreadfully xenophobic and I do not want it to, (I will be stopping short of saying 'they come over here......') but Norwich have never really had a lot of luck with foreign players. In recent years Zola, Bergkamp and Cantona have lit up English football with their flare and brilliance. With one or two notable exceptions (Steen Nedergaard anyone?) the canaries have never quite tapped into this rich supply of overseas talent.

Here's the evidence:

1- Michael Theoklitos (Australian) Let in seven on his debut. Not played since.

2- Thomas Helveg (Denmark) It was so exciting when Norwich signed a player who had previously been with AC Milan and Inter Milan. We thought we had really made it in that Premiership summer of 2004. He soon lost his place to Marc Edworthy.

3- Fernando Derveld (Holland) A dutch left-back discovered by Brian Hamilton. He was tall, quick and liked to get forward. He just wasn't very good.

4- Pape Diop (Senegal) You what? Pape Bouba Diop - a Premier League star with Fulham and Portsmouth a flop? No. This isn't him. This is Pape Seydou Diop who was due to spend the 1999/2000 season on loan from Lens. After 10 games that spell was cut short following allegations he spat at QPR fans during a particularly bad tempered game. Still he went on to be part of the Senegal team which defeated France in the first game of the 2002 World Cup didn't he? No. That side included Pape Malik Diop.

5- Dejan Stefanovic (Serbia) Perhaps a slightly harsh inclusion on a list of overseas flops for Norwich as it wasn't his fault he did his knee ligaments after just 12 league games for the club having looked fairly promising. He did manage to get himself sent off for arguing in a match at Southampton though. He either swore at the ref in English or swore at the ref in his native tongue and was unlucky to catch the Football League's only Serbian official.

6- Juan Velasco (Spain) Signed by Glenn Roeder in 2008 after being released by Espanyol. We had high hopes of this fella who had been part of Spain's Euro 2000 squad. He shouldn't have had any problems settling in East Anglia - he revealed he was best mates with Ipswich striker Pablo Counago. So what could go wrong? Well he played 3 games for City and in the final one, at Coventry, he was substituted after 21 minutes of the game.

7- Cedric Anselin (France) In fairness this one-time Bordeaux right winger achieved cult status during his 29 game (1 goal v Oxford United) spell as a Norwich player. The fact his list of post-canary clubs included King's Lynn, Dereham and Norwich United will tell you how rapid his fall from grace was.

8- Mattias Jonson (Sweden) One of the signings in the summer of 2004 brought in to make Norwich a competitive Premiership side. A Swedish international who had impressed in Euro 2004 for his country. 30 games for Norwich - 0 goals.

9- David Strihavka (Czech Republic) One of my favourite interviews of all time was when this 6ft striker scored the only goal of his Norwich career in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. "I'm very, very happy" was the limit of his English. This perhaps wasn't helped by his team mates who revealed they had tried to help him settle in England and learn the language by taking him to see the Transformers film. Glenn Roeder got shot of him soon after taking over as manager. The Norwich fans nicknamed him 'Dave Striker' and he may just have had something - scoring against Tottenham in the UEFA Cup later that season. However his Norwich career was to last just 11 appearances, 8 of those from the bench.

10- Goran Maric (Serbia) The final piece of the jigsaw in this team, for the reasons mentioned above.

11- Raymond DeWaard (Holland) Another of Hamilton's curious signings. The left winger played 13 times for Norwich in a year. I have vivid memories of one Brian Hamilton press conference in which he was telling us how De Waard was unable to head the ball in training without closing his eyes.

A Mist Opportunity

Carlisle United 3-1 Norwich City

The FA Cup provides two days of great footballing romance each season, first round day and third round day. In between there is the relative ugly sister - the second round. Typically this is where Norwich City's cup run would end. For the first time in almost half a century their name would be absent from the excitement of the third round draw.

The FA delayed the kick off until 5.15pm so they could screen the match live on their website making this an even later night than the previous Carlisle odyssey some seven weeks earlier. With broadband connections in Norfolk being about as reliable as an England player in a penalty shoot-out there was much scepticism as to whether this would be easy to watch for those City fans crowded round the monitors at home.

Even those of us not relying on a wobbly internet connection failed to see much. In the final five minutes before kick off a thick Cumbrian mist rolled in at such a rate we wondered whether the game would even start never mind be played to a finish. As it was the fog settled for taking the stand on the opposite side of the ground away from view, adding a sinister edge to proceedings rather than engulfing the ground completely. Given the floods which had devastated large areas of Cumbria a week earlier I suppose the weather was always going to have its say.

It turned out to an 'old-fashioned' Norwich away performance, by which I mean they were comfortably beaten. Until this season's Paul Lambert inspired resurgence, pack-of-card-style collapses away from home had been part of the canaries fabric.

They went 1-0 down here to a fabulous airborne backheel from Vincent Pericard, one of those where people always say 'if it had been scored by a Brazilian, they would never stop showing replays of it'.

Grant Holt equalised but a goal 15 seconds or so into the second half from Kevan Hurst and then Richard Keogh's header meant that Norwich's ball would not be in that funny dishwasher thing they now use for the FA Cup draw.