Old Yeller

Sad to see the big man go, but it was always likely once it became clear that he wasn''t going to be first choice. At 32, he needs to play regularly. Last season he was in the form of his life. He broke into the Scottish national team and needs first team football to cement his place. I don''t imagine that the club will demand much of a fee, because it will be malky who will want to move on and everybody concerned with the club will want to do the best by him after his years of loyal service. I''m sure that he''s desperately disappointed by Worthy''s decision not to pick him (injury notwithstanding) but you can see Nigel''s point of view given Malky''s lack of pace. I wanted him to have his chance at the start of the season but, given the present circumstances, I think that we are going to have to accept the inevitable. I''m sure that it''s the right move for Malky, but I honestly don''t know if it''s the best move for us.

Efan''s greatest advantage was his pace, but I''d guess that it is unrealistic to expect him to still have this going for him at his present age. He was best when playing off another striker and playing alongside Chris Sutton and with many other quality players in a strong city side may have made him look better than he actually was. Still, we''d all like to see him do well for you and extend his playing career for as long as he can. Wasn''t he a clan "chief" as well?

it didn''t work in the game at Peterborough.

After a few days on spiritual retreat in Lowestoft, it seems to me that the cartoon character that NCFC most resembles is The Incredible Hulk; green, normally mild-mannered, but unstoppable when angry.

One of my pre-season duties is to feed next door''s tortoise while the neighbours are away on holiday. Today I found that they have delivered a very sub standard news sheet called the Sunday Times - it really isn''t anything like as good a read as The Pinkun. Somewhere in the maze of separate sections - united only by their dullness - was something which appeared to be composed by a moderately intelligent 8 year old and which purported to be a Premiership preview. On flicking through it, it came as no surprise that the journo. predicted a 20th. place finish for Norwich next season - you would be seriously worried if a publication that was so badly written actually predicted something good for your team. One aspect of the Norwich page which caught my attention was the comparison of Norwich to bambi. In an hysterical(!) running gag, the top analyists at the newspaper were comparing each Prem. team to a cartoon character (eg the Arse to Simba the lion king and west Brom to Kenny out of South Park because they are " going to get murdered every week".) Hilariously, the justification for comparing us to bambi was that we were "ripe for the slaughter". My sides nearly split. but then it occurred to me that there might be something wrong with their analogy to a defenceless cuddly creature. I''ve never seen the film, but I had understood that it was bambi''s MUM who got shot. What actually happens to bambi herself (hisself?) at the end of the picture? Could it be that the dimunative one actually triumphs unscathed over the forces of evil and wins the league by 8 points pulling away......? While not wishing to ruin the movie for other posters, can anybody tell me if it ends in triumph or venison (and I don''t mean Barry).

All 3 played v. cambridge and, although it would be dangerous to draw any conclusions from that experience, it worked well in the first half. safri sat deep and passed and covered. the other 2 got forward more. holt didn''t get a nose bleed from being so near the opponent''s goal and made some excellent runs into wide positions on the left while francis was powerful down the middle. It could well be that Worthy will play a kind of Xmas tree formation with 4 at the back with safri just in front, then 4 across the middle with all of them allowed to break forward and only one up front. Although this offers a stronger defensive formation for the Prem. it could invite pressure. Anyway, I think that his pre season selections suggest that it is not an either/or situation.

Jarvis will be going nowhere after second half performance at Peterborough - we looked a different team when he came on and introduced some movement up front.

excellent analysis Buffallo king which British players would you compare him to? someone like Steve Stone? what''s he like in the air when he plays down the centre?

knowhatimean: I think that the results achieved in the early 90s were in spite of Ch**e and not because of him. Don''t forget that when we went down in '' 86, he very nearly restructured the club and was within an inch of deciding to sell off Watson and Bruce and all the other so-called big earners. That kind of downsizing at that time would have probably condemned the club to a much longer and more severe period of obscurity than the one that we have been so gloriously emerging from in recent seasons.

2 things: no way is Flem "slow". compared to whom? fair enough to criticise his distribution, which has improved while he has been at the club, but he has pace. didn''t think Charlton did particularly well on the ground either v. peterborough, although I have been impressed by him when I''ve seen him on TV and it could just be that flem and malky have played together so often that it will prove difficult to replace their partnership because of the understanding built up.

We only conceded 4 goals to headers in the whole of last year''s league programme. While this has something to do with defending the box and stopping the crosses coming in, Malky has never really been given the credit he deserves for his work last term. We looked in trouble when the ball was in the air last night and, while I appreciate that the Prem. teams won''t play like the big boys of Peterborough, I''ll feel more secure if Malky is back with Flem for the big kick off.

Chase was certainly a big disciple of "Margate". the parade of local Tory bigwigs and their over-dressed wives around the pitch and up to their executive seats in the main stand was a regular feature of his time in charge. i''m told that he would brag to them about what he had done for the club and impress them with how small the wage bill was, in the process showing total contempt for loyal servants of the club like gossy. I always saw the presence of these freeloading nobodies at the club as an insult to all the real supporters who a) had paid to see the game b) would come more than once and however the results went and c) knew who was playing. I don''t like to think what, for example, Man. City supporters would have done to a chairperson like that. actually, on second thoughts, I do like to think about it! At least, as these posts show, Chase has united norwich supporters against the type of leadership that takes the club further and further away from them and turns it into a one man show. NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE.

2 things: thought McVeigh was v.good last night and more consistent than Bentley who was ineffective up front in the first half. fantastic goal from midfield though. Hope that Leon is given a bigger role than to be the sub. who is brought on when we are chasing the game. I think that he is v.strong in the 6 yard box, but also that his general play came on leaps and bounds since we signed him, esp. his movement, which was giving opposition defences nearly as many headaches as Huckerby''s pace at the back end of last season.

Johnson is a good enough player, but this doesn''t sound like a sensible piece of business. Why would we want a player like him when leon did so well at the back end of last season? I would have thought we''d be far more likely to go in for a striker like Crouch or Fuller who could offer something different to the squad and maybe improve it.

The thing I remember most about Plough Lane is that you could get a perfect uninterrupted view of the game through the broken windows in the gents, thereby not having to worry about missing any goals due to pre-match drinking. Unfortunately, we hardly ever scored any goals there....