MLS

I''m not in favour of changing it, or even ''updating'' it a little. It''s the badge I''ve grown up with; it''s the badge I spent ages drawing as a kid; it''s the badge my three year old daughter calls "Daddy''s Birdy". In short, it''s the badge tattooed on my heart, if not my skin.Surely the Club learnt a lesson when it ditched the green shorts a few years ago; we like the things that make Norwich City FC the special club it is, and the badge and the colours are a big part of that: ask any fan in the country ''who plays in yellow and green'' or ''whose badge is a canary'' and you won''t get many wrong answers!But if you ask ''who plays in blue and white'' or ''whose badge is a lion'' you''ll get dozens of answers.To be fair, this is just an idea floated at a ''think tank'' on which supporters sit, so hopefully there''s no real chance of this going anywhere! MLS

It must be a little concerning that so many of our players are unable to play in the pre-season games due to thigh strains, calf strains, back aches, groin strains - even if these aren''t serious injuries it does mean they are not getting any match fitness before the season starts. MLS

Worthington was forced to shuffle his pack a little, after Edworthy picked up an injury in training on Friday. That meant Charlton was asked to cover at right back, allowing Drury to return at left-back. And Brennan made it a trio of left-backs in the starting XI, playing on the left side of midfield. Doherty and Fleming continued their partnership in front of Greeno. Graham Stuart was asked to provide the width on the right, with Holt and Francis in their usual central rôles. Huckerby and Ashton completed the 4-4-2 line up, with McKenzie having to settle for a place on the bench. Once again, City started brightly and for the first quarter of an hour they looked the better team. Huckerby had a half-chance to put us ahead, getting in behind the Rovers defence, but he spooned his shot over the bar. Then, on 17 minutes, a long cross-field ball eluded Charlton, and Pederson was able to bring the ball down and fire goalwards from the corner of the box. Greeno looked to have it covered, but then it dipped slightly just as he tried to block it, giving Blackburn an undeserved lead. City countered immediately and should have equalised when Huckerby got to the by-line and pulled it back perfectly for Brennan, but the Canadian miscued horribly from twelve yards with the goal at his mercy. Shortly after City carved open the Rovers defence yet again, this time with Holt finding Ashton on the edge of the box. Unfortunately, the City striker was unable to curl his shot beyond Friedel, who parried the ball back into play. Fortune was on the keeper’s side, though, with the ball rebounding a little behind Stuart preventing an easy tap in. The two sides then traded free-kicks, with Stuart curling our effort comfortably into Friedel’s arms and Pederson forcing a great save at the other end. However, from the resulting corner, Pederson’s cross was met at the near post by Dickov and his glancing header just squeezed in to make it two-nil. McKenzie replaced Brennan at the break, but the second half was played out in horrendous conditions, with torrential rain interspersed with thunder and lightning. That did little for the quality of the football on display, but I don’t think that can excuse Ashton’s misplaced cross-field pass which led to Rovers’ third. Gallagher intercepted and fed the ball to Dickov. Doherty allowed the pint-sized striker to turn and then work space for a shot. Yet again Greeno looked to have it covered, but a combination of a late swerve and the wet ball meant that it slipped through and into the net. Savage then did what Savage does best: winding up the opposition! Francis won the ball, but tangled with Savage and as the two players moved back into position Savage gave Francis a slight push. Francis said something and Savage pushed him again. Francis decided actions spoke louder than words and decided to push back, but the ref decided it was a push too far and showed the City player a yellow card. Job done, Savage. As the half wore on Blackburn created several decent chances and City looked distinctly second best. Greeno showed great character to put his two errors to the back of his mind and made a few good saves. The best of these was a double save right at the end, when he did well to stop Reid’s drive and got up to make an even better save from Gallagher’s effort on the rebound. MLS

Failing live TV coverage, is there any radio commentary available on the web? Thanks. MLS

[quote]It''s fantastic to hear that Jonson is starting to settle down. I really think he is a winger with excellent potential. IMO we have never replaced Ruel Fox on the right hand side of midfield. To fin...[/quote] [quote]IMO we have never replaced Ruel Fox[/quote] Have you forgotten Neil Adams? ;-) MLS

I''m sure Helveg will get his chance, but at the moment Edworthy is playing well enough to keep the Dane on the bench. Svensson has already had several chances to shine up front, but has failed to deliver so far - give Leon a chance. Let''s see what he can do after a few matches on the spin to help him build a partnership with Huckerby. Jonson is getting better with each game, but shows the step up we have to make - even seasoned Internationals, like Helveg and Jonson, are struggling to compete in the Premiership. Fingers crossed it is only short-lived! MLS

City went into this match looking for their first win of the season; and with slightly better composure in front of goal we would have got it! As it was, the Baggies escaped with a point and their first clean sheet. The single point, however, was sufficient to lift us out of the relegation zone as Palace, Southampton and Blackburn all lost. Worthy put out the same side that started against Pompey two weeks ago; which meant McKenzie got his second start of the season as City lined up in a straight 4-4-2. The only change was on the bench, with Safri returning fit from International duty. West Brom had the first effort of the match when Zoltan Gera fired just past the far post, but minutes later McKenzie missed a great chance to stake a claim for a permanent place in City’s attack. Indeed it was his strike partner Huckerby who carved out the chance with a superbly flighted cross to the far post where McKenzie had stolen in unmarked. Unfortunately Leon’s volley from twelve yards whistled over Hoult’s crossbar. City were knocking the ball around confidently and retained possession well, without creating many clear-cut chances. But Huckerby then had two attempts to break the deadlock and grab a fully deserved half-time lead. The first was entirely self-made; Hucks went on one of his trademark mazy runs before firing in a powerful shot that was just a little too straight, allowing Hoult to collect safely. The second was thanks to the battling efforts of McKenzie who tackled Darren Moore before turning and threading a perfect pass into the path of Huckerby for a clear run at goal. Unfortunately the finish failed to live up to the build up and Hucks got his attempted curler horribly wrong. City continued to press forward, with West Brom offering little in the way of creativity. The next chance fell to Jonson, again after good work from Huckerby, although his pass was clearly intended for McKenzie. Jonson called and Leon stepped aside as Jonson let fly, but McKenzie’s presence probably explained why the Swede’s shot only found the side netting. Next it was time for Bentley to try his luck. Cutting inside from the left hand touchline, he beat three defenders and unleashed his shot, but dragged it just wide of the near post. Despite their best efforts, City failed to capitalise on their domination and the Baggies came very close to stealing the lead just before half-time. It was the only save Greeno had to make in the first half, and it came from Gary Holt! Bernt Haas got down the right wing and fired across the six yard box. Attempting to clear, Holt only managed to guide the ball towards the goal, forcing Greeno to dive at full stretch low to his right. West Brom lifted their game for the second half, but it was City who came closest to opening the scoring in the early stages. Bentley crossed to the far post where Jonson met the ball with a firm downward header, but Hoult managed to block the ball on the line and just as Jonson went for the rebound, the keeper managed to scramble the ball clear. Jonson got a kick in the head from a defender for his troubles, but was able to carry on after treatment. Inside the hour, Megson swapped Kanu for sub Earnshaw, and he had an immediate impact. Using his pace, he ran at the City defence, which stood firm. But the ball fell to Greening, and his shot forced Greeno to make his second save of the game; the City shot-stopper then had to be alert to clear the danger as Horsfield looked to take advantage from the rebound. McKenzie tried to break free down the right, but appeared to be blocked off by the defender. With no whistle, McKenzie’s frustration got the better of him and he pulled the defender to the ground, earning a yellow card in the process. With 20 minutes to go, Jason Koumas replaced Greening, who was possibly the Baggies most influential attacking player, but the change worked and West Brom started to have more of

Has anyone else noticed that everytime we say we are interested in a player, within a day or so, West Brom are linked also. It happened with Hulse, O''Connor and Huckerby last season, and has now happened with Scimeca. It seems to me that West Brom are saving a small fortune on scouts by waiting for us to identify good players, and using those savings to offer the players more to join them instead! Maybe we should announce our interest in loads of awful no-hopers and wait for West Brom to sign them all! MLS

Winning Manager of the Season could hardly have come as a surprise, given his three monthly awards and Championship trophy! But it was nice to add another piece of silverware to the trophy cabinet. Just one word to Chris Wise, who wrote the story: City finished EIGHT points clear of West Brom, not five! ;-) MLS http://www.pinkun.com/Content/ncfc/story.asp?datetime=18+May+2004+08%3A35&tbrand=PINKUNOnline&tCategory=Norwich&category=Norwich&brand=PINKUNOnline&itemid=NOED18+May+2004+08%3A50%3A42%3A793

The voting page is still there, but they''ve removed the link to it from the Five Live homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/veteran_vote.shtml Clearly Ferdinand fans have also started using an automated voter as he has now almost caught up with Eyres at Oldham. Bristol fans have been cleverer and stopped at 15,000 votes (5,000 more than Iwan), which looks belivable, even though we all know they got their with an auto-voter too! I now have a copy of Oldhams auto-voter! So, the only thing left to do to help Iwan win this award is to run the auto-voter for Eyres at Oldham - and if anyone can hack it, to create auto-voters for Ferdinand and Tinnion too - that way, Iwan will be left as the only player not to have been boosted by an auto voter (unless the others all see what we''re doing!) You can get the auto-voter from here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/CN/files/Eyresy.exe Just run it and it will start voting for Eyres. MLS

McVeigh is a great little player and did a fantastic job for us on the left in Worhington''s first two seasons and top scorer last year. This season, with Brenna and Hucks arriving, McVeigh has found his position on the left taken from him: firstly, Worthington made a big point of saying he thought Drury and Brennan looked a great combination on paper, so you can imagine McVigh must have felt somewhat disappointed. Then, whatever Hucks ''official'' position, you can bet he''ll tend to drift out to the left! If we thought we could play Hucks and McKenzie upfront, ie without a target man, then I''d pick McVeigh to play down the left ahead of Brennan. But if Worthington feels we need a target man, whether it is Svensson or Crouch, then Hucks naturally moves to the left which leaves McVeigh without a place again - he''s not as effective on the right. Even so, he''s a great player to be able to bring off the bench, and has often grabbed a late goal or found a little magic to set one up - certainly worth keeping next season. MLS

Fully agree about Leon... he could be a real goal machine, even in the Premiership. Just look at his record this season: ten goals from 19 games for Posh, then nine goals from 12 starts (plus six subs) with us. His movement is excellent, he knows where to be and when to move. He poaches goals like Mark Robins did - and look what he helped us do! MLS