pieman01

I live near Reading too - in Goring actually.We spend a few Sundays watching London Irish at the Madjeski which is good for a few swift pints. My inlaws also live next to Brian McDermott, the Reading assistant manager - which is handy for passes and stuff... He wasn''t too chuffed with the result last season, it has to be said...Personally I hope they do pretty well - especially if that means keeping Ipswich out of the playoffs...

I don''t mean to sound funny about this and please don''t take this the wrong way but as a supporter, I''m a bit fed up with being asked to fork out every few months. Aside from the cost of my and my wifes ticket - of which we can only get 3 a year - in the last year alone I''ve bought shares, got a brick on the wall, pay for membership, receive Canaryworld, booked my honeymoon through Norwich City Travel, taken my folks for lunch at Delias, bought 3 shirts, 2 DVDs as well as foam hands, flags and mechandising by the bucketload. Of course I''m not going to redeem my shares and I''m going to send the dividend back. But where will it all end? There''s got to be something wrong if despite all the sky money, all the cash coming in through a championship season, we''re still scrabbling around like a wino looking for coppers every few months. I don''t mind helping out - I suspect none of us does - but I simply don''t have that much more to give. And - worse still - it doesn''t feel that the considerable amount of cash (by my standards) I''m spending is making the blindest bit of difference. I know the club is doing its best but I can''t help feeling I''ve been wrung dry by the club. And that''s at a time when I can only get to see 3 home games a year. Oh well, rant over. Time to get the chequebook out again... :-(

Bet you a tenner our first game is Fulham at home.

My other half is. Or at least since I took her to see us draw 1-1 at home to WBA about 4 years ago. Slowly but surely - having brainwashed my mum and my dad - I''ve got Michelle to the stage where she''s got membership, about 7 tops, scarf, cap, all the mullarky. She bought me a brick for the Jarrold stand and was more than happy for me to fork out on shares. She came to Cardiff for the playoff final and to all the games I went to last season, including Wimbledon, Reading, Palace and Watford. Oh, and she was standing on the sofa in Squares after the Preston game, leading the singing in our corner. I''m now working on her parents - her mum already texts me after each game and now wants to get Sky in so she can watch us live next season. Her Dad is proving a little more tricky although experience shows it''s merely a matter of time. It took me 10 years to get my Dad listening to Radio Norfolk every Saturday so miracles don''t happen overnight. It''s not all smooth sailing though. We''re getting married in August but when I mentioned nuptuals at Carrow Road, she was having none of it. Bleedin'' part timers.

I''ve still got a huge soft spot for Sunderland after we had an away game at Everton must have been 20 years ago. The Sunderland game was called off when their coaches were halfway down the M1 so they turned round and came to support us instead. The look on the Everton faces when a couple of thousand macems piled into the Norwich end singing "Come on you yellows" was an absolute picture. Best of luck in the playoffs and really hope you make it.

Oh blimey, I''ll have that if I may. My cousin is flying back from the States for a few days and is desperate for a ticket. He''s been keeping tabs with Canaryworld and I managed to get him a ticket for Forest at Crimbo but he''s pestering me again. It also saves me the job of deciding whether I give my spare ticket to him or the missus... If you''ve still got it, could you drop me a line at picopy@btinternet.com? Nice one! Cheers, Nick