Daniel Brigham

Seeing as absolutely nothing of importance has happened over the last week whatsoever, I decided to write some words on Nathan Redmond, and why we''re going to miss him now he''s gone. If you like, you can read them here

I do agree, Ricardo, that you have to adapt a gameplan against stronger opponents. It can be foolish not to. But the changing of style also left the players unsure of themselves and unsure of the system - Russell Martin has said so (while also admitting the tinkering was often enforced because they kept losing). Being attack-minded also suited the strengths of the players. I don''t agree with your point that AN wouldn''t settle for a stalemate post-New Year - against the likes of Villa, Palace, Swansea and Bournemouth we set up very deep with the hope of playing on the break. They were defensive performances. Failure to turn losses into draws was often down to individual errors, no matter what system they were playing. And that, ultimately, is what cost us.

Hello! If anyone''s interested, here''s my article for The Little Yellow Bird Project on the moment everything changed: the 6-2 loss to Newcastle, how that happened and how it went wrong afterwards. Plus some positive stuff as well, too. And why Alex Neil must stay. Cheers!

Ha, cheers. O''Neil did a pretty decent impression of a sh*tfaced horse against Stoke to be fair

Hello. So here''s a piece I wrote on Wembley, and how Norwich have to channel the emotionless assassins from that day if they''re to beat Sunderland on Saturday. Also contains gratuitous plug for a piece I wrote for the Pink''Un a couple of years ago. It''s all right here

I also like coleslaw. I LIED cos the line sounded right in my head. Sorry. Wooster - as I say, nothing against him personally. Just am beyond tired of his football

Let''s hope so...

Hello all. Ahead of Norwich''s game with West Brom I wrote a bit of a rant about Tony Pulis for The Little Yellow Bird Project. It may read as if I''d taken a drink or two, but I almost certainly hadn''t.Anyway, some of you may like it, so here it is

[quote user="OldRobert"]Excellent interview.  Congratulations to LYBP, super podcast.[:D][/quote]Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it

Yep, thanks LDC

What Level 14 says

Yeh, it must be ad-block as Firefox works fine without it for me. Interesting to see how Acast (and the entire media industry) react to that... there''s one mobile phone network (3 I think) who are adding ad-block automatically to all of their phones.

Sorry to hear a couple of you can''t play it. It may be because you had ad-block set up (although that shouldn''t really apply to audio). Which browsers are you using?

Glad to hear it''s working now!

93Vintage: Silly question, but do you still not get audio when you''ve pressed the play button? Had a few people not notice the button before?If you have no luck there then try this link. Let me know if you still don''t have any luck.

Cheers guys. Seems to have gone down pretty well. Still had plenty of questions left to ask, but were pretty lucky to get as long as we did!And, thanks for the summary of some of the points Purple. There''s plenty of other stuff to listen to on there too!

Hello all. Thought some of you might appreciated a good, nicely-written insightful piece on James Maddison from a Coventry fan and writer. You can give it a read at The Little Yellow Bird Project. Cheers!

Cheers for the spot, will let them know

Cheers! And thanks for the proper linking...

Hello all. So here''s a PLUG for something wot I wrote. It''s a long piece for the brilliant The Set Pieces website, and it''s about Alex Neil''s first year at Norwich. Some of you might like it, and some of you will enjoy the chance to make some sarcy comments. So everyone''s a winner. http://thesetpieces.com/features/norwich-a-year-of-alex-neil/

James Kent? Genuinely never been so insulted

HelloNot been on here in a while, and I return to plug a little website myself and Jon Rogers (who some may know as songsmith Big Grant Holt) run. As a former blogger of this parish, I try and avoid plugging anything on here as it''s a bit rude, but just wanted to introduce you to The Little Yellow Bird Project (www.thelittleyellowbirdproject.co.uk) if you haven''t yet stumbled across it (it''s been running since the start of the season). The aim is to have a high quality of writing, and make things a bit different and more fun to the usual ''this is what I think about this'' kind of reactive pieces. You also won''t find any blow-by-blow match reports or news pieces. We also do a weekly podcast - a mixture of silly sketches, bum jokes and footy chat.Here''s a preview of the Norwich v Man U game (click here) I did with the brilliant sportswriter and United fan Rob Smyth, which covers the 92-93 title race, Cantona''s Polston stamp, Keane slagging us off, the decline of Rooney and the madness behind the method of Van Gaal. It''s part of the website so have a little look around if you haven''t already, and you can also find the latest podcast on there! For those of a tweeting persuasion, you can find us at @theLYBPCheers!Dan

Cheers guys!

''A bit of spice'' Ah, come on.

Sport is at its best when it matters more. So embrace the nerves, says Daniel BrighamIt’s been a difficult week. Across the East Anglian divide people have been discovering that their bowels are capable of noises and lurches no one would believe possible. Nerves have been twisted into the sort of knots only scout leaders could undo. In order to cope with The Biggest Derby For 30 Years, it’s been useful to pretend that football doesn''t matter.After all, it''s just a silly game invented by people who wanted to kick things through town centres and across muddy fields because they didn''t have gramophones, wireless sets, televisions or iPads to preoccupy them. Back then – then being a long time ago – there was nothing else to do other than competitive vegetable tossing, incest and dancing around a maypole in ridiculous coloured clothing (a little like many football kits, actually). So, to stave off the relentless boredom, and with little else to take their minds off not having a fully-functioning sewage system or electricity or PlayStations, people started kicking things around.So, no, football doesn''t really matter. Not at all. Just a bit of fun, isn’t it. Just something to pass the time. The ruse doesn’t last long though. The mind jolts to 12.15pm on Saturday and it becomes blindingly obvious that football does matter, and precisely because it doesn''t matter. It is a distraction from the norm, the regular, the everyday. It is a world away from the work meetings, the doctor appointments, the receding hairline, the guy in the office who eats all of the team biscuits but never provides his own. Football, and all sport, is as deeply human as breathing, sleeping and drawing things on walls. The importance of it has stayed with us from the dawn of humanity, when hairy men with beards went hunting for sport as much as for survival, and its importance will still be there tomorrow, when hairy Bradley Johnsons with beards go hunting. Sometimes it matters so much that you need a distraction to distract yourself from the distraction. This Saturday, for example, sport matters more. Like the best sport, it matters more because of what is at stake. Think back to the great moments of British sporting triumph since the turn of the century, and there was always a subplot that made them mean so much more than just the winning: the country was gripped by the rowing at the 2000 Olympics because of Steve Redgrave’s quest for a super-human fifth Gold medal; the 2003 Rugby World Cup gave England a first World Cup win in any major sport since 1966; the 2005 Ashes turned a nation of cricket-shruggers into devotees because of the possibility of a first win against the Australians for 18 years; Andy Murray’s Wimbledon triumph in 2013 had 77 years of history depending on it as he became the first British male to win the title since 1936. The play-off semi-final has plenty of subplots to lift the two matches above most football games, certainly across East Anglia and, judging by national newspaper country, also across the country. The simple, old-school reason of geographical rivalry (a city of cathedral and churches against a town of Costcutters and Co-ops) will ensure it entices the neutral and traumatises the biased. There’s also a subplot in the dug-out and on the pitch, with a cool, popular new kid pitted against everyone’s favourite grumpy uncle, and a team of pressers and passers verses a team of pragmatism and punts. Then there’s the Big One: a win would be a step closer to the prize of Premier League football (or, to give the prize its full title, Struggling Not To Be Relegated From The Premier League). They say your best chance of getting to the Premier League is the first season you’re out of it, which adds extra drama for Norwich fans. For Ipswich, well, the last time they were in the top flight Britain was getting all worried about Mad Cow Disease and excited/horrified by Gareth Gates and Will Young (there’s probably a link there). So this matters to Ipswich. Like, really matters. When sport matters this much, the only way to cope is to fully embrace it. Sporting moments of truly high drama, intrigue and meaning come along rarely. So relish the nerves, relish the sweaty palms and relish those weird things your stomach is doing, and just be grateful for that fully-functioning sewage system.  Daniel Brigham is a sports writer and editor. He tweets at @dan_brigham