Note: All ties will be played on the weekend of the 11th August 2008
 


Round 1 Carling Cup Draw:

Preston North End vs. Chesterfield
Chester City vs. Leeds United
Leicester City vs. Stockport County
Sheffield United vs. Port Vale
Grimsby Town vs. Tranmere Rovers
Crewe Alexandra vs. Barnsley
Hartlepool United vs. Scunthorpe United
Derby County vs. Lincoln City
Notts County vs. Doncaster Rovers
Sheffield Wednesday vs. Rotherham United
Shrewsbury Town vs. Carlisle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Accrington Stanley
Bury vs. Burnley
Rochdale vs. Oldham Athletic
Nottingham Forest vs. Morecambe
Huddersfield Town vs. Bradford City
Macclesfield Town vs. Blackpool
Walsall vs. Darlington
Coventry City vs. Aldershot Town
Milton Keynes Dons vs. Norwich City
Wycombe Wanderers vs. Birmingham City
Brighton vs. Barnet
Gillingham vs. Colchester United
Southend vs. Cheltenham Town
Swansea City vs. Brentford
Luton Town vs. Plymouth Argyle
Exeter City vs. Southampton
Watford vs. Bristol Rovers
Bournemouth vs. Cardiff City
Bristol City vs. Peterborough United
Charlton Athletic vs. Yeovil Town
Millwall vs. Northampton Town
Swindon Town vs. Queens Park Rangers
Crystal Palace vs. Hereford United
Dagenham and Redbridge vs. Reading
Ipswich Town vs. Leyton Orient

RICHARD WRIGHT (West Ham) - Pris ukendt
Richard Wright har udtalt at han er interesseret i et skifte tilbage til Suffolk, og denne gang synes der ikke at være nogen vej uden om for den tidligere engelske landsholdsspiller. Richard Wright har siden skiftet væk fra Ipswich været sat i forbindelse med et skifte retur til Portman Road, men det skete som bekendt aldrig.

Tættest på at få Richard Wright tilbage var Town sidste år, men her nåede West Ham at komme ind i billedet. Her har Wright dog blot siddet på bænken, men det ser nu endelig ud som at han er parat til at ville spille førsteholds fodbold igen, efter et par usuccesfulde ophold hos Arsenal, Everton og West Ham.

NICKY MAYNARD (Crewe Alexandra) - £1.5m
Ipswich skulle angiveligt være parate til at smide £1.5m for den unge Crewe-angriber Nicky Maynard. Maynard har imponeret på Gresty Road, hvor han har scoret hele 32 mål i blot 59 kampe. Dario Gradi, Sports Director i Crewe, har udtalt at han er villig til at "lytte til bud".

Der kan være noget om Maynard i det begge klubber ikke ønsker at udtale sig om interessen, ligesom Town netop har trukket et kontrakttilbud til Emile Mpenza tilbage. Stilheden kunne vidne om at Town ikke er interesseret i at lade konkurrenterne, i kampen om Maynards signatur, vide at forhandlingerne har nået et seriøst stadie.

Middlesbrough, Blackburn, Bolton, Sunderland og West Bromwich nævnes alle i forbindelse med Maynard, så konkurrencen er hård.

MARTIN PATERSON (Scunthorpe) - £1.3m
Martin Paterson er tæt på et skifte til Burnley, kun de personlige forhold mangler at komme på plads, men skulle den 21-årige Paterson afvise Burnley, så skulle Ipswich såvel som Norwich begge være parate med et tilbud.

Scunthorpe have confirmed that they have accepted a bid from Burnley for top scorer Martin Paterson.

The Clarets have got the best part of £3m (how much??) burning a hole in their back pocket after the sale of Kyle Lafferty to Rangers, but you can't help but chuckle at the timing and the wording here.

It's not really the norm these days for clubs to publicly confirm the amount of the bid before the deal has been completed unless you're doing it for one of two reasons:

1. You know you're going to face a backlash from supporters angry at the sale of one your prized assets, but you want to try and placate them by saying "yes, but look at all this gold we've got".

or

2. You're trying to flush out any other would-be suitors by effectively saying "this is what it'll cost you - up for it?".

I wonder which one this could be? Hmmm...so Glenn this is what it'll cost you to get in the game - up for it?

Ben Sahar didn't have the best luck in 2007/08, suffering injuries and disrupted loan spells. He'll be hoping to bounce back this coming season and re-find the form that made him an international goalscorer for Israel aged just 17. Over the last week he's been linked with a switch to NEC Nijmegen in Holland's Eredivisie, a club who have previously taken then-Manchester United youngsters Chris Eagles and David Jones on loans. The deal appeared to be all but done, but reports suggest there have been issues regarding tax on Sahar's wages, and so attentions have turned closer to home.

Israeli media have reported that Ben will be heading to the South Coast to join Portsmouth on loan, for either six months or a full season. Chelsea and Portsmouth have a little bit of a recent link, with Avram Grant joining the club from Pompey, a situation which brought the two clubs to a little more attention in Israel. If Ben does indeed join them, a Premiership move is undoubtedly a good situation for him to be in, but questions will arise as to whether he can compete for a place in attack with Jermain Defoe, Nwankwo Kanu and anyone else Harry Redknapp might want to bring in.

Stories have also emerged late this week suggesting Jack Cork is heading back to The Championship an to Sheffield Wednesday, where Sahar landed last season. Jack was Scunthorpe's stand-out player last season in a relegation season but impressed everyone he played against. The Owls were involved in a relegation battle and are looking at Jack to boost their fortunes as they aim for a much improved 2008/09.

Any confirmed news on where Ben and Jack play next season, or any of Chelsea's youngsters, will be on this blog when it happens.

Three days later Plymouth were the visitors to Carrow Road. Following the Home Park mauling three weeks earlier it couldn't possibly be any worse - and thankfully it wasn't. Ched Evans scored just two minutes into his debut and Huckerby's 87th minute penalty eased the nerves, but there was still time for Argyle to pull one back through Timar in the 89th minute.

A fourth win in five games was secured against Sheffield United. Evans made it two in two for the Welshman but there was a huge let-off for City when Matthew Kilgallon's last minute header was ruled-out for offside.

A pretty dire 1-1 draw took place at Layer Road against Colchester the week later in front of the Sky cameras, Danny Granville's late own goal giving City a point.

Jamie Cureton's 78th minute goal was enough to seal all three points at Glanford Park against Scunthorpe, and 2007 was rounded off with 1-1 draws against both Charlton on Boxing Day and Wolves three days later at Carrow Road.

Monthly Stats

Games played - 7.

Won - 3.

Lost - 1.

Drawn - 3.

Goals Scored - 8.

Goals Conceded - 6.

Win % - 43%.

Position after last league game - 20th.

Monthly verdict

Three wins and three draws in seven, the fightback was on.

Check back tomorrow for the review of January, featuring Palace, Bury, Barnsley, Leicester and Southampton...

Given that we supposedly had a £750,000 bid rejected in the January transfer window that's hardly surprising, but I should think a similar bid now may be enough to twist their arm - especially since the Iron have been relegated to League One.

I know they don't call this the "silly season" for nothing, but you've got to be honest - it's all pretty interesting isn't it?

Manager Nigel Adkins wouldn't reveal the identity of his target but did speak with BBC Radio Humberside about the deal.

Adkins said: "He's a young England international, and he played in the Youth Cup final for them this season against Manchester City.

"He's a talented football player, that's for sure, and it will be the same sort of scenario as with Jack.

"He's going to go out to Malaysia with Chelsea and then, on the last week of pre-season, they will decide to put him out on loan.

"We've had discussions and there's every chance that the player that we've talked about, and we'll try and keep the name private, will come to us on the same sort of loan period as Jack Cork did.

"I'm sure he's a talented player who will excite our supporters."

Given his hints, it would suggest the player in question is either Nana Ofori-Twumasi, Ben Gordon, Jacob Mellis or Michael Woods. With Mellis and Gordon only being first-years just ending, and Woods and Ofori-Tumasi coming up for their third year, logic suggests it is one of those two. Whichever it is, the move would be a welcome one, as both are at the stage of their development where a loan is needed.

At the end of the Football League season, two Blue loanees who have had successful season-long campaigns in The Championship were rewarded for their efforts by receiving supporter accolades.

Jack Cork led the way, winning a sensational four awards at the Official Scunthorpe Supporters Club awards night. He walked away with the Player of the Year and Junior Player of the Year trophies, as well as the Iron Bar Player of the Year and Official Supporter's Club away travel honours.

Down in London, Michael Mancienne won the QPR Young Player of the Season Award. Congratulations to both young defenders on a fantastic achievement and a great season.

Irons boss Nigel Adkins:

Norwich have not been in touch with us at all.

I've spoken to his agent and to Norwich, but media speculation will abound throughout the summer.

The reality of football is that clubs try to sign good players from other clubs.

We bought Martin Paterson from Stoke reserves and he's been a revelation, he's scored 14 goals, so you have to keep going out there and try and bring good players in all the time.

Ok, so Norwich have not been in touch at all, but Adkins has spoken to Norwich? Something doesn't quite add up there...

Both viewpoints stem from the fact that this season more than any other any team really can beat any other, which is demonstrated by the likelihood that the team finishing in the final play-off position this season will do so with the lowest points total in years, whereas the team occupying the third relegation place will have the highest.

I'd better get it out of the way early on; I think the Championship in general is shocking this season. Very few teams have impressed me and although you would have got incredible odds on the top six being occupied in early April by Bristol City, Stoke, Hull, Watford, West Brom and Wolves - and with just five points separating the top five to boot - that doesn't mean the league is particularly strong.

The best thing you can say about the Championship this season is that it is almost impossible to make any meaningful predictions. But has that stopped me? Not a jot.

Based on my last little session with the BBC Predictor (which is well worth a play if you haven't had a go yet), our friends from down the road will finish sixth on 67 points. I have the Canaries down to finish fifteenth on 57 points - just ten fewer. The third relegated team (which at the moment I think will be Blackpool) have 51. I don't have the stats to hand but I doubt there has been a season this tight for a long, long time.

The real question is whether or not next season will be any better. Let's take a look at the likely runners and riders (bit late for a Grand National pun I know but bare with me I've not been very well) and try to find out:

The teams coming down from the Premier League are almost always instantly installed as favourites to bounce straight back helped in no small part by the parachute payments they receive, but in reality at least one such team struggles (see Sheffield United for further details).

Derby we know are already relegated and I'm expecting Fulham and Bolton to join the Rams in falling through the trap door. Based on my predictions the three relegated teams will be replacing West Brom, Stoke and Watford in the division. Overall I'd say the Championship gets the better end of that particular deal.

Stoke's main aim you would think would be ensuring they don't ‘do a Derby', whereas West Brom and Watford should in theory be better suited to life in the top-flight this time around.

The leap from League One to the Championship would appear to be almost as steep if this season is anything to go by. Of the three teams promoted last season Bristol City have confounded everybody by currently sitting top of the pile. Unfortunately I think they are suffering from pre-promotion jitters at the moment, which is why I think they will ultimately miss out this campaign.

Scunthorpe have consistently struggled and Blackpool have been yo-yoing between the relegation zone and mid-table for most of the season, which is why believe they will both be doomed come 4^th May.

Replacing the Iron, the Seasiders and Colchester will most likely be Swansea, Carlisle and my pick of the play-off chasers, Nottingham Forest.

Swansea and Forest have Championship setups already at the Liberty Stadium and the City Ground, so I think it is fair to think they will do considerably better than Scunthorpe. Carlisle are a bit of a mystery to me in truth. They have done very well in League One, but would they be able to make the grade in the Championship? Who knows?

The eighteen remaining clubs are all pretty much of a muchness and will be separated by just 16 points according to my predictions come the end of the season. All the signs indicate that 2008/09 will be very similar to 2007/08, albeit hopefully with one significant difference - the Canaries challenging at the right end of the table.

Today's Championship results were almost perfect for the Canaries:

Norwich 2 Burnley 0. I went for 2-1 but 2-0 was even better. Thank you Dion, thank you Ched.

Colchester 2 Ipswich 0. The U's would have been relegated had they lost to Ipswich, who didn't exactly warm up for next week's derby in the best way possible. The heart bleeds. :)

QPR 2 Preston 2. A draw would have probably been the best result for us, so no complaints. Both sides are probably safe but it's nice to keep them around us.

Scunthorpe 1 Sheff Wed 1. The ideal result for us would have been a home win, but for Wednesday to drop another couple of points is still a good result for us.

Sheff Utd 3 Leicester 0. Oops.

Southampton 2 Bristol City 0. There had to be a fly in the ointment, and it was at St Marys. But with everyone else around us dropping points it'll do.

Watford 2 Coventry 1. Kasper Schmeichel's late error handed the Hornets a win, and I thank him for it.

So with four games to go six points separate the Canaries and the relegation zone. You'd think one more win would be enough to see us safe, and what better place to get it than at Portaloo Road next week?

Oh and if you're feeling hopelessly optimistic, we're only nine points off the play-offs!

It's getting harder and harder to predict how the Championship will finish, so for this week I've abandoned the BBC predictor and have taken a leaf out of Luke Skywalker's book by trusting my instincts.

I'm not interested in the play-off picture or automatic promotion at the moment. The only thing that concerns me are the relegation places, where there are as many as seven clubs realistically fighting it out to not be the one that bags the third and final relegation place (For the purpose of this exercise I am assuming that Colchester and Scunthorpe are already down and that Preston in 15^thon 53 points are safe, so apologies any U's or Irons fans who may be reading this).

After the weekend's round of matches the bottom of the Championship table looks like this:

1. Blackpool (50pts)
2. Norwich City (49pts)
3. Coventry City (48pts)
4. Leicester City (47pts)
5. Barnsley (46pts)
6. Southampton (46pts)
7. Sheffield Wednesday (45pts)
8. Scunthorpe United (38pts)
9. Colchester United (33pts)

Sheffield Wednesday have a difficult run-in, playing games against five of the teams around them, play-off chasing Plymouth and the small matter of the Steel City derby:

• Coventry (H)
• Scunthorpe (A)
• Sheff Utd (A)
• Plymouth (H)
• Blackpool (A)
• Leicester (A)
• Norwich (H)

Pick the bones out of that one if you dare, but I think they'll probably pick up 8 points out of that lot, leaving them with 53 overall.

You wouldn't want to be in Southampton's position at the moment with their run-in, taking on two of the leading pack and Charlton, themselves not out of the play-off race yet:

• Bristol City (H)
• Charlton (A)
• Burnley (H)
• West Brom (A)
• Sheff Utd (H)

A haul of maybe 6 points there with wins against Burnley and Sheffield United will give the Saints 51 overall.

Barnsley will be hoping their FA Cup exploits don't distract them from the league too much, but like the others they have some difficult games:

• Watford (A)
• Preston (H)
• Hull (A)
• Leicester (H)
• Charlton (H)
• Cardiff (A)

I can't see the Tykes getting more than 5 points out of those games, which would also leave them on 51 points with a very similar goal difference to Southampton.

Leicester also have a tricky run-in, and will be hoping their home form sees them through:

• Sheff Utd (A)
• Colchester (H)
• Barnsley (A)
• Sheff Wed (H)
• Stoke (A)

A haul of around 7 points here should see the Foxes safe on 54 points.

Keeping up? Good stuff. Next up is Coventry who, surprise surprise, have a pretty nasty run-in:

• Sheff Wed (A)
• Watford (A)
• Stoke (H)
• Colchester (A)
• Wolves (H)
• Charlton (A)

I think they'll pick up 5 or maybe 6 points there, which will leave them with 53 points.

What of Norwich? Compared to some of the others our final five matches shouldn't be quite as bad, but we've still got to get passed our bogey side Burnley, the East Anglian Derby, promotion machine West Brom and a potentially terrifying last day at Hillsborough.

• Burnley (H)
• Ipswich (A)
• West Brom (H)
• QPR (H)
• Sheff Wed (A)

Realistically 6 points out of the final five games (draws against Burnley, Ipswich and Sheff Wed, and a win against QPR) and the Canaries will end with 55.

Blackpool may struggle to get more than 2 points from their final five games, which would give them a total of 52:

• West Brom (H)
• Cardiff (A)
• Sheff Wed (H)
• Plymouth (A)
  Watford (H)

There are some massive "ifs, buts and maybes" in there, but this is how I have the bottom of the Championship finishing:

1. Norwich (55pts)
2. Leicester (54pts)
3. Coventry (53pts)
4. Sheff Wed (53pts)
5. Blackpool (52pts)
6. Barnsley (51pts)
7. Southampton (51pts)

It's all change at the bottom, with Southampton now the team I have occupying the third relegation place.

The only thing we know for certain is that there are plenty more twists and turns to come. For all we know the order could be almost completely reversed, so I'll repeat the exercise again next week.

After a tremendous thirteen game unbeaten run which lifted us from 5 points adrift at the bottom of the table to the dizzy heights of 12^th, four defeats in the last six matches have moved the Canaries back to within just 5 points of the relegation zone.

Coupled with the fact that most teams below us have at least one game in hand, our goal difference is pretty shoddy and the run-in includes matches against Bristol City, West Brom and Burnley - not to mention the small matter of the derby against Ipswich - and you might be excused for thinking that things are starting to become a little tense again.

Not if you're name's Glenn Roeder. After the midweek defeat to Stoke the manager was asked if he was now starting to look over his shoulder. His reply was as concise as always:

You might be, but I'm not. I only look forward. People who spend their life looking behind them, spend their life picking themselves up off the floor.

I might not be spending my life looking behind me but I won't lie to you; I'm definitely taking an occasional glance.

You can't blame Roeder for trying to keep everyone positive, but like it or not we're back in a relegation battle. It's one I think we will win, but it's a relegation battle all the same.

The most worrying thing for me is how teams around us seem to be hitting form just we are losing ours.

Preston beat Wolves midweek due to a hotly-disputed penalty. Sheffield Wednesday won at Colchester. Barnsley battered Ipswich (the sole piece of good news on the night). Everywhere you look teams are grounding out results and picking up points.

Southampton and Leicester appear to be in freefall, and with Colchester and to a lesser degree Scunthorpe seemingly near-as consigned to League One already on the surface it looks like being one of ourselves, the Saints, the Foxes, Sheffield Wednesday or Coventry to fill that third and final relegation place. Actually it could be anyone in the bottom half couldn't it?

I'm sure we'll be ok. I think we'll be ok. Ok I can see us limping over the line. I just pray that it's all sorted by the time we go to Hillsborough. We all know what happens the last time we went away on the last day of the season needing a win to avoid relegation.

City's Greatest Ever XI sure to get tongues wagging

The club's "Greatest Ever" event looks like being a lot of fun (even if some of the "musical" acts are not quite to my taste).

Understandably some big names made the shortlist, but for my eleven I thought it only fair that I limit my selections to players I am familiar with, so anyone who played for the Canaries prior to around 1988 didn't stand too much of a chance. I've made a couple of exceptions in the case of Kevin Keelan and Graham Paddon, as I've seen enough of them on video to (I think) make a fair call.

My Eleven: Keelan, Bowen, Culverhouse, Watson, Mackay, Crook, Paddon, Eadie, Huckerby, Fleck, Roberts.

Manager: Mike Walker. Probably not the most popular choice but I've had to go with the manager who has been most successful during my lifetime, and in my opinion that has to be Walker.

If you haven't had your vote yet you can do so at canaries.co.uk/greatestever.

Thanks for the memories Flem

Former captain Craig Fleming announced his retirement from the game this week following an ankle injury, and looks like being another in the long line of players who stay in the area after hanging up their boots. He told the Pink'Un:

I thought about other things, like the restaurant business, but fitness is what I know, it's what I've done for so long as a footballer so it's a logical step.

Football is obviously my first love, but I am not about to leave Norfolk because I am not prepared to move our children around the country to follow jobs. I'd still love to be involved, but not if it involves moving away.

I've got to be honest; during the Fleming/Mackay years I was always a Malky man, but nobody could deny the commitment and dedication Fleming showed to the cause.

Fair play to you Flem. All the best.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner

There was the unmistaken sound of a nail being well and truly hit on the head this week when Glenn Roeder said that he felt Chris Martin and Michael Spillane have had it "too easy" and been told too many good things about themselves.

Roeder has thrown down gauntlet after gauntlet to the young players at the club since he took over, and if there's one thing that the loan signings have shown us it is that, for whatever reason, our own youngsters are on the whole just not up to it at present.

Let's hope the message has finally sunk in. I would so much rather be writing and thinking about the next Joe Lewis or Jason Shackell than another Ryan Jarvis or Ian Henderson.

And finally...

The site has a poll running at the moment for who you would vote for as Player of the Season. For what it's worth my vote would, without question, go to Dion Dublin.

The man has been an absolute giant this season, and without him. In fact no. I don't even want to think where we might be if it wasn't for Mr. Dublin. It's just way too scary. So come on people, I implore you to do the right thing - vote for Dion!

Until next week...

OTBC

I think I may have made a bit of a whoopsy. Like many City fans I'd all but put the 2007/2008 season to bed and was looking forward to a summer of lazing around the park and (hopefully) enjoying some sunshine. A tad premature it would seem.

After a tremendous thirteen game unbeaten run which lifted us from 5 points adrift at the bottom of the table to the dizzy heights of 12^th, four defeats in the last six matches have moved the Canaries back to within just 5 points of the relegation zone.

Coupled with the fact that most teams below us have at least one game in hand, our goal difference is pretty shoddy and the run-in includes matches against Bristol City, West Brom and Burnley - not to mention the small matter of the derby against Ipswich - and you might be excused for thinking that things are starting to become a little tense again.

More...

Martin, a lightning quick and energetic wide man, is currently on loan at Sheffield United, and says he is now hoping to seal a permanent move to Bryan Robson's club.

"At 21 it's time to look at yourself and ask if it's ever going to happen at Manchester United," said Martin. "I've taken a lot of knock backs there over the years which could make me stronger or set me back."

Lee was one of five United youngsters sent out on loan to Royal Antwerp in 2006 and was named the fans' Player of the Season for his performances.

The Taunton-born winger, who has also spent time on loan with Rangers, Plymouth and Stoke, says he is desperate for first team football.

"I've learned a lot in my time with United, improving greatly by training with world-class players. But I'm realistic and feel I might need to move on now.""You need to get out while you're young. I've been around the first team for the past two years but only made two appearances."Martin, who is 21 on February 9, realises he hasn't shown his best form for Bryan Robson but is keener than ever to improve.

"My ideal birthday present would be to score the winner against Scunthorpe," he said.

"I don't feel I've set the world on fire so far and there's more to come. I see myself as a direct, pacy winger who can score goals."

Sheffield United currently sit just a few places above the relegation zone in The Championship.

For more information: http://www.thisisscunthorpe.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=152553&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232468&home=yes&more_nodeId1=152562&contentPK=19210453

Adkins, the club's former physio, goalkeeping coach and fitness trainer has taken Scunthorpe to the top of League One since taking over after Brian Laws was sacked in November. As Peter Oliver notes for the BBC, his success stems from his relationship with the players.

As physio, the 42-year-old former Tranmere and Wigan goalkeeper did not just treat injuries but also acted as counsellor and agony aunt for a myriad of problems.

Motivation was key then and again now with Adkins consistently getting the best out of a squad he inherited when Laws ended his good work at Glanford Park by joining Sheffield Wednesday.

With Chairman Steve Wharton revealing plans to revamp the ground and increase capacity by 2,000 the good times seem to have come for the Irons, and not before time.

It still seems sad, however, that they ever had to leave the wonderfully named Old Showground in the wake of new regulations after the Bradford Fire in 1988. I mean, how sad is this?

The site of the former ground is now home to a Sainsbury's store and can be found at the junction of Doncaster Road and Henderson Avenue. When the store was opened a plaque was laid where the centre-spot was, just in front of the delicatessen counter; the plaque has since been removed.

Scunthorpe are away to Orient on Saturday.