Paul Lambert was an excellent player
and was always going to move into management. His first managerial
job with Livingston in 2005. Lambert studied for his UEFA coaching
credentials in Germany, one of very few non-Germans to have been
given dispensation to do so. His tenure ended the following February
when he resigned after only winning two league games since starting
the job. Lambert was appointed manager of Wycombe
in 2006 and lead them to the League Cup semi final beating Premiership
Fulham and Charlton along the way before a 1-1 draw with Chelsea
in the semi final. This was the first time in over 30 years a fourth
tier team had reached that stage of the League Cup. Lambert resigned
as Wycombe manager on 20 May 2008 following the club's second season
of falling short in the playoffs. In October 2008, he was appointed as
manager of Colchester United and did well building a decent side
but he soon caught attention of bigger clubs. A 7-1 win over Norwich
last season was enough to change both clubs fortunes. He was given
the job at Norwich within weeks and returned to haunt Colchester
when his Norwich side hammered them 5-0. His first season in charge at Norwich
saw his team play open attacking football and win the first promotion
of his managerial career when they won the League one title.
They couldn't have wished for a worse start last year, losing 7-1 at home to local rivals Colchester and Brian Gunn sacked within days of the season starting. Paul Lambert's arrival was an excellent move by the club and he quickly got a decent side well organised and made them tough to beat. Once they started finding goals easier to come by there was no stopping them and they stormed away to win the league title with ease in the end.
Wes Hoolahan is an exciting midfield
player who is capable of playing at a higher level. Hoolahan started his career at Shelbourne
where he won three League of Ireland championships and excelled
during their run in the Champions League qualifiers in the 2004-05
season. He was the PFAI Young Player of the Year in the 2002-03
season. Hoolahan joined Blackpool on a season-long
loan in 2006 He had a good first season helping them to promotion
and signed a two year deal at Blackpool which caused controversy
with Livingston refusing to sign the documentation sanctioning the
move, stating that Blackpool had repeatedly breached the terms of
the loan agreement. After a long row which lasted a year a deal
was finally agreed, by that time he had been sold to Norwich anyway.
He had a difficult first season never really hitting his best form
as Norwich were relegated. His role in the side changed last season
to playing just behind the striker as opposed to out wide and he
shone in league one scoring thirteen goals and helping Norwich to
the League One title.
They ave an excellent manager and have shipped out most of the dead wood. They have Hoolahan in midfield as a creative spark and plenty of goals in attack with Holy, Martin and Simeon Jackson all added the squad. The purchase of Andrew Surman looks a smart one and they should have far too much quality to worry about relegation this season. If they get off to a good start they'll be
a difficult team to beat in front of a passionate home following.
I fancy them to do well and push for a playoff position.
The fans' song, On the ball, City, is the oldest football song anywhere in the world still in use today; the song is in fact older than the club itself having probably been penned for Norwich Teachers or Caley's FC in the 1890s and adapted for Norwich City. Although the first use of the tune and song is disputed,
it had been adopted by 1902 and it remains in use today in part
if not the whole. Over the 134 matches played against Ipswich since
1902, Ipswich boasts the better record, having won 45% of the matches
to Norwich's 37%.Another commonly employed measure for "Pride
of Anglia", and one that encompasses all of the East Anglian
teams is to dub the side finishing as the highest placed East Anglian
team in the Football League as the Pride of Anglia.
Since this web site started we've met many times. The first win came in the 1998/99 season when Gavin Peacock and Paul Murray scored two excellent goals to avenge the defeat at Carrow Road. That defeat at Carrow Road was an exciting game which was 3-2 to the hone side before the half an hour mark. A Craig Bellamy hat trick proved to much for us in the end. The following season Norwich ran out winners again at Carrow Road in the annual Boxing Day fixture. The match was over shadowed though by a spitting incident as a Norwich player spits at a QPR fan and Richard Langley got sent off in the last few minutes. The return game was better for Rangers a 2-2 draw with Chris Kiwomya scoring twice. Our relegation season in Division one saw Norwich do the double over us. Caretaker manager Nigel Worthington brought his side to Loftus Road hoping to make his job permanent. Rangers played well and led 2-1 at half time thanks to Wardley and Carlisle but as usual we threw it away after the break and lost 3-2. The return game a few weeks later was pretty uneventful and Norwich, surprise surprise, won 1-0. Rangers thrashed Norwich at home in the 2005/06 with three goals in the first half. Marc Nygaard, Paul Furlong and Georges Santos got the goals and in the end it could and should have been a bigger scoreline. The away game was very frustrating. With Rangers on a poor run we shocked Norwich and ourselves by going 2-0 up thanks to quality goals from Ainsworth and Cook. We were well in command and unlucky not to add a third goal before the defence fell apart and we let in three goals in the last ten minutes to go home with nothing. In 2006 under John Gregory we saw a thriller at Loftus Road. Rangers went ahead through Jimmy Smith before being pegged back. Martin Rowlands gave us th elead before Dion Dublin got his annual goal against us and we fell behind 3-2 before a late Rowlands goal earned us a point. The return game was dire as Dublin scored again and most fans wondered why they bothered going. In 2007/08 Rangers were without a win when the two sides met in October and under Mick Harford we saw home debuts for Rowan Vine and Martin Cranie. It was a tough and at times dull match but a Martin Rowlands penalty won it for Rangers in one of Peter Grant's last games in charge. The return game was one to forget for Rangers. Damion Stewart was sent off after five minutes which left us in trouble and we went on to lose 3-0. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
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