Family four-tunes on the day City shined on the telly

WOW! What a day. My Nanny turned 84 and told me she needs to get up twice in the night for a slash and I had to explain to my Grandad who Kasabian were. Between that and other family nuggets was a certain game of football that will live long in the memory.
Beating Ipswich 4-1 is obviously brilliant, but today, for me, it was all about the bigger picture.
This was the first one at Carrow Road for almost two years and the fact that both sides had made fairly good starts to the season was one reason it was chosen to be shown live on BBC One.
Norwich playing Ipswich live on the Beeb and we had the window to show the whole of the nation just what a great club we are.
I left my family in the comfort of their warm homes to tune into the match. None of them watch Norwich regularly, indeed my grandparents have probably never actually watched a Norwich game on telly, but today, they tuned in and as I trundled down to Carrow Road I thought that there was possibly a whole new audience about to watch a Norwich league game live for the first time.
Such is my route down to Carrow Road that for half the 25 minute walk I don’t really see any other Norwich fans. As I wind my way through the sleepy suburban streets in the south of the City I often have chats over fences and hedges with people who don’t really take an interest in football but who seem to think spending the afternoon in their gardens is worthwhile instead.
They often ask the score on the way home or on the way to the ground look at me in my Norwich scarf and mutter something about The Canaries.
Today on the way down to the ground as the snow crunched beneath my feet, two blokes in their garden shouted out “Make sure you throw snowballs at the Ipswich fans.”
Inside Carrow Road the biggest crowd in 16 years and thousands more on television screens around the country watched a simply brilliant game if you’re a Norwich fan.
Henri Lansbury made his debut on the right of midfield, Simon Lappin continued at left back and David Fox and Andrew Surman held their places in the middle.
As for the action well, we got a bit lucky. Grant Holt was booked in the first few minutes, we took the lead with a goal that could have been cancelled out for handball, conceded a soft equaliser, Holt added a second, he could have been sent off for deliberate handball, he did well to go down under Damien Delaney’s lightest of touches and we didn’t know what to do for the first half the second period.
But as a Norwich fan, and wearing those yellow-tinted glasses, we were awesome and at the break I was confident we could have been heading for a serious romp.
Thankfully Holt completed that hat-trick, Wes Hoolahan knocked in a fourth and it was all happy days and all of a sudden being a Norwich fan never felt better.
But the real verdict was to be had when I got back to my parents house. I love Norwich. I will be at every home game for the next I don’t know how long.
But I love to think we won some new fans today. My grandparents said they watched it all and enjoyed it. They picked up on Grant Holt scoring a treble. My granddad asked if he was from Norfolk given his surname, my Nanny picked up on the fact that Norwich have players called R Martin and C Martin which by coincidence are same names as my grandparents.
I haven’t got parents called Russell and Chris by the way!
I’m sure there are Norwich fans all over the country who will be getting texts and phone calls from friends and family tonight saying they saw their team whip Ipswich 4-1 on the telly.
And for that reason, it was so good to share our success in such a public spotlight.

Norwich v Ipswich betting tips

My fabulous weekend of sport started last Thursday with the NFL Thanksgiving triple header and shows no signs of slowing down. The Ashes are on to keep cricket fans happy, there’s rugby everywhere, loads of great football matches on, a big clash in Spain and a local derby to look forward to – there could be some very tired people come Tuesday morning!
Lets’ kick off with the Norwich v Ipswich derby this lunchtime. It’s a 1.15pm kick off and it’s live on BBC One if you can’t make it to Carrow Road.
It was only May of last year that the two sides last met – but that was so long ago that Bryan Gunn and Jim Magilton were in opposing dugouts. Ipswich will go into Sunday’s game with a run of three straight defeats, while Norwich have four straight draws.
So both teams are hardly picking up the points after relatively good starts – and that suggests the derby is probably heading for a draw. I’m certainly not going to back either side to win as they’re always so hard to predict and I don’t want to start making statements about form books and windows.
Norwich are 6/5 favourites which is unsurprising as they’re at home. Ipswich are around 5/2 for the win, with the draw at around 12/5.
What it is safe to say is that recent derby games have turned up some unusual scorers. In the last ten derbys we’ve had a brace from Malky Mackay, goals from the likes of Jimmy Juan, Jonatan Johansson, Luke Chadwick, David Wright, Ched Evans, Matty Pattison, David Mooney, Alan Quinn and Giovanni dos Santos.
Loan players and unlikely scorers often become derby day heroes, so instead of predicting the score in this one, it’s better to enjoy the game, cheer on your side and have a wager on some players to get on the scoresheet at long odds.
Norwich are sure to give a debut to loan signing Henri Lansbury who netted for Watford against Town last season. Take him at 5/1 with Paddy Power to net at anytime and also go for on loan centre half Leon Barnett to net at 10/1 with Bet 365. He netted last week against Leeds and is a real powerful presence at corners.
For Ipswich, I’d take Jack Colback at 13/2 and Tommy Smith at 20/1, both with Bet 365.
The last derby game to end 0-0 was the last one of the 20th century, in the 13 meetings since then there has been an average of 3.27 goals in these games, so take the over 2.5 goals at evens with Bet 365.
Enjoy the game.

* Article originally appeared in Evening Star on Friday. Find my betting tips in there each Friday.

Deion Branch nearly broke my foot!

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans out there - I had a great night tonight celebrating the big day with my wife at home.

I made a pecan pie and then settled down at 5.30pm to watch the Patriots take on the Lions sitting in a freezing Bury St Edmunds with the fire and my Pats 1985 Irving Fryar throwback jersey on.

There's something about seeing the Pats wearing that red outfit that makes me go all warm inside - I guess it simply takes me back to being ten and getting into the NFL for the first time.

It was bad enough watching the Pats struggle in the first half of the game but worse still I had to watch the second half while eating the lovely meal my wife had made, turkey and all the trimmings, but with New England 14-3 down, it didn't taste great.
The Pats got back into it and then came the moment of the game, a massive bomb hurled by Tom Brady into the arms of Deion Branch for a 79-yard touchdown.

Watching Branch twist the blood of poor Lion Alphonso Smith was awesome. So much so that I got up, punched the air several times and then kicked my armchair.

The wife was not impressed.

The Pats won, the food was lovely and the chair survived - but with the Jets at home next week, I'm not so convinced for it's long term future.

Norwich can't start becoming badly drawn boys

Norwich v Leeds today and what a game.
Indeed it was such a big deal for me that last night I couldn’t actually sleep. Seriously, it felt like Christmas Day and it was only November and Leeds.
God imagine what it would be like if there was an actual local derby or something!
My over excitement started last weekend when I was in Turin in the Olympic Stadium waiting for the Serie A clash between Juventus and Roma to start.
I sat in the lovely ground with about half an hour to go waiting for texts to come through with Gordon with an update to the score from the Madejski Stadium. Although part of me was waiting with anticipation for the Serie A clash,a big part of me was wishing I could watch the Reading v Norwich clash.
Since returning to England on Monday, I really couldn’t wait to welcome Leeds to Carrow Road. Given what happened last season and the fact we took the League One title from them gave the clash extra needle – and arriving in a foggy Norfolk a few hours before kick off really gave the game an extra edge.
This winter is going to make or break our season – and this was to be one of those games played in the murky, cold grey Norfolk autumn that could prove crucial to our hopes of making the play-offs.
City’s one big change was the return of Andrew Surman who took the place of the injured Korey Smith but, to be honest, he looked way off the pace. Simon Lappin filled in at left back in place of Steven Smith who had recently been playing instead of Adam Drury.
City started well enough, but within five minutes, Leeds were clearly here to play. Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel ran the show for the entire first half. Snodgrass had so much time on the ball and Gradel gave Russell Martin a torrid time down the left.
Indeed it was no surprise when Gradel netted the opener after just a quarter of an hour. It looked like a repeat of the Burnley game, but thankfully, Leeds failed to build on their lead and Norwich started to get back into the game as the half-time break neared.
Gradel reminded me alot of Martin Paterson in the Burnley game. Not the most obvious comparison, but both have pace to burn and frightened the life out of our defence. As good as City have been at the back on occasions this season, players blessed with pace are always going to have a field day.
When Grant Holt hit the post with a header five minutes after the restart I really thought it was going to be one of those games. But credit to Paul Lambert. Wes Hoolahan and Simeon Jackson came on for the last half an hour or so and gave City just what they needed.
Thankfully we have the resources to have players of this ilk on the bench now and Hoolahan tore the Leeds midfield apart.
The pint-sized number 14 was instrumental in creating all the chances that could have given City something out of the game and, although he didn’t score himself it was his super skills that helped City back into the game with Leon Barnett heading home his first goal for The Canaries.
Norwich looked for that winning goal for most of the last quarter of the game, but despite constant pressure, I don't recall Kaspar Schmeichel actually having that much to do between the sticks.
So, the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw and Norwich have now drawn four games in a row. Since beating Bristol City away at the start of October they’ve just the win at home to Middlesbrough to their name, which, if the Championship wasn’t so tight, would be a bit of a disaster.
But November has to spawn a win – a draw at home to Ipswich next Sunday would be a poor result. If we’re to do anything this season, we’ve got to get the win over an Ipswich side who lost again today.
I'd hate to look back on November 2010 in six months time and see that it was those five successive draws that cost us a place in the play-offs.
Roy Keane’s side have been nothing special this season and as we can’t cave in and fail to beat a side who routinely lose to far worse sides.
A win against Ipswich, something from the trip to Derby and a home win against Portsmouth are vital for us now.
We've got the players, we've got the boss, we've just got to start picking up those three points again.

Oh no! Sampdoria v Chievo is a no go

It was up early after last night’s Juventus v Roma game to get a train to Genoa to watch Sampdoria take on Chievo, but sadly the day was to end in a bit of disaster.
Not quite the disaster levels associated with Genoa in 2001 – for it was here I first learned of the horrors of 9/11, but something close to it on a trip abroad to watch football – we couldn’t get a ticket.
It’s not that surprising that the Italian authorities have clamped down on ticket sales after Genoa was the scene of the riots during the Italy v Serbia game last month.
Gentile Sampdoria fans are hardly in the same class as those Serb fans who smashed the place up, but rules are rules and the rules here are that tickets stop being sold two hours before kick off.
We’d arrived at the ground with about 45 minutes to go and it was great to be back. I’ve seen Samporia before – at home to Ancona in 2003, so it was not really that much of a disappointment that I couldn’t get in, just a tad frustrating.
After confirming with a steward that Gordon and I would not be watching the game in the flesh, we trundled back into Genoa against a stream of Samp fans to drown our sorrows.
Today follows on from trips to Ajax and Anderlecht in the last decade when I’ve been refused entry to a game for similar reasons – these things happen I suppose.
We holed up in bar to catch the end of the football and joy of joys the game turned out to be a real stinker – and there were hundreds of empty blue seats there too.
Samp favourite Antonio Cassano, the former wonder kid of Italian football had, according to a woman in the town’s Bar Mario, called the president a “dickhead” and been axed from the club.
Said woman, who claimed she was American, turned out to be incredibly irriating and as we stood watching the rest of the game she told us that everyone in the bar was “routing for the guys in blue” who of course were Sampdoria.
Yeah right, thanks love.
She was busy pretending to be upset by Samp’s inability to find the net and in between taking the piss out of us for being English she was getting tips on understanding the offside rule by a lovely old Italian gent, who was sure there was a phrase in English football called ‘Franking’. We figured he may have been on about ‘Marking’ but all of remained confused and that didn’t include the woman behind the bar.
With no live football to watch and a train to catch back to Turin we sat down and had a meal to finish off a short trip to Italy. As I tucked in to delicious saltimbocca and chips I decided that it didn’t really matter that we hadn’t managed to get in, it was just really nice being back in Italy once again.

Friends reunited at Juventus v Roma

Just got back from Turin and the superb all-action Serie A clash between Juventus and Roma that ended in a 1-1 draw.
It was the first time I’ve seen Juventus at home since 2001 – that time was the Saturday after 9/11 and they beat Chievo 3-2 in the Stadio Delle Alpi.
Fast forward nine years and much has changed about Juve. Back at the start of this century their ground which they share with Torino was a vast and impressive cauldron of a ground that suffered from one major minus point – the atmosphere sucked.
A running track around the ground meant even the closest fans had to have decent eye sight to see

the action.
But after a period of consoltation, Juve moved out the of the Delle Alpi and into the Olympic Stadium which they share with still share with Torino while the Delle Alpi is knocked down and a new, smaller, compact ground is open in time for next season.
So this is the last season Juve will share with Torino and a last chance to see them at this temporary home, which itself made the game something special. Few Italian teams have moved, there are very few new stadiums and next season it will be possible for me to watch Juve at home in their third stadium in under ten years.
One man who was in action against Chievo on that chilly Saturday at the foothills of the Alps nine years ago was Alessandro Del Piero who made an appearance on the touchline early in the second half to a superb reception from the hardcore Juve boys in the Curva Nord.
Del Piero has been around so long that he’d be in the same school year as me – and although he’s often used as a sub these days and came on for an ineffectual half hour period, he’s still adored by the home fans.
Those Juve fans really were great. For an Englishman watching a game in Turin there’s always the watchword of Heysel to consider. Many home fans still bear a grudge against the English for what happened in Brussels back in 1985. But having seen three Juventus games now, I can only say that they seem to have no malice towards us.
Despite that, I still don’t fancy having a night in the Curva Nord just yet.
We picked up tickets for the game form a ticket shop in the centre of town, ironically on Via Roma – and for 40 Euros got a decent view eight rows from the front near the corner flag.
Before the game there was a good atmosphere which I took in while learning that Norwich had let slip a 3-1 lead at Reading. The noise inside the ground steadily got better and better and just as the team ran out, AC/DC’s Thunderstruck rang out around the ground and the teams entered after being announced in English: “Introducing Juventus Football Club”.
A strange touch, but given their links to England – they were formed by Notts County fans – that was understandable
Roma dominated the early exchanges. Francesco Totti, a man who has never disappointed when I’ve watched him on two previous occasions (scoring in both) was everywhere and I was impressed by Daniele De Rossi in the Roma midfield who was involved in everything early on.
Juve played a cat and mouse game, getting men behind the ball and just using Vicenzo Iaquinta and Fabio Quagliarella on the break. Two former Liverpool players in John Arne Riise and Alberto Aquilani were also eye-catching in the first 45.
Juve, playing in their gorgeous white away kit with red and green flashes (to celebrate a new sponsorship deal) took the lead against the run of play on 34 minutes when a cross from the right was beautifully volleyed home by Quagliarella
Juve could have had more before the break but wasteful finishing meant Roma were always likely to get back on level terms, and that they did right on half time when they won a penalty and Totti converted it.
The second half saw few chances and what pressure Roma excerted was easily snuffed out by the impressive Giorgio Chiellini, who is rapidly becoming one of my Serie A favourites.
He can’t defend for toffee sometimes and could easily have been sent off twice, but the shaven-haired centre back, who ended the game with a bandage around his head and a face-full of claret, is great to watch with his over the top gesticulation and dirty tricks.
A 1-1 draw was a fair result and both sides were great to watch – I hope Del Piero and Totti are still around next time I watch these two great Italian teams.

Ten years of watching football in Italy

Getting excited ahead of this weekend, as myself and good chum Gordon are off to Italy again, for the first time in a couple of years.
This trip is a special one - not only are we revisiting old haunts of Turin and Genoa to watch Juventus and Sampdoria at home this weekend, but it's actually ten years next month that we first set foot in Italy together to watch a football match.
In that ten years there have been some incredible highs of seeing the likes of Zidane, Davids, Ibrahimovic, Maldini, Del Piero, Totti and Adriano in action, watching Gordo get chased by a wasp in Parma and the superb cuisine served at Da Da Umpa in Turin - and the lows - freezing out tits off in the Della Alpi on two occasions and hearing about 9/11 while we were in a youth hostel in Genoa.
Ten years on from that wet December in 2000 though, we're still good pals, still footie mad and still incredibly excited about going over to Italy and coming back with good memories and no doubt some Italian football stickers!

Norwich v Burnley: Best home game this season so far

Considering the way I felt at half-time at today's Norwich v Burnley clash, this match turned out to the be the best at Carrow Road so far this season.

City were pretty awful in the first half as Burnley ran the show with the impressive Chris Eagles and Martin Paterson tearing our back four apart. Not much complaint about the two goals, they just exposed our weakness at the back at times.

Going forward it was just as frustrating. As I sat and watched Steven Smith hit poor cross after poor cross it occured to me that when City attack at home it's always the same.

Balls are pinged arcross midfield until Wes Hoolahan or Andrew Crofts spies either Russell Martin or Smith trying to burst down the flank and then they're expected to whip in a cross for Grant Holt or Simeon Jackson to try and get something on to.

Last season we attacked down the middle far more and I don't think it took a genius to work out that going for Burnley this way would reap reward.

Step forward Chris Martin and Anthony McNamee who changed the game - the former Watford man was easily the best thing on show and gave Danny Fox a torrid last half an hour on the right.

McNamee's direct dribbling and crosses were just what the game needed and the rousing second half performance was a credit to him.

Had City lost 2-1 I'd still have said this game was great to watch and I don't think even the biggest Clarets fan would dispute that City didn't deserve a point.

A great start to a great football month for me: two home games against Leeds and Ipswich to come later this month and a trip to watch Juventus and Sampdoria at home next weekend to look forward to.