Norwich City play away at Nottingham forest on Saturday 22nd which will be screened live on sky (Kick off 5.20pm).

They could well be coming up against the goal machine who scored 27 goals in 47 appearances for the Canaries. Robert Earnshaw is on course to start the game for Nottingham Forest after missing the last two games through a calf injury. He said “I’m OK now, I trained today and i think I’m available for Saturday”. “I’ll see how it goes tomorrow and if there’s no reaction I should be OK to start.”

Referring to Norwich, Earnshaw said  ” I was there for a year and a half and I enjoyed every minute, especially as I was scoring so many goals”.

Lets just hope it takes a few weeks before he finds his shooting boots, “they were the good old days”!!

Jamie Cureton may be loan target for Doncaster Rovers who are looking to bolster there attack to try and avoid relegation. Only only last week it was announced that the striker was looking for first team football and that a loan would help him with his match fitness.

Doncaster are currently rooted to the bottom of the championship even though they managed a very good win against Ipswich Town last week.

It will be interesting to see if the player regains his confidence after he does move out on loan.

Luke Daley deservedly stole the headlines for his 3 goal display in a reserve friendly game against Arsenal last night.

Talk suggests that Mr Roeder has a new problem although this may just be a bit early yet. A sure sign of this would have to come from the fact the two defenders, Eastmond and Ayling, have yet to sign professional contracts with the Arsenal.

Not taking anything away from the lad he looks to be a good prospect and at some stage he will have to be given a chance to see if he can handle the real thing. Its a big step up but it has to be said that if youth team players could force their way through it would be a welcomed help to the Norwich City cause.

In recent years the youth have rarely had a chance to grow within the first team and have often flattered to deceive, lets just hope this is the first sign of our once successful academy bursting into life again and that they are not sold, “I am refering to the sale of Lewis here”.

Roman Kienast abrupt exit on Tuesday nights reserve game with Arsenal after pulling a hamstring just 18 minutes into the match.

The 24-year-old Austrian international had been hoping to impress City boss Glenn Roeder on a trail that could have led to a contract although he claimed that he was in no hurry.

However, the striker, who is currently on loan with Helsingborgs IF from Ham-Kam, pulled a hamstring just 18 minutes into the match.

Kienast Said “I pulled it and couldn’t play anymore,” he told Hamar Arbeidarblad. “This sums up my 2008 footballing year pretty well.

“I’m going home to Vienna for treatment. I’m aiming to be back at 100 per cent in January.”

Kienast was immediately withdrawn from the match and is now heading back home for treatment. 

The 6 foot tall forward would have been the type of player that Roeder has looked for since the beginning of the season and has a estimated price tag of between £500k and £1m.

City Legend Darren Huckerby will apparently start training with Lowestoft Town.

Huckerby, who has returned to Norfolk for the winter and had hoped to train with his former club. However, rumours indicate he had a clash with Roeder and he has now banned from training with his former team mates. Hucks will still be in good company as former City defender Craig Fleming who is now first team coach with the non-leaguers assisted by former sports scientist Dave Carolan.

Flemming has a good bunch of lads that work hard and they will benefit from his time training with them. the Lowestoft team also includes former academy and reserve team players.

Seemingly holding their own in the first half at 1-1 Norwich City seemed to start the second half with a hangover as Swansea City scored twice in two minutes. At 1-3 down Norwich had no way back to gain the 3 points that we desperately needed. Norwich pulled a goal back in the second half  but the damage had already been done.

Questions will surely be asked soon to why Roeders team is on such a poor run, especially as the last two home games have only produced 1 point.  Norwich now have 5 away games in the next 8 matches and the away games have been far from rewarding this season.  These are going to be difficult times for Roeder and the results need to quickly improve.

With the dust settling on the AGM and with time to reflect over what was said, I believe the Board has the clubs best interest at heart and with a better financial environment or a better spread of TV revenue then the AGM wouldn’t have been so eagerly anticipated.

The key points from the AGM came from the opening speeches from Roger Munby and Delia Smith.

Roger wholeheartedly spoke about the clubs position in the community and mentioned the clubs dedication to bring the region affordable football. I believe that he sees the clubs plight as “our collective problem” and that the best way to address the financial problems within football is to do it together as part of the community. It seems however that a solution has yet to to be introduced or discovered.

Delia on the other hand talked about the “media circus” that was created by the press, who it seems left a rather bad taste in the mouth, which could just come back to haunt them some day.

Although there were many questions directed at the manager over the teams recent form, some questions stood out, for example what strategy the board had, what plans are in place and what they are going to do about it.

Neil Doncaster said it is “all very good talking about strategy but we need investment”. The question was then thrown back at the shareholders who were asked “have you got any ideas?”.

Another question followed “What happens if we don’t find an investor?” Munby replied “We’ll have to cut our cloth accordingly”. Neil Doncaster added that we can’t compete with the big money clubs and there are loads of championship clubs who are looking to be sold or desperate for an investor, reeling off a few clubs in the process.

My conclusion is that supporters now have to search their hearts and find a willingness to help the club, by getting involved with projects such as the Kitty, or face the outcome of a club that cannot finance its position in this league.

At last nights AGM Glenn Roeder was quizzed on City’s poor away form. His answer was straightforward enough pointing out that away games are also played on a grass pitch with a goal at either end with the object being to put the ball between the posts whilst stopping the opposition doing the same. No, the only difference between a home and away game as far as he could see was having the majority of fans either for or against you. This observation led him to the conclusion that our strength of character was not what it should be when playing away from the relative comfort of Carrow Road.

He was quick to point out that although he didn’t feel it was affecting the whole team it was certainly a problem affecting more than one individual. Throughout the evening Roeder made several references to every generation being weaker than the preceding one and told us how he admired Rugby players and their ability to handle situations “like a man”.

For me, personally, this was the highlight of the evening, a Norwich manager being asked why his team continually couldn’t cut the mustard away from home and giving an answer that previous managers have either not had the bottle or the honesty to give themselves.

It remains to be seen how he will attempt to resolve the situation but I am hoping the next time we have a break from action that instead of a cosy get together in the sun the squad is assembled somewhere altogether more foreign for a true test of character! A stint in the jungle didn’t do the Aussie cricket team any harm prior to the last Ashes series and several Championship teams followed their example in mid season breaks last year and their results picked up as a result.

Meanwhile the next away game is at Forest - not the happiest of hunting grounds for us in the past and coupled with that the fact the game is being televised live should already be sending a shiver down Canary fans’ spines. Yes, strong characters will certainly be needed here - may I suggest Matty Pattison starts the game along with a certain Mr Lupoli whose two goals away at Cardiff (not the friendliest of venues) when the team was two-nil down suggest to me he is one who is certainly made of the right stuff!

Norwich midfielder Darel Russell aims to repay the fans faith and he has admitted that the Canaries owe their fans a result when they take on Preston on Saturday. To say the team owes the fans “A result” seems a little unambitious and ask most fans they would say the team needs to significantly up its game to repay them for there support. Its not just about one game here, what fans want is a long consistent run of form and not so much of the constant stuttering they have seen over the last three seasons. If a player comes out with statements like this surely they must be admitting their inept previous efforts.

Rusty told the club’s official website: “The fans didn’t get what they deserve from us at Burnley and we need to set that straight and get back on track.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in training this week (It’s only Tuesday) working on all sorts of different skills.

“We just need to tweak and refine our game and hopefully that will be enough for us to go out there on Saturday and get a result.”

The one thing that stands out in this statement is the use of the word “result”. Surely someone with a positive mental attitude would have said “the fans are due another win”.  Lets hope the team spend the rest of the week working on its frame of mind.

A deal for Reading’s Leroy Lita has been struck after Crystal Palace ruled themselves out of the running last night.
Roeder wanted to secure Reading striker Lita on another loan deal after he impressed during his first month at the club and the Canaries boss held talks today. Leroy’s loan deal with Norwich City has been extended until December 7th but on the down side Reading can recall there player on a 24hr clause.

The terms could potentially make the 23-year-old striker available for the East Anglian derby against Ipswich Town on December 7.

Norfolk businessman Carl Moore, who helped finance Lita’s original deal is thought to have agreed to make a substantial contribution towards extending the period of his loan.