City caretaker boss Jim Duffy could bump into a very familiar face at The Hawthorns tomorrow – ex-Canary boss Peter Grant who, in the small world that is football, has now been offered the chance to join the Albion coaching staff by Baggies' manager Tony Mowbray.
All eyes were, in any case, likely to be on the directors box tomorrow as reporters and supporters alike scan the horizon for any potential in-coming Canary manager.
Is he there? Sat rubbing shoulders with his would-be employers and enjoying a quick inspection of his troops before being unveiled to the world at the start of next week?
Given the level of speculation that would follow any such appearance, the likelihood of a Grant-like appearance in the directors' box at Queen's Park Rangers no more than a year ago is slim.
But Grant could be there – should he decide to take up the offer from his ex-Celtic pal Mowbray.
“I've spoken to Peter Grant, who is a good friend of mine, since he left his position at the club,” Mowbray told the Birmingham Evening Mail today.
“I've invited him to come and join in with our training anytime he wants because he's a good man and a good character. We'll see if he takes us up on that offer.”
For Duffy – still in the dark as to whether this is his third and final game in charge of the Canaries – tomorrow's trip to the Midlands is a real tester. He had the Baggies down as one of his promotion favourites from the start and, thus far, they have done nothing to persuade him otherwise.
“Pre-season, yes, they were one of my favourites for promotion and my opinion hasn't changed that much,” said Duffy at Colney yesterday.
“They've always been a very talented side – certainly since I've been here, they've always been the best side to watch,” added Grant's former No2, who has at least two goals to his credit in his two games in charge. No points, however, is the killer.
“I watched them a couple of weeks ago in the game against Queen's Park Rangers and they were different class,” he added, with the Baggies demolishing managerless Rangers 5-1 with the on-loan Ishmael Miller racking up another strike.
The six-foot three-inch Manchester City striker now has seven goals to his name since the 20-year-old was allowed to further his footballing education in the Midlands this summer. He could well be a handful again tomorrow.
“They're a very strong side with the strength of the squad that they've got,” admitted Duffy.
“They've brought Ishmael Miller in and he's proving to be a good addition to the squad with his partnership with Kevin Phillips. So they've got real quality in their side.
“I think if you ask anybody – coaches, managers, whoever in this division – they'll say that West Bromwich Albion are one of the best teams in the division.”
Given Norwich's sorry recent record, most punters would take tomorrow's result as something of a gimmee – the only question come five o'clock being whether or not the Norfolk side will be well and truly rock bottom as a slowly improving QPR side look to nick another point on their travels at Charlton Athletic.
In fairness to the RS, they are now unbeaten in three under their own caretaker chief Mick Harford. Slowly but surely they appear to be grinding their way upwards. City continue to sink like a stone with only one point from their last 21.
Duffy, in fairness, insists that his side have no intention of going into full damage limitation mode – even if everyone would take a point right now.
“If you go into a game thinking: 'Oh, well, we're expected to lose… so it won't matter when we lose…' then you shouldn't be in the game.
“You have to go into every game believing you can win it and being determined to win it.
“That's what football is about – the unexpected. The unexpected in the face of adversity,” said Duffy, well aware that managing any football club is child's play when things are going well. It's when things aren't, that's when the real characters step up to the plate.
“The job's easy when things are going well,” said the City caretaker, who had a dodgy fan-belt adding to his troubles this week as the team coach broke down on the way home from Burnley.
That's the kind of adversity that stalks Norwich's every move right now as they stumbled back into Colney at five o'clock in the morning.
“When it's going well and the team is winning umpteen games on the bounce, then one of you guys could sit here and say: 'Yeh, everything's fine…'”, said Duffy, as Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham polished up his managerial cv.
“The team's playing well; let's get on with it.. and you don't really do much to it. Other than just tick them over. And then momentum can carry them forward.
“And if it's not going so well then it's a difficult job. And that's the challenge that you have; that's the challenge you have to try and respond to – and that's the same for the players.”
It was a challenge, he insisted, that he was happy to try and rise to. You strongly suspect that any childhood pal of Charlie Nicholas, growing up together in the same rough and tumble part of Glasgow, might not be one to shirk a fight.
“I love it – I love it,” he said simply, asked if he was actually enjoying his current role.
“Of course I get totally frustrated by the results. Disappointed and angry – all those emotions come into play when you don't win, but it's a strange thing you get when you're involved in this kind of job – the more difficulties that come up, the more you have to try and bat them away, one at a time,” said Duffy.
“And if you do manage to turn things around then there's a sweeter taste.”
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