City boss Glenn Roeder was clearly hoping that new Barclay hero Ched Evans would be granted an extended tour of duty in Norfolk following last night's dream start to his Championship career.
The Canary manager was already due to sit down today with on-loan centre-half Martin Taylor re the possibility of extending his loan deal beyond Saturday's clash with Sheffield United – discussions that will also entail a phone call into new Blues boss Alex McLeish.
Next on his list could be a phone call to Eastlands and a chat with Sven Goran Eriksson to see whether the Manchester City boss was, indeed, happy to let Evans' education carry on until next summer.
“I've seen enough to want to do that,” said Roeder, quizzed last night as to whether he had already seen enough to warrant a rest-of-the-season request being made to Eriksson.
The fact that the two men know eachother well from their respective spells within the England set-up gives the new Norwich boss a better chance than most of getting the nod. It was part that and part Roeder's long-standing friendship with England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce that got Evans here in the first place.
And having watched the manner in which the 18-year-old coolly despatched that third minute chance in front of a Carrow Road full house – and all on his first, full start for the Norfolk club – it is clear that Roeder would love the youngster to go nowhere else for the next six months.
“It's completely out of my hands – that will be down to his manager at Manchester City,” said Roeder, liking what he is hearing out of Eastlands.
“I was told that Sven was saying a lot of positive things in the Press over the weekend.
“That he is very happy for Ched to be with us and he was certainly very happy when I asked him if we could have him and he could come to Norwich.”
Again, we were back to judging a man – and a manager – by the company he keeps and the contacts he maintains.
“Sven said: 'I know you as a person and I know you'll look after him..' And he said: 'I know Norwich is a lovely club and is just the sort of club that would give one of my young players a great start to his career.'
“So he said that we'll do it to the first of January and then we'll take a view on it then. So already I'd be saying that if I could keep him, I'd like to.”
The fact that Eriksson has already been linked to a clutch of top class strikers once the transfer window reopens – Peter Crouch the tallest amongst them – may further strengthen Norwich's hand. In the Swede's mind, the teenager is not due to 'come on stream' in the Premiership to the autumn of 2008 at the earliest.
And having proved his point that Premier Reserve League games were a bit beneath him with his 12-goal haul from just eight games this season, so Eriksson will see every benefit in Evans finishing his footballing 'finishing school' in Norfolk.
On last night's early evidence, there's already not that much wrong with the kid's finishing.
“We'll have to wait and see,” said Roeder. “They're watching him every game; there was a scout here tonight watching him play so I'll imagine he'll take a good report back to Sven.
“And I phoned Sven yesterday to tell him that he was making his debut which he was happy about, so he knew that the lad was starting.”
Was there any danger that the lad could do too well? That all of a sudden he would be whisked back to Manchester and thrown onto the bright lights of the Premiership stage?
“I don't think that would worry Sven at all,” said Roeder, able to recount the first time the pair talked about the young man at the centre of all this week's attention.
“As I think I told you on the day that I rang him, that afternoon he went and scored a hat-trick for Wales.
“So I said to him: 'There's no problem is there?' And he said: 'We have a problem – the price is now triple!'
“And he said: 'Good joke, eh?' And I said: 'No, that's a bad joke, Sven…'”
On a more serious note, Roeder appears to be very hopeful that the young man's tour of duty can be extended beyond the first of January. And that after proving himself more than capable of handling the kind of physical challenges that float around the Championship, that the teenager can start to be pencilled in to his medium-term thinking.
“I think it's all about him getting experience,” said Roeder, not about to jump to any definite conclusions.
“I can't talk for Sven, but I would have thought that with all the experienced strikers that he's got at Manchester City this year I would think he would want him to get valuable experience – at this level – into Ched Evans.
“And he knows already that I'm prepared to play him.”
His third minute strike, said Roeder, bore all the hallmarks of a top class striker in the making. Like all great forward players, when the going gets hot in the box, he goes cool – it was an ice cold slot beneath the Pilgrims keeper as Evans got into his 'zone'.
“When I was talking t the players before the game I said: 'Ched, whatever happens tonight you will remember this for the rest of your life.
“Even me now, I can remember my first game – for Orient; at home; Brisbane Road; we lost 1-0 to Notts County; the Sunday People gave me six out of ten which I thought was outrageous because I thought I was worth a seven.
“And I turned to Dion Dublin who is 38 and I said to Dion: 'Well, do you remember your debut?'
“And he said: 'I do boss, I scored a hat-trick…'
“But he's had a really, really good debut that he can be proud of.”
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