Canary legend Ruel Fox is keeping his fingers crossed that by the time he returns to Norfolk for the club's 'Greatest Ever' event on May 18, City will be preparing for life in the Championship next season. Let's face it, any other scenario doesn't even bear thinking about.
The wing wizard, who made 173 appearances in the yellow and green between 1986 and 1994, will make a Carrow Road comeback in just over four weeks time when the Canaries' 'dream team' will be unveiled, alongside a day of music and entertainment.
But the Norwich hierarchy will be concentrating on one thing and one thing only at the moment ? keeping City in the Championship. And Fox is hoping that, despite the dreaded drop still being a possibility, his old club can get the wins they need and finish the season on a high.
“They're still in a bit of trouble and when the new management team came across they were in even bigger trouble,” said Fox, who left the Canaries in 1994 in a ?2.25m switch to Newcastle.
“But I think bringing in Glenn Roeder and Lee Clark ? who I know from my days in the North East ? was a great appointment. They like to play football.
“Norwich have done well to get out of the position they were in and they are slightly more comfortable now. They will want to finish the season on a high and that will put them in good stead for next season.
“But you can't say they are out of it yet. The thing about that division is that it's so close from top to bottom. There are not many points that separate the two ends. All it takes is a couple of wins and you can find yourself half way up the table.”
Having coached, played for and managed the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat in recent years since announcing his retirement from professional football, the Ipswich-born player has found visits back to Norfolk few and far between.
But Fox admitted he still keeps in touch with a few of the Canary greats from those glorious days in the early nineties. A third-placed finish in the Premiership and a stunning UEFA Cup campaign does not get forgotten easily.
And the 40-year-old cannot wait to catch up with a few old faces with whom he shared some special times?
“It will be my first trip back for a while,” Fox added. “I do keep an eye on their results and I keep planning to get back but something always crops up but it's a good excuse to go back up there.
“It should be a good event and I'll get to catch up with a lot of the old players that I used to play with.
“I do keep in touch with a few of the players around that area such as Bryan Gunn, Flecky (Robert Fleck) and Dale Gordon. I know Jamie Cureton from his first spell at the club as well and he has obviously gone back to Norwich.
“It's always nice to catch up with them and we were quite a close-knit bunch when we were all players there. We had a great team spirit, a good manager at the time and we had good footballers who gelled very quickly. They were good times.”
The former Canary favourite, who was voted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2002, has never strayed far from his East Anglian roots and after confirming his retirement from the game at the end of a mixed spell with West Bromwich Albion, Fox opened a restaurant, the Imperial Lounge, in Ipswich in 2003.
And before embarking on an adventure with the island of his parents' birth, he also enjoyed a spell coaching, and playing for local Ridgeons League outfit Whitton United. It was, according to Fox, a matter of putting a little something back into the local community.
“I was with Whitton for a while and that is where I'm originally from in Ipswich. That was all about putting something back into my local area and it was something I always wanted to do. I was only there for a short while as it was between my time with Montserrat but I enjoyed it.
“I just wanted to help Whitton and try and steer the club in the right direction on the coaching side. I even ended up playing, which I wasn't really supposed to do, but these things happen!”
And then it was off to complete unfinished business with Montserrat, where after a spell coaching, he was asked to take charge of the national team on a full-time basis. Certainly a far cry from Whitton United and the King George V playing fields?
“My time with Montserrat was certainly different. My parents are from the island and I initially went over there to do some coaching and it took off from there.
“They offered me the job of manager with the national team and I was in charge of looking at players in England that could possibly represent us. There are not a lot of people on the island as it is very volcanic and it was all about putting them on the map.
“It did work to a certain extent but things didn't move as quickly as I would have liked. We were progressing but it is a financial thing as well.
“The problem was putting measures in place that were going to improve us and the whole process was moving quite slowly. But I'm sure they will get there soon.”
Tom Haylett
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