• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us

Lambert hails a ‘miracle’ as City book their place back in the big-time as a grateful Norfolk Nation parties long into a famous night

2nd May 2011 By Rick Waghorn Leave a Comment

Please share

City boss Paul Lambert tonight described City’s back-to-back promotions as ‘a miracle’ as the mother of all promotion parties engulfed Norfolk, Portsmouth and all roads in between.

Cardiff City’s shock 3-0 home defeat by Middlesbrough three hours earlier gave the Canaries a huge, pre-match boost.

Victory, by whatever margin, would return the Carrow Road side to the top flight in English football for the first time in six, long and barren seasons – one of which, of course, was in League One and involved a 7-1 home defeat on the opening day of the season.

In the end, one goal proved all that Norwich needed to bag that second, automatic promotion spot behind champions QPR. The title could, of course, still be their’s should the FA’s disciplinary panel find against Neil Warnock’s men this Friday.

Either way, the Canaries can now go into next Saturday’s final home game of the season against Coventry City knowing that Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea now await next season.

The lottery of the play-offs is someone else’s concern.

They are back in the big time courtesy of two promotions in the space of two, extraordinary seasons the likes of which are rarely, if ever, seen in the modern professional game. Certainly not in terms of an entrée into the Premiership.

“It’s a miracle what’s happened to this football club over the last two years,” said Lambert, fresh from being mobbed by a delirious, 3,000-strong travelling army of Canary fans at Fratton Park tonight.

They have been served some dross on the long hauls from home over the last six seasons. Tonight – and for many a night over the last two seasons – they have earned their reward for their unwavering support.

A night they will treasure for generations to come.

“I’m absolutely thrilled for the lads,” Lambert told BBC Radio FiveLive. “It’s been absolutely amazing what they have achieved.”

A thought that could, of course, likewise extend to the manager and his close-knit backroom team, principal of which is City’s one-time UEFA Cup hero Ian Culverhouse, now Lambert’s right-hand man on the coaching front.

“It’s probably not yet sunk in what we’ve achieved,” said Lambert, about to become the seventh Glaswegian manager to ply his trade in the top flight of English football. And after events of late, he can hold his head high amongst that select group of driven individuals. The key to Norwich’s success, he claimed, was very simple.

“Good players – always is. What they’ve done for me over the last two years, allied to the ones already at the football club, has been monumental.

“They’re good lads. They don’t give me one bit of bother, they respect each other and those lads deserve everything that’s coming.”

Others might beg to differ. That the manager has played a pivotal role in Norwich’s extraordinary renaissance.

And on a night like this, it would be churlish not to pay tribute to the club’s majority shareholders – Delia Smith and her husband Michael Wynn Jones and Banham Poultry chief Michael Foulger.

Their financial resilience amidst the madness of football’s finances deserves much credit. They have, in many senses, been to hell and back before finding a little slice of footballing heaven this evening.

Jackson’s lone strike – his ninth goal in the last seven games – will come to dominate tomorrow’s back pages. The 24-year-old Canadian has repaid Lambert’s faith ten times over of late after his £800,000 switch from Gillingham last summer initially failed to deliver the goods.

But the manager kept faith in the livewire striker. And when opportunity once again presented itself, so Jackson delivered – and kept the likes of Premiership loanees Henri Lansbury and Dani Pacheco out of City’s starting line-up.

Tonight, however, Lambert offered rich words of praise for one of his side’s unsung heroes – midfielder David Fox whose peach of a 50th minute cross delivered the chance on a plate for an ever-alert Jackson.

“I had him at Colchester and the biggest compliment I can pay him is the fact that someone once said to me that he’s like a poor man’s Paul Scholes. And that’s a hell of a compliment.”

Lambert also revealed that he had been forced to change the squad’s travel plans this evening; that there was no way they would make it back to the airport in time to get the final flight back into Norwich this evening.

One suspects Lambert and his players won’t need wings to fly back into a celebrating city this evening.

Spirits of every description will lift his promotion heroes back into the arms of a grateful Norfolk Nation ahead of the biggest home-coming of the lot in Saturday’s final home game of the season against Coventry City.

Win, lose or draw, Norwich are back in the big time. And nor will their fate be decided by the Football Association lawyers on Friday.

They got there under their own steam, the masters of their own destiny.


Please share

Filed Under: Latest news

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

vorlon1812 Tom💛💚 @vorlon1812 ·
1h

Does the Man City cheating thing mean our 3-2 win over them doesn't count anymore? #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1622711759613165570 Retweet on Twitter 1622711759613165570 Like on Twitter 1622711759613165570 Twitter 1622711759613165570
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
1h

Stewards struggle to control epic limbs from Hartlepool in late winner at Doncaster - https://fanbanter.co.uk/stewards-struggle-to-control-epic-limbs-from-hartlepool-fans-for-late-winner-at-doncaster/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc

Reply on Twitter 1622709217378402317 Retweet on Twitter 1622709217378402317 Like on Twitter 1622709217378402317 Twitter 1622709217378402317
lucylundblad Lucy Lundblad 26 @lucylundblad ·
2h

Friendship is not to be taken for granted. #grateful #friendship #lucylundblad #ncfc #2026wsoccer

Reply on Twitter 1622701728888922113 Retweet on Twitter 1622701728888922113 Like on Twitter 1622701728888922113 Twitter 1622701728888922113
saund65 Canaries Caption It @saund65 ·
2h

Winter keeps tweeting about Leeds as if a dispassionate observer of the club, whereas for years now, it's been blatantly obvious he's a supporter of them.
Remember this beauty from the end of the 18/19 season when #NCFC, Leeds & Sheff U. were battling for the top 2.
Why pretend?

Reply on Twitter 1622700945632280577 Retweet on Twitter 1622700945632280577 Like on Twitter 1622700945632280577 1 Twitter 1622700945632280577
mezza_79 Mick @mezza_79 ·
2h

“Blackburn Rovers vs Wigan Athletic” Sinani playing well 🤪💩#ncfc #Rovers #wigan
https://twitter.com/i/events/1606084514907795457

Reply on Twitter 1622696611615805458 Retweet on Twitter 1622696611615805458 Like on Twitter 1622696611615805458 Twitter 1622696611615805458
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by