Please, my illustrious colleagues in the Press, can we for once look a little harder and see how our diamonds sparkle…

Ashley Young’s deflected shot gave Manchester United the victory they deserved at West Brom, but the assembled media were not amused when I suggested an angle for them – that the goal had knocked Norwich out of the Champions League places.

But then Press reports of City’s efforts at Wigan the previous day had not made me smile much either.

Friends, former colleagues and writers I admire were woefully predictable with all their comparisons to Blackpool. There were clunking metaphors involving Delia and recipes. And nobody seemed to spot that we started with the diamond system we’ve been using for two seasons.

Worst though, was the widespread assertion that our defence will struggle this season.

That belief was based on the two calamities when first Ritchie De Laet and then Zak Whitbread were caught fiddling about with the ball near the half-way line.

Yet there was other evidence from De Laet to weigh up: the way he caught up with Franco Di Santo after giving him a head start and the point-saving interventions in the second-half.

De Laet will be one of the Premier League’s top performers this season.

I saw enough of him in pre-season to be certain of that. He is a pro-active defender, blisteringly quick, intelligent and with a healthy hatred of ceding an inch.

We can be content that Paul Lambert has ensured De Laet won’t ever again take unnecessary chances in possession while at Norwich.

But he did foul Di Santo. The £2 million Argentinian ‘bought’ the infringement, by edging in front of our Belgian as the two men sprinted towards the goal-line, and so the ensuing tangle of legs was an accident. But it was still a foul.

And Russell Martin fouled Di Santo in the area again later in the same half.

Di Santo did not help himself by choosing to fall so unconvincingly and that encouraged referee Stuart Atwell’s reluctance to give a second penalty in front of the mighty Yellow Army.

Wigan’s scant support was pitiful by comparison. The few fans they do have abuse me online because I have ridiculed their attendances in print, but you get the impression that, because the club is bankrolled by Dave Whelan, nobody tries very hard to entice a crowd worthy of the Premier League.

There is no club presence in the town centre, no attempt to bus people in from outside the town, this season’s replica shirts are not available yet and there appears little effort to overcome apathy towards the club.

Attendances at the DW Stadium fell last season to under 18,000.

Meanwhile, QPR jacked the prices up by 40 per cent and were rewarded by a dismal crowd of barely over 15,000 – on the club’s return to the top tier after a wait of 15 years.

And over at West Ham, there were 10,000 empty seats for their first game back in the Championship, despite a radio advertising campaign in the capital and heavily discounted prices for kids.

So we shouldn’t take the Y’Army for granted. It has become a phenomenon.

It was extraordinarily moving to be part of a packed away end in the Premier League after six years. By definition the folk who trek the country to back the team are more committed and more likely to keep the faith than those who don’t and the sheer number and volume of City’s travelling support will be a factor all season.

So will the qualities on display at Wigan which have served the team so well for two seasons: Lambert’s insistence on a positive approach, a team full of hungry wannabes and the pervading belief that our chaps will score eventually.

Of course we’ll lose some games. But we won’t roll over for anyone and we won’t be flattened by reverses. This manager and this team don’t do that.

And, eventually, those who chronicle City’s exploits for national newspapers will stop making fatuous assumptions and come to more considered conclusions about Norwich in the Premier League.

After all, they’ll have plenty more seasons to do so.