Martin MacBlain

Upon watching the FA Cup final yesterday, the commentator (goodness knows who) remarked that Jurgen Klopp had remarkably been in charge since 2015. I was taken aback at this, as it just feels like a lot shorter. Furthermore, I was then subjected to watching him address and ‘pseudo-olé’ the crowd basking in his respectable FA […]

For the first time since 2017, I cannot see what we are trying to do. The path, always so clear, is now clouded. Muddied beyond recognition. I simply don’t know what we are trying to achieve other than some finger-tip clutching at the precipice of Premier League participation.  In the words of the infamous Craig […]

Oh Stuart Webber. What have you done. Of course, only time will tell, if this cruelest of decisions, bears fruit. And I guess that just proves hindsight can, and cannot, be a wonderful thing. I do hope Webber hasn’t rolled the dice before he too departs.  Mike Walker aside, I’ve been served up an offering […]

I’ve barely watched us this season. It’s not that I don’t care. I just don’t care about where we are plying our trade. I’m currently embroiled in a wonderful debate with the South West Canaries supporters group, whereby I am one of only two, who want to maintain the status quo within our club. And […]

I had started penning this article a week ago, with the title – a gentle escapism from the harsh reality of life… Events in the Denmark game have swiftly rendered that title meaningless.  Permit me to express my thoughts prior to the Denmark game. There was a lad I used to teach back in 2007, when […]

“And the Freedom of the City, is awarded to Mr Robert Chase.” Humour me. Inspired by the wonderfully evocative (provocative?), Mr Sadler’s article on Robert Chase, I felt driven to write an ‘alternate view’ on what might just have happened, had the purse strings been loosened in those balmy days of January 1994. As historians, […]

I’m actually asking this as a genuine question rather than attempting to ignite our readers into a chanting frenzy.  The Second Coming by Kevin Baldwin. If you haven’t read it, do so. A fantastic read, well written, and a lovely match-by-match insight into the return of Mike Walker. I’m on my second reading but it’s […]

‘Sorry, but I must have missed your tenure as England manager.’ Indubitably, the Rodent’s most infamous quote. Yet it was a rather different quote of his that struck me. It’s relevance still resonates today.  ‘The only difference is that it won’t be in a Norwich shirt, but I’ve had a couple of targets in mind […]

 “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein.  Well that quote now feels rather apt. I’ve kept my powder deliberately dry over the re-start, but having watched the same smorgasbord being served up game after game I decided on the theme for this article: When it feels […]

As I sit and pen this on the eve of my 40th birthday, a multitude of emotions are swirling around my inner conscience. Do I feel that old? Am I now in mid-life? Is the inevitable getting closer. It really is a whirlwind. The reality, if you remove numbers, is that I’ll be no different […]

The lady’s not for turning Readers of a certain vintage will absorb that phrase and either shudder or raise a wistful smile. It depends on your politics. For those unaware of the phrase, it relates to Thatcher’s refusal in 1980 to make a u-turn on her economic policy, despite rising unemployment and the economic recession. […]

They locked us down. A scenario I never thought I’d see, certainly in my lifetime. As I sit and pen this article I find myself gazing out over the Severn Estuary and count myself very fortunate to live where I do. We live in Portishead and have a 180-degree panoramic view of the river Severn, […]

‘The thrill of the grass’. Now if anyone can guess the literary reference; book and author – sans google – I’ll be mightily impressed. In these dystopian days of social distancing and self-isolation, terms I had never heard until a few weeks ago, I’ve been trying to think of a few articles to pen that could help […]

Do you remember that scene in the Matrix, where Neo becomes ‘self-aware’…? For my football awakening, that was the summer of 1993. Sure, I liked football, used to have a kick around, emulated Gazza, Platt and Lineker during Italia ‘90, but I didn’t have a team. So my Norwich FC journey began in that summer […]

Banks, Stiles, Charlton, Hurst and of course, Peters. Names that roll off the tongue as effortlessly as if they were still playing today. And it’s easy to see why. Because they are amongst a select group of Englishmen to have ever lifted the World Cup. But it’s a lesser-known Englishman with the same claim, that […]

Having been in receipt of a German A level for 20 years (and sadly hardly ever using it) you come to realise that the Germans have a word for almost anything and some of these words have started to find their way into our vocabulary. Particularly if your beloved football team are now lovers of […]

In these halcyon days of directors of football, sporting directors, business managers and tiered levels of management, it’s easy to forget this is a path previously trodden by Norwich City FC. The summer of 1998 and the sight of two men, hands clasped in unison heralding in a new era at NR1 was one that […]