Martin Penney

A good game for the neutral? An overall fair result? Or merely an indicator of how our performances are likely to ebb and flow until this wretched transfer window is laid to rest? All three in my book. Gary G summed up the game itself perfectly yesterday so I’ll just add a few observations. Nothing […]

Cometh the 81st minute, cometh the young Irishman. That selfless cutback from *old-stager* Teemu Pukki to Adam Idah, which was put to bed with aplomb slowed the over-beating hearts of the Canary Nation. It was just sheer bloody relief for surely almost all of us as in… what 12-game losing streak? What inability to win […]

That was quite a weekend for Norwich City. The excitement of landing Ben Gibson from Burnley, the gathering storm around what must surely be the imminent departure of Jamal Lewis to Newcastle and an uninspiring exit from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Nathan Jones and his physical Luton Town outfit. Reactions to the […]

The only time I have ever played on a professional football club’s pitch was back in the early 1990s at Kenilworth Road Luton when, together with Preston and QPR, they had an AstroTurf surface that they were prepared to hire out to just about all and sundry during the off-season. My then company BASF took […]

When I was around eight or nine one of my favourite attractions was Woolies in the High Street. In my case, that was Ilford High Road but I guess for many MFW readers the equivalent would have been on Rampant Horse Street [which Mrs P remembers but I do not] and later St Stephens Street […]

Rumours. Don’t you just love ’em? In the past week, they’ve revolved around two leading men, as in Ben Gibson and Jordan Hugill and I must be honest enough to say that one I’d embrace at the Carra and one, erm, I wouldn’t. Gibson has had a torrid time with Burnley and is on record […]

I’ve probably got as much previous as the rest of us for sometimes sitting on that wooden garden dividing boundary, but not this time. I simply luurve the new home kit and I will be buying our new shirt quite early this very Monday morning from Fan Hub in the City while I hope you […]

I can lay the blame for this article fairly and squarely at the feet of my MFW colleague Chris Sadler, who came up with a lovely piece of nostalgia last week featuring photos of Max Miller and Lenny Bruce, clever word play on footballers’ names and some pretty tasty anagrams to boot. As somebody who […]

We’re a funny old lot are us Citizens of the Canary nation. So united in some ways yet so divided in others. The major issues just now are: are you for or against the Smiths? I’m against. Are you for or against Webber and Farke? I’m for. But I’ve never assimilated so many divisive opinions […]

Like, surely, all of us, I am bringing the old ship HMS Canary into port, putting it into dry dock and looking forward to what will be a cheap refit before we set sail again on less choppy seas. We hope. But who will Captain Webber and First Mate Farke manage to recruit to join us on […]

I have always been a great supporter of the concept of light and shade. Whether in literature, music, art or even television and film, I’m all for it believe me. So therefore it’s quite natural for me to compare our penultimate match of last season [Blackburn] with this year’s offering – Burnley of course. Last […]

A shallow piece of NCFC dignity was restored at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Yes of course we lost, didn’t score, as has become de rigeur and, Olivier Giroud’s header from an excellent Christian Pulisic cross completely bamboozled Timm Klose who got nowhere near his man. Not only did we fail to bother the “goals for” […]

The eulogy – something hopefully none of our younger readers have ever had to deliver at a funeral but I bet most of us aged over 50 have. I’ve done four of them – one for every goal Antonio scored on Saturday. For my grandmother, father, mother and an old rascal of an uncle. So […]

With what could be called an assist if we push the boundaries a little bit, Onel Hernandez set up Emi Buendia for what was quite strangely his first Premier League goal and it arrived in July! Not only was it a beautiful finish but it saved this current squad from creating a very embarrassing record […]

There have been warehouse-sized debates everywhere about Norwich City and their way “forward” with the finances of the club in regard to next season. And the inevitable happened. We are Championship. Quelle surprise. This was a nailed-on from the start. No significant investment, key injuries to central defenders, and only Duda and Rupp in January. […]

I’ve long been a believer in the phrase strike while the iron’s hot, so as I begin this article at 14:53 on Saturday knowing it won’t appear in front of you beloved MFW readers until Monday, I thought I’d write it now, get it out of the way and wallow in our collective misery all […]

Everyone’s got an Arsenal mate, haven’t they? I’ve got three but strangely didn’t volunteer to communicate with any of them on Wednesday evening. However one of them, Mickey, couldn’t resist, erm, taking the mickey via the gift of Google Mail. There were a few cheap cracks such as had Josip Drmic borrowed his boots from […]

If you wanted our season summed up in two hours, Saturday delivered. Big time. We played our hearts out, took Man U to the brink of a penalty shoot-out but got kicked in the guts three minutes from the end. And had Timm Klose sent off for a professional that I wouldn’t actually argue with […]

Well the fat lady is singing on full throttle. It could be Maria Callas, Mama Cass Elliot or even better the British original, Janet Webb on the Morecambe and Wise show. It doesn’t matter who assumes this particular mantle – we are well and truly done for. There was more huffing and puffing than against […]