Martin Penney

Well, it’s matchday and I’m getting ready to go to the Carra to watch us take on the quieter side of Merseyside, aka Everton. Enter Mrs P stage left who slaps me round the kisser with a Yarmouth bloater and reminds me that I’m not doing that at all. Being rudely shocked into reality I […]

In the early 1990s at the time of manager Dave Stringer’s squad transitioning into the tenure of Mike Walker, NCFC boasted a rare gift. We had a trio of Welsh internationals, all first-team regulars at the same time and truly amongst the very heartbeat of that famous squad. All wore the “egg ‘n’ cress” with […]

Anybody of my vintage [1957] will know all about measles, mumps, German measles [rubella] chicken pox and the rest. Younger readers might not of course and I’m glad for them if they don’t ever experience any of these horribles. Chicken pox came back to bite me on the butt one Christmas Eve around 2005 in […]

Tony Dunne was a fine Irish international and full back for Manchester United. Clive Dunn was the unforgettable Lance-Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army – as in “don’t panic Mr Mainwaring – they don’t like it up ’em” – and also had a horrendous venture into the Top Ten with the song Grandad. But today I’m […]

Well, well, well, the Canary puts the boot into the Cockerel – and on Chanticleer’s splendid new turf too. And via the most unlikely of mediums: a City win in a penalty shoot-out. Now, this might have happened before but if it has I genuinely cannot remember it. I recall our relatively recent loss to […]

I think we’re at the point at which Steve McQueen has robbed the Wermacht soldier of his motorbike, worked out that there’s a little bit of petrol in the tank and thus given himself a chance of jumping the wire. No guarantees, no promises but genuine hope. That result will have gone down like a […]

He’s a likeable, obviously well-educated and erudite youngish Premier League manager in his forties. His fans idolise him even when things go wrong for the team and their supporters. As they often do, seemingly ever-increasingly in the second half of this season. And did I feel sorry for him at the weekend? Yes I did, […]

Well, if you can’t be proud of that what can you be proud of? Considering the value of Virgil van Dijk alone would outstrip that of our entire squad quite literally twice over, we gave it a right good go and so nearly held out the Champions League winners who have only dropped two points […]

Well, that was the week that was. Philip Schofield came out as gay [I wasn’t exactly shocked by the “news”], Keith Richards reckons he’s given up smoking 60 Marlboro reds a day and North Norfolk District Council has refused to fly the Union Jack at its HQ for “Prince” Andrew’s birthday. But amongst this outbreak […]

You can’t beat the concept of light and shade. Whether it’s a piece of music, a film or indeed an MFW article it is an essential part of the creative’s repertoire – and for good reason. Think Pink Floyd, Hammer Horror or even some of my garbage on MFW if you will. And if ever […]

I’ve worked all over the place – and I know I’m not alone in that amongst the MFW community. This dubious privilege has taught me a few valuable lessons in life, of course. The best authentic Chinese food is to be found in London’s Limehouse. This was the original Chinese settlement in England long before […]

Norwich City have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup – for the first time since 2012 – and they did it with a great combination of flair and resilience it must be said. It’s easy to say Burnley didn’t really want it, particularly as their manager Sean Dyche publicly said before the game […]

I felt a certain amount of trepidation before this one as soon as it was confirmed that Mike Dean would be in charge of VAR. I was as disappointed with that as my Spurs mate Nicky would have been to see the name Serge Aurier on the teamsheet. Factor in our woeful record in the […]

Phew! When Paul Tierney blew that final whistle on Saturday the relief was audible, tangible and celebrated by absolutely every Canary in the ground. To me this was encapsulated by Tim Krul and Todd Cantwell enjoying the most heartfelt man-hug since Oliver Reed grappled with Alan Bates in Ken Russell’s Women in Love. At least […]

Well, that was always going to be a little bit too predictable wasn’t it? I deliberately didn’t put a personal score guess into the MFW Man Utd preview for just that reason. We’ve been described almost everywhere in the media as “poor” on Saturday and with pretty good reason from what I’ve seen and heard. […]

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Step forward the great yellow and green hope as in Adam Idah, who scored the coolest hat-trick you’ll ever see. And on a first NCFC start to boot. The stuff of dreams for him and the source of hope for the rest of us. Our youngest hat-trick merchant of […]

Phew! There were some pretty powerful and heartfelt comments on Gary’s article yesterday – all of which I very much enjoyed reading. I’ll return to that later but first a few words about the match itself. Personal circs dictated that I couldn’t attend, which is a real rarity for me, so I loaned my season […]

It’s not football any more and that’s for sure. There was not a single person in Carrow Road, including referee Kevin Friend and his assistants, who thought Teemu Pukki was offside from the assist of the season courtesy of Mario Vrancic. Then some c*ckwomble many miles away in Stockley Park behind a TV screen said […]

I don’t normally deal in prologues, which are best left to Frankie Howerd and Geoffrey Chaucer, but this is an exception. Following on from Gary G’s article yesterday and the excellent appraisal of Martin Peters courtesy of Mick Dennis, I feel I have to. 2017 was a year bemoaned by music writers and fans alike […]

My next door neighbour in Mundesley, Matt, is pretty much like-minded to myself in that he watches Match of the Day either on Saturday night or Sunday morning and then takes his dog out to do the a.m. canine things. Yesterday morning on Mundesley Rec, Oscar the beagle and Geezer the Patterdale terrier discussed their […]