...the bit about the NCFC shirts nearly made me cry

I asked him after two weeks as to whether there was any chance of him staying longer and he said then that it was very unlikely; that there'd been a change of manager and he wanted to go back.

"But I think over the following two weeks the club and the players really grew on him," said Roeder, with Norfolk also weaving her magic.

"He's unbelievably family-orientated with his wife and his three little boys - and I'd backed right off. He said he wasn't going to come. But I just hoped that, as I said, the club would grow on him even more in those last two weeks - and it did.

"I came down to breakfast last week before the Sheffield United game - and we're in the same hotel - and the three little boys had Norwich City shirts on. And I thought: 'Whoa... things might be changing. You don't really buy your kids Norwich City shirts if you're only staying a month.

"So he'd changed. And when we spoke to him after the Sheffield United game, in which he'd been out-standing, he said he'd like to sit down and talk. Just to talk about signing another loan agreement until the 1st of January and while that was going on, discuss a permanent move. But Karren Brady wouldn't have that at all - he'd have to come back."

Posted By: malkybarkid, Dec 14, 12:11:17