Norwich City

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Former Norwich City striker Grant Holt says this Easter's matches could prove pivotal in the Championship's play-off shake-up.

City welcome strugglers Plymouth Argyle on Good Friday, before travelling to high-flying Leicester City on Bank Holiday Monday.

Holt told BBC Radio Norfolk, "I think it's really important they get off to a flying start against Plymouth and then roll onto Leicester with at least four points."

"If they do that, they're settled and ready to crack on and finish the season strong," he added.

Norwich City boss praises the improvement of midfielder Marcelino Nunez.

The 24-year-old is back in Norfolk following the international break, where he represented Chile against Albania and France.

After a mixed start to the Championship campaign, Nunez is now a regular in David Wagner's starting line-up.

What a difference a few months make.

Following the 1-1 draw with Southampton on New Year's Day, the Canaries were 13th in the Championship table - some five points off the play-off places.

12 matches and 26 points later, they've moved into the top six.

While a few teams have changed positions, the top five teams in the division remain the same.

Sunderland have been the big losers over that period, picking up just eight points in 12 games and dropping off the promotion pace.

David Wagner held his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon looking ahead to the Canaries' Championship match with Plymouth on Friday.

Here are the key points:

• Josh Sargent is fit and available after not joining up with the US men's national team due to injury

• Shane Duffy is back in training after recovering from a calf problem

• Grant Hanley will be on his own training schedule until the end of April

• Only focus is on "the next game" - not a mini-season of eight games

• Wagner says they are "desperate" to rectify what happened at Plymouth in the away match earlier this season when they lost 6-2

• On Plymouth - "It's up to us to show we are much better than we were when we played them last time," said Wagner.

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Former Norwich City midfielder Adam Forshaw missed Plymouth's last Championship game against Preston through injury, but he could be fit for a return to his old club.

The 32-year-old has been struggling with a pulled hamstring.

Argyle travel to City in the Championship on Good Friday.

Forshaw joined the Canaries last summer on a free transfer from Leeds United but failed to make an impact on David Wagner's side.

He played just nine matches in yellow and green before leaving for Plymouth in January.

Injury has prevented him from regular football at Argyle, where he has made six league starts.

Bali Mumba, another former Canary, will definitely miss the match on Good Friday. He completes a two-match suspension after receiving his 10th booking of the season earlier this month.

Opinion: Webber finally departs.. now the focus can return to City's run-in

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Gary Gowers - My Football Writer, external

I’ll not revisit the words of Stuart Webber. More than enough has been written and spoken about those very badly misjudged comments, and to prolong the debate serves no purpose.

But it didn’t half leave the club in a difficult position.

(You can catch up on his comments about black players, and the reaction to them, here.)

For one, when the interview was given and when the Pink Un piece was published, Webber was technically still on the club’s payroll - I understand he officially departs this week – and doubly awkward was the fact his wife is still the club’s Executive Director.

You can also throw into that same mix the undiluted adoration shown toward Webber by two of the club’s owners – Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.

To distance themselves from comments made by someone so intrinsically tied to the club was always going to require a tricky balancing act and so, in hindsight, it was unsurprising it took them 48 hours to come up with a form of words sufficiently vague as to not chuck Webber under the bus while also offering support to the players mentioned.

A little wishy-washy it may have been, but in the circumstances, there was no way they were going to come out all guns blazing and condemn Webber’s views in the strongest possible way. Even if they should have.

How could they?

Unfortunately, it was a conundrum of the club’s own making and was one that was only ever a loose-lipped comment away in Webber-world.

In the early part of his Norwich City reign, Webber was a breath of fresh air and nothing, from a pure footballing perspective, should detract from the fine work he did in his first two seasons at the club. He also excelled in 2020-21, when working with Daniel Farke to revamp a squad for another tilt at Championship success.

Alas, in his latter time at Norwich City, when stung by criticism for some of his decision-making, he resembled a loose cannon – taking unnecessary potshots at all those he perceived as critics.

At that point, the club’s hierarchy chose to ignore the damage caused by his firing-from-the-hip style or were oblivious to it. Either way, he was unchecked and given carte blanche by said hierarchy to say and do as he pleased.

Even after his departure was announced, those in power still granted him the freedom of the club and spoke of their hurt at losing someone considered a friend.

So, when the dirty stuff and the fan collided, it’s no surprise that the hand-wringing began.

Hopefully, for all concerned, the final parting of the ways for Stuart Webber and Norwich City will enable the club to now focus on what matters. The next eight games.

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Norwich City midfielder Marcelino Nunez was on the score sheet for Chile on Tuesday night in their international friendly with France.

The 24-year-old, who has scored just one goal in the Championship this season, opened the scoring in Marseilles before the hosts took control of the game and went on to win 3-2.

Nunez played 88 minutes for his national side.

Meanwhile, it was another disappointing night for Angus Gunn and Kenny McLean as Scotland lost 1-0 to Northern Ireland.

Gunn was awarded another start in goal, while midfielder McLean came on as a second half substitute.

Elsewhere, Christos Tzolis and Dimitris Giannoulis will not be going to the Euros this summer. Greece were beaten by Georgia on penalties in their play-off eliminator.

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Ahead of the Championship clash with Plymouth Argyle on Friday, Norwich City midfielder Marcelino Nunez will go toe to toe with one of the best players in the world later.

His Chile side take on France in an international friendly on Tuesday and Nunez could find himself up against Kylian Mbappe (not to mention a number of other world class players).

The Norwich midfielder played more than an hour for his country on Friday in a 3-0 win over Albania.

The international friendly takes place in Marseille.

Elsewhere, Angus Gunn and Kenny McLean could once again see action for Scotland, who host Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, Christos Tzolis is hoping his Greece side can make it to the Euro 2024 Finals. They play Georgia for a place in the tournament in Germany later this summer.

This week's Norwich City podcast 'The Scrimmage' is available now.

On the show hosts Joe Dean and Jack Maclean look back at Norwich City Women's 2-2 draw with QPR at Carrow Road, as well as reaction to former sporting directer Stuart Webber's comments in the paper.

You can listen to the latest episode here.

Following the comments made by former Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber over the weekend about several black players, BBC Look East took to the streets of Norwich to get some reaction.

Webber has since told the BBC he had contacted the players in question to apologise.

Here's what a few people had to say.

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On this day - 25 March 1999 - Canaries sign Ced

Cedric Anselin joined Norwich on-loan from french side Bordeaux, where he had played in the 1996 UEFA Cup Final.

He joined permanently later that summer for a fee thought to be around £250,000.

Anselin still lives in Norwich and played for a number of non-league clubs once he finished his professional career.

You can sometimes hear him talking about the Canaries on BBC Radio Norfolk.

Your views on whether Tzolis should return to Norwich City

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We asked you for your views on whether Norwich City should try and keep Christos Tzolis in the summer.

The Greek international has been on loan with German side Fortuna Dusseldorf and has 17 goals and eight assists in 27 games for the second-tier side.

While the German side could trigger a buy clause in the loan contract, he might also be available to return to England in the summer.

This is what you had to say:

Kitty - Yes, Tzolis should come back. He was never given enough game-time to prove himself at Norwich previously.

Chris - Tzolis is a poacher! He needs to have the ball played into him inside the box for results. He doesn’t fit our current game plan. More than half his goals are penalties or inside the six-yard box. He’s a left-sided Fassnacht, which doesn’t improve our team. The only reason for him to return is to get a proper fee for him, as we undervalued him to Düsseldorf!

Jeremy - I would love to see Christos Tzolis back with Norwich City - we do need him in the summer. It would be great to have Christos back.

Shaun - Yeah, why not?! Wagner should be keeping an eye on him, if he's playing that well. Bring him back.

Tim - If we have to sell either Borja Sainz or Jonathan Rowe - then I would love to see Tzolis given another chance. From what I've seen of him this season, he looks like what we paid a record fee for.

City's promotion hopes took a big set-back as they drew 2-2 with OPR at Carrow Road on Sunday.

After going behind, a wonder strike from Rachel Lawrence and a goal from Ellie Smith had the Canaries in front.

A defensive mistake before half-time allowed the visitors to equalise.

A late goal for Norwich was chalked-off for offside.

The draw, watched by a crowd of just under 6,000, means the Canaries need to win their remaining seven games and hope league leaders Wimbledon slip up.

You can find the National League South

East Div One table here, external.

Image source, Norwich City

Norwich City Women play at Carrow Road on Sunday 24 March, in a National League Div One South East match against QPR.

It's only the second time this season they have played at the home of the men's team.

More than 5,000 tickets have already been sold for the match that kicks off at 1400 GMT.

There is full commentary of the match available on BBC Radio Norfolk FM, DAB and online here.

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Norwich City's Angus Gunn was a starter for Scotland on Friday as they were beaten 4-0 by Netherlands in an International friendly.

Going into the match there was uncertainty who would start in goal with four goalkeepers in the Scotland squad.

Norwich midfielder Kenny McLean also saw some action, he was brought on as a second half substitute.

Meanwhile, Marcelino Nunez was also in action for Chile last night, the Canaries' midfielder played 70 minutes in a 3-0 win against Albania.

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Norwich City defender Shane Duffy said he was disappointed to miss out on an international call-up for the Republic of Ireland due to injury.

The 32-year-old hasn't played for the Canaries since the beginning of February after picking up a calf injury against Coventry.

Duffy has 55 caps for his country and was a regular starter in their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

Duffy told BBC Radio Norfolk:

"I'm a very proud Irish man and I try to never miss a cap - I obviously don't have loads [of my career] left", he said.

"I was aiming to get back a couple of games before the internationals, but I had a little setback. It's difficult to miss those games, and obviously there's a new manager so I didn't want to miss them", he added.

Duffy will miss friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland.

He says his injury is improving and he's hoping to be involved in Norwich's match against Plymouth on Good Friday.

Opinion: The rollercoaster of David Wagner’s Norwich City reign

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Matthew Soakell, North East Canary

Has there ever been a Norwich City manager who’s managed to turn things around like David Wagner?

Whatever you think of him, this season has been salvaged and our solid form of late has gone to prove that his tenure has been an absolute rollercoaster of a ride, with plenty of ups and downs along the way.

When he was first appointed, we won at Preston and Coventry with goals galore and we thought we had our club back. Then we were hit and miss, and despite being in play-off contention, tailed off at the end of the campaign, having a miserable last month of the 22-23 season.

August came around with fresh hope and vigour and we started this season like a house on fire. It was exciting; we had Jonathan Rowe scoring goals in every game and we sang about being top of the league when four-nil up at Huddersfield away. We thought the recruitment in the summer was clever; the experience and nous brought in was something that we’d maybe lacked previously. However, autumn came and we went on another insipid run — failing to win a game in October, picking up just a solitary point.

By the turn of the year it seemed that the writing was on the wall for Wagner.

Fan discontent about the style of football was growing, despite three wins in December and that 2-2 draw at Portman Road. The bumps in the road would continue, with some fans wondering how he was still in a job and what sporting director Ben Knapper was actually doing - or if he even existed at all.

However, after a decent January, Norwich have hit some good form over the course of February and March, only losing to Middlesbrough in a manner that I’m sure most fans would forgive Wagner for, given the circumstance of Borja Sainz’s red card.

Things feel pretty good again, although if I may say so, there still feels like there’s something missing. We’re still not quite as together as we maybe should be for a team in such good form; the club still has issues it needs to fix and fans aren’t lauding Wagner’s name to the same lofty heights that Daniel Farke reached. Even as “David Wagner’s taking us to Wembley” rang out to the tune of Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac in the away end at Stoke last Saturday, there’s still some fans who might need to be convinced about our direction of travel.

Well, Mr Wagner, there’s no better time to win over anyone remaining in the dubious camp than after this current international break. Hopefully the coaching staff take stock of what’s been achieved of late, look at what worked, what didn’t work and leave us with an exciting last eight games.

Strap yourself in, Norwich fans, the rollercoaster might have a couple more twists and turns for us yet. Although with City already in a strong position to finish in the play-offs, maybe David Wagner is taking us to Wembley!