Norwich City

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Here's some stats from OPTA ahead of the Canaries taking on the Sky Blues at Carrow Road on Saturday (15.00 GMT):

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their last seven league games against Coventry City (Won 4 Drawn 3) since a 2-1 defeat back in February 2009

• Coventry have won just two of their last 25 away league visits to Norwich (D12 L11), winning 2-1 in January 1989 and 2-1 in February 2009.

• Norwich City are unbeaten in their last six home league matches (W4 D2), last enjoying a longer unbeaten run at Carrow Road between October 2020 and April 2021 under Daniel Farke (18).

• Coventry City have won their last three away league games, last winning four in a row on the road in February/March 2020 in League One. In the top-two tiers, they last did so in March 2004.

• Jonathan Rowe has scored five of Norwich’s last 10 Championship goals and has 12 league goals this season, twice as many as any other Canaries player (Adam Idah, 6).

Time for our pre-match quiz, with a question set by BBC Radio Norfolk's Chris Goreham (he got some help from our regular columnist Steve Sanders too):

Ben Gibson scored his first goal for the Canaries last Sunday in his 106th game.

That means since 1990 there have been just two Norwich outfield players with more than 75 first team appearances who haven’t scored a single goal. Can you name them?

What a cracker! Send your answers here.

Norwich City head coach David Wagner is among the bookies' favourites to take over as Huddersfield Town manager.

The Terriers are looking for a new boss following the sacking of Darren Moore earlier this week. (Yorkshire Post, external)

Your views on Sydney van Hooijdonk

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We asked for your views on Norwich's new signing Syndey van Hooijdonk, here's some of the comments:

Jason - Let’s give him a chance. His goals to game ratio looks impressive. Seems like he has point to prove after his loan to Italy didn’t go too well. Hoping he’s involved on Saturday.

Nigel - To me it seems we have offloaded some players, which is a good thing, and added someone with decent potential. I think we all would have liked a CDM added but I assume that if Knapper doesn't get his targets then we don't waiver and get another player in for the sake of it?

NCFC Nodge - I know diddly squat about him. However, Idah didn’t ever achieve his potential, so I’m pleased that I have some kind of hope. Good test as Knapper's first signing. Strategy of quality over quantity perhaps?

Stocksy - If he runs and challenges he will be an upgrade.

Gordo - What his Dad did is of no consequence, remember Paul, son of Kenny? If people need to judge, let it be on him alone. Remember he will be in the erratic set up of one David Wagner.

WW1 on this day: I heard from Holland that he's sometimes good and can score goals, that's for sure. Might be a good fit for the Championship.

Graham - Can he play centre half?

Stephen - Hat-trick on Saturday 👍🏻😂

Have your say on Norwich's new striker

Image source, Norwich City FC

Norwich City new signing Sydney van Hooijdonk says he has received a warm welcome at the club.

The 23-year-old Dutch striker joined the Canaries on loan until the end of the season from Serie A side Bologna.

He will wear the number 14 shirt for the team and is available for Saturday's Championship game against Coventry City (15.00 GMT).

van Hooijdonk told the club's official website: "The last few days have been hectic. Flying in yesterday and doing all the medicals. But finally, everything is done. I'm really happy.

"The training ground is amazing, and the facilities are great. I think there's everything to perform and work hard.

He continued: "I've met almost all the lads, and they're all really nice. It's been a warm welcome."

What do you think about City's new man? Get in touch here.

Norwich City have completed the signing of Dutch striker Sydney van Hooijdonk on a loan deal which will keep him at Carrow Road until the end of this season.

van Hooijdonk joins from Serie A side Bologna. He arrived at the Italian side in 2021 but has struggled to settle and has no league goals to his name at the club.

The 23-year-old has had more success while out on loan in his native Netherlands though, scoring 16 goals in 35 appearances last season for Eredivisie team Heerenveen.

Norwich City striker Adam Idah has joined Scottish Premiership champions Celtic on loan until the end of season.

The Republic of Ireland international has scored seven goals in 34 appearances so far this season. He came through the ranks at Carrow Road and made his debut in August 2019.

The BBC understands that there is no option to make the move permanent at the end of the loan spell.

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We asked for your takes on the news that Norwich City are set to say goodbye to one striker, but say hello to another.

Adam Idah looks to be heading to Celtic on loan, with Sydney van Hooijdonk looking likely to join from Italian side Bologna in a similar deal.

Here are some of your comments:

Sophie - I suppose that if Idah is going, to replace him with another striker is good! Surprised that we haven’t brought any youngsters in to play a few games for the U21s, have a couple of games on the bench then go on loan/join another team permanently! OTBC

Robson - Hopefully Idah will bang the goals in and someone will take a permanent punt in the summer. If he doesn't, it's a bit concerning for both parties.

Major P - Looks like a good signing on the face of it. I'm not an Idah fan at all so would like to see him leave permanently.

Matt - Won't be sad to see Idah go. He hasn't been able to perform or lock-down a starting spot under three managers. Often looks lost and behind the game, despite some important late goals. Will reserve judgement on the Dutch fella, we all remember what happened last time we got excited over a Dutch striker at Carrow Road.

Jake - Norwich need to improve the midfield depth. If Idah goes, we need a prolific goalscorer to replace him for when Sargent is tired or injured with the tough fixture list coming up.

Paul - Not too excited, time will tell.

Graham - Both Idah and van Hooijdonk have failed to live up to expectations at their clubs, maybe the move will do them both good.

Alex (Celtic and Norwich fan) - With a foot in both camps, I don't think Idah to Celtic is what we need. Probably needs a fresh challenge, but not convinced.

David - Norwich need a central defensive midfielder, so if it's only swapping one substitute striker for another, it's not exactly going to be a busy day.

Norwich City head coach David Wagner has been speaking to the media ahead of the Championship game against Coventry City on Saturday (15.00 GMT).

The transfer deadline is at 23.00 GMT on Thursday.

Here are some of the key points:

• Top scorer Jonathan Rowe and defender Danny Batth will both miss Saturday's game

• Rowe should be back in training next week following his recovery from a broken hand

• Wagner refused to be drawn on any news about deadline day transfers. Adam Idah has been in Glasgow finalising a loan move to Celtic. Meanwhile, the Canaries look likely to sign Bologna striker Sydney van Hooijdonk on a loan deal until the end of the season

• Winger Przemysław Płacheta has been linked with a move to Swansea, but Wagner refused to comment on that situation.

• On Saturday’s game: Wagner said his team are full of confidence when playing at Carrow Road

• On Coventry: Wagner said he is full of admiration for the Sky Blues’ manager Mark Robins. He said Robins has done a “remarkable job” and he has built a “top team”. Coventry are currently 6th in The Championship

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Norwich City striker Adam Idah looks set to leave Carrow Road and join Celtic on loan until the end of the season.

The Republic of Ireland international is second in the Canaries’ goal scoring charts this season, but hasn't been able to hold down a regular place in the first team.

City hero Grant Holt told BBC Radio Norfolk that a move away from Carrow Road is exactly what Idah needs:

"I don't think people have seen the best of him in regards to what he actually could be.

"If he goes and plays week-in, week-out, I think you will see what Adam is."

He continued, "I've known him since he was 16 and I get on with him really well. What people don't realise is that he's a really good kid, he works really hard, he wants to achieve stuff and he's got some really good attributes.

"If the club can let him go and play games and come back then it's fantastic. That's the objective."

Image source, Rex Features

Swansea City are eyeing a deadline-day move for Norwich City’s Poland international Przemyslaw Placheta.

Placheta, 25, is a left-sided midfielder although he has played at left-back.

His Norwich contract expires at the end of the season.

Placheta has made 61 appearances since joining Norwich in 2020, scoring two goals, and had an injury-hit loan spell at Birmingham City last season.

He has played 19 times for Norwich this season – but made only six starts – and has not featured since a defeat at Millwall on 29 December.

Swansea are short of left-sided options having sent Nathanael Ogbeta and Nathan Tjoe-A-On out on loan this month.

Josh Tymon is their first-choice left-wingback, while Kristian Pedersen has not featured in a league game since October and could be allowed to leave before Thursday’s transfer deadline.

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Norwich City goalkeeper Jon McCracken has joined Scottish Premiership side Dundee on loan until the end of the season.

McCracken has previously been on loan at the club earlier this season, he was also at League Two’s Accrington Stanley where he made 11 appearances.

Opinion: An ode to Kenny McLean

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Matthew Soakell, North East Canary

Kenny McLean has played every possible minute of every league game for Norwich City in the Championship so far this season. Out of those 29 games, he’s captained the side 28 times in Grant Hanley’s absence and has four assists to his name, despite starting eight games at centre-back. Whilst players like Sara and Rowe rightly get the plaudits for their creativity and flair, McLean has shown the heart, passion and leadership on the pitch that, dare I say, Norwich have missed off the pitch over the last couple of years.

McLean has now been a Norwich City player since the January transfer window of 2018, albeit he was loaned back to Aberdeen for the remainder of the 17-18 season. Since then he’s established himself as a regular starter and more recently as vice-captain. A Scotland international since 2016, he’s matured into a stalwart in Norwich teams that’ve seen changes of managers and now sporting directors.

Of the 2018-19 Championship winning team, only McLean, Grant Hanley and Onel Hernandez remain at the club and all three, it could be argued, understand and embody what it means to play for Norwich City. We may moan about Hernandez’s end product, but he loves the club. Hanley is club captain and will likely reach 200 club appearances by the end of this season, McLean has already surpassed that milestone.

Given the amount of change and turnover in football - coaching staff and players alike - sometimes a club needs players like these to ensure others know what it means to wear the shirt with pride.

So, as frustrations ring out about Norwich City’s quiet winter transfer window (so far), it’s time we pay tribute to a Glaswegian who joined in January 2018 from Aberdeen.

McLean, who played alongside former Canary James Maddison at Pittodrie prior to the England international cementing his place in Daniel Farke’s swashbuckling side, already had nearly 300 first team appearances between top flight Scottish sides St Mirren and Aberdeen before his move to Norfolk. Not one to shy away from hard yards and taking some flack from time to time, in more recent years he’s not only donned a mayoral hat in the now infamous “I am now mayor of Norwich” quip, but has come out to defend his manager and take responsibility for the club’s performances on the pitch.

I recently had a friendly exchange with an Ipswich fan on X/Twitter, defending Sky Sports’ justification to include Gabriel Sara in their team of the Championship season so far. The Ipswich fan thought Sara was overrated and that Egyptian Sam Morsy was, in his words, “astronomically clear”. It was at this point I said that often those types of players - Morsy, McLean, Tyler Morton on loan at Hull and Swansea’s loanee Charlie Patino - often get overlooked in such team of the season accolades; they aren’t flair players who get 15 assists a season and complete five nutmegs a game and so often don’t get the glory they deserve. But football’s about balance and there’s a lot to be said for a holding midfielder who’ll give everything, break up play and let other players take the credit. Kenny McLean is one of these and one we must treasure.

As he said, stood on the balcony of City Hall, “What do you[s] want, just let me know… I’ll do it” — and that sort of can-do attitude and the qualities Kenny McLean brings on and off the pitch are something for which we should all be thankful to have at our club.

Already a strong contender for player of the season, with a second placed finish in the votes last year, the Mayor can do no wrong for me this season and I only wish we had more like him throughout our club.

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The BBC understands that Norwich City are increasingly confident of signing Bologna striker Sydney van Hooijdonk before the transfer window closes at 23.00 GMT on Thursday. It would be a loan deal with an option of making it a permanent move in the summer.

23-year-old van Hooijdonk has spent the majority of the last two season on-loan at Heerenveen in his native Netherlands, last season he scored 16 goals in 35 appearances.

He is the son of former Celtic and Nottingham Forest forward Pierre van Hooijdonk.

The arrival of van Hooijdonk at Carrow Road would pave the way for Adam Idah to join Celtic on-loan. It's believed there would be no option to make the deal permanent at the end of the loan spell, though.

Let us know what you think about the potential arrival and departure here.

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On this day - 31 January 2006

Norwich City left it late to sign a new striker on deadline day 2006.

The Canaries paid West Bromwich Albion £3.5m for Wales international Robert Earnshaw, the deal was completed just one hour before the cut-off point.

'Earnie' told the club website: "This is a new chapter in my life to enjoy. I just want to go out there and enjoy my football, it's as simple as that."

He played 45 times for City and scored 27 goals.

Opinion: 'None of us would object to last-minute transfer surprise'

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Gary Gowers, My Football Writer - Norwich City, external

There’s a difference between being a well-run football club and a cautiously run football club. For many years, Norwich City were known for being the former when, in my view, they were always the latter.

But even amid two-and-a-half decades of caution, they have sailed very close to the wind in a financial sense. Very close. All the caution in the world hasn’t saved them from the financial precipice and all the signs point to them not being far from it again now.

Before this current transfer window, head coach David Wagner spoke of new sporting director Ben Knapper’s “very interesting, exciting, exciting ideas.”

Our appetite was whetted. We wondered perhaps if Mark Attanasio – US businessman and our soon-to-be joint minority shareholder – had helped make available some funds that would enable Knapper to do his first ever bit of wheeling and dealing.

We hoped.

Alas, for most of the window, nothing remotely exciting has happened. As we approached the final days, all we had was a rumoured bid for Sporting Gijón’s defensive midfielder Jonathan Varane – half-brother of Man Utd’s Raphael Varane – and talk of Adam Idah departing for Serie A’s Hellas Verona on a loan-to-buy deal.

With the greatest respect to Messrs Varane and Idah, even if those two were to come to fruition (they may not), it still wouldn’t equate to the “exciting, exciting” window described by Wagner. Things got a little more 'exciting' on Tuesday with a rumoured move for Bologna striker Sydney van Hooijdonk but overall it remains a quieter window than was suggested.

Quite what’s changed between 7 December 2023 and today is anyone’s guess, but the tone is now different and in the last week, Wagner has played down rather than talked up any talk of incomings to Carrow Road.

It could be Knapper keeping his powder dry ahead of the much-vaunted summer overhaul of the squad, where he desperately needs to reduce the average age of a squad that’s been dubbed Dad’s Army, or it could just be that age-old Norwich City curse – no money to spend.

Either way, those in power at Carrow Road are playing a dangerous game, in my opinion. With season ticket renewals just around the corner, this doesn’t feel like the time to sit on your hands and pretend everything is okay.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about a quiet, boring window being a result for City fans, as it would mean not losing Gabriel Sara, Jon Rowe, Angus Gunn, and Josh Sargent, but none of us would object to a last-minute surprise…

A surprise of the good kind.

Norwich City top scorer Jonathan Rowe looks set to stay at the club beyond Thursday's transfer deadline.

Rowe has been linked with Lazio, Aston Villa and West Ham. He's currently out injured with a broken hand. (Ed Aarons, Guardian Sport), external

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Your views: 'I don't want to see Idah go'

Here's some more of your recent comments on Norwich City, in particular your views on Adam Idah potentially leaving the club:

Toby - Adam Idah has always looked like the player with the most trust in Wagner, he’s now happy to jump ship at the first chance of leaving us? I can’t help but feel Idah leaving shows that there is more distrust in Wagner within the players than shows. Gutted he is leaving but he needs the chance to thrive.

Justin - Re: Idah - he's 23, and needs to play full games (needed to two seasons ago probably). So maybe he can get that time that he needs and Aboh or Kamara can take the impact player slot that he's been taking.

Lee - I do think it's time that Adam moves on. There is so much potential there, but if you look at the difference between him and Ashley Barnes in the Liverpool game - Barnes was busting a gut to close down and hassle the defenders, but Idah seems to wander about the pitch like a lost puppy. I'd like to see Rowe move up front, think he would be amazing.

Lorraine - I don't want to see him go, but he's definitely a confidence player and he needs to play regularly which he's not getting here. I watch a lot of Italian football and I think he'd do well.

Freddie - Think it’s for the best. A loan move should’ve been utilised four years ago after his Preston hat-trick. Feel as if his development has been hindered by being the third choice for his entire tenure, even under 3 different managers. Had plenty of big moments, just never got the run of games to really kick on. Hopefully this loan gives him that chance.

James - Gutted it hasn't worked out for him, but ultimately it's the club's fault. He needed a loan spell early on, but was instead forced to make do with cameo sub run-outs for Pukki late in games. Plus he's never had a manager TRULY believe in him. A serious run of games and I thought he would come good, such a shame. Fan hate is disgusting too.

Ben - £3m for Idah is absolutely crazy – 10 years ago, sure – but that is just undervaluing today's market.

Norwich City striker Adam Idah is moving closer to an agreement to leave the club ahead of Thursday's transfer deadline.

Serie A side Hellas Verona are interested in signing the Republic of Ireland international on a loan deal with an option to buy in summer 2024. (Mike McGrath, Daily Telegraph), external

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On this day - 30 January 1994

Norwich City hosted Manchester United in the FA Cup fourth round at Carrow Road.

Goals from Roy Keane and Eric Cantona gave the Red Devils a 2-0 win.

Cantona angered the Norwich fans by having a particularly tempestuous afternoon, which culminated in him appearing to aim a kick at Canary defender John Polston's head.

United went on to win that season's FA Cup by beating Chelsea at Wembley in May 1994.