From August those mustard-eating, farm loving, successive-promoting Canaries will be in England’s top flight once again. Delia’s Norwich City – “let’s be havin’ you.”
While much of the praise will go to manager Paul Lambert for taking Norwich to the Premier League two years after his Colchester United team beat the Canaries 7-1 in League One, the hero of the hour will be powerhouse forward Grant Holt whose 20 goals this year have helped his team to second place in the Championship.
Club captain Holt will relish his chance to impress the Carrow Road faithful once again next year in the promise land of the Premier League, having taken a backward step to League Two before joining Norwich and helping their giant leap to the top flight.
After being something of a lower-league journeyman Holt had his chance with Nottingham Forest in 2006 but was largely on the bench. So in 2008 he went down the leagues to become Shrewsbury Town’s record signing for £175,000 and managed 21 goals in his one season with the League Two outfit. Three years later he will be competing against the £50million-rated Fernando Torres in one of Europe’s best leagues.
Following last night’s win at Portsmouth which confirmed Norwich’s promotion, Holt was quick to praise the team spirit that had been galvanised by manager Lambert. But there is no doubt that Holt is the figurehead and talisman in the eyes of the Norwich fans.
Now 30, he will join a host of other strikers who have had their chance to secure a Premier League legacy. At the moment we have players like Luke Varney at Blackpool and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake at Wolves who have lit up the lower leagues in the past but the Premier League is a step to high for them. On the other hand Andy Carroll was Newcastle’s Championship hero and is now worth £35million with a chance of Champions League football next season with Liverpool.
Age and an apparent fondness for Delia’s cakes means that Holt may not enjoy the International goals that Carroll could have in front of him. But after a decade under the radar he will want to end his career with a few more years in the spotlight.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment