Another rum week up Carrow Road

I can't work it out, I really can't. Some City fans seem to love the fact that we're in a relegation scrap again. Why? 'Cos they LOVE THE MISERY.

Now I will be so humble as to say that at least our league position makes the home game against Col U a game worth watching, but I can't say I'm revelling in the possibility that we might be relegated. Some fans seem to think it'll be the best thing for us, though. They truly believe that relegation will force Delia to sell up and that some sugar daddy will come dancing over the horizon, whisk us off our feet and plant us firmly in the Premier League.

Or the more realistic of us believe the following could happen:

We get relegated, Delia is forced out by the sheer nastiness of the idiots who don't realise that it's her money that's kept us out of League One for so long, we realise that there really isn't anyone else interested in buying the club and we end up the team that everyone wants to beat in that league for years and years until we become another non-entity like Notts Forest.

But some fans just love it. Take the turgid draw at home in the cup against Bury; it was amidst our splendid 13 game unbeaten run and we had a bit of a bad one. But to listen to many of the fans in that day, we'd been playing like that all season. Of course, that's how we started the season but by the time Bury rolled into town, we'd been playing expansive, adventurous football for a while under Roeder and this was just a blip. But it was almost like some fans had been desperate to see us play badly. It took a full ten minutes for the old knacker in front of me to start whingeing, loudly, at the strikers and he didn't stop until his enormous wife told him to sit down well into the second half.

For a perfect example of this, you only have to look at Norwich's 'Manic Depressive and Dillusional Football Self-Help Group' website, or the 'Pink'un' message board as it's sometimes known. Locked away in their padded cells, with only each other to communicate with, you'll notice the residents are convinced we are either going to be promoted and in the champions league within a year, or that Delia is Satan's mother and Neil Doncaster the true leader of Al Qaeda, both of whom are conspiring to put NCFC into the Ridgeons League (south) at the earliest possible opportunity while draining blood from the throats of past players and laughing, LAUGHING at how we the fans are so easily letting them get away with their evil plan.

I for one would be most interested to learn if there ever has been a chairman of a football club who really has wanted to destroy everything he or she owned. It would make a fascinating television documentary. Ridsdale did a good job of convincing us that this was his intention at Leeds (not that anyone outside of Leeds really minded), and the Luton board that spectacularly undermined all Mike Newell's good work have just admitted several charges of dodgy-doings, but it would take some 'cohones' to actually stand up and say, 'yep, that was my intention all along.'

Delia, somehow, just doesn't seem that kind of person. That may come as a surprise to the permanent residents of the Pink'un hospital, but it's well known that most of them never actually go to Carrow Road. Besides, if you have been to Carrow Road recently, you'll have generally enjoyed the football.

Which makes it a shame we're in a bit of a pickle, because you can't help admire Glenn's approach to how he wants the game played. In another season, Jamie Cureton would have scored at least half the sitters he's missed this year and be top of the charts again, and we'd be tickling Ipswich's ribs as we head for the home straight. As it is, none of our strikers can score and our defenders have remembered how to panic. I'm just glad we'll have the steadying influence of Gary Doherty back this weekend. Did I really just say that? Yes, I did, and that's testament to Mr Roeder's abilities as a coach: that the man who only a few months ago was derided as being responsible for all our ills on the pitch has become something of a rock. That's certainly annoyed the bloke behind me (a scrap metal 'collector', if ever I've seen one), who revelled in shouting 'donkey' every time the Doc went near the ball. That's a loyal fan, eh?

So this weekend's game suddenly becomes a 'biggy', just when we thought the only 'biggy' left was trying to ruin Ipswich's play off hopes up Portaloo Road in April. If we can keep Daryl Russell on the field for 90 minutes (especially as his replacement may not be, er, 'available' this weekend) and actually score - and we've just signed one Maceo Rigters from Blackburn, who could be a good signing if reports are correct - we'll be just fine.

The only fear is how many minutes it will take the less patient to get on his and the team's backs at Carrow Road on Saturday.