... on the other hand...

I'm sorry to see that Norwich have not made it for another season in the Premiership. All the more sorry after reading this article about them and their chair-woman, official national treasure and dude, Delia Smith. For everything Malcolm Glazer's not just look at Delia and what she did with Norwich:

The real Delia, the football one, bears little resemblance to 'Saint Delia' (a tag she loathes). Football is where she can let her passionate, exuberant personality let rip - and she does. She received more than 200 letters of support after that speech and has filed them all in a folder marked 'Passion'. It's a big folder - she likes her pitch invasions, announcing the signing of Darren Huckerby to the crowd on Boxing Day 2004 and joining an impromptu knees-up on the pitch at Portman Road after we beat Ipswich to go top of the league.

Delia has had, for many years, a seat next to me in the Lower Barclay - one of the most vocal areas of Carrow Road - because she loves the banter and enjoys escaping what she says can be a 'stuffy' atmosphere in the directors' box. She comes down four or five times a season. And, yes, she sings - although when the crowd start up 'Delia's Barmy Army' she'll always try to drown us out with 'Worthington's Green 'n' Yellow Army'...

Since then [Delia's arrival], the club have worked hard to foster the feelgood factor. Norwich have nine supporters' working parties, advising on everything from ticket prices to merchandising. They boast the largest family area (in percentage terms) of any Premiership club. More than 60,000 Norfolk children take part in the Football in the Community scheme.

Season tickets have had to be capped at 20,250 this year (and there are 2,000 people on the waiting list), up from 8,800 in the dark days of 1995. But it's not thanks to the Premiership - the club have been selling out for more than three years, achieved through initiatives such as interest-free credit facilities - the only club to offer this. It costs Norwich £40,000 a year, but the sales figures prove its worth.

In the past nine years the club have hosted more than 50 supporters' roadshows, taking players, board and management out to the fans - be they in Norfolk, London or even Blackpool. It epitomises Delia's feeling that 'football is the best kind of community you're likely to be exposed to in the twenty-first century. And community is where we flourish and become human. Football can be wonderful, life-enhancing.'

I've got to say, I'm sorry this kind of attitude didn't see Norwich to another year at the top. If only for the amusement value of seeing a juiced-up celebrity chef screaming out terrace chants. But they seem like they'll be in good shape in the Coca-Cola Championship and well-placed for another push at the Premiership: older, wiser, better-equipped to survive.