Stoke City have told Canaries boss Nigel Worthington that midfielder Luke Chadwick is staying put. Worthington saw the 25-year-old as a possible answer to his problems on the right side of the City midfield and made an inquiry at the Britannia Stadium for the former Manchester United player.

By CHRIS LAKEY

Stoke City have told Canaries boss Nigel Worthington that midfielder Luke Chadwick is staying put.

Worthington saw the 25-year-old as a possible answer to his problems on the right side of the City midfield and made an inquiry at the Britannia Stadium for the former Manchester United player.

But Stoke have told him top keep his hands off a player who cost them £100,000 only six months ago.

Stoke's chief executive Tony Scholes confirmed that an initial approach had been made by Norwich and that it was turned down immediately.

“I can confirm that an approach was made by Norwich City for Luke Chadwick, but our response was to reject it out of hand,” he said. “It was just an initial inquiry whether we would consider an offer from Norwich City and that was turned down as we are not in the habit of selling our best players.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis told a Potteries newspaper that he had no intention of selling his best players, and that included Chadwick.

“I did not know anything about the inquiry from Norwich City, but one thing that I will say is that at Stoke City we have no intention of selling our best players,” said Pulis, who has just returned to the helm at Stoke after a year at Plymouth. “Luke is a good player and important to the team.”

Pulis' predecessor Johan Boskamp was the manager who signed Chadwick, on a two and a half year deal from West Ham, but he had been a target for Pulis during his first spell in charge of Stoke.

Chadwick netted only three times in his 37 starts last season, but was seen as one of the most impressive players in the side.

Sky Sports yesterday confirmed their first batch of live televised matches for the new season - with no additions to City's part in their coverage of all things Football League.

The Canaries' only TV obligation will be on Sunday, October 1, when they entertain Burnley, although East Anglian rivals Ipswich have three TV dates.

Town will be live on the box against QPR at Loftus Road on August 25, at Championship newcomers Colchester on September 29 and at home to Luton on October 29.

This is the first season of a new three-year deal under which Sky will broadcast 10 more live games a season from across the three divisions, a total of 70 live games.

Their first three-month schedule has 26 live games featuring 36 different clubs - half of the teams in the League.

Vic Wakeling, Sky Sports' managing director said: “The competition for automatic promotion and play-off places in all three leagues provides some marvellous competition and entertainment throughout the season. We shall all be looking at this opening tranche of fixtures and making our own judgements on the likely contenders.”