The Man In The Stands JUST when you thought the Huckerby saga was over, it looks set to take another twist… The Man understands that a deal has provisionally been agreed for Hux to return to the Carra in January of next year.

The Man In The Stands

JUST when you thought the Huckerby saga was over, it looks set to take another twist…

The Man understands that a deal has provisionally been agreed for Hux to return to the Carra in January of next year.

The proposed deal was agreed last Saturday, and allows Hux to stick to his MLS contract too.

Obviously a lot can change between now and next January - league status and manager to name but two - but it appears we are going to see the jet-heeled one in a yellow shirt again. Watch this space.

t IF you had listened to Radio Norfolk's Canary Call last week, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that the clich� about Norwich fans being thick was true.

I know you could say that about many instalments of Canary Call, but this one's dopiness was particularly acute.

Drunk on the heady success of defeating Plymouth, it seemed the novelty of two wins in a week had truly gone to some supporters' heads.

“We'll be alright Neil, we'll stay up easy now.”

“I always said we'd stay up with Gunny…no problem.”

Etcetera, etcetera…hell, I half expected Ian from Little Snoring to call up and start mooting the prospect of the play-offs.

As important as the Cardiff and Plymouth wins were, they were only the first step.

The Man just prays to the holy Geoffrey Watling in the sky that this sense of the job being almost done is not in any way replicated in the dressing room.

Even if we were able to pull off a miracle and get a result at Birmingham today, we are still in mortal danger.

So if there is any benefit to be gleaned from Hoolahan's injury and Barnsley's comfortable victory during the week, it should be the extra reminder it serves up as to our perilous position. This season definitely has a whiff of what Sky would call “last day drama” about it, and we are kidding ourselves if we think it is going to be any different.

We are going to need a result at ****, we are going to need something from Reading at home, it is going to take an almighty effort from all concerned, fans included.

t GOW HAS THE WOW FACTOR, JUST ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN

THE MAN will be honest; when he first saw Alan Gow lope onto the pitch he didn't think too much of him.

I came over all Daily Mail/Brian Clough - long sleeves, girly hair, looked like a cat's fart could blow him over- not for me.

Talk soon turned to whether Gowser's heroin chic reminded The Man and his pals more of Alex James from Blur, or Brett Anderson from Suede.

He certainly looked a rum ol' sort, and perhaps not the type of player you'd need when you were trying to dig yourself out of the annual relegation hole.

It's early days indeed; but it appears those underwhelmed first impressions were unfair, if superficially understandable.

Albeit just based on the two full games I've seen; Alan Gow is a classy player. Touch, vision and an ability to turn.

In fact, I would go so far as to say, with his shirt untucked and his silly hair obscuring his face, you could grow to love such a player as Gow.

He looks different, he plays different. “Gowkamp” is a nickname the striker has already earned from the bloke who sits next to me in comparison to the Dutch forward's sublime touch…so no pressure then.

Enjoy him while he's here folks, because remember, a loan signing is for Christmas, not for life.

t DEALS THAT GIVE A CLUB A HEAD START

NEIL Doncaster produced a 'club accounts for dummies' this week.

The chief executive simplified the club's profits and losses so that even those supposed thickos who need the new scoreboard subtitles to be able to sing “come on you Yellows” can understand them.

But if you are still struggling to comprehend why the club is losing so much money, let The Man simplify our current situation further for you: we pay a fortune in wages for players we can't get transfer fees for. That about sums it up.

The summary was combined with the usual commentary about Burnley and Preston being awash with cash provided by rich backers, making it difficult for us to compete with them, even though we get 10,000 more people through the gates.

Although Burnley have indeed been financially assisted by millionaire businessman Brendan Flood in recent years, it should not be forgotten that their spending this summer was largely down to the �3m they got from Rangers for Kyle Lafferty, a striker who had scored just 10 goals in 80 games for the Clarets. If your chief executive and manager is doing those sorts of deals it doesn't half give the club a head start…it also shows the value of actually owning a young player in the first place.

The �7m Preston got for David Nugent is not to be sniffed at either, not bad for a player they picked up for �100,000 from Bury. Still, let's not let the reality get in the way of a good excuse. OTBC.

t DON'T MISS CLINT'S FILM

CLINT Eastwood's latest film Gran Torino is a cracking watch. I'm not sure whether you are supposed to find it amusing, but I spent large sections of movie giggling away at the delicious grumpiness of the main character, Walt Kowalski.

It got me to thinking; I'm sure I've experienced these barbed comments before? It was all hauntingly familiar.

Not the racism, but the growling, the despair at humanity, the anger at “modern” life, Walt's belief that he was always right…

For days afterwards I couldn't put my finger on it, but then it hit me: Glenn Roeder. Even Walt's eventual understudy Tao had the eager bent of Fotheringham about him.

Unless you've seen the film - which I highly recommend - I suppose this comparison won't really mean a lot to you. But if you do get round to watching it, bear it in mind.