Whispers abound that new investment might be on its way into Carrow Road.However, before you stick a tea-towel on your head and run down to the stadium like a demented Man City fan, it is not likely to be the sort of billionaire-backed Arab money that could alleviate our suffering.

Whispers abound that new investment might be on its way into Carrow Road.

However, before you stick a tea-towel on your head and run down to the stadium like a demented Man City fan, it is not likely to be the sort of billionaire-backed Arab money that could alleviate our suffering.

More like a cartel of local business people whose cash will help feed the Carrow Road cat for another few months.

As usual, The Man is being somewhat churlish, and any new money coming into the club is good news, even if it's as small- time as many suspected it would be.

As I understand, it is certainly not the level of investment that would trigger a change of ownership of the club, or anything like that.

After all, who has got £56m to burn these days?

But as I said, any new money is welcome. Unless it comes from “deepest darkest” Kent of course…

So, Darren Huckerby will be allowed on to the pitch before the Forest game to allow fans to finally say farewell.

The contrasts with the last time he was paraded on the pitch before a Forest game at Christmas are so obvious they don't require elaboration.

I'd like to say there are better times ahead, but certainly in the immediate future only a fool would make such a prediction.

All The Man knows is that Norwich City has been around for more than 100 years, and God (and coastal erosion) willing, it will be around for one hundred more. Merry Christmas.

Fans have no appetite for this kind of football a fare

Well done to Man U for winning the annual Let's Try To Sell Shirts in Asia Cup.

For anyone who missed it, they beat the mighty Liga de Quito 1-0 to be crowned Club World Cup champions.

Never heard of them?

Well, neither have I, but then The Man is not big on Ecuadorian football…

Try as they might, there is no way FIFA can convince the football world that this is anything other than a purely commercial exercise, and a nice little junket for Fatty Blatter and his pals.

Man U play along with it - as do all the Champions League winners - because it suits their own corporate aims.

If they can make more money from Asia, the Holy Grail for Big Clubs, then they can use that cash to further monopolise their own domestic leagues. That is the basic plan.

But if anything, the sheer indifference to this competition should provide a bit of solace for those of us who worry that football's future involves Manchester United versus Shanghai Red Sox on a regular basis. There is no genuine appetite for it. It is rubbish.

Who's for the chop?

Quite an intriguing game to play in the new year will be trying to work out who is going to get sacked first: Tony Adams or Gianfranco Zola.

Both are virtual rookies in charge of clubs who are experiencing that foreign investment can leave as quickly as it arrived.

The main thing in both managers' favour is that their chairman can't afford to sack them.

However, the time will come when the situation becomes so desperate that needs must, and the axe will fall.

The Man will be astonished if either manager lasts until the end of the season.

In Zola's case, he is simply the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

West Ham fans are not known for their patience, and I expect them to be loudly labelling the Italian a Chelsea such-and-such by the end of January.

As for Adams, the guy just reminds me of one of those Yanks who has had too much therapy. A wrong 'un.

His claims that Portsmouth won't be losing any players in January just seem laughable. Doomed.

Flawed argument

Following my criticism of Blackburn last week The Man received a stinging email from a Rovers fan enlightened enough to be living in Norwich.

To recap, The Man had suggested that Blackburn - due to their meagre support - no longer warranted a place in the top flight, although I appreciate I put it in rather unkind terms.

As part of his response the complainant stated that The Man was “a jumped up little t**t who knows nothing about football.”

He then described Norwich City as having a “pitiful history” and recommended that we get a new song as “On the Ball City' is a bit boring now”.

Maybe we could get a drum like them?

However, despite such initial insight, he then fell back on the flawed argument that “Blackburn have the highest attendance to town population in the Premier League” as a reason why they deserved to remain in the top flight.

So what? It is still a one-horse town that has had its place in the sun for a while but should now disappear from whence it came.

A bit like one of those floaters that takes three flushes to depart.

For example, Blackburn's crowd last weekend was still smaller than ours, despite the presence of 4,500 Stoke supporters and the arrival of a new manager to swell the attendance.

This is a team that doesn't even sell out the away end when it plays 23 miles up the road at Old Trafford. I recall empty seats at an FA Cup semi-final when mighty Rovers got there too.

To be clear, I am not saying that we “deserve” to be higher in the football ladder than Blackburn (although we do).

I'm just saying their time is up.

They have well and truly outstayed their welcome, surely.

But this is the season of goodwill to all men, so could there be a more pragmatic solution?

The Man suggests that Wigan, Bolton, Blackpool, Blackburn, Preston and Burnley could all merge into one super club.

They could call it Lancashire Tin Pot…and you never know, they might just manage to fill a ground between them.

Yes, before I get another email, I acknowledge that every single one of those clubs is above us, that's why I'm bitter about it…