The Man In The Stands BYE, bye Big Joe Lewis. There is a supreme irony in the fact that one of the few gems our youth system has thrown up in recent years has left without playing a game for us.

The Man In The Stands

BYE, bye Big Joe Lewis.

There is a supreme irony in the fact that one of the few gems our youth system has thrown up in recent years has left without playing a game for us.

Big Joe is a Norwich boy and I wish him all the luck in the world.

I would love it - love it - if he made it all the way to the top.

But The Man is not having a pop at Roeder.

For all his ability, Big Joe was not going to help us stay up this season, but £400,000 could go a long way towards signing a player that does.

Again, we can argue all day about how we got in this state, but it is totally futile now.

On this issue of goalkeepers, the jungle drums continue to beat over the departure of coach James Hollman.

As far as The Man understands, Hollman did something - “very trivial” - and the club used that as a reason to get rid of him so that Glenn could bring in his old pal Tommy Wright.

Only for Wright to decide he did not want the job after all.

Yet it seems Hollman's card had potentially been marked for a while, as Oldham keeper Mark Crossley let slip after his cup heroics at Everton last weekend.

Crossley said: “I turned down a couple of coaching jobs with QPR and Norwich because I didn't want to pack in playing.”

Again, the evergreen keeper is a pal of Roeder and Clark.

Some people have voiced their concern over the way Hollman has been treated, and someone being put out of work is never a good thing.

But, there is always going to be some fallout when a new boss takes over, and it's important GR stamps his authority and ethos on the club.

t WE'VE GOT THE FANS THAT QPR'S MONEY CAN'T BUY

QPR today revealed they had launched a £3 million bid for 6,000 of Norwich's fans.

Chief executive Neil Doncaster is said to be considering the offer, as the Norfolk club struggles under the weight of a £20 million debt.

Rangers' bid follows similar attempts by Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan and Fulham to raid the Canaries' ranks.

It is understood QPR will target Sheffield Wednesday's support if their Norwich bid is unsuccessful.

QPR supremo Flavio Briatore said: “There's no point in us spending all this money unless there's someone there to see it.

“We hope the Norwich fans will be impressed by our ambition and will sign next week.”

Seriously though, what the hell is the point in someone throwing money at QPR?

The best they can hope for is to overtake Fulham as West London's best worst club - they'll never catch Chelsea.

Unless the new owners have spotted a cheeky land deal for Loftus Road, I really can't see what the plan is.

Of course, The Man is a touch jealous, but as far as I can see there's at least 25 other struggling clubs with more potential than QPR. What a waste of money.

t WHO NEEDS A 'SUPPORTER' LIKE THIS?

THE MAN knows he is committing a cardinal error by giving this fellow the oxygen of publicity, but I couldn't resist.

Over the New Year period I AGAIN heard a character called Matt Warwick on Five Live telling the nation why he had swapped supporting Norwich in favour of Arsenal.

Mr Warwick justifies this desertion on his website by stating that “football has sold its soul” and he does not want to go his whole life without seeing his team “win something”.

He has already wormed his way in with a group of Arsenal fans, and has started going to matches.

Warwick has said this is just a one year experiment, but as far as The Man is concerned it is a flawed argument.

Your team is your team. End of. Even if Man U and Arsenal are going to win everything. **** them.

Do any of us really think we are going to see Norwich win the European Cup? No.

Do we care? No. Because anyone with a heart knows supporting a club is so much more than that.

Swapping Carrow Road for The Emirates has got to be the worst form of protest at football's Big Four monopoly that I've ever seen.

It appears too, that Warwick wants to have his prawn sandwich and eat it.

During his latest Five Live interview - he had already humiliated us on there before - he smugly said: “Well, I've not put my picture on the website, so if I want to go back to Norwich I can do. No-one will know that it was me.”

Really? If any of Mr Warwick's former Norwich-supporting associates - I understand a few have disowned him - would like to supply an image I'd be happy to keep one on file…

Please email in. OTBC.

t BROWN SALE IS GREAT DEAL

THERE has been a fair amount of Roedkill at Colney this week as Glenn wielded the axe.

First up was Chris Brown's £400K move to Preston.

The Man will state that again: four hundred thousand pounds.

Certainly one of the best transfer sales we have ever struck. To make a profit on CB is sensational business.

I know that the laws of football dictate that Brown will score against us for Preston, but I'll take that for £400k.

Not good enough. Never a goalscorer.

No thank you.

As for Dave being off-loaded - I guess it was only a matter of time. I hated the thought of him being alone and miserable over here, a move back home is probably the best move.

Brellier? No doubt he is good enough to play in the Championship, but if he doesn't want to then so be it. Why we signed him and Russell is still a bit of a mystery to me.