David Cuffley City defender Adam Drury provided the character reference manager Bryan Gunn was looking for before he decided to sign midfielder Matthew Gill. Drury and Gill were team-mates at Peterborough before the full-back's move to Carrow Road in 2001 and they remain friends.

David Cuffley

City defender Adam Drury provided the character reference manager Bryan Gunn was looking for before he decided to sign midfielder Matthew Gill.

Drury and Gill were team-mates at Peterborough before the full-back's move to Carrow Road in 2001 and they remain friends.

“I spoke to Adam about Matthew's character and got nothing but good vibes back from him,” said Gunn. “Being a Norwich lad, you get the feeling he wants to come back here and that's the sort of spirit the fans will want to see on the pitch as well.”

The Canaries watched Gill in action for Exeter en route to promotion from League Two last season.

Said Gunn: “Once we found out he was available, we made inroads into pursuing him and I'm delighted to say we beat a number of clubs to his signature. We're looking forward to him taking the pitch at Carrow Road after a long time away from Norfolk.

“We met up at the weekend, had a chat and he showed the desire I'm looking for in players coming to Norwich City, and the winning mentality he has through back-to-back promotion-winning seasons at Exeter is another criteria we identified, another necessity for players coming to this club and we hope that rubs off on other players around him on the pitch.”

Gill said Drury was a player he admired and respected.

“I played with Adam at Peterborough for a few years and I'm quite good friends,” said Gill. “He did very well with Peterborough, moved on and did equally as well here if not better.

“Adam's a very, very good professional and someone I always looked up to at Peterborough so it will be good to catch up with him again.

“I'll make contact with him over the next couple of weeks but there was no need to speak to anyone regarding the decision. It was easy to make, definitely. That chance of putting the shirt on was too good a one to miss.”

Gunn said Gill's experience in the lower divisions would be “very important”.

He said: “A lot of our players in the current squad won't have played at this level but Matthew is 28, he's seen all the different styles of teams that play over the course of the last five or six seasons, so that experience will rub off on to the other players in the dressing room.

“I spoke to Exeter manager Paul Tisdale today and he gave a glowing reference for Matthew.

“We're getting a very good player, and one who's done very well for him over the past two or three seasons. We're looking to get that winning mentality that he's had over the past two seasons.

“We're very fortunate that we spoke to Matthew just as he came back from his summer break. I think it was important to get the deal done very quickly.

“We're hoping he's the first of many.”