Gunn says City safety is only goal

Chris Lakey Canaries boss Bryan Gunn admits he has just one long-term managerial ambition - to keep Norwich City in the Championship. Gunn is approaching the final six games of a turbulent season with renewed hope that he will achieve what he was appointed to do - save City from the drop.

Chris Lakey

Canaries boss Bryan Gunn admits he has just one long-term managerial ambition - to keep Norwich City in the Championship.

Gunn is approaching the final six games of a turbulent season with renewed hope that he will achieve what he was appointed to do - save City from the drop.

The City legend was given a short-term contract when he took over from Glenn Roeder in January but is reluctant to discuss anything beyond that.

"My long-term ambition is the next six games and being in the Championship," he said.

"Come May 5 it will be a good time to review the whole scenario and then make a decision from there."

Gunn has preached a code of togetherness among his squad, be it pre-match huddles or a queue for the training ground darts board - and the return to City's traditional values is working.

Three wins in four games have eased relegation fears, and while it's still mighty tight at the bottom end of the table, Gunn believes City have got their timing right.

"Hopefully we are coming into form at the right time, and hopefully the confidence has been regained at the right time," he said. "But there are still six games to go and we need to make sure we apply ourselves like we have done in the recent games in each of those games.

"It is very important we do focus one each game individually and try and accumulate as many points between now and the end of the season because as I have said, it will be about what we do that will keep us in the division, and not what anyone else will do. But I am certainly focussing on what we have to do first and anything else will be a bonus for us."

Gunn has lost four of his senior players to international commitments, but the two-week break has given him a chance to reward those who have stayed behind.

"That was the incentive we gave to the lads," he said.

"We told them to get a couple of decent results, certainly after the Cardiff game. It was the next two fixtures, Plymouth and Birmingham, and if we could get positive results in those two games the incentive was to have a long weekend off and recharge the batteries and recover from bumps and bruises and I think a few of the lads have taken advantage of that. They are spending times with their families - we have been through a lot of games in the last couple of months so it is a chance for them to recover and come Monday we can get everyone on the training pitch and get as much out of the sessions that we can without the international players who will be away for an extra couple of days."