The weekend has arrived, which normally means a chance to relax from a normal busy week at work and family life, with football being the great escape to forget your worries - not just for 90 minutes but the whole match day experience.

But we have the first of two blank weekends without a Norwich City game. Usually, I would be climbing the walls, as well as annoying my wife, wanting to be at Carrow Road or wherever Norwich are playing - instead of doing the jobs she’s been wanting me to do.

I'm not sure what’s she got planned for me this weekend, but next week I’ll be travelling to AFC Wimbledon. Not only could it be a final chance to watch a certain Wesley Hoolahan, with his Cambridge United team taking on the Dons, but I can also tick off my final ground to get me back on the magical 92.

Instead of being fed up, not being able to watch Norwich City for a fortnight, I can honestly say I’m just so relieved I won't have to witness another depressing performance from the club I hold so closely to my heart.

This season has been one of the hardest in the 40 years I have been following the club, even harder than two years ago. Maybe Covid preventing us from being there at the end had something to do with it.

I’m struggling to find any positives and I'm even resigning myself to the fact we are going back to the Championship. Fans on social media are just so angry with what seems like everyone connected to the club.

So how have we got ourselves into this position, after so much promise following our best ever season last year.

Pointing the finger at Stuart Webber for not replacing Emi Buendia and Oliver Skipp? Possibly, but at the end of the day he tried to resign Skipp, to no avail. For all the success Skipp achieved with us, it was never going to be easy to get him back for another season.

The signings we made last summer to compensate for losing Buendia, I felt were impressive. Lots of European and international experience, plus youngsters with potential. But, sadly, no one has really impressed this season. There are many questions to be asked, with more towards the players than the board, Webber, Dean Smith and the recruitment team.

We all know in this modern game that stats are looked at before signing anyone. I think we can safely say our recruiting team would gone through every stat available, like they did when we signed Buendia.

A lot of the players will need to look at themselves. It has been so frustrating at times this season when the good performances have been very few and far between and even then some of those were only for half a game.

There have been far too many sloppy mistakes leading to goals - currently we have conceded the most penalties this season with 10, six of them in our last eight home games.

It does frustrate me hearing Smith saying how well we played in the second half in our last two games. Not good enough. But I am sure Smith is more frustrated with the players than us fans.

Whatever comes our way until the end of the season, I seriously hope Smith gets the opportunity to build his own team as well as trying to work with the young players at the club, like he did at Aston Villa, helping to bring through players who are now regular first team players like Jacob Ramsey, who waltzed through our defence to score in December.

After so many youth players came through the club in the early days of Daniel Farke’s reign, it’s gone a bit quiet, with the exception of Andrew Omobamidele and Jonathan Rowe. We have so many players we have signed and released over the last couple of years is not just concerning, it is so disappointing.

Sadly, even the optimist in me feels we are in for rough time in the next few years, but it won’t stop me counting down the days to Brighton in a fortnight's time.