Chris Lakey Paul McVeigh insists he is being “realistic” about his chances of securing a dream return to Carrow Road - despite being offered a a seat on the plane which took the players to Scotland for their pre-season tour yesterday.

Chris Lakey

Paul McVeigh insists he is being “realistic” about his chances of securing a dream return to Carrow Road - despite being offered a a seat on the plane which took the players to Scotland for their pre-season tour yesterday.

The midfielder has an “open-ended” invitation from manager Bryan Gunn to train with his squad and prove he is worth a contract, almost two and a half years after his last game in a City shirt.

McVeigh, 31, played with a young City XI at Fakenham on Friday and scored a magnificent volley and reappeared for the final eight minutes at Dartford on Saturday.

But while the signs look promising, McVeigh is trying to remain realistic.

“It will be brilliant if it happens but by no means is it close,” he said.

“The manager is still trying to bring in a lot of players. I am realistic, I know exactly what the situation is - I just know I am going to be trying my best to get a contract and whether that's good enough is another matter.

“I spoke to the manager over the summer and asked him if I could come up and train and really just take it from there because it's an open invitation, which was brilliant and I am grateful for it and glad I have got the chance to come up and train and see what happens really.”

McVeigh's inclusion in the tour party suggests there is more to it than just an old pals' act.

“I don't know what they are thinking, but I am going to try everything I can to get a contract,” he said.

“I had my two years at Luton, had some ups and downs there, but I've had a good couple of weeks' training here, I had a good game at Fakenham and another couple of minutes today, but I want to impress, I want to try and get a contract. I'd love to come back.”

McVeigh's departure came soon after the arrival of manager Peter Grant in October, 2006. He was red-carded in Grant's first home game, loaned out to Burnley and released at the end of the season.

The separation has been a hard one, with McVeigh struggling to hold down a first team place at Luton and then being allowed to leave in the summer when the club dropped out of the League and into the Conference.

“Whenever you go to other clubs you realise how good the club is at Norwich - especially at Luton when you see the problems they have had, like a lot of clubs are having all through the leagues,” he said.

“But you see how Norwich is run and even though they got relegated, the infrastructure, the facilities, the stadium, everything is there to be successful.

“It's been really disappointing - I was very surprised to even see they were in the position coming to the end of last season that they could get relegated and then very disappointed that it happened.”

The lingering disappointments could be assuaged by running out for a club where he spent more than seven years of his career, making more than 230 appearances and scoring 40 goals.