Tim Allman, Capital Canaries Another year over and as usual, there's been very few dull moments following the fortunes of Norwich City Football Club. We started 2009 in an atmosphere of poison, and ended the season at the Valley where I witnessed the second most inept performance in my forty years of following the Canaries.

Tim Allman, Capital Canaries

Another year over and as usual, there's been very few dull moments following the fortunes of Norwich City Football Club. We started 2009 in an atmosphere of poison, and ended the season at the Valley where I witnessed the second most inept performance in my forty years of following the Canaries. We opened the new season with our most inept performance in my forty years of following the Canaries, yet are ending 2009 looking forward to a possible return to the Championship at the first attempt.

There are a number of individuals who have contributed to the events of 2009 and here are my own personal awards to those who have made this year so memorable

t The “Sold at the Bottom of the Market” award

This award has been jointly won by Mark and Daniel Warman from Costessey. If ever there was a moment not to throw away your season ticket it was on 8th August. It couldn't have got any worse than it did that day, although we did say the same at Charlton in May and also at Fulham four years earlier. Those two have missed some brilliant performances, bundles of goals, and more excitement at Carrow Road than in the last three seasons put together.

t The “It's Bryan Gunn's Team Myth” award

The obvious nominees for this award were all playing and losing seven one to Colchester, but the deserved winner is a young man who showed us an all too brief flash of his potential at the Valley in May. Korey Smith had something about him, according to the new manager, and went straight into Paul Lambert's team for the game against Wycombe. He scored a cracker in the first half, and has not looked back since. His all round energy, pace and passion have been one of the many reasons for our surge up the table.

t The “Best Substitution by the Fans” award

Another game at the Valley, but this time the FA Cup third round tie which ended up 1-1. City were losing 0-1, and not looking likely to score, so the away fans, who numbered over three thousand, started chanting Arturo Lupoli's name. After twenty minutes Roeder relented, got him on the pitch, and Lupoli scored within five minutes. We had already practised singing his name at Watford a month earlier when Lupoli had warmed up for the final thirty minutes and not got on, so the unbridled joy (and anger at Roeder) was understandable.

t The “Best Radio Moment” award

Although I was at the match when it happened, listening to a replay of the commentary from Chris Goreham and Neil Adams in the last minute of the away game at Gillingham when we drew 1-1 was brilliant fun. The only surprise was that one of them didn't explode when Darel Russell scored to snatch a draw at the death at Priestfield. Are they both real fans? You bet.

t The “Best Radio Show” award

Hearing Ricky Martin and Richard Balls on the Scrimmage in November talking about matters NCFC was fascinating stuff, a real insight into the academy, and one of the most enjoyable hours of radio in 2009. If ever a remark summed up the flawed policy of the board, investing in the club infrastructure it was a quote by Richard Balls from my favourite film, “Field of Dreams” which was “If you build it, they will come”. I wish I had thought of that one.

t The “Interesting unproven NCFC story” award

I heard this mentioned twice, once from a pal and the second time was in one of the speeches at the NCISA meeting in St Andrew's Hall on 14th May. Bryan Gunn was due to be appointed manager on the last day of the last season, regardless of whether City were still a Championship club or not. The assumption was that we would either have survived or we would have been relegated, but with all the team having given a performance of Korey Smith proportions. Unfortunately only Korey Smith and Alan Lee played anywhere near their potential in an otherwise disastrous display, and the appointment was delayed for a while to let everyone cool off.

t The “MJ Burt Carrow Road Lottery” Award

My indebtedness to Barclays Bank is now �500 less than it was at the start of the week, thanks to who ever picked out my raffle ticket as first prize in the 2009 Canary Christmas Draw. My thanks and the final award goes to that person.