Take yourselves back about eight weeks to half-time in the **** game. Two nil down, desperately adrift at the bottom of the table, and all with our invigorated local rivals rubbing our noses in it.

Take yourselves back about eight weeks to half-time in the **** game.

Two nil down, desperately adrift at the bottom of the table, and all with our invigorated local rivals rubbing our noses in it.

The Man sat motionless in his seat wondering exactly what we had done to deserve such a miserable demise.

Football is not important enough to cry over; but if ever a time was justified to shed a rueful tear for our great club that was it.

The Man was already starting to visualise doom-laden images of the return fixture at the Norwich Union stadium, the **** relegating us on their way to promotion…

But then, almost as if Geoffrey Watling put in a good word with the big fellow in the sky, something changed.

In the following 45 minutes players and fans united in a manner which had not been seen since the promotion season.

The crowing **** - muted by our second half comeback - left the Carra lucky to have clung on to a point.

It was a stunning revival: and we have not looked back.

On this note, it is vitally important we all remember that when Roeder and Clark took over, this football club was utterly on its knees.

Every bookie had us down as favourites to be relegated, and they are not often wrong.

Lest we forget, this team went 10 (ten) hours without scoring a goal. Ten hours.

If the result does not go our way today against Wolves - who absolutely trounced us in September - we may well enter the new year in the bottom three.

However, the very fact we might not is an awesome achievement in such a short space of time.

Would Peter Grant have overseen crucial away wins at Scunthorpe and Blackpool?

Would he have strung together three wins on the trot at home at such a vital stage of the season?

The answer, as we all know, is a categoric 'no'.

Roeder will make mistakes, we will lose many games in 2008; but things are looking up: we enter the new year with a fighting chance of staying in this division.

Eight weeks ago such hopes seemed forlorn.

Of course, as a club we should be higher in the league, but we are not and have to deal with it.

Roeder's sensible management, and a well-motivated team, means there is once more a relish among supporters about going to games at Carrow Road.

For the first time in a long time the fans, players and management are singing from the same hymn sheet, and with that we can take on anyone in this division.

Here's to a better year! OTBC.

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t IS THERE A MOLE IN THE RANKS?

The Man can reveal that a mole has been operating within the hallowed confines of Carrow Road.

Posing as midfield loan player 'Matthew Pattison'; Michelin star-winning chef Heston Blumenthal has been eagerly trying to hack into Delia's secret recipe book.

The Man understands that Blumenthal was rumbled by club officials last week, after they caught him raiding the burger relish in the Yellows' pantry.

I have to say, when it comes to Blumenthal's on-the-field creation - 'Matthew Pattison' - I am yet to decide whether he's a sirloin steak or a turkey twizzler.

His attitude is spot-on though, and that I like.

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t THERE'S NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE

More evidence that Peter Grant, decent man though he is, was simply not up to the job.

The Man heard on very good authority over Christmas that during his reign the poor bloke was taking 'management lessons' at Colney from a couple of board members.

Can you imagine that?

We actually appointed a manager and than had to help teach him how to manage people…

I know there are first-time managers who have been a success, but it really is a huge gamble to employ someone without any experience.

That is why The Man is finding the current situation at Newcastle so delicious.

Having once more turned on their manager, the Toon masses are now calling for Alan Shearer to be given the job instead of Big Sam.

For anyone who missed Match of the Day on Boxing Day, Shearer, pictured above, issued a thinly-veiled application for the job.

He came out with the usual tosh about how “Newcastle fans deserve to be entertained,” as if the rest of us lesser supporters should be happy watching paint dry.

I know it's a bit cruel, but I really hope Shearer does get the job.

In 12 to 18 months time when they turn on him, it will be the most bitter fall out since Phil Mitchell told Grant he'd been sleeping with Sharon.

Newcastle is a very well supported club, and I don't deny that they are mad about their football.

But it's almost as if when a Geordie is born their parents tell them three things: there's a Father Christmas, a Tooth Fairy, and that Newcastle will win something.

And unlike the rest of us - who soon painfully discover that such fanciful notions are b******s - Newcastle fans go on believing it.

They hold a childish assertion that they should win some silverware each season.

The truth is, they've actually got no more “right” to win a trophy than Torquay United.

Maybe in a few years they'll look back on those second place finishes in the Premiership and realise they shouldn't have been so quick to turn on the managers that got them there.

As a footnote, the board members that were giving Granty lessons? The best I can say is that they were new additions to the Carrow Road hierarchy…