Vic Hopes, NCISA The January window has arrived but I do not intend to waste my time speculating on that nor Glenn Roeder's future except to say that I do think he should stay.

Vic Hopes, NCISA

The January window has arrived but I do not intend to waste my time speculating on that nor Glenn Roeder's future except to say that I do think he should stay.

Remember way back when “Fergie” first went from Aberdeen to Man United? Within a very short space of time there were calls for his sacking. Well the rest is history isn't it?

Instead I would like to make what may be described as observations on events which tend to irk me somewhat.

For a start there's this chap sitting near me who has got it in for David Marshall. Ok Marshy makes mistakes but who wouldn't playing behind our ever changing defence? I just hope his critic watched Match of the Day the other week when two of our most respected Premiership goalkeepers, David James and Mark Schwarzer, had, in soccer parlance,”mares”.

Ponder too on the number of mistakes each outfielder makes in any one game. Is it 5, 10, 15 or more? If we took 10 as the average that's 100 errors in total, none of which may lead to conceding a goal. A bad mistake by a keeper however can easily result in the ball ending up in the back of the net.

Mentioning Match of the Day reminds me that I have for some time, not without difficulty and frustration, tried to keep away from all the Premiership results which makes watching the programme so much more interesting.

Whether the Canaries are home or away it's not easy. For example, at home games the half and full time scores are clearly shown at both ends of the stadium. Easy, if you don't want to know turn around or shut your eyes but oh no, some jobsworth has to read them out. Why? I have to say that full-time scores are not so difficult because by the time he tells us the Man of the Match and the Championship results I am already legging it half way over Carrow bridge!

It does mean that, apart from Canary Challenge, (thanks Neil) I mustn't listen to the radio or TV until after say 8pm and then all News programmes are taboo as well.

Going back to the Ipswich game I changed the habit of a lifetime. Because of dire warnings that due to all trains from Ipswich being cancelled congestion on the road was anticipated. As a result we left home early and arrived at the ground in record time. As it was a lunchtime kick-off I decided to while away the time by visiting a refreshment bar. A first in over 60 years of visiting Carrow Road!

A steak & kidney pie sounded tempting. I made my purchase and turned to the shelf where the plastic forks and condiments are kept. One item missing, salt! Back to the counter and said “can you tell me where I find the salt?” We don't have salt, it's bad for your health came the reply. Excuse me, if I want salt with my pie that's my decision, not yours or Delia's come to that.

On this visit I did run into another slight hiccup. The guy in front of me proffered a “tenner” and lo and behold even at this early stage the till was short of change.

The system is that you call the supervisor who produces a small plastic bag which just refuses to open. The call then goes out for the scissors and normal service resumes. Ok it did not take THAT long but I did wonder why this should happen so early in the day? I came to the conclusion that somewhere between 75 and 80% paid by notes. Why?

Let's face it, you know you are going to the match well in advance and that you have to remember to take your ticket so why not make sure you can pay the exact amount for your purchases. After all it will make the “turnaround” at the counter that much quicker.

Next it's those fans who keep quoting the actual attendance figures in the press, on messageboards and the Canary phone-in and go on to infer that they are all home supporters which is not true because they include all the away supporters which can be a significant number. A moot point maybe but in the interest of accuracy?

Finally, did you see the recent Liverpool home game when Rafael Benitez was home on the sick list? One would have thought that chief coach Sammy Lee would be totally in charge but no, Benitez was constantly on his phone to one of his coaching staff who wrote down the message, ducked under a guard rail to hand Lee his instructions.

Lee then went to the touchline to bawl them out. I thought it quite bizarre.