Norwich City's forgotten man Peter Thorne has admitted he would have liked to have been part of the rebuilding job done by Cardiff City manager Dave Jones.

Norwich City's forgotten man Peter Thorne has admitted he would have liked to have been part of the rebuilding job done by Cardiff City manager Dave Jones.

Thorne was sold to the Canaries in the summer of 2005 after the Welsh club could not afford to pay the player's wages but the veteran striker conceded that he would have liked to have stayed at Ninian Park if circumstances had been different.

Jones has since stabilised the Welsh club along with chairman Peter Risdale and the Bluebirds are in the running to make the Championship play-offs following their 1-0 victory over Norwich at the weekend.

Thorne admitted that, while he is pleased to see his former club doing so well, he would have liked to have been part of Cardiff's recovery over the past two seasons.

“Dave Jones has done a great job at Cardiff, and when I look back I do think it would have been nice to have been part of a new era under him there.

“But that's football for you. Sometimes you've just got to move on and, with the financial problems the club were experiencing, I had to move on when I did.”

The 33-year-old scored 51 goals in 132 starts for Cardiff but has endured an injury nightmare in his time at Carrow Road - most recently injuring his thigh in the 2-1 defeat to Preston North End in February.

It was originally hoped that Thorne would be able to rekindle his Cardiff strike partnership with Robert Earnshaw at Norwich but, while the Welsh international's Norwich career hit the ground running, Thorne has been left kicking his heels on the sidelines thanks to injuries and losses in form.

However, Thorne was quick to acknowledge the impact that Earnshaw has had before a groin injury interrupted his quest to top the Championship goalscoring charts.

“I saw on TV the other day that Earnie is still fourth top scorer in the Championship, which isn't bad considering he's been out since the start of January.

“He's made a huge impact at Norwich and any team is going to miss someone who bangs in goals like he does.”

Barring a big bid from a Premiership club in the summer, Earnshaw will be one of the kingpins of manager Peter Grant's squad next season but it is uncertain what the future holds for Thorne as his contract runs out in the summer.

“I'm getting on now - I'll be 34 in the summer and my contract at Norwich is up,” he said.

“I'm not sure what will happen with regards my future. I'll just have to wait and see.”