The Man In The Stands IN A little over two weeks we will be face-to-face with the **** at the Norwich Union Arena.The Man must admit this game has been on his mind for some time, hence my early rallying call.

The Man In The Stands

IN A little over two weeks we will be face-to-face with the **** at the Norwich Union Arena.

The Man must admit this game has been on his mind for some time, hence my early rallying call.

The way it plays out in my daydreams is that Curo/Hux/Dion gets a late winner which fatally dents their play-off pursuit.

A victory at Portman Road - one of our happiest hunting grounds in recent years - would feel particularly special this season.

It was a traumatic time last October when we languished at the foot of the table, and were told a faceless hermit who runs arms conferences was giving the debt-ridden **** £12m to spend.

Although an assistant to Merchants of Death is very much an apt owner for the Suffolk club, it did rankle somewhat.

Upon hearing the news the Man was immediately struck by the vile prospect that April 13 could see the **** relegate us as they romped to promotion.

Let's not kid ourselves, the league table in late October made such an outcome far from unlikely.

Indeed, there is mobile phone-filmed footage on the internet of **** fans working themselves into an absolute frenzy in the Jarrold Stand away supporters' bar, as they lead 2-0 at half-time at Carrow Road.

They thought they'd buried us; their joy was unconfined.

But like Nelson leading his navy to victory, or Boadicea sacking the Romans, we fought back - players and fans united - to batter them in the second half.

They had the chance to finish us off that day; but they didn't have the balls.

And somewhat surprisingly given early season results, it turned out ours were as big as watermelons.

It is like the Bond villain who fails to bump off 007 with a simple gun shot to the head when he has the chance.

Now we are still very much alive and kicking, and will travel to the town which is now more famous for a serial killer than its football team, intent on restoring East Anglia's natural order.

The Man is sure our fans will be in decent voice in two week's time, despite the now mandatory Kellogs' Cornflakes kick-off time, but I cannot impress enough on the players how much we want this.

On behalf of all Norwich fans I appeal to our players to run through brick walls. Let the **** know they've been in a game, run them into the ground, and win it.

Let's book our place in this division next season, as well as theirs. OTBC.

Can Dion Dublin bag a dream winner against Ipswich Town in a couple of weeks? The Man certainly hopes so.

t SEMMY CAN BE COMPLETE PLAYER FOR US

THE Man is loathe to praise City players too much, as invariably they'll turn out the following week and perform like a hybrid of Paddy Boyle and Ian Murray.

But after last week's mauling of Col Who, it is worth singling out Semmy for some attention.

In the cold light of day; he is every inch a Premier League player.

Obscenely quick, strong, and with an accurate pass.

In fact, such is his pace, if I was Glenn Roeder, I'd be sorely tempted to convert Semmy into an out-and-out winger this summer - but that's for another day.

In the absence of any decent attackers coming at him last weekend, Semmy looked like a Rolls Royce of a player.

Imagine the headache it gives a defence to not only have to contain the right winger, but also have Semmy thundering up alongside too?

With Semmy, and Bertrand on the other side, we look a nicely-balanced team.

The Man was once told by a former pro that you can judge how good a side is by the quality of its full backs - certainly if you look back to the successful Culverhouse-Bowen axis such a sentiment does not seem ill-placed.

If Semmy can raise his concentration levels to match those of his natural attributes, we have one hell of a player in our ranks.

While if Bertrand and Chelsea can be persuaded he needs another season here; things really could start looking up.

t STRIFE OF RYAN

NOTTINGHAM Evening Post, March 22, 2008.

“Michael Johnson's solitary goal midway through the first half boosted Notts County's hopes of avoiding relegation and put the brakes on Rochdale's play-off chase as they won 1-0 at Meadow Lane.

“A half-cleared corner was played first time by Jay Smith to Wayne Corden, who cut inside two men before supplying Ryan Jarvis. The striker's mis-hit shot fell to Johnson, on loan to his hometown club from Derby, to stab home from close range.”

Did you know if you Google “Ryan Jarvis” and “mis-hit shot” it comes up with more than 10,000 hits?

Yes, The Man is being harsh, and I do genuinely hope Jarv can carve out a career for himself somewhere, but I'd be very much surprised if he's still a professional footballer in two or three year's time.