STEVE DOWNES Sacked Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington was handed a £600,000 pay-off by the club, it has been revealed. The deal, which came when he was sacked on October 1 following a run of one point in five games, amounted to one year's wages for the Northern Irishman.

STEVE DOWNES

Sacked Norwich City manager Nigel Worthington was handed a £600,000 pay-off by the club, it was revealed last night.

The deal, which came when he was sacked on October 1 following a run of one point in five games, amounted to one year's wages for the Northern Irishman.

The revelation came as club chiefs warned fans that star players may have to be sold at the end of this season if the Canaries fail to get back into the Premiership.

And shock details emerged about the millions of pounds still owed to the club for players who have been sold.

The sobering state of City's finances was laid bare as the club published its accounts for the year from June 1 2005 to May 31 2006 - the first season back in the Championship after the unsuccessful year in the top flight.

The club made a profit of £2.5m in the year, compared with £7.6m in the Premiership season. But the overall debt has hardly changed - dropping from £19.7m to £19.2m.

The annual profit is arguably slightly misleading, for it was made possible largely by a £6.1m profit on buying and selling players and the £7.1m "parachute" payment received from the Premier League in the two seasons following relegation.

Norwich receive the same parachute payment this season. But it stops in 2006/7 - sparking a chastening warning from City's director of finance Shaun O'Hara.

He said: "Failure to win promotion at the end of 2006/7 will reduce our income by a minimum of £7m. While the club remains in the Championship it will be necessary to generate surplus funds for future players by selling assets."

Another stark illustration of the difference between life in the two divisions came as it was revealed that City's income fell by £13m as the club's share of the top-flight TV money plummeted.

And commercial income dropped by £1.3m - mainly because relegation from the Premiership hit sales in the club shops.