Rivals Rite-Norwich v Burnley

The Clarets face the long trek down to East Anglia on Saturday to face Norwich at Carrow Road

We were approached by Alex, the editor of Vital Norwich to see if we would be interested in writing a joint feature about our respective clubs and this forthcoming match.

Both editors therefore exchanged questions and provided their personal answers.

You can see my responses on the Vital Norwich site under the article title below (Click the title link)

So Say: Burnley FC

Here we provide below though Alex's response to the questions we gave him:

Did you ever regret saying goodbye to Nigel Worthington?

Worthy had a fantastic time at the club, but I think our relegation hit him as hard as everyone else. Emotionally drained, trophies in the cabinet, best players leaving…..all mounts up to one worn-out man and club. Sometimes you need a change, though God knows why the board appointed Peter Grant, when the guy hadn`t managed a team before. (Lovely bloke though.)

You can see from Worthy`s new chapter as Northern Ireland manager, he knows what he`s doing.

What do you think of your current manager Glenn Roeder?

The guy has given us new optimism. No-one wanted him at first, but we`ve all been proved drastically wrong. 8 points when he took over, adrift at the bottom. Cue a 13 game unbeaten streak- our best for 21 years-and we are close now to consolidation.

If we had taken our chances in our last 10 matches, we could have been in the play-offs. We all believe it is just a matter of time, which is down to Glenn Roeder.

What were you expecting at the start of the season and would you say your current position was unexpected or predictable?

We were hoping to scrape into the play-offs, but most of us on Vital Norwich expected top 10. Losing Earnshaw, Etuhu just before the start of the season was sickening and it upset many people at the club.

Grant`s signings had a 50% success rate(Fotheringham ,Otsemobor, Marshall and Russell)- which hasn`t been good enough- so it`s really Roeder`s loan signings that have stopped the rot.

Do you think you will avoid relegation and if so why?

We have played Bristol City, Watford and Stoke off the park recently, yet come away with a just a point from those three games.

If we don`t take our chances, we could get dragged into it, but I expect us to belt a few sides before the end of the season, which should steer us clear.

What have been the main reasons for your relatively low position in the table?

Low confidence. Losing good players. Buying bad players. Small squad.

Which Clarets player(s) have impressed you this season and which would you like to play for Norwich given the chance?

Wade Elliott has talent, whilst possessing a bit of grit too. You need both qualities to succeed at the top level, and we tend to usually just have the talent part.

Lafferty would be my first pick, as he seems to have an array of abilities, whilst also being a target man. Someone needs to replace Dion Dublin (our player of the season for sure), but I`m sure Lafferty is a Premiership player in waiting.

Who do we need to look out for on Saturday, your biggest threat?

There are several who can hurt you. Hucks and Croft will take on your full-backs, Dion is superb in the air and with his intelligence and Jamie Cureton is just as capable of missing open goals as he is scoring hat-tricks. Fotheringham and Pattison have very good set-piece delivery, so expect Dion to be winning his share of headers, no matter who`s in front of him.

Predict your score for the match this Saturday

1-1. We should have put Bristol City to the sword last Saturday, but yet again missed out. I feel it is a tall order to beat you with the play-offs as your motivation, but our passing game has returned and on-form, we belie our current position in the table.

Cheers for your answers Phil- it's been fun. And of course, may the best team win!

Best Regards,
Alex.

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Many thanks to Alex for suggesting this idea and for spending some time answering our questions.Let's hope for a great entertaining match




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