After a superb year for Norwich City I enjoyed a nice break at the end of the season, but the work has been pretty much ongoing as we look to strengthen the squad ahead of a tough first year back in the Premiership.

On top of the squad we had last year, who had a wonderful spirit and a great work-ethic, we've made some very good signings who will add a little bit of quality for our new life in the top flight.  We identified that as a major requirement after gaining promotion.  To help the team grow and improve we had to add strength in terms of both numbers and quality to the great group that was already here. 

Thomas Helveg brings plenty of experience to Carrow Road from Inter Milan. We knew he was coming up on a 'Bosman' in the Summer, so we kept an eye on him and, after seeing him in Euro 2004, he backed up everything we thought - a very good player.

He's 33-years-old and has 68 caps for Denmark and played six or seven years in Serie A. So we kept pushing trying to get him on board and finally we signed him. I was absolutely thrilled to get his signature on a contract because a number of other clubs were also interested in signing him.

Thomas played a big part in the move too, he wanted to come to Norwich.  He's settled in well and the lads who were already here have made Thomas and the other players who have recently joined feel very welcome.

David Bentley was another new signing I was absolutely delighted to get in.  He's a young lad of great ability, he's enthusiastic about his football and wants to learn, so I think he will add another dimension to us, coming from a club like Arsenal with so many wonderfully talented players.

We had heard that they might be prepared to let him out on loan, so we got in touch with the relevant people at Highbury and, despite interest from a host of other clubs, we managed to get him to Norwich to show him around and he was happy with what he saw.


Pre-season is going very well, we've been to Malaysia and had a good work out there with two games also, we then played Cambridge last week and have Coventry tomorrow. 

But it is only pre-season and I keep telling myself that results don't really matter.  The thing I'm looking at is our levels of fitness and our quality of passing, which I'm happy with. It's improving but I always think there's more to come, we can always improve.  Like everything at the club, we're improving everything all of the time and hopefully we can compete against the best this season.

It starts with a game against Crystal Palace, who were promoted with us, and we'll both be desperately looking to get our first points on the board.  Then after that, we have a run of games which confirms to us what the Premiership is about - and also rewards us for all of our work over the last four years. 

Palace is who we are focused on, though, it's our next game. But our following six games will be a real challenge for us: Manchester United, Newcastle United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Liverpool. 

It's going to be great.


Nigel Worthington