Wes Vs Russ; The Interview

At 3pm on Monday 6 May 2019, two Norwich City legends will return to Carrow Road and don the famous yellow and green for one last time. This time, rather than following each other out of the tunnel, they will stand opposite one another, leading out teams they have potentially arm-wrestled over.

Pen it in your diary now. It’s Russ v Wes. It’s all for charity. It’s a Bank Holiday at the start of summer (and we have 4 free tickets up for grabs you lucky buggers).

It promises to be an emotional affair according to Russ; “I cried up in Glasgow, watching Wes on TV as he made his way off against Leeds, so to actually be there and saying goodbye and thank you to the fans and to a lot of people at the club, myself will be emotional”.

“I’m expecting there to be more goals in this game than there were in that game though”, Wes added.

The squads will be made up of ex-City players, but both were remaining tight-lipped about who might feature. “We have a list of about 40 lads who are desperate to play, so we need to have a chat about who gets who on their team, but there shouldn’t be too much argument, we want it to be a good game” Wes claimed, although a later argument over who might get (or rather can avoid) one famous ex-pro, who may not be as fit as he once was, suggested it wasn’t entirely laid-back.

The excitement on the faces and in the voices of both at seeing old friends was palpable, so it’s likely to be two squads of recent names, with potential discussions with Premier League managers to release their players “progressing well”.

With both now plying their trade elsewhere, how did their own managers feel about their charges hotfooting it back to Norfolk, during a time in their season when play-off games may be afoot? “They’re both fine with it” Russ assured us. “They know how important this is to us, so we’ll be back whatever happens”, he finished, before proving the point and noting that straight from Carrow Road, he had to drive 6 hours up to Sunderland for Walsall’s League One tie the next day.

Despite moving on, it is clear both still hold the club close to their heart, with mentions of returning again in the future in non-playing capacities sprinkled throughout our chat.

“Our kids were born in the city, so of course this club and area is important to us both, so we’ll always keep coming back here” Russ noted, adding “this is our chance to come back and draw a line under the playing side, from then on we’re here to watch games as fans and then one day perhaps working back here”.

Russ’ appearance with his kids in the away end of the opening day draw at Birmingham underlined the point, while he may not play here still, he is undoubtedly a fan, as are his children.

As fans what had they made of the current table-toppers and having seen it as close quarters last season, did they expect to see City doing so well?

“You could see the foundations being laid last season. The training was top-quality and the was a very young squad” revealed Wes, before Russ added; “the young lads have brought so much energy and they absolutely deserve to be up there. I’m delighted for them.”

Tickets for the game are on sale now, priced at lb10 for adults and lb1 for kids. Visit canaries.co.uk to get yours NOW.