So that's it for the Premier League for now – but for how long? Bouncing straight back is a much harder task now than it was in years past.

Before, the ambition was to 'do a Charlton' but now maybe the minimum requirement should be to avoid 'doing a Wolves'.

Our two previous relegations were followed by – with hindsight – what seems like enormously misplaced optimism over an immediate return.

A comfortable opening-fixture 3-1 win at Luton in 1995 was greeted with such celebrations in the away end that it was as though the remaining 45 games were but a mere formality.

But then off-the-field problems started to stack up and we ended up occupying a dismal 16th place – our lowest finish for more than 30 years.

But perhaps 2005 represents far more of a warning from history for our prospects of an immediate return to the top flight.

From the moment the fixtures were released the only element of doubt was whether it would be us or Leeds who took the title.

But then we embarked on a summer signing spree including Matthieu Louis-Jean and Jason Jarrett, and as if that wasn't bad enough the season then started.

We didn't win any of our opening six fixtures and our first away success didn't follow until October 1.

And later that month and with the five days in which we managed the seemingly improbable achievement of managing to trail at half-time both 4-0 at Luton and 3-0 at QPR the game was effectively up.

True, Nigel Worthington did pick up a manager-of-the-month award and we enjoyed a sequence of six successive home wins in the run-in, but a final position of ninth was seen as an abject failure.

With the current air of uncertainty there are quite a few who would take a guaranteed ninth place in 2014/15 right now.

We have strikers who can't score and have received no service whatsover after a season in which we have totalled just 28 goals. It's worth remembering that we managed 83, 79 and 84 during our last three promotion campaigns. That's one hell of a improvement that's got to be made almost overnight.

Then you've got to separate the wheat from the chaff and see who actually still wants to be here next season. Personally, Martin Olsson and Nathan Redmond apart, I'd be quite happy to see last summer's signings all depart this year if the last couple of team selections are anything to go by .

And then you'll have the Premier League vultures circling, ready to swoop as Derby did in 2007 for Robert Earnshaw. (And for our potential targets, picking Troy Deeney as an example.)

Someone might come in for John Ruddy or Jonny Howson.

Because if anyone's the slightest bit uncertain about the Canaries' prospects for 2014/15, they'll consider giving it a go with Burnley, or the play-off winners, rather than have to put up with the alternative of a Tuesday-night-in-November trip to Bournemouth.

While not putting him in that bracket, I would be amazed if Robert Snodgrass was still here come August 9, while Wes Hoolahan clearly showed at Aston Villa that he no longer wants to play for us, Sebastien Bassong is surely off, and Luciano Becchio must just want to get a few first-team games under his belt again. If all – or most – of this was to happen then all of a sudden you've got some huge holes opening up in your squad, and the new season starts in just 12 weeks and five days' time.

And there's the small matter of the manager's position.

Now there might be other irons in the fire – there will still be calls for the likes of Neil Warmock – but we all know what's being lined up.

Appointing Malky Mackay may or may not work out, but the one misgiving which some people – me for one – will have about him is a return to looking within the 'who's available in the greater Norwich City family' rather than bringing in an outsider with a different way of thinking.

And managers operate with trusted back-up teams, and assuming that Iain Moody is going to stay at Crystal Palace, would any form of a Mackay-Adams shotgun marriage work?

The fact that he'd start without the universal approval of supporters is no different a situation than any of his predecessors faced.

But the patience shown for a lot of this season is unlikely to be repeated if things don't show any sign of improving in the coming months.

We have really messed up this season – when, let's not forget, West Brom have somehow managed to stay up, despite winning just seven games out of 38.

Our lack of January transfer activity cost us dearly and it could take a matter of years rather than months to put right if we continue to be so cautious despite now being a much bigger fish in a smaller pool .

Right now, frankly, if you offered me a place in next May's play-offs, I'd take it.

Maybe I'll be more optimistic by the time we kick off against the likes of Brentford on August 9...

Match that's best forgotten

Yesterday's Arsenal match – truly a day best forgotten all round.

Far too much going through the motions for my liking, and if you start with PR gestures such as refunding travelling fans at Swansea you might as well extend it to home supporters for having to sit through that.

Or at least offer a new shirt for next season to anyone with a '9 van Wolfswinkel' on the back of their current one.

Take away the John Ruddy saves, the return of Elliott Bennett almost being like signing a new player, and the determination of Jamar Loza in trying to make things happen and it was an utterly hollow occasion.

True, City picked up £2.4m extra in prize money for finishing 18th rather than 20th and also get a bye into the second round of the Capital One Cup, but this was never going to be enough to make the atmosphere anything but subdued.

I've experienced far more buzz for an FA Cup third-round tie against unfashionable lower-league opposition than that.

We'll go up again – and probably down – because that's the sort of club we are, but it would have been nice to have had some earlier senior acknowledgment of our impending fate rather than leaving the manager and players in the media spotlight.

But when the long-awaited statement arrived only one reaction sprang to mind: 'Thanks for all your hard work Neil, but...'

The result that did for us

I suppose we can look forward to some more Fleet Street obituaries now, but having seen a couple in the past week it's time to make this point yet again:

WE WERE NOT RELEGATED BECAUSE WE SACKED CHRIS HUGHTON IN APRIL. Got that?

We have gone down because we lost to West Brom in Team Hughton's final game in charge. Had we won we'd have stayed up and they'd have gone down instead.

There are other results you can look to – most notably losing spinelessly at Hull last August – but that was such a crucial result that had a Roman Abramovich reacted in the same fashion no-one would have been in the slightest bit surprised.