CHRIS WISE Martin Hunter would love to follow Nigel Worthington's example by moving up from Norwich City's back-room staff to become the club's new manager. The Canaries first team coach was placed in temporary charge at Carrow Road following Worthington's sacking on Sunday - but he made it clear yesterday that he wanted the job on a full-time basis.

CHRIS WISE

Martin Hunter would love to follow Nigel Worthington's example by moving up from Norwich City's back-room staff to become the club's new manager.

The Canaries first team coach was placed in temporary charge at Carrow Road following Worthington's sacking on Sunday - but he made it clear yesterday that he wanted the job on a full-time basis.

City's former boss made similar statements following the departure of Bryan Hamilton nearly six years ago when he was his assistant - and eventually received the backing of the board. Now Hunter is hoping history will repeat itself, even though he stressed yesterday that he was sad to see the departure of the man who brought him to the club during the summer.

When asked whether he wanted the job, one of the early favourites to become the next Norwich manager commented: “I would be. I've obviously got quite a bit of experience now and, given the opportunity, I will give it my best shot.

“But the first thing is getting our preparations right for the game with QPR. Without boring you with old clichés it will obviously be one game at a time and in the meantime the board will deal with the applications as they come in.

“It's a great challenge and one I am looking forward to. We will start training again on Wednesday with the players and will get back to working hard on a daily basis and being as professional as we can. That is what we are employed to do and that is what we have got to do.”

Commenting on the interest, chief executive Neil Doncaster said: “Martin is welcome to throw his hat into the ring. He is caretaker manager and I don't think we would want to discourage him from anything he wanted to do.”

Hunter was quick to pay tribute to Worthington after answering the inevitable question of whether he wanted to step into his shoes.

“There are two reasons why I came to Norwich City. One was the club itself and the other was Nigel Worthington,” said the experienced coach, who will be taking charge of the Canaries for the first time tomorrow night when they play King's Lynn at the Walks in a benefit game for injured midfielder Shaun Carey.

“Not only is he very knowledgeable but he is very honourable too. You speak to players who have worked or played with him and they would say the same comments.”

Another individual with strong Norwich connections to express an interest in the job was former striker Iwan Roberts, third in the club's all-time list of goal-scorers.

“It's a great job and I would definitely think about throwing my name in the hat,” he said. “I know I haven't got the managerial experience but I was there for a number of years and have 20 years of experience in football.”