Nelson Oliveira has had a fresh pop at Ipswich Town as he reflected on why Norwich City is the ‘bigger club’ in East Anglia.
The Portugal international was touted with a January return to England, and Premier League Wolves, after a free-scoring stint at AEK Athens.
Oliveira remains a popular figure with many City fans, despite falling out of favour under Daniel Farke following an infamous show of bare-chested dissent at Fulham in 2017.
That eventually prompted a loan stint at Reading, where he scored against the Blues at Portman Road in the Championship last season, and then incurred the wrath of some home fans with his excited celebrations.
Oliveira’s previous Norwich connections guaranteed him a hot reception.
“I never had an easy relationship with Ipswich fans. One time playing for Norwich I said that we should win the derby because Norwich is a bigger club,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t look at the stories of both clubs, as I know Ipswich is also a good club.
“But I still think Norwich is bigger.
“I have love for the people of Norwich and for the fans.
“In my opinion, Norwich will always be a much bigger club than Ipswich. So when I scored that goal, my yellow and green heart came through. I celebrated with a little bit more passion, and it helped us get an important win as well.”
Oliveira, speaking to Reading fan site The Tilehurst End, also opened up on the collapse of a proposed big-money move to the Royals in the summer of 2017 shortly after Farke first arrived in England.
“I was one of the fans’ favourites after my first season at Norwich, but then everything changed,” he said. “Stuart Webber came in, and he brought the new coach. In pre-season I started to read in the newspapers that Norwich had accepted a bid from Reading for £8m.
“I talked with my agent and he told me it was true. I was a bit frustrated because no one from Norwich had spoken to me. After doing so well in my first season, I was expecting to do even better the next year.
“So to see the club accepting a bid from a rival, it was frustrating. Not because it was Reading, as they had just been in the play-off final, but just because I had been expecting to stay at Norwich. This is sort of how my problems at Norwich started.
“So there was big interest from Reading, but I was not close to signing because I said to Norwich that if I were to move, I would move to the Premier League. There was no point moving from one Championship club to another.
“I would have had a better salary, but I never move just for the money.”
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