Darren Huckerby says Canaries boss Paul Lambert has the Midas touch with his players.

The City legend – a Carrow Road regular in retirement – says he has seen enough of City under Lambert, who yesterday received a two-match touchline ban which kicks in at his first East Anglian derby on Sunday, to convince him that the Scot is heading for the top.

'I think he is destined for one of the top, top clubs,' said Huckerby, who served under 13 different managers, including Kevin Keegan, Gordon Strachan, David O'Leary and Joe Royle during his 15-year career in England. 'He just has something about him. It's the things he does.

'He just pulls off things that I have never even seen before. He just goes for things. I know they don't always work, but they usually do.

'It's the way that when we're losing a game he puts four forwards on. There was the game against Middlesbrough when he didn't start with Wes (Hoolahan), but we got the win.

'Against Burnley we were 2-0 down and getting slapped and at half-time he changes it around and claws it back. He does things that make things happen.'

Huckerby also believes Lambert is getting the very best out of his players.

'He just has a way of making players play above themselves – that's what they're doing now,' he said.

'If you look at some of the teams in the Championship, some of our players would struggle to get in their teams, but he has a way of making them better than they maybe are.

'I think he is as good as it gets at this present time, better than we could have hoped for. After the last few seasons, Lambert and his staff have helped save the club. He's ambitious and there will be clubs sniffing around him because of his record here. It is just a matter of keeping hold of him as long as we can, if he's doing well the club's doing well.'

'If you look at some of the teams in the Championship, we haven't got one of the strongest squad in the division, but he's built a belief among the players, which makes us hard to beat.

'We still need to add quality to the squad, but all managers will be trying to do that.'