Norwich defender Sebastien Bassong is predicting good times ahead with the Canaries in the Premier League, after finally breaking his own personal spiral of career lows.

Bassong was crowned player of the season at Carrow Road following a pivotal impact during City's top flight survival, which capped an impressive debut campaign after his Tottenham move.

The French-bred Cameroon international found himself on the sidelines towards the end of his White Hart Lane stint as a £8m switch turned sour, during the latest in a series of club disappointments that included three painful relegations for the commanding centre-back.

'I was becoming quite used to it,' he said. 'When I used to play in France with Metz I had been relegated once, and I was relegated with Newcastle as well and it also happened at Wolves (on loan). The one at Wolves was my third time – although I was only there two months or so. It still doesn't give you a good feeling no matter how much you have been part of it.

'Norwich came to me and honestly I made my decision really quickly; within 10 minutes was all it took. I don't know what happened in my head, but I think the manager, Chris Hughton, played a big part in my decision. I rang my mum, I rang my dad and they just told me, yes, go for it. The target was always to stay in the Premier League. We want to be settled in the Premier League and be part of one of the teams who have been in it for a long time and improve month after month, year after year.'

Hughton's presence was an obvious attraction for Bassong after working closely with the Norwich boss back in 2008 on his arrival in England.

'When I came for my first training (at Newcastle) Kevin Keegan was my manager and the man in charge but Chris Hughton was his assistant,' said Bassong, speaking to the Premier League's official site. 'He was the one who was supposed to assess me regarding defensive stuff and he was the one who gave me my first training session. From that trial at Newcastle everything went well for me. You can tell he was a defender himself as a player because he has a defensive mindset. He wants us to be really compact and defend really well. I think he would rather have us defend well and not concede a goal than go gung ho and scoring five and conceding five. It is a good defensive manager.'