Norwich City deputy chairman Michael Foulger is confident the Canaries will hang on to their highly-rated manager Paul Lambert.

The long-time City director revealed yesterday the club is poised to announce some 'great news' this week regarding the Scot's future at Carrow Road.

Lambert has been the subject of fevered national press speculation in recent days linking him with a surprise move to relegated Premier League West Ham after fresh contract talks had reportedly stalled.

Foulger – speaking at Fakenham racecourse's seasonal finale – moved to end uncertainty regarding Lambert's future with an upbeat message to fans.

'Can I just say there'll be some great news regarding the manager situation that we will hope to announce this week,' said Foulger in an interview with Radio Norfolk. 'It hasn't really sunk in yet that we have managed to do it and go up. I think people are saying to me it'll perhaps only be the case when the fixtures come out in the summer. Portsmouth was an absolutely fantastic evening, but, no, it hasn't sunk in yet.'

Foulger has been a staunch financial supp-orter of the club during his 15-year stint on the Canaries' board. The Banham Poultry boss increased his shareholding midway through the last successful campaign when he pumped a further �2m into Lambert's player budget.

Foulger reckons Lambert – believed to be on a rolling contract at present – has played a pivotal role in City's rise from League One.

'This success to me rates as the very best in my time as a board director,' he said. 'In 2004 we had a good team here and then the manager went out and brought in Darren Huckerby that season who proved to be a catalyst to win us promotion. For me, this time around we don't have any superstars but what we did have was a fantastic group with a tremendous team spirit and those lads would run through a brick wall for the manager.'

Foulger was at Fakenham to present the prizes in the aptly-titled Congratulations Canaries Premier League Promotion Handicap Chase.

'It's absolutely fantastic for the club to get this sort of recognition,' he said. 'We had a call at the end of last week from David Hunter, the clerk-of-the-course, who said he would like to name this particular race in honour of the Canaries' achievement in gaining promotion to the Premier League. I was delighted to come along and say thank you for all there support.

'At the moment I have two horses of my own in training and a half share with another horse – all on the flat. I started off in racing with National Hunt horses. I had a winner at Huntingdon and another horse at Fakenham but, unfortunately, one afternoon I lost a horse here which had to be put down and that swayed me to go flat racing instead. I have been racing now for 15, 16, 17 years.'