Norwich City chief executive David McNally revealed at the official unveiling of new chairman Ed Balls on Monday lunchtime the Canaries aim to strike early in the January transfer window.

City completed a permanent deal for former West Ham wide man Matt Jarvis last week and City's top brass aim to make another early statement of intent to bolster Alex Neil's squad.

'Matt (Jarvis) is a big signing for us. Our stated aim as always is to improve the squad in every transfer window,' said McNally. 'We have brought Matt in on a permanent deal. That is the start. We have been really busy this past week, where we can try to get to a stage we can bring somebody else in, relatively early in the window.

'There is a difference of about five games between the start and the end of the window. We are conscious of that and hopeful we can maybe get another one across the line early on, but there are no guarantees. That depends on buying clubs, selling clubs, agents, players, money. There are a lot of imponderables but that is the intention.'

McNally joined majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones at the formal presentation of lifelong fan Balls to the board.

'We've had season tickets in the Upper Barclay as a family since before the season Norwich went up to the Premier League the last time,' he said. 'I have been to many games of course with Delia and Michael and spoken to them at length about how you can get a smaller club like Norwich competing at the highest levels. Then in the last few months they asked me if I would like to get more involved and I said I would love to help in any way I can but it was still a complete bolt from the blue when they asked me to come in as chair when the vacancy arose. I wasn't expecting that.

'If you are going to do something, do it properly. This is a non-executive position. The club is run by David McNally and all his colleagues but as well as board meetings and matchdays it is important for me to make time to speak with David and his colleagues and other board members for us to think about the long-term, strategic vision.

'There is a real sense of purpose and strategy, the club is thinking about the next transfer window and the one after, and how we make sure that we secure ourselves commercially and financially.

'I never thought when I was six years old that I would be back here as the chair of what is known, certainly in the club, as the best football club in the world. Everybody knows it's a brilliantly well-run community club. I hope I can help in the transformation of the club, which is on-going. I've been a supporter here for 40 years, and we've always been an up-and-down club.'