Declan Rudd detects no lingering relegation hangover as Norwich City look to step up their Championship planning with a pre-season trip to Italy.

Neil Adams' 25-man squad will fly out on Friday morning for a three-game tour as City continue their preparations for the Championship opener at Wolves on August 10 following friendly wins over non league duo Dereham and Braintree. Rudd played no part in City's Premier League demise after spending last season on loan at League One Preston but that made it even tougher to take as he watched events unfold at his club.

'To be honest, having missed it all I wouldn't know I was coming back into a set of lads and a dressing room that had been relegated,' said Rudd, who was on duty at King's Lynn in midweek. 'They've had to take it on the chin over the summer, thought about it and now its about getting back to work and doing your job as normal. That is the best way for me. We had a big meeting with the gaffer and the staff and we have put that to one side. We have other things to concentrate on now. It's gone, we can't change it. It's all about what we do in the future.

'Being a boyhood fan, this is my team, I've always been to watch and since I was nine I've been here as a player so it was horrible to see the team relegated. I have friends in this side, but that is football, it happens and sometimes it is for a reason. Hopefully it gives us a chance to think about things, think where we are going and rebuild.'

Rudd knows better than most within the Carrow Road dressing room just what it will take to succeed in the unforgiving surroundings of the Football League after helping guide North End to the League One play-offs.

'It's going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of team work,' said the 23-year-old. 'We had a great team ethic at Preston which I think helped us massively. We're starting to build that here now from what I can see since I have come back. The games come thick and fast so that momentum of winning matches again is massive. It's a hard league, with very good teams and very good players and we'll have to be at our best every game and if we are then hopefully we can get back up.'