Seb Bassong owes Alex Neil a huge debt for salvaging his Norwich City career.

The Canaries' former player of the season and captain was frozen out under Neil Adams and loaned to Championship promotion rivals Watford, but Bassong is now a key part of City's Premier League assault.

Neil offered Bassong a fresh start, and the 28-year-old grabbed the chance to end his Carrow Road exile.

'When he first came in and had a chat with me he just told me straight that he wasn't here before so whatever had gone on was in the past,' said Bassong. 'He was only interested in the future, and moving forward he wanted the best team he could have and he thought I could be a part of it, so I had my chance. He told me I would get my chance and I took it.

'He is a good manager to play for.

'He is really passionate, he knows what he is doing. I think he has loads of football knowledge and he is sharing it with us. He is really demanding and that is good.

'Am I surprised to be back in the team? No, Norwich is my team, my club. I belong to Norwich so at some point I had to come back. There is no point talking about the past. I don't want to talk about it and that is me being honest.

'I have done my job since coming back. Maybe I could have done better because you can always improve and that is what I am trying to do. That is the life of a football player, but life in general, not only in football. Your own career doesn't always go up and up. Sometimes as a journalist you don't perform or you write good articles. It is the same for us as well.'