For people who do not like football, fierce rivalries between supporters of different teams can often seem bizarre.

But for football fans, it would seem, showing sympathy to your rivals is just not the done thing.

We have been running a poll on www.eveningnews24.co.uk to find out whether Norwich City fans are feeling sorry for supporters of their Suffolk rivals, Ipswich Town.

That is because Town have slumped to the bottom of the table in English football's second tier, the Championship, and subsequently parted company with manager Paul Jewell.

A 2-1 home defeat to Derby County at Portman Road on Tuesday night was Town's third successive loss and extended their winless streak to 10 matches.

It was the last straw for the club's board and yesterday afternoon the Suffolk club confirmed it had parted company with Jewell by mutual consent.

It is easy for Norwich City supporters to laugh at their Suffolk neighbours from their position of 15th in the Premier League, a full 29 places further up the ladder of English football.

But we wanted to know if supporters would actually like to see their arch rivals sink to the third tier, League One, or if they would prefer the two teams to be in the same division.

More than 2,000 people voted in our poll and the results were overwhelming.

There were 1,341 people, 65pc, who said they would be happy to see Town relegated, while 370 people, 18pc, who said they didn't care what happened to Town and 354 people, 17pc, who said they would prefer it if City and Town were in the same division.

If Town were to be relegated at the end of this season it would guarantee a third successive season without an East Anglian derby league match for fans of both sides to savour, even if Norwich were also relegated.

Norwich City supporter Malcolm Francis was in little doubt about what he wants to see happen though, saying: 'I would like to see Ipswich Town go down to League One, simply on the grounds of 'what goes around comes around'.

He said: 'I can remember their fans mockingly waving wads of cash at us when Marcus Evans took over, and who can forget the Norwich City relegation party posted on Facebook when we went down to League One.

'I was ribbed mercilessly at this time by a Town fan I worked with, so this could be payback. Having said this, I wouldn't want them to fold completely, and perhaps one day they could drag themselves back up so we can enjoy local derbies once more in the Premier League.' Scott Macleod was more sympathetic, using Twitter to respond: 'The one fixture I really miss is the derby with #ITFC. Derby day is very special and I miss it a lot.'

While Tim Allman, a member of the Capital Canaries supporters group, tweeted: 'I'd much prefer to see Ipswich struggle each season in the lower reaches of whatever division they are in.'