Ed Balls may be suffering from withdrawal symptoms as he comes to terms with life after Strictly Come Dancing. If he feels a burning desire to be judged every Saturday then it has been satisfied these past two weekends.
The Norwich City chairman presented himself to the local media before the home games against Blackburn and Barnsley to give the official line on the turbulence behind the scenes at Carrow Road. Last week he was tasked with explaining the reasons behind sacking Alex Neil within hours of the former manager sharing his plans for next season and then he put as much meat as was possible on the bones of an announcement about a restructuring of the club on Saturday.
Balls is an old hand at doing the rounds with the media. He has mastered the art of including photographers, camera operators and reporters in his affable pre-interview chats and goes on to field any question with all the unflappable expertise of someone who relishes getting the oven gloves on to deal with a political hot potato.
Being on the other end of the microphone from someone so skilled is always a challenge. It often takes a couple of listens to each of his carefully thought through answers to pick up on a phrase that might have required a bit more explanation. By that time Mr Balls is usually two or three interviews further down the line.
In the hours after Alex Neil's departure Balls slapped down reports that Alan Pardew was to arrive as the new manager imminently by saying: 'The idea there is any hidden plan here or that we've got a target is all garbage.' While recording that interview I was satisfied that we had a robust denial of one of the most talked about Norwich City stories of the day. It was only when I listened to the interview as it went out on air later that I realised I probably should have been more alarmed about the fact the chairman was apparently admitting that Neil had been shown the door without any clear thought as to who should replace him.
It has certainly made a mockery of the various names which have floated around the top of the betting over the past week or so. How were the bookmakers able to confidently install favourites for the Norwich City manager's job when the club's own board clearly hadn't made up its collective mind?
Now we know they are not even looking for a manager. They want a sporting director and a head coach. On the face of it, it makes sense to further separate the football from the rest of the business that is Norwich City FC and the brief job descriptions for the two roles that were included in the announcement suggest the powers that be are trying to blow away two of the biggest clouds that have hung over Carrow Road in recent years. I have lost count of the number of conversations I have been involved in about poor recruitment and lack of academy players reaching the first team. It is encouraging to see those two issues acknowledged by those in a position to do something about them.
Of course fancy job titles are only any use if they are filled by the right people. The success of the latest plan hinges on getting those two key appointments right.
Those with long enough yellow and green memories to have seen Bryan Hamilton and Bruce Rioch work together will be worried that the old saying about 'too many cooks' may apply to the Norwich City first team before long. Let's hope that doesn't happen but if it does and they boil up another hot potato I am sure Ed Balls will be first in front of the cameras.
Not that the local media needs to get too cosy with him. Mr Balls assured us at the weekend that he has no plans to follow his old political adversary George Osborne into the newspaper editing game.
Let's use Howson's snub as motivation for play-off push
Things tend to happen in threes so after Brexit and Donald Trump it was only a matter of time before the public shocked us again with how they are prepared to vote.
At the end of last week the EFL cheerfully announced on Twitter that Sheffield Wednesday's Almen Abdi had scored the Championship Goal of the Month for February. It was the sort of news that I would usually just flick past on my computer screen and I was just about to do so when I remembered that February 2017 was the month that Jonny Howson scored what can only be described as 'that' goal against Nottingham Forest.
It was talked about as the greatest strike that Carrow Road had ever seen and yet it apparently wasn't even the best goal against Nottingham Forest in February. Abdi rubbed salt into the wounds by volleying in his award winning effort against the very same opponents.
Howson's goal still looks better to me. The ball arrived at Abdi in much kinder fashion than the ballooned clearance that Norwich City's masterful midfielder managed to return with interest and I was thinking of composing a strongly worded letter to the Football League when the organisation headed me off at the pass with a second tweet pointing out that the winners were chosen by a 'fan poll on SkySports.com'.
So there we have it. The yellow and green turnout wasn't enough to outstrip the 49pc of the voting public that apparently thought Almen Abdi's goal was better than one of the best Norwich City have ever scored.
Howson was as professional as ever when asked about it after the win over Barnsley, saying that he doesn't need a little trophy to help him remember his Barclay End blaster.
I think we need to make the best of this bitter blow dealt by the electorate. Let's use it as a bit of extra motivation to catch Sheffield Wednesday and sneak into the top six.
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