CITY legend Bryan Gunn is enjoying his time back on the pitch in the role of goalkeeping coach - and has tipped one of his students to follow in his footsteps.
Gunn, who played 477 games for the Canaries over 10 years, was handed the coaching role following the departure of Jim Hollman earlier this month.
And the 44-year-old believes Canaries' stopper David Marshall could repeat one of his greatest achievements at Carrow Road by scooping the Barry Butler Player of the Year trophy this season.
Marshall, 23, has been in excellent form all season and has proved one of Norwich's most consistent performers since making a permanent switch from Celtic in the summer.
The 6ft 4in stopper already has two player of the month trophies in his locker this season, and Gunn believed the youngster may well claim top honours come May.
"He's worked hard at his game," said Gunn. "We brought him down from Celtic in the summer after his short loan spell. He only played four games for us before injuring his ankle in the game against Chelsea, but it was great that we pursued the interest in him and we got him down.
"I think he's shown that it was a good move for David and for the Club to keep our interest in him and he's won a couple of player of the months already this season and with the level of consistency he has shown at the moment he could be in contention for player of the season."
Marshall's form has made him a regular in the Scotland squad this season. But Gunn - a former Scotland number one himself - believed the appointment of George Burley as national coach could boost his efforts to add to his caps.
"That's obviously something David will be hoping to do," he said. "He was very highly regarded by the previous Scotland manager. He was in the top three goalkeepers then and I'm sure he'll want to push the likes of Craig Gordon and Allan McGregor even more to try and get even higher up the pecking order.
"I suppose George Burley will have seen David on a number of occasions in the Championship and hopefully he's been impressed with what he's seen. So it might be a good move for David."
As for the appointment of Burley, Gunn believed the SFA had found a worthy successor to Alex Mcleish, who came so close to taking the Tartan Army to Euro 2008.
"He looks like he's come out on top of the other three candidates that were chosen alongside him, Tommy Burns, Mark McGhee and Graeme Souness and I suppose George played his football in the same era as those guys," he said.
"I think they were all involved in the Scotland set-up at the same time, so they were all likely candidates, just like Alex Mcleish was prior to this appointment. So I think it's a sensible appointment. He's got great experience at international level and has obviously been involved with teams in Scotland, in the Premiership and in the Championship which have extended his coaching credentials. I think all in all it's a good appointment."
Gunn has been enjoying life back on the training pitches again. Formerly sponsorship sales manager at the Club, Gunn is now based up at Colney full-time after being named club liaison officer under the Peter Grant regime.
He remains in that role under Glenn Roeder, but has been more than happy to work as goalkeeping coach while the manager looks for a more permanent solution. That predicament looked to be solved last week when former MK Dons boss Stuart Murdoch seemed certain to be named as the new goalkeeping coach, only to perform a u-turn days later. And Gunn was more than happy to pull on the gloves for a second time.
"Obviously I'm working with the likes of David, Matthew Gilks, Steven Arnold, the professional goalkeepers and then you've got Declan Rudd and Jed Steer from the Academy," said Gunn.
"We had a trial goalkeeper in recently as well, so we've had a lot of goalkeepers to work with. Everyone has fitted in well and their application has been fantastic. So it's been easy for me to shift from one role to another.
"It happened over the Christmas period and Glenn asked me to do that and I was more than happy to help out. Obviously unforeseen circumstances see me in the position again. So it's something I'm enjoying. The weather's not been brilliant in the last few weeks so we've been sending the goalkeepers in with plenty of mud on their kit so the laundry lady has not been too impressed with some of the training sessions I've been putting on.
"But for me to get back out on the training pitch is fantastic and hopefully I've been able to work the guys to a level so David is going out on the pitch and continuing to perform to a level we expect from him."
