AFTER the Canaries lost out to Charlton and were relegated to League One today, Bryan Gunn says he felt let down by the players who figured in today's 'embarrassing' 4-2 defeat.

With three goals for Charlton coming in the space of 21 nightmare first-half minutes, it seemed City's fate was all-but sealed early before the half-time whistle had been blown.

Despite goals from Alan Lee and Sammy Clingan, it wasn't enough to pull Norwich back to safety thanks to a Deon Burton hat-trick and another from Nicky Bailey for the home side. With Barnsley scrapping to a 2-1 win at Plymouth, City's fate was confirmed.

Speaking to canaries.co.uk, the City boss said he was bitterly disappointed with the way events turned out.

"I felt very let down over the course of the 90 minutes," he said. "I didn't expect that level of performance from the players on such an important day. I know it was out of our hands, but at the same time we asked the players to finish off the season in style in front of a fantastic travelling support.

"I thought we started the game off brightly but then there was a murmur that a goal had come in from Plymouth and we had a mad ten or 15 minutes - our defending was diabolical, decision making was daft and to lose three goals in that space of time in front of our fans, it was embarrassing."

Gunn continued: "Performances like that are the reason we've been relegated - I've had 19 games in charge and ten of those have been fairly successful with wins and draws, but obviously we've had nine defeats. Moments of slackness in our penalty area, not marking players, not putting bodies on the line - the commitment from the Charlton players in the first half was first class.

"That's what we asked for from our players, and I've told them to go away and look at themselves in the mirror - the ones who want to be at this club next year will hopefully come to me, knock on my door and look me in the eye and say they want to play in League One next season. The ones who don't, that's down to them and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Gunn was asked by reporters after the game at The Valley whether he would like to maintain his managerial position next season. The former City 'keeper replied: "I want it even more now, because it's my fault we've been relegated. I'm big enough and strong enough as a person to take that on my shoulders, and hopefully I'll be given the chance to move the Club forward.

"It's a great club, I've been fortunate to have been involved in it now for over 22 years. I felt like this in 1994-95, then the next time I felt like this was when I was told I wasn't able to play football any more. These are bitter pills to swallow - they certainly make you stronger as a person and given the opportunity, I'd like to bring success back to this club."

After the final whistle was blown, the Canary players went across to the travelling fans, who numbered over 3,000, and clapped them for their support this year. "Those moments in football are difficult, but you have to face up to it. Hopefully these lads understand what a great club this is and as I said, they have to go away over the summer and face up to what's happened this season.

"Everyone has to face up to having a relegation on their CV now."