MAJORITY shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones say the addition of new Chairman Alan Bowkett and Directors Stephan Phillips and David McNally to the City Board is like a 'breath of fresh air' for the Club.

With the new board members unveiled at a press conference today, Delia said they were delighted with their new appointments.

"Alan's been in the Associate Director's group for a few years now," she said. "So we've seen him in action and we've seen him when he's challenging us. We've admired him, so we think we're really, really lucky he's agreed to become a Board Director and our Chairman. He's been very impressive overall.

"Also, things change and when we came out of Charlton we said we're going to start again and we're going to make changes. Now is the time to go back to drawing board - football changes, people change and maybe we needed a breath of fresh air.

"I think Bryan (Gunn) has a big challenge at the start of this season, and he will have a team which is his team. It won't just be the chairman who is challenging - everyone will be."

Asked by reporters whether the pair had any further plans regarding their personal investment in the Club, Delia replied: "We don't need to be majority shareholders at all, and if somebody wants to come along and buy some of our shares we'd love it, because it would bring money into the Club.

"But while we are majority shareholders and while we do put a lot of money into the Club - a lot of money in our terms, not football terms - we want to be here to see that it's being handled properly."

Speaking after the press conference, Michael told First News his thoughts on the new City chairman: "He's a very rare sort, he is incredibly experienced and he has ran some of the biggest companies in the UK, probably Europe. He's also a Norwich City Football Club supporter.

"What we've needed as a Board is clear direction, and with all the qualities that Alan, Stephan and David bring obviously the Board now has that."