Last night was a slightly surreal experience. Watching Norwich play Spurs on television on a balmy July evening is strange enough. Seeing Stephen Fry, so long considered a Norwich fan without any visible evidence, sitting next to Delia Smith decked out in yellow is an entirely different phenomenon.
This is a curious bit of PR. There have been murmurings of discontent among the Carrow Road faithful over the rebuffing of an approach from Peter Cullum, the 40th richest man in Britain. Delia's stock fell last season with the Peter Grant debacle and the club's flirtation with relegation. Is she now taking the Flavio Briatore route?
It was Norwich's lowest public ebb when City went down to QPR on Sky, with Rangers' new owner Briatore flanked by lovelies including Naomi Campbell in the Directors' Box. The coverage in later days barely touched on the abject Canaries performance or even details like the score. It was all about Naomi and pals and their excitement at their evening out at Loftus Road.
Stephen Fry is not exactly Naomi Campbell. I never thought I'd have to write that sentence. But he is a very respectable and intelligent person, and will generate positive publicity in his own way. It could be for his very presence. It could be that he was wearing the shirt. It could be that the figure-hugging nature of the shirt was not especially flattering to a man of Fry's age and girth.
Or it could be that he was wearing the OLD shirt. As, it appeared, was everyone. Has the arse fallen out of the hideous replica shirt market? Or was it intended to show us that Fry isn't some fly-by-night who arrived at his seat via the club shop?
Either way it cements Norwich's place as the Daily Telegraph reader's club. If you ask the more considered individual who they might like as dinner guests, I'm sure the likes of Fry and Delia (now Hugh Laurie's big in America - a new series?) would be on many lists. Norwich were the first club seen by a reigning monarch and, although Prince William is a Villa fan, I'd expect the Queen herself wouldn't mind bowling up at carrow Road for one of Delia's pies and a chat with that nice Stephen Fry. Maybe she could help stump up a few quid for a new striker...
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