Norwich City

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

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Norwich City defender Jose Cordoba scored his first senior international goal as Panama beat South Africa 2-1 in their international friendly in Cape Town.

The 24-year-old reacted quickly in the 58th minute to poke the ball into the net after home goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner could only parry an Ismael Diaz shot.

South Africa equalised six minutes later before Jiovany Ramos won the game for the Panamanians.

Cordoba is set to be part of the Panama squad for this year's World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. They have been drawn in a group with England, Ghana and Croatia.

The former Levski Sofia player will return to England in time for Norwich's Championship match at home with Portsmouth on Friday (15:00 BST).

Portsmouth will be seeking space between themselves and the bottom three as they head to Carrow Road on Good Friday (15:00 BST).

Pompey are only one point clear of the bottom three and on a dreary winless spell of six league games.

To add to their woes, Norwich will not be an easy opponent. The Canaries have been flying under boss Philippe Clement, winning five of their past six games (L1) to put them nine points under the play-off positions.

• Following their 2-1 win in August, Norwich are looking to complete the league double over Portsmouth for the first time since 1996-97.

• Portsmouth have won their last two away league games against Norwich, beating them 5-3 last season. They've never won three in a row against them before, while their two consecutive wins is more than they managed in their previous 15 visits to Carrow Road (W1 D7 L7).

• Since the weekend of Philippe Clement's first game in charge in November, no side has won more Championship games than Norwich (14, level with Coventry City).

• Portsmouth have lost five of their last six league games (D1), including the last three in a row. They last lost four consecutively in March 2021 in League One.

• Only Sheffield Wednesday (43) and Oxford (55) have had fewer big chances than Portsmouth in the Championship this season (58), while Pompey have the lowest big chance conversion rate (24.1%).

Former Norwich City winger Darren Eadie believes head coach Philippe Clement's 'Midas touch' is the chief reason for the transformation in their form.

Clement took over in November and has steered the Canaries out of the Championship relegation places and up to 10th in the table following Saturday's 1-0 win at Charlton.

"I played under Mike Walker and Martin O'Neill and I was always at my best when a manager dug you out or pushed you to your extreme and that's what Clement does," Eadie told BBC Radio Norfolk's The Scrimmage

"He brings that presence, he brings that drive and energy and he just has the Midas touch at the minute, it's incredible to watch.

"At the start of the season, clearly they weren't fit enough - Anis Ben Slimane's a great example of that, he looks about a stone and a half lighter than he was at the start of the season and is playing incredibly well.

"I look at the bigger picture and he's got this run of form going on at the moment and everything he does turns to gold. He'll get an injury on the pitch, take someone off, another one will come onto the pitch and score a goal. Pelle Mattsson scores at the weekend to win the game."

Eadie, now a club ambassador, added: "We've seen this time and time again - Jovon Makama, Mohamed Toure, Ali Ahmed, all these new players coming in have hit the ground running, rather than having to wait six months to a year for them to start performing.

"That's due to the manager saying 'right, when he's coming in, he's playing, I'm not waiting six months for him, my job could be over in six months'.

"He's got to be going 'I want players that are ready to perform and if you're telling me they're not quite fit enough, I don't care, I'm playing them, if they break down on the pitch, they break down, I've got to get us out of the trouble we're in' and that's what he's done."

Norwich will return to action following the international break against Portsmouth at Carrow Road on Friday 3 April.

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Norwich midfielder Pelle Mattsson believes it is vital for players all round the team to contribute goals after finally finding the net in his 27th appearance.

The Dane's early strike was enough to beat Charlton 1-0 and give Norwich their fifth win in six games, putting them 10th in the Championship table.

"To score my first goal for Norwich, I've been waiting a bit for it, so it was nice seeing the ball fly into the net. It was a proud moment," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"I would like to score a few goals per season to contribute with that. It's not my strong side, but it's something I can maybe develop in my game.

"It's really important so we're not only relying on our strikers - they can play a good game without scoring, we need everybody to score goals."

Mattsson joined the Canaries last summer and is now back to full fitness after missing the whole of February with an ankle injury.

"For a few months I've been growing as a player, I'm really enjoying it here - we are going somewhere and we'll see where that takes us," he said.

"I want to be good at all parts of the game. Also with the ball, I think I have some strengths there as well. Hopefully I'll be even better on the other side of the international break.

"There's been a huge improvement. You can't really imagine we were in the bottom three [places] some time ago. The performances have been really good, not only the results."

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An early goal from Danish midfielder Pelle Mattsson - his first for the club - was enough for Norwich City to earn the three points at Charlton Athletic.

Speaking after the match, Canaries boss Philippe Clement - who celebrates his 52nd birthday on Sunday - gave his thoughts from The Valley after his side's 1-0 win.

"It was a victory with a big heart, lots of physicality. We only came back at 3:00am on Thursday morning, so it was a short turnaround after the Southampton game - which was also a really intense game," Clement told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"The team did brilliantly today, not only physically but also mentally. They did the right things to stick in and keep going until the dying seconds. They played with a really big heart today.

"I think everybody who is not a Charlton fan would have enjoyed how Norwich played football today - our own fans but also neutrals, and that is what I want to see.

"With all the teams playing on Friday after the international window, I do not understand why that is the case.

"We might have some internationals who come back on the Thursday and might not even be able to train. It's not a healthy situation in this modern time, with so many more games and more risks of injury."

Rob Butler
BBC Radio Norfolk Canary Call presenter

Norwich City will look to bounce back from a midweek defeat at Southampton when they head to Charlton Athletic in the Championship on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Ahead of the game head coach Philippe Clement has been speaking to the media, here are some of the key points:

• Clement said the quick turnaround following the Southampton game on Wednesday has been a test for his players. The squad arrived back in Norfolk at 03:00 GMT on Thursday morning

• "There is a good mood in the building and everyone is positive," the Belgian added

• The boss said decisions on the availability of full-backs Ben Chrisene and Jack Stacey will be made ahead of Saturday's game. Chrisene missed the Saints trip, while Stacey picked up a knock in the defeat

• On defender Jeffrey Schlupp's return from long-term injury: "Jeffrey is training with the physios and I expect him back in a couple of weeks"

• On midfielder Emi Marcondes' situation: "We knew we wanted to get a different profile 'number 10' in for now and for the future. You need to be honest to the player." The Dane looks set to leave the Canaries in the summer

• Clement said Charlton Athletic have a 'really clear style' and will be a 'tough opponent' in the midst of their good run of results

There is full live commentary of Charlton v Norwich with BBC Radio Norfolk FM and DAB on Saturday, coverage begins at 14:00 GMT.

Norwich City will look to keep their hopes for a heroic run to the play-offs alive as they take a trip to Charlton Athletic on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Canaries saw their promotion aspirations take a hit after their four-match winning streak came to an end with a close 1-0 loss to Southampton on Wednesday, leaving them nine point adrift of the topic six.

But the Addicks will make it difficult for their visitors to bounce back, only losing one of their past six league matches (W2 D3) and hoping to extend the distance between themselves and the bottom three to double figures.

• Charlton lost in this season's reverse fixture against Norwich (0-1 on Boxing Day 2025) and haven't lost home and away to them in a league campaign since 1971-72.

• This will be Norwich's first league game at The Valley in over a decade (since February 2015), when they won 2-3 against Guy Luzon's Charlton under the management of Alex Neil.

• Charlton have won more games by a 1-0 scoreline than any other team in the Championship this season (8), including one in their most recent home game (1-0 v Birmingham).

• Norwich have won six of their last 10 league games on a Saturday (D1 L3), after only winning two of their first 12 in the current campaign (D2 L8).

• Two of Charlie Kelman's three league goals at the Valley have been the only strike in a 1-0 win after coming off the bench, including in the Addicks' most recent one (1-0 v Birmingham)

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Norwich City head coach Philippe Clement spoke to BBC Radio Norfolk following Wednesday's 1-0 defeat at Southampton.

"We were the dominant team against a team in really good form - first half it was in the balance, but the second half was totally ours.

"In total, we had more ball possession, more shots on target, more chances than them, more passes, more corners and several clear chances and the goalkeeper played the game of his life.

"Those things happen in football but the way my team played was really impressive, for sure in the second half.

"It's a really good performance, but we don't have the result we deserve. We need to continue in every game trying to push for great performances like this. I'm not busy with the ranking [table], I'm busy getting the best out of this squad."

Norwich are away from home again in their next game on Saturday, when they travel to The Valley to face Charlton.