DELIA’S MASTERCHEFS

Even without big budget, Norwich prove once again they have the recipe for success

DARKNESS had fallen on the promotion party in the streets around Letsby Avenue, when fans serenaded Norwich owner Delia Smith with a refrain about playmaker

Emi Buendia.

And the domestic goddess, who will be 80 in June, joined in as if she was having a sociallydistanced sing-song behind the goal with the lads.

On the day an oligarch and an emirate’s vulgar wealth faced off at Wembley in a cup semi-final, the celebrations of a culinary goddess were the most gratifying scenes in football.

Good old Delia’s souffle always rises to the occasion and, in the Championship, the Canaries always seem to rise to the top.

Norwich City’s return to the penthouse is a lesson for clubs who spend, spend, spend until they meet a cliff edge – and for trigger-happy boards who respond to relegation by sacking the manager with a Venus fly-trap’s reflexes.

They are the club who got it right. And only the stoniest heart, or Old Farm rivals fallen on hard times over the Suffolk border, would begrudge Norwich another shot at the big time.

Top-scorer Teemu Pukki netted 30 goals when they won the Championship two years ago, and endured a 15game drought when they toppled through the drayman’s hatch last July, but the Finnish striker has responded with another 25 bullseyes.

He said: “When teams get relegated from the Premier League, it’s not often they go straight back up.

“What we have done is a great job and this team is something else. I still

have something to prove up there. I started last season all right but the end was tough for me, and for everybody at this club, so I have to prove to myself what I can do.”

In a triumph for Delia’s olive oil over a sheikh’s crude oil, Norwich beat Manchester City in 2019, but forgot to take points from teams around them at the bottom.

Pukki acknowledged: “That’s one thing for sure where we need to be better. But we have a great manager who has been remarkable at getting the best out of his team.

“I’m glad he is still here, and that is the difference in this club. We do things differently here.”

Canaries boss Daniel Farke will now go down in Norfolk legend as the man who climbed Everest twice.

Bournemouth sprayed graffiti over the yellow flag he planted at the Championship summit, but Farke (left) is already convinced his club is “better prepared” to handle the corporate minefield upstairs this time.

He said: “We won’t have to invest in the infrastructure, the academy or sorting out our financial problems again. And we don’t have to invest in order to extend our young players’ contracts.

“Last time, the only player who had any Premier League experience was Alex Tettey, but now we have a nucleus with at least one season at that level to their names.

“We will have to be spot-on with our planning because it will always be difficult for a self-funding club in the transfer market.

“We will work our socks off to give it a go, but it will still be an unbelievably difficult task and we’re big underdogs.”

This is Farke’s finest hour as a manager, and he agreed: “We are close to winning the title twice, which is a sign of quality. All things considered, I’m pretty pleased with this bounce-back... Ja, for that I’m in a good mood.” A brilliant early goal from Buendia (right) gave the party liftoff, but after Dimitris Giannoulis was harshly sent off, the Cherries picked off Farke’s 10 men through Sam Surridge, Arnaut Danjuma and Lloyd Kelly’s second-half goals.

That’s six wins on the spin for Bournemouth, who are virtually nailed-on for the play-offs, and Danjuma warned: “We believe in our quality. Norwich got promoted, but we beat them home and away, which shows we are up there as well.”

NORWICH: Krul 6, Aarons 6,

Hanley 7, Omobamidele 6,

Giannoulis 5, Skipp 7, Mclean

6, Buendia 8 (Hernandez 77),

Dowell 5 (Sorensen, 22, 6),

Cantwell 7 (Hugill 77), Pukki

8 (Placheta 55, 5).

BOURNEMOUTH: Begovic

6, Smith 7, Cook 6, Cartervickers 7, Kelly 7, Lerma 5

(Surridge, 46, 7), Pearson 5,

Billing 7, Brooks 7 (Stanislas

71), Solanke 6, Danjuma 9

(Stacey 90).