0 2

WHEN the fi nal whistle blew, Alex Neil’s staff swamped the Scot and lifted him into the air.

It was not diffi cult, he is a diminutive fi gure. But what he has achieved at Norwich in four- and- a- half months is no small matter.

The Canaries won promotion back to the Premier League after just a year away with a dominating performance at Wembley.

Goals from Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond beat a gallant but ultimately outplayed Middlesbrough, as the yellow tide swamped the stadium on and off the pitch. Alan Partridge would have been proud.

Norwich landed the £ 120 million bonanza – and in all honesty there was little doubt about it in a onesided play- off fi nal.

There was no “Where are ya?” this time from Delia Smith – her people were all present and correct on and off the pitch yesterday. And this was all about Neil anyway.

Neil arrived in January with Norwich seventh in the table and fading fast. The former Hamilton manager, largely unknown south of the border, outside Barnsley and Mansfi eld, transformed the club by sheer force of personality.

Neil, only 33, is a compulsive fi gure on the sidelines. He plays every ball, constantly cajoling and berating his charges. No player rests.

They were bright and sharp from the off and simply had too much for Boro, who arrived at the stadium only 50 minutes before kick- off because of traffi c problems and never got going.

All of Norwich’s starting XI had played Premier League football. Eight were in the team that went down a year ago. They simply had too much nous for a Boro side who looked a callow shadow of themselves.

The big- money match turned into a cakewalk for the Canaries and their young manager.

The last time Norwich won at Wembley was in the 1985 League Cup fi nal, when they beat Sunderland 1- 0.

Neil then was two years from starting school. He began the season with Hamilton beating Arbroath in front of 730 fans in the Scottish League Cup. Where he will be next August is almost mind- boggling, but he does not lack self- belief.

For Aitor Karanka and Boro it was agony, and now Jose Mourinho’s pal has to go away and think again – although he promised he would stay at the club and have another go.

Norwich showed their intent after eight minutes when Bradley Johnson pounced on Dean Whitehead’s weak header and rattled the bar with a volley.

Boro went to the other end and when Patrick Bamford laid the ball off, Jelle Vossen cracked the angle with his drive. That was as good as it got for the Teesiders. Three minutes later Jerome robbed the slack Daniel Ayala and bore down on goal. He slipped the ball past Dimitrios Konstantopoulos from a tight angle that again should not have been allowed. It was a disaster of a goal.

Worse was to come. Three minutes later Steven Whittaker played in Redmond down the right. He slipped past a dozing Ben Gibson and shot low into the far corner.

Karanka did manage to instil some improvement after half- time as Boro fought back, but Bamford was clearly struggling with an ankle problem and they had little power up front.

Ayala headed over and Bamford shot straight at John Ruddy as they rallied, but Norwich were rarely troubled.

Neil had said before the game that while Karanka had Mourinho – who he worked with at Real Madrid – to call for advice, the only person he had was his mum, who was there yesterday.

Turned out he didn’t need the Special Mum.

MIDDLESBROUGH ( 4- 4- 2):

Booked: NORWICH ( 4- 5- 1):

Goals: Referee:

really