A look back over the season with an early look to the season ahead.

There's no doubting that this season was a real roller-coaster for City fans, we started with the permanent appointment of Neil Adams (despite having ZERO experience and almost deliberately trying to get us relegated whilst showing the board he could play for a draw against the likes of Chelsea when a win was needed), this lead to an opening day defeat against Wolves, followed by a strong run of results which saw us win 6 and draw 2 out of an 8 game run of form. However, this run of form couldn't continue and in fact abruptly ended with a poor 1-0 home defeat against Charlton and then dragged on for a 10 game period where we managed a single win and 4 draws.

There was another short upturn in form in December, with us winning 3 out of 4 games (including 5-0 and 6-1 results against Huddersfield and Millwall), only for this to be halted again with a home defeat against Reading just before the new year.

It was at this point that rumours began stating that the NCFC board were becoming very uneasy at Adams tenure and our somewhat worrying league position at the time, and thus before the inevitable axe could fall, Adams did the honourable thing and fell onto his own sword and resigned on the 5^th of Jan.

Rumours then abounded about who would be chosen as his replacement, names from across Europe, the UK leagues and even the unemployment centres were touted around, and then from seemingly out of nowhere the club appointed the relatively unknown Alex Neil from Hamilton Academicals, a 33 year old former Barnsley player with just 2 years experience under his belt as a manager!

I was sceptical at first, in fact I was downright rude at times in regards to the appointment (something I soon came to regret), and in truth I couldn't have got it more wrong.

Neil's appointment galvanised a squad that should have been challenging for one of the automatic promotion slots instead of dithering around in mid-table, into a side that looked capable of beating ANY team in the league when on song, and thus began an outstanding run of results where we lost just THREE games out of the next 25, culminating in a 3^rd place finish and victory in the play-off final against Boro. (Special mention should also go to stuffing Ipswich in the play-off semi-final, which I'm sure delighted their fans just as much as it did ours!).

It was a truly outstanding turnaround that Neil accomplished, and indeed many felt that he was just as worthy (if not more so) of winning the LMA manager of the year instead of Eddie Howe, certainly if we were to just base it on win %, then Neil would probably be rated as one of the best managers in Europe (if not the world), with an incredible 68% win rate since taking the helm at Norwich.

But as impressive as Neil's achievement has been, the work now has to start on the season to come. A return back to the Premier League's riches and crazy money means that squad improvement is going to be essential, and we cannot afford to have another high profile failure like we did last time with the signing of Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (who I still rate as a good player who was badly misused by Chris Hughton).

Notable departures include back left back Javier Garrido, 3^rd choice Goalkeeper Mark Bunn, veteran centre half Carlos Cuellar and 'pinemaster' Luciano Becchio. In all honesty, the only player we're likely to miss from those released is Garrido, as he offered unspectacular cover for Martin Olsson in the LB position, and the question here is whether Alex Neil is in the market for a new player in the position (I like the look of either Baba Abdul Rahman from Augsburg, or Arthur Masuaka from Olympiacos) or if he's going to show faith in young Harry Toffolo who's impressed for both the U21 team and whilst on loan at Swindon.

Indeed, it's not just the left back position that's come under scrutiny from fans, as over the season question marks have been raised about the ability of both Russell Martin as a centre back and Steven Whittaker in the right back position. It could certainly be argued that these concerns are somewhat strange considering that we finished with the 3^rd best defensive record in the league, yet I also share some of these concerns having seen some of the individual errors and mistakes that the players may get away with in the championship, that they won't in the Premier League.

Tottenham's young USA starlet DeAndre Yedlin is one of the main names linked with the RB position currently held by Whittaker, and this would certainly give us great competition in the slot as well as offering us incredible pace down that side.

In the middle of defence however, far less names are floating around, and although most fans would agree that a strong, ball playing centre back should be one of the main targets on Neil's shopping list, and whilst there are good young players out there like Niklas Sule, Terence Kongolo and Jonathan Tah, it's likely that experience will be preferable, with suggestions like Younes Kaboul being high on many supporters own suggestion lists.

We have already made two signings so far, by spending 4 million to make Graham Dorrans loan move permanent, and we've also signed his West Brom teammate Youssouf Mulumbu on a free transfer. I think both represent excellent value for money and undoubtedly improve our squad depth in the middle of the park, indeed Mulumbu will offer much needed cover and competition for Alex Tettey who has been one of our stand out players for the past couple of years, but who has struggled with injuries on occasion.

With Jonny Howson, Gary O'Neil and the fully fit again Vadis Odidja-Ofoe, the centre of the pitch looks relatively well covered, but sadly this isn't so much the case when moving out wide.

Clearly the key player here is England U21 superstar Nathan Redmond, who's continued improvement and superb performances for both club and country are likely to have one of the bigger names in football come knocking sooner rather than later. Indeed should Raheem Sterling leave Liverpool to join Man City, early rumours suggest that a 15-20 million pound bid from Liverpool would likely be forthcoming for Redmond's signature – a move that we seriously don't want to happen.

All this waxing lyrical about Redmond however shouldn't overshadow the player who quite rightly won this years Player of the Season – Bradley Johnson. Make no mistake, I've slated Johnson's passing accuracy and technical attributes ever since he signed for the club (whilst respecting his work rate, desire and attitude), but his movement out towards the left hand side combined with vastly improved shooting accuracy has made Johnson almost undroppable for us, and indeed his 15 goal haul from midfield is one of the key factors of our immediate premiership return, and full credit has to be given to the guy for this.

The problem comes when one of these two wide players becomes injured/suspended, leaving us looking VERY thin on the ground with replacements. Former Brighton winger Elliot Bennett has managed just a handful of games in the last 2 years due to injury and being out of favour, the young Murphy brothers whilst possessing clear potential are simply not ready for premier league football in my honest opinion, and Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty has never convinced in a wing role and is likely to be moved on anyway in the next month or so.

Reports linking Swansea's Nathan Dyer with a move east look to be little more than idle gossip at this stage, and despite my own personal preference, I have to admit that it's doubtful that Man Utd will allow us to bring Adnan Januzaj in on anything but a loan (if at all), yet surely this would solve much of the wing issues, with the player being comfortable on both wings as well as having the potential to provide cover in a more traditional no 10 position for the gracefully ageing Wes Hoolahan.

Alex Neil's own signing from former side Hamilton, Tony Andreu has failed to convince at all in the limited minutes he's played, but at the minute he appears to be off the pace and not physically strong enough to cope with the level he's moved to, but there's still plenty of time for this to change going forwards.

Speaking of forwards, this is the position that I think EVERY fan is concerned about.

Cameron Jerome is moving back into the prem after his best ever goalscoring season, yet it's not unreasonable to question his ability to maintain his excellent form, having previously failed to do so when playing at that level for Stoke, Birmingham and Crystal Palace. I think we've seen the player that Stoke and Birmingham fans knew was in there, but couldn't seem to consistently appear, and if Alex Neil can keep Jerome focused and scoring, it looks like one of the bargain signings of the season (something to thank Neil Adams for I guess...)

Beyond this you have the unknown quantity of Lewis Grabban at this level, and seeing as how I question his finishing ability at a lower level, I have serious concerns about what he can do in the prem. Indeed I can easily see Grabban becoming the new Simeon Jackson – great effort, great work rate, but not enough goals or quality to justify a regular place.

We also have a different option available in Gary Hooper, a player with clear finishing ability and good movement, but who simply doesn't fit into the target man role that Neil likes to play ahead of a midfield 5. Whilst there may be some merit in suggesting a more withdrawn role playing off Jerome or Grabban, it's clear that a front two is something that Alex Neil doesn't favour unless we're chasing a game near the end, when it could be 2, 3 or even 4 upfront!

I've also got to address the elephant in the room, and that's record signing Ricky Van Wolfsinkel. Loaned out to St. Etienne for the season with a view to a permanent move afterwards, the 'Wolf' has failed to impress his French suitors and returns to Carrow Road uncertain of what the future holds. Talk has been mentioned of a return to Sporting Lisbon – the club we signed him from and where his best goalscoring years were found, and indeed this would seem a sensible move for the player, to return to a club where he knows he can score and where the fans still love him. Personally I'd like to see what he can do under a manager that isn't trying to play him in completely the wrong way in an utterly negative, defensive fashion, but much like Hooper, he simply doesn't seem to fit into the style of play that Alex Neil is expected to utilise again this season, leaving him as little more than a very expensive bench warmer.

That leaves us looking at potentially signing a left back, centre back, right back, left winger, right winger and 2 strikers – not a cheap shopping list when you have a fund of approx 25-30 million and are looking to improve on what you already have rather than simply find decent cover options.

Due to their very nature, most of the time the lion's share of that expenditure would be expected to be on a striker, and whilst options like Charlie Austin provide a proven threat at this level, they come at a huge price, and one which I think we can avoid.

We may have been slightly burnt on the Van Wolfswinkel deal, but I firmly believe that the continent is the place to shop when it comes to strikers. Indeed, sides like West Ham and Swansea have shown what's possible with signings like Sakho and Bony, and it's simply down to Neil and the scouting team to get out there and see what they can find to fit the bill.

We've also already been heavily linked with Mulumbu's DR Congo teammate Dieumerci Mbokani, and if we really wanted to look for a proven premier league striker with great experience, then surely we need to look no further than Dimitar Berbatov who's been released by Monaco and is apparently looking for a move back to England. Clearly wages would be massive, and he'd probably expect a multi-million pound signing on fee (much like Swansea have reportedly paid nearly £6 million to Andre Ayew who they've signed this summer on a 'free' transfer), but at least you're getting a proven entity with undoubted quality and who has never relied on pace to perform – hence his advancing age is less of an issue that it would be for a player like Walcott for example.

It's early days on the transfer side of things and we're all waiting expectantly to see which players walk into Colney over the next month or so, but with the core squad that's taken us back up, an outstanding young manager with the desire and hunger to perform with the very best, and a few shrewd signings thrown into the mix, I'm very confident that we can not only stay up this season, but kick on from there and truly establish ourselves back in the top flight again.

The man who went for a keyboard and came back with a duck...

Like most PC users, I've typed on and used a variety of different keyboards over the years, from the ancient 'Buckling Spring' type keyboard that came with my old 486 DX/66 PC, all the way through to more modern 'Rubber Dome' options with 'Scissor' keys, so when my keyboard started to get a bit worse for wear, I knew that there were numerous options out there to consider as a replacement.

The keyboard in question that needed replacing was a Saitek Eclipse that I'd had for just over a year or so. Enticed in by the fully backlit keyboard, LCD number pad and sale price on Amazon, it was chosen as a replacement for the previous Logitech KB740 that my wife had bought me some 3-4 years before (I really liked the keyboard but it started developing problems and sadly also became gummed up with something).

In comparison to the Logitech, the Saitek was just nowhere near as nice to use, in less than a year there were numerous keys where the lettering had flaked off, the LCD number pad that had initially helped draw me in proved to be terrible in comparison to using standard keys, the drivers never seemed to work properly meaning that I had to unplug and re-plug the keyboard in every time the PC was booted in order for the numpad to actually light up, and it simply felt much cheaper than the Logitech (which in truth it was).

Determined this time around to not get stuck with another sub-par keyboard, I decided to put in the hours of research that would hopefully help prevent another purchase like the Saitek (I'm sure their other stuff is quite nice, but the keyboard was a real let down in this case).

The first question that came up was whether or not to stick with the more common 'Rubber Dome' type keyboards used by the majority of people which uses small domes of rubber to push down onto a membrane over a circuit board to identify when a key is pressed (chances are that if you buy a keyboard for less than £50, it's going to be one of these), or to instead go for a 'Mechanical' keyboard where there's a direct switch in each key that will 'Actuate' when pressed.

Oddly enough, around 20-30 years ago, the majority of keyboards WERE Mechanical, with many typists still having fond memories of their old IBM Model M boards (that some still use today), but the advantage of the newer membrane boards was price – they are MUCH cheaper to manufacture compared to mechanical options and for a large percentage of users, they simply don't care that much about how a keyboard is made to pay more than a bare minimum to do the job, hence why mechanical boards had fallen somewhat out of fashion.

The past 5-6 years however have seen a resurgence of mechanical keyboards, often aimed either at the gaming market or for typists who are unsatisfied with the way membrane boards feel.

The decision is not actually that straightforward either, as there are people on both sides of the keyboard fence who will fight their corner to the bitter end about which choice is better, with arguments raging about number of macro functions, placement of keys, even the material of the key caps being used to try to gain an advantage in the debate.

Personally I think it simply comes down to personal choice, there are good and bad points about both types of boards and I very much believe that if you've tried both types and don't have an obvious preference after using them, then you should arguably go for the cheapest board that feels comfortable and not give a damn what anyone else thinks.

In my case, having used membrane boards for the past 7-10 years I've found their lifespan to be a key issue here, with many boards simply not performing anywhere near well enough after a relatively short space of time and requiring replacement within a few years - something that tends not to be an issue with mechanical boards due to their higher price and frequently stronger build quality.

After much to-ing and fro-ing I decided to go down the mechanical route this time.

The next major decision was what type of switches I wanted in my keyboard.

Whilst there are a variety of different switch types available (such as Buckling Spring, ALPS, Topres etc) the most common type found tend to be 'Cherry MX' switches, which come in a number of different colours all of which have their own specific features and responses, and this was the switch type I focused on.

There are around approx 7-9 different colour types of Cherry switches, but out of these there are really 4 main colours that you'll find in the majority of boards – Red, Black, Blue and Brown.

Both the Blue and Brown switches feature 'tactile' feedback, that is, that they give a slight 'bump' feeling at the point that they key actuates, with the Blues being firmer than the Browns whilst also providing a distinctive 'clicking' noise at the same time, whilst the Browns are silent at this point.

The Red and Black switches are 'linear', and unlike the Blue or Brown switches, they feature no bump at the actuation point and are both relatively quiet, with the key difference being the amount of pressure needed to activate the switch with the Blacks requiring more than the Reds.

One of the commonly heard things at this point is that certain switches are only really good for certain things, e.g. if your focus is purely on typing you should go ideally with the Blue switches or maybe the Browns, whereas for gamers that require quick key presses, then the Red or Brown will likely be the optimal choice (Browns are very much a middle ground between Blue and Red). Personally I again feel that this comes down to personal taste, in that I've seen plenty of people saying that they love typing on Red switches and hated Blues, and also that some 'Pro' gamers use Blue switches rather than Reds in a number of games...

I however immediately discounted the Blue switches because of their inherent clicking noise and general loudness in use along with their firmer activation point and bump. I also ruled out the Black switches after hearing a number of reports from people saying that they felt fatigued when using the keys for long periods due to their harder actuation pressure requirements.

This left me with a direct choice between Brown and Red switches, and in truth I must have spent 3-4 days agonising over which would likely be the best choice for my requirements. In truth I could have done either way, but in the end decided that because the majority of my time was spent gaming (either on World of Tanks or numerous FPS/TPS games) with occasional typing thrown in, that I would go with the Red switches over the Browns.

At this point you'd probably think that most of the hard work would be done, but then you enter the next minefield in regards to keyboard manufacturer, size and style of keyboard, prices, reliability, accessibility and even things like lighting and key placement!

After more research there were around 6-10 different manufacturers who consistently got good feedback and reviews for comfort of use, build quality and longevity and it was simply a case of narrowing the search down from there.

The easiest step here was to focus first on my budget which at £70 removed probably 5-6 manufacturers straight-away as even their more budget friendly options were outside my reach (which lead to the removal from consideration of very well regarded and popular names like Filco and Das Keyboard).

I also sadly had to remove Rosewill from my options due to not being able to find a UK supplier and simply not wanting the hassle of importing from the US (or having a US layout board either). Frankly, I think this is a major oversight on Rosewill's part as I'm sure there would be strong interest from the UK market in their products, but clearly this is not part of their current thoughts and thus I looked elsewhere.

I also removed all options that didn't provide a full 104 key layout, which removed 'TKL' or 'Ten Key Less' options (basically the numpad is removed) from the equation, and due to the budget restrictions the LED back lighting also had to make way (as I don't type in total darkness anyway and know my way round the keyboard regardless it was simply a nice 'extra').

In the end it came down to a choice between two suppliers – Cooler Master, and Ducky.

Cooler Master's offering was the CM Storm Quickfire XT, whereas Ducky were providing the DK2108 'Zero'.

Both are well regarded manufacturers, both boards look to be well built and likely to do a good job for my requirements, but in the end the stronger reputation of the Ducky along with what I felt was a slightly better key layout and key font decided the issue, and the DK2108 was duly ordered.

It arrived today, and in fact this whole article is written using it, and so far I have to say that I'm VERY impressed with it. It's definitely taking a bit of time to adjust to, having using membrane boards for the past decade, but the smoothness and accuracy of the key presses, the comfortable layout and even the lovely sound the board makes whilst typing is a genuine improvement on the previous boards.

I've had no problems so far whilst gaming either (even if it's just been approx 2 hours on WoT), and getting rid of the 'mushy' feeling I got from the other membrane boards is absolutely an improvement.

I also have no regrets about ordering the Red switches either, and whilst it would be unfair to dismiss the Brown switches having never used them, I can't see how I'd genuinely prefer the tactile bump in the majority of applications, nor would I want to give up the absolute smoothness of the Red keys either. Maybe at some point in the future I'll get round to giving a Brown switch board a good test, but for now I'm perfectly happy with the decision to go with the Reds.

I'm also not going to go into further detail on the Ducky board because there are already numerous reviews out there that will probably convey the necessary information better, and more accurately than I would, focusing on key features etc, but I certainly wouldn't hesitate to recommend the board to anyone currently on the hunt for a new mechanical board themselves.

The price clearly ISN'T cheap, and I'm fairly sure that there's probably a number of people sat there shaking their heads in disgust and shock at the thought of someone spending £70 on a keyboard, when they're perfectly happy with the £5 budget board they picked up at their local retailer (e.g. Asda/Walmart), but so far I think it's worth paying the extra for.

The build quality is excellent, with strong, thick plastic throughout. and on a bizarre and relatively irrelevant side note, this is vastly more reassuring to have to hand in the event of a zombie outbreak than the £5 budget special would be!

Considering that I've probably paid close to £75 on the previous two boards over the past 4-5 years, then assuming the Ducky lasts that long, I've certainly not lost out financially, plus I'll have had the benefit of a nicer, more accurate and more comfortable board in the meantime.