ED BALLS’S priority to secure Norwich’s Premier League future got off to a great start yesterday following their 2-0 victory over Aston Villa.

 

Labour’s former shadow chancellor was named chairman of the Canaries on Sunday and he would have been pleased by what he witnessed at Carrow Road.

 

Speaking at his unveiling before the match against Villa he said: “We’ve now been in the Premier League for four years out of five but I don’t think anybody yet feels our long-term future as a Premier League club is secure, that’s work which we still need to do.

 

“I never thought when I was six years old that I would be back here as the chair of what is known, certainly in the club, as the best football club in the world. 

 

“Everybody knows it’s a brilliantly well-run community club.

 

“I hope I can help in the transformation of the club, which is ongoing. I’ve been a supporter here for 40 years, and we’ve always been an up-and-down club.”

 

Up first for Balls is the upcoming transfer window. The club already know who they want to bring in next month but chief executive David McNally confirmed that Balls will be involved in the process.

 

“In the short term, as far as the transfer window is concerned, there is no change,” he said.

 

“Clearly Ed will be actively involved in discussions, but we aim to improve the squad every transfer window. We’ve been working very closely with Alex (Neil, Norwich’s manager).

 

“We’ve already made a start in that respect, with the permanent signing of Matt Jarvis [from West Ham], and we’ve been very active over the last few days so that we can hopefully bring someone in early in the window to help the current group.

 

“We’ve got arguably the best squad in our history so we need to bring in players who can improve upon the existing roster, and that’s hard, that’s the challenge.”

 

The squad were never in danger of losing to Aston Villa, who finish 2015 rooted to the bottom of the table with only eight points and one win after 19 games.

 

Goals from Jonny Howson and Dieumerci Mbokani leave Norwich with a total of 20 points, halfway to the tally usually required to avoid relegation.