Clifton All Whites | FC

Just why Norwich had such a grip is hard even for Darren to explain. 'The actual city is a lovely place, there is not the frantic hustle and bustle of a Leeds or Manchester and the club, supporters and players are just so nice to be around.'

Having battled through what I call a major traffic jam to meet him at a discreet - and expensive - Norwich City bar (it was coffee by the way and he paid!), I did not wholly agree about there not being too much traffic.

Almost every footballer has as tale of shattered illusions, adversity and, hopefully, progress to greater heights. Since I first saw him play as a wispy flash of lightning second striker to his old mate Dion Dublin at Coventry, I have been a Huckerby admirer but I find myself a touch at odds with the title of his book 'Hucks - Through Adversity to Great Heights'.

I have no quibble with adversity which began when he reached 14. At which age his home town club would have been expected to offer him a contract, but they didn-t and he finished up a YTS lad playing for Lincoln for £27.50 a week. At 17 it jumped to £90 a week as a first team regular then suddenly it was Newcastle United and the big time.

Newcastle, under Kevin Keegan, were just coming out of a serious slump down near the bottom of Division Two. Lincoln got half a million pounds out of the deal, Huckerby declares that at £400 a week he ended up with very little more spare cash than when he was at Lincoln, since he had a flat and a car to pay for.

'I was always confident about my own ability,' he told me as we drank our coffee, 'but I had to recognise that Newcastle were signing big names for big money. Les Ferdinand and David Ginola for instance were in the millions of pounds and no manager was going to leave them on the bench so that a 20 year old could get a game.'

He got just one game for the Geordies and a handful for Millwall on loan before coming under the Gordon Strachan wing at Coventry.

'Gordon was a hard task master but he really wanted to make me better player, he really cared' Huckerby told me. 'So much so that when he was the manager he reckons he subbed himself so that he didn't end up strangling me!'

Gordon was the father figure Huckerby needed at this time and possibly the best thing he ever did for Darren was to pair him up with Dion Dublin, a partnership which also had a wonderful late second blooming at Carrow Road.

In the foreword to Darren's book, Dublin says, 'You always knew what you were going to get. He was never going to tackle, never going to track back. He was completely useless when it came to defending but you always knew he would create something going forward.'

Hucks doesn't quarrel with that assessment. 'You can only play the way you are as a person' he declared, dishing up a second cup of coffee at top speed without spilling a drop. 'I started off as a skinny kid with attitude but it wasn't long before I realised I could, and must, develop speed and strength, and I put hours and hours into gym work and extra training.'

Huckerby's career seemed to be very much on the up when he went to big-spending Leeds, but 40 games and two goals does not look earth-shattering on the CV. Part of the 'Great Heights' of the title is being signed by big clubs, but big clubs usually have two players for every position and if Huckerby's highly individual style did not fit a particular game plan he could find himself all too often kicking the back of the subs seat in front of him, rather than the ball on the field of play.

Then there were the nagging injuries, not spectacular but debilitating. True, he has scored in every existing English and European club competition. That means goals in every division of the English League, the FA Cup, the League Cup, the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and the Auto Windscreens Trophy. Great stuff, but just one game for England B is not a true reflection of his ability.

At Norwich Hucks found his true home. His style of play was just what City wanted and the fans loved him, but the injuries were taking their toll. Then came the day when Glen Roeder, with little or no sensibility, told him that his time was up. Darren had been smiling a lot during our talk but his face darkened at the mention of Glen Roeder.

'He was not a bad manager, but in my view he was a bad man manager.' Huckerby played on in America where the game was less demanding, but eventually had to face up to a life outside football. Outside? Well maybe not. He took the trouble to take all his coaching badges, but that might mean a move and one feels it will take a great deal to charm him away from the region which he loves and where he is loved in return. Currently he is busy running his charitable trust and having a match day role at Carrow Road.

He knows that one day he will have to face a big decision but one has already been made. I asked, 'Would you want your boys to be footballers?' He said: 'Only if they are really good. It is no life scrapping around in the lower divisions.'

As for Norwich City, he says with a tinge of regret, 'They will have to change if they want to stay in the top division. Currently they are a super group with a great manager, but I fear they will have to take a gamble on spending big if they want a permanent place at the top table of football.'

Rather like the gamble they and Darren Huckerby both took those eight years ago. That turned out pretty well.

You can purchase his book from his site for just £18.99