Norwich City didn't get the same player that Man City and Newcastle United had: View | OneFootball

Norwich City fans will have been rightly buzzing when Antoine Sibierski joined them on loan from Wigan Athletic at the start of the 2008-09 Championship season, given his exploits in the Premier League previously - but it's fair to say they didn't get the same player that Newcastle and Manchester City had enjoyed.

Their fourth consecutive season in the Championship, Norwich had been flirting with relegation ever so slightly following ninth, 16th and 17th-placed finishes in the second-tier, though there didn't appear to be too much danger on the cards despite only finishing three points above the drop zone the season prior.

ibierski was brought in, and whilst he endured a superb start to his career in East Anglia, that quickly turned sour.

Many thought that Sibierski would be the kind of player to spring Norwich back into the play-off shout, but those wishes fell on deaf ears - and it left many wondering what could have been.

The French midfielder had impressed massively in Manchester upon his move to City from Lens in 2003, and by the time his spell at Wigan had ended, he’d featured in over 150 Premier League games for the Greater Manchester duo and Newcastle, scoring 18 goals.

The Canaries were in the Championship at the time of his loan in the summer, and he got off to a perfect start after scoring from a free-kick on his debut against Plymouth, to record Norwich’s first win of the season in the second tier.

But from September onwards, Sibierski was not up to scratch under Glenn Roeder - who had managed the French attacking midfielder at St. James' Park.

With Norwich only recording six more wins in his loan spell at Carrow Road, it was a season to forget in the east of England as the club suffered relegation to League One for the first time in half a century, with Sibierski having nowhere near the desired impact the Canaries faithful would have hoped he would.

The Frenchman started in his first six games for Norwich, and in eight of his first ten, where he scored and grabbed an assist in a 2-1 win over Doncaster.

But making just four appearances through November, December and half of January, it proved to be one of his final appearances in professional football before retiring.

Joining Manchester City from Lens as a 29-year-old and having spent all of his career in France up until that point, it was unknown as to how well Sibierski would fare in his time up north - though he immediately became a solid option with a series of robust displays.

Again scoring on his debut, Sibierski was a squad player in his first season - but though he scored seven goals for the Citizens in his first campaign, he was released in 2006.

It was at Newcastle, however, where he had his best campaign in English football. Surprisingly clinical in front of goal, he notched four goals in seven European games and when reverted to striker following injuries to their attacking contingency, he ended up with eight goals in 39 games for the Tyneside outfit, alongside five assists.

Whilst his time at Wigan and Norwich wasn't entirely Sibierski at his best, he did enough for two of England's most notorious clubs to be held in high regard by both - earning the nickname 'Super Sib' from the St. James' Park faithful thanks to his goalscoring streak in his only campaign in the North East.