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Alan Gow’s time at Carrow Road coincided with some of the worst Norwich City woes of the current century, and Canaries fans were quite happy to see the back of him in the summer of 2009.

The Scottish striker was brought in to help fire the Norfolk side to safety in a miserable Championship season, but failed to find the net even once as his employers slumped into the third division for the first time in 49 years.

The Rangers loanee joined the club with plenty of promise, but failed to live up to the hype with a number of uninterested-looking performances that were synonymous with the malaise at Carrow Road at the time.

With five points separating the Canaries and safety fingers would have been pointed at their shot-shy striker, who only featured on the winning side just four times from his 13 appearances in yellow and green.

Alan Gow early career: Rangers, Blackpool, Norwich City

Gow was a player who had garnered quite the reputation in Scotland prior to his moves to the EFL, having found the net regularly for Airdrieonians and Falkirk to earn himself a move to Scottish giants Rangers in 2007.

The Glasgow side opted to loan the forward out to England for much of his time at Ibrox though, with a promising spell at Blackpool in the early part of the 08/09 season seeing him net five times in 17 league appearances for the Tangerines.

It looked likely that the goal-getter would remain at Bloomfield Road for the rest of the season and beyond, but with Blackpool stalling on a deal to sign him in the January, Norwich gazumped their counterparts to bring him to Norfolk.

It was evident from the get-go that Gow wasn’t the same player in yellow and green as he was in luminescent orange though, and the Scot failed to turn around the fortunes of a side low on confidence, and bare of ideas as they arrowed towards relegation.

Alan Gow Norwich City record

After a 3-3 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers on debut, the frontman wouldn’t play a part in a victory for his side until his fourth appearance; a 20-minute cameo in a 1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

Defeat to former club Blackpool then followed, which no doubt would have left Gow reminiscing on what he left behind in the north west, as his old side took the spoils thanks to goals from Brett Ormerod and Charlie Adam.

A 3-2 defeat at the hands of local rivals Ipswich Town rubbed salt into the wounds of Canaries fans as the Tractor Boys all but sealed their neighbours relegation to League One; with five defeats in their last six matches seeing them finish five points from safety.

Just when the side needed some added impetus in the January transfer window, they signed a player who looked more worried about making sure his fringe was aligned rather than trouble defenders, with his contributions becoming more and more minimal as the season went on.

Gow’s anonymous performances exemplified just how much of a struggle it was in Norfolk at that time, as a squad that consisted of the likes of Dejan Stefanovic, Adam Drury, David Marshall and Darel Russell dropped out of the second tier with a whimper.

A 7-1 defeat at the hands of Colchester United would follow for the Canaries on the opening day of the next season - a result which would see manager Bryan Gunn removed from his duties soon after - before Paul Lambert began the renaissance that would see them back in the Premier League within two years.

As for Gow: the Scot went from club to club hoping to regather some form in front of goal, with both Plymouth Argyle, Hibernian and Motherwell all taking him in, before another barren spell at Notts County.

14 goals in 58 games for Exeter City was seen as something as a triumph as he reached the end of his 20s, while Bristol Rovers, St Mirren, Stirling Albion and Queen’s Park will all be scratching their heads wondering what must have been in the Devon water after yet more lacklustre stints at each.

It will be no respite to Norwich fans that his lack of goalscoring was the case at most of his clubs though, and will have regretted beating Blackpool to his signature in that doomed transfer window.

Relegation battles call for players ready to fight for the cause, but Gow’s performance were anything but stoic in those last few weeks of the season, with the only relief being that it was a loan deal signed four months before, as he was sent hastily back to Glasgow without well wishes.