NORWICH (AFP) - Former West Ham and Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder returned to football on Tuesday as the new manager of struggling Championship club Norwich City.

The 51-year-old has been given a two and a half year contract with the Canaries, who sacked Peter Grant earlier this month after a dismal start to the season which has left the club bottom of the second tier of English football.

Grant's former assistant, Jim Duffy, who had acted as a caretaker manager, has also left the club.

Roeder faces a tough baptism with local rivals Ipswich due at Carrow Road on Sunday for his first game in charge.

The former Newcastle centreback has been out of football since being sacked by Newcastle in May after just over a year in charge.

Previously Roeder had guided West Ham to a seventh place finish in the Premiership in 2001/02.

He left the east London club at the end of the following season after undergoing neurosurgery near the end of a campaign which ended in relegation.