Robert Earnshaw has vowed he will continue to rebuild his career after claiming he "would have had to turn water into wine" to gain any recognition from West Bromwich Albion manager Bryan Robson.

Earnshaw's ill-fated spell at Albion ended when the ex-Cardiff City striker moved on under a cloud of recrimination to Norwich City in January.

It ended a bitter spell for the Wales international at The Hawthorns, when he fell out constantly with Robson.

He spent numerous games on the bench and that lack of activity even threatened his Wales place with boss John Toshack telling the 25-year-old that he had to be playing more regularly.

Earnshaw will certainly get that with Wales over the next week with games against the Basque Country in Bilbao on Sunday, and World Cup qualifiers Trinidad and Tobago in Graz, Austria on May 27.

All this, and his £3.5 million move to Carrow Road where he scored eight goals in 15 games, is a welcome release for Earnshaw.

He says: "I don't even think about the relationship with Bryan Robson any more. It's gone. It wasn't fun but I would have had to turn water into wine to get into the team, not many people can do that.

"I scored a hat-trick at Charlton the previous season and then I was told I would be substitute the next game. That summed it all up, it was that day that I thought I should move on.

"That said it all, I knew then I would be going. The manager hardly ever spoke to me apart from criticising, that's how he is.

"But I don't want to think about it now. I am done with that and it's not my problem any more and I can get on with other things."

Earnshaw scored 105 goals in 205 games for Cardiff, and managed 17 in 48 for Albion, as well as nine in 23 for Wales, but he could never convince Robson he was a Premiership striker.

Earnshaw said: "I always felt that when I played at West Brom I scored. The criticism sometimes got personal but I wasn't hurt, I felt that if I was playing I would score but when I wasn't, how could I score?

"I've still got mates at West Brom, Nathan Ellington, Curtis Davies, Darren Carter, and I have talked to them since. I am gutted for them that they have been relegated, but it is not for me now to talk about West Brom.

"It's over, I have moved on and started scoring goals again for Norwich. I understand there will be new players coming in and I want to score the goals that takes them back to the Premiership."

He added: "Things have improved for me. I am settled on and off the pitch at Norwich. The Premier League is now my aim, I have nothing to prove because I showed I could score goals there, and that is where I want to be.

"At West Brom it was frustrating, I was just waiting to play and it wasn't happening. But I didn't allow myself to get too down, you know me, I'll have a laugh and joke and I'd soon be back to normal.

"I enjoyed playing when I did get into the team. It was different to Cardiff where I scored and played all the time, but the feeling that got me through was knowing when I did play I scored, and that was what I was signed to do.

"When I wasn't picked I couldn't score. I'd maybe scored in the last match I was picked for, even got a hat-trick, so I was left asking, 'Shouldn't I be playing?"'

Earnshaw now sees a couple of games for Wales as the perfect time to underline his value to Toshack.

He said: "Playing regularly at Norwich and scoring will all help me with Wales. These games are important because I want to play and score to impress the manager.

"It will be good to be playing alongside the new lads and they will want to make an impression straight away and show they can do it.

"You have to do that in training because people are watching you."