HEAVYWEIGHT Saints fan Steve Bull is on a diet - but still loves Norwich City director and super cook Delia Smith.

He has a message for the celebrity chef as she heads for the south coast today: "You're not going back to Cardiff!"

Thirty stone Bull began a Weight Watcher's diet at the turn of the year after spending Christmas tucking into Delia's Chocolate Yuletide Log.

"That's my favourite Delia Smith recipe," said 21-year-old Steve, who was tipping Saints to beat Delia's Canaries 2-1 in the FA Cup fifth round at St Mary's this afternoon which was expected to attract another 30,000-plus crowd.

Cup fever is starting to sweep the city again after live televised wins over Tottenham and Millwall and a victory today would give Saints a passage into the last eight of the world's most famous club knockout competition.

Then they would be just two more wins away from booking a dream FA cup final trip to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in May - 27 years after Saints last reached the final.

Steve, who lives with his parents in Holbury, added: "I think Delia's great for football. She seems like a nice woman and likes her cooking. I certainly do.

"I always try and watch her cooking programmes, especially at Christmas, but I'm not a good cook myself. I leave that to my mum, my dad and my sister."

While Steve is dreaming of a first visit to Cardiff, Delia and Co suffered the agony of losing last season's First Division play-off final against Birmingham City on penalties.

Despite defeat, she admitted that it was one of the most memorable days of her life.

The 60-year-old cooking star, who has sold over 11 million books, joined the Norwich board of directors in 1996 along with husband and lifelong Canaries fan Michael Wynn-Jones, the pubisher of Sainsbury's own magazine.

It is believed the duo have pumped around £6m into keeping Norwich afloat, and Delia has revamped the three restaurants at the club's Carrow Road ground. Last year they returned a £700,000 profit.

This coming summer the club are pulling down a stand and replacing it with an 8,000 all-seater structure with a hotel in the corner containing Delia's culinary school of excellence.

Delia might not be the only famous face in the Saints director's box this afternoon - she regularly brings along Weakest Link host Anne Robinson and Norfolk-born actor Stephen Fry to Norwich games.

But, according to Norwich Evening News reporter Rick Waghorn, Delia is certainly no publicity-seeker.

"She's already got her profile," he said. "She seems to look upon the club and the players, certainly the younger ones, as a quasi-family of sorts.

"I went on a club tour of Scotland one year and on a Tuesday night at Clyde she was there with her mother and her husband - that says something."

Saints boss Gordon Strachan is another Delia fan: "Ideally she would turn up for Valentine's Day, do the cooking and then I could pretend it was me," he quipped.