Norwich City, deep in relegation trouble and yet to win at home, are turning into one of the stories of the Championship season as their expensively assembled squad continues to flounder – Phil Harris and Connor Southwell tried to unpick the mess for us.
I looked at Norwich's squad in the summer with Liam Manning and thought play-off potential, and here you are five points adrift in the relegation zone, we'll get into specifics but just generally what on earth is going on?
PH: It’s a slow-motion car crash, several years in the making, which shows no sign of coming to a halt and which may well end with relegation to the third tier for only the second time in our history. Right now, beyond the "surely too good to go down” platitudes of observers who don’t observe too closely, there is actually very little evidence to suggest that this squad has the ability, desire or confidence to win another game this season, let alone the dozen or so that we will need at the very least to lift ourselves up to the dizzy heights of 20th.
Should we have seen this coming? Perhaps it’s been there in plain sight all along. From the moment that Daniel Farke was sacked by Stuart Webber, immediately following a 2-1 Premier League victory at Brentford in 2021, it’s probably safe to say that the club has got almost every major decision it’s needed to make spectacularly wrong. The current state of the club, which goes far beyond on-field matters, reflects four idiocy-packed years of poor to non-existent leadership, a slopy-shouldered abdication of responsibility and accountability from whoever the actual fuck is in charge, and a complete unwillingness or inability to take the decisive action needed to turn things round.
"What on earth is going on?” We would love to know.
CS: How long have you got? No, seriously, how long have you got?!
We have to rewind back to 2021 and the sacking of Daniel Farke, which came minutes after a Premier League victory away at Brentford. Their first of the campaign which followed a poor start to the season. It wasn’t just the German that left Norwich that day, but also their entire strategy that helped win them two titles. Farke was the frontman, but behind him was a support network, led by sporting director Stuart Webber, that put Norwich ahead of the curve. Savvy recruitment, strong academy pathways and a distinct style of play.
Norwich didn’t hold their nerve. It wasn’t necessarily just sacking Farke, but their shift in project has kickstarted this rapid slide. Dean Smith replaced him and failed. David Wagner came next and led them to the top six but never won hearts during his stint in charge. A new sporting director arrived in Ben Knapper and wanted his own man – enter Johannes Hoff Thorup as part of a bigger project. He was gone in ten months despite wider messaging discussing a three-year plan.
Then they poached Liam Manning. Another four-year contract. Gone after 17 games as the shortest serving City boss in history. Now Philippe Clement is attempting to make something of the wreckage. It’s a huge job.
In short – it’s been a period of flip-flopping between coaches and approaches, not sticking to a strategy and constant own goals – none more than selling your most creative midfielder to your biggest rivals. Did I mention they’ve spent £55m in the process? It’s been an unedifying mess.
Norwich in the league so far…
Norwich 1-2 Millwall Sargent 55 – Neghli 51, Langstaff 83
Portsmouth 1-2 Norwich Segecic 84 – Darling 6, Sargent 14
Norwich 1-2 Boro Sargent 85 – Azaz 43, Conway 45
Blackburn 0-2 Norwich Sargent pen 45, 90
Coventry 1-1 Norwich Wright 90 – Kvistgaarden 17
Norwich 2-3 Wrexham Stacey 39, Makama 90 – Windass 47, 59, Longman 54
Stoke 1-1 Norwich Thomas 48 – Makama 26
Norwich 0-1 West Brom Maja 20
Ipswich 3-1 Norwich Kipre 32, Philogene 44, Clarke 77 – Schwartau 35
Norwich 0-1 Bristol City Sykes 73
Derby 1-0 Norwich Ozoh 55
Swansea 2-1 Norwich Vipotnik 6, 69 – Makama 42
Norwich 0-2 Hull Gelhardt 49, Gyabi 87
Sheff Wed 1-1 Norwich Bannan 4 – Kvistgaarden 61
Norwich 1-2 Leicester Kvistgaarden 62 – Cordova-Reid 75, James 90
Birmingham 4-1 Norwich Ducksch 3, 44, Stansfield 21, 54 – Kvistgaarden 33
Norwich 1-1 Oxford Makama 29 – Krastev 90
Summer transfer window, the good and the bad, what was done, what was left undone?
PH: Well, the ‘good’ won’t take very long on current evidence. Given our relative and proud parsimony over the years, this summer was quite the spending spree, bringing in a range of what appeared to be genuinely useful operators, playing at a decent standard around Europe. Goalkeeper Vladan Kovačević from Sporting Lisbon, centre back Jakov Medić from Ajax, Serbian international Mirko Topić and lively wide-man Papa Amadou Diallo from Metz were among a number of signings who appeared to arrive with a certain degree of pedigree and were possibly a step up from the younger, less-seasoned signings which typified the policy 12 months previously at the start of Johannes Hoff Thorup’s (ahem) three-year project. Danish prospects Mathias Kvistgaarden and Pelle Mattson added to a sense of genuine optimism and the capture of experienced Swansea defender Harry Darling, plus former Palace star Jeffrey Schlupp, gave the window a fairly positive feel.
However, having already sold the mercurial Borja Sainz to Porto, the late departure of Marcelino Nunez to Ipswich went down like a bag of sick with supporters who had not seen a similar move by an active Norwich players since John Deehan headed down the A140 in 1986. And as the dust settled, it was clear that none of the signings would be able to replace Nunez’s particular abilities and the absence of a midfield string-puller to complement the more industrious Mattson and Topic could become a real issue. A recruitment failure. As the season got underway, fears were realised with stuttering disjointed performances the order of the day and plans, if such things ever existed, appearing to fall apart. Duplication in certain positions and absences in others saw a number of players out of position more often than not and an air of confusion inherent. It simply hasn’t gone away (yet).
The bright spots have been Jovon Makama, a young, beefy front man brought in from Lincoln City, and the aforementioned Kvistgaarden who, when not injured, has started to find his feet. Otherwise, for reasons it is genuinely difficult to fathom, the vast majority of signings have proven to be woefully shy of the quality and chops needed to play at this level. Whether this is about the overall balance of the team, the insidiousness of eroding confidence - which can be hard to turn - or coaching/fitness, is hard to tell. Either way, this is absolutely on the sporting director… more of him later.
CS: At the time, most of a yellow and green persuasion were happy with the business. Keeping Josh Sargent at the club felt like the biggest bit of business, the American turned down the opportunity to return to the Bundesliga (poor Josh…).
On paper, Norwich had made some interesting additions. The signing of Mathias Kvistgaarden from Brondby felt like a massive coup after fighting off some fierce competition from European contenders for his signature after finding a seemingly hidden release clause, Vladan Kovacevic joined from Sporting, Jakov Medic from Ajax and Jacob Wright converted an impressive loan stint into a permanent move.
Norwich spent big in the process and the feeling was, under Manning, that they could have a real tilt at pushing for a spot towards the top end of the division. How wrong we all were.
There has some been good work. Jovon Makama, who looks like he was grown in a lab, has impressed after signing from Lincoln. Kvistgaarden looks a very talented player but has struggled for fitness.
But this is an unbalanced squad. There is very little pace or creativity and a selection of identikit midfielders means they have lacked control, thrust or energy in the middle of the pitch.
Norwich have aggressively pursued a strategy of spending big on talented young players from overseas. Individually, there are some talented options in the squad, but they are yet to show signs of being capable of linking together as a side.
There is a high percentage of players who are either in year one or two of Championship football – they are not just being asked to adapt to the level but to thrive, and too many have fallen short. Norwich don’t have a nucleus of solid performers or capable experienced options to support those who have come from overseas.
That’s before you consider the holes in the squad. Lack of pace. No creative midfielders. Slow central defensive options. One fit winger. It’s just all a bit unbalanced.
Ins >>> Mathias Kvistgaarden, 23, CF, Brondby, £7m >>> Papa Amadou Diallo, 21, LW, Metz, £4m >>> Mirko Topic, 24, DM, Famalicao, £3m >>> Pelle Mattsson, 24, CM, Silkeborg, £3m >>> Jacob Wright, 19, CM, Man City, £2.5m >>> Vladan Kovačević, 27, GK, Sporting, £2m >>> Jakov Medic, 26, CB, Ajax, £2m >>> Jovon Makama, 21, CF, Lincoln, £1m >>> Harry Darling, 25, CB, Swansea, Free >>> Jeffrey Schlupp, 32, LM, Palace, Free >>> Louie Moulden, 23, GK, Palace, Free >>> Dan Grimshaw, 27, GK, Plymouth, Undisclosed >>>
Outs >>> Jonathan Rowe, 22, LW, Marseille, £12m >>> Borja Sainz, 24, AM, Porto, £12m >>> Marcelino Nunez, 25, CM, Ipswich, £8m >>> Brad Jills, 21, CB, Stockport, £1m >>> Jacob Lungi Sorensen, 27, DM, Brann, Free >>> Vicente Reyes 21, GK, Peterborough, Loan >>> Angus Gunn, 29, GK, Forest, Free >>> Onel Hernandez, 32, LW, Released >>> Archie Mair, 24, GK, Morecambe, Free >>> George Long, 31, GK, Southampton, Loan >>> Daniel Barden, 24, GK, Dagenham, Loan
Manning - thoughts on his appointment in the first place, and why it went so badly so quickly?
PH: If you take the view (the correct one) that the club’s problems run more deeply than how players are coached, then Manning is just a fall guy. The right man perhaps, but in the wrong place at the wrong time? Yes and no. We liked that he was Norwich-born, we liked that he’d had enjoyed reasonable success at more a number of clubs and he looked like a manager on the up. He was brought in to add a more steely, pragmatic core to the freewheeling, free-scoring, free-conceding set-up under Thorup and arrived with a reputation (we were told) for adaptability.
The reality however was almost entirely different. His dogged insistence on a back five simply didn’t suit the players at his disposal. The goals still flew in – but mainly past our own keeper and he found it almost impossible to react effectively to any in-game changes from the opposition. This could not have been better typified than by a run of seven games which saw us lose the second half 1-0 every single time. It was like he sat the players down at half time and, one by one, broke the worst possible news to them just for shits and giggles. The motivational, inspiration skills of a potato it would seem. Any momentum or fluency that may have somehow developed in the first half was almost entirely extinguished after the break, and his goose was probably cooked long before the axe finally fell following a late winner for Leicester at Carrow Road earlier in the month.
There is clearly some sympathy for him. The players have not performed at all, some have gone backwards, and the run of injuries and wider fitness issues cannot simply be laid at his door alone. But if a change is needed, the manager will always be the one to go. Directors aren’t sacking themselves.
CS: On paper, it seemed to be a really good fit. Norwich banked on Manning’s record of overperforming the resources at his disposal, as he achieved at Bristol City last season in spite of some impossible personal circumstances.
Manning is Norwich born and a former season ticket holder, but never really used that geographical advantage as a hook to connect with supporters. From the off, he was on the back foot by inheriting a pre-season schedule devised by his predecessor that included a fortnight trip to the Netherlands with two double-game days.
Injuries have invariably played a part. It’s been a major part of the wider story at Norwich over the last few seasons – they’ve had injuries that have recurred and proven costly. They actually conducted an internal investigation into that in the summer yet failed to find the cause. Now they have brought in external auditors to look again. Clement has repeatedly criticised their fitness levels.
But then there was the performances – which were turgid in the main. Norwich lacked identity, structure or any discernible attacking patterns. The data was dreadful. They implode in the second half of matches. The home form has been disastrous and Manning was probably fortunate to get as long as he did in the end.
His press conferences become robotic and lacking in personality. It just did not work which is a massive shame, because he’s a lovely human being who has endured hell in the last 12 months. There is a good coach in there – but Norwich just chewed him up and spat him out so rapidly. As it did with Smith, Wagner to a lesser extent and Thorup before him.
Eight Carrow Road games. Eight Carrow Road defeats. He didn’t pick up a single point at home. It wasn’t all on him and there were, and still are, wider issues, but that’s terminal as a head coach at any club.
Ben Knapper, Arsenal exec supremo turned director of football, starting to come in for some sustained criticism, what's he got wrong?
PH: Pretty much everything? The former Scunthorpe United Performance Analyst and Arsenal loans manager has been outrageously over-promoted, and we really should have worked this out sooner, were it not for the relief of seeing off the toxic Stuart Webber. Knapper seemed nice enough, something we’d missed, however it wasn’t niceness we needed, but just the basic ability to manage a professional club’s football operations – something which Webber, for all his faults, keenly understood.
He has spent £55 million on players, almost none of whom have improved what we had before. His signings last season have gone backwards, his signings this season have failed, almost to a man, to impress and he is now on his fourth manager in under two seasons with no discernible smooth transition from one to the next. Every appointment has huge ‘rip it up and start again’ vibes, and as performances went south this season he went into bunker mode, before finally emerging to offer his backing to Liam Manning, via a statement in the annual accounts. A day later he sacked him.
The day after Philippe Clement’s appointment he finally undertook a round of local media interviews and proceeded to hold his hands up on a range of issues. Managerial failings? "That’s on me”. Player fitness? "That’s on me”. All these injuries? "That’s on me”. He’s still in a job though. Somehow.
CS: We’ve touched upon the main themes in the above answers: poor recruitment; an aggressive, but unsuccessful, strategy; an inability to keep players fit; and now onto his third head coach hire in just over three years.
It’s not gone well. Ben Knapper is in his first job as a sporting director and you always worry/wonder about the wider support network, but I suspect he has learnt some harsh lessons that the academia behind being in a role of this magnitude is completely different to the realities.
There have just been too many errors. The imbalance of the squad. The fact Norwich have spent £55m over his tenure and have regressed year on year. The inability to replace talents that, in fairness, he has extracted good money for (insert Roy Keane ‘that’s his job’ meme here) alongside sanctioning the sale of Marcelino Nunez to Ipswich Town. He’s felt cold, clinical and disconnected from the fan base, unable or unwilling to take them on a journey.
Knapper also hasn’t got a grip of the injury problems. So the recruitment has been poor, they can’t keep players fit, players don’t seem to perform consistently or develop and they have fallen from sixth in his first season to 23rd and six points from safety at time of writing.
Now, increasing sections of supporters chant for his removal and there have even been protests calling for him to go. As polarising a figure as Stuart Webber became towards the end of his Carrow Road stint, he never experienced this level of opposition from fans – largely because he at least had some credit in the bank.
Knapper came out in the media last week to insist it was ‘all on him’, yet he sacked Liam Manning. Which doesn’t quite seem to add up.
New owner, what's going on there, apart from turfing season ticket holders out of their seats just to lighten the mood?
PH: Mark Attanasio is an American businessman who is also the principal owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team and is apparently worth around $1.9bn. He seems affable enough and talks well about his abilities to maximise revenues, build incrementally and protect the longer-term viability of the club. Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones were determined not to hand over the reins to owners who may introduce any sense of volatility, however that may manifest itself, and it took them a while to settle on Attanasio.
Matchday income is an area he sees as ripe for improvement and so plans to create a fanzone, which meant moving away fans to a different stand, did have some logic.
Unfortunately, he left the plans in the hands of directors Zoe Webber and Anthony Richens, who run the club on a day-to-day basis. Engagement with supporters was minimal and ham-fisted, causing genuine ructions with elements of the fanbase. It was presented as a done deal, handled terribly and led to Attanasio flying to the UK for a local radio interview where he announced the plans were shelved. Embarrassing for Webber and Richens, (as were the owner’s comments about the sale of Nunez for Ben Knapper it might be said).
CS: Yes. Another sorry episode that was wholly unnecessary and just irked supporters, with the plans dropped on them from a great height just 48 hours before an East Anglian derby, which they would go onto lose for the first time in 16-years.
It was effectively the club trying to ‘improve’ Carrow Road, but didn’t involve any consultation and included turfing out 3,000 season ticket holders from the River End in order to install more corporate seating and a fanzone that nobody really asked for.
The backlash was immense. They held an open meeting with fans at Carrow Road where executive director Zoe Webber and finance and operations director Anthony Richens were met by an understandably angry group of fans (and it’s hard to achieve anger in Norfolk), who heckled and chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.
It is never good when clubs tell supporters what their ‘matchday experience’ should look like. It typically goes down very badly.
In many ways, it sums up where the club have been in recent seasons – speaking to, not with, fans and completely misjudging and misreading the room. In the end, Mark Attanasio, the majority shareholder, pressed pause on the plans when he arrived in the UK as part of a wider mission to try and understand the reason behind their slump and take calls on BBC Radio Norfolk from fans.
Norwich still haven’t won since that point. Sigh.
What do you make of the new manager? Didn't look a particularly inspiring appointment to me?
PH: Do you think? He comes with some pedigree having won the Belgian league with two different clubs and no-one can really hold him responsible for the bin fire at Rangers. There’s a sense here that we’ve done well to get him given where we are.
His first home game against Oxford on Tuesday night did suggest that improvement was a possibility, particularly during a second half where it appeared players had actually been given fresh instruction during the break. It will never catch on! The U’s 95th minute equaliser was an absolute gut punch, but there was some warmth for Clement and the players when they trudged round the pitch after the final whistle.
CS: When his name was first mentioned, the feeling was much the same across the fanbase. But dig deeper into his CV that includes three Belgian titles, a spell at Monaco and Rangers – in some tough circumstances – and I think it has dawned on City fans that considering their struggles, to lure Philippe Clement here was a coup.
This is a guy who has managed deep into both the Champions League and Europa League, worked with some of the biggest talents and has a big reputation. He was credibly linked with the Ajax, Borussia Monchengladbach and Belgium national team job before choosing Norwich.
My feeling has been ‘why are you here?’ since he got appointed. He insists it is the wider project and support from the ownership – but he has an almighty job on his hands. This team cannot score goals, lack confidence, are porous at the back and lacking any sort of identity. It’s a complete repair job.
So far, the cut of his jib has been positive. He’s a strong character and has communicated well. His decision to replace £6m January recruit Matej Jurasek just 16 minutes into a cameo from the bench on Tuesday was a sign that he doesn’t suffer fools lightly. He is a serious man and coach for a serious job.
If he can get Norwich out of this mess, he’ll be a miracle worker. It’s a huge task.
What's he got to do with this team? What's needed in January?
PH: Get them fitter (which, like every new manager, he has of course promised), rebuild their shattered confidence and find a style and approach that actually suits what we have. What is that exactly? Over to you Philippe – you’re the boss!
There are suggestions that we will roll the dice again in January, bring in more players, try and move some more on. But to what end? Knapper is still in charge of recruitment and there is no reason to believe he will suddenly get it right. If he does, one would assume that a creative number eight will come in, plus anyone else who will actually be fit enough to last 90 minutes.
CS: A minor miracle. The fear is that Norwich have recruited hard over the last three windows, spent big and continued to fall down the table.
Restoring confidence is the big thing. They are shot to pieces. Even Josh Sargent has struggled and been snatching at opportunities. It is a travesty what has happened to him given his ability at this level. He has been starved of service and stripped of hope.
Norwich need creativity, pace and personality in the January window. But their track record suggests that finding that is going to be tough. It may be that Clement takes more of a lead given how wounded Knapper is at present.
Where do Norwich go from here?
PH: I think we’ll go down. I think we’ll get better, but not better enough. No-one relegated from the Premier League believes that their next divisional change will be a further demotion. But it happens, and regularly too. No divine right etc. This tanker of effluent is huge and hard to turn. My gut tells me that it isn’t going to happen this side of May.
CS: Currently, League One. Thankfully, they have 29 games and a January transfer window to save their skin – so should be easy, right?
Links >>> Norwich Official Website >>> The Pink ‘Un — Local Press and Forum >>> Eastern Daily Press — Local Press >>> My Football Writer - Norwich City >>> Along Come Norwich - Blog
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