The string is fraying at English football’s ultimate yo-yo team, with Norwich City not only losing their bounce but in danger of sliding further away from the Premier League than they have been for 15 years.
Most pressingly, the Canaries need a new manager. But the problems run far deeper than Norwich-born Liam Manning’s dismal 17-match tenure.
Manning, a former Norwich academy player, had left Bristol City in the summer to take charge.
The 40-year-old’s stint was mocked by Ipswich Town – whom Manning also represented – and they mockingly thanked “Agent Liam” for his work, which included the ignominy of seven straight defeats at home to start the season – a Championship first.
Two wins and three draws away have at least kept Norwich within four points of safety after 15 games, but being sandwiched between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday in 23rd is a sorry place to be.
The club who have been relegated from the Premier League more times than any other side are therefore staring at the prospect of dropping to League One, where they last featured in 2009-10.
Norwich City manager Liam Manning during the Sky Bet Championship match at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. Picture date: Wednesday November 5, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Mike Egerton/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.
Liam Manning was sacked after 17 games (Photo: PA)
Back then the inspired appointment in August 2009 of Paul Lambert, who at the time was a 40-year-old punt joining from Colchester United, helped Norwich enjoy successive promotions to the Premier League.
Delia Smith and husband Michael Wynn had the keys at the time but it was chief executive David McNally credited for spotting Lambert’s promise.
A similar gem is required again, with the club reportedly holding talks with Will Still, Gary O’Neil and Jon Dahl Tomasson this week.
And while Smith and Wynn had plenty of ups and downs, the fear among supporters since the pair stepped down in March 2025 – when Mark Attanasio’s FB Norfolk Holdings Group officially became the majority shareholders – is that the new regime can’t find Delia’s recipe for the club’s longstanding bouncebackability.
“The problems run infinitely deeper than the head coach,” Norwich fan Gary Gowers, of MyFootballWriter, tells The i Paper.
“Manning was a terrible fit but he’s a symptom rather than the cause. A small part of the problem.
“We’re all fearful. We were promised a promotion campaign. Now we’re praying to cling on, and I don’t think any Norwich supporter thinks anything will change too quickly. Maybe a new manager bounce but fundamentally the problems are still there, and we haven’t got time for a ‘project’. We need wins.”
Sporting director Ben Knapper is in the line of fire. Previously the loan and pathway manager at Arsenal, he joined Norwich in 2023 and is deemed out of his depth by supporters, who have repeatedly protested outside Carrow Road and chanted for his removal.
“Every decision is dreadful and wrong,” Gower adds, noting Knapper is learning on the job in his first gig as a sporting director.
Any semblance of a strategy is lost on the fans. The summer recruitment drive amounted to round pegs for square holes, with few of the 12 signings seemingly suiting Manning’s pragmatic style and leaving the balance of the squad askew.
NORWICH, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 01: Norwich City fans hang signs to protest outside of the Directors box prior during the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Hull City at Carrow Road on November 01, 2025 in Norwich, England. (Photo by Izzy Poles - AMA/Getty Images)
Norwich City fans hang signs to protest on 1 November (Photo: Getty)
Mathias Kvistgaarden at £6.9m was the biggest incoming, with £26.8m spent overall the fourth highest in the Championship, but in reality Norwich are reeling from the loss of Borja Sainz and Marcelino Nunez.
Sainz had the most shots on target in the Championship last season (50), the joint-most non-penalty goals (18) and the most successful take-ons (99), earning him a place in the PFA Team of the Year that otherwise had four Burnley players, five from Leeds United and one from Sheffield United.
He joined Porto for £14.5m, while the creative spark in Nunez was sold to Ipswich, which right now looks an unforgivable mistake. “Even worse because they didn’t replace him,” adds Gowers. “So to lose him to Ipswich was a double-whammy.”
The result has been a significant drop in attacking output. Last season under Johannes Thorup, who was in charge until April, Norwich were the Championship’s second-highest goalscorers behind Leeds but were far more efficient than the eventual champions, with no club bettering their goals per shot on target rate of 0.36.
Only Leeds played more passes and averaged more possession, with Norwich, who finished 13th, among the teams least likely to lump it forward.
This season though they sit ninth in the Championship for long passes, while their shot accuracy is down. Another lingering concern is their lack of time spent in the attacking third, which they at least made up for last season thanks to Sainz.
“It’s not gone the way anyone hoped,” Connor Southwell, host of the Pink Un podcast, tells The i Paper. “There has been a degree of shock at just how bad it’s been.”
The reality is Norwich fans feel the club has lacked an identity since Daniel Farke was sacked when they were in the Premier League in November 2021.
Ironically four years on and Leeds United find themselves asking the same questions about Farke, while Southwell also compares Norwich’s current state of affairs to the post-Marcelo Bielsa turbulence at the Yorkshire club.
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“There’s no coherent strategy,” adds Southwell. “They haven’t had the ‘how’ or sense of self compared to Farke’s clear playing style.”
And given Knapper has a third chance to appoint a head coach, optimism is dwindling after his first hire, Thorup, was sacked 10 months into a three-year deal and the second, Manning, was dismissed five months into his four-year deal.
“A lot wouldn’t want him doing this search,” adds Southwell. “If the last search was big, this is decisive. If he gets this wrong his career as a sporting director could be in jeopardy, and for the club it could be an absolute disaster.”