Digesting Norwich City's Newfound Unbridled Optimism

This photo is very much not from the 2025-26 season. I hope you will forgive
me for not having current pictures of a stadium that is an ocean away from me.

A year ago, I was worried about my favorite soccer team. Norwich City have met plenty of turbulence and management errors and hard truths of capitalism over the years, but things never looked as uncertain to this fan of only a dozen years as at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Whatever sporting director Ben Knapper was doing, it wasn't working. Under head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup, the Canaries' defense became one of the most porous in the Championship. A young team battered by injuries never showed signs of coming together. After making the playoffs the year before, Norwich finished in the bottom half of the league table.

With the fan base's polarization over Thorup increasingly shifting to total hostility, Knapper moved on with a couple meaningless games to go. Everything Thorup has said since his dismissal indicates he expected much more rope, giving the appearance that the club's key figures could not even agree on what their immediate goals were. It was hard to see a long-term vision. It was easier than ever to imagine Norwich drifting into perennial mid-table status, ceding their dominance of the East Anglian Derby to Ipswich Town, and having to sell their promising players just to keep the books balanced.

It only took six months for my fears to reach new heights — but only after things initially started to look up. As expected, star winger Borja Sainz left for Porto, but striker Josh Sargent and midfielder Marcelino Núñez, arguably more important players than Sainz, stayed through the summer. Knapper hired a new head coach, Liam Manning, who always downplayed his childhood days as a Carrow Road season ticket holder but brought a respectable résumé. Intriguing signings like defender Harry Darling, midfield destroyer Mirko Topić, winger Papa Amadou Diallo, and young striker Jovon Makama gave reason to believe Knapper was addressing key problems in defense and depth.

The first part of the season did not indicate much. Losing Núñez in a shock move to Ipswich in late August sure was not fun, but results on the pitch were neither encouraging nor dispiriting. They won at Blackburn Rovers on August 29, giving them 6 points through the first seven games.

That win happened to be over Labor Day Weekend in the United States. That Thursday, I attended the fall's first University of Minnesota football game. The next time Norwich won was two months later, the same day that Minnesota finished their regular season against Wisconsin.

The freefall started with a home loss to West Bromwich Albion. The next week, Norwich lost to Ipswich for the first time since 2009. They lost to Manning's previous employers, Bristol City, after a couple weeks off.  They lost at Derby County and fell into the relegation zone, then lost again at Swansea City. On October 29, owner Mark Attanasio appeared on BBC Radio Norfolk and urged patience. They lost at home to Hull City. They stopped the losing streak against Sheffield Wednesday, a club teetering on the edge of financial insolvency, but still could only draw. They lost to Leicester City on a goal in stoppage time on November 8, their eighth loss in eight home games across all competitions. Fans protested outside the stadium postgame. That was the end for Manning.

(It bears noting that Manning's appointment was less than a year removed from the death of his newborn son. It is easy to deride him just for losing games, but the fact that he took leave from his following job at Huddersfield Town indicates that he continues to deal with a pain most of us will never know. He is a man who took a high-stress job at a difficult time in his life. I wish Manning's appointment had worked like I thought it would, and I wish him all the best.)

Despite practically universal disapproval from the fan base, Knapper kept his job and needed to find a new head coach. With four days to go before the Canaries returned from the international break for a match at Birmingham City — which they'd lose 4-1 — he hired Philippe Clement.

In Clement's native Belgium, he was a winner, a three-time league champion between Genk and Club Brugge. From Club Brugge, he moved to Monaco, where he produced strong results before a late-season swoon 2022-23 took the club from 3rd in Ligue 1 to completely missing out on European qualification. Monaco moved on. Next came a stint at Rangers, who always expect better than 2nd place in the Scottish Premiership and fired Clement after a year-and-a-half of outpacing everyone in the league except Celtic. By the time Norwich called, Clement had been on the shelf for nearly nine months.

It was an intriguing appointment. All anyone wanted was the guarantee of safety and some sign that the club would not have to fear relegation in 2026-27. Instead, Clement became a savior and then some.

Taking 15 points from his first 11 games did not lift Norwich out of the relegation zone. What did, however, were the 27 points Clement's Canaries picked up in the following 11 games. Amazingly, they rose from 23rd in the league table to 12th — just inside the top half. They attacked with newfound swiftness and creativity. Players like José Córdoba and Anis Ben Slimane, two players whose signings under Thorup had begun to look like mistakes, hit their strides and became essential parts of the lineup. One of the league's worst defenses suddenly became one of its best, allowing just nine goals over this stretch. Everything worked.

Clement walked into too big a jam to take Norwich all the way to the playoffs without keeping this pace up for the rest of the season, and they did cool off a bit heading into April. A now scorching-hot Southampton beat them 1-0, and Ipswich got their first win at Carrow Road since 2006. (Cowardly refereeing was only one reason for the latter.) Sargent also left in messy fashion in February, and injuries once again mounted, forcing players into unfamiliar positions and increased minutes to cover for absences.

While Norwich were one of the very best teams in the Championship after Clement's arrival, they were far from perfect. They dominated possession but needed to unlock a little more to create quality chances against the teams fighting for promotion. (That didn't stop them from beating league champions Coventry City.) They have the youngest team in the division. Going up right now would be premature.

Next year, though? Norwich could be among the favorites to go up automatically. Their striker group promises to be one of the best in the league. Darling, after an ugly start to the season, has recently excelled, forming a steady three-man center back rotation with Córdoba and Ruairi McConville. Pelle Mattsson, signed after the departure of Núñez, has become a rock in the center of the park next to captain Kenny McLean. Topić, Diallo, and Makama are among several promising players set to return from injury. If anything, this squad needs trimming more than it needs more help to push for promotion.

It felt impossible just a few months ago, but the mood at Carrow Road is positive in a way it hasn't been since Daniel Farke won the Championship in 2018-19. The club has clear direction. The play is both effective and entertaining. Most of the regulars are fairly new faces, with new songs bellowed from the Barclay and minimal baggage from the regimes of the head coaches between Farke and Clement. Only McLean, who has never been more adored, links the two. It's a new start. The fans have rediscovered hope and joy. It's a party I hope to take in personally next season.

When a draw against Swansea finally confirmed that Norwich would miss the playoff, there was less disappointment than pride. Clement immediately brought his players into a huddle on the pitch. He wanted to remind them what they accomplished: From potential doom, they came to the brink of the playoffs and secured a spot in the top half of the league. While there was no immediate prize, it was nevertheless a moment to celebrate what they showed is possible. Maybe they couldn't go the distance, but their efforts set the table for great things to come very, very soon.