---
title: "Chris Hughton’s Norwich City Sacking, Revisited"
canonical: "https://readnorwich.com/2014/08/01/the-hughton-sacking-relived/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Alex Murray"
section: "Opinion Articles"
published: "2014-08-01T15:58:37Z"
modified: "2026-08-09T08:47:05Z"
---

# Chris Hughton’s Norwich City Sacking, Revisited

The 2013/14 Season started with high expectations, the club had broken their transfer budget – spending big on star signings: Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Leroy Fer, while the board were promising a mid-table finish in the near future.

However things soon went sour. With defeats to Hull, Villa and then the thrashing by Manchester City made fans pointed fingers at the manager, Chris Hughton. However the club stood by their man, with Chief Executive David McNally giving Chris support throughout the season.

Norwich’s season went from bad to worse with results failing to improve, leaving the club dangerously close to the relegation zone. Anger climaxed after the West Brom defeat at Carrow Road, with fans throwing their clappers onto the pitch after the final whistle – one hitting manager Chris Hughton. Chris was sacked the next day with Under 18’s Boss, Neil Adams taking over for the final 5 matches. The decision to sack Chris was hailed in the Norfolk press but the national media criticised the decision, including Match of the day host – Gary Lineker. Neil Adams failed to keep Norwich in the Premier League, not winning a single match in his short caretaker role.

This begs the question, Should Chris have been sacked? Many fans said that the Hughton regime was too negative and that he saw the club as ‘little Norwich’ – setting up his teams in big games to just grab draws or narrow losses. Unlike previous manager, Paul Lambert, who set up to win every match, no matter the opposition. Moreover some had simply just had enough of him, weeks of terrible away defeats and lacklustre performances left City fans wanting change. Many fans phoned in to Canary Call asking for the manager to go every week after the Manchester City defeat, and even though he had his supporters, by April there weren’t many at all.

However, to an outsider, the sacking of Chris was comical. They said that only he could get Norwich the result they needed at Fulham and keep them in the competition. Gary Lineker called the sacking “utterly bonkers” and the club “deluded” for thinking that it was the best move for keeping themselves up. However was Gary talking some sense? Neil Adams was in no way qualified to keep Norwich afloat, with the ex-under 18’s boss never having the top job in his entire career. Was sacking Hughton as pointless as some would say, given that the clubs’ fate was all but already sealed?

Personally I believe Hughton should have gone after the defeat to Manchester City. It was a dire performance and it showed that Hughton was not the right man for the Job. He quite possibly would have lost his job had we lost to West Ham the week after, but after beating the Hammers 3-1 his position was safe. Scenarios of this ilk were repeated several times throughout the season before his eventual sacking. So should Chris have been sacked? Yes.