- A summer lull begins as the World Cup approaches rapidly.
- Ongoing “Spygate” drama overshadows the upcoming Championship playoff final.
- Norwich transitions from being a soft touch to dangerous opponents.
This is a funny old time. That hinterland between the end of season and pre-season, which, this summer, is rudely interrupted by the World Cup.
For Norwich City news, we, for now, rely on the odd transfer rumour to keep our appetite whetted, while (currently) gazing on longingly at those whose destination is Wembley for the Playoff Final.
Quite who we’re gazing at is not completely clear, given the ongoing Spygate investigation by the Football League, but one suspects they’ll not have the cajones to strip the ironically-named Saints of their place in what Sky Sports has decreed is the “richest game in football.”
It’ll be Southampton vs Hull, I’d imagine, with those from St Mary’s given a derisory fine and the threat of a points deduction should they ever return to the EFL, which they inevitably will in season 2027-28.
All pretty unedifying, to be honest, but I’m not sure the destiny of that two-legged playoff semi-final was determined by the world’s worst spy – an intern armed with a smartphone, apparently.
I don’t envisage said Southampton spook being headhunted anytime soon by MI6.
No one wanted to play us…
But, much to Sky Sport’s delight, it added another level of jeopardy to what was inevitably a “high-stakes” double-header even minus the spy thing.
That we weren’t part of it was, as it transpired, disappointing, although none of us was expecting to until about six games out, when it suddenly started to become real.
In truth, and as painful as it is to type, it was being beaten by Farage FC that scuppered it; a win that day and the momentum and buzz it would have created may just have been enough to propel us over the line. Maybe.
We’ll never know.
But what I do know is that it was nice in those final few months of the season to be a team that nobody wanted to play.
Okay, so it didn’t always go to plan (or even the form book) – I refer you, good people, to paragraph 9 of this document – but we headed into every game believing it to be one we could win, with opponents who considered us “dangerous.”
It was nice … and very un-Norwich-like. Even if we were left with several what-ifs.
For far too long, this club has been deemed a soft touch. Nice. Comfortable to play against.
Which has got us precisely nowhere. Unless you regard somewhere as being Championship mid-table dwellers who are not good enough to challenge but slightly too good to go down.
In fairness to the Knapper/Manning combo, they gave busting that cycle a good bash, but in my old-fashioned view, it’s always preferable to escape that loop by getting promoted rather than relegated.
And so here we are. Not especially loved anymore, but now a team that people take notice of; one that isn’t prepared to have sand kicked in its face.
Evolution, not revolution, at Carrow Road
That remains part of the summer challenge for Ben Knapper, Philippe Clement, et al, is to hold that thought and embrace it.
We don’t need revolution, just a gentle evolution of what was going so well. It still wasn’t perfect, and it’s those imperfections that need ironing out over the next two months, but the direction of travel was clear.
For what it’s worth, while lots of names will get bandied around, I’m not expecting too many arrivals. Yet I do expect those who arrive to be of sufficient quality (and maybe value) to add depth, skill, physicality, tactical awareness, and mental fortitude to this group.
Maybe, if I’m being greedy, I’d also like to see someone with electric pace.
What I’m not expecting, and this is where it may differ from other windows, is any arrivals who are not wholly endorsed by the head coach.
In Clement, we trust.
