New Norwich City manager Glenn Roeder has called on the Carrow Road faithful to be their ?12th man? as he looks to pull the Canaries off the foot of the Championship table.
Roeder was announced as the unanimous choice of the City board this morning at a press conference and the former West Ham and Newcastle manager wants to get the Norwich fans ?on side? as quickly as possible to try and turn around the Canaries' fortunes.
Many fans had wanted Paul Jewell to be named as Peter Grant's long-term successor but Roeder certainly has enough experience from his other clubs to pull the Norfolk club out of their current predicament.
But Roeder believes he will not be able to do this without the fans getting behind his side.
?I think if we get the players to show that commitment that they want to get back to winning ways, I'm sure we can get the crowd here at Carrow Road to be the 12th man.
?Of course when you're looking at the attraction of wanting to manage Norwich City the last home game against Bristol City there was 24,000 supporters for a team that's in the bottom three. For me that's phenomenal.?
After the press conference, Roeder immediately went to Colney to introduce himself to the players. While he is not under any illusions of the task he faces over the coming months to restore Norwich's shattered confidence, he is adamant that the foundations are there for City to fight their way out of the relegation zone.
?I had a little peep outside before I came in here to have a look at the stadium. The training ground would be the envy of a lot of Premiership clubs. The training ground at Colney compares very favourably with that of the Newcastle training ground.
?It's a clubs that's underachieving at the moment. Expectations are higher which, is an attraction for me, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of turning things around.?
Roeder admitted he will not be wasting any time in trying to strengthen his squad once he has carried out an initial assessment.
The 51-year-old is very highly thought of by managers in the top flight and City fans will be hoping he can exploit these contacts to bring some quality loan signings in.
Roeder has been working closely with Arsene Wenger over recent weeks in the Gunners' academy and it will be interesting to see if the Frenchman would be willing to loan some of his fringe players to the Canaries.
But for now, Roeder would not be drawn on his transfer policy other than to say that the board have said they will back him in the loan market.
?I've always thought it is bad policy to say whether you have cash available or not because everyone else is listening,? he said.
?But I obviously asked that question at the second interview yesterday and I was told that if I bring players to the chairman and the board they will look at those players and we certainly don't seem to have a problem in loaning players, which would make sense.
?I would like to be able to use the contacts that I have in the game to help me out and to help Norwich City out.?
Roeder is no stranger to difficult situations at clubs after his time with Newcastle. He took over a notoriously lively dressing room at St James' Park but steered them to seventh place in the Premiership and a place in the Intertoto Cup, which they went on to win the following season.
You also don't get to be employed by Lazio as Paul Gascoigne's minder if you cannot handle a few problems.
So how does Roeder intend to turn the Canaries fortunes round so quickly? A certain derby against Ipswich Town on Sunday could help.
?I think we need to have an effect on the players as quick as possible,? he said. ?I personally thought a lot of the players were suffering from a lack of confidence against QPR and that is a factor in winning and losing.
?It's a question of getting that first win. No matter what I say to them, winning a game of football will help them and me and the sooner we do it the better.
?And we have a great opportunity this weekend to get the fans on side. I certainly know how important it is. Where I've just come from Newcastle Sunderland is the massive game.
?But the Norwich-Ipswich derby is equally as massive. It's an ideal game to start especially at home. I'm sure the time the kick-off comes the boys will be ready for it.
?For me that game it's a win-win situation because I know outside of our own supporters the majority of people will not expect us to win the game, which is how I like it.?
With Jim Duffy leaving the club with immediate effect, Roeder must get in his own backroom staff as quickly as possible.
He revealed that he already has people in mind to bring in as assistant to him while there are talks planned to bring in another coach as well.
?I do have someone in mind but we cannot say who that is at the moment because he is working at another club and it would be wrong to name that person. Hopefully it will move very quickly on that front.
?I will be looking to bring in an assistant manager and a coach. I've spoken to both the lads socially and they are jumping at the opportunity of coming here and working with me.?
While it is clear that Roeder's first task is to steer the Canaries away from the League One abyss he made it clear that one of his long-term goals is to get Norwich back in to the Premier League.
?For me personally you have to have short-term goals,? he said. ?You also have to have a medium-term goal and a long-term goal. I've always believed that if you look too far ahead then you can trip up.
?But in my own mind, you'll know the same as I know what the long-term goal is going to be because ultimately the club is geared up to play Premiership football but at the moment that's a long way off.?
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