Bit by bit, week by week, act by act, the Glenn Roeder show emerges.
And, thus far, it would be hard not to be quietly impressed.
No ticker-tape parades through the city on the back of four points from the last 12, but having had a full fortnight to work with the players on his own – away from the uncomfortable glare of a game – and Saturday's performance against Coventry City suggested that whatever had been said in those two weeks had been listened to.
Which is a start.
Of course, it helped that there were three new faces thrown into the mix – four if you include young Ched Evans sat chomping on his bit on the bench.
Roeder was always going to be judged on the players that he brought in; he will be now; he will be again come January.
That's a managerial basic – you stand or fall by the quality of the players that you bring in. So rightly or wrongly Nigel Worthington's reign will always be tarred by the name of Andy Hughes; though given the street brawl Norwich are likely to be engaged in over the next six months, you do begin to wonder…
Whether the passing of time will see the 'Ahh, but remember Gary Holt…' brigade return with a counter is something for a 2010 pub-table podcast; for now, the words 'Hughes' and 'downfall' go hand in hand. Just as 'Hamilton' and 'De Waard' have a familiar ring.
What name will be enscribed on Peter Grant's gravestone is something of an on-going debate.
In fairness to Mark Fotheringham, his efforts on Saturday suggested that maybe the bottom club in the Swiss First Division missed a trick there when they let him go last Christmas. He can play – of that there is no doubt.
And if he can play at Bloomfield Road on a chill Tuesday night, then 'Fozzy' may well avoid going down with the good ship Grant.
Ditto, David Marshall. Again in fairness to Grant, his comment comparing the City No1 with Wearside's ?9 million man Craig Gordon might stand the test of time. One is certainly not nine times the better player.
Chris Brown might lack a goal or two; but he lacks nothing in the way of heart; or, indeed, the rugged physicality you need. He's not one for the stone mason. Jamie is, basically, Jamie. Any sort of service and he'll be fine. On Saturday's form, Darel Russell will more than do a job.
The five for whom the mason might toll are, of course, the five that never even made it to the bench on Saturday – Simon Lappin, Ian Murray, David Strihavka, Jimmy Smith and Julien Brellier.
On Lappin that might be slightly harsh; he comes with a Brown type-heart. And a decent left foot. Smith remains an unknown. The kid has to have something to be ressies skipper at Chelsea. We just haven't seen it.
It is from one of the other three, you suspect, that Grant's own 'Andy Hughes' will emerge. Either that or you start chiselling out the letters 'R.. Y.. A.. N.. ' under the RIPs.
For right now, that's where Roeder has already worked a little of his managerial magic – in finding someone to fill that No5 shirt.
Had that been Ryan Shawcross then maybe the Fates would have had something else in store for the luckless Grant.
Whatever happened this summer, the lad's decision to head for the Potteries this season left Grant in an almighty hole; his behind well and truly in the air; that No5 shirt hanging empty on its peg.
Two days and no games into Roeder's reign and it was filled – by just the type of character and player that the situation has long, long demanded.
Martin 'Tiny' Taylor may yet wander back to Birmingham once his initial month's loan is up post-Sheffield United; the fact that Roeder no longer has Steve Bruce on the end of the phone may not have done City any favours.
That said, I suspect that Bryan Gunn may have in 'in' with Eric Black from their Aberdeen youth days.
Either way, just as a lack of a Martin Taylor condemned Grant to an early managerial grave, so his arrival has put Roeder on decent early footing.
Interestingly, there is one suggestion that Grant did make an enquiry about the Blues' centre-half, but it came to nothing. Roeder's call, however, bore fruit. Somewhere down the line at either St James' or Upton Park, Roeder will have done Bruce a favour – that favour was duly returned.
That's what you get with a manager of Roeder's ilk; he's got those strings he can pull – that's what you pay for. Stuart Pearce's home telephone number and a word in Ched Evans' ear.
The next big test of Roeder's contact book will, of course, come in persuading managerless Blues to allow him to stay for at least an extra month. Get into the January transfer window and that's when Roeder ought to be able to have some fun at the board's expense.
That if they are serious about getting Norwich out of this mess at whatever cost, then the first price they need to pay is one Martin 'Tiny' Taylor.
Again, having been through the boardroom mill with Mr Shepherd at Newcastle and Mr Brown at West Ham United, you suspect that he is well-versed in the darker arts of boardroom politics. Rule One, if there's money there to be spent, you spend it…
Rule Two, if that money's spent, then you ask for more… Basics.
And given the forthcoming words of wisdom likely to be heading the way of the Hartlepool chairman over the whole Paul Stephenson saga, you get a very real impression that Roeder is not one to spare anyone's blushes if they are perceived to have stepped out of line. Or threatened to go back on their word.
He has exactly the same, big streak of old fashioned decency running through him that Bruce Rioch brought to the party. The post-match speech about Sunday being a day off for the players to ?spend time with their families? was straight out of Rioch's rule-book.
Most of those on duty on Saturday would, in every likelihood, have been found trying to start one in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Four games in and he hasn't budged an inch from 4-4-2. At home he has sat in the stands for the first half and let Lee Clark get 'in amongst them' – be it in the dressing room or on the touchline. Roeder has established a distance from his players.
He let them enjoy their moment in the dressing room afterwards; he felt no need to intrude on 'their' celebrations. Not 'his'. It was a moment for the players to savour.
He stood back. Kept that distance; didn't get involved. That's Lee's role.
And, for me, that's clever. That's a trick that your Erikssons and Wengers pull. They're not one of the boys. They're above that. They watch from on high.
Do that and, inevitably, the players have to look up to you – literally when you sit and watch events unfold from the stands.
It breeds respect. And from there comes the kind of performance Norwich delivered on Saturday. One born from respect.
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