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The MFW columnists have their say on who should take over the reins at Carrow Road

13th May 2014 By Gary Gowers 17 Comments

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With significant changes afoot at Carrow Road we asked the MyFootballWriter columnists for their thoughts on how, why and who. Here’s what they said…

Mick Dennis

A managerial wish list is a bit like a players wish list: unless we know with certainty who is available, it can’t be meaningful. But of those we know would take the job, I’ve been impressed by what Neeyul has tried and by what I hear of his response to some disciplinary challenges.

Against that, Malky knows his way around the Championship, has not failed anywhere (a rarity). Importantly, both want it and have hunger to succeed. But for either to succeed, the club need to improve their recruitment personnel and procedures.

Who goes, who stays and who comes in, particularly at ‘no 9’? The answers to those questions will determine whether we’re competitive – more so than who picks and sets up the team.

Rick Waghorn

Whoever takes the reins at Carrow Road in the next seven days has to have one, essential quality – a willingness to keep Willie McKay in race horses.

If there was a lesson to be learned from events of the last ten months, it is the knowledge that to ever have a realistic hope of sustaining yourself as a mid-tier Premier League club, understandings have to be made with the McKays of this world.

Equally, the ability to nurture and command a youth policy that delivers Southampton-standard talent year after year is the second essential requirement of a provincial football club looking to hold their own in the madhouse of the EPL.

Finally, he must know his way around the continent. The lower reaches of the football league is not about to deliver the goods.

Kevin Baldwin

Well, if you were to hold a gun to my head and demand an answer… I would of course seek to have you prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But not before I’d suggested a Mackay/Adams combination.  I get the impression that this is where we might be heading anyway; Adams seems to be toning down his stated desire to be the manager a little, saying that he wants to be ‘involved with the first team’ – and David McNally has now said that the management structure is being looked at.

My guess is that conversations are taking place to see whether Mackay and Adams would be happy to work together. I wouldn’t be unhappy with this.

We know that Malky has a track record of success in the Championship – and how can you not love someone who, moments after Cardiff sealed promotion last year, told a reporter that the club he was most looking forward to visiting was Norwich?

I’ve also enjoyed the more positive approach of Adams in the last few weeks, and I think he’s made an impact on a largely demoralised squad.  I’d like him to play a part in the management team – but I do have niggling doubts about putting him in overall charge at this stage.

Ed Couzens-Lake

David McNally’s hints about having a figure within the clubs coaching framework whose responsibility is more about scouting players and transfers suggests to me that the director of football role is one that the club are looking to create and that whoever is appointed to that role will be overseeing Neil Adams who I think will be named as the new manager of Norwich City by Thursday or Friday of this week.

Adams will subsequently head up a three strong coaching team, aided and abetted by the the two coaches who were tasked with working alongside him from the off, Mark Robson and Paul Nevin.

The director of football may be the candidate who is already in work, I would suspect, however, releasing him from his current role is more of a procedural formality rather than something which might become a long drawn out process as it was with Paul Lambert. Probably an ex-Premier League or Championship manager who is in his early-mid 50’s and who has not had a managers job for a few years.

That is the path I think the club will take.

My own choice as manager would be Gianfranco Zola in tandem with Adams. I think the club need to appoint a manager with both standing and personality within the game, someone who would attract players to the club and give it a little experience of coaching from a completely different angle and philosophy.

I appreciate that Zola has not, as they say, pulled up any trees in either of his two managerial roles, however, I also think that, like Paul Lambert did with Livingstone, Wycombe and Colchester, he has ‘done the knowledge, managerial wise and would be able to apply that experience to a new role and be a success in it. Continuity will be important over the coming year as well so would like Zola (or whoever) to be given a three year contract and a guarantee that he will, barring relegation to League One, be given that time to rebuild the club and take us forward at all levels.

James Kent

Looking at the leading candidates to take over at Norwich; the one that sticks out to me is Neil Lennon. The last two managerial appointments we have made have been those that have been doing well at their clubs, and I certainly think it’s a formula that we should stick behind.

Lennon has done a good job at Celtic with an impressive win ratio of nearly 70% combined with some impressive results and performances in the Champions League; he is also arguably the best man to get the best out of Gary Hooper. I also think he would give us a good chance of holding onto Robert Snodgrass, who has been linked with a move to Celtic – presumably because Lennon is a fan.

If John Ruddy were to move on this summer then Lennon might be able to persuade Fraser Forster to join us as well – and I think he would be an excellent replacement. Lennon seems to have an aggressive nature at times with plenty of passion and that combined with no connection to Norwich could be just what we need.

The Celtic squad certainly contains a few players I wouldn’t mind seeing in a Norwich shirt so that’s another positive. Some people may question if he would come to us in the Championship, but the Canaries give him the possibility of being a Premier League manager within a season and that might be too tempting to turn down.

Chris Young

I’d be thrilled to see Neil Lennon in the Carrow Road dugout come August.

Lennon can boast an unblemished record of success as a manager over the border. Now it’s time to prove himself in the more demanding world of English football.

His drive and ambition could revitalise City’s disillusioned players and fans, guiding us back to the PL where the Scot is so keen to make his name.

And there’re other factors. A previous City manager who achieved a measure of success came with a Celtic pedigree.  There’s an historic Celtic/McNally link. And it was Lennon who got the best out of Gary Hooper, maybe our first choice striker next season.

What of the also runs?  Neil Adams is learning his trade. Ditto Tim Sherwood.  Malky Mackay’s time in south Wales doesn’t fill me with confidence.  Gianfranco Zola‘s managerial CV features two failures.

In Neil Lennon, City will have a winner.

Jon Rogers

Alongside fashion and music, football is influenced with what has come before. Whatever the supporter didn’t want previously, he sure as hell wants it now.

He doesn’t want adjustment – just a complete opposite of previous incarnation – whatever that was.

Foreign? No! English.

Experienced? We need up-and-coming.

Nice? Course not, Nasty!

Whoever we get, it will be opposite of Chris Hughton’s stylings.

It was clear to me that within David McNally’s interview, a lot has been sorted already.

I believe that we have offered Malky Mackay the job and he has accepted. But he, and we, want Ian Moody in a Director of Football position – If that fails, due to his current contract with Crystal Palace, someone else may fulfil that role.

And I think it would be a person who was impressed the Norwich City board and that would be Mr Neil Adams.

Thomas Uden

To me, the most striking aspect about the list of possible next Norwich City managers is how, at first glance, there appear to be few genuinely attractive options for us to seriously pursue.

It is hard to escape the spectre of Malky MacKay of course; even if a fair proportion of those yearning for his appointment do so while consumed in a cloud of sentimentality. His would appear the sensible, pragmatic option; but should the City board play it safe with this?

Eddie Howe is a second appealing option, and although his last foray in to management of a “bigger” club, with Burnley, wasn’t wildly successful, he has shown at Bournemouth that he has the potential to be an astute manager. However, could he realistically be tempted away from his current project on the south coast?

Whoever is ultimately selected, the crucial element of this decision is that Norwich must adopt a clear, focussed vision for rebuilding and appoint someone who both shares this and has the nous to put it in to practice both in the transfer market and on the pitch. Plateauing is not an option.

Melissa Rudd

After a lot of thinking, I feel aggrieved to say that I still don’t have a clear name in my head of who I want in charge. Much has been said against the type of football we might have to endure if Malky Mackay were to be given the nod. Would his approach change if he had different personnel? Who can be sure?

One thing I’ve never really understood is clamouring for a man who ‘knows the club’, ‘knows the area’ or has some kind of link to our fine city. Although I’m obviously more than aware that Malky fits that bill, I don’t think it should be a deciding factor on appointing him over another who doesn’t. As far as I know Paul Lambert bypassed all of these pre-requisites and that didn’t hinder his success.

It’s the board’s job to pick the right man for the task in hand having conducted interviews that we’re unfortunately not privy to – that is, achieving promotion in the Championship. Malky does have that on his CV. I certainly think picking Neil Adams primarily on a knowing-the-club basis would be a mistake.

Nick Sellers

It goes without saying that whoever takes over will earn my full support in trying to improve our fortunes, but Malky Mackay would be my personal preference.

He performed well at the helm of a cash-strapped Watford side before taking Cardiff City to the Championship title within two years of his appointment.

Critics often wax lyrical about a defensive style, but that only applied to a difficult first few months for him in the Premier League with the Vincent Tan fiasco looming over him. He wasn’t blameless, but lessons will have been learned (lest we forget his managerial career is very much in it’s infancy) and he’ll be better for those experiences.

With no such behind-the-scenes drama going on at Carrow Road he’d be in prime position to excel, and for me his promotion-winning credentials as both a player (Norwich, West Ham and Watford) and manager should make him top of the shortlist.

And me…

I’ve never been a huge fan of the coach/director of football arrangement – albeit that looks to be the way we’re heading – on the basis there appear to be more examples of it not working than working. But that probably says more about my antiquated views on the game than anything else.

One thing is clear: every managerial appointment is a gamble. No guarantees. No such thing as a ‘safe pair of hands’.

What it needs above all else – and is where the luck comes in – is for that person to be a ‘good fit’ for Norwich City. Paul Lambert and Chris Hughton were both good football men (as the saying goes…) but only the former was a good fit.

Assuming we’re heading down the two-tier route, the director of football needs to be one with gravitas, an extensive contacts list (and no, I don’t mean Joe Kinnear) and one who knows what it takes to head northwards out of the Championship. And the coach needs to be one with a footballing philosophy; one who’ll reinstill ‘the Norwich City way’.

While I suspect his Burnley experience will have deterred him from another move away from the south coast, I’d love to see Eddie Howe at the helm. I see him as one, in the mould of Lambert, whose fearlessness could reinvigorate our joie de vivre in supporting City.

It’s a long shot, but he’d get my vote.

______________________________________________________________________

Well, that’s what we think. Would love to hear your thoughts…


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Filed Under: Column, Gary Gowers

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Comments

  1. Bob in Diss says

    13th May 2014 at 2:21 pm

    Fascinating glimpse into the minds of the MFW crew although some were less prepared to get off the fence than others! Amazed that Alan Curbishly didn’t get a mention – it’s customary to do so.
    Sneaky feeling the Hammers will ditch Big Sam and make Malky a more attractive offer than we can right now. Lambert will surely be looking for work over the summer but clearly a no-go area for us.
    Zola & Lennon – not convinced by.
    I’ll throw a few ‘outliers’ into the mix – Laudrup, Moyes, Hoddle, Sherwood, Phelan. No objections on any of those – just as long as McLeish and Warnock stay well away.

    http://www.thesackrace.com/job-centre

    Reply
  2. Gareth Evans says

    13th May 2014 at 2:52 pm

    I’m also no fan of the Director of Football role, when has it worked?! Commoli at Tottenham and now Baldini with the £100m always spring to mind, our manager should manage without interference. I would favour someone with drive, determination, and more importantly is a winner. Lennon seems that fit, would bring the life and personality that Hughton, who I liked, did lack. Also, now he’s out of a job, Sherwood I believe has the personality to succeed. More importantly though, we need to hold on to a core of players, Ruddy, Ryan Bennett, Howson, Snodgrass, Redmond and Hooper and give chances to the Murphy’s, Morris and McGeechan, especially with Adams maybe as an assistant.

    Reply
  3. Chris says

    13th May 2014 at 3:29 pm

    The ironic thing is that the man we fired a few weeks ago has an exceptional record in the Championship…if he hadn’t already been in charge and we were in this situation, Mr. Hughton would be near the top of the list!

    It’s got to be Lennon or McKay. I’d be happy with either…so long as they deliver of course.

    Reply
  4. cityfan says

    13th May 2014 at 6:50 pm

    Someone to oversee transfers?
    Gary Karsa
    Already in work?
    Paul Lambert
    You heard it here first.

    Reply
  5. Stewart Lewis says

    13th May 2014 at 7:12 pm

    Interesting thoughts, guys, including the key surrounding issues.

    Seems to me there are two questions. First, do we trust McNally and the Board to make this decision? When the latest rumour surfaced, someone immediately tweeted that he’d tear up his season ticket if Popovic was appointed – for him, clearly, the answer is ‘no’. For me it’s ‘yes’. True, I might raise an eyebrow if they chose Neil Warnock – but even then I’d swallow hard and give it my full support. The Board simply know more about the candidates than we can, and David McNally’s record since 2009 speaks of a top-class CEO.

    Having said that, half-informed speculation and opinion is an integral part of being a fan. So, the second question is: who seems to best combine the inspirational and organisational qualities to get us back to the Premiership and -ideally- satisfy the Board and fans when we get there?

    Neil Adams has handled himself brilliantly and consolidated the respect and love we have for him. But I can’t help feeling we want someone further up the learning curve. Malky has much going for him, but watching his Cardiff at Carrow Road in October – and remembering that he spent more last summer than Chris Hughton – I’m not excited. Neil Lennon has plenty of passion, but does he have enough tactical calculation? Jon issues a relevant warning about going for the opposite of what we’ve just had.

    So, none of the usual suspects entirely convinces me – though some of my doubts no doubt reflect ignorance. Still, I’m a bit surprised we haven’t heard more names. Steve Clarke, for instance, struck me as a very impressive manager who was unfortunate to be sacked at West Brom (one of the several clubs to do worse after changing manager, by the way).

    Sorry for the long-winded ‘don’t know’!

    Reply
  6. eeore says

    14th May 2014 at 4:33 am

    The answer is simple David Moyes.

    Though whoever they pick the first task is to find the person responsible for that embarrassing feed the Wolf poster and fire them….

    Reply
  7. chindo canary says

    14th May 2014 at 5:48 am

    Return of Lambert and a certain G Holt?

    Reply
  8. Adam Turner-Heffer says

    14th May 2014 at 7:53 am

    Neil Lennon is Northern Irish, not Scottish.

    Reply
  9. Bucks Canary says

    14th May 2014 at 9:44 am

    Okay: Malky – too pragmatic: not the style of football Canaries demand – a bit of ‘back to Hughton’, there.

    Lennon? Unproven in a truly competitive league.

    Adams acquitted himself very well, and should be either involved with the first team, or revert back to his stunning work at the academy, without a stain on his character. Probably, with a considerable pay rise to keep him there!

    Got to say – I’m beginning to lead towards Sherwood. Just really liked his attitude – specially getting that twit out of the crowd on the final day. And a good NCFC pedigree, whch we seem to like. Wonder how it would work with him and Adams? Him and Phelan, even?

    But, whilst I’ve not been a fan of the position before, we do need a director of football, to free up the manager’s time and to enable him to concentrate on running the first team. Contracts and Agents now take up so much time, it’s a workload that can be taken largely off the Manager’s shoulders. But, @Ed, I do think it’s a mistake to think that the manager would report into the Director. That should be a partnership of equals.

    OTBC

    Reply
  10. Stewart Lewis says

    14th May 2014 at 10:34 am

    Eeore (6): the problem wasn’t the poster, it was the player! I wish RvW well – he wasn’t lazy or a mercenary, just unsuited to be thrown into a team in the lower reaches of the Premiership.

    Bucks Canary (9): if you have a Director of Football, the manager technically needs to report to him. But of course it has to be a working partnership. With the right chemistry it can be effective; without the right chemistry it’s a guaranteed disaster.

    Reply
  11. Keith B says

    14th May 2014 at 10:45 am

    Old fashioned as it may be a priority for me is that our manager, whoever may be, must be a credit to the club. So forget Neil Lennon.

    Most Celtic and Rangers MANAGERS (not fans) have the sense not to do anything to stoke the fire of bigotry and bitterness that exists between those two clubs. I get the feeling that Lennon was, before Rangers’ demise, too willing to be embroiled in it.

    No Celtic manager will ever be popular at Ibrox, but I don’t recall the likes of Jock Stein, Billy McNeil, Lou Macari or Martin O’Neill being sent death threats. I doubt if it’s coincidence.

    Talking of Martin O’Neill, is he definitely finished as a club manager? Just a thought. Always felt he had unfinished business with us.

    It seems Malky is favourite and I could live with that though not feel inspired by it. It is hard to imagine his style being any more attractive to watch than Hughton’s. This is a guy who set up to park the bus not just at Stamford Bridge, OT, Anfield and the Emirates but at Carrow Rd as well. Time-wasting in the first half was the Cardiff norm early in the season.

    As others have said it is hard to think of an obvious inspiring choice who might be tempted. If the Board are looking further afield than our own leagues credit to them. A certain Arsene Wenger came to Arsenal from Japan if I remember rightly, and did quite well.

    It is, in my view, more important to get someone who has proved they can manage players successfully in a genuinely competitive league than to have prior connections with the club or to know the Football League. Yes, from a recruitment point of view local knowledge is vital, but from what McNally has told us the Board recognise that and will be changing the way that’s done.

    Whoever gets the job will be a lucky man with a great opportunity and challenge ahead of him. These next few days are going to be very interesting.

    Reply
  12. Sage says

    14th May 2014 at 11:34 am

    I’m with Bucks on this, almost entirely.
    – Malky: back to the future, or is it the other way round? Surely replacing a manager ousted for defensiveness with another allegedly the same spells trouble?
    – Neil: what was that with Elmander? Maybe against Chelsea, but then against Arsenal again? That’s dimmed my enthusiasm
    – Lennon: why would he?
    – Lambert: I’d take him tomorrow, but would he/we after our fall-out?
    – Clarke: good shout …
    – Moyes: too far to fall, sadly, and anyway see Malky above

    I’d love to see Sherwood, but mainly because it would be a bit of a laugh with him – really don’t know whether it would work. And again, why would he?

    Reality is we all know so little about what it takes to be a manager, and how each candidate shape up against that, that we’re really all shooting in the dark … over to you McNally. No pressure then.

    Reply
  13. Canarydelia says

    14th May 2014 at 1:47 pm

    Jon Rogers … Do you remember a certain documentary about Delia, which had a scene showing her talking to our then manager, Glenn Roeder? His words, and I paraphrase…”We don’t want to be nice, we need to be nasty!”

    Out of context I know! but whenever I hear the word “nasty” now, I don’t think of success. Strong, resilient, passionate, no-nonsense,..all of these and more. But not nasty. Ever. Again.

    Reply
  14. Thomas says

    14th May 2014 at 5:44 pm

    Keith B (11) – Quick aside to just refer to your point about Lennon getting death threats while at Celtic. Lennon is from Northern Island and, I believe, came from a predominantly Protestant area. The religious ties that Celtic and Rangers possess is well known and Lennon received an incredible amount of abuse as a result of being at a “Catholic club”. However, this happened when he played for Celtic too, so I wouldn’t say that his personality was the predominant factor in any threats. He was certainly antagonistic on several occasions, but not to my knowledge on issues concerning sectarianism or other ingrained religious divides.

    Anyway, slightly of topic but just wanted to clarify that.

    Reply
  15. Keith B says

    14th May 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Hi Thomas (14), yes I know the background. Neil Lennon is Catholic, as is Martin O’Neill who is also from NI.

    As you rightly say Lennon was “antagonistic on several occasions”. Exactly so; he should steer clear of it. That is what O’Neill did.

    A lot of fans seem to believe Lennon would be good for us and acceptable. I don’t think he would be a credit to the club, which is important to me. So it’s not off topic at all.

    But realistically I can’t see why he’d swap another certain Scottish title plus a tilt at Europe for us, so there’s probably nothing to worry about.

    Reply
  16. Ash Diback says

    15th May 2014 at 11:15 am

    The speculation is rife but whoever comes in needs to adopt the Cloughie philosophy – “Rome wasn’t built in a day but I wasn’t on that job.”
    Keith B. – I really don’t think Lennon’s religious outlook should be any kind of issue. Why would he not be a credit to the club? If he gets us winning and playing footy again, he could be a communist for all I care.
    He wouldn’t be my first choice but he would certainly stoke things up and ruffle a few flagging Canary feathers. Hughton was deemed to be too nice and sensible, so why not try the other end of the spectrum?

    Reply
  17. Dave Backham says

    15th May 2014 at 12:47 pm

    Appointing Tim Sherwood would be a PR disaster waiting to happen. I haven’t been impressed with his media outbursts.
    Can we get a ‘big name’ manager for once (or do they all say No when approached?). I think its false economy to skimp on an unproven manager relative to the cost of the whole squad – £8m on RVW or on the manager? What do you think?

    Reply

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