• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us
Deano represents a sign of intent and, perhaps, an end to ‘little ol’ Norwich’

Deano represents a sign of intent and, perhaps, an end to ‘little ol’ Norwich’

17th November 2021 By Kelan Sarson 5 Comments

Please share

After City had won their first game of the season at Brentford – Normann and Pukki both scoring to give the Canaries an unlikely victory – it looked as if Daniel Farke would survive another day. Yet, nothing in football is guaranteed. The German was permitted a swan-song before being relieved of his duties.

The rumour mill went into overdrive the minute City confirmed the departure of the much-loved German, with Frank Lampard and Kjetil Knutsen the main names being thrown around.

Both offered the Canaries something vastly different; one a household name as a player trying to prove his worth as a manager still, the other a more Webber-like appointment – an unorthodox roll of the dice with the Norwegian favoured by hipster football fans.

The bookies got it wrong, however, and Dean Smith’s appointment became a formality after Lampard rejected the vacancy according to reports. Looking in from outside the Norwich City sphere, Smith’s appointment is a sign of intent from the Canaries hierarchy.

With Farke, his naiveties came to the fore in the top flight, and he appeared unable to change in-game situations to a large degree,

Smith’s Premier League experience will prove vital to Norwich but could the ex-Villa manager mount an unlikely relegation escape? But before I get carried away with what the 50-year-old manager could achieve in Norfolk, it seems right to look over his managerial career to date.

When you read what fans of Walsall, Brentford and Aston Villa have to say about Smith, the consensus is that he is a well-liked man, and these are hard to come by in football. Often a bad taste is left when a manager ups and leaves your football club, yet, Smith remains in the good books of all his ex-clubs.

In the four years he was manager at Walsall, Smith took the Saddlers from relegation favourites to promotion contenders. Throw in their first-ever trip to Wembley in the EFL Trophy in 2015, Smith had put the unremarkable West Midlands club on the map before exiting for Brentford.

Smith oversaw the foundations of what was to eventually become Premier League football when he was Brentford manager, initially winning over the neutrals with an entertaining brand of football. Joining Smith in west London from the Saddlers was Rico Henry who would become one of the Bees’ star men.

His first tangible success would come when he was given the almighty task of getting Aston Villa promoted; taking over the Villa with them marooned in mid-table in the Championship.

The success he enjoyed there was doubly sweet as it was his boyhood club no less and in those first few months the West Bromwich born man conjured up a 10 match winning run that saw Villa make the play-offs. They went on to beat Derby comfortably in the final and lifting the Playoff Final trophy aloft was an emotional moment for the 50-year-old.

Keeping Villa up in that first season when the club looked doomed to relegation and too far adrift to mount an escape was an achievement, as was the 11th-place finish in the season that followed.

But it fell apart for Smith in recent weeks, a gutting 3-2 home loss to Wolves at home saw his tight-knit Villa group start to unravel, and he was later relieved of his duties after a narrow loss to Southampton.

As the man who got them back to the top flight after fears Villa Park would be staging Championship football for the foreseeable, he is still held in the highest regard still in the claret and blue section of Birmingham.

So is Norwich City a good fit for a man just axed from his dream job?

I think so. Smith isn’t one for taking time out, after moving instantly from Walsall to Brentford, and likewise from Brentford to Aston Villa. He is a man who is obviously attached to the beautiful game.

The personnel at Norwich also works in the ex-Villa man’s favour, as his work with Jack Grealish could well translate to Todd Cantwell. Dropped by Farke this campaign, Smith could well get the best out of the enigmatic Cantwell as he did with Grealish, and as a man-manager by trade, he could well revitalise a number of under-performers.

While still at Villa Park, Milot Rashica was on Smith’s radar also and was rumoured to have nearly signed under his tenure in the Midlands. Smith can now utilise the Kosovo-born midfielder with the Canaries.

Stuart Webber nearly appointed Smith while he was at Huddersfield, so this combination has been some time in the making. Webber picked out Smith from a whole host of candidates for a reason, taking a liking to a manager who has tasted success in his managerial career.

Even if City do drop back into the Championship – which looks a real possibility – Smith has a Championship promotion on his CV, but it was his top flight capabilities that made him the ideal replacement.

Moreover, when you look closely at the methods and mannerisms of Smith, he is one who clearly values a defined culture at a football club.. This is crucial at Norwich City; a likeable, well-run and sustainable club that routinely punches above its weight.

Smith will buy into this but will want to change this approach to the top flight. It shouldn’t be treated as fleeting or temporary, but rather something to maintain and be consolidated, and he will want it to be a club that feels like it deserve to be amongst the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea.

After getting sacked recently, Norwich’s new boss will want to prove the nay-sayers wrong, and facing up against the club that put the dagger into his Villa tenure will be a huge fixture.

With favourable clashes against Wolves and Newcastle to follow, could Smith add another great escape to his managerial resume?

He isn’t, of course, a miracle worker but with Villa coming to Norfolk in the middle of December, it will be intriguing to see where the Canaries find themselves a month or so into his reign.  


Please share

Filed Under: Column, Kelan Sarson

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. KevH says

    17th November 2021 at 7:39 pm

    Hi Kelan good article!

    I actually think we got the best of the three known candidates, so kudos to Mr Webber. Naiveties – not sure but it may be that our friend Daniel Farke was confronted by the somewhat subtle differences between man-management – and men-management.

    I think Dean Smith is more than capable of keeping us up, and I believe he will do so, the club structure will be right for him to grow success, and I think the players will sign up quickly. From the outside, he, and Shakespeare, will already have some idea as to what they need to do to galvanise and grow the team.

    We don’t need a ‘miracle worker’, just fresh eyes, good tactical awareness, and strong all-round performances from the group.

    Cheers,
    COYY !!

    4
    Reply
  2. Alex B says

    17th November 2021 at 8:12 pm

    Hi Kelan

    Reading NewsNow’s and there are lots of sound bites after DS first news appearance and he his talking up a positive story so all we can hope for is a happy start on Saturday if that happens then other teams around us will be more nervous when playing either home or away

    3
    Reply
  3. Jim Davies says

    17th November 2021 at 10:49 pm

    “ Dean Smith’s appointment became a formality after Lampard rejected the vacancy according to reports” – Webber stated in the press conference, no one was offered the job before Smith, so the reports are obviously inaccurate. Lampard may have been interviewed, but he couldn’t have turned it down.

    2
    Reply
    • Alex B says

      18th November 2021 at 11:08 am

      Media hipe as always during the summer Spurs were suppose to have been turned down by ever manager available but only one got as far as an offer Nuno, others were in talks like Fat Frank but interviews were really open discussions to see were they went.

      Reply
      • Jim Davies says

        18th November 2021 at 12:43 pm

        Yes, absolutely right, and most of it is agents’ talk. And it looks better to say “ I turned them down “ than to say “ they didn’t want me”!

        1
        Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

ftfcghost Andrew Mitchell @ftfcghost ·
58m

Why has this seemingly become the new measure of how big a fan you are? #ncfc 🙄

Reply on Twitter 1619072488947978245 Retweet on Twitter 1619072488947978245 Like on Twitter 1619072488947978245 Twitter 1619072488947978245
adam_harv19 Adam Harvey @adam_harv19 ·
1h

An enjoyable afternoon at Colney watching the U23s 5-2 victory over Leeds United.

I was really impressed with Jaden Warner and Abu Kamara, looking forward to watching their progress in the coming years…#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1619069667682979840 Retweet on Twitter 1619069667682979840 Like on Twitter 1619069667682979840 3 Twitter 1619069667682979840
georgywalks George Walker @georgywalks ·
1h

Maddison to Newcastle could be a potentially nice sell on clause for Norwich?
With a few players off the wage bill I wonder if we have someone coming in last minute #NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1619068293683482625 Retweet on Twitter 1619068293683482625 Like on Twitter 1619068293683482625 1 Twitter 1619068293683482625
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
1h

'Bury FC apply to play in non league next season and plot to make EFL return' - https://fanbanter.co.uk/report-claims-bury-fc-apply-to-play-in-non-league-next-season-and-plot-to-make-efl-return/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #sufc

Reply on Twitter 1619066463477764124 Retweet on Twitter 1619066463477764124 Like on Twitter 1619066463477764124 Twitter 1619066463477764124
benotbc Ben  🔰 @benotbc ·
2h

Yes Speed haha. #NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1619061343365246977 Retweet on Twitter 1619061343365246977 Like on Twitter 1619061343365246977 Twitter 1619061343365246977
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by