It could be worrying times for Norwich City fans as they will have hoped not to be cursed by the dreaded ’second-season syndrome’. But at the moment they have no manager, no-one seemingly in line and their star striker wants to leave the club. Does Norwich have any hope of keeping their top-flight status at the end of 2012/13? (Norwich 13/8 – Premier League Relegation)
The Canaries are desperately on the look-out for a new manager after Paul Lambert jumped ship to Aston Villa (7/1 – Premier League Relegation) in acrimonious circumstances surrounding rejected resignations, rumours of fall-outs over the financial stability of the club and being forced to sell their best players to raise funds.
Losing a manager of Lambert’s credentials will have hurt Norwich as he took them from the depths of League One to a mid-table finish in the Premier League, and brought together a collection of lower league misfits and journeymen to look like a polished top-flight outfit.
So where do Norwich turn now? Despite their finish last season there remains no doubt that Norwich are a minnow in the Premier League and so may struggle to get an established big name into the dug-out at Carrow Road – despite chief executive David McNally stating the club were on a “European search” to get a manager with pedigree in.
One man who was highly linked with the role was former Norwich player and now Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay, this was despite McNally claiming they wanted a manager with “top league” experience.
The Welsh manager has earned a rising reputation with Watford and now the Bluebirds but has declared himself out of the race for the job as he wants to “stay and finish a long-term project” in Wales (Cardiff 16/1 – Championship Outright). The fact there is so much uncertainty regarding off-the-field issues at Carrow Road could put many potential suitors off.
The only other name really linked with the post is Chris Hughton after he seems to have been over-looked for the job at West Bromwich Albion (9/2 – Premier League Relegation) in favour of the German Ralf Ragnick – also reportedly one of the names McNally fancies for Norwich.
None of these names being thrown around really scream mass optimism if you are a Norwich fan and it could be a long campaign ahead.
Add to the lack of manager the distinct proposition that Grant Holt will be leaving the club this year after slapping in a transfer request. His 15 goals meant he was the second best English goal scorer in the Premier League and linked with a call-up to the Euro 2012 England squad.
There are going to be no shortage of suitors for Holt and Norwich will struggle to get a quality of his calibre to replace him, especially for the £4 million quoted for the 31-year-old.
Norwich over-performed last season and unfortunately 2012/13 could be a season that really shows up how much they over-achieved and how good a manager Lambert really was.
This rag-tag collection of footballers need to be galvanised by whoever the new boss is, but it remains to be seen if anyone else could really get the same passion, quality and energy out of the players like Lambert did.
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With Group A (10/1 to produce the Euro 2012 winner) at the European Championships including the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Russia, any two of these four teams could qualify for the all-important knockout stages of the major tournament.