The final game of 2022 at Carrow Road spelt the end to a torrid year and the start of a new chapter.
Dean Smith was sacked as Norwich City head coach on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after a 2-1 defeat at Luton Town. Come Friday night, set-piece coach Allan Russell and head of football development Steve Weaver were in charge for the visit of Reading.
GO DEEPER
Norwich's Smith sacking: Players questioning roles, recruitment problems and a lack of cash
The decision to get rid of Smith after 13 months in the job was designed to remove an element that had become toxic to supporters, in a bid to improve the atmosphere and inject some positivity into Norwich’s flailing 2022-23 season in the Championship.
Yet with issues over recent recruitment, a feeling of disconnect between some supporters and the club, as well as growing scrutiny of the likes of sporting director Stuart Webber, could Norwich’s issues really be eased by the sacking of one man?
Advertisement
More to the point, what do fans want the future at Norwich to look like and do they trust their club’s current decision-makers to deliver what is needed?
The Athletic wandered around Carrow Road at various intervals during the match with Reading (spoiler alert: it finished 1-1) to test the real feeling in the stands…
Walking under the South Stand mural of Norwich’s Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara, 16-year-old Charlie Jay is taking his friends to the football. His parents have handed over their season tickets, and his mates are the beneficiaries.
“I’m happy Dean Smith has been sacked,” Jay tells The Athletic. “I wasn’t really enjoying the football — it was quite boring, and we weren’t getting the best results either.
“That was the big thing for me, but I’m not sure who I want next.
“Sean Dyche is out there (after leaving Burnley in April shortly before their relegation from the Premier League) but I’m not sure if he’s a good option or not.
“Webber has made some bad decisions with signings we’ve brought in, so he’s probably got one last chance.”
As kick-off nears, there is no hiding the excitement on the face of Vince Parry, 46, or his 12-year-old son, Josh.
This evening is to be the pair’s highlight of a three-week visit home from Australia’s Sunshine Coast, just north of Brisbane.
Josh last watched Norwich live, coincidentally away to Reading, five years ago. He is wearing a Teemu Pukki home shirt fresh from the club shop, which the striker signed in a chance meeting earlier in the day.
“It was awesome!” beams Josh, as he described seeing the Carrow Road pitch for the first time. His wide eyes portray the feeling everyone bitten by the football bug experiences early in their supporter journey.
“My dad has always told me how amazing it is (inside the stadium) and I always thought he was exaggerating and being biased, but it’s really, really cool,” he says.
Advertisement
This is Josh’s first home game. It is Vince’s first visit to Carrow Road in almost exactly 19 years — a 1-0 Boxing Day win over Nottingham Forest best remembered for the unveiling of Darren Huckerby’s permanent signing from Manchester City.
This time around, Huckerby was giving Vince and Josh a tour behind the scenes in his role in a club ambassador.
“My first game, my dad brought me to Carrow Road back in the early 1980s, and when I’m back from Australia I always try to get here if I can. But it often doesn’t work,” Vince says. “So it’s the proudest moment to bring my son here after 12 years, to watch his first game.
“The big thing is I want him to experience an atmosphere I can relate to, so I’m hoping we have a really positive, really good atmosphere tonight.”
With Smith out, maybe they timed their visit perfectly.
“What did I say to you about two months ago?,” Vince asks his son. “I was starting to say I wasn’t sure if Dean Smith would still be manager when we came. It’s one of those things. Football moves on and we’ve got to look forward to who comes in next.”
And who would they like that to be?
“I don’t really have a preference,” Josh says, “just as long as they bring consistency to the team; not up and down constantly. I’d rather we stayed in the Championship than go up to come down in the Premier League.”
“You can say who you did want to be manager,” adds Vince. “Pep Guardiola!”
There may be an argument the Norwich job is far tougher than Guardiola’s current gig at Manchester City.
“What Stuart Webber has done at this club is phenomenal,” says Vince. “Watching what Daniel Farke did from afar was amazing. This next appointment is going to be so crucial for everyone.
“It feels like we’re at a bit of a crossroads.
“I just hope whoever they find gels and kicks us forward. There’s still a lot of time for this season. We shouldn’t be thinking anything other than right person, good results, and we could be fourth at the end of the night with a win.”
“I’m not going to lie; yes, I’m quite happy he’s gone. I’m feeling positive!,” smiles 20-year-old Amy Lerpiniere. Her twin sister Izzy is not far behind.
“Bring back Daniel Farke!,” Izzy tells The Athletic. “Dean never did it for me. There was no vision. No passion; not like Daniel had. We deserve better than that.
Advertisement
“I think we can still go up but we need someone else to come in and take a new outlook on the situation. Scott Parker maybe? Parker or Farke! The fans’ inspiration dropped when we had Smith.”
Kick-off is 15 minutes away and while the sisters watch a handful of Norwich games each season, this night is a genuinely exciting one.
“I don’t think anyone was really behind Smith and we need someone we can all get behind,” continues Amy. “Norwich fans stick together. That can be a massive part of our club, but we haven’t had that with Smith.”
The sisters are not alone. Their group extends to five other cousins and other family members who get in on the conversation, as well as a few more who keep their counsel.
“I don’t want (Huddersfield’s 2016-17 Premier League promotion-winning manager David) Wagner,” says Jo Brooke.
“Nor Sean Dyche!” adds David George.
“Nor (long-time Norwich player and now manager of fellow Championship side Swansea City) Russell Martin, because he’s too nice,” Jo comes back with. “He’s my favourite and I wouldn’t want him to get the abuse. You don’t want someone who’s too close to it all.”
“Not Wagner, but another Farke,” smiles David. He is happy with that one. Another voice enters the ring.
“Say hi to mum!” urges Andy George. “She’s been a season ticket holder for 50 years.”
Mum is Viv George, who now takes in games from one of Carrow Road’s lounges.
“I’m glad he’s gone,” she says of Smith, before opting against saying where Norwich’s previous head coach ranks in all those she has seen. “I hope it solves the problems now. Scott Parker (who has won Premier League promotion with Fulham and Bournemouth in two of the past three seasons, and is available) would be good.”
Parker has also been linked with Belgian top-flight side Club Bruges, but The Athletic decides not to prod the bubble.
“I hope Stuart (Webber) and Zoe (Ward, Norwich’s executive director and Webber’s wife) get the appointment right,” adds Viv.
“They didn’t make a good decision with Dean Smith though, did they?,” says Jo.
And with that, they head inside for kick-off.
Happy to cut things a little finer in terms of the start of the game are Rob Dean and Fergus Rawlinson. Both are happy Smith has been sacked — apparently, everyone is — but Rob says: “It was a bit overdue. The ideal opportunity would’ve been at the start of the World Cup break. Then you could get a new manager in and give them time with the players.
Advertisement
“We’re in a tricky situation now, with two games that could do with being wins,” adds Fergus. “I do feel like if we’re going to go up now, we’re going to have to win the play-offs. And I think that’s a big ask.”
“I never understood Smith’s tactics and he never seemed to know what his best XI was. It was changing every week,” says Rob. “I think we’re worse off now than when Farke left.”
As they prepare to leave, Fergus adds: “There’s that slight worry Webber will pick the easy option. He did work with (David) Wagner before (at Huddersfield). My problem is, I don’t want someone who I can already judge before they come in.
“With Farke, the beauty was no one had a clue. But with names being thrown around like Wagner or Sean Dyche, you know what they do.”
“Dyche’s football to me doesn’t suit our club,” says Rob.
“I love the man, though,” adds Fergus. “That voice!”
It is half-time on the concourse inside the Geoffrey Watling City Stand.
Norwich started brightly before their energy waned and some of their previous bad habits came to the fore again.
This explains the punctured enthusiasm that accompanied Ben Hedge, his father Steve and their friend, Mark Blake, as they enjoyed a half-time drink.
“It was good to see Smith go, and it was going to be hard in a short period of time to come in and change a lot,” says Ben. “It looks more of the same so far tonight —strikers playing wide, while we’ve got wide players out on loan that we’ve spent £10million on.”
Ben has already made it clear he hopes Christos Tzolis’ season-long loan to Dutch Eredivisie side FC Twente gets cut short in January so the Greece international can perform for Norwich before the season is over.
“I don’t really see any manager changing much with this group of players at the moment,” says Mark. “Webber assembled the first team under Farke and we went up, but since then every signing has been a failure.”
Ben continues: “Webber? He’s a chancer. He has made one good signing: Emi Buendia. He got Teemu Pukki on a free, who was offered to other Championship clubs. I like Tim Krul but it took him a while to get back into it all.”
Dad Steve sounds much more positive.
“I still have hope. You’ve got to have that. But we need to work out again what we want to be as a side: what do we want to play? How can we play? We are stakeholders in this and we pay our money, we come week after week and we want entertainment. I don’t care if we lose, as long as we play well. But at the moment we are totally lacking direction and as far as I’m concerned, Stuart Webber has probably run his course here.”
Advertisement
Ben adds: “In a way, I wouldn’t mind if the new head coach was Wagner and it does go wrong — because then that is Webber gone; that would be his man and that would be the end of that.”
“The trouble is, we’ve been spoilt,” adds Steve. “We had no idea who Daniel Farke was (when he was appointed) and he’s become a demigod. That sort of person is what we are looking for.”
The dust is settling as Norwich officials and players leave Carrow Road for the final time in 2022.
It was all looking so good when Adam Idah gave them the lead early in the second half, but Andy Carroll dispatched an 83rd-minute penalty and both sides had to settle for a point.
“I enjoyed that — more than the rest of the season,” 16-year-old Arrun Bentley tells The Athletic. “We were more attacking, more organised too, I’d say. I was happy Dean left in some ways, but in other ways we’re still lacking.
“I still trust Webber to get the next one right. If it was me, I would have Sean Dyche. I used to watch Burnley a lot in the Premier League and I thought they played well.
“I still feel we will go up but it will be a case of winning the play-off final now, against Watford or Blackburn. We will win it.”
Arrun sounds convinced the season will end with another promotion, clutching his autograph book and still hopeful of adding more squiggles to its empty pages before he left for home.
As for Ben Southerland, a Barclay Stand season-ticket holder and a regular at Carrow Road since 1989, he was simply happy to see the subjects leave the ground and file home.
“Players like Max Aarons looked like they had a bit of weight lifted off their shoulders,” he tells The Athletic. “They looked suppressed under Smith’s regime. It’s going to take time because the confidence has been drained out of them. But they will get there.
Advertisement
“I couldn’t see any progression at all under Dean. When he first came in, I was pleased (Aston Villa won Premier League promotion under Smith in 2018-19 and got to the following season’s Carabao Cup final). With (assistant) Craig Shakespeare, I thought we were getting two good footballing men for the price of one.
“I was waiting to see the style of play he was going to bring but game after game, you couldn’t see what he was trying to build. The players’ body language was awful. It was heartbreaking to see. These players have got such talent, but they just looked like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders.”
Weaver and Russell are both expecting to remain in charge for Watford’s visit on Monday. It is then possible Norwich will appoint their new head coach in the two-week break before their next Championship fixture away to Preston North End on January 14.
In between is next Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to fellow Championship promotion candidates Blackburn Rovers.
“It’s all about the next appointment, really,” adds Ben. “Ask me a year or two ago and I’d have said, ‘Yes, I trust Webber’. With Norwich, you always worry about the finances — will they get the right man, or the cheap man?
“You can’t have Farke back but you could see he was trying to build something. You could see the progress. You just want someone who is going to do that.
“I think the talent is in the squad. I just think they need to be given confidence and allowed to express themselves. Marcelino Nunez, when he first came here, looked like a real talent. Then Smith played him as a holding midfielder.
“Figures crossed. If you get a manager who can put round pegs in round holes, you never know.”
(Allan Russell was in charge for the draw with Reading. Photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
