Unusually for a new manager, Philippe Clement is likely to be relieved that his first game in charge of Norwich is away from home, at Birmingham City, this weekend.
The Frenchman survived for two years in the cauldron that is Rangers, but will not be underestimating the challenge ahead in the more genteel surroundings of Carrow Road, where Norwich have lost all seven of their home league matches this season, leaving them second-bottom of the Championship.
After reaching the play-offs in 2023-24, Norwich’s decline began last season, winning one game between 1 February and 3 May. Danish head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup was sacked in April. Performances and results worsened under his permanent successor, Liam Manning, who won just three of 17 games before being dismissed last week.
It is the man who appointed both Thorup and Manning, Norwich’s sporting director Ben Knapper, who is receiving most of the criticism from fans over the club’s current plight. There are suggestions from inside Carrow Road that following their failures, owner Mark Attanasio was more involved in Clement’s appointment.
The American first bought 22 per cent of Norwich three years ago before upping his stake to 85 per cent last March by buying out Delia Smith and her husband, who retain 10 per cent, with a five per cent shareholding held by the Supporters Trust.
Clement certainly has a different profile to his predecessors – older, more experienced, and with a reputation for no-nonsense management methods and a willingness to embrace a more direct playing style.
“I don’t know whether Knapper will continue beyond the end of the season, as he already has supporters on his back,” a Norwich source said. “The owners have backed him so far, but the team are in a survival battle.”
Knapper’s rise to running the football department at a Championship club at the age of just 36 has been breathtaking. Having graduated from Hull University with a degree in Sports Coaching and Performance, his first full-time role was Performance Analyst at Scunthorpe, from where he joined Arsenal as one of many football analysts, working his way up over 14 years to become Loans Manager. He held that position for four years before joining Norwich in 2023.
A source who worked with Knapper at Arsenal praised his professionalism and work ethic but notably referenced his ambition, saying he “dressed for the job he wanted, rather than the one he had.” In his role as loans manager, he broadened his range of contacts at other clubs, including Norwich, who were impressed by his use of data and recruitment models.
Knapper’s approach chimes with that of Attanasio, who created an analytics department at his Major League Baseball team Milwaukee Brewers over a decade ago, which has been widely seen as fundamental to their recent success in outperforming bigger franchises. The Brewers won their divisional title, National League Central, this season before losing the Championship game to LA Dodgers, who went on to win the World Series.
Such is Attanasio’s belief in the power of data that Norwich are currently in negotiations to buy analytics company Src Ftbl, who were set up by a former Arsenal colleague of Knapper’s, ex-vice president of analytics Sarah Rudd.
Unfortunately for Norwich the initial results of this approach have been poor, to say the least. Of 12 signings made at a cost of £25m last summer, only Harry Darling – a centre-back signed on a free transfer from Swansea – has made a positive impression on supporters. While Knapper’s strategy of bringing in primarily young, foreign players makes sense on paper, in the unforgiving environment of the Championship it is not working on the pitch.
To compound matters, in Norwich’s annual accounts published earlier this month it is clear their financial position is worsening. The club’s pre-tax losses rose to £21m during the 2024-25 season, one of the worst figures in the Championship, which would have been far higher than they had raised £23m through selling players such as Gabriel Sara, Adam Idah, Abu Kamara and Christos Tzolis.
Norwich have operated a successful player trading model for some time, and were profitable for seven years out of 10 up to 2021 which is highly unusual, but have now recorded losses for four successive years and based on recent results are running out of assets to sell. American striker Josh Sargent would attract offers were he available in January, and may be open to a move ahead of the World Cup, but Clement is understandably eager to add to an underperforming squad rather than trim it.
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While Attanasio has supported Norwich generously, injecting £115m into the club over the last three years via loans and preferential shares, he will not want to do so forever. Profitability and sustainability rules will soon impact on their transfer plans. The club currently have PSR headroom for the three-year monitoring period up to 2024-25 due to player sales, but not a huge buffer.
Attanasio’s investment and accessibility – he is a regular on local radio and at fans’ forums – have bought time with supporters, but the owner may need to take a reality check. “I have a lot of the same feelings as our supporters do, I get angry and scream at the television too,” he recently told BBC Radio Norfolk.
On completing his majority takeover last year, Attanasio set a target of becoming an established Premier League club within three to five years. They will currently do well to avoid hurtling into League One.
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