Norwich City: David Wagner sacking analysed on our podcast

PD: Without being uncharitable to Wagner, he probably dodged the bullet late autumn, early winter period, when seven defeats in nine and you saw the managers falling around him. I think Mowbray went out of Sunderland, Michael Duff went out of Swansea around that period.

Both of those had actually beaten David Wagner in that spell or beaten Norwich City in and we know there were meetings as a board, internal discussions.

So I personally felt he was fortunate to stay in post during that spell, which is why now as we sit here a matter of hours after it's been confirmed that he's no longer in charge, I'm not surprised.

The German had been under pressure for large portions of his tenure (Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)

CS: I think the speed of it is telling, because it tells me that this has been in the pipeline. I mean somebody said to me two or three days ago, they felt irrespective about how the play-offs resolve themselves that he wouldn't be in charge. That was the feeling internally.

I think we can say definitively about Ben Knapper, as we build a profile of how he is and how he operates, he doesn't do anything knee jerk, that's not a word I would associate with him, his character, how he acts. He's had six months or so now to reflect on this.

I think that decisive act will stand everybody in good stead because it signals that this is a guy who, when he's absolutely certain and he feels the time is right, he will act and he will act decisively. And now it needs to be followed relatively swiftly, because it is a big summer.

Ben Knapper decided to dispense with Wagner six months after becoming the Canaries' sporting director (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

SS: I think it is the sort of situation that he would have been building up to for a long time, but unfortunately he can't really show any signs of that. I mean, what are you going to do? Come out and say: ‘Yeah, I don't want my head coach’?. Motivation-wise that probably would have killed it for Wagner.

It's good to see such a decisive change, even if Knapper had to bide his time, and it's definitely important that it's happening now. I went out and spoke to fans about how they felt after the game at Elland Road, and immediately the focus was on change, it wasn't even really bashing the team for the performance on the night or being angry about that. It was instantly ‘we want to see change in the summer’.

After such a miserable night at Elland Road I think Norwich really did need to do something quickly. There has been this perception of Knapper maybe being slightly ponderous in his decision making, but from January onwards there wasn’t a good time to do this until now.

CS: Yeah, you look at what comes next after they sack Wagner, and if they had done it in January they’d probably have been looking for an option until the end of the season. So are you then in a better place to just keep David Wagner?

Back in the autumn, with that squad being what it is, an older and more experienced group, he was actually the best man to lead them. That playing group was consistently playing for him, even when it was seven defeats in nine, and we were saying that at the time.

The form has been good in recent months, and he has had to deal with a lot of problems since arriving at the club. But with the issues around style of play and the fact that fans haven’t really connected with his football, he just struggled to shake that off.

Fans struggled to connect with Wagner's football (Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)

PD: Yeah, I mean we've we've talked about this and it it's pertinent again cause who who was facing him in the opposing dugout on Thursday night. There was somebody who's did have that swashbuckling, attacking, pleasing-on-the-eye style that we've discussed.

For me, Wagner was very much a pragmatist, whereas Daniel Farke was very philosophical and a purist, his football was much more pleasing on the eye. You saw that again when his Leeds team cut loose, aided obviously and abetted by how poor Norwich were defensively on Thursday night. But the fluidity of movement, the pace, the directness, everything was at pace.

With Norwich it just felt like painting by numbers.

SS: It feels like this season's been a bit of a dream. And I think part of that is because in so many ways, this has been completely different to what we know Norwich City is. The sort of players that they sign, the coaches that tend to do well, the culture there is around the club when they’re doing well.

After the two embarrassing Premier League campaigns there has been this long-term narrative that Norwich are too soft and too nice, and Wagner in some ways was the anecdote to that. But they went a bit too far away from what those fans want and when that happened it was clear that they weren’t going to get completely on board with Wagner’s way of doing things.

Given Knapper’s ideas and preferences, I think the next head coach will see Norwich get back to what they always have been a little bit, and for me the large majority of supporters will be very pleased with that.