In the early days of Philippe Clement’s reign at Norwich City, the Belgian worked so late into the night at the club’s training ground that when he returned to his hotel, he had to plead with the staff to reopen the kitchens and bung a pizza in the oven.
Clement, described by sources as an ‘all-consuming perfectionist’, was simply too busy transforming a club that had become so toxic supporters were setting off flares outside Carrow Road and lobbing tennis balls on to the pitch.
When he arrived almost a year ago, only Sheffield Wednesday, a club hit with a 12-point deduction, sat below Norwich in the Championship. The Canaries had lost all eight home games of the season and were facing their first relegation to League One in 15 years.
And yet the 6ft 3in Clement, through what club insiders called his ‘aura’ and relentless work ethic, hauled them from the doldrums and into the play-off hunt. From the start of January to the end of the season, only Southampton won more points than Norwich.
In the summer, American billionaire owner Mark Attanasio declared that all the talk inside the club was how to ‘get the team into the top two next year’.
Only, Norwich are nowhere near the top two. They are back in the doldrums. Their 1-0 defeat by Portsmouth last weekend was their fifth in a row in the Championship, their eighth in 11 league matches this season, and left them just a point outside the relegation zone.
Philippe Clement is feeling the heat at Norwich, with his side losing eight of their 11 league matches this season
The fanbase may not be hurling tennis balls in fury again just yet but as the Norwich players completed their customary lap of appreciation around Carrow Road on Saturday, the supporters sent them back down the tunnel with chants of ‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt’ ringing in their ears.
Norwich are shipping goals at a faster rate than even under predecessor Liam Manning this season but, in trying to shore up the defence in recent weeks, it has come at the expense of goals for Clement’s side.
The Belgian’s magic appears to have worn off. That round-the-clock drive, something he expects of everyone else at the club too, has stopped reaping its rewards.
Clement gave his charges one day off last December and it wasn’t Christmas Day. A week after the season ended, he had his players return for a 10-day boot camp. While other clubs gave their squad time off during the recent three-week international break, Clement’s men had just the odd day here and there.
Clement joked himself that the only time he wasn’t spending every waking second thinking about fixing Norwich’s plight, was the two hours he was hitting golf balls with his wife at the local driving range.
During the break, Clement held a meeting with the entire football department at their Colney training ground – from the data analysts, to the technical staff, to sporting director Ben Knapper – that lasted for nearly seven hours as they tried to figure out what was going wrong. He is known for not being shy in holding frank exchanges of views with his staff.
That intensity – and the demand for everyone else to buy into it – is fine and dandy when you’re winning matches. It inspires everyone around you, sweeps them up, and carries them with you. It soon starts to drag when you’re not winning anymore.
With no time for rest and recuperation, Norwich are running on empty and anyone who has watched their recent performances can see it.
Norwich players are running on empty and anyone who watches them can see it
Sporting director Ben Knapper faced chants calling for his dismissal towards the end of Norwich’s loss to Portsmouth last weekend
It’s having an impact behind the scenes, too. Players and staff are said to be mentally fatigued, with little time to spend with their families. Some are struggling even to find time to get a haircut. One source close to the dressing room noted there’s been more colds going around the place because people are so run down.
What’s clear is that Clement is not for changing. ‘There’s only one way, and that’s to work hard, to stay positive, and to push your luck to the right side, and then it comes back,’ he said after the Portsmouth defeat. ‘I’ve always been a fighter, and I will fight really hard for this club to get everything back.’
‘They can put me in Siberia, it doesn’t matter,’ he said during his time at Rangers. ‘I’m always working, I’m at it seven days a week.’
Upcoming games against Charlton, Watford and Derby, three sides also in the bottom third of the table, are crucial if Clement is to stop the toxic tide from crashing down once more.
Injuries have, again, hurt Norwich. At times last season, the Canaries were playing matches with as many as 14 senior players missing, with one fit striker and a defensive midfielder on the right wing.
It prompted the club to hire a firm to audit their practices, take advice from Liverpool and NBA teams and completely overhaul the medical department. A new head of physiotherapy and chief medical officer joined over the summer following the appointment of Dr Paul Ford from the British Olympic Association as the new performance director overseeing all elements of athlete management, including medical, performance, nutrition and psychology.
It’s not the number of injuries this time around so much as the importance of the players who are missing. Kenny McLean, the club’s longest-serving player, Scotland international, and inspirational captain, has missed the last three defeats. It meant that, against Portsmouth, Norwich had only two players over the age of 25 in their starting XI – and one of them was the goalkeeper. It’s a squad missing know-how and leadership.
Top scorer Mo Toure, who’s bagged 16 goals from his 21 matches since joining in January, is now out too after needing surgery on a shoulder injury while winger Ali Ahmed is likely to miss most of the season with a torn ACL.
The Canaries wanted an experienced winger in the summer only to spend £8million on 23-year-old Andre Brooks (left) from Sheffield United
While some fear Clement’s time at Carrow Road is running out, the Belgian has credit in the bank for the miracles he worked last season
While there is naturally scrutiny starting to come Clement’s way, the general feeling is that the 52-year-old has enough credit in the bank for the miracles he worked last season. Much more of the anger, instead, is being directed at sporting director Knapper, who faced chants calling for his dismissal towards the end of the Portsmouth defeat.
Knapper, the former Arsenal loan manager, is on to his fourth permanent manager in three years after inheriting then sacking David Wagner before appointing Johannes Hoff Thorup and Manning.
When he first came to the club, Knapper talked about the need to lower the age of a squad which included the likes of Shane Duffy and Ashley Barnes, but the fear is Norwich have now gone too far the other way. Only Watford average a younger starting XI in the Championship this season. It was understood the Canaries wanted an experienced winger in the summer only to spend £8million on 23-year-old Andre Brooks from Sheffield United.
The frustration, more than anything, centres on who is holding the decision-makers to account and what is the plan for supporters to get behind. Norwich are into their fifth year in the Championship since relegation from the Premier League in 2021-22 and continue to drift.
Attanasio, the long-time owner of the Milwaukee Brewers who took over from Delia Smith and her late husband Michael Wynn-Jones, is rarely at matches. There are regular Zoom meetings but he leaves the everyday running of the football side to Knapper.
A host of Norwich legends returned to Carrow Road last Saturday to pay their respects to former owner and honorary life president Wynn-Jones, who died last month aged 85. All the board and ownership group were there except for Attanasio.
Across the Pond, he was celebrating the Brewers reaching the World Series for the first time in 44 years. The Brewers have enjoyed great success due to their use of data, punching above their weight significantly as one of the smaller teams in Major League Baseball, and Attanasio wants Norwich to do the same.
To make matters worse, his son, Mike, started blocking Norwich fans on X when they sent him their thoughts on the matter. ‘He’s put in more blocks than (defender Jose) Cordoba this season,’ remarked one supporter.
This did nothing to dispel the grumbles that Norwich are in the hands of an absentee landlord.
Owner Mark Attanasio claims his success at the Milwaukee Brewers is built on his four cornerstones for how to run a club – but Norwich aren’t exhibiting them
One former member of staff remarked this week that after Delia sold up, there was a noticeable shift inside the building from the feeling of a family club to a more American business-minded approach.
Attanasio claims his success at the Brewers is built on his four cornerstones for how to run a club: fielding a perennially competitive team, delivering the best fan experience, remaining a leader in the community and being an organisation where people want to work.
Norwich began to charge for parking at Carrow Road this summer. They were forced to shelve plans for the stadium which would have involved 3,000 season-ticket holders moving to new seats. Redundancies towards the end of last season affected morale.
And they are, most certainly, not perennially competitive. They are, if anything, perennially treading water and find themselves doing so once again, no matter how tirelessly Clement wants everyone to keep kicking.
