Canaries sing from same hymnsheet
NORWICH are unbeaten in their last 12 Championship matches, winning ten of them, after thumping Huddersfield 7-0 on Tuesday night.
They have been head and shoulders the best team in the second-tier this season and their return to the Premier League could be confirmed tomorrow if they win at Derby and other results go their way.
Trouble is, they lost their last ten Premier League games last season, scoring just once in the process. How can manager Daniel Farke square the circle at a club not good enough for the top flight but too good for the second.
In truth it is a dilemma many in the Championship would love to have, not least tomorrow’s hosts.
This is the first game Derby will have played since it was revealed the club has agreed to a takeover by a 29-year-old former boxer turned agent by the name of Erik Alonso.
It’s not clear yet what Alonso will bring to the table to bring the success that has eluded the Rams, with their outgoing owner Mel Morris and exiting Ipswich benefactor Marcus Evans having proved even deep pockets are no guarantee.
That is where Norwich have come in, a club with a clear strategy that goes far deeper than a run of form.
Delia Smith may never live down her ‘Let’s be having you’ half-time battle cry’ but with husband Michael Wynn-Jones, the majority shareholders have earned their success with a self-funding model based on bringing players through the academy into the first team. Sporting director Stuart Webber and Farke are singing the same mantra so while fans were sad to see Ben Godfrey and Jamal Lewis leave for a combined £40million after relegation last year, it was part of a bigger plan.
So was living within their means in the top flight and it would be wrong to pin the Canaries’ success on parachute payments this time.
With 12 goals and 15 assists Emi Buendia, who cost an initial £1.5m three years ago, is surely the best player in the Championship, Teemu Pukki has bagged another 22 goals and they did well to keep Todd Cantwell – the Dereham Deco – after relegation.
Norwich look better equipped for the big time now. But don’t expect them to start selling their soul any time soon.