CLEVER CANARIES

Chris Dunlavy examines the strategy behind Norwich’s success

DURING the 15-minute interval that briefly halted Huddersfield’s 7-0 humiliation at the hands of Norwich on Tuesday, social media crackled with disbelief.

“That’s the best 45 minutes I’ve ever seen playing for or watching Norwich City,” tweeted Canaries legend Darren Huckerby. “Two different levels of players on show, absolutely outstanding.”

Ed Balls, a former chairman, posted that he was watching “the best Norwich team of my lifetime”.

As a neutral, it is certainly hard to remember seeing any team play with such ruthlessness, panache and control for an entire half.

Panache

That the scoreline was only 5-0 at the break flattered Huddersfield. If the Canaries had not elected to hit cruise control, then the Terriers’ record 10-1 defeat at Manchester City in 1987 might have hoved into view.

“I can only apologise,” said Town manager Carlos Corberan, but it wasn’t necessary. His team, already wearied by weekend exertions against Brentford, were simply taken apart by one of the best sides the Championship has ever seen.

Others have posted more impressive numbers. Reading’s record of 106 points and 99 goals, set in 2005-06, is not in danger.

But man-for-man, has any team ever been so superior, right across the park, to every single one of their rivals?

Teemu Pukki would be the first name on almost every other Championship team sheet. But so would Emi Buendia, Oliver Skipp, Tim Krul, Todd Cantwell or Max Aarons. Objectively, the team of the season could be ten players from Norwich, plus Ivan Toney. The title has never looked in doubt.

It would be easy to dismiss the dominance of Norwich as somehow inevitable; that a team who earned £94.5m in the Premier League last season should have the best players.

Yet to do so is to ignore the intelligent preparation that put them in this position, and to underestimate the difficulty of bouncing back. Stoke were relegated with all the same advantages, but are now doomed to a fourth straight season in the Championship. Indeed, just four of the last 20 teams relegated in 20th position - as Norwich were - have made an immediate return to the top flight. It is a fate that leaves scars, both mental and financial.

Norwich, though, were primed. Having built the side that won promotion under Daniel Farke in 2019, the club’s board - guided by sporting director Stuart Webber - spent next to nothing.

Informed by Fulham’s futile £100m splurge 12 months earlier, they reasoned that a heavy outlay would only marginally increase the chances of survival whilst carrying a high risk of damaging the club’s longterm financial health. Similarly, new contracts offered to 14 key players that summer all included clauses that stipulated a 50 per cent pay-cut in the event of relegation.

That financial security meant Webber could afford to be selective about who the club retained, with Jamal Lewis (Newcastle) and Ben Godfrey (Everton) sold for a profit whilst Buendia and Aarons - targets for Arsenal and Bayern Munich - were viewed as pivotal to winning promotion.

Flourish

Of course, an unhappy player is rarely an asset, and Farke has skilfully cultivated an environment that allowed those who were denied moves and docked pay - to flourish.

Theirs, then, is a triumph of strategy, not finance; of ensuring that the Premier League windfall works for you, not against; of long-term stability, not short-term gains; of data-driven recruitment, careful character assessment and a clearly-communicated plan that runs from the boardroom to the kit room.

And on Tuesday evening, those carefully crafted streams coalesced to produce a 45-minute detonation of brilliance that will never be forgotten.