Stadium: Carrow Road (capacity: 27,244)
Manager: Alex Neil (2nd season)
Nickname: The Canaries
2014-15 Record: 86 points (25-11-10), 3rd place in SkyBet Championship (play-off winners)
Many of the clubs who have been relegated from the Premier League to the Championship get stuck at that level because they have a hard time dealing with the 46-game schedule and lack of financial resources. So it is remarkable when a club like Norwich City in one season’s time immediately earn promotion back to the Premier League.
Sure, there have been clubs like West Ham, QPR, Sunderland and Newcastle United who recently were promoted back to the Premier League after being relegated the season before. But with the exception of QPR all of those clubs have more history than Norwich and all of those clubs had more resources at their disposal.
But whatever resources the Canaries didn’t have, they had something equally valuable in brilliant 34-year-old manager Alex Neil. The Scotsman took over as manager in January and helped spark the Canaries’ strong finish to last season and victory in the Championship play-off final.
Interestingly enough, Neil’s predecessor, Neil Adams, was not sacked by Norwich, but chose to step aside himself with Norwich sitting seventh in the Championship and outside the play-off places.
Neil was previously a player and manager at Scottish club Hamilton Academical, whom he helped earn promotion back to the Scottish Premier League in 2014 before leaving when offered the job at Norwich. After taking over, Neil won an astonishing 17 out of 25 matches, earning a third place finish. In the play-off semi-final, Norwich defeated rivals Ipswich Town 4-2 on aggregate over two matches. In the final at Wembley the Canaries defeated Middlesbrough with surprising ease by two goals to nil.
The last time the Canaries were up in the Premier League it ended in relegation after a three-year run, when they finished in 18th place in 2013-14. But in the first two seasons of their previous Premier League stay (2011-12 and 2012-13) the Canaries finished 12th and 11th respectively, so they weren’t always overpowered by the competition.
They’ve done an admirable job keeping some of the players from their last Premier League run like Gary Hooper, John Ruddy, Nathan Redmond, Bradley Johnson and Wes Hoolahan. They haven’t brought in too many new faces and are gambling on some of that Premier League experience. Perhaps the experience of surviving the play-off has them ready to stay in the top flight this time.
New Faces: Youssouf Mulumbu — defensive midfielder (West Brom), Graham Dorrans — central midfielder (West Brom).
Of the newly-promoted clubs, Norwich have been the least active in the transfer market. One could sum up the Canaries’ off-season by saying they signed two players who were no longer in the plans of West Brom’s tracksuit-wearing manager, Tony Pulis.
Dorrans is actually a familiar face for Canaries supporters as he joined them on loan in February and played a critical role in the late season push to secure a play-off spot. Dorrans made 18 appearances and scored three goals in an attacking midfield role. Previously he had been with West Brom since 2008 and made 176 total appearances for the Baggies, but only made 30 or more appearances in two seasons: 2009-10 and 2011-12.
The other player whom West Brom cast off and Norwich acquired, Youssouf Mulumbu, has a bevy of Premier League experience and should make the Canaries a better defensive team. Mulumbu joined the Baggies in 2009 on loan from Paris St. Germain and eventually joined the club permanently. Unlike Dorrans, Mulumbu appeared 30 or more times in each of his seasons with the Baggies and was a consistent, if not flashy, Premier League quality defensive midfielder. It is a surprise that Mulumbu was released this summer given how much Tony Pulis covets unflashy, defensive-minded midfielders.
While there is certainly more time to add players and it would make sense for Norwich to do so, their lack of activity during the summer is a strong statement about the confidence they have in last year’s squad.
Familiar Faces: John Ruddy — goalkeeper (50 total appearances, 15 clean sheets), Cameron Jerome — striker (45 total appearances, 21 goals), Bradley Johnson — left midfielder (48 total appearances, 15 goals), Lewis Grabban — striker (37 total appearances, 12 goals), Martin Olsson — left-back (45 total appearances, one goal), Russell Martin — right back (49 total appearances, two goals).
The above section could have listed even more players because Norwich will feature an almost identical line-up as the one they used last season. There are usually risks to fielding an unchanged team and making the jump from the Championship to the Premier League, but so many players already have Premier League experience.
Although Cameron Jerome, last season’s leading goal scorer for the Canaries (21 goals), was not with the club, their last time in the Premier League, he made 179 Premier League appearances with Birmingham City, Stoke City and Crystal Palace. While he has only scored 37 goals in the Premier League, Jerome’s value comes from occupying defenders and opening up space for other attacking players.
Another one of last season’s scoring threats, Lewis Grabban, is coming off his best two seasons as a professional. Grabban previously played for Bournemouth and led the Cherries with 22 goals in 2013-14 before moving to the Canaries and scoring 12 goals last season.
On the defensive side, almost all of the regular starters were regulars during the club’s last season in the Premier League. Both full-backs Swedish international Martin Olsson and Scottish international Steven Whittaker started practically every match. Furthermore, goalkeeper John Ruddy started every match and has been the Canaries’ first choice ‘keeper since 2010.
In midfield, last season Bradley Johnson had the most prolific season of his career and was second on the club’s scoring charts with 15 goals in all competitions. Also returning are central midfielder Wes Hoolahan (five goals in 40 total appearances), right midfielder Nathan Redmond (six goals in 39 total appearances) and defensive midfielder Alexander Tettey (two goals in 40 total appearances).
Neil and the club management have taken a gamble on these players, the majority of whom were relegated in 2014, in the hope that they will be Premier League quality with a better manager.
Completely Unscientific, Somewhat Unbiased Predicted Finish: 16th place
The last time in the Premier League, the Canaries’ management was loyal to then-manager Chris Hughton to a fault. If the club had changed managers earlier in the 2013-14 season it would have given them a much better chance at survival.
Sacking Hughton earlier would not have guaranteed survival by any means and some players on that Norwich team were clearly not giving their best effort. There was clearly still some hangover last year at the start of last season, as these players didn’t have a great start prior to Alex Neil’s arrival.
But the way this group played after Neil’s arrival, winning 68% of their matches and also surviving the rigors of the play-offs, is quite impressive. There have been many clubs who got relegated and suffered a complete exodus of talent. Yet the Canaries were able to keep a lot of key players around despite starting last season in the Championship and their faith was rewarded with an immediate return.
Alex Neil has never coached at Premier League level, which is an entirely different animal than Scottish Football. In just two years’ time Neil has successfully engineered two promotion campaigns both at Hamilton Academical and Norwich, along with carrying a 56.84% win percentage as a manager. Teams who survive the pressure-packed play-offs are more suited to the pressure of playing games with relegation at stake.
The scary thing for Norwich might be that Alex Neil will parlay continued success into a job at a higher profile club in the Premier League whenever the next job opens.
But there is no reason for thinking about the negatives as the Canaries return to the Premier League with a brilliant young manager and a team full of experience at this level.
