Norwich City finished the 2025/26 EFL Championship season in ninth position with 65 points. Kenny McLean received the player of the year award, whilst Oscar Schwartau won young player of the season.
Norwich started the season with a new head coach in charge as Liam Manning was appointed ahead of internal candidate Jack Wilshere, following the sacking of Johannes Hoff Thorup with 3 games to go in the 2024/25 season.
Norwich paid Bristol City substantial compensation for both Manning and a number of his coaching staff, and the then 39 year-old arrived with high expectations after he had guided Bristol City to a play-off position in the previous season.
He was viewed as a more pragmatic appointment and was heavily backed in the summer window as Manning aimed to implement his 3-4-3 system into the club.
Mathias Kviistgaarten was the star signing of the summer after head scout Lee Dunn found a clause in his contract that stated that the Danish international had a £6.9 million release fee. Ben Knapper also heavily invested in Balkan talent as Vladan Kovacevic, Jakov Medic and Mirko Topic all joined the club.
Norwich also beat Watford to the signing of Papa Amadou Diallo, Jacob Wright’s loan deal was made permanent whilst Harry Darling and Jeffrey Schlupp added much needed experience to the squad.
Jovon Makama was signed from Lincoln City to join up with the under 21 squad. Notable outgoings included the released Angus Gunn, who was later picked up by Nottingham Forest and goalscoring winger Borja Sainz who left for Porto.
However, the biggest story of the transfer window emerged in the closest stages as Marcelino Nunez moved directly across East Anglia for a reported sum of £10 million pounds.
Ben Knapper received extreme criticism for this decision yet insisted Nunez would simply have left for Ipswich Town on a free following the expiry of his contract in the following summer. Pelle Matteson, a previous transfer target, was announced as the direct replacement.
Despite the Nunez saga Norwich went into the season with high expectations, and a minimum goal of a play-off finish, after Thorup’s sacking for falling short of this marker. They started the season with a 2-1 home loss to Millwall, before back to back away victories against Watford in the cup and Portsmouth in the league, which included a penalty save from new signing Kovacevic.
Josh Sargent had started the season in electric fashion and was duly awarded the Championship Player of the Month for August.
By the end of September, Norwich had been knocked out of the League Cup at the hands of Southampton, notched a further away three points against Blackburn Rovers, battled to a hard fought point against Coventry City but also suffered a further three home defeats as Carrow Road started to turn on Manning and Knapper.
Norwich’s visit to Ipswich saw their 17 year unbeaten run come to an end after the Canaries fell to a 3-1 defeat, leading to many Ipswich fans labelling the Norwich manager “Agent Manning”.
An international break followed but Norwich’s fortunes did not change as they lost the following three games, and the fanbase became increasingly toxic as Norwich continued to sit in the relegation zone.
Owner Mark Attanasio flew over to publicly back the under pressure manager at the end of October, and to also postpone plans to move Norwich fans out of the River End. He labelled the Nunez transfer “a PR own goal”, whilst also suggesting that the veteran centre-back Shane Duffy was the answer to all of Norwich’s problems.
The following game gave us one of the pictures of the season as Duffy, making his first start of the season, was captured laying down on the pitch after failing to deal with a relatively tame long ball.
He made one more appearance under Manning, away at Sheffield Wednesday, during which he was substituted at half time following a public spat with his manager during the first half, as Norwich failed to even beat Sheffield Wednesday and sat 23rd in the table.
The loss at home to Leicester City the following Saturday was the final straw for the Liam Manning regime and he was sacked on November 8th.
The sustained combination of poor performances and results made this the inevitable conclusion. Very few players had shown any capability under Manning, and there was growing discontent with the squad Ben Knapper had assembled.
Manning had failed spectacularly in his tenure in charge of the Canaries, winning just two of his 15 league games and losing all eight of his home games, leaving Norwich 23rd only above points deducted and financially crippled Sheffield Wednesday. McLean, Sargent, Darling and Makama were the only players to have emerged with any credit to their name.
During the international break that succeeded the sacking, Norwich were linked with a number of managers including Gary O’Neil, Russell Martin and Will Still, before former Blackburn manager John Dahl Tomasson emerged as the favourite.
However, after Mike Attansion, the owner’s son, took to social media to tweet an egg timer emoji rumours began to circulate of a different appointment.
On the 18th of November, Philippe Clement was announced as the new Norwich Manager, arriving after time in charge of Rangers, Club Brugge and AS Monaco. Knapper had managed to keep his arrival very secretive and it was an extremely high level appointment for a club sitting firmly in the Championship relegation zone.
At this time Knapper was under a significant amount of criticism and did several interviews to try and improve his relationship with the fanbase, whilst also attempting to offer reassurance that positive change would be achieved.
Clement’s time in charge of the Canaries started disastrously with a 4-1 defeat away at Birmingham City marking the start of his stint in charge.
Norwich looked to be on for their first home win of the season in their next game, before they conceded in the 95th minute and had to settle for a draw. They had achieved their first home point of the season on the 25th of November.
A 3-1 win at home to QPR gave the Carrow Road faithful a first home win of the season, and Clement his first win with Norwich.
Clement continued to implement his ideas onto the squad as Norwich prepared for the busy festive period. However, in what would go on to become a recurring theme for the remainder of the season, Norwich’s squad began to become decimated with injury.
In the following week, academy right-winger Tony Springett emerged from the wilderness to deputise at left-back. Two home victories against Southampton and Chalrton were sprinkled in among draws to Sheffield United and Preston and despite two disappointing defeats to Watford, the Canaries entered the New Year with refreshing optimism.
It also marked the opening of the January transfer window, laden with expectation of much needed incomings to ensure Championship survival. Over the course of the month, Knapper brought in Canadian winger Ali Ahmed, Brentford playmaker Paris Maghoma and Australian international Mohamed Toure.
Norwich did not escape the window unscathed however, with Josh Sargent refusing to play in the FA Cup tie with Walsall, with Toronto interested in his services.
The Yellows ran out 5-1 winners, including a Makama hat-trick and Tony Springett netting in front of the Barclay. Sargent was removed from the squad, as Norwich played hardball with Toronto. It took until the 27th of February for the transfer to be completed for a fee in excess of £20m.
January was a successful month for Clement’s Norwich City side with impressive victories against Wrexham, West Brom and league leaders Coventry that saw Norwich climb out the relegation zone.
Norwich had found their goalscoring boots after Sargent’s exile, whilst Anis Ben Slimane and Maghoma both began to establish themselves as exciting creative players.
The experienced midfielder Sam Field, a deadline day signing, and exciting Manchester United prospect Harry Amass were the final additions to the squad, both on loan, to round out the transfer window.
A narrow 1-0 away loss to Middlesbrough on the final day of January saw Norwich lose for the first time since the 4th of the month.
Mo Toure marked his arrival in England with a devastating February as he scored in wins against Blakcburn, West Brom in the cup and even notched a hat-trick away at Oxford. Birmingham came to Carrow Road and took all three points but by this point Norwich had started to move clear of the relegation zone, and instead were eyeing a potential cup run.
Successive 2-0 wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester City saw Clement’s Canaries carry on their merry way.
However, the injury list continued to grow and was now firmly into double figures, following a groin injury suffered by Toure. At Elland Road, Leeds eased past Norwich highlighting the gulf in class between the two sides meaning Norwich would not progress to a quarter-final tie. It did mark Kenny McLean’s 300th game for the club nonetheless.
Home wins against Preston and Sheffield United saw Norwich fans starting to dream of a play-off finish, a feat that seemed impossible when Clement had first joined.
Southampton got the better of the two sides in a tight 1-0 win at St Mary’s, but against Charlton it was Norwich’s turn to be on the correct end of a 1-0 scoreline. Play-offs were now a real possibility if Norwich were able to continue their recent form, which since January was among the best in the division.
A draw at home to struggling Portsmouth put a dent in such aspirations, and with the Canaries trailing at half-time to Millwall it seemed they had come to an end. However, Oscar Schwartau and the returning Toure inspired a second half-comeback, a key tenant of Clement’s reign so far.
What followed was perhaps Norwich’s most disappointing game of the season, as a mixture of referee decisions and poor tactical selections by Clement saw Ipswich complete the double over their East Anglian rivals. Norwich bounced back with wins against Bristol City, including a second hat-trick of the season for Toure and Derby County to ensure the possibility of a play-off finish with just two games of the season remaining.
Philipe Clement had taken over with many fans and pundits believing that the Canaries relegation-set fate had been sealed, yet their season remained alive for all the right reasons well into April. The Club confirmed that Duffy, Emiliano Marcondes, Springett, Schlupp and Dan Barden were all set to be released at the end of their contracts.
Kenny McLean was awarded the Barry Butler Memorial trophy prior to Norwich’s final home game of the season. The captain was one of the few players to put in respectful performances under Liam Manning, took accountability for the early season failures and had thrived under his new Belgian head-coach most notably in rediscovering his goal-scoring ability.
A 1-1 draw with Swansea City put an end to Norwich’s slim play-off hopes before a 2-1 away defeat to Hull City on the last day of the season, saw the Tigers confirm the last play-off spot.
If taken on purely face value, Norwich’s final league position of ninth would suggest a disappointing season, especially when taking into account the fairly weak nature of this seasons’ Championship. However, after Liam Manning’s disastrous tenure the turnaround led by Clement is something to be proud of. It has united the players and the fanbase and has hopefully laid solid foundations for real success to be achieved next season.
