Clubs, honesty and why it's good to talk
I’ve always had a soft spot for Norwich City ever since going to Carrow Road as a kid 50 years ago and watching a 5-3 thriller with Aston Villa. Even if life’s journey romanticises events disappearing fast in the rear-review mirror, eight goals is undeniably a feast, the crowd were mesmerised by the home win and big personalities filled the dug-out: John Bond, all charisma and the whiff of Old Spice and older cigars, versus Ron Saunders, formerly of Norwich, the great pragmatist, adored by the Villa fans. Martin Peters, who’d newly joined from Spurs, graced the home side at 31, going on to become Norwich’s Player of the Year in successive seasons with his intelligent prompting from midfield. Ted MacDougall got a hat-trick for Norwich. Some game.
I’ve covered many games at Carrow Road down the years, always found the club welcoming, even in the bad times, so when Norwich contacted me on Tuesday asking whether I’d interview their under-pressure sporting director, Ben Knapper, for the club’s in-house channel, I readily agreed, as long as no subjects were off-limits and that the fee went to the club’s award-winning, life-changing Foundation.
I’d previously criticised Knapper, wondering whether he was out of his depth, and whether the step up from loans manager at Arsenal to a technical director role was too big a step, and that the decision to sack Liam Manning as head coach was all very well but couldn’t cover up deeper issues at the club, including Knapper. Recruitment was poor. Managers came and went. A club in the Premier League four seasons ago remain at risk of relegation to League One.
Norwich’s enlightened approach should be applauded. The club wanted a full and frank discussion. Knapper talks about “accountability”, so here was his opportunity.
⚽ ⚽
He has an interesting back-story. Born in Macclesfield, Knapper studied sports coaching and performance at the University of Hull where he captained their first XI under a young coach in Graham Potter. He became a performance analyst at Scunthorpe United, was spotted by Arsene Wenger, worked in data analysis and scouting at Arsenal and learned at close hand from Wenger, Unai Emery, Mikel Arteta and Edu. He was promoted to loan manager where he worked, amongst others, with William Saliba, going out to Marseille to see him and urging Arsenal to bring him into first-team training.
Knapper wanted to become a sporting director so leapt at the chance at Norwich, succeeding Stuart Webber. It’s not worked out so far. So the 38-year-old needed to explain himself to fans, the life-blood of the club. He needed a grilling that didn’t spill over into a shouting match.
I’m not a Norwich fan, whatever my fondness and respect for the club, and the affiliation of my Norfolk relatives, so it was easy to take a balanced approach. I listened to all the excellent podcasts about the club, particularly The TNC, The PinkUn, and the BBC’s The Scrimmage, trawled the fans’ forums, talked to some well-connected supporters, and formalised some questions. Having spoken to people at the club, I garnered further lines of enquiry to put to Knapper.