Liam Manning: Norwich boss returns to the city ‘for success’

The 39-year-old former Norwich youth player also coached in Ipswich Town’s academy before taking MK Dons to the League One play-offs in 2022 and had a brief spell at Oxford United who were second in the third tier when he left to join Bristol City.

“My first live match was here, my first season ticket was here and I’ve got some fond memories – it’s such a fantastic city, fantastic fanbase, so if you can achieve here you can be remembered so we’ll be doing everything we can to try to bring success to people,” he said.

Manning admits leaving Ashton Gate was not the easiest decision having taken Bristol City to a sixth-placed finish but also with the support he was given following the death of his baby son Theo in October.

“Any move you make in this game is difficult so in terms of the 18 months I had there it was successful and obviously a challenging time personally which creates a a level of affiliation and empathy with the people there,” he said.

“But when we had the discussions (at Norwich) of what it looks like and the direction – knowing the club and the fanbase and the ambition here, it matches with me extremely well so it was a difficult decision but I’m sure it’s the right one.”

Norwich finished 13th in the Championship last season, 11 points short of the play-offs, and sacked head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup in April, leaving Manning to become the Norfolk club’s fourth permanent boss in under four years.

“We’re in the results business so we have to win and I want to win but to sustain winning it has to be underpinned by some really good practices and processes and a really strong culture,” said the new boss.

“You go into the season wanting to finish in the top six, it’s understanding how you do that – that’s the end goal.”

He will immediately turn his attentions to building Norwich’s squad for next season with speculation surrounding the futures of forwards Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz in particular, while they have been linked with Swansea’s out-of-contract defender Harry Darling, who Manning worked with at MK Dons.

“I had a terrific time with Harry at MK Dons and he was outstanding – he’s really excelled at the level and there isn’t a huge amount of players at his age or his profile who are available,” said Manning.

“He’ll have a large amount of interest but he’s definitely someone for me who would be a good fit.”