Norwich City eyeing Champions League manager | OneFootball

The Canaries are on the hunt for a new boss after parting ways with Johannes Hoff Thorup.

Raphael Wicky is a candidate that Norwich are said to be looking at to replace Johannes Hoff Thorup, according to journalist Graeme Bailey.

Ties were cut with the Dane and his assistant coach Glen Riddersholm on Tuesday after a really poor run through the second half of the season which has left them only seven points above the relegation zone. Thankfully for them there are only two matches left to be played by each Championship team this season, so they are in no danger of going down.

Another of Hoff Thorup's assistants, Jack Wilshere, has now been placed in charge of the first-team on an interim basis while the club conducts a search for who the Norwich's next permanent boss will be.

In a since-deleted post on X, the BBC's Nick Mashiter claimed that Wilshere was brought in from Arsenal by City's sporting director, Ben Knapper, who also used to work for the Gunners and was the one that prompted Hoff Thorup's sacking, as per The Pink Un, to be the club's next manager, but they are said to be looking at other candidates.

Champions League boss named as Norwich candidate

The Canaries have been most recently linked with Wicky, the former manager of Young Boys. The 47-year-old former Switzerland international midfielder has emerged on the Norwich radar as a person of interest, according to Bailey.

He has been out of work since March 2024, when his contract with the Swiss Super League side was terminated. He won the competition in his first season in charge of the club (2022/23) and led them to a third-place finish in their Champions League group, before they were then knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting Lisbon.

Wicky's been involved in first-team management since the summer of 2017, when he took over at Basel. He then went on to take charge of the USA under-17s side briefly. MLS side Chicago Fire then appointed him following a successful stint with one of the country's youth teams, but he struggled there, only amassing 0.98 points per game.

Norwich must stick to a plan of action once they appoint a new boss

A lot of the frustration that fans have with the club and Knapper is not because of their decision to get rid of Hoff Thorup, it's more to do with the club going back on their claims.

Internally at Norwich, they felt that they'd scored a massive coup by getting him on board, as per Mashiter, and they heralded the Danish coach's arrival as one that began the start of a longer-term project. In the end, this season has been a total waste because now they have abandoned that project, rightly or wrongly.

If they are going to go for someone like Wicky who, like Hoff Thorup, is an unproven entity, they have to stick to their guns a bit more and show more faith in their decision-making.