Exclusive: How Don Goodman feels about Norwich City challenging for the play-offs under Liam Manning | OneFootball

The Sky Sports pundit believes next season will be a very competitive one in the Championship

Former West Brom and Wolves forward Don Goodman believes that hiring Liam Manning is just one piece of the puzzle, and that other variables must fall into place if Norwich City are to return to the Championship play-offs in 2025/26.

The Canaries slumped to a 13th-placed finish last season, and now face a fourth consecutive campaign in the second tier. Historically, the saying goes that the longer you remain in the Championship, the harder it is to get out of it, and Norwich will be eager to get back in the play-offs in 2025/26.

The ambition of new owner Mark Attanasio, ahead of his first summer at Norwich, was laid out almost immediately, with the Canaries going out and bringing in Liam Manning, who had just come off the back of delivering a first Championship play-off campaign at Bristol City since the 2007/08 season.

However, current Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman believes that hiring the highly-rated 39-year-old boss is just the first step in what will be a tough season where Norwich needs to fend off interest in their best players and navigate a competitive division to finish inside the top six.

Don Goodman outlines factors which may affect Norwich's play-off bid

In an exclusive interview with Football League World, Don Goodman said that Norwich being genuine play-off contenders "will depend on so many things" outside the appointment of Liam Manning.

"Will they be able to keep Borja Sainz and Josh Sargent?" he asked. "That's 33 Championship goals for you straight away.

"Marcelino Nunez in midfield - will they be able to keep him? A lot will depend on that."

Sainz and Sargent finished third and fourth, respectively, in the race for the Championship golden boot last season, and have already been the subject of interest abroad, with Sargent linked with Roma, and Sainz the subject of knocked-back bids from Porto and Napoli.

Goodman continued: "I also think that the Championship will be stronger next season.

"The three relegated teams, Leicester, Ipswich Town and Southampton, will be very strong, you'd imagine, like most relegated teams usually are, with the exception of Luton Town last season.

"Sheffield United will be smarting from their play-off final defeat, and you'd imagine that Coventry will go again, Middlesbrough too, so there'll be a lot of competition."

Additionally, the likes of Birmingham City and Wrexham will be looking to make a splash next season, too, with the Blues especially aiming for back-to-back promotion.

So, there are plenty of circumstances that need to be taken into account regarding Norwich City's play-off credentials, but they have a good head start after bringing in a young manager who knows how to get a side into the top six.

The pressure will be on Liam Manning to make a good start, according to Don Goodman

Having won the Championship twice in the last seven seasons, there's a second-tier winning culture at Carrow Road, something which wasn't realised under Dean Smith, Johannes Hoff Thorup and, to a lesser extent, David Wagner.

Therefore, Goodman believes that Liam Manning will be under pressure to start strongly, as the higher-ups at Norwich are desperate to return to the top flight as quickly as possible.

"There's going to be a lot of pressure on Manning to get off to a good start because Norwich City, as a club, when they are in the Championship, expect to be challenging at the top.

"So there's lots of interest in [Norwich] this season. Let's wait and see," he said.

Indeed, this season's Championship looks to be one with plenty of intrigue, and yet we're still way over a month away from the curtain-raiser.

There's hope that this coming season will see plenty of competition, and Norwich City will be hoping that they are right in the midst of it.