Norwich City urged to avoid 'big' Russell Martin 'risk' - Canaries backed to appoint ex-Middlesbrough boss instead | OneFootball

With Norwich City having sacked Liam Manning as their head coach, FLW's Canaries fan pundit believes his club have to get their next appointment right

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

With Norwich City having sacked Liam Manning following his team's dreadful start to the 2025/26 season, FLW's Canaries fan pundit believes that the club have to get their next appointment right.

The pressure, as things turned out, was too great to keep Liam Manning in his position at Norwich City.

Manning was sacked following their 2-1 home defeat to Leicester City, a result which left them one place off the bottom of the Championship table, with only the financially-stricken Sheffield Wednesday below them.

The timing of the decision was not insignificant.

With the third international break of the new season coming up and another transfer window due to open in just a few weeks' time, Norwich have a little bit of a breather to make their next appointment and get them in place for their final opportunity to further tweak their team with a view to rescuing their season.

Norwich City handed Michael Carrick, Russell Martin claim as Canaries search for Liam Manning successor

Football League World have spoken to our resident Norwich City fan pundit Zeke Downes about who he feels would be the right person to replace Manning, and he has a clear message for the club, recognising that many of those who'll be linked with a move to Carrow Road will be so because of their former connections with them.

"I think there's going to be a few names on the list. A lot of them will be linked because of their links to the club, like Russell Martin or [Gary] O'Neil. I think O'Neil would be aiming higher and wouldn't really suit our style of play."

And Zeke feels that, while Russell Martin has previous connections to Norwich, his appointment may be a bit too much of a risk for them to take.

"I think Russell Martin would work in terms of the style of play and the affinity with the club, and I think he would want to come back.

"But it's a risk. I think it's a big risk. And (Ben) Knapper and (Mark) Attanasio can't afford to take another big risk."

Zeke has one name in mind that he would prefer to be Norwich's next head coach: "I think I would probably go for (Michael) Carrick.

"I think he has proven that he has been a good operator in this league at the top half level, in the top six, and that's with a squad that didn't have much investment.

"So he'd be the one that I'd be looking at, but it has to go well this time. It can't fail, because the position we're in now, if it doesn't go well, then we're going to be relegated, and that is not a position that we can find ourselves in."

And he's clear that there is a big and growing gap between where both the club and their fans want to see Norwich City, and that if the Canaries want to reach their goal, this next managerial decision will be a very important one for them.

"Financially and as a club that is going to ruin us, especially when those at the club have written in their annual report about how they would like us to be an established Premier League team by 2028.

"So if we end up getting relegated, there's no way that we'll be an established Premier League team by 2028, so they have to get this one right."

Michael Carrick would tick a lot of boxes for Norwich City

Liam Manning was relieved of his duties at Carrow Road after Norwich lost at home to Leicester City, and the very fact that they were doing so following seven straight home losses on the second weekend of November tells its own story about how their season has been going and why the decision was made to replace him less than six months into the job in the first place.

Norwich's ambition was to press for promotion this season, but their current position would seem to indicate that this is already beyond them.

As such, the remainder of 2025/26 may need to be about retaining that Championship status so that they can go again next time around.

Russell Martin was a Norwich player for eight years and made more than 300 appearances for the club, but his coaching stock has collapsed following disastrous spells at the helm at both Southampton and Rangers.

Gary O'Neil played for the Canaries from 2014 to 2016, but recently walked away from negotiations with Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers over their vacant managerial positions, which backs Zeke's assessment that he could have his sights set higher than a return to Carrow Road.

Michael Carrick does tick the boxes of being both available and experienced at this level, however.

He was sacked by Middlesbrough at the end of last season after his team tailed off from a chase for a play-off place to finish 10th, but this was achieved in the first place without a huge amount of money having been spent on the Boro team, having instead consistently raised large amounts of funds through the sales of key players.

And Norwich do need to get this appointment right.

There had been optimism that the Canaries could challenge this season following a busy summer in the transfer market, and pressure is also starting to build under sporting director Ben Knapper, who has come under fire over the club's underwhelming start to this season.

The gap between where Norwich City want to be and where they are is big and still growing. Having pulled the trigger on Manning, the sporting director and owner of the club will find that attention focused very squarely on them over making a better decision this time around.

Relegation from the Championship to League One would, aside from anything else, cost the club millions of pounds, so Zeke is right to say that it's a decision that the club cannot afford to get wrong, and in more ways than one.