Norwich City ownership told what "the biggest concern" is right now - fans are desperate for things to change | OneFootball

FLW’s Norwich City fan pundit has commented on whether the Canaries ownership can be trusted to lead the club forward.

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…

Norwich City have had a really poor start to the 2025-26 season under Liam Manning.

The Canaries were on the wrong side of creating history after becoming the first team in the club’s existence to lose their opening five home games of a campaign.

And their misery was compounded after the Canaries suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town last weekend in the East Anglian derby.

It’s the first time the Tractor Boys have secured a victory over Norwich in 16 years, with Manning and his team setting and breaking unwanted records that have fueled speculation over the ex-Bristol City boss’ future.

Norwich are now sitting narrowly above the relegation zone, taking just eight points from a possible 27 on offer, with heaps of negativity swirling around the club due to such an underwhelming beginning to the new campaign.

There have been a few disappointing terms that Norwich supporters have had to deal with in recent years, with their play-off semi-final defeat to Leeds United back in 2024 the closest they’ve come to challenging for promotion since their top-flight relegation back in 2022.

Despite that, it’s been nothing but mid-table mediocrity, something that American businessman Mark Attanasio has to rectify.

Attanasio leads an investment company called Norfolk Holdings, who own a majority stake in the club after Delia Smith, alongside her husband, Michael Wynn Jones, stepped down from the board after leading the club for 28 years.

He has taken charge since October 2024, while he has been a board member at the Norfolk-based outfit since 2022.

With Norwich’s current ownership model, FLW’s Canaries fan pundit has outlined whether they trust the board to take the club forward.

Norwich City communication blamed for Canaries downfall

Speaking to Football League World, Norwich City fan pundit Zeke Downes believes that communication is the fundamental problem for the Canaries’ decline, with everybody at the club not aligned on the same page.

Zeke said: “I think trust is something that has to be built, and we’ve not seen enough yet. We know they’ve put money into the club, which is more than we’ve had than ever.

“We spent a decent amount of money in the last two windows, but as of yet, the players themselves haven’t shown enough, but that’s not on the ownership, that’s on the sporting director (Ben Knapper), the manager and the players, so the ownership are doing their job, they’re putting the money in and trying to make things happen, so they can’t do much more than that.

“The biggest concern is, other than the stadium expansion, which really looks like it’s actually more like a reduction in the end, that’s causing a lot of uproar with the fans, I’d say the connection with the fans isn’t as good as it used to be, and that’s partly because the communication isn’t really there.

“Nobody at the club actually seems to know what they’re meant to be doing in terms of the ownership talking to Knapper, to Manning, to the players, it seems to be that there’s a lot of miscommunication going on and that feeds into the fans that they don’t know what’s going on, so that seems to be the biggest issue right now.”

It’s no surprise to see Norwich City struggling on the pitch so much when the relationship between the board and supporters is so fragile.

It was demonstrated this week at a feisty 90-minute meeting between fans, executive director Zoe Webber and finance and operations director Anthony Richens, as plans have been put in place at Carrow Road for the displacement of supporters from the lower River End.

The majority, if not all, in attendance were filled with anger, frustration as well as resignation at this happening, with it clear to see how divided the football club is between those in power who are making the decisions, and fans who continue to pay top-end Championship prices for season tickets, in return for mediocre performances.

It’s not a happy place to be at all right now, and you fear if these relationships get even more distant and the toxicity rises, then the club will be on a slippery slope towards the League One trapdoor.