Norwich City fans want key figure axed after Wrexham loss - it’s not Liam Manning | OneFootball

Norwich City fans were furious following their 3-2 home defeat by Wrexham on Saturday, but the target of their ire wasn't their manager Liam Manning.

Norwich City supporters were unhappy following their 3-2 home defeat against Wrexham on Saturday afternoon, but the target of their ire wasn't only head coach Liam Manning.

Norwich City were sunk by three Wrexham goals in twelve second half minutes at Carrow Road on Saturday afternoon, eventually going down 3-2 after having led 1-0 at half-time.

It's a result that leaves the Canaries stuck in the bottom-half of the Championship, with just two wins from their first six league matches of the new season.

The club replaced Johannes Hoff Thorup with Liam Manning during the summer, but the new head coach wasn't the sole focus of fan ire on social media after the match, with that also focusing on another member of the club's senior management.

And the replies to one particular tweet seemed to sum up the mood of the fan base at the moment.

Norwich fans have expressed their ire at both Liam Manning and sporting director Ben Knapper

Following the match, Norwich City's official X account posted the post-match thoughts of head coach Liam Manning, who described himself as "hurt, angry and frustrated" over a team performance that he described as "nowhere near good enough for what we expect and what we need."

And while there was plenty of criticism of him in the replies - no small amount of it coming from the supporters of the club who he left to assume the position in the summer, Bristol City - but there was also considerable criticism of sporting director, Ben Knapper.

Some Norwich fans were unimpressed by Manning, but ultimately hold Knapper responsible for having hired the new manager in the first place:

"Knapper needs to go, the board have a body of work to analyse now and beyond selling the last regime's jewels, it's dismal. The new guy needs to be a credible (not gamble) appointment and he needs to bring in his own philosophy/coach. It's an absolute shambles playing out now," wrote one disgruntled Norwich supporter.

"Manning out, Knapper out," summarised another unhappy Canaries fan.

"This club is too big for him (Manning). Either way, Knapper needs to take the blame for this mess," said another.

Elsewhere on X, another Norwich City fan wrote: "We can't keep sacking managers though. We'll then literally be the twin of Watford. The big problem is Ben Knapper and his recruitment. The majority of his signings have been woeful. There are hardly any characters or leaders in the squad either."

"Ben Knapper sacked a manager in a rush then hired a championship manager to try and save his job. So far this is failing and quickly starting to show that he’s the problem. Really not optimistic about this set up at all," wrote said another.

Other fans, meanwhile, feel that the club made the wrong decision by hiring Manning when Jack Wilshere had been in charge of the team towards the end of last season.

"Should have given the job to Jack Wilshere. Least we would play on the front foot. I would have been no more of a gamble than manning is. Today was a disgrace," wrote another frustrated Norwich supporter.

Criticism of Ben Knapper indicates a fan awareness of Norwich City issues that run deeper than the head coach alone

That some Norwich supporters have turned their ire upon Ben Knapper as well as Liam Manning is a reflection of the changing nature of the sporting director's role in recent years.

Increasingly, clubs have been moving to a model in which the "manager" is a "head coach" and is responsible for the teams only, while the sporting director has a broader remit, including the coordination of transfer policy.

The anger of Norwich fans may be all the more intensified by the performances they've seen so far this season because their worst ones have all come at home.

The Canaries have lost all three of their League matches at Carrow Road so far this season, while they've won two and drawn one away from home, which is certainly an unusual state of affairs.

But it's also the case that any disillusionment that Norwich fans may be feeling has a deeper root than recent performances alone.

Since their last relegation from the Premier League in 2022, the Canaries have finished 13th, sixth and 13th again in the Championship, which isn't a strong return, especially considering that they had Premier League parachute payment money to ease their passage over those three seasons.

Knapper was appointed as the club's sporting director in October 2023, replacing the previous incumbent, Stuart Webber, and while there will always be a tendency to reactively blame the manager - or in this case, the head coach - when things go wrong, the criticism of the sporting director indicates that Norwich fans feels that the problems that the club have had run a little deeper than their latest appointment.