Former Norwich City Star Hails Canaries For ‘Masterstroke’ Decision | OneFootball

Paul Harding/Getty Images

Former Norwich City striker Cameron Jerome has insisted the appointment of Philippe Clement has been great for the Canaries and they will be delighted with the direction the club are going in.

Norwich managed to tempt Clement to take over in November, with the job marking the Belgian’s first since he parted ways with Rangers earlier that year.

The Canaries were in the relegation zone before Clement’s arrival, but since then they have won 17, drawn five, and lost eight in 30 matches in the Championship.

Clement took Norwich from the relegation zone to the top half of the table, even mounting a late playoff push, and former hitman Sam Parkin thinks he is in the mix for the best managers of 2026.

Jerome believes that the decision taken by Norwich to bring in Clement has been something of a masterstroke and is clearly paying off.

The former Championship striker believes that following the Belgium manager’s appointment, the environment around the club and the attitude of the players have been positive, and the club are now heading in the right direction.

He also believes that with the right recruitment strategy in the summer, Norwich will absolutely be in the conversation to win promotion up to the Premier League next season.

Jerome, asked if Norwich are real promotion challengers next year, said on EFL All Access (33:13): “Yes, absolutely. The appointment of Philippe Clement has been a masterstroke from the Norwich ownership.

“You know, you would like to say they got a lot of things wrong at the beginning of the season, and obviously found themselves in the relegation zone for the first sort of third of the season.

“But since his appointment they have gone from strength to strength.

“And you know have seen improvement in performance as well as the personnel and player personnel, so they’ll be delighted with the appointment and the direction the football club is going back in.

“And with the right recruitment in the summer, the Championship is always an open division, so if they take take their form from the latter stages of this season into next season then they will certain fancy themselves challenging the higher echelons of the division again.”

All eyes will be on what Norwich do over the course of the summer transfer window, with sporting director Ben Knapper having come in for criticism for some of his previous dealings.

Clement will also be driven to win promotion, especially with one former Belgium star having revealed that he is desperate to manage in the Premier League.

It was widely seen as a coup when the Canaries landed Clement, who also has experience managing clubs of the size of Club Brugge and Monaco.