Norwich City urged to be "smart" under Johannes Hoff Thorup - "the opposite" of what many supporters want | OneFootball

Norwich City have the fourth-youngest starting XI in the Championship on average this season

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’s owners have been asked to take a patient and “smart” approach to running the Norfolk club, by making the development of youth players a priority.

After a foray into the Championship play-offs under David Wagner last term, the Canaries are currently outsiders for a top six finish in the second tier this term.

Four points off the play-offs with 12 games to go, Norwich cannot be ruled out of the race for promotion via Wembley – but the club have been called to continue course no matter their division next season.

Youth-focused approach key to Norwich City

Johannes Hoff Thorup’s Canaries are currently 10th in the Championship table after 34 games of action.

According to transfermarkt.co.uk, Norwich City have the fourth-youngest average age in terms of starting XI in the Championship, with only Sunderland, Stoke City, and Sheffield United ahead of them.

The average age of a starting player in Norwich’s league side is 24.5, with teenagers Oscar Shwartau, Gabe Forsyth, Elliot Myles, Uriaj Djedje, Ruairi McConville, and Jacob Wright making a combined 54 appearances across all competitions.

20-year-old Kellen Fisher is enjoying a breakout season at right-back, starting 25 times and making a total 32 appearances across the Championship, FA Cup, and EFL Cup.

Football League World’s Norwich City fan pundit Zeke Downes is pleased with the club’s effort to integrate youth players into the first team.

In fact, Zeke would prefer to see the Canaries to continue this trend, rather than throw money into an attempt to secure promotion from the Championship.

Zeke told FLW: “One message that I would give to the club’s owners, the Attanasio's, would be that I think this is going well in terms of the strategy and bringing in the youth players.

“I don’t think we need to throw money at it, just keep being patient and give Johannes Hoff Thorup time to make his stamp on the squad.

“Get all the youth players up to scratch, because we’ve got a lot of young players in the squad that will obviously need a bit of time to bed in.”

Norwich City need to be “smart” with money spent

Zeke admitted that his thoughts probably would not be echoed by his fellow Norwich supporters.

Fans had grown disappointed by their club’s modest approach to spending whilst in the Premier League, leading to Norwich yo-yoing between the Championship and the top flight for four seasons.

Norwich did spend considerably in the summer, but only after receiving healthy fees for stars such as Gabriel Sara and Adam Idah.

Now into a third consecutive season in the Championship, Zeke believes Norwich should maintain their current approach.

Zeke continued: “So, I’d say just have a bit of patience, and don’t throw money at it.

“Which is probably the opposite of what a lot of Norwich fans would say, because we’re used to having no money.

“I guess what I mean is we need to be smart with it.”