Chris Sutton weighs up Norwich City's chances of promotion...

(Pinkun)

I'm quietly optimistic about Norwich City's chances this season, especially with the expanded play-offs.

I'll admit, I'm not sure I really like it. If I were a player and you'd worked hard all season to finish third, you'd still have a hell of a lot to do to get yourselves promoted. But in many respects, I think for Championship clubs and their supporters, it provides an added incentive.

The start of the season is going to be crucial. I'm still yet to meet a manager, or hear from one, who has had a bad pre-season. Everybody comes out and talks positively.

It was a good result at the weekend and was probably expected. But it's about the standards that were set as much as anything else, trying to maintain them and hit the heights of last season. I don't think that's easy because of what Philippe Clement achieved, but that's the aim.

The truth is, if Norwich can hit the heights of last season, they've got a fair old chance of going for the automatic places, I would have thought.

But then you look at the sides who have come down and the fact that it's now their fifth season in the Championship. In many respects, it gets harder and harder and harder. That doesn't make it impossible. But no, I'm quietly optimistic.

I always have that sort of air of caution because of the nature of the league. They start against West Brom, who are probably a similar club to Norwich in terms of how they've been viewed over the years. Previously a bit of a Premier League and Championship yo-yo club, like Norwich were. That's certainly not going to be easy.

Getting off to a good start and getting those first three points under your belt, however you do it, would be nice. You want a performance as well, but ultimately, it's about the three points and trying to get on a bit of a roll.

The only thing which worries me is that, over the last few seasons, there seems to have been so much optimism. It always worries me when there's so much optimism.

But that's the consequence of how well the team performed last season when Clement came in, and it's quite easy to forget what he actually came into. The club were in the relegation zone and a little bit adrift.

Then there was just a hugely positive ending to the season. His recruitment's also been good, so I get the room for optimism.

But it's such a tough league. I'm just scrolling down and looking at the early games that Norwich have got, and it's a tough start. That said, it's a tough start, middle and ending — that's just the way the league is.

Also, I've said this before, but the problem, and I don't know if 'problem' is the right word, is what he achieved with what we viewed as a really struggling squad last season. He got so much out of them, and then all of a sudden, the season finishes and the players rest up.

The manager probably didn't have a break. He'll always be thinking, 'How can we improve next season?' But then there's that expectation to really go again and push, possibly for automatic promotion, which isn't impossible based on what we saw last season.

The other part of that is the players. I like that not too many transfers have come in. It's important to have continuity. They should be going into this season on a real high and bursting with confidence.

That doesn't always translate into getting positive results, just because of the nature of the Championship. But Clement's got a bit of clout, hasn't he? He's got a presence and he's a strong character.

You can see he's demanding, but on the other side of that, you can see that the players really warm to him. Going into last season, you're thinking, well, I'm not quite sure how we're going to do.

I feel it, and you all probably do too. You do think the team's going to go well this season.

But in a way, that brings its own pressures. I never played in the Championship for Norwich. Just thinking of my time in the Premier League, there was never that.

Even when we finished third in the inaugural Premier League season, there was never that pressure that you think about for the following season. That was the pinnacle in many respects because it was Norwich City in the Premier League, and we weren't a big Premier League club.

You went into the season after that, which was the season we beat Bayern Munich, as a pressure-less team with good players. But we just didn't feel it because of the league we were in.

There were bigger clubs than Norwich, of course, in the Premier League at that particular time. That would still be the case if Norwich somehow got themselves promoted. Nobody would be going into the season thinking the team could compete at the top end of the Premier League table.

In many respects, that does take the pressure off the players somewhat, but because of the strength of the performances, there's now a different expectation.

There's that phrase: if it ain't broke, no need to fix it. Sir Alex Ferguson did that back in the day. Not that I'm comparing Norwich City to Manchester United, but just the whole idea.

Norwich were successful under Clement last season, although they didn't win anything. The team were brimming with confidence, but it's always good to bring players in to enhance the squad and push it on. They need to be the desired quality, and that's the most important thing: getting in players who are better than what you've got.

With the relationships and understanding they built last season, the team and the combinations, you would think that continuity will really benefit them.

It's not like there are eight, nine or 10 new players coming in, things aren't quite connecting in pre-season, and then you think they need time. It doesn't feel like that's going to be the case, which, on paper and talking about it, seems to be an advantage for Philippe Clement's team.

When I was a player at Norwich City, continuity was the case, but a lot of that was down to finance as much as anything.

I always felt as a player, whether you like it or not, it does take time to build relationships and understanding. I'm not going to say especially in forward areas, but good players can adapt pretty quickly.

For example, Mo Toure, just using him as an example, is a young player and a young development player, because they're the players Norwich City are in the market for. The fact is he was on fire last season and did well, but that understanding of where to run and when to run, and when the ball is coming, would have benefited him last season.

You're not going to get worse over the summer period with a little bit of time off. That can only be good for him, knowing when the ball is coming and knowing when he makes a run that the ball is played in. It works across the whole team.

I think that's the biggest part of football. The team doesn't want to be still developing in the first game of the season. Ideally, you want to go primed and ready, with all the relationships and understanding there.

Each player knows what every other player is going to do in the team. They've been coached in a particular way of playing, and you want it to be seamless.

If that's the case, Norwich will go well this season.

Posted By: DrDublin on August 12th 2026 at 09:56:04

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