Norwich City owner Mark Attanasio has offered an intriguing behind-the-scenes perspective on the club’s decision to appoint Liam Manning as Head Coach, shedding light on both the process and the expectations surrounding the appointment.
Speaking candidly to the The PinkUn about the thoroughness of the club’s search, Attanasio explained how Manning emerged as the standout candidate from the very start.
"With Liam, they’d interviewed a number of coaches, and they felt he was the first choice, the second choice, and the third choice," he said. "I was like, ‘You don’t want me to meet anybody else?’”
On working with Liam Manning... 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/mj3RvXO0rD
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Every Coach Brings a Unique Identity
“Liam brought a very specific idea of what he wanted to do. Now I go back as far as Dean Smith. So that is Dean, David Wagner, Johannes, and they all had a different style and a specific idea. If you hire a contemporary architect to build a house, you’re going to get a contemporary house.”
What seems to have sealed the deal for Manning wasn’t merely his tactical blueprint but his willingness and ability to apply it within the context of Norwich’s current squad. Attanasio noted the depth of conversations Manning held with key figures like Knapper and Adams:
“We knew what Liam’s style would be, but we wanted to know what are you going to do with these players? There were intensive discussions that he had with Ben on that…by the time it came to us, it was more the big picture. It sounds like if we have a bad interview, it’s going to be on me that we can’t sell him the club?””