Stephen Fry steps down from Norwich City board

Lifelong Norwich City fan Stephen Fry has been on the club's board since 2010

Actor, writer and television presenter Stephen Fry has stepped down from the board of Norwich City Football Club.

The entertainer, who has a home in Norfolk and is a lifelong fan of the club, will continue to support the club as a Norwich City ambassador.

He became a director of the club, whose joint majority shareholder is TV cook and writer Delia Smith, in 2010.

He will be replaced as a director by her nephew, ex-civil servant Thomas Smith.

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Fry joked that it "can't have been a coincidence" that Norwich City were promoted to the Premier League after he became a director

Fry said: "My five years in the role have been an honour and a privilege beyond almost anything I can remember.

"I wish I could take credit for ushering the club up from League One to the Premiership during that time on the board. Actually, I'm going to. It was all me. It can't have been a coincidence.

"But now I'm so happy to relinquish my seat on the board to Thomas Smith and to engage as fully as I can in the role of ambassador for Norwich City. We have so much to be proud of, both on and off the pitch, and I hope to welcome many new fans to the greatest club of all. On the ball, City."

Club chairman Ed Balls said: "Stephen has made a really important contribution since he joined the board in 2010.

"His support for our commercial, retail and catering departments has helped to raise significant revenue for the football club - and the huge affection in which he is held by the public at home and abroad has definitely enabled him to help raise the profile of Norwich City."

Thomas Smith spent over a decade in the Civil Service in the UK and abroad, working in a variety of roles at the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

After returning to the UK in late 2014, he left the public sector to start his own photographic business.

Delia Smith and her husband Michael Wynn Jones (second from left) are Norwich City's joint majority shareholders

Thomas Smith (right) is a former civil servant and Delia Smith's nephew