Ben Knapper: Norwich City are 'Premier League ready', says sporting director

Ben Knapper replaced Stuart Webber as Norwich City sporting director

Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper says the club are "Premier League ready" in many areas should they win promotion this season.

It has been an up and down campaign for David Wagner's side, but they are now ninth, one point short of the top six.

Knapper joined the Canaries from Arsenal in November as the team was emerging from a run of poor results.

"As far as the Premier League is concerned, that's where everyone wants to be," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"You look at the infrastructure, you look at the way that we work, you look at the staff base, you look at the expertise that we have here and the processes and the way the club is working, it's Premier League ready in so many respects.

"We've got great quality in the group as well, I think that's undeniable. We want to be in that position and we're going to push every day between now and the end of the season to hopefully have that challenge."

Norwich had two single-season stays in the Premier League under former boss Daniel Farke - in 2019-20 and 2021-22 - but last term could only finish 13th in the Championship.

Keeping faith with Wagner

They took 10 points from 12 at the start of the current campaign, before a dramatic downturn saw them manage only one win in nine games, with seven defeats, between 20 September and early November.

It led to calls from the stands for head coach Wagner - who previously guided Huddersfield to promotion from the Championship - to be sacked.

David Wagner was appointed as Norwich head coach in January 2023

Asked how difficult it had been to resist those calls when he was new to the club, Knapper said: "The role of a sporting director a lot of the time, I think, is about trying to stay calm, think logically, try not to be influenced by conjecture or noise.

"Of course I was aware of the noise, I was in the stands and listening and you see things in the media as well that are hard to get away from at times."

During that period, Wagner's options were limited because of several injuries which provided an "element of mitigation" in the German's favour.

Knapper continued: "There was loads that the team needed to be doing better and everybody was working hard to find solutions, but when you are missing that volume of players - and key players at that - of course it has an impact.

"We knew that once those guys came back to full fitness and could reintegrate into the group, we would be stronger for it."

However, with everyone available, Knapper felt the squad was too "heavy" on numbers and eight players were allowed to leave, either on loan or in permanent moves.

Forward Adam Idah, who with seven goals this term is only behind top scorer Jonathan Rowe, joined Celtic on loan, but the signing of Dutch striker Sydney van Hooijdonk filled that gap.

Norwich signed Sydney van Hooijdonk from Italian club Bologna

"Adam is someone who is super talented, but he was hungry to go and experience something different and to potentially test himself in a different context," explained Knapper.

"Sydney was a fantastic opportunity for us to do something on the way in. He's a really interesting player that we've followed for a long time. We think he profiles very well for this league and he's someone we're excited to work with over the coming months and potentially beyond as well.

"In both those cases there's real upsides for us."

Despite the promotion goal, Knapper's medium-term plan for the club is to give more opportunities to young players like Rowe, who has 13 goals so far in his first full season in the first team.

He said: "We've got a fantastic academy which has a demonstrable record of producing players and that is something that we absolutely want to continue."

'Within touching distance'

Knapper was at Carrow Road for Saturday's 2-1 win over Coventry City and said there was a "marked difference" in the atmosphere and energy in the ground from when he first arrived at the club.

"I was thinking that it's so exciting the journey we can go on because that was the best I've seen it since I've been here.

"There's levels we can go to way beyond that. It's my responsibility, and our responsibility, to deliver a club that captivates and energises the fans and I think we'll do that.

"We're crystal clear about what we're trying to achieve. We're within touching distance, there's a real optimism and let's just attack it with everything we've got and enjoy the ride.

"There's 16 games left, let's go full throttle and see what we can do."

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