'A brave new world. And we like it.'

Liam Manning took over as Norwich head coach following the sacking of Johannes Hoff Thorup

A new season. A new head coach.

Something not unfamiliar to City fans, who have had a different head coach in their technical area for every season opener since 2021-22.

Liam Manning is merely the latest holder of the baton, following on from Daniel Farke, Dean Smith, David Wagner, and Johannes Hoff Thorup.

With stability being widely acknowledged as one of the key elements of a successful team, the Yellow Army will be hoping Manning's time in NR1 extends way beyond 2025-26.

But in the here and now, things look nicely shipshape, with a significant summer player churn giving this current Norwich City team a very different look and feel. A much-needed churn.

The Class of 2024-25 had their moments and ended last season as the Championship's second-highest goalscorers, but they badly lacked consistency. They also, at times, lacked backbone, oomph, bottle, and bravery; key qualities that City's sporting director Ben Knapper has looked to add to the group this summer.

At the time of writing, 11 new faces have arrived, which includes a complete overhaul of the goalkeeping department and two new starting centre-backs.

So far, the only big-name departure has been Borja Sainz, who left to join FC Porto for a reported £14.25m, although rumours around the future of top scorer Josh Sargent refuse to go away.

But, with or without the American, Manning's new-look Norwich team appears to be a more combative and solid unit than the one that eventually floundered under the tutelage of Thorup.

For too long now, City fans have watched their heroes flounder when the going gets tough. A soft underbelly was how it was often described, but other descriptions are available, including lily-livered and fragile.

While not too much can be read into the results and performances of pre-season, the physical profile of this new City team differs from the one Norwich fans have become accustomed to.

Their latest addition, Mirko Topic, from Portuguese side Famalicao, is a defensive midfielder of considerable stature – 6 ft 3 in for those who are counting – and will add some badly-needed ballast to an area of the pitch that has all too often been afflicted with hot-knife-through-butter syndrome.

If Topic, assisted by the new centre-back pairing of Harry Darling and Jacov Medic, can help the team survive the difficult moments instead of them collapsing like a poorly-made Delia Smith soufflé, then that will be a massive win for Knapper and Manning.

The very early signs are promising, with Manning's first XI concluding their pre-season with two clean sheets – a 0-0 draw in the Netherlands against Den Haag and a 2-0 home win over NEC Breda.

This newfound solidity has, as things stand, compromised the team's in-possession attacking flow, but given the defensive horrors of last season, most City fans have already agreed it's a price worth paying.

Ironically, it's a balance that the City head coaches listed at the start of this piece failed to strike – aside from Farke, whose time in the Fine City was extraordinary – with a recurring problem being the lack of a defensively-inclined central midfielder since Alex Tettey's departure in 2021.

We desperately hope that Topic, with a hazelnut in every biting tackle, will fill that void.

But it's not just improvements on the pitch that have lifted the spirits of the Yellow Army. Off it, too, a new dawn is rising.

This summer's transfer window is the first with US businessman and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Mark Attanasio, at the helm. He and his Norfolk Holdings group now have full control of the club, and their approach to dealings in the transfer market couldn't differ more from those overseen by previous owners, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones.

Then it was a tepid, frugal, austerity-driven approach that often saw the club scratching around bargain basements for players other teams didn't want. Now it's bullish, brave, and positive, with targets identified, hunted down, and secured with the minimum of fuss.

None of this waiting for Player A to be sold and the funds received before we can even think about bidding for Player B.

If Knapper wants Player A and Player A aligns with the wider plan, then Attanasio and Norfolk Holdings will do everything they can to make the deal happen.

It is most un-Norwich-like. Uncharted territory. A brave new world.

And we like it.

No longer are we at a significant disadvantage before a player is signed or a ball kicked. Now we compete on a level footing with our peers, which is great news for City fans while heaping all kinds of pressure on Knapper (for all the right reasons).

Those now in power at Norwich City have openly declared that the aim is a top-six finish this season, in the same way Attanasio has made it quite clear the ultimate goal is a return to the Premier League.

He and his people are not here to mess about, which is why the player churn has been significant.

As City fans, we're still not sure where this journey is going to take us, but there's a growing feeling that it could be fun.

On the Ball City.