Time to stand by your Manning

Now the dust has settled - although I'm not sure we'll be able to accept last Sunday's result for a little while yet - it would seem Norwich City is as fractious as it was in the days leading up to Dean Smith's dismissal and later David Wagner's.

As fans, we've found ourselves in an endless cycle of positivity, mediocrity and then staunch negativity since Daniel Farke was dismissed. The trouble we now have is some fans are apathetic. This, of all of the things, is the most dangerous for the upper echelons at Carrow Road.

Right now the biggest question marks surround Ben Knapper, who will have led back-to-back failed appointments should Liam Manning be relieved of his duties any time soon.

For what it's worth, I didn't see the appointment of Johannes Hoff Thorup as a failure but saw the sacking as a failure and a poorly timed one at that: a premature decision that pulled the rug completely from underneath the so-called project that Mark Attanasio had tweeted about only weeks earlier.

Jumping the gun so soon on a young head coach, whose side were the second highest scorers in the league last season and created more chances than most in the league, showed JHT had a style of play he was implementing but perhaps needed some patience and time to perfect. "Tighten up the defence," I thought, "and we'll be a real force this season." It wasn't to be.

At the second international break of the season, we find ourselves languishing in 19th place, and fans are one part frustrated to one part apathetic - at least from the various group chats I'm a part of and the sentiments I've seen on social media.

Defeat at Portman Road has fuelled the frustration further - turning many angry - and so the challenge Mr Attanasio now has is whether he keeps Knapper for the entirety of this season or whether he boldly rips another project up and resets the club further.

Do we need yet another restart and new head coach? I don't think so. I think that's a dangerous spiral to go down and end up like Watford - who have made yet another managerial change and where manager of the month isn't an award but closer to contractual status.

We need togetherness, we need leadership and a hierarchy who will come out and say, "We know things are not where we or you as fans want them to be right now, but trust us, we'll turn it around." Doubt or silence won't do from the top - they need to be bold and aim to unite.

At risk of being labelled a happy clapper, which I'm absolutely not, the slippery cycle of managerial changes is something that can lead to a poor culture and an unattractive club for future managers and rarely leads to sustained success.

For this reason, let's get behind Manning for as long as he's at the club, irrespective of whether it's the next two months or two years.

Hear more from Matthew at Where Canaries Walk.