Norwich City: Isaac Hayden reflects on Newcastle United exit

The midfielder, who joined Norwich City on loan during the summer, was performing well prior to a damaging MCL injury that left him sidelined as Eddie Howe began to make his mark on the football club after their takeover last October. 

It saw Hayden go from a first-team regular to departing the club in under a year. 

Hayden enjoyed the period he worked under Howe despite a personally frustrating portion of his career that coincided with a lack of game time. 

Telling the story of his exit from St James' Park, Hayden describes it as a sobering reminder of how quickly football can change. 

"Everything happens for a reason. I thought I did okay and played well until the new manager came in. I didn't play in the first few games before he came in even though I scored in the game he came to watch and played maybe the best I'd played.

"I was thinking 'wow, how does that happen?', then I started to get in the team before I got the injury. I didn't play for the rest of the season and then Newcastle was done.

"How do you go from playing ten games in a row to (leaving). Under the new manager I was available for five games - I started two, was substituted on for two and missed one. So it wasn't as though he didn't fancy me at all," Hayden told Steven Sulley's Podcast.

"Then I played Liverpool and then Man City at home - I walked off after 65 minutes and never thought it would be the last game I would play for Newcastle. They scanned my knee and it was a four-and-a-half-month injury.

READ MORE: Hayden showing positive signs but must help produce results for City

"Football moves so quick. I went from playing Newcastle, to watching lads improve under the new manager to then gone."

After so long sidelined, Hayden is hoping that he can make his presence felt at Norwich as they search for an instant return to the Premier League following a disappointing relegation last year. 

"I'm somebody who signs for a purpose. I wouldn't just sign somewhere without a purpose," he said.

"I signed at Norwich because it was an opportunity to get me back playing and I saw the way the game was and how it was set up and I felt I could positively impact the club in order to get them promoted and get a third promotion on my CV."

Injury afforded Hayden with a period of reflection and assessment about what will come next after his playing days are over. At 27, the hope is that moment comes a way into the future - but the midfielder is already prepared.

Isaac Hayden has made a positive impression at Norwich City. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Dean Smith has spoken about how Hayden helped with analysis during his spell on the sidelines after initially joining the club in July. 

He has made his presence on the pitch count in recent weeks - but is continuing to plan for what comes after football. 

"After football is finished, I don't want to finish with football. I would say that I am a football obsessive guy, if I'm not playing then I'm watching, if I'm not watching then I'm learning," he said.

"I have a whole dossier at home of every manager that I have worked for - their strengths, their weaknesses, what I've learned, session plans, cultures at clubs, everything. It's from all my clubs whether that is Arsenal, Hull, Newcastle or Norwich now I write it all down.

"I want to be a sporting or technical director at a football club because I know first-hand what good running of a football club is.

"I've structured everything so that, come the end of my career, I should be good value to add to a football club in whatever capacity that is whether it's recruitment, academy or whatever it is."