I’m going to go left field on what I think Norwich City could have done for the games over this holiday weekend following Dean Smith’s exit. 

You want someone to settle things down, because there is not a good atmosphere among the supporters, we know that. City are in a situation where automatic promotion looks remote and they have two games now with no one in permanent charge. 

If you want to unite the club I might have asked someone like Adam Drury and Darren Huckerby to take charge just for two games. I am only going for those two because they have both been involved working at the club and I know that they would go into the dressing room and get the players playing, as well as getting the crowd on the team’s side. 

The Pink Un: How to get the crowd on its feet - Darren Huckerby and Adam Drury during their Norwich City playing daysHow to get the crowd on its feet - Darren Huckerby and Adam Drury during their Norwich City playing days (Image: Newsquest)

I know it is left field, but I would much rather go down that route than someone who is head of the academy and the set-piece coach. 

Steve Weaver walks in that dressing room door and I am like, who is this bloke? 

Hucks has done his coaching badges and they are proper good lads, as everyone knows. But this is not just about tactics and formation. Yes, you have to organise it, but if Hucks and Adam walked out before the game, imagine how the fans would react. 

It also makes me laugh when I see the title ‘set-piece coach’. It leaves me scratching my head and I think this is the way the game has gone; it can be over-complicated. I get you want different ideas but surely a manager or head coach can do that himself. I can get different ideas from watching set-pieces on YouTube, 

You only need to do your homework - what does a manager do these days? They have more staff than players...!  

I do feel for Dean Smith, though - you don’t want to see people lose their jobs, but it just wasn’t working out for him. 

I think it was obvious to see and it never looked like he could turn it around. Never looked as if he really wanted to turn it around – the games that I watched I looked at him on the touchline and I think he lacked enthusiasm, lacked a lot of things I thought.  

And as soon as you start attacking fans there’s only one winner to be fair.  

I have read different things about the players not buying into his methods, the way he wanted it, but they have to take responsibility for that, that’s what they get paid for. It’s alright blaming the manager, he’s the one who carries the can, he's the one who loses his job. I think the players need to have a look at themselves as well. 

Did they do enough? I am not going to have a go at the players for what happened in the Premier League last season, it was always going to be tough but I wonder if people, and myself included, maybe got it wrong and maybe this squad isn’t as good as people think it is. 

Obviously, the run leading up to the World Cup break wasn’t great – they'd won two of the previous 10 and lost half of those games. If you are ever thinking about getting rid of him, get rid of him then. Then you have got a few weeks to get things into place, appoint a new manager who is in place for when the seasons restarted. But City gave him three games – and they have been poor, even the win at Swansea wasn’t a great performance. 

People have said he wasn’t the right fit. Who is though? How do you measure that? He did really well at Brentford, he is the one who took Thoma Frank there and he got Brentford playing a really attractive style of football and that’s why Villa head-hunted him. He got them promoted via the play-offs... but I still don’t think a lot of Norwich fans have got over Daniel Farke to be honest - but they wanted him gone as well! 

This is the thing about the character of a manager or head coach – after every win Daniel Farke would go to all four stands and raise his arms. It’s a German thing – we’ve seen Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel do the same.  

I think Dean lacked charisma and I think that having it can help win people over, but at the end of the day it is about getting results, especially when people expect you to be not far off the top two most of the season. I know people have said they can’t believe City have got rid of someone when they are fifth in the table, but the football wasn’t great.