With a sense of comedic timing Peter Kay would admire Norwich City chose to announce another 26,000 plus attendance after many had long since exited Carrow Road.

How many? No one really knows. But that misses the point. Enough surely to deeply trouble the majority owners, the members of the executive committee and the under-fire sporting director.

The cat calls directed at Stuart Webber and the board from the terraces during a fourth winless home game without scoring a single goal would suggest this is untenable.

Norwich City’s promotion tilt is dead. Little did we know at the time but the final flickers were evident as Grant Hanley kicked a stoppage time shot at Millwall off his line to secure a sterling away win in early March.

Since that, bar Blackburn on Good Friday, David Wagner and his patched up squad of ill-fitting parts have served up degrees of dross.

When those he ‘entrusts’ to respond at West Brom in the final away league fixture pull on that shirt again, they should pause for a moment and look at the words stitched into the inside lining.

They contain this proud club’s core values. Listed among those are ‘resilience’, ‘pride’ and ‘commitment’. Where was any of that against Russell Martin’s well-drilled Swansea? A bright start crumbled after more self-inflicted set piece vulnerability.

Then the customary implosion. Perhaps ‘brittle’ and ‘fragile’ are more apt at present. Therein lies one of the festering problems with this malaise. Values are just words. The same as culture.

A slick new modern crest, an updated font, a commercial strategy that reaches into Finland, or Brazil or now Ireland trumpeting how to create ‘culturally relevant’ sporting brands are all just words. It takes people to live them, to embody them, to act in a way that upholds all that should be valuable and cherished about a special club in a special part of this country.

What is ‘culturally relevant’ about an organisation who no longer wish to embrace accountability? Or external scrutiny?

Norwich had a plan under Webber that was bold and vibrant. When it was good it was intoxicating. Now City’s sporting director is a toxic brand. The season ticket renewals remain as healthy as ever, but that was the case when they slipped into League One for the first time in 50 years.

This is a club in need of resuscitation. The empty seats at the start of the second half, after the wheels had already come off, were noticeable in every home area. When Oliver Ntcham slotted a third just past the hour mark a trickle turned to a flood. With ever louder chants of ‘We want Webber out’.

There would appear to be a succession plan, woven around a growing influence in the boardroom from Mark Attanasio’s group. Expect confirmation in due course on the completion of that long-drawn out legal process over the allotment of new shares.

They will need another distraction tactic after playing their Onel Hernandez contract chip.

But it will take more than a new deal for the ever-popular Cuban, or visible signs of a transition at the top, to sate the demand for change. When the anger subsides, dejection sets in. Then disenchantment, then disinterest.

In that void must come clarity from the voices shaping the next chapter. Wagner fronted up immediately after another abject display on his watch to launch a staunch defence of his close ally.

The City head coach delivered a one-word response when asked if Webber will be alongside him this summer to drive the fightback? Absolutely.

So let us hear from the club’s footballing figurehead in short order at the end of this forgettable Championship tour.

When he sat alongside Wagner in a room full of journalists back in January to officially unveil his latest chosen one the body language screamed this was an individual who would rather be anywhere else.

But his words conveyed clear meaning he felt there was unfinished business. A circle to square by guiding Norwich back to the Premier League, and engineering a competitive crack at staying there beyond one slab of top flight tourism.

Yet the plates can shift sharply, the Carrow Road toxicity directed at Dean Smith before Christmas found a different outlet against Swansea. If the hunger, drive and desire remain undimmed then Webber must set out the vision, admit the catalogue of individual and collective mistakes, and deliver another appeal that chimes with a fan base who were similarly disaffected when he first arrived in 2017.

It is tempting to believe the problems at Norwich City begin and end with Webber. They do not. Canaries’ fans have been here before. Many times.

Recall the frustration and anger that brought down Alex Neil, and paved the way for Webber to front a progressive project that wanted to lead the pack not trail behind it.

Own the recent past and set course for an optimistic future. There will be dissenting voices and stinging criticism, for sure, but the sound of silence will not heal the ruptures, or convince a growing number of fans the differences are irreconcilable.