Norwich City: Liam Manning on Championship challenges

The beleaguered head coach was dismissed by the Canaries in the aftermath of Leicester City inflicting an eighth consecutive Carrow Road defeat on the Championship relegation strugglers.

Manning, long time assistant Chris Hogg and first team coach analyst James Krause, all departed after a brief five month spell and nine points from 15 league games.

“When you make that many signings in the summer, and when you look at the run of the club from January, February onwards, I think probably I underestimated a little bit how difficult it will be,” said Manning, in his final post-match engagement shortly before official confirmation of his exit. “I reflect, I look at things. What would I do differently? What did we get right? What did we get wrong?

“Hindsight is great, right? A beautiful thing in terms of you should do this or do that? The industry we are in you have to perform. You have to deliver. Especially coaching in England. If you win, you're good. If you lose, you’re not.

"Rob Edwards is a great example in terms of how quickly it can turn around. But in probably my heart, in terms of caring about the club so much, you wanted to come here and have that impact.”

Manning insists there is a squad who can keep the club up.

“They showed the fight and the spirit (against Leicester). The challenge consistently has been scoring goals,” he said. “There are some good players that have the potential to be very good. And that's the bit I've spoken a lot around, the leadership and the personalities and finding a bit of league know-how.

“The second the game starts it is about the team aspect and the fire you need to show. We didn't show it first half at Sheffield Wednesday. We showed it second half. I think we showed it for longer against Leicester but it's not enough to show fight and passion.

“I look at myself, in terms of the performances or anything I could do differently, and there might be some small tweaks, but when it comes to the key moments, putting it in the back of the net, those aspects I can't do.”