When Dean Smith was handed the Norwich City job, he quickly made clear his desire for Liam Bramley to join him as first-team coach.

It added a youthful and inexperienced edge to a coaching team containing Smith and Craig Shakespeare, who have a plethora of seasons of senior-level football etched onto their CV.

Plucking Bramley from Aston Villa involved handing him his first job in the senior game, with the 35-year-old working at Newcastle before his move to the Midlands as under 23 boss underneath Smith and Shakespeare.

From a FA Youth Cup victory at Villa Park, Bramley was thrust into attempting to navigate City clear of the Premier League's drop zone - an effort that proved unsuccessful.

Reflecting on that period as a young coach, Bramley admits to having extracted plenty of lessons that will stand both him and City in better stead should they return to the top-flight.

“From our coaching team's point of view, in some of those games we learnt some real truths about our team. (We learned) what we were capable of, where our shortcomings were and what made it difficult was that there were no real quick fixes to any of those things.

“The Premier League is unforgiving if you’re lacking in certain areas and every week it felt like we were getting exposed," Bramley told the Inside the Coaches Room podcast.

“You learn how quickly the game can change at that level and how quickly teams adapt to the problem that you are trying to give them. For example, you might set your team up to press in a certain way against a certain opponent, in academy football, that problem that you’re giving them might take them until half time to rectify that, and they might need some coaching interventions to do that.

“In the Premier League, it moves so quickly. You might be able to do it twice, but they will have worked it out on the third attempt and you have to come up with something new.

“It was the speed at which that moved which was very different to what I experienced in the past. I wouldn’t want to be faced with that lack of preparation in that situation again if it can be helped.”

The focus now is firmly on the Championship, with Norwich currently sitting in second play after a positive start to the campaign in terms of points.

But some supporters are still having doubts about the team's playing style alongside the standard of their performances after ten games of the new season.

Smith has spoken publically about the principles of play he is attempting to put in place around the team's performances, with Bramley leading a lot of the sessions on the training pitches of their Colney base.

“We had a number of principles that we wanted to embed," Bramley explained. "We tried to condense those into as few principles as possible but they encapsulate the whole team performance we want to create.

"In terms of simplicity, do you have 12 principles or four? Four is much easier to remember and get clarity from so we had to condense them into the most important things. It provides clarity to the players.

"The strength of having the games last season was that we could show them the good elements and prove to them they were capable of doing it. All we are asking them to do is to do it more often.

"Modelling was a big thing that we used in pre-season to try and build confidence and belief – that's a big thing when you’re trying to change something. Getting examples of them doing it against the very best would really impact them and create belief in what we do.”

Bramley's coaching education is a story of hard graft.

A Uefa Pro Licence holder, Bramley spent four and a half years working as a football development officer for Northumberland Football Partnership between 2004 and 2009.

That led to a role in Newcastle United’s academy as a lead development coach across a series of age groups at St James’ Park. A move to Villa followed, where Smith promoted him to elite development coach.

A lot of his work with Norwich takes place during the week and he explained why he values the concept of training so highly.

“Training is a rehersal for the performance," he said. "Unlike the theatre, there is another team trying to destroy your performance every week. It’s about finding a way to uphold your performance despite what they might try and do to you.”

The Pink Un: Liam Bramley (centre) works closely alongside Norwich City boss Dean Smith and assistant Craig Shakespeare.Liam Bramley (centre) works closely alongside Norwich City boss Dean Smith and assistant Craig Shakespeare. (Image: (C)Focus Images Limitedwww.focus-images.co.uk+44 7813 022858)

Bramley is heavily involved in preparing the team for matches as well as engaging Smith and Shakespeare in conversation to discuss in game tweaks and substitutions.

The alteration in the number of subs has shifted how the City coach thinks about the game and he has revealed certain players are now being earmarked for certain stages of the game - perhaps Onel Hernandez is the best example of a 'finisher'.

“One of the things that happens now is that you’re trying to predict what will happen in the game before it starts. What will the first 20 minutes look like? What will the first half look like? What will the game look like up to 60 minutes? What the game look like for the last 30 minutes?

"Within that, you are working out which players are suited to what bit. I can see the game becoming more strategic regarding who starts games and finishes them.

"Substitutions once upon a time were for when a player gets injured. They have become more tactical and strategic that it leads to bigger conversations at time. It’s about trying to find the right solution at the right time.

"It hasn’t changed my approach to coaching. If you make everybody five percent better, then how good does that make the team? My belief is that results are a by-product of good work over a prolonged period of time.”