It’s a shame that Norwich City haven’t yet joined the growing number of football clubs becoming the subject of fly-on-the wall documentaries.

It would have been fascinating to have been allowed behind the scenes in this soap opera of a season.

There was another bittersweet twist at St Andrews on Sunday. The Canaries produced one of their meekest performances of the season and lost 1-0 to Birmingham City. Yet at full-time the winners shed tears of relegation while the defeated team headed into the play-offs with a message from their head coach that was very much ‘mission accomplished’.

David Wagner was much more interested in the bigger picture than the individual scene that played out in the second city. He was beaming when he bounced into the room set aside for post-match interviews. Finally, a play-off place was a mathematical certainty. The head coach was keen to shrug off the defeat saying “the most important thing was that everyone stayed healthy”.

In some ways it was reassuring because it offered an explanation for the off-colour performance. I was surprised to hear him declare “I don’t care” in reference to the loss. Attention had clearly already turned to what could be, in Wagner’s words, a ‘belter’ of a tussle with Leeds United for a place at Wembley.

His throwaway comment did not go down well with a lot of supporters who would have preferred to see the Canaries blast their way into the play-offs in rip-roaring form.

The relationship between Wagner and the City faithful this season has reminded me of the uneasy truce that exists in our house between the dog and our two pet cats. Most of the time they tolerate each other and it’s absolutely fine. Every so often though there’s a flashpoint, claws are drawn and a stern rebuke has to be issued to get everyone pulling together again.

Ultimately Wagner has got the job done. The run, since defeat to Blackburn in November which left Norwich City 17th in The Championship, has ended at 56 points from 31 games. In 2024 only two teams (Leeds and Ipswich) have won more Championship points. They have only lost four of their last 21 in the league. It’s a series of results that ought to inspire confidence. Leeds have lost four of their last six. By November though many City fans had already decided they didn’t want Wagner and so it doesn’t take much for the doubts to resurface.

That friction has added an extra layer of tension to this enthralling campaign.

At times the head coach has bitten back and sounded like a man who didn’t feel like he was getting the credit he deserved. In his mind sixth place is a huge achievement after finishing 13th last season. Add to that the loss of several key players - Teemu Pukki and Tim Krul left, Max Aarons and Andrew Omobamidele were sold and Grant Hanley faced the best part of a year out injured. Most City fans would have been delighted with a play-off place when they rocked up to Carrow Road on the first day of the season to see Adam Idah net what turned out to be a massive last gasp winner against Hull.

It was interesting on Saturday that Wagner went out of his way to praise Stuart Webber’s role last summer.

It’s six months since the previous sporting director left but the head coach underlined the importance of Webber’s ‘backing’ in the transfer market. One of the big moments in the season was when Ben Knapper came in as Webber’s replacement. He defied expectations and the weight of public opinion at the time and kept the boss in place.

The Pink Un:

More recently Wagner has been talking in terms of carefully managing his squad, saying that the transfer activity in January was a “risk that I always warned against, but the decision was made to go with a thin squad and I have to accept it”. On Saturday he said again that he felt he was going into the play-offs with the best team but perhaps not the best squad.

It suggests the documentary team making, let’s call it ‘Welcome to Wroxham’ (it’s close enough) would have been privy to some tense discussions since Knapper’s arrival.

There are two (hopefully three) episodes of the season to go and I’m absolutely rivetted. The decision to bring back a previous favourite character in Daniel Farke is a masterstroke.

Is Wagner going to be the man who turned City’s fortunes round or someone who could never quite win over the Norfolk public? After 46 gruelling episodes we still don’t know. This edge-of-your-seat story continues at Carrow Road on Sunday lunchtime.

 

Krul decision…

As the dust settles on the regular season it’s always fun to review the campaign and pick out those little moments that turned out to be important.

The two late winners from Adam Idah and Christian Fassnacht against Hull are obvious examples but I wonder whether the impact of one decision is yet to fully hit home?

Norwich City’s substitute goalkeeper for the first two games of this season was Tim Krul. He left in mid-August for a crack at The Premier League with Luton Town. It’s a call that hasn’t prompted a huge amount of analysis as Angus Gunn has had a superb season as City’s official number one.

David Wagner’s last promotion with Huddersfield in 2017 came via two play-off penalty shoot-outs. They beat Sheffield Wednesday in the semis and then saw off Reading at Wembley.

In Krul Norwich City used to have a true penalty expert. Just having him in goal felt like a psychological advantage. Wagner might be about to miss him. Unless Gunny junior or George Long are already writing names down on their water bottles.