Will Jennings on prime minister and sacked Norwich coach

Because, as per the lyrics of a song that has just catapulted its way back into the British public’s consciousness, it’s widely believed that Things under new leadership Can Only Get Better.

The image of Sunak, drenched head to toe outside No10 announcing a shock summer general election while D:Rream’s 1993 hit blared out in the background, drew parallels with that of Wagner gingerly patrolling the Elland Road touchline one week earlier, a man who looked totally helpless and knew his Norwich City race was run.

Unlike what many feel about Britain under the Tories, Wagner’s turbulent Norwich City tenure was far from a disaster that did contain genuine moments of joy that got us all believing.

And, unlike some of our recent prime ministers, the amiable German always came across as a thoroughly decent, genuine and largely relatable character.

But after last week’s play-off horror-show and the toxic turn that Elland Road away end took come the end of the night, the Northern Irish band were right - Things now Can Only Get Better.

As readers of this column will know, I’ve largely been supportive of Wagner and at times when he’s admittedly deserved criticism - particularly after that final game of the season at Birmingham - taken aim at certain sections of supporters for being unfairly hostile and negative.

By the way, none of those columns was written as personal attacks; I respect the views of all City fans and only ever express my opinion - the fundamental purpose of a column and something of course everyone is totally entitled to.

And if anyone who disagrees ever wants to discuss it in-person, I’m often visible in the Lower Barclay vicinity and would be delighted to prove that I’m not most of the things some fans have amusingly accused me of being over the course of the last two seasons.

One of which, most humorously, inaccurately and particularly pertinent in this most dramatic of Westminster weeks, happened to be an attack on a political affiliation they’d chosen to invent for me.

Anyway, back to Norwich City - something we all have in common and a club we are desperate to see back travelling in a direction we can all get behind.

David Wagner after the debacle at Leeds (Image: Matt Wilkinson/Focus Images Ltd)

What happened at Leeds last Thursday was nothing short of a shambles, a weak, rudderless and appallingly incompetent performance that saw us crumble in the face of adversity and offer nothing in the way of attacking threat when - very rarely - given the opportunity to do so.

I must admit, I really didn’t see it coming and genuinely travelled to Yorkshire optimistic we could emulate our exploits of that magical Saturday night back in February 2019.

But fair play - it’s the sort of industrial scale implosion we know only Norwich City are capable of and a result that equally did not take many by surprise.

Things Can Only Get Better - and what happens next will be fascinating.

After the ultimately failed experiments of both Wagner and Dean Smith, the evidence is crystal clear that City are a club that tends to thrive under the auspices of a young, hungry and progressive coach on the rise.

The Smiths, Wagners and Chris Hughtons of this world are hopefully behind us - with what City did under Daniel Farke and Paul Lambert now surely setting the blueprint for Ben Knapper to follow.

The early signs are promising.

I won’t profess to know anything about them - but names like Johannes Hoff Thorup, Pascal Jansen and most recently, Will Still, are enough to get us excited heading into a sizzling sporting - and now political - summer.

And while we still know very little about the efficacy of Knapper’s recruitment - both managerially and players - the ruthlessness and speed with which he acted after that painful play-off pummelling was a sign of a shrewd operator.

A new Norwich manager, England in with a chance of winning the Euros, a first European Olympics since London 2012 and Britain being sent to the ballots bang in the middle of all of it.

It’s set to be a seismic summer - and the start of an exciting new era for City fans and beyond.