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‘We could spend £100m and still get relegated’ - City chief Webber delivers Premier League reality check
Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber is not getting carried away after sealing Premier League promotion Picture: Denise Bradley - Credit: Copyright: Archant 2018
Stuart Webber is pledging Norwich City will not gamble on Premier League survival.
City’s sporting director inherited a mess when the Canaries’ previous top flight tilt failed the last time they were in the big league, which triggered a painful financial fallout at Carrow Road.
Webber insists head coach Daniel Farke can count on fresh blood this summer, but there will be no rolling the dice.
“We have to back the plan,” he said. “We have come out of a financial hole, because we have been fortunate enough to get promoted to the Premier League, so what we have to do is make sure we don’t put ourselves back in that place, get relegated, and then we are at the point I was two years ago.
“I don’t want someone else to come in and pick up the mess I have left.
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“We have to make sure we learn from those mistakes. If that ends up with relegation and we have to go again, then that’s life.
“We could spend £100m and still get relegated. It is an unforgiving league and we will be favourites to go down from day one. We just have to ignore the noise.
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“Everyone told us to get out of the Championship you needed experience, and we are the least experienced ever to get promoted, in terms of minutes on the pitch. Now it’s we need Premier League experience.
“Unfortunately the ones we could afford with that experience have all been relegated.
“So do we bring in eight players used to losing or find five used to winning and maybe will be naïve at times but have an ambition to prove they can play at that level, rather than they are scared.”
Webber, speaking to BBC Radio Five on Monday night, is convinced Farke’s Championship promotion winning squad can step up.
“We are strong enough to give it a good go,” he said. “Of course we need to reinforce it a little bit. Circumstances dictate we cannot rip it apart because we haven’t got the money. So if we wanted to do a Fulham we couldn’t.
“We back all these players. They still have development in them.
“That will happen at the highest level and we may have to learn some harsh lessons.
“We will turn up at places sometimes and get beaten badly. I watched Chelsea get beat six at Manchester City this season and they have some of the best players in the world. If it can happen to them, then it can definitely happen to us.”
