An angry training ground rollicking from Daniel Farke was the secret to Norwich City sealing their promotion against Blackburn, goalkeeper Tim Krul has revealed.
The Championship leaders had prepared for the Rovers clash amid a nervy atmosphere after four consecutive draws had slowed momentum – but knew just a point was needed on Saturday to seal a return to the Premier League.
“He’s one of us, he’s the boss, he can lose his head – like on Friday in training, he proper lost his head because the boys weren’t really on it,” Krul said of his head coach after the 2-1 victory.
“That’s what you need. He can put an arm around your shoulder but it would have been funny if some cameras were there!
“But we need that. It’s been a crazy ride but, my word, what an achievement.”
The Holland international has loved his season under Farke’s guidance, getting his injury affected career back on track.
“The preparation, he’s so professional,” the 31-year-old continued. “If you know the amount of hours we’ve put in on the training pitch, it’s the most we’ve trained in my career, we’ve had some sessions where we’ve trained for two-and-a-half or three hours – and then another session in the gym in the afternoon.
“He’s worked his boys hard and look at the amount of times we’ve turned games around in the last 10 minutes, that’s not a coincidence, the boys are fit.
“It’s the German mentality, they work hard and he’s a true believer that if you work hard then the results will come and he’s done it, amazing.”
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The former Newcastle number one couldn’t stop smiling after wild promotion celebrations had followed the triumph, adding: “We started the game amazingly. We really took the bull by its horns, and to get two goals, of course there’s nerves, everyone turns up expecting us to win, so it was never going to be easy.
“But 13 games unbeaten shows you what we’ve done and the last four weeks, it’s been nerve-rracking, don’t get me wrong, but it’s been a learning curve.
“The last four draws were a great test for the boys, that it’s not always just rosy and going to be easy, it’s been hard graft, a heavy season, the Championship is hard to get out of – but we’ve done it.”
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