‘We did see it coming’ – Promotion potential was obvious to former City boss

Promotion belief was flowing at Colney ahead of this season, former Norwich City boss Neil Adams has revealed.

City’s loans manager says staff at the club’s training centre could see head coach Daniel Farke was building something special, with those hopes now on the verge of becoming reality, with just a point needed to seal a Premier League return.

“I don’t want to sound flippant but we did see it coming,” the former Canaries midfielder said. “Danny’s come in and he’s implemented a style of football that the supporters love to see.

“It’s like anything, it doesn’t happen overnight, but I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t have been aware of what’s happening at Norwich. However, from within we could see what Daniel was doing. The recruitment was good and everyone could see what Stuart Webber had brought to the table and how incredibly well he is running the football club.

“Internally we were confident that we could give it a real good go this season but we can understand why we weren’t on many people’s radar.”

Adams was a penalty specialist and scored 30 goals in 206 appearances for City between 1994 and 1999 before rising through the academy coaching set-up to eventually lead the under-18s to FA Youth Cup glory in 2013.

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After a brief spell as first team manager he resigned in January 2015 with Championship play-off hopes slipping – before returning as loans manager later that year.

“We’ve had a lot of success over the last couple of years with players coming back and playing in the first team, two that spring to mind are Ben Godfrey and Todd Cantwell,” Adams said of his current role, speaking to Stoke’s match-day programme ahead of Monday’s 2-2 draw with City.

“We monitor the players really closely – that’s from speaking to the players every week before and after a game, watching them training and meeting with the manager. If a player is going out on loan, he is going out for a reason, it means you’ve done well in the U23s or you are a senior player and need game time.

“It’s pleasing that four years down the line we are getting recognised around the country as a club that looks after their loan players. Personally, it’s nice that other clubs want to come to Norwich to see how we do things.”