Being 'brutally honest' has been an integral part of Stuart Webber earning the trust of the Norwich City hierarchy as the sporting director strives to learn from past mistakes.

Webber puts together an end-of-season report on the football side of the club which is seen only by majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones, as well as the Welshman's wife, City's business and project director Zoe Ward.

Having endured a bleak Premier League relegation after promotion as champions in 2019, that policy of transparency will continue as Webber schemes for a second crack at the top flight with head coach Daniel Farke and their recruitment staff.

"It hurts them a lot when we lose because they are fans," Webber said of City's majority shareholders. "I've always looked at it and said it's about education and transparency. It's about complete honesty with the owners.

"At the end of every year, I do a report that only three people see; the two owners and my wife because she has to check the spelling!

"In that, I give everything. I talk about the mistakes, what went right and wrong, because success leaves clues. I never lie with them but I'm bold.

"I remember when James Maddison was here, I'd been here two days, and I said 'we have one player here who will end up playing for England', they hadn't even seen him play. We just had to find a way to get him through.

"Ultimately, you need them to have the strength to believe in you."

MORE: Webber reveals he turned down 'massive job' to stay at City

Webber was speaking to Norfolk-based broadcaster and Canaries fan Jake Humphrey on the High Performance Podcast, revealing some of the methods which have taken the 37-year-old from youth coaching at Wrexham through to recruitment roles at Liverpool, Wolves and QPR, before taking the top job at Huddersfield and Norwich.

"I never fear about getting sacked because when you come from nothing, the thought of having nothing isn't scary," he continued, of the report for his bosses.

"I said to them after the first year, you're going to read this and you might want to sack me. Because it's brutal. It's brutally honest about the mistakes I've made throughout the year but part of that is about some of the lessons I've learned and how we're going to do it differently.

"For whatever reason, they've backed it when a lot of people would sack you."