Ben Knapper: New sporting director insists Norwich City can thrive in the Premier League

  • Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper discusses his vision for the club and his hopes for the future

New Norwich City sporting director Ben Knapper insists the foundations are in place for the club to become established in the Premier League, should promotion be secured at the end of the season.

Knapper recently joined the Canaries from Arsenal where he'd spent 13 years, latterly as loans manager.

He replaced Stuart Webber who'd been Norwich's sporting director for six-and-a-half years, helping to lead the club to two Premier League promotions during that time.

However, the club were also relegated twice during that period as well - a record Knapper is determined to change, should the club get back to the top flight any time soon.

Knapper was speaking to the local media for the first time on Wednesday. Credit: ITV News Anglia

"Everybody knows the size of that challenge. It is a huge gulf in resource, in firepower, in size of clubs - but that's the challenge," he said.

"Particularly with the experiences that we've had in the past of struggling at that level, it makes us even more motivated to try and find a solution that can lead to a different outcome.

"You look now in the Premier League and there's clubs that are making an absolute real fist of it that people would have written off, so absolutely it can be achieved."

Confidence is starting to rebuild at Carrow Road after a positive run of results which has seen the Canaries move to within just a point of the Championship play-off spots.

It's in stark contrast to when Knapper first arrived at the club in November where large sections of the Norwich fanbase were calling for head coach David Wagner to be sacked.

Norwich boss David Wagner came under huge pressure from fans in the autumn. Credit: PA

Pressed on whether it was hard to ignore those calls, Knapper said: "It's so important that you stay calm and you think logically.

"I was always going to take time. Of course I was aware of a lot of that noise, but it was something that, for me, I was always crystal clear on."

If Norwich do fail to achieve their objectives, and with parachute payments having dried up, the club are likely to have to cash in on some of their prized assets in the summer in order to balance the books.

Winger Jonny Rowe in particular has been heavily linked with other clubs, and Knapper admits it may be hard to keep him, and star midfielder Gabriel Sara, at Carrow Road long-term.

Jonny Rowe has been in superb form in the Championship this season. Credit: PA

"Financially, that's something that we're always talking about with the club," he said.

"There's going to be turnover, so yes, at some point, of course, they are [Rowe and Gabriel Sara] players that have got big value in the market.

"So there's some pressure, but as well, at the moment it's something that we're discussing a lot in the club about when is the right moment? So, yeah, that's something that's constantly being reviewed."

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