It reflects on the scale of Norwich City’s rebuild that its ripples are being felt across football.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that former Canary Elliott Bennett is across what’s happening at Carrow Road – he has, after all, already been the subject of offers outside playing as he leaves Shrewsbury Town.
For someone even as studious as Bennett to describe City’s business thus far as a “new-look side” is a significant sign of how different the direction they’ve gone in this summer is, and yet that’s how he puts it when sitting down with the Pink Un.
“That team ethic can take you as far as it took us,” he says, referencing the 12th-placed Premier League finish Norwich achieved under Paul Lambert in 2012.
“We had sprinkles of quality – Wes Hoolahan is still the best player I’ve had the pleasure of playing with – but he worked hard, and new his role in the team.
“Everyone in the squad was together, and what we were was a group of League One and Championship players that the manager (Lambert) made feel like we’d played in the Premier League for five years.
“Everyone knew their job, and we didn’t fear anyone. We gave everything, and if everything wasn’t enough, at least we gave everything. Fortunately for us that year everything was more than what probably the most optimistic Norwich fan would have imagined.”
The first of those signings was Ashley Barnes, who arrived at Carrow Road after a ten-year spell at Burnley and two years with Bennett at Brighton & Hove Albion.
What stands out most to the now-34-year-old about those two years with Barnes?
“His desire to be the best Ashley Barnes he can be. It was a long time ago that I played with him, he was only a young lad.
“For someone so young he was very determined and very head strong. He wanted the best for himself but more importantly wanted the best for the team. He went above and beyond the role of a normal striker to make sure the team was successful.”
It’s hoped Barnes’ experience can bolster a squad currently lacking in it, but Bennett believes he had the required qualities even before his mammoth spell at Turf Moor.
“We didn’t have many older players in that squad when we got promoted,” he continues. “Barnesy was a great lad to be around, family man, head screwed on. He was very much all about football and family, not someone who would go out all the time.
“He was very, very focused on his football, and it’s been amazing to see his journey and what he’s gone on to do in the game.”
Barnes’ qualities aren’t limited to the dressing room, however.
“He’s very good technically, not just a big target,” says Bennett. “He can hold the ball up, his first touch is brilliant, lovely finisher, great strike off both feet, really good in the air.
“He’s just got an all-round technical ability that maybe sometimes he doesn’t get credit for because he uses his body well and brings others into play.
“Pitching up at Norwich, along with the other signings, it’s great to see Barnsey spearheading the attack of a new-look team.
“He’ll be vocal in the dressing room, wanting the best from people, setting standards. He’ll demand that everyone trains hard and plays hard, expecting people to be at his standards.
“I’ve got no doubt that he’ll endear himself to the Norwich fans, just knowing from my time at the club what the fans expect. I was never the most technically gifted player to play for Norwich, far from it.
“But I feel like I had a good rapport with the fans because I left it all out there every game. I tried my best, and for me Barsnesy will do that and have the ability as well as that.”
The former Burnley man reminds Bennett of one of his former team-mates, and that’s only good news for City fans.
“I’m not saying he’s going to go on to have a Norwich career like him,” he says, “but he’s a bit similar to Grant Holt. Holty was a bit bigger, and Barnesy’s technically better, but that kind of presence in the team.”
The wide man also played with defensive duo Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy at Blackburn, respectively the club’s captain and most recent signing. Duffy is another smart addition, according to his former fellow Rover.
“He will head a ball 100 miles! He loves heading it, and him and Grant were both man mountains at Blackburn,” says Bennett of the Irish international.
“Duffy’s got a lovely passing range as well, a lovely diagonal pass – maybe don’t print that just so you don’t give any opposition any alert as to what he does!
“He’s a real presence in the team, really good in both boxes. He’ll head the ball out of your box and then chip in with goals. He’s an all-out defender who will leave everything out there.
“I can see him fitting right in at the back, and just being an extra experienced player in a younger squad.”
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