Mark Attanasio is ‘super ambitious’ to get Norwich City back to the Premier League, in the view of former sporting director Stuart Webber.

Webber handed over to Ben Knapper in November last year, calling time on six-and-a-half years in charge of the Canaries’ football strategy, but officially departs next week at the end of his notice period.

US businessman Attanasio fronts a group who have increased their shareholding and financial commitment since joining the board during Webber’s tenure.

The 39-year-old had two attempts at trying to establish City in the top flight under the self-funded model, but believes Attanasio’s growing influence could be the difference.

Webber turned down an immediate return before Christmas, but has held talks with another Championship club and one in a different league on a potential return to the game, after he embarks on his Everest climb next month.

“I know if I go back in I've got to have those possibilities where you genuinely can have success at that level,” he said. “Because otherwise it is horrible, you are trying to firefight and you get beaten up for it. You are working with your hands tied behind your back. Listen, you know that, and I never complained about that. These are the rules working at Norwich.

"Ben may find that out. If they don’t go up under this model he may have to sell a player. In my time we beat the transfer record eight times when it came to selling players.

“That is why you buy a (Gabriel) Sara, buy a (Borja) Sainz, buy a (Josh) Sargent or try and develop academy players. You can either accept it and say, ‘Let’s be mediocre’ or you want to be ambitious, you want to get to the Premier League, you want to keep on pushing and growing.

"But I do know Mark Attanasio is super-ambitious, and he’s got the wealth to support it. But he is not stupid. Norwich can end up being that club who can establish themselves, and I hope that is the case."

Sixth-placed City resume their Championship play-off bid under David Wagner after the international break.

Webber embarks on his own Everest attempt on April 22, with the aim of raising £50,000 for the Summit Foundation charity he launched with his wife and City executive director, Zoe Webber, in 2022 to create more life opportunties for Norfolk's young people.

"What I do know is the next job has got to be with good people. I've got to work with good people, whether that's a club in the Champions League or a club in the National League," he said. "It's about people, whether it's in a different sport or a different industry. I've been lucky at Huddersfield and Norwich to have that.

"I’ve been approached since I left, but with the greatest respect I didn’t chose to leave Norwich to go and do the same thing. Otherwise I would have stayed. This is where my family is, great owners, top fan base, top facilities, amazing staff.

"It's been nice. I said to my wife it feels like being married for 20 years, you split up or whatever, and you go dating again. So it's nice when someone rings and asks, 'Do you want to go on a date?' Because you do sit there and worry will the phone ring, because that is the uncertainty bit of you.

"I was speaking to Steve Cooper, because he is out of work now, and he was the same as me. But two days after I left someone rang me up with a great piece of advice and that was, ‘Don’t take the first job, take your time because you'll be tempted to take it'. And he was right, I was tempted to take it and it wouldn’t have been right.

"But it was nice to feel loved and I was tempted before Christmas, before I said, ‘What am I doing?’ so I pulled back.

"If I’m going to go back into football, it needs to be a club where if they're not in the Premier League already, and you've got to get there, I've got the resources to help stay there. I don't want to go through what I've been through twice here, which is the first Premier League season we spent £750,000 on Sam Byram, then after relegation we had to sell (Ben) Godfrey and (Jamal) Lewis due to the impact of Covid.

"Then we go back up and have to sell (Emi) Buendia to try and add to the squad. It is so hard and you get no thanks at the end.

"Burnley look like they will get relegated, same as us, and they have spent maybe £100m. I’d say give me a scenario where I had £100m and didn’t have to sell our best player, which was Buendia, and I wouldn’t say we would have stayed up, because the level of the Premier League is outrageous, but we would have given it a good shot."

The full 40-minute exclusive audio chat with Webber will be available on the Pinkun channels from Saturday morning, along with his revealing analysis of his time at Norwich City, ambitions for the Summit Foundation charity to help young people in Norfolk, and Everest preparations.