The season might have ended with a whimper, but it was followed by a bang as City fans were given the prospect of an exciting reset.

I don’t think that many fans were surprised by defeat at Elland Road, but the margin of victory and the nature of City’s performance were hard to bear.

It was clear from his pre match comments that David Wagner’s tactical approach was going to be one of trying to keep Leeds out and hoping to sneak a goal or take the game to penalties but in fairness to the German the massive underperformance by key players was the biggest factor in the thrashing as tackles were missed, players were left unmarked and Angus Gunn, so brilliant all season, had a night to forget, being at fault for three of the Leeds goals.

Daniel Farke’s side were excellent, moving the ball quickly and progressively which starkly illustrated just how ponderous and sloppy City’s build up play was as home players picked off errant passes time and again.

City were totally overwhelmed, and with Jonny Rowe, Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent looking some way from full fitness, by half time it was simply a question of how many Leeds would score.

Depressing as the evening was, Friday morning brought the news that Wagner had been sacked in a move that signalled that things are changing at the club with Ben Knapper starting to make his mark.

I think it was significant that in his post-game remarks at Birmingham  Wagner fulsomely praised Stuart Webber, but made no mention of Knapper, despite the latter backing him in January when he was widely expected to be dismissed.

Knapper has gone about his work quietly, leading some to make premature judgements but he deserves credit for the decision to get a number of exciting youngsters out on loan in January so that they could get regular games, which proved an excellent move given that despite moaning about the size of his squad, Wagner was reluctant to give any of those left at the club any playing time as they went on an extended tour of Championship dugouts.

The Pink Un: David Wagner was sacked by Norwich City on Friday

Wagner’s ultra cautious brand of football was often a tough watch, but he deserves credit for rebuilding some of the bridges with the fans that Dean Smith, who had served up similarly turgid football, had burnt. He is a likeable, dignified man and I wish him well in the future.

It does seem that a new wind is blowing through Carrow Road, with Friday’s ruthlessness in sharp contrast to Delia Smith’s reported January phone call of support to Wagner when his sacking seemed inevitable.

It’s clear that there is a plan in place rather than any short-term kneejerk reaction, and while we know that the financial position means that there will be some difficult decisions in the summer, it is refreshing that positive action is being taken.

The usual considerations may well mean that the new man won’t be announced for a few weeks, but there will already be work underway to plan for next season.

It may even be the case that the club has to go backwards to go forwards, but if Knapper and the new head coach can deliver the sort of football that he talked about when he first took up his post I think that the fans will get behind that, particularly if some of the exciting young talent at the club can break through.

Then, of course there is Mark Attanasio’s group. I see no reason why they would buy into a club whose ambition didn’t extend beyond being a perpetual Championship side and they will want to push the club forwards by providing fresh ideas to dispel the boardroom staleness of recent years.

It will be an interesting summer and, as ever, thanks for reading the column and I’ll hopefully see you again in August.