In football, triumph and despair walk hand in hand, and for Norwich City and David Wagner, the thin line between glory and sorrow was brutally underscored on that fateful night at Elland Road on Thursday.  

Since the introduction of the Championship Play-Offs 37 years ago, Wagner has become the fifth manager to secure a top-six finish at this level and the third that required the play-offs as a route to the top tier, but he has also become the first not to make that final push to the final and ultimately paid the price for that.  

The German leaves the club with the 10th best win ratio amongst the 42 men that have taken up permanent residency in the City dugout.  

Patience is a rare commodity in football management, and some fans had very little to spare. 

I’ll always be puzzled that David Wagner was treated significantly harsher than his predecessor, Dean Smith, whose football was much worse to watch and showed close to zero respect for the fans.  

Wagner is a decent man who was clearly admired by his players.  

I, like many sensible fans, will wish him the best for the future.  

From the aftermath of Wagner’s sacking, it seems that his fate was inevitable, regardless of what he was to achieve this season.  

Those who have spent the entire season baying for his blood have been rejoicing on their keyboards, which is the modern thumbs down in Coliseum terms, not that these ‘fans’ would actually be anywhere near a stadium, of course.  

I don’t often tweet, largely because I do have a life, but some of the absolute nonsense I see on my ‘X’ feed could be dissected as a testament to the knee-jerk reactions and lack of understanding that plague modern football fandom.  

To be clear, if you are tweeting opinions during a game, you aren’t watching properly.  

Due to the brutal nature of football management, it is a talent-rich market.  

There are several available managers that have promotions to the Premier League on their CVs, including Steve Cooper and Scott Parker, who would surely be on Ben Knapper’s short list.  

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The bookies have Carlos Cuesta as the frontrunner to be our next manager. The rumours of the Spaniard joining the club began shortly after Knapper’s appointment as our sporting director, and no one would be surprised to see that appointment.  

With Cuesta’s age and lack of experience, it would be a huge gamble. 

Ed Parnell, who has sat next to me at Carrow Road over the last decade, will tell you from glancing at my 'build a bets' that gambles pay off far less often than they don't.  

People are excited by youth because the unknown carries the allure of untapped potential and the possibility of greatness. However, in the high-stakes world of football, betting on unproven talent can lead to more heartbreak than success.  

With all three clubs that were promoted to the Premier League making an instant return to the Championship and two of the three that were relegated from the Premier League renewing their top flight status, the widening gap means we would require a manager that is capable of more than just promotion; they would need to build foundations to achieve the almost impossible task of stability. 

I often wonder what would’ve happened if Mo Leitner hadn’t equalised against Ipswich back in September 2018.  

At the time, we were languishing 20th in the division with mutterings of ‘Farke out.’ We know what happened next.  

We will undoubtedly be embarking on a very new and different era next season.  

With changes in the boardroom, the dugout, and on the pitch, it will be a vastly transformed Norwich City.  

Patience will be required, and without us, the fans, success will be difficult to achieve.  

So, let's strive to be better next season, regardless of the outcome.  

Our unwavering support is crucial to shaping the future of our beloved club. OTBC