Norwich City: Samuel Seaman on Watford and patience

Eighteen permanent head coaches in less than 10 years, experienced and successful managers sacked for reasons spotted by very few Hornets fans, and the feeling for much of the century that their job was a poisoned chalice.

That cliché will live on long after the policy's expiry, perpetuated by casual observers and pundits less focused on detail, much like perceptions of Stoke's style of football, or the insistence that Norwich City expect to compete for promotion whenever in the Championship.

But the Hertfordshire club appear to be lurching in a positive direction as far as managerial longevity, placing their trust in Tom Cleverley after Valerien Ismael's March departure. Even after a rocky start results-wise, they awarded him the permanent job and stuck with him through the summer, to good effect at the start of this season.

Watford's impressive opening to the campaign has largely been down to Cleverley's smart tactical work: his 3-4-3 promotes many of the squad's strengths and does a good job of covering their weaknesses. They bring a strong team to Carrow Road this afternoon after a very average 2023-24 term.

Watford gave Tom Cleverley the permanent job despite a rocky period as interim boss (Image: PA) Perhaps there's a lesson in there for their hosts in East Anglia, and a reminder that sticking it out can lead to the sort of success the visitors are currently experiencing.

Of course it's early days, and there's certainly precedent for Championship sides who start strongly and fade quickly. Look only as far as the 2022-23 season and you'll find an example: City and Reading fighting out what appeared to be an automatic promotion battle, before the former finished 13th and the latter were relegated to League One.

But Cleverley's early success is a reminder of how things can go when time is allowed to complete the process, to come through difficult periods and emerge stronger. The 35-year-old was handed the permanent job after six winless games, including three 0-0 draws and the blowing of a 2-0 lead against West Brom.

A 1-0 loss to Swansea feels very minor in comparison, and yet it was a reminder to Norwich fans of how bleak things can seem amid the lows of a transitional season. That trip to South Wales last week was the sort of afternoon they were willing to accept in the summer, and yet patience was not top of the agenda as they returned home, some of them in the early hours of Sunday morning.

That's why long-term projects are often more painful in practice than they appear in theory, and why the breezy assumption of this as a 2017-18 duplicate was always an overly relaxed one. Admittedly it's one that holds some weight, but that was a fairly dull campaign itself.

The good news is that Johannes Hoff Thorup knows there's no short-term, or likely even medium-term, threat to his role. He contrasts many of his contemporaries in that sense, with sporting director Ben Knapper making clear his commitment to the bigger picture.

That gives Thorup the freedom to mould his squad and impart his footballing principles, without the pressure faced by many coaches to keep their heads above water week in, week out. Results are important to encourage buy-in, as the Dane has said, but they aren't the be all and end all at this stage of the process.

Instead, the focus is on securing an eventual pay-off to the tune of Watford's bright start, and extending that into a season of promotion. Much like the previous struggles of City's counterparts, that will take time and pain initially.

But if there's anything supporters wanted after David Wagner's sacking, it was change, and away from the frustrations of tiring matchdays, the large majority are happy to wait for it.

That patience appears to have worked for today's opposition, even if those supporters hope it comes crumbling down at 12.30pm.