Robin Sainty: Life under Norwich City's new regime

Now, to put things into context, it’s not that I expect City to storm the Championship this season. In fact, I don’t really expect them to make the play-offs, but it does seem to me that for the first time in three years we actually have joined up thinking at the club.

After the constant chopping and changing and turgid football under Dean Smith and David Wagner and the disassociation between playing styles at different levels of the club, we now have a young manager unsullied by failure and with a clear vision of how he wants all the teams at the club to play.

It's very reminiscent of Daniel Farke’s arrival, and that should be the realistic template for our expectations. The flowing Farkeball of the Championship-winning seasons didn’t fall fully formed from the heavens and the German endured a testing first season which saw glimmers of what was to come mixed with some pretty horrible performances.

As with Farke, Johannes Hoff Thorup will have to work with players who were not signed with his style in mind and that will inevitably lead to some teething problems, while the club’s financial position will inevitably require him to try to integrate the younger players that were largely marginalised by his predecessor.

That’s all going to take time, as a rather lukewarm pre-season has emphasised, although the fact that he has had minimal time with anything like a full squad should be taken into account and he will inevitably have to deal with more disruption in the coming weeks as players come and go.

Sometimes in football, as in life, it’s necessary to go backwards in order to go forwards and after two years of applying sticking plasters, major surgery is now needed, not just in terms of the squad but the general attitude within the club, and there are promising signs on the latter front, with better engagement with media and fans and a greater openness.

The growing disappointment over the last couple of campaigns has, at least in part, stemmed from an expectation that City would be serious promotion contenders. That will not be the case this time around, because there has been clear messaging that the club is embarking on a project that is unlikely to bear fruit immediately.

Gabriel Sara (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

The widely anticipated loss of Gabby Sara, albeit for a good price, was a bitter pill for fans to swallow and I expect more player turnover, so the next few weeks will be an emotional rollercoaster, but a transfer window can only be properly judged once it’s completed.

The incomings so far have been encouraging. Jose Cordoba and Ben Chrisene are young players who are ready to play now, but who also have the potential for further development, while Callum Doyle is a class act with two promotions already under his belt. The left side of defence now looks well equipped after all the worries of the early summer.

However, there are plenty of questions elsewhere, some which may well not be answered until much closer to the end of the window, although the arrival of Forson Amankwah looks exciting.

The next few weeks may be tough, but throughout pre-season there have been tantalising signs of how exciting Thorup’s style could be once he has the right personnel and the players have had more time to absorb what’s required of them.

I think that he has come across well in his interviews as has his assistant Glen Riddersholm, while Ben Knapper’s appearance at the Canaries Trust’s AGM on Thursday night impressed everyone in attendance with his openness and clarity of thought.

It is clear that he and Thorup are developing a strong bond and work together well. With patience from the fans we could be at the start of something special.