With the 2015/16 English Premier League season a matter of weeks away, Richard Jolly provides his thoughts on each of the 20 teams and predicts their final league finish. Here he looks at newly-promoted Norwich City.
Norwich were not even in the Championship’s play-off places when the comparatively unknown Alex Neil was appointed manager in January.
Seventeen wins in 25 games later, they were a Premier League club again after a solitary season in the second tier.
The precocious Neil has turned 34 in the close season and much rests on him: is he, as his record suggests he might be, the next great Scottish manager, one with the motivational, organisational and decision-making skills to make a side greater than the sum of its parts?
His task is different now: Norwich had arguably the strongest squad in the Championship but will be underdogs in the higher division.
Cameron Jerome, who got 18 league goals then but has only reached double figures once in the Premier League, is a case in point.
Like many of the City squad, he has to prove he is not too good for the lower league but not quite good enough for the higher one.
Neil has a group of gifted midfielders, including Nathan Redmond, Graham Dorrans, Jonny Howson and Bradley Johnson, but there are questions about the calibre of the defence and thus far they have been frustrated in the transfer market. The fervent home support will make Carrow Road a tough place to visit, whether or not Norwich survive.
Key Man: Bradley Johnson — Remarkable feats in the Championship can be overlooked and Johnson's 15-goal season seemed obscured. A combative character is a fine striker of a ball and acquired a ubiquity. Prove prolific in the Premier League and his profile will grow.
Pivotal Signing: Youssouf Mulumbu — Fell out of favour at West Brom last season, but the tenacious Congolese used to be one of the best defensive midfielders outside the Premier League's top eight. Signing him, at just 28, on a free transfer could be a real coup.
Crucial Factor: Away form. Cliché has it that relegation strugglers must prosper at home but Norwich's record on their travels in 2004-05 and 2013-14, the last two times they were demoted from the Premier League, consists of a mere two wins in 38 games. They can't afford a repeat.
Prediction: 18th
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