‘All the Germans’ was one of the old-school Norwich City anthems to feature on an increasingly toxic away end soundtrack at Vicarage Road.

As David Wagner’s woefully-assembled side inexplicably imploded once again, memories reflected back to that Daniel Farke-inspired team of 2018/19 and the way they captured our hearts playing some of the most magical, free-flowing and eye-catching football the club has ever seen.

What was served up at Watford could not have been more different.

City’s shortcomings have been comprehensively covered in recent weeks, crumbling in the face of adversity, lacking any form of spark or cohesion going forward and after Tuesday night’s latest exhibition in incompetence, conceding more goals than 22 of the other 23 teams in the division by a distance.

But what was most striking was Wagner’s total abandonment of any desire to play football, a team fundamentally incapable of stringing two passes together and resorting to aimless long balls that invariably ended up nowhere near a purple shirt.

Make no mistake – this was a complete and utter shambles of a performance that provided perhaps the most empirical evidence yet that Wagner needs to go.

Pivoting focus towards enhancing City’s solidity and shipping fewer goals seemed a sensible course of action given the rotten recent run.

But when that comes at the expense of attempting to play any form of football and you’re still conceding three goals – after being two up – while doing so, it’s clear your race is run.

This felt like an ineptly-executed, dark ages-resembling display straight out of the Tony Pulis textbook, totally polarised to the flamboyant football that has brought City some of their greatest successes in recent times.

As I tweeted from an understandably furious away end post-match, there is surely no way any new sporting director can endure 90 minutes of that and deem it acceptable.

Fans have been united for several weeks that Wagner has to go and regardless of what happens at Bristol City on Sunday, in addition to the supportive noises coming from the club, there is obviously no way he can halt this current slide.

So when the inevitable moment comes and Wagner is shown the long-overdue Carrow Road exit door, what happens next?

Eastern Daily Press: Many fans remain unconvinced by David Wagner's Norwich City

Wagner and Dean Smith – whose much-maligned team were five points better off than the current crop at this stage last season – have both fundamentally failed in their mission to instil a more pragmatic, steely and streetwise edge to City over the last two years.

So it is crucial that whoever comes in next is not cut from the same experienced, been-there-and-done-it cloth and instead a manager in the mould of Farke, Alex Neil, Paul Lambert or Nigel Worthington on their way up in the footballing world.

A cursory glance at the history books suggests City have played their best, most effective football under young, bold and charismatic coaches, left-field managerial appointments the club have gambled on in a bid to give fans a long-term project to buy into.

And in the form of Farke, Neil, Lambert and Worthington – just 39 when appointed back in 2001 – those decisions have unquestionably paid off.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have the more lazy, uninspiring and underwhelming appointments of Wagner, Smith, Chris Hughton and Glenn Roeder.

And look how they ended up.

For whatever reason, it’s clear that City fosters an environment for fearless, young and energetic coaches to thrive in, providing them with an opportunity to prove themselves in the English game and construct a team that fans can fall in love with.

After what we’ve seen under Wagner over the last two months – which reached its grim crescendo under the Vicarage Road lights in midweek – think of the things we’d do for that now.

We are now firmly back in 2016/17, 2008/09 and early 2014/15 territory, with the club we all care about so deeply embroiled in a seemingly terminal slide under a manager who is looking increasingly clueless week after week.

It is clearly now a question of when, not if, Wagner goes and Ben Knapper finally decides enough is enough.

And when that much-needed moment arrives, it is crucial he reflects on the Norwich City history books and appoints a young, bright and progressive new manager who can channel the spirit of his predecessors and get the good times back rolling once more.