David Wagner and Norwich City’s fans agree on one thing. They have had enough.

Whether you are the divorcees or the whingers, or simply an exasperated head coach facing a mutinous response to shoring up another home win on a night his side moved back into the Championship top six.

During that dire downturn in results in late autumn last year – a decline that would have claimed many other managers at many other clubs - Wagner spoke about his back being against the wall. The friction burns must be unbearable now, because he has rarely left such a confined space in the intervening period.

This is not about booing, or even substitutions. Those are symptoms of a wider malaise. For many who chose to vocalise that simmering sense of frustration it is a marriage of inconvenience with Wagner.

He acknowledged as much himself on Tuesday night with a post-match interview that set the pulse racing as much as Gabby Sara’s superb angled finish from Ashley Barnes’ reverse ball.

You suspect such blood-letting will have the desired effect against Cardiff City this weekend at Carrow Road, among a support who know they have a crucial role to play on the run-in.

Wagner insisted at Colney on Thursday the focus has now switched to that crucial Bluebirds' visit.

But the head coach is a sharp operator. He will also realise he has reached the point of no return with some. Perhaps that is why he felt there is nothing left to lose. His focus is rallying his players for these last 14 games to seal a top six spot. What happens to him beyond the summer is irrelevant in such a narrow context.

Given sporting director Ben Knapper’s previous Arsenal connection, the fresh reports linking him with young Gunners’ assistant Carlos Cuesta as a potential replacement should come as no surprise.

Wagner has struggled in the same way Dean Smith did before him to appease a fan base who want more than scrapping for a point with less than 25pc possession against Southampton. No Championship side should be treated with that level of deference when they come to Carrow Road.

It was evident again on Tuesday. Norwich were powerful, potent and pinning Watford back in a 30 minute spell that brought two goals, but the following 30 minutes was spent largely in reverse.

Yes, you expect Watford to up the ante, and as Wagner said in his pre-match, at this level they have attacking talent, but why is there so often a lurch in performance?

It is a recurring theme. Hull City away was a magnificently resolute win over another play-off rival, lit up by Jon Rowe’s individual brilliance, but the Tigers were far more cohesive, far more in control yet lacked that cutting edge.

This is no slight on Wagner the man, who has carried himself with dignity and shown a desire to repair the bridges burnt under Smith and Stuart Webber, but as a head coach it is hard to dispute he has failed to maximise the resource at his disposal over his 13 months or so in post. Even allowing for the obvious injury mitigation underlined by the impact of Josh Sargent.

Few on a human level would dispute he merited a right of reply to the catcalls and chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ that erupted around his double substitution, in the midst of Watford’s growing control.

That is certainly the view inside the dressing room. City’s players were at a loss to understand the level of toxicity from the terraces. Easy now to state the frustration was directed solely at Wagner, but there is a collective responsibility felt from the senior players downwards.

For all the turbulence this season there remains a belief they have enough in the squad, even without Rowe’s untimely injury, to sustain a top six charge.  

But Wagner’s words exposed again this perception among many Norwich followers of a rupture between senior figures and part of a fan base who, it would seem from their public utterances, they no longer wish to engage with.

Not in any meaningful sense. How big that is, and how many is impossible to quantify. But big enough for this to be a serious hurdle to clear to move past a state of deadlock. Go back to that last annual meeting, and the question that prompted Delia Smith to have her say on the ‘whingers’ was sparked by a shareholder asking for some hope.

Is that too much to ask? For a fan base who have watched a spiral of decline, on and off the pitch, since that second Championship title win under Webber and Daniel Farke? They pay enough for the privilege. They have been short-changed for too many seasons now.

Chris Sutton called for a truce between the factions in his latest Pinkun column. Jon Punt’s excellent piece for Along Come Norwich appealed for a genuine reconnect between club and fan base – a collaborative renewal based on a shared desire for what is best for Norwich City.

Nuance and space for diverse opinions seem at odds with the polarity that has gripped all those who care about this football club.

If you are not with Wagner, you are against him. If you are not with Zoe Webber, and the rest of the executive, or Delia or Michael and the board you are against them. No nuance, no balance, no hope in some quarters unless the whole thing is detonated and restarted.

Which in effect is what happened in 2017 in a pairing that was innovative, fresh, vibrant. But even that, in a pure footballing sense, took over a full season of Championship gruel and multiple transfer windows.

For those who crave a repeat under the stewardship of Knapper they see a head coach tied to his predecessor, and from the outside a disconnect between this sporting director’s desired style, and focus on youth, and his head coach.

That is why Knapper’s vision beyond this season must become clear, and the quest for buy in from a fan base who rightly question the direction of travel, must be at the heart of his strategy.

A truce only holds if it is the precursor to dialogue and communication.