Norwich City: Stuart Webber interview on Canaries tenure

Webber’s tenure as the club’s first sporting director was a tumultuous one; title wins, relegations, transfer hits and misses packaged in an abrasive, or in his view, searingly honest delivery style that rubbed some fans and media up the wrong way.

Webber turns 40 a week before he departs for his Everest climb in April, and the intervening months since he passed the baton to Ben Knapper have afforded him time for reflection.

“I was that tired I've never slept as well for probably six weeks solid,” he said, speaking ahead of the end of his official notice period from the football club next week. “To sleep with a clear head and wake up not having stuff on your phone was amazing.

"It is only since I have come out of Norwich do I realise I was that tired. I didn’t realise it at the time. I was running on absolute empty. I only know that because of how I feel now. I felt horrendous before, and every day was a battle to get through.

“What's also been nice is I've left in such a positive way around the club that every time they win, I'm so happy. Okay, every time they lose, I'm unhappy, but it doesn't ruin my life any more - or the people around me know it won’t be two days without talking.

"I know so many people in football, and probably other walks of life, who leave an organisation and then they're actually super bitter. That's not me. My feelings are different. The time was right.

"I didn’t feel shoved out the back door, I left through the front door. Delia and Michael’s comments in the media were very important for me. I didn't ask them to say anything. I didn't know they were going to do that.

"I haven’t had that (sense of mourning). I thought I would but that is good because it tells me it was the right time. I think having Everest has helped. If I didn't have a purpose it would have been a problem.

"That is why post-Everest it is super important I get another job or another purpose. Otherwise, what do I do? For 20 years it has been non-stop work. That is all I have known. Not having that was strange.

“We did a lot right, loads of things to improve and I was always honest on that, but I’d say a lot more right than wrong.”

Ask Webber what would he change, if he had his six-and-a-half years over again at Carrow Road, and the answer is not only swift but surprising.

“Probably very less open in the media. A lot less open, because I think it eventually gives a stick to be beaten with,” he said. “Not necessarily by the media but some supporters. When I first came to the club it was very clear the owners did not speak publicly too much.

"Correct me if I'm wrong here but the feeling I got very early on was there had been a communication breakdown with the club, and a lack of transparency for supporters. As a board it was agreed as a new guy, maybe naively from my side, I’d come and talk, I would come and front it up.

"I was protecting people at board level, the coaches, we never actually had a chief executive for the majority of my time. We had a chairman who left after about a year, so I became almost the spokesman. I look back on that, and sometimes think that detracted from being able to do the job.

"But at the same time it was my nature to protect people. I look back and think, ‘Actually, at times other people should have spoken’. Not to protect me, but it did become if something was rubbish, blame me.

"I had nothing to do with season ticket prices or who the shirt sponsor was but I would have people come up to me at the stadium talking about who the sponsor of a stand was. I didn’t look at the stand, I looked at what was happening on the pitch.

"I will step back now. Don’t get me wrong if I have to front something up I've proven I've got the credentials, but I got that wrong if I’m honest.

“That took some of my focus away from what was really important within the job and drained my energy. So that'd be the main one. Having that time out has refreshed me and given me a chance to look at things differently, and really assess my work in a space where I can do it where I'm alone. Not, ‘Bloody hell I’ve got five missed calls’ and I have to respond.

"I know when I do go back, when I will, I will actually be a better version of myself. Some of my comments were stupid and I regret them, because it just caused me problems.”

Webber does not include those inflammatory words around his ‘lack of interest’ in watching the women’s game.

“I think you guys did an interview with Flo Allen (City Women’s general manager) soon after and she quite rightly said, ‘Well, I judge someone on their actions’,” he said. “When we got involved firstly with the women's team at Norwich they never trained at Colney, they never had sports science or physio support.

"All those things were put in place because I signed off on it, and it was me saying, ‘Yes, we need to do more’.

“We couldn’t turn the women’s team professional in my time because of costs. We didn’t have the money to do that. But what could we do? We can provide a better training facility, we could bring games to Carrow Road, we could try to inspire the next generation to be able to come and feel a connection with the women’s team.

"The fact is at no point did I worry because I knew that everyone else inside the football club was aware of the doors that had been opened. Again it got me in trouble because I was being honest. I hadn’t watched women’s games, I wasn’t going to lie.

"I struggle with people pushing political agendas just to look good in the media. You see people all the time coming out and saying they support something because it looks like the right thing to do.”

Recruitment proved another point of contention for many City fans, with a focus particularly on that summer window prior to the second Premier League campaign in 2021 that brought the likes of Josh Sargent, Milot Rashica and Christos Tzolis to Norfolk.

“I think it's an easy narrative. You see it at every club,” said Webber. “Newcastle have an average season in people's eyes, after a great season, so is that down to recruitment? The players we signed at Norwich were normally undervalued players, young players, who don't hit the ground running.

"Anyone who was there for the birth of Emi Buendia’s Norwich career will know it took him (two months) until his first goal against Brentford. He signed for us the January before, but joined us in the June.

"It took him a long time to get his first goal, and from then he caught fire and all the rest of it. I think with recruitment it is always judge it at the end, which is super hard when you live in the middle of it.

"What I would say about recruitment is since Lee Dunn became head of recruitment (Sept 2021), which was after that summer Premier League window, I would challenge people to go other than Marquinhos name another failure? I’ll list them. Gabby Sara, Marcelino Nunez, Aaron Ramsey on loan. Isaac Hayden on loan, but he had his injuries.

"Then the following January, Marquinhos, yes it didn’t work out. Then last summer we signed Jack Stacey, free transfer, Shane Duffy, free transfer, Ashley Barnes, free transfer, Kellen Fisher, cheap. Borja Sainz, free transfer. Christian Fassnacht, who if people want to claim he is rubbish has scored six league goals.

"I don’t think Emi had scored that many by this stage of his first season. I’m not comparing him to Buendia, by the way.

“If you want to go back to that summer window before the Premier League I think if Sargent goes now it's going to be over £20m, and that pays for all of them. Go back six years and the idea of us signing players direct from South America people would have laughed.

"Now we are miles ahead of other clubs in those markets because of the work we have done. Even if I look at the emerging talent market, since Mariela (Nisotaki, City's head of emerging talent) has taken over that, we have signed Vicente Reyes, Manu (Adegboyega) is doing great right now at Walsall, Fisher has come in and been a part of the first team squad.

"I feel since Lee took over there has been more hits than misses. He is top class but you are not going to get every one right. That applies to every club.

"Would you argue Chelsea’s two centre midfielders are worth nearly £250m? Maybe not. Last summer Norwich spent £2m, and everything else was frees.

“If you look at a window where we might have overspent you are going to get some wrong. But look at the talent in that squad now. Look at the assets in this squad. Look at a player like Brad Hills doing great things out on loan. We’ve had 23 academy debuts in the last six years. That is about hard work and being brave enough to do it.

"Lee and his team did the hard work to identify players like Sara and Nunez but then I am the one who has to sign off on it. Give Dean Smith credit as well that summer, it would have been easier for him to ask for domestic signings. But he wasn’t selfish. Daniel (Farke) at the start, playing young players selflessly.

"When we sold (Alex) Pritchard he was crying his eyes out and I said, 'Listen we have a better one in Buendia'. He wasn’t sure but he backed it. Thank god he did. He gave (James) Maddison his chance so we could sell him as a club.

"Dean understood that strategy, he pushed Jon Rowe into the first team and Gabby to a new level. David (Wagner) now with Borja (Sainz). Recruitment is always a collective, trying to protect the club and trying to help it grow.”

To find out more or to support the Summit Foundation’s charity work for young people in Norfolk you can pledge at https://thesummitfoundation.co.uk/