Norwich City had prepared for a potential deadline day development that could have forced a late rethink, sporting director Ben Knapper has revealed.
The Canaries’ incoming business had already been completed, but Knapper said there remained the possibility of an external approach for one of Norwich’s players involved in their 1-0 defeat to Stoke, which would have created a frantic end to the window.
While the scenario did not materialise, the sporting director said the club had made sure it had sufficient cover within Philippe Clement’s squad should a departure have been triggered late in the window.
Knapper did not expand on the contingency plan or identify the player involved, but the preparation underlined the unpredictable nature of deadline day, when even clubs who believe their work is complete can be forced into action by events elsewhere.
"I think we're fortunate here. Philippe's pretty long in the tooth and has been there and done it at the highest level across Europe. So he's quite good in that respect," Knapper told the 72+ Podcast.
"He's pretty much seen everything, I would imagine, on deadline days and throughout transfer windows. So he was good. Even though we've done all of our incoming business, the thing with the window is you can feel completely in control, but somebody else can put you into a tailspin.
"All it takes is a crazy bid on one of your players or something, and things can change quickly. So you always have to be prepared for that.
"We actually did have one scenario that could have happened yesterday that we were preparing for and Philippe had made sure that we'd got requisite cover in the squad and all of those things just in case on the off chance something did happen."
Reflecting on a window in which City brought in five new additions, Knapper said he was pleased with the work completed as the club look to build momentum in the Championship after their slow start.
"We did quite a lot early on in terms of our incoming business. We felt in a really good spot, and the incomings were done," he said. "Then sadly, we actually picked up an ACL to one of the players in one of our last pre-season friendlies.
"So that sort of threw a bit of a spanner in the works, and we had to try and react and sort of reassess. That meant we actually went back into the market for another player, which we wouldn't have done otherwise.
"Then it was all about exits really towards the end. So we did a couple of loans out yesterday. Overall, really pleased."
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