Norwich City club captain Russell Martin knows the Canaries' summer transfer outlay brings a greater weight of expectation on Chris Hughton's squad.

Martin and Wes Hoolahan are the only outfield survivors from League One days and the Scottish international believes the scale of Norwich's close season turnover underlines City's ambition to build on consecutive mid-table top flight finishes. Hughton brought in seven permanent new signings, headlined by club-record capture Ricky van Wolfswinkel, with more than a dozen players heading in the opposite direction.

'If you look at the money we have spent then obviously outside the club it is understandable people will expect more from us,' said Martin. 'I think that is inevitable. For us, as players you have to expect more from yourself every single season, especially to stay in this league and to compete in this league when the finances for each club continue to go up and clubs have more to spend.

'For players like me who have been here a long time and Wes and even the lads who maybe have been here over the past two seasons you need to keep improving to keep pace with the club. We all expect to do well this year and we know the main aim for anyone outside the top six remains staying in the league and looking to consolidate but for us it is also about trying to improve performances, points' tallies and hopefully our position in the league.'

Martin believes the togetherness within Norwich's dressing room can be a key factor following a summer of transition.

'It has been a bit of a revolving door but that is football, especially when you achieve a certain amount of success and the club moves forward very, very quickly in a short space of time,' he said. 'We have had two very good years in the Premier League and now it is time to make sure we stay in it and we build.

'It is always sad to see faces go out of the door who have a played a big part in the success, but time moves on.

'The new lads who have come in are great boys who have settled in really quickly and they will be good for the club. We have got a great dressing room and the new lads who came in will have found it quite easy to settle. We're not a dressing room full of egos so I think this season is one to be really excited about.'