New sporting director Stuart Webber has already put in the groundwork on the head coach he wants to work with at Norwich City – as he prepared for the potential loss of David Wagner at Huddersfield Town.

The Tykes' Championship success saw their German coach being linked with Hamburg in January, as well as with West Ham United more recently, and meant Webber had begun his succession planning.

'The decision to have a head coach was made before David got here, this was the way we wanted to go but we needed somebody to implement it,' he said in a recent interview.

'David has come and done that unbelievably well, as everyone can see, the next person will be here to continue that.

' This is now our way, this is the Huddersfield way, this is what we do and the next head coach will be recruited to fit in to that.

'Don't get me wrong, he'll be identified as someone who already does that style, there's no use us saying to a coach who plays completely differently, 'you need to do it this way', then in the interview they go 'yeah I'll do it that way' but after two weeks everything is ripped up.

'So that's where we've got to do our homework.

'In terms of who it is, we'd have a very good idea.

'Behind the scenes it is our job, like when we're trying to recruit new players.'

It is that structure of a head coach working under a sporting director that has succeeded at Huddersfield, and convinced the Canaries to lure Webber to Norfolk, finally announcing his move the day after a 3-0 defeat – at Huddersfield.

'We've got a long list of people that we've identified that we think would fit our mould and I think that's what's important for the fans because the day will come when David will leave, I've got no doubt about that, that's football,' Webber said, speaking to Radio Yorkshire after the January transfer window had closed.

'But I think when that day comes the fans have got to trust in the people that brought David here and brought the idea here and have fully supported the idea as well.

'Let's not forget we finished 19th last year, things weren't going great and the chairman in the summer has gone 'no, we believe in this, so let's back it'.'