Stuart Webber: Norwich City sporting director says critics will not ‘ruin’ his career

Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber has insisted he will not be forced out of the club by his critics.

“I’d never move on because of – without being rude – a few divorcees in a snake pit abusing me,” said Webber.

“I’m not going to let them ruin or change the course of my career. I refuse to do that.”

He told BBC Radio Norfolk: “I’ve had opportunities to leave before. This is a special club. It’s been a very good project – I’m very proud of the work.

“Will the time come relatively soon to leave? Absolutely. I’ve been here six years now. Do I think I’m going to be here very much longer? No.

“But that’s not because I’ve been forced out because of a few fans shouting. If it’s not me they’re shouting at, it’ll be someone else.”

‘No abuse is OK’

Webber says he has been subjected to abuse from fans angry at a perceived lack of ambition by the club.

His time at Carrow Road has included two promotions to the Premier League, but both spells in the top flight lasted just one season.

And there was no immediate return this year as the Canaries finished a disappointing 13th in the table.

Dean Smith was sacked as head coach in December and replaced by David Wagner.

City were fifth when Smith was shown the door and although Wagner began his tenure with six wins in his first nine league games, his side then ended up winning just one of their final 11 matches.

However, many supporters have blamed Webber for the disappointing campaign.

Webber said: “It’s not nice. Anyone who says they don’t hear it or don’t care I think would be lying. I’m not going to sit here and say it doesn’t bother me.

“I’d rather it be me than another staff member or a player. I’m like a human shield and I’ve got no problem with being that human shield.

“But we have to be careful of how much we talk around it as if it’s OK, because I don’t think abuse is OK.

“Have we made lots of mistakes? Absolutely. Have I made lots of mistakes? Yes. I’m the first to put my hands up to that.”

A dreadful end to the season saw Norwich finish in the bottom half of the table

Referring to Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore recently being the subject of racist abuse on social media, Webber said: “We’ve seen the stuff (media reports) about Darren Moore at Sheffield Wednesday. Quite rightly. Absolutely. Massive story. Racist abuse.

“I didn’t see any stories about the abuse I got. Maybe there were people saying that, actually, this is wrong that this is a guy getting abused as much as I have been.

“I think we have to be careful of going ‘it’s just par for the course’. I don’t think it should be just par for the course that people can call you every name under the sun and we just go ‘that’s football’.

“As a society we’re starting to decide what abuse is OK and what abuse isn’t. No abuse is OK.”

‘We’ve created massive expectation’

Smith lasted just over a year as boss, having been appointed after Daniel Farke was sacked following a poor start to Norwich’s last tilt at the Premier League.

Managers have lost their jobs for failures on the pitch. So does Webber, who is in overall charge of football matters, feel fortunate to still be in his post?

“No, I wouldn’t say I’m fortunate to still be in a job,” he said.

“If we’re just going to look at on-pitch performance, in the last six years we’ve won the league title twice.

“If we look at our academy productivity, 25% of our minutes in the last six years have been played by academy players.

“Then if we look at the model of our club, people rightly put up Brentford and Brighton on a pedestal. Brighton’s owners put £700m into that football club. Ours is at zero at the minute. Brentford’s is £150m in the last two years.

“So we’re actually not competing on a level playing field. What we’ve achieved is that we’ve managed to create massive expectation and that’s great.

“I sat here six years ago and there was no massive expectation.”

Norwich revamp expected

Webber is set to preside over a summer of changes at Norwich as the club look to mount a promotion challenge next time around.

The squad is likely to be revamped, with a number of players expected to leave.

There has been interest in promising defender Andrew Omobamidele, while England Under-21 international right-back Max Aarons has frequently been linked with top clubs.

Popular striker Teemu Pukki, whose goals were instrumental in City’s promotions in 2019 and 2021, is leaving after five years at Carrow Road.

Milot Rashica, signed in 2021 for almost £10m, is set to move on after failing to make an impact in East Anglia.

“We’ve got saleable assets in the club,” said Webber.

“We turned down in January what would have been a club-record deal for a defender for Andrew because we wanted him to help us try to get promoted. That hasn’t happened.

“He’s just one. I can see an opportunity that Milot Rashica probably moves on. There’s a lot of interest in him. He’s just had a super successful loan at Galatasaray.

“There are others who there is interest in who we wouldn’t want to sell.”