A new dawn breaks over Carrow Road

So in the end it wasn't a young manager on the way up like Mike Newell, Steve Tilson or Dave Penney; it wasn't one of the more highly touted ex-Canaries such as Mark Bowen or Ian Crook; and it wasn't Alex McLeish or Joe Royle either. Last Friday, Peter Grant - once of Celtic and, briefly, Norwich - was prised away from his assistant manager's position at Upton Park in order to take up the post from which, we all hope, he will oversee a dramatic revival in Norwich City's fortunes: and, ultimately, a return to English football's promised land.

Most fans were pleased enough by Grant's appointment: although he isn't the 'big name' many were hoping for, he's young and hungry, and to judge by the highly talkative role he once played in City's midfield, is hopefully the kind of character who won't stand for the kind of wastefulness and complacency which characterised his predecessor's final year or so at the helm. All too often over the past forty or fifty years, Norwich have fallen into a stereotype of playing attractive, entertaining football, but providing a comfort zone for players lacking the motivation and drive to achieve the absolute maximum of their capabilities: whether while residing in mid-table of the top flight under John Bond and Ken Brown, or mid-table of the second flight under Mike Walker and Bruce Rioch. Even when the club dramatically overachieved in the late '80s and early '90s, there remained a nagging sense that, if anything, the players were under too little pressure: and that, just possibly, the 3rd place finish of 92/3 and 4th position achieved in 88/9 might have been even more had the team had the energy and desire to really go for it.

Ron Saunders was the first City manager to really cut through this culture of under-achievement: with the team he led into the top division at times painful to watch, but achieving success thanks to the timeless virtues of hard work and fitness. Such is the incredibly competitive nature of the Championship, such qualities are just as necessary now as they were 35 years ago in Saunders' time; and while for a period, Nigel Worthington appeared to be doing something similar, there was a point around midway of our Premiership season when the old problems started rearing their heads again: with Norwich attempting to buck the 4-5-1 trend and play attacking 4-4-2, when we simply didn't have defenders of enough quality, nor midfielders prepared to do enough defending, to make such a strategy work. If anything, we seemed to be seeking to emulate what Crewe were doing a division lower; and while Dario Gradi has achieved miraculous levels of success at Gresty Road, it could never last forever. Crewe were relegated last May thanks to leaking too many goals, and being just too much of a soft touch; with the same fate befalling Norwich for much the same reasons a year earlier.

Indeed, it's tempting to suggest that Norwich fans were spoilt by the football on offer under Messrs Bond, Brown, Stringer and Walker, and consequently have always demanded something similar since. But while we all ultimately want to see an entertaining, positive team playing football the way it should be played, sometimes success in the Championship - and even, for that matter, survival in the Premiership - demands a more pragmatic approach. Any manager looking to navigate his way out of this God-forsaken division needs, in my view, to understand this above all else: for put simply, you can't play like Brazil if you defend on more than the odd occasion like East Stirling.

Bearing all this in mind, Tuesday night's victory at St Andrews was a highly encouraging beginning for Grant: his composed, cohesive team playing a familiar brand of neat football, but at last demonstrating qualities of real steel too. The result? Only our second away win of the whole of 2006, and a long-overdue clean sheet too - with the added bonus of ushering Birmingham manager Steve Bruce (a hero during his playing days at Carrow Road, but with an infuriating tendency to look down on and patronise us since) further towards the exit door. That said, it would pay not to get carried away by one result: Bryan Hamilton's ignominious reign began, for example, with a breathtakingly impressive victory at Portman Road, before a pathetic humilation at the hands of already-relegated Swindon provided a rather more accurate barometer of the dispiriting events to come.

And Grant has inherited, to say the least, a curate's egg of a team. At QPR on Saturday, I watched a side that, at times, outclassed their opponents with bewildering ease; but at others, whose embarrassing inability to press the ball and close the opposition down made a limited Rangers outfit look dangerous whenever they were in possession. As Alysson Rudd put it in The Times, Norwich managed to resemble both a side who should be in the Premiership, and which could even be relegated: the inherent class of many of its individuals could not be questioned, but its ability to attack, defend and especially work as a team most certainly could.

Inevitably, it will take Grant time to sort out what appeared to be alarming deficiencies in City's basic teamwork; but the fact remains that our first XI is, on paper at least, very good, and top six material at the least. No team boasting the attacking threat of Huckerby, Croft and Earnshaw, not to mention a surprisingly effective Dion Dublin to call on from the bench, can be discounted at such a relatively early stage of the season; but then again, we will need far higher levels of workrate and sacrifice from players like Etuhu, Robinson and Croft if the side is to perform to its true potential. To reach the play-offs after such a poor start is a tough ask, and is bound to require luck in terms of injuries (when they hit in early September, the team's dramatic decline was all too predictable); but while I would suggest that Cardiff, Preston, West Brom and Wolves are all stick-ons to finish in at least the top six come season's end, I certainly don't think that applies to anyone else. Birmingham, if they make the right choice to succeed Bruce (as, surely, will shortly become necessary), may yet fill one of the remaining two spots - but Norwich are more than capable of filling the other one, provided Grant gets everyone at the club pulling together again in much the same way as Worthington did during his first three or so years in charge.

Should we fail, though, a rebuilding programme will be necessary, with high earners like Earnshaw, Huckerby and Safri released as our parachute payments run out. Grant's three-and-a-half year contract suggests the board are bracing themselves for such an eventuality: for if it happens, we can't realistically expect signs of clear progress until around Christmas 2008, and can't anticipate the Canaries again knocking on the Premiership's door until the final season of Grant's deal in 2009/10. All of which only adds to the sense of urgency for the remainder of this campaign: disappointment come May will mean things will surely get worse before they get better.

I'll end this piece with an omen and a prediction. Remarkably enough, Grant has been involved with clubs whose campaigns have ended at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff for the past four years in succession: Bournemouth winning the then Third Division play-off final in 2003, West Ham losing the then First Division final in 2004, winning it in its new-fangled Championship incarnation in 2005, and then going on to lose so unluckily in the FA Cup final last season. All Canaries fans must dream of this run continuing (not least because the win-loss-win-loss pattern suggests triumph this time around), even if it turns out to be at Wembley, rather than Cardiff: though that, of course, requires the miracle of the national stadium actually being completed before hell freezes over in the meantime...

And having surprised myself with the eerie accuracy of my forecast of the likely outcome against Burnley (take a look for yourself if you don't believe me: it's in only the second post made on this blog), here's another one: Norwich will beat league leaders Cardiff on Saturday. Cue much excitement, and a feel-good factor returning to the club - but it is, of course, on awkward trips to places like Stoke, Burnley and Luton, far more than in showpiece affairs such as Saturday's, that the real fate of the Canaries' season will be decided. Over to you, Peter: and good luck!