Norwich City: Impact of newly allotted shares explained

That's no surprise, and football will always be dominated by the fixtures it exists for. Canaries supporters are no different to any other fan base in that sense, but what it means is a huge change for the club going under the radar.

In many ways, the dilution of shares in the club is the most significant thing to happen to it since 1997, when Michael Wynn Jones and Delia Smith became joint majority shareholders at Carrow Road.

For the first time after that event, the City-loving pair are no longer in control of proceedings. The vote that decided their shares would go from 53pc to just over 40pc was the last in which they had the casting say.

That resolutions had been passed before the 19 attendees arrived at the Gunn Club revealed that Smith and Wynn Jones had voted by proxy, with their presence needless at a brisk and business-like meeting.

Those powers have been relinquished, however, and a more collaborative approach looks, at least in the short term, like the way forward.

Of course, the C-preference shares potentially allowing Mark Attanasio to top his own stake up by 10pc mean focus is already shifting to whether the American could be the next to own a majority.

Propping that up is the expectation that he'll hoover up the 24pc now available for purchase, a transaction that would take his ownership to at least 36pc in total. 

That shifting dynamic will help secure club finances in the coming months, but in the long term signals a change that's been considered for decades. Smith and Wynn Jones have been open about their willingness to pass the baton on to the right party since early in their time at the helm.

The person they appear to have selected to join them on that journey is Attanasio, and as Canaries Trust marketing and communications lead Andrew Polley highlights, that can only be a positive.

"I've always remained quietly confident that this path the club is taking, because Delia and Michael are backing it," said Polley, speaking after the conclusion of the meeting on Monday evening. "They're the people that got this club through the last 25 years, through thick and thin.

"The club is in their hearts, in their bloodstream. They're not going to do anything that is going to be harmful for this club going forward, so I think we all should take confidence from that. It leans towards a safe and relatively successful future."

Mark Attanasio purchased Michael Foulger's Norwich City shares last year. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

The trust supporters have in the institution that means so much to them has helped facilitate this change, with little resistance from smaller stakeholders despite the reduction in the value of their slice of the pie.

Shareholder Bob Ledwidge was also keen on the allotment, saying: "I think it's a good idea, because it's going to strengthen investment in the club.

"Whereas Mr. Attanasio bought another director's shares (Michael Foulger) before, that wasn't money coming into the club. This is money coming into the club, which should be welcomed.

"We just have to hope that whoever they're allotting them to, and we assume it's our American investors, that they're doing it with the best of intentions, and that the good of the club is the paramount interest of all of us."

Attanasio attended City's game against Middlesbrough in November. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

The confirmation of any development in this story will take time, but what's clear is that the ground is fertile for change. At a time when Norwich fans are desperate for some of that to cling onto, this is news that could lift the mood in NR1.

The focus this evening will remain on Championship football in any case, but the reverberations of Monday's meeting will be felt long after the final whistle.