Ben Knapper has drawn on his Arsenal experiences to caution patience will be needed at the start of Johannes Hoff Thorup’s Norwich City era.

Knapper spent 14 years with the north Londoners, working his way up to loans' manager in a period that spanned a bumpy post-Arsene Wenger spell of adjustment, before the Gunners strong Premier League title challenge over the past two years under Mikel Arteta.

The City sporting director hopes Norwich fans are excited by the appointment of his highly-rated Dane, but warns plotting a new course brings challenges.

“We're ambitious, we feel like we've got a group that can win and hit the ground running but also we understand that there's going to be bumps in the road, and I'd like to think that everybody else can understand that too,” he said. “Our responsibility is to build a team, and show a team on the pitch every week, that people understand what we're doing, that they can relate to, and there's an identity, and hopefully that will allow people in difficult moments to afford us that patience, because at least they'll be able to see and feel something.

"That's so important. That's our responsibility. We take that so seriously, and that's what we're focused on every day to deliver.”

Thorup arrived in Norfolk with a reputation forged across the continent as a coach who can develop young talent, but this Carrow Road project under Knapper is much bigger than that.

“We're going to try and make a lot of changes in terms of playing style, the way that we want to implement a structure that we think can set us up better to achieve what we want to achieve, in terms of performances and results, but also, in terms of developing players,” said Knapper.

“That takes time, it's not easy to do, there's not loads of coaches out there that can do it. And the reason for that is because it's difficult. So, listen, I've lived through that in my previous club, where things can take time and with young players, for example, we know that there's always challenges, there's inconsistencies in performance.

"That's what comes with the territory of trying to develop players, trying to implement an ambitious style of play with a high level of control.”