Jack Wilshere's arrival add to City's unique backroom team

Wilshere's playing career speaks for itself, and the hope is that those high-level experiences in the Champions League and Premier League can provide a different type of insight to a coaching team that largely hasn't enjoyed extensive professional football careers. 

Combined with a desire to develop his coaching credentials and a close relationship with Ben Knapper, Wilshere quickly became Norwich's preferred candidate in their search for a successor for Narcis Pelach. 

It would have been easy for Wilshere to remain in the comfort and familiarity of Arsenal's environment as an under-18 coach under the radar. The fact he was willing to take a risk in joining Thorup's project speaks volumes about City's project but also of his own ambition. 

He joins a backroom team defying regular football convention under Thorup and one that illustrates another key strand of Knapper's City philosophy. 

Typically, football managers tend to move alongside a group of trusted coaches. Daniel Farke brought Eddie Riemer, Chris Domogalla and, eventually, Christopher John to Norwich, those all worked with him at Borussia Monchengladbach and now Leeds. 

Dean Smith brought Craig Shakespeare and Liam Bramley whilst David Wagner built a staff including long-term assistant Christoph Buhler, returned Andy Hughes to a coaching position after their spell at Huddersfield and recruited Pelach and Paul Clements. 

David Wagner had Christoph Buhler and Andy Hughes as part of his backroom team. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) Thorup, however, arrived alongside Glen Riddersholm but prior to his arrival at Carrow Road, hadn't worked with any of the members now in his coaching team. That isn't the norm within the game. 

Elsewhere in the game, Julien Lopetegui took five staff members with him to West Ham, and Roberto Di Zerbi left Brighton in the summer with seven assistants. Perhaps Ange Postecoglu at Tottenham is the only other head coach working in a similar way to Thorup. 

Norwich have opted to move in a different direction—one that supports its strategy leading the appointments rather than the other way around. 

It was a concept discussed in previous eras at the club, but to create a club-wide identity, there needs to be synergy between the first team and academy and a set strategy that is adhered to from the under-12s through to the senior squad. 

If that changes every time a head coach leaves and is replaced by another style and system, then the chances of achieving consistency throughout the club are remote. That predicament throws up constant recruitment and development challenges and inconsistencies. 

City has recently assembled squads for different styles - one that contained Borja Sainz, recruited for his counter-pressing qualities for Wagner's system, and Ben Gibson, initially signed under Farke for a possession-based style. It ends up being a bit of a mismatch and becomes a barrier to long-term success. 

Another consideration is that constantly churning out head coaches and their army of staff and paying them off upon their exit becomes an expensive and turbulent pastime. 

In recent times, it's been rare for Norwich to be paying just one head coach salary due to the relatively short tenures post-Farke. As documented in their recently released accounts, Wagner's severance package is being spread over 12 months rather than in one lump sum. 

Given the financial challenges of life outside the top flight, spreading that over multiple staff members becomes expensive and unnecessary, especially given the short shelf life of head coaches in the modern game. 

Retaining the staff and appointing them as a club, with input from the head coach of the day, allows for the continuity of ideas.

Ben Knapper has built a diverse coaching team at Norwich City. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)

Theoretically, it makes the head coach more dispensable as the core staff would continue implementing the club-wide strategy. Norwich recently fell into a trap pre-Knapper of being dictated to by coaches rather than recruiting one in line with their desired blueprint, hence some of the struggles to connect with supporters and clarity of their playing style. 

Equally, having different voices around the table is important for a diversity of ideas. Thorup, to his credit, has been receptive to working with other coaches - others would find the idea threatening or not conducive to the successful implementation of their ideas. 

Maybe Thorup's comfort and unwillingness to gatekeep ideas are born from his graduation from Right to Dream, an organisation specialising in nurturing talent and collaboration. The Dane himself was built a pathway to the top job at Nordsjaelland by mentor Flemming Pedersen, who stood down when he deemed the City boss ready. 

Knapper has worked hard to bring down the playing squad's average age, which is also true of their coaching team. 

Thorup is 35, Nick Stanley is 34, Jack Wilshere is 32 and then assistant Riddersholm, 52, and goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts, 55, bring experience to supplement the younger members. 

That blend is valuable, and within the club are the likes of Joe Shulberg and Declan Rudd, who have also been consistently exposed to first-team environments to aid their development and build a pathway from academy to senior side for coaches. 

City want to develop coaches. It is something they haven't done successfully enough in recent seasons. Paul Lambert was the last head coach/manager that City received compensation for, and that came over a decade ago when he joined Aston Villa. 

As the case studies of Pelach, Paul Clements, and Hughes have proven, nurturing coaching talents has a financial benefit. Wilshere will quickly become attractive to other clubs hoping to recruit him as a head coach.

Tony Roberts joined Norwich City as goalkeeper coach from AC Milan. (Image: Martyn Haworth/Focus Images Ltd) Wilshere cost City minimal compensation from Arsenal. They will benefit from his experience and desire to improve, and then either he will develop into a future head coach for them or another club, in which case they will be paid accordingly. 

Norwich now have a diverse coaching team with a range of expertise that hadn't worked together prior to moving to Carrow Road. A different group of voices from differing backgrounds and experiences combining to produce ideas and find solutions, a process of challenge rather than ratification. 

That dynamic is fascinating - and time will tell whether it is one that can produce success.