Norwich City appoint former Aston Villa boss Smith as new head coach

He replaces Daniel Farke, who was sacked by the Canaries after the recent 2-1 win at Brentford, their only victory of the season so far.

Smith was dismissed by Aston Villa on the same weekend, but the 50-year-old was not out of work for long as he has now been tasked with getting the Carrow Road club off the bottom of the Premier League table.

“It has been a whirlwind seven days, but I’m really pleased to be back and working for Norwich City in the Premier League,” said Smith, who will be joined by his former Villa assistant Craig Shakespeare.

“Clearly, there has been some wonderful work that has gone into this football club over last four and a half years. It is now the job of myself and Craig to continue and improve on that work with the ultimate aim of surviving in the Premier League.

“From the age of 16 I’ve been working in football. I think in that time I’ve had four months out and didn’t enjoy it. It’s great to get straight back in with a club that are determined to be progressive.

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— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) November 15, 2021

“I’ve always worked to improve and develop players – with that obviously comes improved performances. I was really impressed with the idea, structure and vision that is already in place at the club.”

Smith’s first game in charge will be at home to Southampton on November 20, the same opponents he faced in his last game at Villa, a 1-0 defeat at St Mary’s. It will be the eighth time a manager has faced the same opposition back-to-back in the Premier League with two different clubs.

While at Villa Park, Smith achieved promotion from the Championship in his first season, reached the EFL Cup final and kept the club in the Premier League on the last day in 2019-20, before finishing 11th in the top flight last term.

However, the former Walsall and Brentford boss has lost almost half of the 87 games he has managed in the Premier League (43), with 28 wins and 16 draws.

Excluding play-off matches, Smith’s record in the Championship has seen him win 69 of his 166 games as manager (D45 L52).