Norwich fans are absolutely loving life at the moment. The Canaries are currently sitting pretty at the top of the Championship having won their last six games and they are the surprise leaders after 18 games.
Few had plucked out Daniel Farke’s men as promotion contenders in the summer after a distinctly average 14th place finish last year. Combine that with the loss of parachute payment from the Premier League three years after and the sales of James Maddison and Josh Murphy to balance the books and it looked like being another uninspiring season for those in East Anglia.
Step forward Daniel Farke. The man he has said he ‘never wanted to become a coach.’ After retiring as an average footballer in Germany’s lower leagues he took charge of SV Lippstadt after taking a coaching course to take knowledge.
This job was set to simply be temporary but after nine wins in ten games he got the gig on a permanent basis and stayed at the club for five years, leading them to two promotions.
Then, as David Wagner left Borussia Dortmund U23s to take over at Huddersfield, an opportunity arose that was simply too good for Farke to turn down.
His Grandfather Franz used to play for Borussia Dortmund and they are by far and away the biggest team from Farke’s region where he grew up. He simply had to grab this opportunity with both hands.
Whilst he was at Dortmund, other German managers were making great names for themselves over in England. Jurgen Klopp was turning Liverpool around and making exciting signings but the big success story was over in Huddersfield where David Wagner first saved the Terriers from relegation before leading them up to the Premier League in the most unlikely of circumstances.
Last year it was Norwich who took the plunge on Farke, having seen the similar success other clubs have had under German managers in English divisions.