Earlier today, Norwich City announced former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith as their new manager, beating Frank Lampard to the job.
It’s just eight days since Smith was sacked by Villa however, he has already found himself a job in the Premier League, signing a contract until summer 2023.
Someone who hasn’t found himself a job since their sacking is former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, who has been without a managerial role since the beginning of the year.
Lampard was a frontrunner for the Canaries job after Daniel Farke’s sacking, although it became a battle when Smith was relieved of his duties less than 24 hours later.
Norwich’s goal will be survival this season, only managing five points from 11 games including just the one win which sees them bottom of the Premier League, five points from safety.
But Smith has been here before managing to keep Villa in the Premier League by a point back in the 2019/20 season – the season after the Villains promotion.
Along with Premier League survival, Smith was the man to thank for Villa getting back to the Premier League, following a successful season in the Championship earning a play-off place.
Reaching the final, they took on Lampard’s Derby County who had a terrific season with loanees Mason Mount and Harry Wilson in their squad.
However, it was Smith who succeeded on the day, defeating the Rams 2-1 at Wembley Stadium to earn his team promotion.
The lifelong Villa fan will be devastated at losing his dream job, although he will now have to get used to new surroundings of Carrow Road.
Something that the Canaries would have been looking for in their search for management is stability and Smith will bring that. Having spent more than three years at every club he’s managed in his 10-year managerial career, Smith will look to try and succeed with the East Anglian club over a lengthy time period.
On the other hand, Lampard may not have brought stability only spending a year at Derby County and 18 months at Chelsea before being sacked.
Smith also adds experience to Norwich City that Lampard can’t, managing from League One all the way to the Premier League, succeeding with Walsall in England’s third division whilst also appearing in the final of the Football League Trophy in 2015.
He then went on to Brentford and spent three years in West London, attempting to achieve promotion to the Premier League, however Villa swooped Smith from Brentford’s hands and did what Brentford couldn’t do.
Lampard doesn’t have the experience and is still a raw manager, it would’ve been a good name for Norwich but perhaps not what the Canaries want, with survival on mind.
The former Villa, Brentford and Walsall manager, will make history as the first man to take charge of successive Premier League matches against the same opponent with different teams, as he will prepare to face Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Southampton on Saturday at Carrow Road.
