"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
It's not often Albert Einstein's famous quote can be attributed to the fickle world of football but it could essentially be the motto of Norwich City, given their fortunes over recent seasons. The Canaries appear stuck in a footballing version of purgatory. Too good for the Championship but not good enough for the step above.
They win promotion, they get relegated immediately. Rinse and repeat.
It is perhaps why they are overwhelming favourites to once again lift the title, for what would be a scarcely believable third time in five years. But for the first time since 2016, Norwich will begin a new campaign without Daniel Farke in the dugout.
The German delivered the two aforementioned titles but also led them in two dismal top flight campaigns when they finished rock-bottom on both occasions (albeit he was axed less than halfway through that second season). His sacking last November, ironically following their first win of the season, suggested the Canaries were not about to sit back and just accept what many deemed an inevitable fate.
Dean Smith arrived as a speedy replacement but after an encouraging start, the team fell into its old routine and ended the campaign 16 points shy of safety - a bigger margin than the demotion two years prior when they staggeringly lost their final 10 league games.
Smith has the credentials for success but perhaps crucially he has shown he can consolidate a side in the top flight.
He took over his boyhood club Aston Villa in October 2018 and led them to play-off final success that season. He followed it up with Premier League survival in their first year back and also reached the League Cup final to boot that year. He then led Villa to an impressive 11th-placed finish in their second season before he was sacked last November after five straight losses.
His achievements at Villa didn't go unnoticed and so when he was given the chop the Canaries quickly moved to snap him up. The appointment could well have been with this season in mind, as they aim for a fresh start post-Farke.
Their last season at this level saw them clinch the title with a staggering 97 points. A huge reason behind that success was the attacking threat of trio Teemu Pukki, Emi Buendia and Todd Cantwell. The latter is still on the books at Carrow Road but has regressed since that season. He spent the second half of last term on loan at Bournemouth but made just a handful of appearances.
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Perhaps the biggest indictment of where he is at right now was the fact the Cherries did not take up the option to sign him permanently. For a player who was attracting top flight interest just last year, he is in need of a renaissance.
As for the other pair, Buendia was sold upon their previous promotion - ironically to Smith's Villa. He was voted Championship player of the season after an outstanding goal and assists output in 2020-21. That quality has never been replaced with the Canaries' top assist-maker last term registering just four.
That modest haul was Pukki's although Smith will want him to be picking off chances next season rather than having to create them.
The Finn has scored 55 goals in his two combined seasons in the second tier but recent murmurings have suggested he would be open to a move away as he wants to, understandably, play at the top level. It would have to take a sizeable offer for Norwich to even think about allowing him to go, but with his head possibly being turned and the fact he is approaching his 33rd year, questions remain over whether he can replicate his previous form in front of goal.
If Smith can get Cantwell back to his best from two years ago, get Pukki firing again and solve the Buendia-shaped hole that has existed ever since his exit, then the Canaries look a good bet to be toasting yet another promotion next May.
If Smith completes that part of the job, he looks like the right man to ensure it doesn't all go to pot as quickly as it has in recent times.
