How Norwich City chiefs now feel about Jack Wilshere after ‘wonderful’ start to caretaker manager role

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Norwich City interim manager Jack Wilshere has made an impressive start to his tenure and EFL Analysis can exclusively reveal he could well be setting himself up for the top job on a permanent basis.

The last seven days have been fairly turbulent for Norwich, with Johannes Hoff Thorup losing his job after a string of disappointing results left the Canaries way off the pace in the race for the play-offs.

Since then, Jack Wilshere has taken over the reins, stepping up from his assistant role to be caretaker manager until the end of the season at least.

The reaction around Thorup’s departure has been odd, with the club and players appearing to move on fairly quickly.

Indeed, the Canaries put in a strong showing against Middlesbrough over the weekend in the Championship, and we can exclusively reveal that has done Wilshere’s stock a world of good.

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Norwich City chiefs like what they’ve seen from Jack Wilshere

As we revealed earlier this week, Wilshere is very keen to land the job full time, and it sounds like his bosses at Carrow Road are warming to the idea, too.

In an EFL Analysis exclusive, we obtained information from Graeme Bailey on the situation, and he told us the performance against Middlesbrough has piqued everyone’s interest.

Bailey said: “I have spoken to people around Norwich and they are really impressed with how Jack has taken to the role. No pressure, but the players have taken to him – he does have an aura about him.

“I firmly believe he has every chance of getting this job. His first game may have ended in a draw but he went to Middlesbrough, who needed to win, and Norwich were by far the better team, playing some wonderful football at times.”

Wilshere now has the final game of the season, against already-relegated Cardiff City (and his former Arsenal midfield colleague, Aaron Ramsey), to prove his worth further and make a real claim for himself in the ongoing pursuit of the permanent job.

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Tom Cleverley is also on Norwich’s radar

At the same time as Wilshere doing himself no harm at Carrow Road, there is word from Alan Nixon that Watford boss Tom Cleverley has also been earmarked as a potential candidate for Norwich this summer.

Nixon claims Cleverley could be tempted by a more “stable environment” at Norwich, who would have a much clearer “long-term plan” for their next manager as opposed to the situation at Watford.

It is unknown whether Cleverley is a serious contender for the Norwich job at the moment, but we discussed this with Graeme Bailey, too, and he suggested the Canaries are not looking to pay a big release clause to land their next manager.

Given Cleverley’s contract runs through to 2027, we know the former Manchester United man won’t come cheap. While that doesn’t rule Cleverley out entirely, it does cast some doubts over his suitability for Norwich’s parameters.