Next Norwich City Manager Odds

Russell Martin has a track record of success in the Championship whilst also being capable of implementing a style of play that would appeal to the Norwich fan base.

Throw in the fact Martin had an extensive playing career with the Canaries, winning three promotions and captaining the club for five years, and it isn't difficult to see why he is the early favourite for the vacancy at Carrow Road. 

As for the boardroom appeal, Martin's Championship record as a manager is far from shabby. He posted a 36% win ratio with Swansea, much of the pain in that process coming in the early days as he embedded his principles, whilst the second of his two seasons there saw the Swans miss out on the playoffs by just three points.

After that, Southampton came calling and he steered them to promotion via the playoffs before being sacked in December after struggling to adapt to the top flight.

The only flaw in this managerial link we can see is whether or not Martin will think better offers might come his way. Norwich aren't in receipt of parachute payments, their best players could be lured away and, as such, any progress of note is likely to be a rebuild job.

Will Martin think that is beneath him at this stage of his career? Or will the fact that it is Norwich be enough to convince him to say "yes"?

Like with Russell Martin, there are obvious reasons why Gary O'Neil is being linked with the managerial job at Norwich.

The same doubts exist too though, with O'Neil quite likely thinking his body of work is too good for what is, at best right now, a midtable Championship job where the club have limited finances to position themselves as genuine contenders in the division. 

You can't knock O'Neil as a coach though. Admittedly, he suffered a toxic end to his time at Wolves - ironically with his sacking coming after a defeat to Norwich's rival, Ipswich - but his first season at Molineux was a success and he performed admirably as Bournemouth manager prior to that.

Relative success in the Premier League should indicate a capability of doing the job in the second tier; as such though, Norwich won't be alone in sounding O'Neil out. 

O'Neil does have an affiliation to Norwich from his playing days; he spent two years with the club and was part of the 2015 playoff winning squad. 

Steve Cooper is an excellent coach at Championship level, where he has a history of making teams more than competitive. A lot will point to his promotion with Nottingham Forest but he also guided Swansea to two back to back playoff finishes before his success at the City Ground; that success also included keeping Forest in the Premier League after securing promotion, which is something Norwich have struggled with as they have yo-yo'd in the past. 

A strong CV does present a potential issue for Norwich though. Cooper is probably hard pressed to land a Premier League gig after his tenure at Leicester, but, like others, might fancy his chances with other Championship vacancies, of which there are several opening up.

Equally though, Norwich fans might not be too disappointed if Cooper doesn't end up at Carrow Road; he has faced criticism over style of play in the past and Norwich fans endured that with David Wagner.

Even though they made the playoffs that year there were grumbles over "how" they did it and Wagner paid with his job in the immediate aftermath.

Based on the next Norwich manager odds right now, Jack Wilshere looks to be a good value shout. For one thing, he is already at the club having joined their setup in October and has been named caretaker for the last couple of games of the campaign.

Beyond that though, it is known that Wilshere and Norwich Sporting Director Ben Knapper get along well having crossed paths quite extensively during their time at Arsenal where Knapper held various roles. 

Wilshere, who had also coached Arsenal under 18s, has made plenty of noises about breaking into senior management, and you feel he would jump at the chance to take on a club like Norwich, even if they're not quite as competitive at the level as they have been in recent history.

The club need to decide if appointing an inexperienced coach, and would be first time manager, is the right move for them at this time. It's worked for a variety of clubs previously but, equally, after the failure of Johannes Hoff Thorup another wrong move for the Canaries could see them down the coal mine!