The former Aston Villa boss defends himself amid a string of poor results at his current club in the Championship.
Dean Smith is under considerable pressure at Norwich City as the fans turned on the former Aston Villa manager following the team’s latest defeat.
Blackburn Rovers won 2-0 at Carrow Road, leaving the Canaries with just two wins in their last ten games in the Championship. They now find themselves 12 points off top spot.
Disgruntled home supporters could be heard singing “we want Deano out” and “Dean Smith, your football is ****”. Smith, though, claimed that sections of the fanbase were “waiting” for the team to struggle.
“I think a lot of them have been waiting for this period to happen, or wanting it to – I don’t know,” Smith told BBC Radio Norfolk.
“A narrative’s been set about it not being good football, despite us having the second or third highest shots in the league.
“Football’s about opinions and sometimes you can’t change that. Fortunately our next game’s away from home because you feel like we have to score two very quick goals at home to get people on our side at the moment.
“I’ve been in football long enough to know you can turn things around and we’ll be working hard to do that.”
He added: “This is the madness of it; we win today and we go third. But it doesn’t matter at the moment because people’s mindset is there and they’re entitled to their opinions.”
Meanwhile on Twitter, the atmosphere wasn’t much better as fans called for Smith to be relieved of his duties:
Gabelli: Smith was always the wrong man for this job. No personality, just been sacked for failing & obviously needed a break. Fast forward, he hasn’t improved one player in this squad, no back to back wins since September (?), 1 win in 7 at home, boring football. He has to go now #ncfc
Canary Cast: The whole club needs a reset and Dean Smith in charge of this club just isn’t going to work. He doesn’t fit the players we have, the squad is not well coached, the style of play is inconsistent and too many players are out of position, it’s time for a change #ncfc
Craig Thompson: We are really going to regret not making a change during the WC break. #ncfc
Andrew Gwilt: Thanks for nothing Dean Smith. Pack your bags and go!
Chris Goreham: It’s hard to think of many managers who have come back from the strength of feeling that was so obviously against Dean Smith tonight. One win in 7 home games. #ncfc fans expect better in The Championship.
Sam Langan: Just a numb reaction to that, no longer anger. It’s been clear all season what a terrible coach Dean Smith is. It was apparent in 21/22 as well. Let’s just not rewrite this as a new phenomenon, Smith and his staff should’ve been sacked in October. This is all on Webber now. #NCFC
Luke: I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dean Smith and Norwich look bereft of ideas in the final third given his assistant Richard O’Kelly throughout his time at Walsall, Brentford and Villa isn’t with him.
Jenny Collins: All I want for Christmas is Dean Smith gone.
