Joe Pateman on the great divide at Norwich City

It doesn’t feel like two years ago; it feels like a lifetime since I sat deflated on the train back from London after a superb three points were collected at the Brentford Community Stadium.

More recently, we have lived through a darker, more toxic, dystopian sequel to the #farkeout drama. You could count only three players in the starting XI included in Sunday's Blackburn breakdown that featured under Farke: Onel Hernandez, Kenny McLean, and Dimi Giannoulis.

It is a sign that the times aren’t just changing; they have changed. And changing rapidly at that. Meetings were subsequently held, and decisions were made. By next week, Stuart Webber will be as physically out of the Carrow Road door.

We are, of course, not privy to what goes on behind the scenes, but from the snippets we do see and reading between the Welshman’s frosty lines, I’d imagine Webber will leave believing every moment of the club's successes is mostly his doing, without a second thought given to what we, the fans, think of him at all.

It has always seemed to me that Webber viewed himself as the man on the inside of the game, the one who understands, the one in the know. Maybe, by contrast to him, we, the fans, are on the outside; we don’t understand or ‘we don’t know what we want’.

Webber, as a representative of the club, has made sour and bitter comments at the fans, which have driven a wedge between the club and its supporters, causing division between the two that I haven’t witnessed since the gruesome ‘Chase Out’ era, which at the time led to almost a decade of obscurity in the First Division abyss.

Robert Chase at Carrow Road (Image: Newsquest library)

This is where Webber, in my opinion, has ultimately failed as a sporting director. That disconnect seems deeply rooted within the club right now, and for Norwich City to enjoy any success, the lack of unity has to end immediately. Criticism has been dished out to Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones for not taking action soon enough.

Webber’s absence was being noticed as much as his notice period, with fans vocalising their baying for blood at David Wagner, whose players are being mocked for not only having a shot on target but actually scoring goals.

Before the darkness dawned at The Stadium of Light a couple of weeks ago, Hwang Ui-jo opened his account for the club to put us 1-0 up, and how did some fans react? By chanting ‘how bad must you be, we’re winning away’.

The response by more sensible fans was to chant back, ‘Support your team, or get off home’. There were expletives used, of course...

If you react that way to us scoring, you are, in my opinion, part of the problem as much as anyone or anything else. The impact on the players is visible, and, no, what they earn has no bearing on this.

Showing frustration at some of the unforgivable errors that we have seen is understandable, likewise with some of Wagner’s tactical decisions, but deflating the players that you are there to support is poisonous behavior that I’m sure Ipswich fans would find very encouraging.

The last few weeks have been a painful watch. Teams know exactly how to split us open and steam ahead through our midfield like a freight train. The body language of the players and coaching staff is reminiscent of commuters waiting for a bus to nowhere.

When Ben Knapper takes over next week, it seems that his primary task will be to find a replacement for Wagner.

In spite of the clear support that Wagner revealed he has received, it is likely that the trip to in-form Cardiff will be his last. For Knapper, his secondary task should be restoring goodwill across all parts of the club.