David Hannant: Long hot summer on cards for Norwich fans

Even with a World Cup to look forward to (or largely ignore) the days and months drag without Norwich City - and in an odd way this season feels like it has finished particularly early.

Given the way it started, it still feels remarkable to think that without a few fine margins we could well have been getting ready for a playoff tilt.

Without just one late concession out of quite a few, Saturday’s curtain closer at Hull could have been quite the grandstand finish, rather than the dead rubber it is.

It really has proven to be a season of what ifs.

What if the trigger had been pulled on Liam Manning’s tenure just a few weeks earlier?

What if Philippe Clement had arrived in the summer?

What if, what if, what if?

Few can dispute that, given just a few more fixtures, the impossible turnaround may well have been completed.

But now we face something possibly even more frustrating than the what ifs - the waiting game.

As much as players will no doubt welcome time with their families and a chance to refresh - those who aren’t heading Stateside - at the same time I’m sure plenty would love to just crack on and continue the mounting momentum.

Instead, we face an agonising three-month wait to see if Clement’s boys can pick up where they’re leaving off.

But this is not even why I feel the summer is going to drag the most - but it’s certainly linked to the Belgian.

This is the first summer in three that hasn’t involved a manager hunt, which should feel refreshing.

But at the same time, it’s difficult not to quench the fear that it could end up that way anyway.

Luckily, at this stage, there hasn’t been any real speculation about Clement’s future.

But surely his frankly ridiculous impact at Colney hadn’t gone unnoticed - and no doubt the merry-go-round will start to spin once silly season begins.

One possible scenario has already occurred to me, following Chelsea sacking their 15th manager in the last six weeks.

I realise it’s generally pretty lazy to link former players to managerial roles, the usual arguments about understanding the club. Utter pish some say.

But with his stock truly back on the rise, what if Chelsea were tempted to give Frank Lampard another crack at football’s most poisoned chalice?

Could Coventry then be tempted to try and turn to a former player of their own?

Or Crystal Palace, who we already know will be after a manager and may well still be able to offer European football?

The way the merry-go-round turns in the off-season, there will likely be plenty of tempting offers for a manager who has a proven track record of fixing basket cases. And make no mistake about it, he walked into a basket case in November.

The past few years we’ve grown used to having to quell fears about losing crown jewels on the pitch - and invariably we have lost them.

However, the potential of having to bat away potential suitors for a manager will feel new - and in fact I’m struggling to think of the last time I was so worried about losing a boss.

It does seem quite clear that Clement is enjoying his time here and arrived with no illusions about the task at hand.

He has always said he needs a project and doesn’t like whistlestop tours, which is the hope we all cling to.

But when you’re a Norwich City fan, it’s never easy to feel comfortable when things are going relatively well.

Invariably, there is always something or someone waiting to whip the rug away from under our feet.

Keep Clement in the building and we have to fancy ourselves as being among the favourites for promotion next season. But the wait for that to get under way will feel agonising.

And as for the final weeks of the domestic season, there are only two things I ask, both of which will bring joy and laughter to one and all.

Number one, that Ipswich bottle their ill-deserved, cheating-tarnished promotion push and and number two, Spurs complete perhaps the funniest relegation in living memory.

I don’t think either is too much to ask.