Even the smattering of boos at full time, to signal the end of Norwich City’s miserable Premier League defeat to Brentford, were half-hearted.

But that should alarm those shaping the Canaries’ future from here. No anger, no real frustration, just resignation at what would appear another futile attempt to bridge the divide.

Norwich were found wanting again. In all departments. They possess neither the depth of quality nor the levels of defensive resolve, or attacking invention required, to make this a proper fight to the finish. Dean Smith inherited a mess not of his making.

There was an uplift when he first arrived, and another the other side of a festive spell riven with injury and illness to his squad. But the trend now is regressive, and his most pressing task increasingly seems like a major reset on and off the park.

Norwich had been ahead of the curve after striking out in a bold, fresh direction under the stewardship of Stuart Webber. Now it feels tired, it feels like an end of an era at Carrow Road.

There is a one-paced lack of intensity and drive. Confidence is low and belief even lower.

Barring a great escape that would, frankly, defy the weight of circumstantial evidence to this point of the current season Norwich will have to go again in the Championship.

They bounced back at the first attempt last time around.

Under the astute direction of Smith you would not back against them doing it again. But then what? Another insipid go at defying the odds?

If the rump of the same squad who failed under Daniel Farke two seasons ago returns to the Football League there is a compelling case to dismantle and rebuild. But this is not some computer game.

This is not Webber pulling out the plug and restarting the game. This is going to take renewed energy and focus and the innovative edge they so brilliantly discovered on a thrilling joy ride that secured that first, most deliciously unexpected Championship title win.

Materially, Norwich did not lose any ground to fourth-from-bottom Everton in the table, with the Toffees not in action until Monday. But it was not really about the defeat, or the concession of three points to a Brentford side who arrived in Norfolk on the back of eight defeats in nine.

It was the manner of the implosion.

To leak another goal from a corner, and then gift the Bees two more from penalties sourced in Ben Gibson’s abdication of responsibility is not a lack of quality. It is a lack of clarity, a lack of leadership and in actions, if not words, an admission this group feel survival is beyond them.

Smith can read the room. He knows the way the wind is blowing. Privately he must realise a turnover is required. Too many of those indelibly linked with a wonderfully dominant period in the Championship are now approaching the end.

Their better days are behind them. Soon it will be time for others to step forward and pick up the baton.

Smith will not throw in his hand until City’s race is run. He has been in tighter spots than this one. He reiterated as much after this sorry defeat. He is also proud of his record of never being relegated as a coach.

But that is under grave threat. His assistant, Craig Shakespeare, helped write the guidebook as part of a Leicester City collective who won six of their last eight games in 2015 to stay up.

But if Norwich are unable to put away an ailing Brentford at Carrow Road, then where is the road map to retaining their Premier League status?

Perhaps those barbs and the mocking, sneering asides at City’s inability to do more than make up the numbers fuelled an early new year uplift that brought wins over Everton and Watford. Perhaps Adam Idah’s season-ending injury was the final hope extinguished. But normal service has been resumed at Southampton and now Brentford.

This squad can muster resistance, they can also flatter to deceive. They showed it for an hour at Anfield but they are not able to sustain it.

Look from back to front, irrespective of the personnel selected, and you see vulnerability and passivity.

No Norwich fan can be accused of knee jerk reactions. Every Premier League attempt since Nigel Worthington has ended in a top flight exit, bar the odd interlude under Paul Lambert and then Chris Hughton.

Perhaps that underlines this is par for the course, accentuated ever more by the financial chasm and the influx of billionaire owners and nation states to the English game.

The irony, of course, is should Norwich return to the Championship the stated objective will be to get back to the Premier League. That feels a toxic paradox. What every club outside the elite craves is to burst open the doors and bask in the global exposure and enviable revenue streams.

But very few find that elusive longevity. Norwich’s story is the story of Fulham, of West Brom, or Bolton, Stoke, Huddersfield et al before them.

What was new and fresh has become stale. It needs an updated script and a different ending.