At the risk of stretching a point beyond its bounds of elasticity, Paul Lambert and Sir Alex Ferguson have more in common than their Glaswegian ancestry.
Both in their own contrasting ways have left indelible marks on their respective football clubs. In Lambert’s case, he helped construct a dynasty at Norwich during a whirlwind three-year spell of unstinting success prior to his summer move to Aston Villa.
Sir Alex will be remembered long after his exit from the dugout as arguably the greatest British manager of all time - a fact Lambert used to readily acknowledge whenever myself and the local Norfolk media probed him for his thoughts on those inevitable comparisons.
Ferguson did not start out working in elite circles. He came up the hard way at East Stirling and St Mirren. He rose to the top on talent alone, not the personal favours or the politicking that sees many of his modern-day contemporaries parachuted into clubs on the basis of a famous name garnered from a stellar playing career. Lambert’s first foray into management was a painful episode - things swiftly turned sour at Livingston. He lasted barely two-thirds of a season that ended with relegation from the Scottish Premier League.
Lambert returned to the management ranks south of the border at Wycombe and then Colchester before presiding over a phenomenal experiment at Norwich, turning around a failing football club only kept off the foot of League One by a point deduction to Southampton and piloting them to the Promised Land in consecutive promotions. Even more remarkably he then kept them there last season, and not via a nail-biting, nerve-jangling relegation battle but with a serene mid-table passage.
Just like when Ferguson eventually cuts his ties with the club that has already started to deify him by naming one of Old Trafford’s stands in his honour, the man who follows the man can have a thankless task. The shadow is so vast, their influence perniciously pervades every corridor of the club. And the ghosts of recent success are everywhere. The new man effectively inherits a playing staff who owe everything they have achieved to his predecessor.
Chris Hughton swapped places with Lambert when he moved in the opposite direction from Villa’s Second City rivals. He was the overwhelming choice of the Norwich board to succeed Lambert. He had even been earmarked 12 months earlier when Lambert had wavered over whether he wanted to take Norwich into the Premier League era.
Hughton had to win over Norwich’s players and fans. And quickly. Frayed nerves at Lambert’s loss had to be soothed, fears allayed the ride was over – that the rollercoaster was about to descend from a great height. Hughton’s calm, measured public persona has helped manage expectations externally. His ability to command instant respect inside the changing room has combined to make the transition seamless.
Midfielder Andrew Surman told me recently Hughton had just looked to oversee nuanced change rather than wholesale revolution. Nine new signings may have been brought to the club since the summer, but the core of Norwich’s successful DNA has been retained by the new manager, both in personnel and values.
Fulham’s 5-0 opening day Premier League mauling was a collective shock to the system. Pre-season had shown no trace of what lay in store at Craven Cottage that day. Hughton faced his first real test of the post-Lambert era. A chastening 90-minute outing by the Thames was proof in certain quarters of impending doom with the chief architect no longer here to re-assure.
The response since tells you the test has been passed. Scunthorpe was navigated without any embarrassment in the Capital One Cup, allied to encouraging Premier League draws against QPR and Tottenham - games most neutrals would accept Norwich could and should have won on the balance of chances created.
Norwich City’s supporters and players will forever be indebted to Lambert. But this is Chris Hughton’s team now.