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Norwich City have formed a shortlist of six candidates to succeed Stuart Webber as sporting director, Zoe Webber has confirmed.
City’s current footballing chief announced his decision to step down earlier this summer having formally offered his resignation back in March. He is currently serving a 12-month notice period.
Norwich are pushing ahead with the appointment of his successor and have hired a recruitment consultancy to help them with the process.
There is an expectation that Norwich will make an appointment in the coming months and are hoping for a transition period between Webber and the next sporting director.
The club announced that Neil Adams, who has been Webber’s deputy, will be moving into a technical director role. The pair will work in tandem with David Wagner to drive forward the footballing side of the business.
Webber sat down for an interview with City fan channel Talk Norwich City and spoke on a range of topics including the effects of fan abuse, the challenges of her role and wider governance structure.
She offered an update on the search for Webber’s successor and revealed the latest stage of the process.
“We had a board meeting last week and we are down to a list of six,” she said.
“We’ve used a recruitment consultant to help us with the work and it’s a really good list of six. It is hard because you have to change your mindset from trying to replace somebody and be open to what other people can bring.
“There has had to be a shift and in that you see the new possibilities. We’re very excited about the candidates who have come forward and it’s a testament to the club the calibre of candidates who have come forward.
“We’re like ‘wow, you want to be considered for this role’. That comes back to when Delia and Michael decided to have this role. The sporting director at Norwich is seen as one of the true sporting director positions in English football.
“A lot of clubs have them but they won’t oversee or hire a head coach. There are two, three or four that are seen as true sporting director positions in English football. That is really attractive to people. That’s helped us in our conversations with people and pulling that list together.”
Webber also revealed that the background of the next sporting director might be slightly different to accommodate wider changes of the direction of the club.
“There is a bit of apprehension internally about Stu moving on. He is a massive figure and there are a lot of people who are disappointed that he’s leaving,” Webber said.
“We need to turn that mindset into bringing someone in and giving them the best opportunity. They will come in with fresh ideas and a new mindset – their background might be really different and they can take us on in different ways.
“Like the data thing, Stu has had the foresight and creativity that we need to go on this journey – do we bring someone where that is actually that skillset?”
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