16:00, 09 Jun 2025<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0_JS371629424.jpg\")
Liam Manning left his role as Bristol City head coach for Norwich City last week(Image: Andrew Matthews\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n
Former Bristol City head coach Liam Manning has confessed that the “objective” of Norwich City along with the club itself and the squad he will be inheriting were among the main reasons behind his decision to leave the Robins for the Canaries.<\/p>\n
After a period of ongoing speculation, Manning’s departure from Ashton Gate was confirmed last Tuesday after Norwich triggered the release clause in the former Reds head coach’s contract, reported elsewhere to be in the region of \u00a3800,000.<\/p>\n
City are currently in the process of recruiting the 39-year-old’s successor with it understood that there is confidence an appointment could be made later this week. In the meantime though, Manning was officially unveiled in front of the media in East Anglia on Monday morning and, naturally, was asked about his exit after just shy of 20 months in BS3.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Bristol City next manager live: Updates as Robins hope to find new boss by end of this week<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol City next head coach odds as ex-Barnsley and Red Bull Salzburg boss remains favourite<\/a><\/p>\n Manning, who has personal ties to Norfolk, declared<\/a>: “There’s been a lot about the personal and family stuff, which is nice, but the biggest driver is definitely the club, the objective, the group of players. I think Ben [Knapper, sporting director] and the board in terms of what the objectives are; the ambition. But also I think, just as important, is the strategy of how you then go about it.<\/p>\n “I’m ambitious. I’m driven. I want to succeed and I think when I sat with Ben and Neil [Adams, assistant sporting director], I thought there was a real alignment in terms of how we achieve success.<\/p>\n “Any move you make in this game is difficult,” he added. “Of course, I think in terms of the 18 months I had there were extremely successful. Obviously, a challenging time personally which I think creates a level of affiliation and empathy with some of the people there.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n “But I think as well when I was aware of the interest, when I had the discussions with Ben and what it looks like and the direction, obviously knowing the club and the fanbase, the ambition here, for me it was one of those where the driver is definitely the ambition of the club and the project. It matches with me extremely well. A difficult decision, but I\u2019m confident it\u2019s the right one.”<\/p>\n Manning joined City in November 2023 from then-League One side Oxford United, replacing Nigel Pearson. After guiding the Robins to an 11th place finish in the Championship, he oversaw their best season for 17 years as the Reds secured a play-off spot on the final day.<\/p>\n That achievement was slightly dampened by a 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United, a record scoreline in the Championship play-offs, before the move to Norwich materialised.<\/p>\n The date of the new Canaries boss’ Ashton Gate return will be revealed on Thursday, June 26 when the EFL fixtures are announced. The 2025\/26 Championship campaign kicks off on the weekend of August 9.<\/p>\n READ MORE: I spent five years as Bristol City boss, every out-of-work coach in country will want Reds job<\/a>READ MORE: Bristol City new manager latest as timeline emerges for appointment of Liam Manning’s successor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam Manning was unveiled as Norwich City’s new head coach on Monday morning following his departure from Bristol…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-171085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114655168012266683","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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