Liam Manning talks Norwich fans’ protests, internal discussions and aims to spoil Sheffield Wednesday’s party on Wednesday night.
The Norwich boss is feeling regretful over his quick exit, apologising to fans after defeat to Hull condemned his side to a seventh straight home defeat of the season.
He did however draw the line when players’ families feel threatened or uncomfortable, calling it unacceptable for protests to turn personal, abusive or violent.
Manning acknowledged a tough end to last season and major summer squad turnover (some signings right, some wrong), and refused to blame others or “throw people under the bus.”
A long meeting was held post-Hull about the situation, with results in the last 5–6 games are on the team, not the opposition.
He also has belief in himself, saying he doesn’t think being sacked wouldn’t solve much, that the plan/selection isn’t fundamentally wrong, adding that execution and player responsibility are lacking. That players must step up, show fight, and take accountability.
🔰🗣️ “Everybody’s got the right to protest, but where it goes too far is when players’ families feel threatened.”
🟡🟢 #NCFC boss Liam Manning spoke about post-match protests at his pre-Sheffield Wednesday press conference.
📺 Watch the whole thing 👉 https://t.co/BQ6LlvdIG1 pic.twitter.com/bF5xcNPVzb
— The Pink Un (@pinkun) November 4, 2025
Interviewer: “I wanted to ask you about your experience after the game the other day. It would have been after you spoke to us after the game, there’s been some conflicting accounts of what happened, of some fans blocking players and you in and stuff in the car park. I just wanted to see what your experience was of that.”
Liam: I had no issues in terms of getting out to be honest. I know I believe some of the and this is where we have to be careful I think in terms of everybody’s got the right to protest and I understand why people are protesting why people aren’t happy.
“I’m one of those, I’m not happy I’m frustrated all the emotions that fans will be feeling I will as well you know in terms of probably even more so because it’s my day-to-day life, I live at 24-7.
“I think it for me where it becomes too far is when players’ families feel threatened or feel uncomfortable.
“It then goes from professional to personal for me, which is any walk of life, right, if you’re at your job, you shouldn’t feel threatened when you go into work, right? So I think it is.
“It’s unique in football, there’s probably not too many industries where it happens, again, I think there’s a real fine line, of course, like I want to reiterate and be really strong that people have the right to protest, but at the same point, there’s a level where it becomes violent, abusive, that’s not acceptable.
“And when people feel threatened, that’s not right for me.”
Interviewer: “Have you ever sort of experienced or seen anything like that any of your previous clubs?”
Liam: “No.”
Interviewer: “So it did feel, in as far as I say, it felt to you like it crossed the line?”
Liam: “Well, bits here, bits, you know, just other accounts, what it felt like in terms of it. Like I say, it’s not my personal, I was inside for quite a while afterwards.”
Interviewer: “I know you’re, obviously you’ll feel that you could have done things better personally and things like that, and there is a lot to talk about your job.
“But does it also feel like, I know you won’t want to blame other people, but does it feel like you’re maybe receiving a bit of pent-up anger for maybe what’s gone before, or, you know, some of the recruitment and stuff like that at the moment?”
Liam: “Talking around a lot of people’s opinions, right? For me, when you look at it, I’m quite clear in terms of when you look at, you know, the team, the club had a tough period at the back end of last season.
“I think if you look at that, I think we obviously had a, you know, a huge turnover of players in the summer.
“And whenever you have such big turnovers, you’re going to get some right, you’re going to get some wrong.
“I think that’s any club, you know, you look at any club in Premier League down, that’s always the case.
“I think it, yeah, I’m not going to sit here and it’s not in my nature to come out and start throwing people under the bus and criticising this, that, the other.
“All I can do is come out, be open, be honest with what I feel and think. Like I said, at the weekend, there’s loads of stuff we’ve got wrong.
“I think there’ll be stuff that we will get right for the future. I think that’s probably the biggest bit, but where we’re at at the minute, it’s about sticking together.
“It’s not about coming out and, like I said, stitching people, it’s about sticking together.
“It’s about, you know, there’s a lot of people here that care about the club, me included, that don’t want to be in this position and want to turn it around and change it.
“We’ve got what we can work with and that is how do we now make sure the group that we’ve got, we try and win tomorrow night.”
@BBCNorfolk #canarycall#Manningout pic.twitter.com/NDE4V26gNM
— Matt Morriss (@NcfcMattMorriss) November 1, 2025
Balls thrown onto pitch and Norwich fans walk out in protest during 2-0 defeat to Hull
Interviewer: “I think you said after the game on Saturday that you were sure there’d be kind of discussions about your future and maybe where things needed to change. As far as you’re aware of those discussions taking place and, you know, what’s the product been?”
Liam: “We had an extremely long meeting yesterday morning around the situation we’re in, what do we need to do?
“But, let’s be clear, I’ll be at the game tomorrow night doing everything I can to win.
“What I’m quite clear on is it can’t go on forever, right? I think, you know, what I do believe is the results in the last five, six have been on us.
“And that’s probably why the frustration internally is a lot higher than just the fact that it doesn’t feel like we come away from games going, we’ve been battered, they’re miles better than us.
“It’s the same thing that we keep saying of really dominant, don’t score and then give away soft goals. And that, it’s on us, that’s not on the opposition.
“That’s why, for me, like I said, it’ll take a win. It’ll take, you know, a really crappy goal of hitting somebody to go in to change it.
“And that’s the biggest bit, we have to score when we’re on top.
“But, like I said, I feel all the emotion everybody does. I’m hurting as much as anybody, but, you know, I’m going to fight as hard as I can tomorrow night.”
Interviewer: “I think some people took from what you said on Saturday that maybe, almost you doubted, you know, whether you were the right person for the job or whether you could turn it around.”
Liam: “But just to kind of ask you about that, do you still fully believe that you will turn this around? Yeah, let’s be clear, I think I kind of stressed that point at the weekend. I don’t think changing me changes a huge amount.
“I think that when you look at it, like I said, I don’t come away from the weekend going, the plan was wrong, this election was wrong, this was wrong, that was wrong. I think, of course, did I do everything I needed? Clearly not, because the lads didn’t win.
“But at the same point, like I said, for me, when you’re saying the same things, it’s on the collective to change, it’s on the players to step up and really understand we’re in a scrap, we’re in a fight, and people want to go and take responsibility. People want to go and stick everything in the net. If it takes putting three of their players and the ball in the net to score a goal, we have to do that.
“That’s where we’re at. That has to be the mindset, the behaviours, the culture that we show every single time we step on the pitch, that we haven’t got time to feel sorry for ourselves.
“So, for me, that’s it. We have to show that fight, that passion when it’s going well, when it’s not. That, for me, is the tough piece.”
Interviewer: “And if changing you isn’t the answer, then what do you think does need to change to turn things around? I know you mentioned January as well, so is that a possible answer to that?”
Liam: “Yeah, I’ve spoken before. I think there’s a few bits that need to change, and some of it’s not a quick fix. I think in terms of, we’ve spoken about injuries previously, I think that it’s always a challenge when you’re double figures in terms of players missing, not just from starting the line-up, but then also changes you can make. As we talk around, like I said, second half is you’re missing 10. How do you raise, sustain a level?
“So, again, like I said, having a few extra back in those positions definitely helps. And there’s a few other bits. There’s so much, it wouldn’t be right for me to sit here and come out and talk around everything that I think needs work.
“I think there’s, I’ve spoken before around the culture and things being too nice. There’s another thing, we have to create more of an edge. We have to find that nasty streak.
“I think we have to find that. That’s not a quick fix. So there’s loads of stuff that needs to change, and ultimately, all we can concentrate on at the minute is winning tomorrow.”
Interviewer: “And on that, on Sheffield Wednesday, what sort of game do you expect from them? A tough one?”
Liam: “Hey, look, especially with the situation they’re now in, with the fans back in. And yeah, of course, it brings a different energy, a different atmosphere, a different, like I said, they’ve had a tough time.
“But I think if you look historically, what it’s probably done to that club, and when you look at, it’s a fantastic place to go in terms of the history behind the ground, etc, and cup semi-finals, etc.
“I think it’s one of those where they’ve had a really tough time over the last few years, but what you can quite clearly see is that it brings people together.
“You see the players in terms of what it’s done for them, understanding the situation, the fight, the way they’ve gone about things, their connection probably with the fans.
“It shows that they’ve had a tough time, but it brings people together. And that, for me, for the lads, for us at the club and where we were at, for different reasons, we can learn from that.”
Interviewer: “Is there any way to mitigate the effect that that sort of atmosphere and that feeling could have on your players, or do you kind of not really think about it?”
Liam: “Yeah, no, I spoke about it. Go and spoil their party. I think that has to be the mindset. We have to go there and spoil their… Like I said, they’ll get a bounce, they’ll get a buzz, they can get the noise going there. We have to go and spoil it. We have to go and wreck it. We have to go and be horrible to play against.”
Interviewer: “You kind of mentioned that maybe there are a few things that you feel this club could currently learn from Sheffield Wednesday in terms of, obviously, their situation has been quite a lot more extreme.
“But in terms of the way that they’ve come together, that’s probably something you and your players can take away from them as well.”
Interviewer: “Definitely. Definitely that resilience, that togetherness, that spirit, that everybody in their lives, I’m sure, would have gone through hard times. And it’s how do you get through that? And that’s by having a real toughness inside you, but also then having good people around you to help you through it.
“And that’s what we need at the minute. We need people that are willing to look inside and dig in and be tough. And then people alongside each other, dragging each other through. And that’s what being a good team is, right? It’s not all the highs and the easy stuff.
“It’s when you’re in a challenging period, whether it be game to game or within game, and that’s our bit at the minute, within the game when we face a tough period. How do we stick together? How do we shift the momentum back in our favour? How do we keep that inner belief? How do we respond in the right way with urgency, with positive body language, with all the things that you need to perform?”
Interviewer: “And just finally, it feels like probably the major concern, the first concern for fans right now is avoiding relegation. So given Sheffield Wednesday are next in the table, does that feel like a good opportunity to give yourselves a big boost in terms of that and trying to get rid of that worry as quickly as possible?”
Liam: “Yeah, we need to win. Desperate for a win. So again, I think in terms of it is, of course, we’ve got into every single game trying to win, but we’ve come up short in certain areas.
“And that, we have to make sure we don’t come up short tomorrow night. We have to make sure that the behaviours are spot on, the basics, the bits that I’ve spoken to you a lot about, that they have to be at the highest level.
“And you need people to step up, people that really want to go and change the situation, people that can look at themselves at the end of the day and have no regrets and have given absolutely everything.”
