Mark Attanasio: Norwich owner focused on Premier League return

Norwich City owner Mark Attanasio has set a target of having a competitive Premier League team within five years.

The American's Norfolk FB Holdings Group now owns an 85% stake in the club, who are currently 14th in the Championship.

City were relegated after a single season following their last three promotions - in 2015, 2019 and 2021 - and Attanasio said he would feel he had failed if they do not achieve top-flight football again within five years.

"You need a complete buy-in from everybody top to bottom to do this. An owner can set the tone but everybody from the owner down to the assistant coach in the academy has to be rowing in the same direction for this to work," he told BBC Look East.

It took his Major League Baseball team, the Milwaukee Brewers , 12 years to establish itself and achieve consistent success and he added: "If we're going to be realistic, this is a more competitive sport and it's going to take three to five years to get there and 12 to be sustainable."

Attanasio said Norfolk FB were very enthusiastic about the opportunity and would "stick with it" in the years to come.

"There's already clubs in the Premier League that do what we're trying to do so we just have to do it as well and hope some of them will stray," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"In my money management business, we've done the same thing for 34 years and almost never made a bad loan in a highly risky business with almost $50bn to invest because we do the same thing and don't stray.

"Whatever we do (at Norwich), we're going to bring in expert advice and stick to our discipline."

On the pitch, Norwich have lost their last three games under head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup, scoring only one goal in the process.

And having been only one point outside the play-off places last month, they are now seven adrift of Watford in sixth.

"You live and die with every match. We do in baseball. This year our club was the only team in MLB that did not lose four in a row. The fact that we (Norwich) just lost three really hurts, and how we lost was worse," said Attanasio.

"In 20 seasons in sports, (I've learned) you're never as good as you think you are when you're going well and you're never as bad as you think you are when you're going poorly.

"We still could make the play-offs, we're exactly where we were (last season) and this team, if it's healthy, will be more dangerous in the play-offs this year than last year.

"It's why it's important to have a plan and to follow through and execute on that plan. We know we're moving in the right direction and we're going to keep doing things in that direction."

Borja Sainz has been the stand-out player for the Canaries this term, with 12 goals from 17 appearances, and Attanasio said the Spanish forward would remain at the club beyond the January transfer window.

"Borja's been great for us. He runs for 90 minutes.... and nobody has made more (personal) appearances on behalf of the club than Borja Sainz. He's a great character and if at some point he wants to move on, you do that, but January would be a little too early, I think," he said.

As far as incomings in January are concerned, Attanasio said league financial rules were "the only cap on what we can put our hand in the pocket for".

But Thorup does not want an unwieldy squad and so any signings negotiated by sporting director Ben Knapper will be limited in number.

"The January transfer window is not easy to add players. Those we added last year didn't work out so great," Attanasio said.

"Ben's identified a couple of targets but because they're good, there are other clubs that want them as well, several. He's done a good job of providing a narrative for what he's looking to do."

Norwich are next in action following the international break with an away match at West Bromwich Albion on 23 November.