Norwich City weighing up move for Ipswich Town figure | OneFootball

Norwich City are expressing an interest in veteran Ipswich Town scout Bryan Klug, who's been with the club on and off for 48 years.

Norwich City could be planning a swoop for a veteran Ipswich Town coach who started his career at Portman Road 48 years ago.

Norwich are rebuilding following a disappointing season which saw them finish in 13th place in the Championship. They sacked manager Johannes Hoff Thorup in April and are expected to announce Liam Manning as his replacement in the near future.

As the Canaries rebuild, local rivals Ipswich Town are also planning for life back in the Championship after having finished 18th in the Premier League following their surprise promotion in 2024.

Bryan Klug is a highly experienced academy coach

As reported by the Pink 'un, Norwich City could be looking to make an audacious move by bringing in the veteran Ipswich coach Bryan Klug for a role within their academy.

They report that City's interest is being driven by City's academy chief Dean Rastrick, who worked with Klug during his spell at Tottenham Hotspur between May 2011 and June 2012.

Klug is a highly experienced coach who first arrived at Portman Road as a youth player in 1977.

After a playing career that took in Wimbledon, Chesterfield and Peterborough, he joined Ipswich as a youth-team coach in 1987 and worked his way up through the ranks there to become the director of their newly-formed academy in 1998.

He had spells as both the assistant manager and caretaker-manager, winning the FA Youth Cup with his young team in 2005. He was sacked by Roy Keane in 2010 and went to work with the Spurs academy for two years before returning to Portman Road in 2012, again as director of their academy, and has had a further two spells as their caretaker-manager again since, both in 2018.

Bryan Klug and Liam Manning have crossed paths before

Klug's appointment is described as being "separate" to the appointment of new manager Liam Manning, though the pair have crossed paths before. Manning, ironically, took the opposite path to Klug, starting at Norwich's academy before moving to Ipswich to start his professional playing career.

Talking about his early career to Coaches Voice in 2022, Manning couldn't have been more effusive about him: "Bryan Klug played a massive part. The way he sees the game, and the players he’s developed, it was impossible not to find him an inspiration. He’s someone I still speak to."

With PSR rules limiting clubs to financial losses of £41.5m over any rolling three-year period and Premier League parachute payments distorting the division's finances, the development of home-grown players is crucial to the success of any Championship club, both as players and assets that can be sold on at a profit.

Although the appointment of Manning is being talked of as separate to their interest in Klug, it's not difficult to see how Liam Manning would approve of such an inspirational colleague joining him at Carrow Road.