Johannes Hoff Thorup exit prediction made at Norwich City on one clear condition | OneFootball

FLW's Canaries fan pundit thinks the Danish head-coach could leave if they don't clinch promotion soon

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Norwich City head-coach Johannes Hoff Thorup has been forecasted to leave the club unless they win promotion to the Premier League by the end of next season, due to his likely ambitions to manage at the highest level in his career.

The Canaries have been quite inconsistent this season, but Hoff Thorup has done a good job in keeping them in the race for the play-offs amid a host of injury issues to first-team players.

He was appointed as boss at Carrow Road last May, after David Wagner was relieved of his duties after failing to win promotion, and has won the majority of supporters over with his high-octane, front-foot style of play that has seen them score the second-most goals of any team in the Championship so far.

Norwich

Norwich currently occupy 10th place in the second-tier, and they are six points off the top-six with just 10 games of the season left to play. They have lost just one of their previous eight league outings, but quickly need to turn the four draws from that same period into wins if they want to make it into the play-offs by May.

With promotion seeming unlikely this time around, the club's full focus will soon need to turn to next term, when they will hope to have a real good go at challenging for the top spots. Hoff Thorup is clearly a good head-coach, but he will need to be backed in the summer window as they aim to retain their key players and bring in some quality depth in certain areas.

FLW's Canaries fan pundit, Zeke Downes, believes that the Dane could leave the club if promotion has not been clinched by the end of next season, but if they do go up, he may well stay for the long haul.

“I'm not too sure about this one. I think that, with Thorup, he has got a lot of ambitions, so I would imagine that he has the ambition to manage at a higher level," Zeke told FLW.

“If that’s not with Norwich, then it makes sense (that he would leave). I’d imagine this is something that, similar with Thomas Frank at Brentford, I would say that he would stay at Norwich if he got us promoted.

“He’ll definitely be here next season, but then I would imagine that, if we’ve not managed to go up after that, then it’ll be two full seasons of having him in charge and he will probably look to move on.

“If we do go up, then I could see him saying for three, four, maybe five years, as long as there is progress within the club.

“He will have ambition, and managers don’t tend to stay for too long anyway, unless there is a plan there, and there is progress.”

Hoff Thorup is realistic about Norwich's promotion chances

Norwich did finish sixth in the Championship last campaign, but then they lost the likes of Gabriel Sara and Jon Rowe last summer amid a real overhaul of Hoff Thorup's squad, and so were not widely expected to repeat their play-off finish this term, particularly with uncertainty around whether the Dane would be able to implement his style in English football.

He has done a decent job of keeping them in the play-off reckoning throughout most of the campaign, and he was realistic in his aims for the club in an interview after their 1-0 loss to Preston North End last month, which shows that he is in it for the long haul unless the club are to sack him if results are poor next season.

"Where we are as a team, there are no easy games, and we have to fight very, very hard for all the points that we get," he told the Pink Un in February.

"When we are at our best, it's realistic to say that we can push for the play-offs...I'm still positive and optimistic that we can push for the play-offs. But I'm also realistic saying that if we don't, it's probably not a failure for us this season.

"I also remember back to when I saw the odds at the beginning of the season that no one really had us in the top six.

"We have to remember that and not be carried away by good results and not be too frustrated by some bad results, but just accept that that's where we are and do everything we can to improve and be better the next game.

"I fully believe in this group of players because there's so much quality and there's so much potential, and they have so much ambition and are eager to show it every time."

Norwich have since won one and drawn three of their last four games, but they need to emerge with nine points from three key upcoming clashes against fellow play-off hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City and West Brom if they are to stand any chance of making it into the top six this time around.

Hoff Thorup is clearly staying grounded about the club's chances of going up soon, as well as his own ambitions. The Canaries have great infrastructure and have been in the top-flight more often than most Championship teams in recent years, so there are few clubs that better possess the ability to match his dreams of managing in the Premier League than the Carrow Road outfit.

Whether he takes them back to the promised land remains to be seen, but he will surely stick around for next season, and with a few good summer additions and the likes of Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz kept on, they will have a good chance of achieving success with him in charge.