CHAIRMAN Alan Bowkett believes the Canaries must make a fast start if they’re to achieve their ambitions in the Sky Bet Championship next season.

When speaking to the gathered media at Neil Adams’ unveiling as manager, he pointed to the example of Wigan Athletic, whose excellent form in the second part of last season was only enough to secure them a play-off spot.

“The reality is we can’t afford to have a bad start in the Championship,” said Bowkett.

“Look what happened to Wigan. They made a mistake, they changed. If they’d had the right manager at the beginning of the season they’d have probably had automatic promotion.

“My view is we’ve appointed the right manager, he will deliver, and he knows how tough it’s going to be.”

When asked to explain the 11-day gap between the last match of the campaign and the appointment, Bowkett explained a stringent process that eventually led to Adams being chosen for the job.

“If we’d have appointed Neil 10 days ago we’d have faced the criticism that it’s nepotism and that you’re not really looking at the market. So Neil can hold his head up high,” he said.

“We have looked in Germany, we have looked in Italy, looked in Spain, throughout the British Isles.

“For all the things we were looking for in terms of vision, progressive attitude, coaching skills, hunger for the job, ability to deliver professionalism and hard work – Neil came out on top.”

Bowkett also believes the current squad will be up to the task, but added that Adams will have room to manoeuvre in the transfer market too.

“We’ve managed our finances prudently so that we’re in a situation that we can hold on to all our players in the Championship,” he said.

“This squad can do an exceptional job in the Championship. However, there are opportunities to add to that squad and improve it, and we have the finances to do that.”

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