Daniel Farke reflected on a ‘special’ evening as his Norwich City side returned to Carrow Road to play in front of supporters for the first time since December.
The Canaries thrilled spectators as they picked apart their visitors Gillingham, notching five goals with no response.
Despite it being pre-season friendly, Farke was delighted to celebrate a culmination of the win and last season’s promotion in front of supporters for the first time.
“It was great and special,” he said to canaries.co.uk. “We saw a proper piece of football and got our next win in pre-season. Five goals, five great team goals and another clean sheet win.
“I’m quite pleased, the circumstances of the last two weeks haven’t been easy for the lads.
“We don’t want to over interpretate this week, Gillingham is not Liverpool. That’s for sure, but under the circumstances, it’s a good ‘next’ pre-season game.
“It also felt a bit special tonight with it being our first time back at Carrow Road. It’s been our first time back for months and a first chance to celebrate a little bit our fantastic last season and the promotion.
“You could feel it after the celebrations after each goal how much it meant to them and how much they have missed our feeling and spirit together.
“For that, I was quite pleased we could give something back to them with the celebrations and the wave. They all deserved this.
“Our supporters have always been with us, even in the empty stadiums last season. For that, it’s great to be re-connected and reunited with them.”
As Farke mentioned, it’s been a difficult period for the team with last week’s friendlies against Coventry City and Sheffield United forced to be cancelled due Covid-19 concerns in the City camp.
Farke took the opportunity to update on the situation: “We have had a tough 14 days. We had two players back yesterday into team training, Jacob Lungi Sorensen and Angus Gunn, our two Covid-19 cases.
“Also until the weekend, Dimitris Giannoulis and Max Aarons were self-isolationg, they didn’t catch it but it was precautious.
“Today, seven players missed the game due to Covid-19 reasons. All in all, without 11 first-team players in the last days has been difficult for the mood and confidence but also on the training pitch.
“It’s not easy for the lads who are missing, no team training for ten days is difficult. For Teemu, he was away longer after the EUROs, came back and had three days with us and then is not with us for ten days.
“It’s not ideal but the main thing is, the lads feel alright. Some are struggling with some symptoms, but the main thing is their safety and health.
“We don’t want them to struggle for too long so we accept this situation. In the last days there have been no new Covid-19 cases so we’ve stopped the cycle a little bit.
“Hopefully step by step, we get our players back. We have to take time to get their fitness back.
“Until the end of the transfer window, it could be a bit bumpy due to this difficult spell but we won’t complain. Most teams will have to deal with this at some point.”