German football expert and The Athletic’s Bundesliga correspondent, Raphael Honigstein, offers an insight into the new Norwich City head coach David Wagner.
canaries.co.uk: Raphael, are you able to tell us a little bit about David’s journey through German football?
RH: Yeah, I wouldn’t necessarily call him a bit of a journeyman when he was a player, but he was always on the fringes of the teams he played for. He was part of the famous Schalke 04 side that won the UEFA Cup in 1997. The players who were in that team are still revered to this day by the Schalke fans. Among the Schalke fans he has a minor cult status, if you will. But overall, he didn’t make that big of a splash as a player. It was only when he became a coach, first at Dortmund, where people began to take notice. His big break and when he really appeared on the radar of the German public was when he appeared at Huddersfield. Word spread very quickly in Germany following his success there and he became much more well-known.
canaries.co.uk: How much of an impact did David’s success at Huddersfield have in his native Germany?
RH: It was massive. The whole Huddersfield story was of huge interest in Germany. Nobody had really heard of the club, but David changed that. It was rightly viewed as a bit of a miracle story, getting them promoted and then keeping them in the Premier League. There were a lot of stories about David and his Huddersfield team in Germany. Camera crews were flying over to see him, I remember interviewing him during his time there. The interest was huge, because he was one of the few German head coaches that had been in the Premier League. His relationship with Jurgen Klopp was also a massive factor. They’re best friends and when they faced each other in the Premier League it was a massive story.
canaries.co.uk: After his spell at Huddersfield, David returned to Germany as head coach of Schalke 04.
RH: Initially, it went really well. The first half of the season was fantastic. They had some really good results and there was a sense that Schalke had finally found the head coach that they had been looking for for a decade or so. A lot of people were once saying that he reminded them of Klopp. He built a really strong connection with the dressing room, understood the club and its people, as well as the supporters. It all seemed like an unbelievably good fit. I remember visiting him during one of their training camps in the first season and it was a very happy place.
It was when they had a bit of a bad start to the second half of season, when COVID came along that things started to fall away. The club stuck by and believed in him for a period, but in the end it didn’t work out. He wasn’t really blamed for how it ended at Schalke, it was more just the story of another coach who found the problems in the background of the club.
canaries.co.uk: How is David currently viewed in Germany?
RH: With a lot of positivity, generally speaking. He is well liked and the German public will be rooting for him to do well. He has a positive persona, but of course there is some real intrigue in how he’ll do after his spells with Schalke and Young Boys. People will look at this move to Norwich with interest and a lot of goodwill, but there will be real interest to see what he can do. People want to see if he can do what he did at Huddersfield again. It’s a very interesting parallel.
canaries.co.uk: What can Norwich City fans expect from a David Wagner team?
RH: Again, some very strong similarities to the convictions of Klopp’s teams. There will be a lot of pressing and verticality, with an emphasis on being fast and hard working. It will be quite different to what Norwich fans experienced under Daniel Farke, who was a lot more possession based. Wagner’s teams tend to have a lot more direction and transition. It doesn’t mean it always has to be that way, but that has usually been his way of approaching games. He has the charisma to get the buy in from the players. I remember Weston McKennie telling me how much David had helped him.
I think he can cultivate that feeling and he is a guy that understands how dressing rooms, clubs and cities work. He can tune into that very quickly. I think he’ll be able to foster those connections and relationships, but ultimately it all comes down to results. From the experience at Schalke and Huddersfield he has shown he can connect with fans and build that positive atmosphere. I think Norwich fans will really take to him. He’s genuinely a very likeable and honest guy.
Raphael is available to follow on Twitter, @honigstein.