A few seconds after 2pm on Monday, Norwich City football club tilted on its axis.
A week those inside the club have messaged could lead to ins and outs started with the biggest transfer of all.
Power. From two figureheads who have been the visible representation of this club inside and outside the football industry for over a quarter of a century.
But, at heart, the club announcement of a road map towards a decisive shift in the Carrow Road boardroom started when Mark Attanasio, and Norfolk Holdings, were first pictured in the directors’ box, back in May 2022.
Then it was Premier League football on display. Now it is more Championship gruel in the near future, but the Americans’ commitment has only strengthened in the intervening period. Both in financial and football terms, Attanasio, his family and business partners, looked to forge bonds and ties that bound new to old.
A first sight of Mark Attanasio and Richard Ressler (pictured two to the left of Attanasio) at Carrow Road back in May 2022 (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
Chief amongst such a delicate process had to be the inter-personal relationship with Attanasio, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones - the ‘custodians and caretakers’ of a 122-year-old institution to paraphrase how they always view their own place in the Canary Nation.
A football club rooted in the community, and with fellow supporters always front and centre, striving to plot a hazardous route through an English game now monopolised by billionaires and increasingly nation states.
The promotions, the relegations, the tears, the trophies, the waves of criticism they held on for too long. Yet they stayed when it was much easier to go. They opted not to sell and, in many seasons never entertained selling, not for pure self-interest but because this football club was too precious to trade as a commodity.
As the wide-ranging club statement on Monday afternoon outlined, ‘Delia and Michael have always been clear they would act in the best interests of the club’.
Now the time has come to pass the torch.
Confirmation in the same statement the proposed £59m debt-to-equity vehicle that, subject to the regulatory takeover panel waiver and shareholder approval, will hand Attanasio’s group majority control does not earn them a red cent in personal wealth.
Attanasio and his backers have been portrayed as the saviours on white chargers since his influence began to increase, from purchasing Michael Foulger’s shareholding, to underwriting the debt refinancing that last year saw his group establish parity in the boardroom. Another process that could only have been set in train with the explicit agreement of Smith and Wynn Jones.
Another visible sign they felt City had a like-minded individual in the Milwaukee Brewers’ long time principal owner.
Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones savour Norwich City's Championship title win at Aston Villa in 2019 (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
But it is Smith and Wynn Jones who have been Norwich’s saviours.
From when they propped up a failing club when they first joined the board, to sinking more of their own cash in to try and drive it forward, as on pitch success vied with failed attempts at top flight consolidation.
There is plenty of devil in the detail in the club’s lengthy release. Attanasio’s long time college friend and fellow businessman, Richard Ressler, joining the board immediately, with another board seat set to come at the conclusion of this process.
Smith and Wynn Jones potentially stepping down in the next month or two to take up roles as honorary life presidents and in time, subject to converting the proposed non-voting preference shares from March 2025 onwards, seeing their shareholding diluted to 10pc, with the final 5pc ring fencing a fan shareholder presence.
There will be more questions to come about Attanasio’s long term intentions, should this transfer of power clear the various hurdles over these next few months.
But a lock step three year agreement between both parties, outlined during the previous share allotment process, has taken just over 18 months to reach what feels a seismic, era-defining moment for a club who even now, in the key football appointments of people like Ben Knapper and Johannes Hoff Thorup, are striving to do things differently.
Delia Smith on the Wembley turf after Norwich City's 2015 Championship play-off win under Alex Neil (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd)
That, in essence, is what set apart Smith and Wynn Jones’ custodianship from the vast majority of owners in the top echelons of the professional game. They were not in it for personal glory, or wealth, they were there front of house - in good times and bad - to ensure Norwich City as a football club remain a viable, thriving community for generations to come.
Attanasio and his group may have the financial wherewithal to nudge the dial to a completely different level. With a cautionary note. Given his stewardship of the Brewers, it would be unwise to see City now pivoting away from a self-funded approach that in the darker periods was used as another label for lack of ambition at the top of the football club.
But they will do well to embody, or match, the ideals of Smith and Wynn Jones, and their love for Norwich City football club.
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