Norwich City legend Craig Fleming will return to Carrow Road next season – but in the opposition dug-out after taking a coaching role at Championship rivals Bristol City.
Fleming, 53, made 382 appearances for the Canaries over a 10-year period after moving from Oldham Athletic in June 1997. During his spell at Carrow Road, he became captain and won the player of the season award in City’s Premier League promotion campaign in 2003/04.
His coaching career began at local non-league side Lowestoft Town before moving to join Southampton’s academy in February 2015.
Fleming served in multiple coaching roles, including as under-18 manager, before earning a promotion to the first team as a technical coach under Ralph Hassenhuttl in December 2018.
After leaving St Mary’s in 2022, Fleming moved to Derby as director of development before reuniting with Hassenhuttl in the Bundesliga as assistant head coach of Wolfsburg until the Austrian was sacked in May.
He now joins Gerhard Struber’s backroom team alongside assistant Bernd Eibler, first-team coach Alex Bell and head of goalkeeping Pat Mountain. It means Fleming will return to Carrow Road when the teams meet on Saturday, October 18.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but I’m delighted to be here,” Fleming said. “I can’t wait to get going.
“I’ve heard nothing but good things about the boys, but when you’re out there you can see what a good bunch they are, what good quality they’ve got and this is a great place to come to work.
“Gerhard was looking for an assistant and my old guy was Ralph Hassenhuttl. They both came from the Red Bull stable and are both Austrian. I think my name came up in conversation, we hit it off and the rest is history.”
That will also see a spicy reunion for the Robins with new City boss Liam Manning, who swapped Ashton Gate for Carrow Road earlier in the summer along with coaching duo Chris Hogg and James Krause.
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