Chris Hughton sacked by Norwich City

Norwich have sacked manager Chris Hughton and his backroom staff after back-to-back defeats left them in a relegation dogfight in the English Premier League.

Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to fellow strugglers West Brom proved the final straw for the Norwich board, with a daunting run-in meaning their current five-point cushion over the bottom three offers little comfort.

The Canaries announced their youth coach Neil Adams, who guided the young Canaries to FA Youth Cup glory last year, has been named first-team manager.

The club said in a statement on their website: "Norwich City can confirm Chris Hughton, Colin Calderwood and Paul Trollope have parted company with the club with immediate effect — and former Canary winger and FA Youth Cup-winning coach Neil Adams has been appointed as first team manager."

Norwich travel to 18th-placed Fulham on Saturday for a potentially decisive game, before finishing the campaign with matches against Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Norwich added in their statement: “Chris’s achievement in guiding City to an 11th-place finish in the Premier League last season was an excellent one and he has represented the club with dignity throughout his tenure.

“However the recent run of four defeats in our last six Premier League games and six consecutive away league defeats, left the club with no choice but to act, with five games still to play in the current campaign.”

The 48-year-old Adams will now be entrusted with the task of keeping Norwich in the Premier League.

A title winner with Everton in 1987, he finished his playing career at Carrow Road before moving onto the coaching staff.

Adams said: “To say that I am delighted to have been offered the opportunity of managing Norwich City Football Club would be a massive understatement.

“People know what this club means to me, and so it goes without saying that we will be doing everything possible to ensure that we maintain our top-flight status for next season.

“These final five games will be a huge test for us, and everyone must step up to the mark. But with the full backing of these magnificent Norwich supporters we will have every chance of achieving our objective.”

Norwich have hovered around the lower reaches of the table all season, thanks in large part to a consistent struggle for goals - their tally of 26 in 33 games is second lowest only to Crystal Palace who have at least shown more resilience in defence since the appointment of Tony Pulis.

Last summer, Hughton spent a reported €10million to sign Ricky van Wolfswinkel from Sporting Lisbon and €6million to bring Gary Hooper from Celtic, while also adding Johan Elmander on loan, but none of the moves have paid off .

Hooper has just five goals in 28 league appearances, a poor return which is nevertheless significantly better than the one each that Van Wolfswinkel and Elmander have managed in 22 and 26 appearances respectively.