Chris Hughton takes Norwich City reins with Colin Calderwood in tow

CHRIS Hughton was confirmed as Paul Lambert’s replacement as Norwich City manager yesterday and has taken his assistant, former Hibernian boss Colin Calderwood, with him from Birmingham to Carrow Road – the Scot’s third job in seven months.

An undisclosed compensation package was agreed with Birmingham for Hughton and three members of his backroom staff, with No 2 Calderwood – axed by Hibs last November – first-team coach Paul Trollope and head scout Ewan Chester also making the switch.

Hughton said: “I’m absolutely delighted because they are good staff and they will certainly work as hard as I will to achieve what we can here.”

Hughton, who has agreed a three-year contract, has made it his first mission to keep hold of wantaway captain Grant Holt.

The 53-year-old takes charge of the club days after Holt had a transfer request rejected by the board, who are determined to retain their top goalscorer.

“He is a quality player, no doubt about that,” Hughton said of the 31-year-old, who scored 17 goals this past season. “With his record – to score the goals he did last season – there wouldn’t be any manager coming in who wouldn’t want to keep a player of that quality. I’ve only just come through the door a few minutes ago so I have not had the opportunity to speak with him but that will be one of the priorities.

“He is contracted to this club. He won player of the season for the last three seasons so I absolutely would like him here.”

Norwich chief executive David McNally was equally resolute about the club’s stance in regards to Holt’s future. “We want him to stay,” he said. “He is our captain and has been our top scorer for the last three years. He is not for sale and we would not encourage anyone to bid for him”

McNally also revealed that Hughton was the only candidate interviewed for the post vacated by Lambert’s move to Aston Villa. He said: “We looked at the UK and international market, and had a detailed look at who was available and who wasn’t and we wanted to try to find the person who could take us forward. This is one of the best times in the club’s history financially so we think the job is attractive to managers around the world.

“We thought it was key to have top-league experience, preferably in the Premier League and at the end of it all we looked at the names and Chris stood out as number one candidate. We recognised that unanimously.”

Lambert offered his resignation in order to force through his move, but despite the nature of his exit, McNally said there were no hard feelings.

“Paul Lambert’s achievements here over the last three years are extraordinary and quite rightly he will go down in history as one of the best managers this club as had and we will be forever grateful for what Paul has produced for the club,” he said. “In terms of how it ended, for me, that’s football – that is all it is and we knew at some point it would come to an end. So no regrets and only praise and thanks for Paul and his efforts at this football club.”

Lambert took Norwich on a meteoric rise from the foot of League One to a 12th-placed finish in the Barclays Premier League and was also praised for the style of football he introduced, something Hughton will look to continue.