Norwich City appoint Jez Moxey as new CEO

Norwich City have confirmed the appointment of Jez Moxey as the club’s new Chief Executive. Moxey, who will leave his post at Championship rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in order to take up the role at City, replaces David McNally who resigned in May. The reaction of City supporters to Moxey’s appointment has been fairly mixed - with the vast majority, myself included, knowing of the 53-year-old but very little about his actual credentials within the footballing world.

Perhaps what is triggering most concern for City supporters is Moxey’s popularity, or lack of, among the Wolves fan-base. A quick scroll through some of the replies to the official Norwich City tweet announcing Moxey’s appointment suggested scenes of jubilation from the West Midlands; with Wolves fans seemingly overjoyed at his departure. A quick Google search shows images of numerous protests undertaken by Wolves supporters in opposition to Moxey’s leadership - “think of our club, not your bonus. Moxey out”, a banner reads. Surely, however, he can’t be all bad? After all, according to Ed Balls, he “was the stand-out candidate from an extremely strong shortlist”, so he must be good, right?

The truth is that none of us really know. What we do know, however, is that David McNally departed the club with a similar level of opposition. Had he left City to join another club then it is likely that some Norwich supporters would have reacted in exactly the same way as we have seen Wolves fans react to Moxey’s departure, and yet McNally is without doubt one of the club’s most successful CEO’s of all time.

Furthermore, it must be remembered that it is very difficult to find a CEO that is universally liked. The nature of the job means that crucial, and more often than not, unpopular, decisions have to be made - decisions that will never please everyone. Thus, to judge Moxey purely based on what the Wolves fanbase think of him is perhaps unfair.

One thing that is certain is that he brings huge footballing experience to a board that lacks it. McNally’s departure left the club worryingly exposed in the hands of Delia, Michael Wynn-Jones, Delia’s nephew and Ed Balls, and Moxey’s arrival will at the very least ease such concerns. Having worked as a Chief Executive in football for over 21 years, first at Stoke before moving onto Wolves, as well as having roles as the Championship representative for both the FA and the Football League, if Moxey is not suitably placed to take over the reigns from McNally then no-one is. One would hope that a man in such an influential role, over such a long period of time, would develop a useful contact or two.

The answer as to whether the appointment is a good one or not will become clearer over the next couple of seasons, but, for the time being, Norwich fans can be glad that the search is over. To remain reliant on our interim Chief Executive, Steve Stone, for too long would have been unhealthy and the appointment of Moxey at least allows the club to properly move forward in a new, McNally-less direction.

Let’s hope he can have a similar impact to his predecessor and that this direction is a positive one.