Football: Norwich appoint former Villa boss Smith as manager

LONDON (Reuters) - Norwich City have appointed former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith as head coach in place of Daniel Farke, the Premier League club said on Monday (Nov 15).

Norwich sacked Farke this month when Smith was also fired by Villa following a run of five straight league defeats.

Smith joined Villa in 2018 following a spell in charge of Brentford where he developed a reputation for playing exciting, attacking football.

He guided Villa back to the top flight via the playoffs in his first campaign with a club record 10-match winning run at the end of the season.

Aston Villa have since appointed former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard as their manager.

"It has been a whirlwind seven days, but I'm really pleased to be back and working for Norwich City in the Premier League," Smith, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, said in a statement.

"Clearly, there has been some wonderful work that has gone into this football club over last four-and-a-half years.

"It is now the job of myself and (assistant coach) Craig (Shakespeare) to continue and improve on that work with the ultimate aim of surviving in the Premier League."

The Canaries are bottom of the table after collecting just five points from their first 11 games since returning to the top flight.

Former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was reported to have been one of the candidates for the job but withdrew from the running as he did not feel it was right for him at this stage of his career, said a Sky Sports report.

Norwich will play Southampton next on Nov 20.