Norwich City’s first game of the 2025/26 season will be the dawning of a new era.

Liam Manning and his coaching staff will get a rapturous reception as they lead the team out for the first time in competitive action. There will be a spring in the step of the fans heading to Carrow Road after a long three-month break, yet there will also be a realisation that not everything that looks good on paper turns out as well as hoped.

We were in the same position one year ago, with a new Head Coach creating excitement and enthusiasm for what may come. The Johannes Hoff Thorup rebuilding era didn’t even last a whole season before Ben Knapper decided that he had lost faith in the Dane.

It didn’t take long for Manning to emerge as a leading contender for the vacancy. Once his Bristol City team were knocked out of the play-offs, he looked to be the perfect fit for what Knapper had previously set out as his requirements.

Add that to the impressive summer make-over of the playing squad and last season’s rebuild seems a long way away. This season isn’t a dress rehearsal for better years ahead: 2025/26 begins with realistic ambitions of a Top Six finish.

The scale of the changes does create a risk of things taking a while to gel. That’s something a relatively stable Millwall team will be hoping to use to their advantage in their attempt to end a long win-less run at Carrow Road.

Alex Neil’s qualities are well known among Norwich fans and I fancied he would do well at Millwall after being appointed at the end of 2024.

His decision to leave Sunderland for Stoke City in August 2022, a few months after getting the former team promoted to the Championship, remains a headscratcher. The way that backfired, and left him out of work for a year licking his wounds, meant that he had a point to prove when he took on the manager’s job at the Den.

An eighth-placed finish, narrowly missing out on a play-off spot to Manning’s Bristol City on the final day of the season, was a strong effort and they’ve kept most of that squad together over the summer.

Millwall are a good Championship team and, for all the justified optimism heading into the game among us home fans, Norwich will have to play well if they are to have a chance of getting off to a winning start.

Predicted Starting XI

Last Saturday’s line-up against NAC Breda is the main point of reference for Liam Manning’s first competitive XI.

The two question marks for me are:

1. Whether Ben Chrisene will still be the left-back/left-centre back or if José Córdoba will be favoured? That may come down to what type of back line Manning feels is needed against Millwall. Córdoba would be the more natural left-of-a-three centre back option.
2. Will Papa Amadou Diallo start and, if not, who plays instead? I only query that as the focus last Saturday was in getting minutes into Diallo’s legs having only just joined. It will be interesting to see if Manning feels like he’s ready to make a Championship start straight away.

Other things to look out for

Queues at the turnstiles as the e-ticket system leaves some people bewildered.

Some fancy new pies in the concourses.

Lauren Hemp getting a deserved hero’s welcome.