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Hughton appointed new Norwich manager

Chris Hughton has left Birmingham City for Noriwch © PA Photos

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Chris Hughton has been confirmed as the new Norwich City manager.

Hughton, the former Birmingham City manager, agreed to succeed Paul Lambert at Carrow Road after the two clubs came to an agreement over compensation.

Lambert had previously left Norwich to take charge at Aston Villa, having previously led the Canaries to Premier League safety after taking the reins at the club while they were in League One.

"It's a prospect I was very excited about and I'm looking forward to the challenge in front of me," Hughton said. "It was difficult [to leave Birmingham] because I had a good year and the supporters were excellent with me.

"I am grateful they allowed me to speak to Norwich and looking forward to getting to work here."

Hughton added: "It's a tough task [succeeding Lambert], a hard act to follow - but it's about the challenge and about making progress. Stability in this division is what I've got to look forward to."

Compensation for Hughton, thought to be around £2 million, has been agreed and his backroom team - assistant Colin Calderwood, coach Paul Trollope and goalkeeping coach Dave Watson - will move with him.

The 53-year-old took over on a rolling contract at Birmingham following their relegation from the Premier League in 2011. Despite player sales and financial constraints, he guided them to the play-off semi-finals, where they lost to Blackpool.

"We'd like to thank Chris and his team for their efforts over the last 12 months and they leave with our best wishes," Birmingham acting chairman Peter Pannu said. "Chris is a great man and a proven manager and we didn't want to stand in his way when Norwich made an approach with the offer of a top flight managerial position."

Norwich legend Ian Crook, once a playing colleague of Hughton's at Tottenham, said he believed the appointment would be the right one for the Canaries.

"He was a smart footballer and in the time he came through it was a team with some great players like Steve Perryman, Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles - he will have learned a great deal from them," Crook, now the head coach at Sydney FC, said.

"They all went on to management and a lot of that team went on into coaching roles. Chris was always one who looked like he would go ahead and do the same.

"It helps that Norwich have a tradition of trying to play the right way and, being at Spurs, that will be his way as well. I think he did an excellent job at Newcastle and was unlucky to lose the job when he did. Losing in the play-offs with Birmingham was a disappointment for him, but he did a good job there too. It looks like very interesting times for Norwich."

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