David Wagner urged the boo boys to stay away rather than hit Norwich City’s Championship play-off charge after Tuesday’s 4-2 win against Watford at Carrow Road.
City moved back into the top six after an eighth unbeaten home game in the league but Wagner’s second half substitutions sparked a furious response from a section of the home support.
The Canaries were 2-1 up after Ashley Barnes and Josh Sargent’s first half goals, but the removal of Sargent and Onel Hernandez for Marcelino Nunez and Christian Fassnacht was greeted with boos.
Nunez sparked the third goal slotted by Gabby Sara before Fassnacht was credited with the match-sealing fourth.
Wagner insisted him and his players deserve more respect.
“I don’t call them supporters. I don’t know what the right word for them is,” said Wagner, who also confirmed after the win top scorer Jon Rowe will be out for two months with a serious hamstring injury. “We have to clarify, this is a very small group here in the stadium. To be fair, I think the players who come on the pitch deserve respect.
“It’s not okay to boo if the players come on. And maybe I deserve a little bit of respect as well if I take players off. Josh and Onel said at half-time they were struggling but wanted to give it a try. They gave us the sign they couldn’t continue and this is why they came off.
“They are not supporters, because supporters, and we have a large group here in the stadium, support the team when they need help when it doesn’t go in their favour. It’s easy to support if everything goes well.
“And this small group, from my point of view, should stay at home because this doesn’t help. It affects players on the pitch. I think you’ve seen this how one or other got affected by this atmosphere, because they had no clue what was going on.
“Obviously, it’s a theme in the dressing room as well with the players who feel consistently they have performed and got results, and they get this reward from a small group. But it is how it is. I’m not sure if I will change them.
“Maybe the one who sits beside them in the stands can change it. Because if we like to achieve something extraordinary in the season, we need everyone on board. We have to make sure that the small group calms down, or don’t have the voice and the noise which they had in this game, which from my point of view was just unacceptable.
“We all together now have to look forward to these 15 games, try to get a proper unit, try to see the targets, try to see the opportunity, the chance, which we have. And for this, we have to stick together and support each other. And, again, support means if someone has a low, to be there to give a shoulder to help.
“And this is what we have to have. We have this in this dressing room. This is why this win makes it even bigger for me and I’m so proud, because they supported each other this season, myself included when it was needed.
“And this is what they’ve done. And hopefully, we create this here in the stadium at Carrow Road consistently as well. Again, we speak about a small group, but the bigger group has to be louder and keep them quiet.”
