Philippe Clement will reluctantly go on his summer holidays but is pledging not to rest until he can deliver ‘something special’ next season for Norwich City fans.
The Canaries finished ninth under the Belgian after a 2-1 final day Championship defeat at play-off contenders Hull.
Clement now plans some family time around what he has badged a Colney early summer training/fitness/fun window with his non-World Cup contingent, after transforming a squad who were second from bottom when he took over.
“It’s a hard one, because I hate to lose so there’s not much joy for the moment,” he said. “It makes me sick in the stomach to see we are not in the play-offs. I’ve loved this period. This is an amazing club with a lot of good people.
“I’ve been really proud about this group of players and also the staff, how hard they’ve worked the last few months together and how much they raised their levels.
“I’m really hungry to continue that story as fast as possible. But unluckily, there are some things like holidays in between. So I need to do those things also, and to enjoy the time with my family. That’s going to be also important.
“And then to come back with a lot of energy and desire and inspiration for the team to make them better towards next season, together with my staff, who have been brilliant, helping with that.”
Clement had to weave his way through a large scale Tigers’ pitch invasion at the final whistle to hail the 2,270 strong travelling support.
“Of course because we want to respect our fans, they’ve been brilliant all these months,” he said. “So many people made this long trip, although there was not much to win for the club any more, so we needed to respect them.
“The club started with nine points out of 15 games so that’s already an amazing story. In the last 26 games we took the most points in the league, and the players have been competing to go as high as possible. Next season that will be our target to get into these play-offs.
“We don’t need to see other fans celebrate or anything to want that for ourselves. You can see the scenes at Carrow Road for the final home game. There was a real unity with our fans. So of course, we want to give them something special next year.”