One of his soundbites, in particular, from an opening press conference on November 15 last year, flanked by sporting director Stuart Webber, has stood the testament of time.

For ‘us’ he could have substituted ‘him’ because after that initial bounce it has felt like Smith has been fighting his own rearguard action ever since. To the point earlier this season the City boss made it clear he is not Farke, he will not act like Farke and he will continue to do things his way.

That has been the unspoken subtext, and the source of not so subtle social media chatter at various points, as Smith tried to navigate another crash landing in the Championship – one he effectively inherited from the German – to now position the Canaries in the front rank of the promotion contenders.

From style of play to personality there have been plenty seeking to make unflattering comparisons between the two.

Farke’s impact on and off the park was seismic in a spell that will stand the test of time with any in Norwich’s modern history, a period with the most glorious highs and debilitating, dispiriting lows whenever his methods were subject to searing examination against the best.

A Manchester City Carrow Road win proved a dreamy island in a sea of top flight despair.

Smith is now striving to clear the same high bar Farke managed on the club’s previous two tilts at the Championship.

In some respects, unquestionably, but eight of the starters at Rotherham United last weekend were players already in the building when he first arrived.

That is less a changing of the guard, and more an evolutionary track, under a head coach who perhaps, it is fair to state, is far more willing to embrace pragmatism than his predecessor.

The relentless churn of players and systems, not all of Smith’s making given those chronic injury issues this season to the left side of his defence, hindered the drive to settle on a consistency in selection and performance.

But the signs are there. Not only if you glance at the current Championship standings -which despite that prolonged recent fallow period in results – leave Norwich well placed to challenge for an automatic promotion spot the other side of this upcoming domestic pause for the World Cup.

But it is as much in the manner of three recent tussles with Stoke, QPR and Rotherham. Three very different opponents chasing different goals but in the best moments you could detect a common thread to Norwich’s play based on a cohesiveness and control that had largely proven elusive.

Aaron Ramsey now looks like the goalscoring attacking midfield option he was first touted, when the teenager followed Smith from Aston Villa on a season long loan. Gabby Sara’s influence at Rotherham, bar that one aberration for the Millers’ equaliser, and the vibrancy of his link up down the right with a rejuvenated Max Aarons, should set City hearts aflutter.

There is an uncomplicated, unfussy manner to how the Newcastle loanee operates, but you can already see his vast experience and ability to improve others around him in the middle of the park.

Leading from the front is the understated Smith. A man who in public has had to shoulder too much of the public focus this season, but who has perfected the art of rolling with the punches.

That win over Stoke was big on many levels but as always there was a refreshing candour from the City boss, rather than any attempt to downplay the significance of a win that alleviated some of the ‘edginess’ around Carrow Road.

He may baulk at playing to the galleries like his predecessor but there is a stoicism to be admired and an inner drive to improve that should not be discounted.

That ‘edginess’ will linger until results improve markedly on home soil.

Middlesbrough will be no pushovers this weekend under new boss Michael Carrick. But beat Boro in a controlled manner and the sense this is Smith’s collective, and Smith’s Norwich, will gather pace as he prepares to mark his own personal milestone.