'Super ambitious' Jack Wilshere left 'disappointed' as Norwich confirm ex-Arsenal star is not in running manager's job after interim spell

The former Arsenal and England midfielder took charge of the Canaries for the last two games of the season after Johannes Hoff Thorup was sacked. Wilshere guided Norwich to a 0-0 draw against Middlesbrough and a 4-2 win against Cardiff as they ended the season in 13th place in the Championship.

Wilshere, who joined Norwich as a first-team coach from Arsenal in October last year, has been informed that will not be considered as an option for the permanent job, as sporting director Ben Knapper says it is not the right time for such a move.

"Jack is a fantastic person, he and I have a big history together," he told BBC Radio Norfolk. "He's a great coach and will be a fantastic head coach, but that's not going to be here at this particular moment in time. Naturally he's disappointed. He's super-ambitious, and he should be, but for where we are right now and the context, we're focussing externally. The emotional part, the romantic part of me would love to make that decision but my job is to not get wrapped up in emotion and to make cool, objective decisions."

Norwich are aiming to mount a serious challenge for promotion back to the Premier League next season and will be eager to make the right call with their next appointment.

"It's not something we expect to wrap up in a week or two but we don't want this to drag. We absolutely will have a head coach in place long before pre-season starts," the director continued. He added: "We consider the performance of the team, the performance and individual development of our players, and then of course results, all of those things were trending in the wrong direction. When that's the case we need to take action because we've got big ambitions and big targets here and ultimately we need to move towards delivering those."