Be it the Craig Fleming and Malky Mackay partnership that carried Nigel Worthington’s collective to the then First Division title in 2004.
Or the majestic Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia tour de force that powered Daniel Farke’s two Championship title winning seasons.
In that second, Covid-framed campaign, the midfield glue was provided by a Kenny McLean and Olly Skipp axis that for many a season afterwards had some Norwich fans pining for a return to Norfolk for the one-time Tottenham loanee.
With Philippe Clement’s non-World Cup contingent now back in the building, and the first pre-season friendly of the summer looming against King’s Lynn in a behind-closed-doors tune up at Colney, the Belgian will need to lock in his own key partnerships.
The grind of 46 games of Championship football may test the depth of a squad, but history would also suggest the City head coach must decide who are the couples that can underpin a promotion push.
Centre back
Jose Cordoba and Ruairi McConville looked like a natural fit during that marked upturn Clement engineered over the second part of the last Championship tour.
But remarkably, given how intuitive it felt watching the composed manner they added much-needed defensive resolve to a porous backline, the first audition only came halfway through the campaign in a New Year’s Day win at QPR. Which in truth underscored Harry Darling had arrived at Carrow Road this time last summer as the expected defensive leader, under previous head coach Liam Manning.
Clement clearly detected the promise which had been kept in reserve around McConville, and married that with a far greater consistency from Cordoba. A player he has since made little secret of the fact he wanted in a previous coaching role at Rangers.
Cordoba’s eyecatching World Cup displays carried on his club form, and now it would seem he is the focal point at the heart of a Clement backline the challenge is who might partner him?
In City’s turbo-charged January and February spell it was Cordoba and McConville who he preferred, before a late season injury interlude for the Northern Irishman opened the door again for Darling.
A notable outing in an Easter Monday away win at promotion-chasing Millwall prompted Clement to label it Darling’s best under his stewardship. But that is the level he will need to maintain to offer a compelling case not to revert to the Cordoba and McConville pairing.
Brazilian import, Bruno Alves, must be viewed at least in the shorter term as a ‘project’ addition who will require a period of adaptation to not only the Championship, but the demanding Clement.
Central midfield
Hard at this stage to see past a McLean and Pelle Mattsson reunion in the Norwich engine room.
Sam Field ably softened the mid-winter injury blow of losing in Mattsson a player who had emerged from early season difficulties, after his abrupt move to England in the aftermath of Marcelino Nunez’s defection.
But it was clear who Clement felt was the indispensable cog in his machine when Mattsson was fit to return to the fray. So much so it was the Dane who captained the side in McLean’s precautionary absence on the final weekend at Hull.
That little goal burst at Charlton and Millwall, either side of another outside the penalty area hit at home to Portsmouth, also showcased a different dimension to Mattsson’s craft. This is a player who can do it all at this level, with the athleticism and energy to stop opponents at source, and trigger turnovers, as well as hit the back of the net.
McLean rightly for many was City’s player-of-the-year recipient in a campaign that had contained arguably some of his best football in a green and yellow shirt. In Clement he found a head coach who was able to extract something more from his game.
The Scot will remain his on-pitch general for the foreseeable but the permanent return of Field, the expectation Mirko Topic is back in the mix after his ACL knee injury from early in the new season, and also a feeling Jacob Wright needs a breakout season, may ensure even as strong as McLean and Mattsson look as a unit it might be premature to predict a central midfield coronation.
If there is one area of Championship combat that pushes players to their limits of performance it is in the muck and nettles of operating in the middle of the park.
Striker/number 10
At this stage the most open selection contest of this vital trio of key pairings. So many variables in play, so many options now once fit-again Jovon Makama and Ante Crnac can join Mo Toure and Mathias Kvistgaarden.
While behind them the scrap for the creator-in-chief role as number 10 must include Oscar Schwartau, as much as it does Anis Ben Slimane and Paris Maghoma.
At the top end of the pitch Clement’s task is not necessarily deciding a popularity contest to pick the two best, but finding the most optimum blend.
Go back to the gloriously unexpected 2018/19 Championship title winning season under Farke and few were predicting at this stage Pukki and Marco Stiepermann would become a match made in football heaven.
Pukki arrived that summer as potentially the back up to Jordan Rhodes. While Stiepermann was coming off an unconvincing debut tour in England.
But together they were an unstoppable combination; physically robust but technically clever players with, as it would become apparent in Pukki, a predatory instinct for goals.
It might not have carried the stardust of the later collaboration with Buendia but it was more than good enough to give Norwich that final third punch.
At this stage Makama and Toure may feel like they are at the head of the striker queue. It is for Crnac and Kvistgaarden to nudge the dial.
Can Schwartau take his game to another level, and handle that added responsibility in a central role? Will Slimane be able to offer that creative threat over a much larger sample, and can Maghoma last the course and distance following an injury-hit period towards the end of his time at Brentford?
These are all imponderables which make the countdown to West Brom’s opening weekend league visit an intriguing pre-season sifting exercise for Clement. And City fans.
