Delia Smith has stepped down as director at Norwich City after almost three decades and will take on a new role at the club.
TV chef Smith and husband Michael Wynn Jones bought Norwich in 1996 and have been on the board for the past 28 years. However, they agreed to hand their majority stake to American firm Norfolk Holdings, headed up by new owner Mark Attanasio, in the summer.
That has now been rubber-stamped by the Championship side’s shareholders, with Smith and Wynn Jones stepping down from the club’s board of directors and taking up the position of honorary life presidents.
The 85-year-old Smith will reportedly not get a penny from giving up her shares but the Canaries’s long-term future will be secured by the new owners, who will take on debts understood to be around £59m.
“After 28 years as directors of Norwich City, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones have stepped down to become honorary life presidents. It’s not goodbye, it’s just thank you,” the club wrote on Twitter/X.
In a statement on the club website, they added: “This brings to an end an incredible 28-year spell as directors of the football club. The club’s existing board would like to place on record its sincere thanks and gratitude to Delia and Michael for their contributions to the club during their time as directors.”
Smith was first invited to invest in the club amid their financial struggles following relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 1994/95 season and after pumping in an initial £2m, she became the majority shareholder a couple of years later.
During her time in charge, the Canaries were promoted on six occasions and also relegated six times as they became the archetypal Premier League/Championship yo-yo club.
Perhaps her most famous moment came during a match against Manchester City in 2005 when she stormed on to the Carrow Road pitch at half-time and implored the largely baffled Norwich fans to give the team more support, yelling “Where are you? Where are you? Let’s be ‘avin’ you. Come on.”
With her at the helm, the Norfolk-based side have been promoted to the Prem six times and relegated six times.
Businessman Attanasio heads up Norfolk Holdings, a group who joined the Norwich board two years ago. Attanasio is the owner of baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers and he co-founded the Californian investment firm Crescent Capital Group.
The Canaries currently sit seventh in the Championship, just two points outside the play-offs as they look to secure another promotion back to the Premier League.