Like many, I expected the arrival of head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup to open the doors to a summer of revolution at Carrow Road.

A summer in which wholesale changes were made in order to lower the average age of the playing squad and set up to play the possession-based brand of football the Dane has built his reputation upon.

But as we head into Saturday’s season opener at Oxford United, that has yet to materialise. In fact, it is entirely plausible that the line-up at the Kassam Stadium may only include one new signing.

That is why my first column of the season is a call for patience. Simply put, we are not in a position to hit the ground running.

Performances in pre-season have made that evidently clear. But we should have expected it. Hoff Thorup has been employed to deliver a significant sea change in terms of our style of play, something that will require time – and several more faces to sign before the end of the transfer window.

Which leads me on to Gabriel Sara. Understandably, the Brazilian’s departure has caused concern. His quality will be sorely missed. But the rebuild was always going to hinge on the inevitable departures of key assets, of which Sara was the most valuable.

However, life moves on – and new heroes will emerge. Even as I write this, it appears Ben Knapper is closing in on the signing of midfielder Forson Amankwah from RB Salzburg.

I won’t pretend to know much about the 21-year-old, but as with José Córdoba, Ben Chrisene and Callum Doyle, the potential is very exciting.

At the end of the day, football is a results business and we can’t afford to write off the first few months of the campaign.

But I just hope City fans can look at this new era with perspective, and with a view to success in the long-term. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.