Delia Smith resigns as Norwich City director – but gets new job with the club

Delia Smith's time as a director of Norwich City has come to an end after the club confirmed she would be stepping down from the role with the Championship side

Norwich City have confirmed that Delia Smith is stepping down as a director of the Canaries.

The legendary British cook agreed in the summer to sell her majority stake in the club to American consortium Norfolk Holdings, which is led by US businessman Mark Attanasio, who is the principal owner of MLB franchise the Milwaukee Brewers.

A general meeting at Carrow Road held on Wednesday evening saw shareholders vote on a takeover by Attanasio's consortium, which ended Smith's 28-year spell as a Norwich City director.

An excerpt from Norwich City's statement confirming the news read: "Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones will now step down from the club’s board of directors and take up the position of honorary life presidents of the club. 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."

However, Smith and her husband Wynn-Jones, will now move into a different role with the Championship side. The pair have been confirmed as honorary life presidents. While they will not make any profit from this, they will still continue to regularly attend Norwich games.

Smith had been on the board since November 1996 after she injected £2million into the club. Alongside Wynn-Jones, they also became majority shareholders in 1998, with their time at Norwich leading to them overseeing six promotions, six relegations and two play-off finals.

However, perhaps the most famous, or rather infamous, Smith moment came back in February 2005, when she issued a rallying cry on the pitch to Norwich supporters at half-time during their clash with Manchester City. Walking out onto the pitch at Carrow Road with microphone in hand, Smith said: "A message to the best football supporters in the world... We need a 12th man here. Where are you? Where are you? Let's be having you. Come on!"

Unfortunately however for Smith, Norwich conceded a 90th minute winner from Robbie Fowler, with Man City going on to win the game 3-2 despite the Canaries taking a 2-0 lead in the first-half.