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Kelle the elephant
My manager asked me to draw an ELEPHANT in a team meeting – but there’s a good reason behind bizarre request
He also enjoyed a bit of steak pie, mash and gravy with a Norwich icon
KELLEN FISHER was asked to draw an ELEPHANT by Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup in front of stunned team-mates.
But the Canaries right-back, 20, says there was a method to the madness as he revealed the Dane’s way of working.
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Fisher explained: “Everyone’s striving to do well since the new manager came in during the summer. Each day he’s asking us to be consistent.
“We had a meeting and he got me up to draw an elephant.
“After doing so, he asked how good I thought it was? I told him, ‘Not very’.
“And then the manager asked, ‘If you practised it every day, how good would your elephant be?’
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“I replied, ‘Pretty good’. He said, ‘In six months, your elephant will be perfect’.
“He was comparing practising drawing an elephant to what we’re doing here.
“We’ve just got to keep working hard and keeping our standards high to achieve better results.
“It’s just the way this manager explains things, it’s eye-opening.
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“Going up to draw an elephant on the board and comparing that to football isn’t something I was thinking about!”
Although Norwich are lower mid-table as they travel to West Brom on Saturday, this has still been a breakthrough few months for the rookie.
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Fisher, who was in non-league last year, has made ten Championship starts this term and earned a first England Under-21 squad call-up.
It has been a whirlwind since he joined Norwich in the summer of 2023 from Bromley.
Fisher was expected to be playing for the Canaries’ under-21s for a couple of years.
Yet he was quickly dining with then-club owner Delia Smith and put in the first team by ex-boss David Wagner.
And Fisher said: “Delia invited me and my family for a meal before a game to get to know us, asking where I’d been and stuff like that. She wanted to make us feel welcome.
“I don’t think she physically cooked it but the food was so good, maybe she did! We had steak pie, mash and gravy.
“She gave me a cooking book and signed it, which I’ve given to my mum because she’s a fan of hers.”
Within six weeks, Fisher was handed his debut and set up Jonathan Rowe’s last-minute winner at QPR.
Fisher went on to make another two starts and came off the bench six times.
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He admitted: “I struggled to adapt to this level for about six months but everyone helped me settle in.
“It was great working with Wagner. I thank him for giving me my debut. I really enjoyed working for him.”
Under Thorup, since starting in the 4-1 win against Watford in September, the youngster has been an ever-present.
Fisher was gutted the other week when his equalising ‘goal’ in a 3-3 epic with Middlesbrough was given as an own goal to keeper Seny Dieng.
The right-back’s slightly miscued cross appeared to be heading in before the Boro stopper palmed it into the net.
Fisher said: “I thought it was mine but then suspected it might be taken away.
“I put the ball across the front zone and it went a bit more to the right than expected. It’s gone in off the keeper and the place erupted. It was a great moment.”
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Fisher is yet to score in his senior career, which also included two loan spells at Welling and Cray Wanderers while at Bromley.
But he used to be an attacker until Bromley academy coach Steve Harris switched him to right-back.
Fisher said: “I was playing as a winger for the under-21s and randomly one game he said, ‘I want you to play right-back’.
“At the time it was short-term because, after a few games, I was a winger again.
“But then during the off- season Steve told me, ‘Right- back is your position now — and you’re not changing’. I’ve been there ever since.”
Fisher rose through the ranks at Bromley after making his debut in an FA Trophy game at Dover, aged 17, in 2021.
And he credited his ex-boss Andy Woodman for helping him grow into a man — including a half-time rollicking after a poor performance.
Fisher said: “We were winning 1-0 in a game and, before half-time, conceded two stoppage-time goals.
“He told me I wasn’t being aggressive enough and that I was playing like a little boy.
“At the time I was a little boy but I understood what he meant. It was the first time he had a real go at me.
“But the next day he pulled me in to check if I was OK. In football, you do sometimes need a little push.”
There is no doubting that Fisher is a huge talent with so much potential.
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Coaches and ex-team-mates at Bromley told SunSport they believe he will make it to the Premier League.
Maybe the youngster who started his football journey for local Bromley Sunday league side Kingfisher is destined to become a real King Fisher.
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