Gunn appointed a backroom staff of former Norwich colleagues, making Ian Crook first-team coach and John Deehan chief scout. However, the initial turnaround in form could not be maintained; having lost their last three games of the season, Norwich were relegated from the Championship. Gunn labelled his players as an "embarrassment" after the 4–2 defeat to Charlton Athletic that sealed relegation to League One. Despite relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time in nearly 50 years, Writing in "Tales from the City", Gunn said of the match "Even going to Charlton on the last day, I thought we could survive… We lost 4-2 and were relegated to the third tier. I was shell-shocked; the emptiest I have ever felt in a sporting or professional context. The directors went on the field to face the fans and to thank them for their support and I had tears in my eyes when I saw Delia and Michael doing that. I told them how sorry I was."