Norwich City's latest spell in the Premier League lasted three years as they finished 18th last term to drop back into the Championship.

Neil Adams, despite losing four of his five matches in caretaker charge at the end of the season, was given the manager's job on a full-time basis and managed to keep the bulk of the squad intact over the summer.

Robert Snodgrass and Leroy Fer were the toughest departures to take, but the two commanded a combined £15m in transfer fees. That money helped pay for the likes of Lewis Grabban, Kyle Lafferty, Gary O'Neil, Carlos Cuellar and Cameron Jerome.

Many expected Norwich to be one of the top candidates for promotion and here, Sports Mole looks at how the Canaries' first half of the season panned out.

August

Norwich began life back in the Championship with a Sunday trip to newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers and they would get off to a losing start, going down 1-0 and having Martin Olsson sent off at Molineux.

They bounced back with back-to-back home wins over Watford and Blackburn Rovers in which Grabban scored three goals to showcase why Norwich had forked out to sign him from Bournemouth.

The striker then won the fans over further by scoring the only goal at Portman Road as Norwich edged out arch rivals Ipswich Town in the first East Anglian derby for over three years to move within a point of the top.

A comfortable win over Crawley Town in the Capital One Cup followed before Grabban netted his fifth goal in five games with the opener against his former club. Norwich would miss out on their fourth straight win as Bournemouth hit back at Carrow Road.

September

Handsome back-to-back wins on the road at Cardiff City and Brentford made Norwich look even better as they and Nottingham Forest battled it out in a nip-and-tuck tussle for first place in the table.

While Grabban's goalscoring had dried up in September, Cameron Jerome was finding his feet with his new club and followed up his brace against Brentford with another double as the Canaries fought back from two down for a point at home to Birmingham City.

Grabban was back on the scoresheet in the 3-1 win at struggling Blackpool and Norwich had moved a point clear at the summit. They did, however, exit the League Cup at Shrewsbury Town.

An unexpected late defeat at home to Charlton Athletic ended the month, but Norwich were still top of the pile on goal difference.

October

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Adams and Norwich in the first half of the campaign. October would bring just one win for the Canaries and it began with another poor result at home as Rotherham United left Carrow Road with a point.

Another of the strugglers, Fulham, took all three from their game with Norwich before Leeds United made it five home games without a win in a 1-1 draw.

A stalemate at Sheffield Wednesday preceded their first win in five games as Jerome produced another brace against Bolton Wanderers and maintained Norwich's place in the playoffs. A sigh of relief at Carrow Road, where Norwich hadn't won in two months.

November

October could have been much better, but November was worse. First was a 4-0 hammering at Middlesbrough before the Canaries were cruelly beaten by an out-of-form Nottingham Forest side in stoppage time.

A barmy 3-3 draw at home to Brighton & Hove Albion followed before November ended with yet another mystifying home defeat at the hands of Reading, who had won just two of their last 11 games.

Just one point from the penultimate calendar month and Norwich were down to 11th in the table, with the pressure growing on Adams.

December

The Canaries would end the year well, though, starting December with two wins on the spin over Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town. While the narrow 1-0 win at Wigan did little to appease the supporters, a 5-0 crushing of Huddersfield is just what was needed for Adams.

A trip to third-placed Derby County was never going to be easy, but Norwich salvaged a point late on and Adams felt that they deserved all three after more than matching the Rams.

Back to Carrow Road on Boxing Day and those home woes from earlier in the season seemed like a distant memory as Norwich won by a five-goal margin again, with Millwall being humbled 6-1 in Norfolk.

Bradley Johnson scored doubles in both wins over the Terriers and Lions and he made it five goals in four games at Reading, but Norwich ended the year on the losing side in a 2-1 defeat.

They are seventh in the table at the turn of the year, three points behind the playoffs and 11 adrift of pacesetting Bournemouth. Norwich fans won't like seeing nearby Ipswich 10 points above them in second, and catching the Tractor Boys will be one of the main aims in 2015.

Star man: Nathan Redmond

Must do better: Lewis Grabban

Where to strengthen in January: Defence

Position at start of 2015: 7th

Mid-season grade: C+

To see Norwich's remaining fixtures in 2014-15, click here.