The reaction was typical of Paul Lambert, self-effacing and revealing.

“What has been achieved by the players is monumental,” he said in the aftermath of Norwich City’s promotion to the Barclay’s Premier League. The credit, he was making plain, did not belong to him; Lambert again sought to portray himself as a reluctant subject of acclaim.

He is recognisable by the defining traits of his management: the selflessness, the fiercely demanding nature, the understanding that the vital obligation of this job is to put together a winning team, whatever its merits. And what is clear in this impression, in its detail and its implication, is the continuing presence of Martin O’Neill.

The Northern Irishman managed Lambert at Celtic, and recommended him to Wycombe Wanderers, one of his former clubs, when Lambert’s career needed a restart after he was sacked by Livingston.

Lambert flinches from the comparisons, but in approach, in style, even in appearance and mannerisms -- the tracksuit, tucked in at the socks and with half of the collar upturned, the glasses, the single arm lifted stiffly towards ecstatic fans -- he is the embodiment of so much of O’Neill’s idiosyncratic management. Both tend to delegate the daily training routine to their staff, both become the most vivid expression of their charisma on a match day, and both are capable of inspiring a rousing spirit among their players.

“The moment Paul walked in, you just knew he was going to be a success,” says Steve Brown, who was Lambert’s assistant at Wycombe. “Martin O’Neill was like that, and he reminded me of Martin. He’s very calm throughout the week, very focused, and on a Saturday he really gets the players in the zone to perform. Martin is intelligent, and Paul is, as well, but they don’t complicate things. That’s the beauty of it, they give the players enough detail to get the job done, along with the motivation and the will to do that job.”

Yet for all that Lambert can be represented by his likeness to O’Neill, it is too cursory a depiction. He decided to return to Germany, where he had spent a season playing for Borussia Dortmund, to sit his coaching qualifications and there is a marked, almost obstinate refusal in him to accept the easy route.

This hard-headedness is natural to Lambert, along with the unassuming air, the absence of ego, the shrewd mind and the willingness to push himself while at the same time drawing others with him. If working under O’Neill brought a realisation of what might be achieved if he remained true to his instincts -- he still refers to O’Neill as “The Manager” and talks to him regularly -- then the time spent with Ottmar Hitzfeld at Borussia Dortmund was more influential. O’Neill’s approach was in keeping with Lambert’s personality, but the spell in Germany was revealing in the way it changed his outlook, or at least the scope of his thinking.

“Paul’s one of the most impressive players I ever had,” Hitzfeld said. “Paul was a very good team player, and that is one of the most important qualities as a coach and manager. He was always positive, believed in success and always wanted to win. Paul was one of the players responsible for keeping a good mood in the dressing room. And after a defeat, he was one of those who knew how to address a situation or problem.”

There is discipline in Lambert’s approach, and the Norwich players know better than to be caught using their phone in the changing room, but he is not a dictator. Demands are made of his squad, yet in meeting them a fierce loyalty is generated. The likes of Simeon Jackson, who scored in the 1-0 win over Portsmouth on Monday night that sealed Norwich’s back-to-back promotions, Simon Lappin, Wes Hoolahan and Andrew Surman have found their careers to hold new promise since working under Lambert.

The team has also won more than 20 points this season through goals scored in the last five minutes of games, with Lambert demanding that no cause is ever lost. “That will-to-win comes from the manager,” says Bryan Gunn, Lambert’s predecessor. “He’s shown his shrewdness in the transfer market, and there’s no reason why he can’t do that again going up a level.”

Lambert is a pragmatist, in that he will seek any advantage over opponents, but the sheer scale of his achievement in taking the side from the bottom of League One to the Premier League in 20 months tells of the magnitude of his own potential “He enjoys a laugh and I’m sure at Norwich he’s very close to the players, but when it’s time to work, it’s time to work,” Brown said. “He’s passionate. Some people I’ve worked with go on about tactics; Paul’s enthusiasm for what he’s talking about comes through, and it’s infectious, so that the players are thinking, ‘I want to do this for the gaffer’. Paul Lambert doesn’t do failure.”

Instead, he creates the opportunity for “a miracle”. In becoming the first coach to take a club straight from League One to the Premier League since Joe Royle with Manchester City in 2000, he has revived Norwich City, but also redefined what his own career might mean. O’Neill did the same with Leicester City, and although Norwich are already odds-on to return to the Championship next season, Lambert will not be unnerved. “As a manager you can’t influence the field of play,” he said. “I played with some world-class players -- I was the only bad one there. But to have people who run for you week-in, week-out . . . that has been colossal.”