History of Norwich City F.C.
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The history of Norwich City F.C. stretches back to 1902.
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[edit] Early years
The club was formed in 1902 by a group of friends and first played at Newmarket Road. They were ousted from the amateur game in 1905 for being a "professional" organisation and later the same year were elected to play in the Southern League.
Canary breeding was a popular hobby in Norwich and Norfolk at that time, (contrary to some suggestions, the canaries were not bred for use in mining, they were bred purely as a hobby). One of the early managers partook in this hobby and often referred to his players as "his canaries". Originally, the club was nicknamed the Citizens, and played in light blue and white halved shirts, but by 1907, the nickname Canaries had come more into vogue, to such an extent that the famous yellow shirts were adopted, to match the nickname.
In 1908, the club moved to a new home, in a converted disused chalk pit in Rosary Road which became known as "The Nest".
In 1913 the club went bankrupt.
By the 1930s, the ground capacity was proving insufficient for the growing crowds and in 1935 the club moved to its current home in Carrow Road. The original stadium was terraced on three sides with only one stand (along Carrow Road) having wooden bench seating and a roof.
One of the club's greatest achievements was its run to the semi-final of the 1958–59 FA Cup as a Third Division side, defeating First Division sides Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur on the way. They lost the semi-final only after a replay against another first division side, Luton Town FC.
In 1962 Norwich won their first piece of silverware, defeating Rochdale 4-1 on aggregate in a two-legged final to win the League Cup for the first time.
[edit] 1970s and 1980s
In 1972, under manager Ron Saunders, Norwich City reached the First Division for the first time in their history. They played at Wembley Stadium for the first time in 1973, losing the League Cup final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. They reached the final again in 1975, this time losing 1-0 to Aston Villa.The club won the Milk Cup at Wembley Stadium in 1985 - with Ken Brown as manager - defeating Sunderland 1–0 after a semi-final triumph over its near neighbours and fierce rivals, Ipswich Town.
Norwich were relegated shortly after their Milk Cup triumph in March 1985 and were also denied their first foray into Europe with the ban on English clubs after the Heysel Stadium disaster. They bounced back to the top flight immediately by winning the second division championship in the 1985-86 season. High league placings in the First Division in 1987 and 1989 would have been enough for UEFA Cup qualification, but the ban on English clubs remained. They also had good cup runs during his period, reaching the F.A Cup semi finals in 1989 and again in 1992 - on the second occasion they were surprisingly beaten by unfancied second division side Sunderland.
[edit] 1990s
In 1992–93, the inaugural season of the English Premier League, Norwich City led the league for most of the season, before faltering in the final weeks to finish third behind the champions, Manchester United, and Aston Villa F.C. The following season Norwich played in the UEFA Cup for the first time, defeating Vitesse Arnhem of the Netherlands 3-0 at home and drawing 0-0 away, and Bayern Munich of Germany winning 2-1 away (and are the only English team to beat Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium, after Bayern Munich moved to the Allianz Arena at the beginning of the 05/06 season), and drawing 1-1 at home, before going down to Internazionale, 2–0, over two legs (H0-1, A1-0).
Mike Walker quit as Norwich City manager in January 1994, to take charge of Everton where he would be sacked after less than a year. He was replaced by 36-year-old first team coach John Deehan, who in his new role would be assisted by 34-year-old midfielder Gary Megson. Norwich City finished the 1993-94 season 12th in the Premier League and during the 1994 close season sold 21-year-old striker Chris Sutton to Blackburn Rovers for a then British record fee of £5 million.
By Christmas 1994, Norwich City were seventh in the Premiership and looked good bets for a UEFA Cup place. But the club went into freefall and won just one of their final 20 Premiership fixtures, plummeting to 20th place and relegation in the final table. Just before relegation was confirmed, Deehan resigned as manager and his assistant Megson took over until the end of the season.
Martin O'Neill, who had taken Wycombe Wanderers from the Conference to Division Two with successive promotions, was appointed as Norwich City manager in the summer of 1995. He lasted just six months in the job before resigning to take charge of and bring great success to Leicester City, following a dispute with unpopular chairman Robert Chase over money to strengthen the squad. Gary Megson was appointed Norwich manager for the second time in eight months, on a temporary basis. Megson remained in charge until the end of the season before leaving the club, while chairman Robert Chase also stepped down after protests from supporters who complained that he kept selling the club's best players and was to blame for their relegation. Indeed, between 1992 and 1996 Norwich offloaded key players including Robert Fleck, Jeremy Goss, Chris Sutton, Tim Sherwood, Efan Ekoku, Ruel Fox, Mark Robins, and Mark Bowen. Just four seasons after finishing third in the Premiership and beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, Norwich had finished 16th in Division One.
[edit] The new millennium
TV cook Delia Smith and husband Michael Wynn-Jones took over the majority of Norwich City's shares, and Mike Walker was re-appointed as the club's manager. But he was unable to repeat the success achieved during his first spell, and quit two seasons later with Norwich languishing around the middle of Division One. His successor Bruce Rioch lasted two seasons and departed in the summer of 2000, with promotion still yet to be achieved. Rioch's successor Bryan Hamilton lasted in the job for six months before making way for assistant manager Nigel Worthington. When Worthington took over as Norwich City manager in December 2000, the club was 20th in Division One and in real danger of sliding into the bottom half of the Football League for the first time since the 1960s. Worthington avoided the threat of relegation and, the following season, led City to a remarkable playoff final at the Millennium Stadium, which Norwich lost on penalties.
The 2001-02 season started with Norwich investing in players such as Mark Rivers, Marc Libbra and Neil Emblen, however the season started poorly when they lost 4-0 at Millwall on the first day of the season. Norwich had finished 15th in the previous season and this result suggested that the coming season would not be any different. Norwich then went on a 5-game run without conceding a goal and by the end of the calendar year were in contention for an automatic promotion place. Norwich were very poor in the first months of 2002 and looked to have dropped out of the playoff race entirely. However a good run at the end of the season meant that Norwich needed to achieve a better result at home to already relegated Stockport than Burnley did at home to Coventry to get into the playoffs.
Norwich made the playoffs following a 2-0 win over Stockport (with Burnley only beating Coventry 1-0) and played Wolverhampton Wanderers in the First Division playoff semi final. Following a 3-2 aggregate win (3-1 at home, 0-1 away) Norwich reached the playoff final in Cardiff against Birmingham City. Norwich eventually lost on penalties to Birmingham following a 1-1 draw with Daryl Sutch and Phil Mulryne missing their penalties.
The 2003-04 campaign was a successful one for all those associated with Norwich City, as the club won the Division 1 title, finishing 8 points clear of second-placed West Brom F.C. and 15 points ahead of third-placed Sunderland A.F.C. and the club celebrated regaining its status in the promised land of the Premiership for the first time since 1995.
For much of the 2004-05 season, the club seemed doomed to relegation. However, a frenetic relegation battle erupted, as Nigel Worthington's Norwich City made a remarkable comeback in the final games of the season, beating Manchester United 2-0 and Newcastle United 2-1. On the last day of the season, a win would have kept Norwich in top flight football, but it was not to be. A 6-0 away defeat to Fulham condemned them to relegation.
The club was widely tipped for a quick return to the Premiership in the 2005/2006 season, but a terrible first four months to the campaign saw City fall as low as 18th in The Championship and cries of 'Worthy out!!' bellowing from Carrow Road stadium. The club soon stablised towards a comfortable mid table finish. The sale of Dean Ashton was a controversial one; though it brought the club a generous return on investment: £7 million plus bonuses, for a player they'd bought for roughly half that amount just one year earlier; though some saw it as indicating a lack of ambition.
£2.75 million of the Ashton money was reinvested on the prolific Welsh striker Robert Earnshaw. With 8 goals in 15 appearances, Earnshaw helped the Canaries to a ninth place finish. His impact led many City fans to wonder what could have been achieved had he joined earlier in the season. First Team Coach Steve Foley was sacked in early May 2006, after 10 years of service to the club and subsequently joined east anglian rivals Ipswich Town as 1st team coach.
[edit] Worthington goes
Following a quiet off-season (Lee Croft the only notable addition to the squad) Norwich City made a bright start to the 2006-07 season. With the good form of erstwhile substitute goalkeeper Paul Gallacher, the sale of England squad goalkeeper Robert Green to West Ham United for a reported fee of "up to" £2 million looked set to be less damaging than feared during transfer speculation in the 2005-6 season. On the transfer deadline day (31st August 2006) striker Leon McKenzie was sold to Coventry City for a deal worth £1 million although this transfer received criticism from some Norwich fans. This was due to the fact that Norwich did not buy a striker, whether a direct replacement for McKenzie or a tall target-man to complement existing strikers at the club; thus if star striker Robert Earnshaw were to be injured or suspended then there would be no suitable replacement. However, Worthington was able to make three signings; Lee Camp arrived on loan from Derby, Patrick Boyle arrived on loan from Everton, while the Canaries also signed free agent Dion Dublin until the end of the season. Despite these arrivals, early results turned against City and the pressure mounted on the manager.
On October 1 Manager Nigel Worthington was sacked directly after a 4-1 defeat at the hands of championship rivals Burnley. Chairman Roger Munby commented: "The Board would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Nigel for all that he has done for the Club in his time as manager".
[edit] A new era
On 13 October 2006, Peter Grant agreed to leave his job as assistant manager of West Ham United to take over as manager at Norwich City.
First team coach Martin Hunter had been caretaker manager with Doug Livermore as his assistant, and he took charge against QPR on Saturday the 14th, which culminated in an exciting 3-3 draw with Grant in the stands. On Monday October 16 Norwich held a press conference to reveal that Peter Grant had joined Norwich from West Ham United as the new manager taking over from Nigel Worthington. Initially the fiery Scot identified that the existing coaching staff would remain in place and that for his first game against Birmingham he would be taking considerable advice from them. Livermore however was axed in February 2007, with Grant bringing in fellow Scot Jim Duffy.
That first game ended with the Canaries winning 1-0 in the Midlands, Jason Shackell sealed Norwich's first away win of the season, scoring under pressure from Matt Sadler. Sadler and David Dunn went close to levelling, but it was good keeping from Maik Taylor that kept the score down.
Grant's initial matches in charge saw City secure 13 points from a maximum of 21, a run which lifted the club from 19th place to midtable in the league table. However, the run included a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Stoke City F.C., a disappointing 3-1 defeat in the East Anglian Derby and an exit from the Carling (League) Cup at the hands of Stoke's local rival, Port Vale F.C. from Football League One (the third tier of English football).
On Saturday 6th January Peter Grant managed his first FA Cup Game. The third round tie was against Tamworth at the Lamb with the Canaries triumphing 4-1. It was shown live on BBC One.
After a good start to Peter Grant's reign, Norwich's form took a big slump with just 1 win out 8 league games and after the 3-1 home defeat to Plymouth, relegation became a slight possibility. This fear was then increased after top goalscorer Robert Earnshaw was all but ruled out for the rest of the season. Peter Grant made Luke Chadwick his first permanent signing, paying Stoke City in the region of £200,000 for the winger's services.
Grant's second signing was Chris Brown from Sunderland for a fee of £325,000. This was followed up in the January 2007 transfer window with the signings of David Marshall on loan from Celtic, Mark Fotheringham (who was wanted by Rangers) on a free transfer, and Simon Lappin, a £100,000 capture from SPL side St.Mirren. Grant has also used this opportunity to release Craig Fleming and Carl Robinson, who have left the club to join Rotherham Utd and Toronto FC respectively, both on free transfers.
The Canaries also had a decent FA Cup run. After defeating Tamworth 4-1 with two goals apiece from Darren Huckerby and Dion Dublin, they then proceeded to knock out Blackpool via a replay, winning 3-2 after extra time with another brace from Huckerby and Chris Martin's first strike for the club. They were eventually knocked out by Premiership champions Chelsea 4-0 at Stamford Bridge.
They finished February 2007 mid table in the Championship.
[edit] Club for sale?
At the 2006/07 Norwich City FC Annual General Meeting (on the 18 January 2007); majority shareholders Delia Smith and her husband Michael Wynn-Jones admitted that they would be open to offers on selling their majority stakehold of the club. However, they made clear that any prospective buyer would have to invest heavily in the squad, with regards to team improving.
"The only way we would relinquish our shares is if somebody is going to put money into the football."
"Only if they put money into the squad - not if they buy our shares, we don't want money. It has to be that there is money for the squad, serious money for the squad."
Smith, Delia. "Delia Smith open to Canaries offers", TEAMtalk.com, 2007-01-19. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
[edit] Corporate Generosity
After the FA Cup game in the season 2006-2007 in which Tamworth F.C. lost 4-1 to Norwich City who were 3 divisions the superior, Tamworth F.C. were held to gunpoint after the game for the days takings. In March 2007, Norwich City were generous enough to offer all people held at gunpoint free tickets to a Norwich game with corporate hospitality facilities.
