Robert Chase is a Norwich businessman and the former Chairman of Norwich City FC.
Chase was elected to the Norwich board in 1982 and became chairman in 1985.[1] Chase's time as Norwich chairman ended acrimoniously in April 1996, with fans calling for his departure following a succession of player sales and disappointing results on the field.[2]
However, prior to that, he steered Norwich through one of the most successful periods in the club's history, including three finishes in the top five of the English league and a notable victory against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. Unfortunately, the first two top-five finishes had failed to book a UEFA Cup place due to the ban on English clubs in European competitions arising from the Heysel disaster of 1985.
Among the many high profile players he sold included Chris Woods, Steve Bruce, Dale Gordon, Andy Townsend, Mike Phelan, Kevin Drinkell, Andy Linighan, Robert Fleck, Chris Sutton, Ruel Fox, and Mark Robins. All of these players had left by the time Norwich were relegated from the Premier League in 1995, and his failure to provide the funds to buy new players had contributed to the failure to mount a serious promotion challenge in 1995-96.
In recognition of the successes of Chase's time at the helm, in 2003 he was voted by fans as an inaugural member of Norwich City's Hall of Fame.