FA Cup Draw On Sunday

It's probably fair to say Norwich City don't do FA Cup runs any more. Despite our long history being filled with many instances of cup giant killing, there always seems to be something more important to play for on the league front by the time January arrives.

However, the draw for the 3rd Round of the FA Cup takes place on Sunday. The ties will be played on the weekend of the 7th and 8th of January 2012. The number Norwich City fans need to listen for as the balls are drawn is 29.

The last eleven years have produced mixed fortunes in our annual first outing in the competition :

HOME TIES 5
AWAY TIES 6

WON 3
DRAWN 3
LOST 5

LEVEL OF OPPOSITION    Premier League 3, tier two 4, tier three 1, tier four 1, non league 2

RESULTS
2000-2001  Sheffield Wednesday (a) lost 2-1
2001-2002  Chelsea (h) drew 0-0 lost replay 4-0
2002-2003  Brighton (h) won 3-1
2003-2004  Everton (a) lost 3-1
2004-2005  West Ham United (a) lost 1-0
2005-2006  West Ham United (h) lost 2-1
2006-2007  Tamworth (a) won 4-1
2007-2008  Bury (h) drew 1-1 lost replay 2-1
2008-2009  Charlton Athletic (a) drew 1-1 lost replay 1-0
2009-2010  Paulton Rovers (a) won 7-0
2010-2011  Leyton Orient (h) lost 1-0

Given that two of the three wins came against non league opposition, and all three replays were lost, Norwich City supporters may well feel that a good cup performance is long overdue.

I would love to see us do well this year. But I would rather we keep our Premier League status, and maybe both are not possible.


Update : We drew Burnley from the Championship (tier two). The clubs have never met in the FA Cup before
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Final League Placings 1933-1934

Football League 1933-1934
Division Three South







Norwich City  61
Coventry City  54
Reading  54
QPR  54
Charlton Athletic  52
Luton Town  52
Bristol Rovers  51
Swindon Town  45
Exeter City  43
Brighton  43
Clapton Orient  42
Crystal Palace  41
Northampton  40
Aldershot  38
Watford  37
Southend United  34
Gillingham  33
Newport County  33
Bristol City  33
Torquay United  33
Bournemouth  27
Cardiff City  24


Full City Record :  P42 W25 D11 L6 F88 A49  PTS 61    Manager :  Tom Parker


Arsenal were English champions
Manchester City won the FA Cup


In This Year :  Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed

The first Dinky Toys appear in the UK

Racing driver John Surtees is born


Final league placings will be posted on a regular basis until every table is listed - click on the label below for years posted so far.

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Stars Of The Past - Clive Woods

Clive Richard Woods was born on the 18th of December 1947 in Norwich. In his teens he was a Barclay Boy, watching his home town club from the terraces. But it would be with local rivals Ipswich Town that he would make his name, before returning back to Norfolk and the Canaries at the end of a successful professional career.

He initially had a trial with Ipswich in 1966. An amazing trickster with a football from a young age, he had earlier declined playing for Norwich Boys in favour of paid employment as a grocery boy. Subsequent trials followed with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Scunthorpe United without any joy, and Clive first came to notice whilst playing for Norwich based Gothic in the Eastern Counties League, for whom he was an enormous and engaging star. City looked at him but were only prepared to offer a trial in the Reserves. Ipswich were more positive, and in the summer of 1969, at the relatively late age of 22, he signed professional forms at Portman Road.

His playing career with Town lasted over ten years. A very clever winger with a great ability to keep the ball close to his feet, he became a favourite with Ipswich supporters, playing in Europe and helping to set up the only goal in the 1978 FA Cup Final win over Arsenal. He was also a very competent midfielder but is best remembered for skinning full backs out wide. He appeared in England squads at his peak, though never gained a cap and played over 300 times for Ipswich.

In March 1980, John Bond brought him back to Carrow Road, as a player this time! City had been missing an out and out winger since Jimmy Neighbour had been sold to West Ham early in the season. Whilst it was very much a swansong for Clive, he still demonstrated the skills Norwich had turned their backs on over ten years earlier. He made his Norwich début on the 15th of March 1980 in the 2-1 defeat at Stoke City in Division One. He played in all of City's remaining fixtures of that campaign - eleven in total - scoring in the final day 4-2 win over Derby County (a result that saw the Rams relegated). Norwich finished a comfortable mid table. Woods started 1980-81 as first choice winger, getting his second Canary goal in the 5-1 opening day demolition of Stoke City. He netted again in the third match of the season, a 3-2 defeat at home to Leeds United. However, he lost his place in early October after Norwich were thumped 6-1 at Middlesbrough. By the end of the month John Bond had gone, replaced by Ken Brown.

The new manager opted for youth, giving Mark Barham an extended run, and for the rest of the term, Clive Woods was restricted to just one more start plus three appearances from the bench. Norwich though finished third from bottom and were relegated to Division Two. In the early part of 1981-82 he played in eight games, scoring in the 2-1 win at Grimsby Town. His 37th and final appearance as a Canary came on the 24th of October 1981 against Watford at Vicarage Road - a game lost 3-0 with the Norwich defence tormented by another wing wizard, a young John Barnes.

It brought the curtain down on Clive's professional career, but he stayed in Norfolk playing local amateur football for many years, including a long association with Newton Flotman. His playing time at City had been relatively short and at the wrong end of his career, but those who saw the fair haired maestro were certain of one thing - he had ball skills that many can only dream of, and really should have been a Canary. Of all the missed talents City have failed to snap up in history, Clive Woods would be very near the top of the list.
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Why A Youth Production Line Would Be Good

A couple of days ago I enthused about the decision of Norwich City to apply for Category One academy status, a move that would allow them to spread the net far and wide to capture young talented footballers and bring them to Carrow Road for development.

We have always been a club renowned for producing stars (and selling them as they approach maturity). But at the end of the last century, the production line dried up. After Robert Green made his début on the 11th of April 1999, there was a three and a half year wait before Ian Henderson became the next youth team scholar to play for the first team.

During the period in between, 30 players joined the club and played. Twelve of these were on loan.

And to really rub salt in the wound, one of the new faces was Adam Drury. He had been at Norwich at the age of ten, but went on to get his schooling at Peterborough United. And to obtain his services, it cost the Canaries half a million quid !

We need to restore our academy back to where it was in it's prime. Category One status will go a long way to achieving that.

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Citizens, Canaries and The Mustard Men

I have always been intrigued and fascinated by football club nicknames, and have always thought we are lucky to have one that is both interesting and truly relevant to the city of Norwich. Most people know that canaries were introduced to the area by Flemish refugees over 300 years ago and resulted in Norwich being a main centre for the breeding of the bird. 

To quote an expert site, Norwich canaries were bred for their colour not their song and 'are not as agile nor as lively as some of the smaller breeds, they tend to have a rather laid back personality'. Not necessarily what you would be looking for in a football team !!

History also records that the Norwich City manager in 1905, John Bowman, was aware of this bird connection and referred to his players affectionately as 'my little canaries'. In 1907, Norwich changed from their blue and white halved shirts to yellow with green cuffs and The Citizens, as they were known as up until then, became The Canaries.

So it was a proper nickname with local historical associations. There are a few other teams with bird nicknames and I don't think any have as good a story to tell as we do :

Swindon & Bristol City - The Robins   a robin is featured on the club crests / kit colours

Cardiff City - The Bluebirds      reference to kit colour

Swansea -  The Swans      part of the city name

Sheffield Weds -  The Owls     the ground was in Owlerton

Bradford City -  The Bantams     kit colour resembles a Bantam's plumage

Brighton - The Seagulls     Brighton is on the coast

Crystal Palace - The Eagles    management liked the name

There is also the story of West Bromwich Albion. When I was a kid, they weren't The Baggies but The Throstles, a black country name for a thrush, which could be seen in the hawthorn bushes near the ground. I think that's quite quaint. 

I have often wondered what our nickname would have been had the Flemish refugees settled somewhere else. I quite like The Citizens, though it might have proved less marketable in 2011 than The Canaries, with it's obvious colourful connotations. It was also the nickname used, and subsequently dropped by both Manchester City and Bradford City.

I have read that at one time, through our association with the local manufacturers Colmans, we were known as The Mustard Men though this would almost certainly just have been a local name, perhaps occasionally used by fans or pressmen. It certainly has no main place in the history of our club and it was never an official nickname for sure. I guess had it caught on, our shirt colours would have evolved in a duller yellow tone, and the green shorts would not have emerged.

Though not adverse to that idea, it really wouldn't have been the same.

pictured : two varieties of Norwich Canary


[This article has been revised, having first been published on the 21st of January 2010].
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Canary Fact File

Former City midfielder John Devine was married to Michelle Rocca, Miss Ireland 1980, who would later be the wife of singer Van Morrison

Martin Reagan, who played 36 games for Norwich City on the left wing in the mid fifties, later managed the England Women's team for twelve years between 1979 and 1991

Norwich City have never fielded a player in a competitive first team match whose surname has started with the letter Q

When Wayne Biggins controversially equalised for City against Charlton in the 1-1 draw at Carrow Road in 1987, it led to the referee, David Axcell of Southend, being stretchered from the field. He was hurt when surrounded by protesting Charlton players - he turned away and was accidentally hit by a fist

On transfer deadline day in January 2007, Simon Lappin and Mark Fotheringham joined the club in late deals

David Fox received the first Premier League booking of 2011-12 - just 49 seconds into the new season - when Norwich played at Wigan on the 13th of August

First & Last - Tommy Bryceland

First game :  29th September 1962 versus Derby County home Division Two 2-0 win

Last game :  8th November 1969 versus Huddersfield Town home Division Two 2-1 defeat




Signed from :  St Mirren
Next club :  Oldham Athletic
Played professionally :  until 1972
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Just Thinking..........

I am not sure that the Annual General Meetings of Norwich City Football Club have ever been much fun. In recent times, they have resulted in 'stark warnings' and 'deteriorating trends'. Go further back, and they were limited to 'a continuation of hard work' amongst the overall message that 'Norwich will never be a rich club'. How wonderful therefore that the 2011 event included projections of a continuing reduction in debt, an enlarged stadium, and, most exciting of all, a project to enhance youth facilities and the scouting network at the club - an investment that should reap huge financial rewards in years to come. Pipe dreams ? Maybe. But the people running the show at Carrow Road these days have shown few cavalier tendencies thus far. You very much get the impression that they know exactly what they are doing. The only part of the plan written in pencil are the timelines. Much will depend on our fate at the end of this Premier League season. But even then, you get the impression that any drop down to the Championship will merely slow the process rather than destroy it completely. I have always been a proud and excited Canary fan. All of my life. I have never been tempted to trade City in for a more tempting partner. And right now I can't think of a single English club in a better position than ours. That includes the so called 'big boys' with their huge debts, and the ones that have sold their souls to outside investors, who may yet leave them high and dry.
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Life After City

...........keeping a beady eye on ex Canaries and those out on loan 

Chris Martin is the latest player to go out on loan from Norwich City. As someone who seems to have been on the Carrow Road scene for a very long time, it is surprising to learn he is still only twenty three years old. He has signed for Crystal Palace on a short term deal until early January. Although he featured in four Norwich Premier League games this term, he has not been in manager Paul Lambert's first team plans since October 1st. The move to Selhurst Park will give him the chance to get back into the limelight, something he very nearly did when he came on as substitute for Palace at Leicester on Sunday. His point blank header was well saved by the keeper, and very nearly got the Londoners, who went on to lose 3-0, back into the game.

Josh Dawkin continues his education with Conference National side Kettering Town, where former Canary favourite Leon McKenzie is also on the books. Josh has appeared five times so far in league and cup games, and scored an excellent strike against Ebbsfleet United. City have extended his loan deal until December 15th. Leon meantime has scored twice in eight appearances. The Northants club have had their share of issues on and off the field however. Having moved into Nene Park, the ground vacated by Rushden & Diamonds, Kettering have suffered red cards, including a double sending off when two of their own players were involved in an altercation with each other, and stories of non payment of wages. Eleven first teamers, including Leon McKenzie were recently transfer listed.

Tom Adeyemi, who put in a good loan shift with Bradford City last year, is doing the same this term with Oldham Athletic. He has featured fifteen times so far, scoring in the 2-1 win over Milton Keynes Dons and the 3-3 draw at Carlisle United. Striker Oli Johnson meanwhile is in his second loan spell with Yeovil Town after a similar deal there in 2010-11. He has yet to find the net however, after eight games in all competitions. Rookie keeper Jed Steer was also down at Huish Park on loan, but returned in mid October after injuring his thigh. The Glovers are presently languishing in a relegation spot in League One.

Elsewhere.................Stephen Hughes has signed a short term contract until January with his former club, Scottish Premier League side Motherwell, after successfully completing a trial. 'Well' are managed by Stuart McCall who had been doing some scouting work for City prior to his appointment at Fir Park last December. Former Canary Elliott Omozusi, who played for Norwich on loan from Fulham in 2008-09, has been jailed for two and a half years for intimidating a witness in a murder trial. Sam Vokes, who had a short loan term with Norwich during last season's promotion push, has joined Championship Burnley from Wolves, again on loan. He recently scored two goals for Wales in a friendly against Norway. Tommy Wright, former goalkeeping coach under Glenn Roeder, has left Distillery to take up the assistant manager position with Scottish Premier League club St. Johnstone. Jamie Cureton, who had a very good season with Exeter City last year, has failed to find the net in fifteen appearances this term for his new club Leyton Orient. Mark Fotheringham has left Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta and signed for Livingston in Scottish Division One. In four games he has already scored twice. Michael Spillane has joined Dagenham & Redbridge on loan from Brentford. And finally............Colin Woodthorpe has left Colwyn Bay, moving to AFC Fylde as assistant manager alongside old boss Dave Challinor.

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A Miracle Side - 1959

This is probably the best clip of Norwich City football history to be found anywhere on the internet. At just over eight minutes long, it shows a medley of key moments from the 1959 FA Cup run, when the Third Division Canaries won the hearts of the nation with a series of exciting and plucky performances against some of the best teams in the land.

As is so often the case in old videos, the enormity of the crowds stand out. And should anyone not be sure, these supporters were standing on concrete terraces for their pleasure. Some of the attendances were well over 60,000, and even the matches at Carrow Road drew audiences approaching 40,000. All ages, men and women.

I also like the immaculate kits on show. It is so easy to imagine that in times gone by, teams often turned out in tatty gear. Not so, by these pictures. And the same can be said for the referees, shown in close up as the coin was tossed before the matches.

Make no mistake, the 1959 Cup run was no fluke. Neither was it achieved with nutritional football. The commentaries clearly refer to 'all out attack' and 'raid after raid'. This Norwich team were not only brave but brazen too. They held no respect for reputation after seeing off Manchester United in an earlier round. Names like Terry Allcock, Terry Bly, Bobby Brennan, Jimmy Hill and Errol Crossan, tend to trip off the tongue when we speak about Norwich City legends, but there is enough in this video to demonstrate just how skilful and potent these players were in attack. Brennan's opening goal in the Sheffield United replay had the fingerprints of Huckerby or McVeigh all over it.

The well recorded injury to Ken Nethercott is captured. It looked a fairly innocuous fall, but the shoulder dislocation never healed and this proved to be Ken's 416th and final appearance as a Canary. The video does not reveal the extent of his heroics after the injury was sustained, as he kept the Blades out literally single handed.

Yes, this was a fine City side in all departments. And a group of players who provided the catalyst for a fifty year period that was to be the richest in the history of the club.

As the footage says, these men of Norwich are a miracle side...........




My thanks to You Tube and the contributor who posted it.

Debutant 1915

Only one player made his début for Norwich City in 1915, at the end of the season association football was shut down as the world was gripped by war.


Albert Frosdick    23 January 1915 v Luton Town  (Southern League)  (h) won 5-1
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City Links - Pictures Of The Nest

There is a lot of fine Norwich City Football Club material on the internet and all free to be viewed. The problem is finding it in the first place. Sing Up The River End! will link you up with the best photographs and video clips on the world wide web ...............




If, like me, you enjoy photographs of the Nest, Norwich City's second ground situated in Rosary Road, then click on these three links.

This first one comes from the Norfolk County Council online library site and shows match action. It is not dated, but is almost certainly pre World War One, the period when the club played in all yellow shirts for the first time. It is always difficult to decide on actual colours when dealing with black and white photographs. However the Canary on the right appears to have a shirt with a wide and darker (green) trim around the neck area. If so, this would place the picture at 1913-14. The steep banks of the original quarry are clearly seen. On busy match days this whole area would be covered with spectators. Also note the minimal area on the touchline that was covered by a roof, and the referee, who looks as if he has just stepped out of City Hall.

http://norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/02_Catalogue/02_013_PictureTitleInformation.aspx?searchTerm=&searchTerm2=norwich+football+&searchTerm3=&searchTerm4=&searchType=97&Page=1&media=&branch=&authority=&language=&junior=&rcn=NP00002447&fr=tl&displayType=2

These next two were found on the flickr website, and posted earlier this year. They carry a date of 1919, the first year of organised football after World War One. The sight of George Green, the Lord Mayor of Norwich kicking the game off, suggests this was not a Football League match but a friendly. City are also not recognisable by their kit colours. The man on the right in the dark coloured shirt is George 'Pompey' Martin, the Norwich captain. The Canaries are believed to have worn yellow shirts with green sleeves during this period - adding weight to my thought that this may well have been a friendly fixture. City played many of these in early 1919 as they tried to put a team together for their Southern League campaign starting at the end of August. It may well have been a celebratory occasion to mark the return of football after the war. Alternatively, the opposing captain looks suspiciously like a Tottenham Hotspur player ! They visited the Nest in May 1920 in a Norfolk & Norwich Hospital Cup match (winning 4-0). Unfortunately there are no specific details on flickr regarding the actual event surrounding these pictures. However, we should be thankful that the poster has added some rare NCFC nostalgia to the internet.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21804434@N02/5764405933/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21804434@N02/5764406159/in/photostream/
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Rapid Rise For Steve Morison

..............history isn't just about yesteryear, it's also happening right now, and is brought to you on a regular basis in The Canary Chronicles

There was a time when players often appeared at various levels of the English game, moving around clubs, and slowly but surely working their way up to the top. It happens less these days. In fact, with talent often snapped up at a young age by the bigger clubs, many players spend the years working their way down the scales, as they fail to break into the first team from the academy.

One man who has truly bucked the trend is Norwich City's Steve Morison, as his own personal career timeline demonstrates. The dates shown are the most recent occasion on which he has scored at each level in the English football pyramid that he has played in. You will note his path also included a period when his career went backwards for a while :

Level Six -   15th August 2006 for Bishop's Stortford against Fisher Athletic at Woodside Park in the Conference South

Level Five -   30th April 2009 for Stevenage against Cambridge United at Broadhall Way in the Blue Square Premier

Level Four -   18th September 2004 for Northampton against Darlington at the Darlington Arena in League Two

Level Three -   18th May 2010 for Millwall against Huddersfield at The Den in League One

Level Two -   9th April 2011 for Millwall against Leeds United at The Den in the Championship

Level One -   5th November 2011 for Norwich City against Aston Villa at Villa Park in the Premier League

The promotion from level five to level one has been particularly quick. There are of course other current Canaries that can boast rising through the ranks, though none quite as spectacularly as Morison. Away from club football, he has also made great strides on the international scene. On the 31st of May 2008 he was scoring for England C (the national non league side) against Grenada at the National Stadium, St George's. On the 2nd of September 2011 he netted for Wales in the Euro Championship at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Talking about strikers moving up, keep an eye on Grant Holt in the all time Norwich City goalscoring charts. His 56 goals puts him at 18th place in history, level with Ron Ashman, but he is within catching distance of a few others. One more strike will put him level with Kenny Foggo, James Jackson and Kevin Drinkell. Sixty goals would take him past Roy Hollis and into 14th position overall.

History does nothing to encourage City prior to this afternoon's visit by Arsenal, with the Canaries having won just one of the last twenty meetings between the two clubs. They have won none of the eleven encounters at Carrow Road during that time, and still await their first clean sheet of this Premier League season. The Gunners have found some good form recently after a decidedly sticky start to their campaign. For Norwich fans, this match falls into the 'bonus' category - sit back, enjoy the day, and consider it a huge plus, should any points come our way.

Much of the fun of recording highest attendances disappeared with the emergence of all seater stadiums. The figures reached nowadays are largely unimpressive along those of yesteryear. Norwich however, continue to edge their new era record upwards, somehow squeezing a few more bodies in. Hopefully today will see another landmark, widely expected after Arsenal sold all of their allocation of tickets, with the 26,567 that watched the recent clash with Swansea nicely topped.
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Canary Lists - Some Norwich City Single Goal Wins

a list for everything NCFC...........


Five days when a 1-0 win has been enough......


15th November 1902 - Norwich City 1 (Fred Witham) Ipswich Town 0, at Newmarket Road
Norwich prove their supremacy in the first ever East Anglian Derby

18th February 1959 - Norwich City 1 (Terry Bly) Tottenham Hotspur 0, at Carrow Road
Third Division Canaries upset mighty Spurs in a FA Cup 5th Round replay

24th March 1985 - Norwich City 1 (Asa Hartford) Sunderland 0, at Wembley
City lift the League Cup for the second time in history

17th April 2010 - Charlton Athletic 0 Norwich City 1 (Michael Nelson), at The Valley
Promotion back to the Championship secured

2nd May 2011 - Portsmouth 0 Norwich City 1 (Simeon Jackson), at Fratton Park
Premier League here we come


and one when it wasn't......


6th May 1939 - Norwich City 1 (Harry Ware) Nottingham Forest 0, at Carrow Road
we needed a 4-0 win to send Forest down instead of us, but managed just a single goal
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They Wore The Shirt

........players who appeared in ten games or less for Norwich City Football Club


Bertie Hall - born in Newburn, near Newcastle he was already in his early thirties when he signed for City from Peterborough & Fletton United. After a patient wait in the Reserves he was restricted to just two Canary appearances in March 1932, against Fulham and Thames. The right half moved to Bristol City the following season and his final professional game was for the Robins against Norwich at the Nest in December 1932.

Andrew Hart -  a City youth defender who made a seventeen minute appearance for Norwich in the Division Two match with Newcastle United on the 19th of September 1981 which City won 2-1. He left the club in 1983 to play for Gorleston, where he was plagued by injuries, and was later successful with Norwich United. Great Yarmouth born, he is the nephew of Canary legend, Dave Stringer.

Dario Dumic -  a centre half/central midfielder born in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, who joined City's academy in 2008 aged 16, but had earlier represented the club at under 13 and 14 levels. Made just one first team substitute appearance under Paul Lambert in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy match at Swindon on the 10 November 2009. Now plays for Brondby IF and has picked up numerous caps for Denmark at U19 level and below.
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Norwich City Signings By Manager - Nigel Worthington

an attempt to record all Norwich City signings by the manager who brought them to the club

Zema Abbey, Dean Ashton
Trevor Benjamin (loan), David Bentley (loan), Patrick Boyle (loan), Jim Brennan
Keith Briggs, Leigh Bromby (loan)
Lee Camp (loan), Simon Charlton, Jurgen Colin, Kevin Cooper (loan), Paul Crichton
Lee Croft, Peter Crouch (loan)
Calum Davenport (loan), Gary Doherty, Adam Drury, Dion Dublin
Robert Earnshaw, Clint Easton, Marc Edworthy, Neil Emblen, Dickson Etuhu (loan to permanent)
Damien Francis
Paul Gallacher
Elvis Hammond (loan), Kevin Harper (loan), David Healy (loan), Paul Heckingbottom
Thomas Helveg, Gary Holt, Darren Huckerby (loan to permanent), Andy Hughes
Jason Jarrett, Jonatan Johansson (loan), Mattias Jonson
Marc Libbra, Kevin Lisbie (loan), Matthieu Louis-Jean
Dean Marney (loan), Leon McKenzie
David Nielsen (loan to permanent)
Paul Peschisolido (loan)
Zesh Rehman (loan), Mark Rivers, Andy Roberts (loan), Carl Robinson (loan to permanent)
Youssef Safri, Nicky Southall (loan), Graham Stuart (loan), Mathias Svensson
Peter Thorne
Darren Ward, David Wright (loan)


Total Players :  55

Nigel Worthington was in charge at Norwich City from 4th December 2000 to 1st October 2006


Youth players making the natural progression from the academy are not included. Future articles will take us back through history until all players and managers have been covered. To compare Nigel Worthington's history with the managers that followed him, click on the 'Signings By Manager' label below.
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Debutants 1914

Here is a list of all players who made their first team débuts for Norwich City Football Club in 1914 :


Reg Popham    21 February 1914 v Cardiff City  (Southern League)  (a) lost 3-0
George Ritchie    28 February 1914 v Swindon Town  (Southern League)  (h) lost 2-1
Arthur Collins    5 September 1914 v Cardiff City  (Southern League)  (a) lost 1-0
John Denoon    12 September 1914 v Exeter City  (Southern League)  (h) won 3-1
Arthur Turner    19 September 1914 v Luton Town  (Southern League)  (a) drew 1-1
John Allen    3 October 1914 v Swindon Town  (Southern League)  (a) lost 4-0
George Thompson    17 October 1914 v QPR  (Southern League)  (a) drew 1-1
Charles Abbs    24 October 1914 v Millwall Ath  (Southern League)  (h) lost 3-1
William Molyneux    31 October 1914 v Bristol Rovers  (Southern League)  (a) lost 4-2
Percy Humphreys    21 November 1914 v Southampton  (Southern League)  (h) drew 0-0
Arthur Crossley    25 December 1914 v Gillingham  (Southern League)  (a) drew 3-3
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Football History Links No5

Sing Up The River End! is well established with NCFC facts, figures, and trivia, and now we also bring you more general football history information from all eras. In an occasional series we will select the best links, news stories, sites and videos available on the net for those readers whose interest in the past times of football goes, occasionally, beyond the yellow and green

No account of the history of association football would be complete without the inclusion of Edison "Edson" Arantes do Nascimento, or Pele, as we more commonly know him. He is largely acknowledged as the greatest footballer that ever lived. His talents were recognised before he reached his teens, and at seventeen he won his first World Cup with Brazil in the 1958 tournament held in Sweden. Blessed with the purest of ball controlling skills and balance, his speed allowed him to mesmerise defenders. He had a magnificent eye for goal too, with many of his strikes coming as a result of a stunning ability to shoot with accuracy. Records exist that he scored 1280 career goals for his clubs and country.

He is the only man in history to be part of three World Cup winning squads, following up the 1958 success with a further triumph in Chile in 1962. In the 1966 tournament in England he was brutally targeted by the opposition, with his majestic skills negated by constant fouling. But four years later, in the heat of Mexico, he reached his peak in terms of global recognition, again winning the trophy - the greatest footballer in possibly the greatest football team ever. 

We are fortunate that we currently have a living legend to watch, in the shape of Lionel Messi. Some of us were lucky to be around to witness the King Pele as well. For those of you that weren't, this video clip will help. My thanks to You Tube and the contributor who posted it.

Many modern day fans believe that the soul of football has been sold to television. But they may be surprised that this argument first raised it's head many decades ago. I was recently browsing through an old publication from the early seventies, and in the letters section there was correspondence from a Brentford fan who was distinctly unhappy by the presence of TV cameras at home matches. He, and many other regular supporters, found their view of the pitch from the terrace blocked by a television gantry temporarily erected so that the games could be recorded. His argument went along the lines that fans spending hard earned cash were losing out to other people who, as he put it, 'were not prepared to move further than the fireside to watch football'.

He also pointed out that football was in a period of 'falling gates', and his unhappiness was further added to by the fact that a minimum admission price of 40 pence was also now in place !

There have been plenty of examples of clubs making slight changes to their name, such as Swansea Town becoming City, Millwall dropping Athletic, and Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club branding themselves with the more efficient title of AFC Bournemouth.

But there can surely have been no alterations as subtle as Hartlepools United merely dropping a 's'. The history of this dates back to the formation of the club back in 1908. Admission to the North Eastern League was applied for, and a limited liability company was registered. The owners, contrary to local opinion, felt that both boroughs (Hartlepool and West Hartlepool) needed to be represented, hence the name Hartlepools United. It was not until 1968 that the 's' was excluded from the team name.
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Five In Twenty Six

This post is all about the period 1966 to 1992. Twenty six years by my calculation. During which time five men held the office of manager. Yes..........only five!!

Back in those days (which were, roughly speaking, the first half of my Canary supporting life) managers were given time to build a team. There was much less chance of a quick exit from the club, either by choice or by getting the sack. I guess looking back, it meant being a football supporter was a lot less complicated. Nowadays, watching the gaffer-go-round is a huge part of the fun, provided of course your team are not involved. We didn't have that forty years ago. Nor the worry of a good manager lasting just a short while.

I don't think supporters were any less demanding, but there was always a sense that once an appointment had been made, you were kind of stuck with it, at least for a season or two.

Nor do I think managers were any less ambitious. Two of the five Norwich bosses of this period went on to manage bigger clubs.

But there was always an air of loyalty surrounding these things ......managers to clubs ..........and supporters to managers. Not just at Norwich, but generally at all clubs.

I will do a much more in depth post about each of the Norwich managers in due course, but for the record they were :

Lol Morgan 1966-1969
If I am honest I barely remember this guy, but when I first became aware of the Canaries, circa 1967/1968, he was in charge. I don't think he was ever particularly famous outside of Norwich, Huddersfield, Rotherham and Darlington (the middle two as a player, the latter as a player manager) and had taken over from the legendary Ron Ashman. I do remember Morgan being replaced however - my first exposure to the club changing their manager - and although I was only 10, I recall there was great anticipation of better days ahead.

Ron Saunders 1969-1973
And the much awaited appointment was..................err Ron Saunders. A centre forward of some repute but with a managerial CV that contained only a stint at Yeovil Town (non league in those days) and Oxford ( just 12 games in charge at the end of the 68-69 season - though it should be said he secured 6 wins!!). Saunders was to go on to be a magnificent manager for the club. The full story will be told another time. But without doubt Norwich made Saunders. And as far as I am concerned, Saunders made Norwich.

John Bond 1973-1980
My favourite manager ever. Chalk and cheese with Saunders, Bond was a larger than life character who brought charisma and opinion to Carrow Road. Never far from the headlines, he took the club into the limelight on a regular basis for the first time in history and was responsible for some of the most exciting and ambitious signings the club has ever known. Norwich became synonymous with attacking football, cigars and sheepskin coats.......and it was brilliant !!

Ken Brown 1980-1987
Bond left a legacy when he moved on to Manchester City........Ken Brown, his friend and chief coach, who had followed him here from Bournemouth. Brown was a quiet manager in comparison to Bond, but ultimately achieved more. A very popular man, gentleman Ken went on to be one of the club's most successful managers, and was responsible for signing numerous Canary legends.

Dave Stringer 1987-1992
Promoted from reserve team coach after the Board sacked Brown, former player Stringer presided over a period that saw Norwich firmly established in the top tier of English football (two FA Cup semi finals and 4th place in a season when the 'double' was a possibility). Stringer was Norwich City through and through, a hard man as a player and manager. And being a player I watched through much of his professional career, his appointment to manager made me realise I too was getting old !!

The years that followed saw regular comings and goings from Carrow Road. In fact, the next five appointments after the departure of Dave Stringer (Mike Walker twice, John Deehan, Martin O'Neill and Gary Megson) lasted not twenty six years, but less than six.

Suddenly, the world of football management had changed.

pictured : John Bond in typically ebullient mood


[This post (which was in fact the first ever posted on Sing Up The River End!) has been revised and updated, and was first published on the 17th of January 2010]
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Final League Placings 1932-1933

Football League 1932-1933
Division Three South







Brentford  62
Exeter City  58
Norwich City  57
Reading  51
Crystal Palace  46
Coventry City  44
Gillingham  44
Northampton 44
Bristol Rovers  44
Torquay United  44
Watford  44
Brighton  42
Southend  41
Luton Town  39
Bristol City  37
QPR  37
Aldershot  36
Bournemouth  36
Cardiff City  31
Clapton Orient  29
Newport County  29
Swindon Town  29


Full City Record :   P42 W22 D13 L7 F88 A55 PTS 57   Managers :  James Kerr and Tom Parker


Arsenal were English champions
Everton won the FA Cup


In This Year :  England win the Ashes in Australia using the 'bodyline' tactics

Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany

Actor Michael Caine is born


Final league placings will be posted on a regular basis until every table is listed - click on the label below for years posted so far.
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Stars Of The Past - Jim Oliver

James Robert 'Jim' Oliver was born on the 3rd of December 1941 in Maddiston, nr Falkirk in Scotland. He was one of the most exuberant forwards ever to play for Norwich City, and but for injury just as he was getting established, he may well have greatly improved on his very respectable final career tally of 17 goals in 47 games as a Canary.

A Scottish schoolboy international forward, he first played for his local amateur club, Linlithgow Rose before joining Falkirk in 1959. The youngster netted thirteen league goals in his stay with the Bairns, helping them get back into the top flight of Scottish football. In August 1962 he was purchased by Norwich, signed for £10,000 by George Swindin during his short tenure as City manager. Jim Oliver was a jovial character with plenty of skills and great reactions. Slightly built, he had whippet speed, and injected spirit into the Canaries front line. He made his debut on the 18th of August 1962, in a 2-2 draw at Deepdale against Preston North End in Division Two. Jackie Bell, Alistair Miller and Barry Staton also played their first games for the club that day. But it took Jim until his ninth outing to score his opening goal in a 2-1 home win over Walsall in mid September. Soon after he netted twice against First Division Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup second Round tie, as Norwich ran out 4-0 winners, and Jim's career was launched at Carrow Road.

He scored again, in an impressive 4-2 win over Sunderland, but his moment of the season, and the occasion for which he is best remembered by old City supporters, came in March 1963, when crowds flocked to see an ageing but legendary Stanley Matthews play for Stoke City at Carrow Road. Norwich won 6-0, with Jim scoring a hat-trick. It should be added that Stoke won the Division Two title that season.

He finished the 1962-63 season with 10 goals from 32 appearances in all competitions. But his progress was halted in the following two campaigns when he twice broke a small bone in his foot. He still managed four goals in nine league appearances in 1963-64, but with Ron Davies having joined the club in the September of 1963 (and still no substitutes allowed in those days), Jim had to often make do with Reserve team football when fit. He got a three game run in February 1965, scoring twice against Leyton Orient and once against Charlton Athletic, as Norwich propelled themselves up to second place in the Division Two table just a point behind leaders Newcastle United. But the last of those trinity of appearances, against Plymouth Argyle on the 20th of February 1965, was Jim Oliver's final game as a City player. A couple of weeks later he was sold to Brighton & Hove Albion for £8,000.

At the south coast club he was managed by Archie Macaulay, the man who had masterminded Norwich's 1959 FA Cup adventure, and helped them to the Division Four championship during what was left of the 1964-65 season. Jim found goals harder to come by however, and he netted just five times in 43 league games for the Seagulls. In 1968 he moved on to Colchester United, scoring ten times in 75 games. After retirement from the professional game he returned to the Norfolk area and continued to perform with enthusiasm for local sides King's Lynn, Lowestoft Town, Gorleston Town and Sheringham until he was into his forties.
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I'm Off

My target back in January was to post an article for every day of the year. Given that this morning's offering was the 365th entry of 2011, I have decided to take the rest of the year off.

(don't worry, only joking, normal service will continue tomorrow!)
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Remember When .............

...............you just couldn't find out the score of an evening match until the next morning




It's hard to believe, but back in the early seventies, if you were unable to attend a night match, chances are you would not know the final score by bedtime. At least that is how it was for me, and I doubt my Norfolk upbringing was much different from that of many others. The best chance you had of catching the result was at the very end of the Nine O'Clock News on BBC One. That programme ran from nine o'clock until twenty five past, and they sometimes gave out the evening's football scores. Matches often kicked off at 7.30pm and with a slightly shorter half time break, so there was a chance that results would be available. But often, you would be told 'the score is 1-1 with about ten minutes left to play'. And coverage was almost exclusively kept to the big clubs. Remember I am talking about a time when Norwich City were in Division Two, and in those days, that competition was nowhere near as big as the Championship of today.

So, if the Nine O'Clock News failed to deliver, I was probably facing a climb up the stairs not knowing how the Canaries had fared. The ITV News At Ten was too late for a young kid (and again it devoted coverage to the top end of the scale anyway), there was no Radio Five live, and Radio Norfolk did not start broadcasting until much later, in 1980. Like most households in our neighbourhood, we had no telephone. The only respite came courtesy of Sportsnight, on a Tuesday night on BBC One (and moved to Wednesday when it became Sportsnight with Coleman). But again, on too late for a boy with school the next day.

The only sure fire way to find out the result came the next morning with a trip to the newsagents. But, even then, the football scores panel sometimes included the letter 'L' where there should have been numbers ! If a game started late or involved extra time, they missed the print deadline.

Beyond that, it was word of mouth. By lunchtime you might have been able to find someone who went to the game. I was a pre teen and just wanted to know how my team got on for goodness sake. But failing that, it was a wait for the paper boy with the Evening News.

It hardly seems credible in this day and age.


[This series is dedicated to Canary fans who went to Carrow Road in the 1970's. You know who you are!]
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Strain The Brain No8

See if you can identify these three players with Norwich City connections. Once you have done that, use the initial letters of their first name and surname to solve the main question. Answers can be found by clicking on the Strain The Brain answer section in the sidebar of the blog.




Player one :  I played for Norwich between 1989 and 1992 and Watford and Blackburn Rovers are amongst the other clubs I have represented. Who am I ?

Player two : Of all the players presently at City, I have appeared as a Canary more times than any of them. Who am I ?

Player three : In the decade before coming to Carrow Road, I represented Denmark U21's on fourteen occasions. Who am I ?

Using the letters from their initials, find a six letter word that satisfies the following :

You will find these all around the Carrow Road pitch

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Division Three South Cup

This competition existed between 1933 and 1939 and as the name suggests was open to all twenty two teams in Division Three South. It was added to the Football League calendar in an attempt to provide midweek income but was generally poorly supported.

Norwich City took part in it just once - in the inaugural 1933-34 season. This was also the year the Canaries won Division Three South, and they therefore moved onwards and upwards for the rest of the decade. It was a knockout competition and in their first match, Norwich were drawn at home to Gillingham at the Nest. A fine 4-0 win was achieved on the 25th of January 1935, though less than 3,000 attended. Two weeks later it was the turn of Clapton Orient to travel to Norfolk, and they too were despatched with ease, 3-0. A further victory, 3-2 over Northampton Town with a Rod Williams hat-trick followed, again at the Nest, paving the way for a semi final tie against Torquay United who were struggling towards the lower end of the Division Three South table. The match was played on neutral ground, at Highbury, Arsenal, and it was a match Norwich were expected to win. However, with the league campaign entering the crucial final weeks, and City looking very good for promotion, goalkeeper Norman Wharton and stalwart defender Bernard Robinson were rested. The side sent to London crashed 4-1 to the Gulls.

Torquay lost 1-0 in the final to their Devon rivals Exeter City, in a game played at Home Park, Plymouth. Norwich used the competition to give a chance to some fringe players. Jack Scott (4 games), Jack Roy (4 games) and Robert Robinson (2 games) made their only seasonal appearances for City in the Division Three South Cup of 1933-34. However the first team strike force of Jack Vinall, Ken Burditt and Billy Warnes (who scored 56 league goals between them that term) played in all four matches, with Vinall and Warnes scoring three each.

The competition carried on for a further five seasons without Norwich City, and was won by a different club each year, Bristol Rovers 1934-35, Coventry City 1935-36, Watford 1936-37 and Reading 1937-38. In it's final season of existence in 1938-39, Torquay had again reached the final and were awaiting the winners of the tie between QPR and Port Vale who had drawn at the first attempt. However with the Second World War approaching, the Division Three South Cup was abandoned without conclusion, and when soccer returned in the second half of the next decade, the competition was not re-instated.
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First & Last - Ron Saunders

First game :  9th August 1969 versus Aston Villa away Division Two 1-0 win

Last game :  17th November 1973 versus Everton home Division One 3-1 defeat



Previous club managed :  Oxford United
Next club managed :  Manchester City
Managed professionally :  until 1987
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Canary Lists - Norwich City Player Occupations

a list for everything NCFC...........



There was a time when footballers played their hearts out for little monetary reward. Here is a selection of notes from biographies, showing occupations that former Norwich City players took up after they retired from the game - jobs I cannot see many modern era players needing to undertake somehow............

1.  owns a seaside guest house

2.  works as an insurance representative

3.  is a publican

4.  works in the motor trade

5.  manages a local bookmakers

6.  works in the warehouse of a Norwich shoemaking firm

7.  owns a paper shop

8.  moved back to his native Yorkshire and worked in the mines

9.  currently drives a taxi

10.  worked on the railways

11.  entered the prison service

12.  went into the laundry business

13.  became a storekeeper

14.  now a painter and decorator

15.  spent time as a milkman

16.  later worked as a greengrocer

Back in the day, footballers were working class, and when they grew too old to play, they went back to their roots. Football was a sport in which few truly prospered - the game was the property of the masses.
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Family Connections

Canaries who have family connections elsewhere in the world of football

Norman Low -  a huge servant to Norwich City FC as a player (1946-1950) and manager (1950-1955) 

was the son of

Wilf Low - a centre half who played over 500 matches for Aberdeen, Newcastle and Scotland before being tragically killed when knocked down by a motor car in 1933

and nephew of

Harry Low - a wing half who played over 300 games for Aberdeen and Sunderland

and cousin of

Willie Low - who also played for Aberdeen

The Winning Years

1984-1985

Winners
Football League Cup

Players

Steve Bruce  (9 appearances)
John Deehan  (9 appearances)
Peter Mendham  (9 appearances)
Mike Channon  (8 appearances)
Louie Donowa  (8 appearances)
Asa Hartford  (8 appearances)
Paul Haylock  (8 appearances)
Dave Watson  (8 appearances)
Chris Woods  (8 appearances)
Dennis van Wijk  (5 appearances)
Mark Barham  (4 appearances)
John Devine  (4 appearances)
Greg Downs  (4 appearances)
Dale Gordon  (4 appearances)
Paul Clayton  (1 appearance)
Joe Corrigan  (1 appearance)
Mark Farrington  (1 appearance)

Goals

Deehan 5, Bruce 3, Channon 3, Donowa 3, Hartford 3, Mendham 1, Watson 1, own goal 1

Manager :  Ken Brown
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Swindon Town 10 Norwich City 2 - 1908

This match comes from the very earliest period of Norwich City history and it is significant to our story as it remains the club's heaviest competitive defeat in professional football. It took place in the Southern League on the 5th of September 1908, at the start of City's fourth campaign as a paid outfit, and around the time when the nickname Canaries was first adopted. The trip to Swindon was the second fixture of the 1908-09 season, and followed a 4-0 away defeat to Luton Town three days earlier. Possibly the club was somewhat out of sorts at the time, the hectic move from Newmarket Road to the Nest had taken place in the summer, and the day before the Luton game, City had played Fulham in a friendly to mark the opening of the new ground. And all this without a manager in place as well. Jimmy 'Punch' McEwen had held the post of player manager during the previous season, but by 1908-09 much of the decision making was done on a shared basis between the Directors and Arthur Turner, who was officially assistant manager but had held various high level positions at the club since it's formation, and was generally considered to be the brains behind the operation.

So, it was an unchanged, tired and possibly distracted Canary side that arrived at the County Ground, to take on what was a very good Swindon team. The match was settled very early, in fact Norwich were 6-1 down by half time. The second half was only marginally better, and the small consolation in an afternoon where everything that could go wrong did, were goals from Ernie Coxhead and William Silor (in his one and only season as a Norwich striker). Jimmy Hogan scored four times for the home team and Harold Fleming, a prolific Swindon attacker who went on to later play for England, got a hat-trick. The newly fledged Canaries returned home well and truly beaten.

Seven days later Portsmouth, another good side in the division, came to the Nest to play in the first ever league match at the ground, and it is a measure of the turnaround in the performance of the defence, that City on this day kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw. Their season was on the way up! Though not, it must be said, to any great degree. 1908-09 would prove to be the worst so far in Norwich's Southern League existence - they finished third from bottom, with only Coventry City and Brentford narrowly doing worse. And that Portsmouth game brought mixed fortunes. It was a highly creditable result for certain, as City played for an hour with only ten men. Their numerical disadvantage came as a result of an injury to Jimmy McEwen - and he never played again after over 100 games for the club. The only seasonal highlight came in the FA Cup. And it was a huge highlight - beating the mighty Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield with a last minute winner.

When Swindon came to the Nest the following January the game ended 0-0. But generally they loved playing Norwich in the Southern League, recording over the years victories of 7-1, 5-1, 5-3, 4-2, 4-0, 6-1 and of course this historical 10-2 !

Norwich Team :  Peter Roney, Gerry Newlands, 'Punch' McEwen, James Tomlinson, Eddie Wagstaffe, Bobby Whiteman, Ernie Coxhead, John Flanagan, John Smith, William Silor, Tommy Allsopp
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Final League Placings 1931-1932

Football League 1931-1932

Division Three South

Fulham  57

Reading  55

Southend  53

Crystal Palace  51

Brentford  48

Luton Town  47

Exeter City  47

Brighton  46

Cardiff City  46

Norwich City  46

Watford  46

Coventry City  44

QPR  42

Northampton  39

Bournemouth  38

Clapton Orient  35

Swindon Town  34

Bristol Rovers  34

Torquay United  33

Mansfield Town  32

Gillingham  28

Thames  23

Full City Record   P42 W17 D12 L13 F76 A67 PTS 46   Manager :  James Kerr

Everton were English champions

Newcastle United won the FA Cup

In This Year :  The Abbey Road Studios are opened in London by Sir Edward Elgar

Widespread slum clearance begins in Britain

Actor William Roache is born

Final league placings will be posted on a regular basis until every table is listed - click on the label below for years posted so far.

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