Promotion Winning Canaries

Peter Rogers

Description

Promotion-Winning Canaries gives fans the opportunity to relive all the good times at Carrow Road as Norwich City progressed through the leagues. Detailing the post-war seasons when City went up as champions, runners-up, in third place or via play-off drama, every promotion-winning player is profiled, with insight from many at the heart of the action.

Informations

• Publié par: Pitch Publishing
• Date de parution: 23 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785315664
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Peter Rogers, 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-565-7 eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-566-4
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Season Reviews
1959/60 Division Three runners-up
1971/72 Division Two champions
1974/75 Third in Division Two
1981/82 Third in Division Two
1985/86 Division Two champions
2003/04 First Division champions
2009/10 League One champions
2010/11 Championship runners-up
2014/15 Championship play-off winners
2018/19 Championship champions
A to Z Player Profiles
The Players
Appendices
Results, Appearances and Final League Tables
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Norwich City Football Club has played a huge part in my life, and I have cherished every step of my involvement with the club. From initially attending my first game with my dad in 1983, I subsequently spent three seasons as a senior ball boy; from there I progressed to an 11-year stint as a member of match-day staff in the Canary Store - followed by 15 memorable years as the club s programme editor.
Many of my most enjoyable times have centred around the club s promotion-winning successes, so my initial round of thanks must go the sterling efforts of the 213 players - all of whom are featured in this book - who have helped provide so many happy times for the club and its supporters to cherish.
My particular thanks go to Bill Punton, David Cross, Dave Stringer, Mark Barham, Kevin Drinkell, Iwan Roberts, Simon Lappin, Andrew Crofts and Russell Martin for giving so generously of their time to share their promotion tales with me for this publication. Nine true gentlemen who were all outstanding servants to Norwich City Football Club.
On the subject of true gentlemen, I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to Chris Lakey, head of sport at Archant. Following confirmation of City s 2018/19 promotion - and with it the need for an additional season review! - Chris very kindly granted permission for the reproduction of quotes from Tim Krul, which had appeared on various Archant platforms, to be used in this publication.
Many thanks to former boss Nigel Worthington for kindly providing the foreword. Oh, and also for signing Darren Huckerby and for my place on the open-top bus parade in 2004! Incredible memories for which I remain eternally grateful.
Sincere thanks too to Paul Camillin, Jane Camillin and all at Pitch Publishing for their assistance, advice and professionalism throughout this project.
I would like to place on record my appreciation and thanks to James Woodrow, from the Norwich City Football Club Historical Trust, for his statistical knowledge and input, and for all the time spent checking facts and figures relating to appearances and goalscorers. And when it came to checking and double-checking the text, the support of former Eastern Daily Press Norwich City reporter and general Canary aficionado Trevor Burton proved simply priceless.
The help of Dan Brigham at Norwich City has also been gratefully appreciated.
Finally, I must thank my long-suffering partner Jenny for her never-ending patience whilst I have spent far too long with my head in a laptop working on this latest book. Now we can book that holiday
Peter Rogers June 2019
FOREWORD
Leading Norwich City to the First Division title in 2003/04 was certainly the highlight of my time as manager at Carrow Road.
When I reflect on my own playing career, as both a promotion winner and a cup winner, the promotion campaigns always tend to be more satisfying as your success is the culmination of a long season s work. The league is your bread and butter, and if you end up winning promotion it has been achieved over a gruelling season and you ve established yourselves as one of the best three teams in your respective division.
So, the essence of this book is the celebration of promotion-winning campaigns - but for players, managers and staff the real prize is being able to test yourself at a higher level the following season. As a professional in the game you always want to be able to compete at the highest level and pit your wits against the best.
After coming so close to promotion in 2001/02, when we lost the play-off final against Birmingham on penalties, it was a tremendous feeling to win promotion as champions two seasons later. That success really was a fitting reward for an outstanding group of players. It was particularly satisfying that so many of the side, which came so close that afternoon in Cardiff s Millennium Stadium, then stuck together and went on to form the backbone of the team that reached the Premier League in 2004.
Eight of the promotion campaigns in this book relate to Norwich City winning promotion to the top flight of English football, today s Premier League. The club s 2018/19 success has propelled them back to that level and I congratulate everyone involved in the latest triumph.
Towards the end of the 2018/19 campaign, I was invited back to the Colney training ground by the club s sporting director, Stuart Webber, to present Alex Tettey with a shirt to commemorate his 200th appearance for the club. That trip to Colney also offered me an opportunity to see the excellent work that has taken place to improve the training ground, and to meet Daniel Farke. I was extremely impressed by both Daniel and Stuart, and having sensed the atmosphere amongst the group it came as little surprise to me that they went on to achieve their aim.

So far as this celebration of promotions is concerned, Peter Rogers was the club s programme editor throughout my tenure as Norwich City manager, and I know he always took great pride in producing an excellent publication that the club were rightly proud of. I therefore have no doubt that this book, too, will provide an enjoyable and entertaining read for all Norwich City supporters.
Nigel Worthington
INTRODUCTION
The 2018/19 campaign has just seen Norwich City celebrate their fourth promotion in ten seasons - it may be that current members of the yellow army have been somewhat spoilt in recent times!
Delighted to have attended City s League Cup Final victory at Wembley with my dad in 1985, I also carried my inflatable canary with pride during the 1988/89 FA Cup run, and was reduced to tears following the semi-final defeat at Hillsborough three years later. My timing was perfect in 1992/93 as I attended every game, home and away - completing my first ever-present season as City took the inaugural Premier League by storm. I was then thrilled to witness all six UEFA Cup ties in 1993/94 - and, after all, who knows when that opportunity will come around again?
But despite all the great memories listed above, in my eyes there really is no season quite like a promotion season.
City s return to the Premier League via the 2014/15 play-off final victory over Middlesbrough at Wembley was a wonderful occasion, and as a single one-off day it rates for many fans as their fondest moment following the Canaries fortunes.
For me, and for many thousands of other City fans, being able to share that Wembley triumph with friends and family was the icing on the cake. The hands of time had moved on inexorably since my first visit to the old Wembley some 30 years earlier. Back in 1985, I was perched on a bench seat with my dad and peering through mesh fencing to see Dave Watson hoist the Milk Cup. Fast forward to 2015 and I was now the dad, and my sons were sitting with me - but now in a breathtaking modern stadium, light years removed from its ageing predecessor. So many generations of City fans flocked to the national stadium that day in May 2015, and they were treated to a day they ll never forget. I guess it was that Wembley glow that gave me the inspiration to get this project under way. However, it was not until the following season was in full flow that you appreciated just how good the actual going up bit really was. At Wembley we celebrated our promotion to the Premier League, but what was there to top that Wembley experience during the subsequent 2015/16 campaign? Answer, absolutely nothing
From the dizzy heights of an excellent 2-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford to the downright miserable depths of a 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth - nothing in 2015/16 held a candle to Wembley.
Perhaps some of those feelings come from the extreme difficulties that smaller promoted clubs (such as Norwich City) face when trying to compete and survive in the modern-day Premier League. I just happen to believe that the journey can often be more thrilling than the destination.
It is similar even when reflecting on City s historic promotion as Second Division champions in 1971/72, when Ron Saunders s team brought First Division football to Norfolk for the first time. Supporters who watched games in that period will rarely talk about Jimmy Bone scoring Norwich s first-ever top-flight goal against Everton - yet they ll still give you chapter and verse on the previous season s never-to-be-forgotten trips to Orient and Watford.
So the essence of this book is to revel in my belief that promotion seasons are often the best seasons, memorable campaigns that are there to be enjoyed and cherished by thos