Norwich City Football Club are a football team based in Norwich, England. They are known as the "Canaries" due to their yellow and green strip. From 1995 until 2004 the club played in the First Division of the Football League, but after winning the league championship under Nigel Worthington in 2003/04, they are in the FA Premier League as of the 2004/05 season.
The traditional club colours are yellow shirts and green shorts; the club badge contains a canary resting on a football, reflecting the heritage of the "Norwich Canary". Norwich used to be the national canary breeding capital (canaries being used down mines to detect gas) hence the name.
History
The club was formed in 1902 and first played at Newmarket Road. In 1908, the club moved to a new home, in a converted disused chalk pit in Rosary Road which became known as "The Nest".
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.
One of the club's greatest achievements was its run to the semi-final of the 1958–59 F.A. Cup as a Third division side, defeating First Division sides Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur on the way.
In 1972, under manager Ron Saunders, Norwich City reached the First Division, for the first time in its history. 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 there 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 meant the club qualified twice more during the eighties for a UEFA Cup place, but the ban on English clubs remained.
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, and Bayern Munich of Germany, before going down to Inter Milan, 2–0, over two legs.
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 moving to Leicester City, and 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 and Mark Bowen. Just four seasons after finishing third in the Premiership and beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, Norwich had finished 15th in Division One.
T.V. 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 Nigel Worthington took over as Norwich City manager in January 2001, the club was 20th in Division One and in real danger of sliding into the bottom half of the league for the first time since the 1960's. But just 18 months later, Norwich qualified for the Division One playoff final and only a defeat on penalties against Birmingham City prevented them from gaining promotion to the Premiership. Norwich just missed out on the playoffs in 2002-03 but were crowned Division One champions at the end of the 2003-04 season. After nine years and six managers, Norwich City had returned to the top flight of English football.
In January 2005 Norwich broke their transfer record when Dean Ashton (an England under-21 international) was bought from Crewe Alexandra for £3 million. This is an undoubted boost to the club's chances of the Premiership survival.
Honours
F.A. Premier League (Level 1)
Best Season: 3rd 1992-1993
Football League Second Division / Football League First Division (Level 2)
Champions: 1971-72, 1985-86, 2003-2004 Play Off Finalists: 2001-2002
Football League Third Division South (Level 3)
Champions: 1933-34 Runners Up: 1959-60
FA Cup
Semi Finalists: 1959, 1989, 1992
League Cup
Winners: 1962, 1985 Runners Up: 1973, 1975
European Competitions: UEFA Cup 1993-1994 Round 3
Current playing squad
Supporters
Norwich City Football Club has a large support base, with fans located all over the world. A number of supporters groups have arrisen at various locations around the world providing both support for the Club and like minded people the opportunity to meet.
External link
Last updated: 05-07-2005 03:57:40
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
