Saturday 3 September 2011

1983 - A Visit to the New Champions at Anfield

The very first match highlights I recorded on my brand new Betamax video was the home match with Liverpool in December 1982 (I haven't converted that tape yet). We were rock bottom of the First Division and they were top. Of course, that meant we won 1-0.

In March, Norwich went on an eight game unbeaten run which lifted them well above the relegation zone and by the time they were due to visit Anfield on 23rd April were safe from the threat of the drop. That week, Liverpool had been crowned Champions and this was the first match at home to celebrate. As it turns out, Norwich were the party-poopers and went on to a well-deserved 2-0 win.

There's a great interview at the end of Part 2 with Norwich's captain, Dave Watson, about his thoughts on clapping Liverpool onto the pitch at the start of the game.

Enjoy!
Part 1

Part 2

Sunday 28 August 2011

1986 - When Away Fans Were Banned

Norwich City visited Luton Town on 11th October for a First Division Match. However, there were no Norwich fans allowed in the ground following a decision by Luton to ban away supporters from the stadium. This was in response to a riot by Millwall 'fans' at a cup game the season before which was shown on the BBC.


Norwich were riding high in the division after a one year sojourn in the 2nd.

In addition to the supporter ban, Norwich also had to contend with Luton's plastic pitch. Here are the highlights in four parts.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4



Saturday 20 August 2011

In the days when we had FA Cup runs...

In 1984 Norwich were drawn away to Aston Villa in the F.A. Cup, 3rd round. I remember travelling on a football special train to Villa and playing cards all the way there and back. After a 1-1 draw it was back to Carrow Road on the Wednesday night.

Part 1


Part 2




Sunday 31 July 2011

1985 Milk Cup Preview

On Friday 24th March 1985, Anglia TV previewed the upcoming Milk Cup Final between Norwich City and Sunderland.

It's interesting to watch brief highlights of Norwich's two previous attempts to win the League Cup in 1973 under Ron Saunders and in 1975 under John Bond. Both games ended in disappointing 1-0 defeats. I didn't get a ticket for the first game but in 1975 I was living in London so just had a short trip to Wembley. I remember Mel Machin pulling a hamstring in the pre-match warm-up but he played anyway. The only thing he did in the game was the diving save to concede the penalty that led to Villa's goal. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the first missed penalty at Wembley even though Ray Graydon put in the rebound.

You'll then see Mick Channon showing a young Louie Donowa around Wembley Stadium. Channon was a great mentor to the young players at the club, none more so than Donowa whom he was constantly directing during games.

Saturday 30 July 2011

A Milk Cup Final Rehearsal?

On 16th March 1985, Norwich were at home to Sunderland, a week before the Milk Cup Final. They were a comfortable 11th in the table while Sunderland 5 places below them in 16th.

I remember this as a pretty ordinary performance by Norwich. With only three sides of the ground open, and the  old Main Stand being dismantled, the atmosphere was muted.

Interesting to see Gary Rowell at the end. I remember him as a pretty effective striker for Sunderland and his time at Norwich didn't make much of an impression on me.

Saturday 23 July 2011

On the Road to Wembley - via Grimsby

On 16th January 1985, Norwich City traveled to Grimsby in the Quarterfinals of the Milk Cup. The weather had been awful along the East coast so travel was difficult. However, the game went ahead after a big snow-clearing exercise and Norwich booked a semi-final place against Ipswich.

First Half

Second Half

Wednesday 20 July 2011

March 1983 - Norwich City v West Ham United

After winning promotion in the previous season, City struggled in the top division. Having spent most of the season in the relegation places, they needed to put some results together to avoid dropping straight back to the second division. A win against Watford at the start of the month had lifted Norwich out of the bottom three, but a defeat at Villa followed by two draws had left them still in trouble.

However, this game formed part of a 10 game unbeaten run which lifted them into mid-table. Norwich City included England 2nd choice goalkeeper Chris Woods, Dave Watson, also on the fringe of the England squad, Martin O'Neill in his second spell at the club and Mick Channon.

West Ham had some very well known players in the team: Phil Parkes in goal, Frank Lampard Senior, Billy Bonds, Alan Devonshire and a young Alan Dickens.

The game was shown on Anglia TV's 'Match of the Week' - a weekly Sunday highlights program of the region's teams. This usually meant Norwich, Ipswich and occasionally Luton as representatives in the top division.

Look out for a young Steve Ryder, now a BBC stalwart, and a tribute to Bob Paisley, the Liverpool manager as his team won the Milk Cup the day before.

First Half

Second Half

Saturday 16 July 2011

The Greatest Night at Carrow Road Ever?

Well, I think it was for me.

The first leg at Portman Road was a bit of a nightmare. I'd organised a job interview in the city for 1 o'clock on the basis that Norwich were due to play a home game that day. Attend the interview, the plan was, have a pint at the Ferryman on King Street on the way to Carrow Road for the match. For some reason, the powers-that-be switched the Milk Cup Semi-Final first leg to that Saturday so I had the interview and then dashed down the A140 to the game (funnily enough one of my planned interviewers wasn't there - he'd gone to Ipswich!).

We got into the ground with about five minutes of the game played - just in time to see Ipswich score. The rest of the match was backs-to-the-wall football and how the game finished at only 1-0 I'll never understand.

So back to Carrow Road two weeks later for the second leg. I'd heard on the radio that day that we hadn't beaten Ipswich by two clears goals for years. I remember I was sitting in the South Stand for the game and it was a pretty full-blooded affair. John Deehan scored a deflected goal in the first half but the second goal wouldn't come.

In the 87th minute, Mark Barham took a corner from what is now the Snakepit corner. The Norwich players in the box all ran to the near post and Steve Bruce from the edge of the box, ran in and headed the winning goal into the net. The place went mad. I fell over my seat into the row behind onto the laps of some stony-faced Ipswich fans.

I got home about 3 in the morning.....

Anglia TV Report


BBC Look East Report



Tuesday 12 July 2011

After The Fire

Two days after the fire at Carrow Road on 25th October 1984, Norwich were due to play QPR at home. The club were able to get the game played by removing the centre section of the stand roof which had been damaged by the fire and closing the stand. It would remain closed for the rest of the season.

Norwich changed at Trowse Training Ground and QPR in 'The Nest', the pub built into the new River End Stand.

After the match highlights, Stewart White of BBC's Look East interviews the Bishop of Norwich, a keen Canaries fan.

Saturday 9 July 2011

30 Minutes of Highlights - Norwich/Spurs 1984

In January 1984, Norwich beat Aston Villa in the 3rd round of the FA Cup after a replay and were drawn away to Spurs in the 4th Round. After a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane on the Saturday, the replay at Carrow Road took place on the following Wednesday. It's not like today where the replay has to wait for over a week. Tickets were pre-printed and ready for sale on the Sunday morning. Plus, of course, with standing behind both goals, you could just pay on the night.

There were some famous faces in the Spurs lineup - Ossie Ardiles, Steve Perryman, Chris Hughton, Steve Archibald. Norwich had the evergreen Mick Channon up front but not many other household names in the team.

Here's Part 1:

Part 2:

And finally, Part 3, with an interview with Mick Channon at the end.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

The 1984 Carrow Road Fire. Ctd.


I have a bit more information on the Carrow Road Fire of 1984 which burned the Main Stand at Carrow Road. The Main Stand was one of the original 1930s structures of the Carrow Road Ground and the only one originally with seats. The Barclay, the South Stand and the unroofed River End were all standing terracing. The River End Stand was replaced in 1979-80 by the current Norwich and Peterborough Stand.

Geoffrey Watling (0:40 sec) is widely regarded as the man who saved Norwich City after the disastrous end to the Robert Chase era when the club almost went out of business before Delia stepped in.

The man handing some pictures to Geoff Watling is Mike Harper, who used to run the catering at Carrow Road. When Tony Jones of Anglia TV interviews Nigel Pleasants, the Club Secretary (1:16), Ronnie Brooks, the Youth Team Manager is standing in the background.

The chairman, Sir Arthur South, was a local businessman in the days when they weren't expected to put millions of pounds into a club to keep it afloat.

Nigel Pleasants, the Club Secretary, had been Assistant Club Secretary under the long-serving Bert Westwood. Nigel  moved to Leeds in 1990 to take on the Club Secretary role there. He sadly passed away in 2008 at the tragically young age of 59.

The last few seconds on the clip show groundsman Russell Allison mowing the pitch. Russell served as Groundsman for many years and a Lounge at the club was named after him. Is it still there?

On the Foggy Road to Wembley

On 31st October, 1984, Aldershot of the Fourth Division, visited First Division Norwich City in the 3rd Round of the Milk Cup. It looked a relatively easy draw after a 9-4 aggregate win over Preston in the second round.

I remember it as one of the most boring games I ever saw. It sticks in my mind because, at the end of a turgid first half in which nothing at all happened, the song that Howard Platt, the DJ at Carrow Road selected for the start of the half-time music was.... "I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters.

A week later, City went to Aldershot for the replay and won 4-0, a game I'm guessing that not many peoplse saw bacause of the fog. It's amazing that the game wasn't abandoned.

Monday 4 July 2011

Twilight Landing at LAX

This video is great. The music is pretty good too.

I never touched it, Ref!

I'm not sure how the referee missed this.

Sunday 3 July 2011

"We wore Town like a flesh tuxedo"

Always worth rereading. I had to make do with the Radio Norfolk commentary but Chris Goreham and Neil Adams certainly enjoyed themselves.

Norwich City v Luton Town, 10th November 1984

Another game from the 1984-85 season at Carrow Road against Luton Town. Luton had some good players in the 80s, Ricky Hill especially.

The game was played in front of the ruins of the recently burnt out main stand and includes a first ever senior goal for 'Disco' Dale Gordon. Mick Channon was fantastic for Norwich for two or three seasons. You won't find it happening now, a senior international player seeing out his career at a smaller club. They all now still want to earn the megabucks and are more likely to end up in the States or Qatar.

Oh, and I've just discovered, I don't have to convert the DVD format file. Youtube will accept it and I'm sure they've got much better conversion software than I have.

1984-1985 First Game of the Season

Norwich City opened up the 84-85 season at home to champions Liverpool.

It was an eventful debut for Steve Bruce who scored an own goal and almost knocked out Keith Bertchin after he scored Norwich's second goal.

It was Norwich's first year in the Hummel strip which replaced one of my favourites, the Adidas pinstripe.  This was the first season that shirt sponsors were allowed and Norwich signed up  with Poll & Withey Windows, a local manufacturer of double glazing. It was a good decision for them as Norwich would go on to wear their name at Wembley in the 1985 Milk Cup Final.

Norwich City's Main Stand burns down

On 25th October 1984, a fire broke out in the Main Stand at Carrow Road and destroyed about 40% of the stand. The stand had to be closed, eventually for the rest of the season, though the game 2 days later against QPR went ahead.

It was a topsy-turvy season for Norwich. They won the Milk Cup by beating Sunderland 1-0 at Wembley but an awful run of form (and some dubious match scheduling by the Football League) saw them relegated to the second division.

Here are the About Anglia and Look East reports of the fire.





Betamax Restored

I bought a Betamax video recorder in 1982 - there's nothing like being on the wrong side of history.

I used to record Norwich City matches and, since I eventually replaced the Betamx with a VHS machine, the tapes have just sat in the cupboard, untouched. I've always wanted to convert them, first of all to VHS, then to DVD and now, why not share them on Youtube.

I aim to upload various Norwich City, and other, video files from the 1980's to Youtube as fast as my elderly PC can convert them.