Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
Norwich City was founded in 1902, and since 1935, Norwich have played their home games at Carrow Road and have a long-standing rivalry with East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town, with whom they contest the East Anglian derby. Norwich have won the League Cup twice, in 1962 and 1985. The club's highest-ever league finish came in the 1992–93 season when they finished third in the Premier League. Norwich have featured in the UEFA Cup once, in the 1993–94 season, where they were defeated in the third round, but en route became the only English club to defeat German team Bayern Munich at the Olympiastadion in Munich.
The club is nicknamed The Canaries after the history of breeding the birds in the area, which is represented by the canary in team's badge and traditionally yellow-and-green home kits. The fans' song "On The Ball, City" is one of the oldest football chants in the world, written in the 1890s and still sung today.
History
Early years (1902–1934)
Norwich City F.C. was formed after a meeting at the Criterion Café in Norwich on 17 June 1902 and played their first competitive match, against Harwich & Parkeston, at Newmarket Road on 6 September 1902. They joined the Norfolk & Suffolk League for the 1902–03 season, but following a FA commission, the club was ousted from the amateur game in 1905, as it was deemed a professional organisation. Later that year Norwich were elected to play in the Southern League. With increasing crowds, they were forced to leave Newmarket Road in 1908 and moved to The Nest, a disused chalk pit. The club's original nickname was the Citizens, but this was superseded by 1907 by the Canaries after the club's chairman (who was a keen breeder of canaries) dubbed his boys "The Canaries" and changed their strip to yellow and green. During the First World War, with football suspended and facing spiralling debts, City went into voluntary liquidation on 10 December 1917.
The club was officially reformed on 15 February 1919 – a key figure in the event was Charles Frederick Watling, future lord mayor of Norwich and the father of future club chairman, Geoffrey Watling. When the Football League formed a third Division in May 1920, Norwich joined the Third Division for the following season. Their first league fixture, against Plymouth Argyle, on 28 August 1920, ended in a 1–1 draw. The club went on to endure a mediocre decade, finishing no higher than eighth but no lower than 18th. The following decade proved more successful for the club with a club-record victory, 10–2, over Coventry City. Norwich were promoted as champions to the Second Division in the 1933–34 season under the management of Tom Parker.
Move to Carrow Road and an FA Cup semi-final (1934–1959) With crowds continuing to rise, and with the Football Association raising concerns over the suitability of The Nest, the club considered renovation of the ground, but ultimately decided on a move to Carrow Road. The inaugural match, on 31 August 1935 against West Ham United, ended in a 4–3 victory for the home team and set a new record attendance of 29,779. The biggest highlight of the following four seasons was the visit of King George VI to Carrow Road on 29 October 1938. However the club was relegated to the Third Division at the end of the season.
The league was suspended the following season due to the Second World War, and did not resume until the 1946–47 season. City finished this and the following season in 21st place, the poor results forcing the club to apply for re-election to the league. The club narrowly missed out on promotion under the guidance of manager Norman Low in the early 1950s, but following the return of Tom Parker as manager, Norwich finished bottom of the football league in the 1956–57 season.
Events off the field were to overshadow the team's performances as the club faced financial difficulties severe enough to render them non-viable. With debts amounting to more than £20,000, the club was rescued by the formation of a new board, chaired by Geoffrey Watling and the creation of an appeal fund chaired by the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Arthur South, which raised more than £20,000. For these and other services to the club, both men (now deceased) were later honoured by having stands named after them at Carrow Road.
Archie Macaulay became manager when the club was reformed and he oversaw one of the club's greatest achievements, its run to the semi-final of the 1958–59 FA Cup. Competing as a Third Division team, Norwich defeated two First Division opponents along the way, notably a 3–0 win against the Manchester United "Busby Babes". City lost the semi-final only after a replay against another First Division team, Luton Town. The team of 1958–59 – including Terry Bly who scored seven goals in the run, and Ken Nethercott who played most of the second half of one match in goal despite a dislocated shoulder – is today well represented in the club Hall of Fame. The "59 Cup Run" as it is now known locally, "remains as one of the truly great periods in Norwich City's history". Norwich were the third-ever Third Division team to reach the FA Cup semi-final.
League Cup glory and a place in the First Division (1959–1980)
In the 1959–60 season, Norwich were promoted to the Second Division after finishing second to Southampton, and achieved a fourth-place finish in the 1960–61 season. In 1962 Ron Ashman guided Norwich to their first trophy, defeating Rochdale 4–0 on aggregate in a two-legged final to win the League Cup.
Sixth place in the league was the closest the club came to promotion to the First Division again during the 1960s, but after winning the division in the 1971–72 season under manager Ron Saunders, Norwich City reached the highest level of English football for the first time. They made their first appearance at Wembley Stadium in 1973, losing the League Cup final 1–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
Relegation to the Second Division in 1973–74 season came after Saunders had departed and been succeeded by John Bond, but the board of directors kept faith in Bond and were quickly rewarded. A highly successful first season saw promotion back to the First Division, and another visit to Wembley, again in the League Cup final, this time losing 1–0 to Aston Villa.
Promotion, silverware and more cup runs (1980–1992) Bond departed to Manchester City in the autumn of 1980, and the club were relegated six months later, but bounced back the following season after finishing third under Bond's successor Ken Brown. In August 1981, Norwich City striker Justin Fashanu became the first black footballer to command a £1 million transfer fee when he was sold to Nottingham Forest.
The 1984–85 season was of mixed fortunes for the club; under Brown's guidance, they reached the final of the Football League Cup at Wembley Stadium, having defeated East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town in the semi-final. In the final, they beat Sunderland 1–0, but in the league, both Norwich and Sunderland were relegated to the second tier of English football, Norwich going down by only one point. This made Norwich the first English club to win a major trophy and suffer relegation in the same season; something which was not matched until Birmingham City also suffered relegation the season they won the League Cup 26 years later.
Norwich were also denied their first foray into Europe with the ban on English clubs after the Heysel Stadium disaster. City bounced back to the top flight by winning the Second Division championship in the 1985–86 season. This was the start a club-record nine consecutive seasons in the top division of English football.
A fifth place finish under Brown in 1987 and fourth place in 1989 under his successor Dave Stringer would have been enough for UEFA Cup qualification, but the ban on English clubs remained. They also had good cup runs during this period, reaching the FA Cup semi-finals in 1989 and again in 1992. Their unexpected title challenge alongside the cup run in the 1988-89 season turned them into surprise contenders for the double.
Stringer’s final season in charge saw them finish fifth from bottom in 1992, but it was enough to ensure that they would be founder members of the new Premier League for the 1992-93 season.
Early success in the Premier League era (1992–1995) During 1992–93, the inaugural season of the Premier League, Norwich City quickly emerged as surprise title contenders, before faltering in the final weeks to finish third behind the champions, Manchester United, and runners-up Aston Villa. The following season Norwich participated in the UEFA Cup for the first (and only) time, losing in the third round to Inter Milan, but defeating Bayern Munich. Winning 2–1, Norwich were the first British team to beat Bayern Munich in the Olympiastadion.
Mike Walker quit as Norwich City manager in January 1994, to take charge of Everton and was replaced by first team coach John Deehan who led the club to 12th place in the 1993–94 season in the Premier League. Norwich began the 1994–95 season well, despite the pre-season departure of top scorer Chris Sutton to Blackburn Rovers for a British record fee of £5 million, and by Christmas they were seventh in the league. Norwich then won only one of their final 20 league games, and slumped to 20th place and relegation, ending a nine-season run in the top flight.
The First Division years (1995–2003)
Shortly before relegation, Deehan resigned as manager and his assistant Gary Megson took over until the end of the season. Martin O'Neill, who had taken Wycombe Wanderers from the Conference to the Second Division with successive promotions, was appointed as Norwich City manager in summer 1995. He lasted just six months in the job before resigning after a dispute with chairman Robert Chase over money to strengthen the squad. Soon after, Chase stepped down after protests from supporters, who complained that he kept selling the club's best players and was to blame for their relegation. Chase's majority stakeholding was bought by Geoffrey Watling.
English television cook Delia Smith and husband Michael Wynn-Jones took over the majority of Norwich City's shares from Watling in 1996, and Mike Walker was re-appointed as the club's manager. He was unable to repeat the success achieved during his first spell and was dismissed two seasons later with Norwich mid-table in Division One. Nigel Worthington took over as Norwich City manager in December 2000 following an unsuccessful two years for the club under Bruce Rioch and then Bryan Hamilton. He had been on the coaching staff under Hamilton who resigned with the club 20th in the First Division and in real danger of relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time since the 1960s. Worthington avoided the threat of relegation and, the following season, led City to a play-off final at the Millennium Stadium, which Norwich lost against Birmingham City on penalties.
Return to the Premier League (2003–2009)
The 2003–04 season saw the club win the First Division title, finishing eight points clear of second-placed West Bromwich Albion and returned to the top flight for the first time since 1995. For much of the 2004–05 season, the club struggled and a last day 6–0 defeat away to Fulham condemned them to relegation. The club finished in ninth place in the Championship in the 2005–06 season and, as results in the 2006–07 season went against City, Worthington was dismissed in October 2006, directly after a 4–1 defeat by Burnley.