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Farewell Big Dunc – the rock on which the modern version of Norwich City was built

Farewell Big Dunc – the rock on which the modern version of Norwich City was built

24th October 2019 By Mick Dennis 12 Comments

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Back in October 2013, when Big Dunc’s diagnosis was first made public, our own Mick Dennis wrote a moving piece that captured perfectly the inextricable link between Duncan Forbes and Norwich City Football Club. 

Dunc was many things to many different people: fearless centre-back… warrior leader… wise old head… mentor… Mr Club Cabbage… and friend.

This is what he meant to Mick.


Duncan Forbes, a warrior captain of Norwich City, has been robbed of his memory by Alzheimer’s. But we won’t forget him.

Everyone who cares about the club will grieve at the heartbreakingly cruel news, because nobody cared more than “Big Dunc”.

He was the rock on which the modern Norwich City was built. He led the team as they strode into the top division for the very first time, then led them out for their first Wembley final. And he straddled two distinct eras:  the direct, no-nonsense style with which they reached the top tier, and then the creation of a tradition for passing which survives to this day.

He seemed indestructible, so the news that his brain has been dying, one cell at a time, is crushingly sad. But I have a personal recollection which has made me smile down the years and which is help at this most mournful of times.

He used to write a weekly article for the Pink Un. He would arrive at the office, reduce the receptionists to hysterics with his banter, turn heads as he walked with vigour from the lift to the sports department and then bellow a greeting.

He bounded in each week with his thoughts roughed out in handwriting on a sheet of lined paper from an exercise book. My role was to talk through it with him, tease out a few more stories and type it up.

 I looked forward to this regular Thursday afternoon task because it was no task at all. And, to impress my then fiancée, I introduced him to her. She was a reporter on the weekly Norwich Mercury and a Carrow Road season ticket holder.

In the summer of 1976, worried that his place in John Bond’s slick, passing side might be under threat for the new season, Forbes trained on his own each day on Mousehold Heath – which, in those days, was frequented by professional ladies at night. My fiancée drove up there one morning and he readily agreed to be interviewed about his solo fitness routine.

Fast forward to December. Thursday afternoon. Forbes arrived with his familiar, irrepressible pizzazz. But he announced in that rich, bass Scots accent, that he didn’t want me to play any part in producing his column.

I was devastated. What had I done? How had I managed to upset this great hero? Nobody fell out with Big Dunc! What would the impact be on my job?

He had a private conversation with Peter Ware, the sports editor, who then told me that he agreed with Forbes. Someone else would have to liaise with the footballer.

Two days afterwards, my fiancée and I married and went on honeymoon (to the Canaries, naturally). Just over a fortnight later, back at my desk, I looked up “The Captain’s Column” in the Pink Un which Forbes had written without me. There, under his grinning by-line picture, was the usual stuff about his thoughts and hopes – plus this pay-off sentence:

“Finally, congratulations to Norwich City reporter Mick Dennis who gets married today to a nice girl I met up Mousehold Heath in the summer.”

I can’t think about that without chuckling. But then nobody could spend any time in Forbesy’s company without laughing – unless you were an opposition centre-forward, of course.

It might be a paradox and a cliché to say that he gave and took whacks without complaint – that there was an honesty about his skulduggery – but that was how it was. So, usually, there was a handshake and a joke as soon as the combat was over.

He laughed at himself as well. He had several catch-phrases, all of them dryly self-deprecating. One was: “Keep your voice down to a roar”. That was advice he seldom heeded.

His other, self-mocking mottos all referenced his rudimentary approach to the beautiful game. “Keep the ball in the air so that nobody can get it,” he used to say. “Get your retaliation in first,” was another of his favourites. So was: “If it moves, kick it. If it doesn’t move, kick it till it does.”

So City fans sang: “Six feet two, eyes of blue, Duncan Forbes is after you!”

In fact, he was a little under six feet, but he held himself very upright and gave no ground to any opponent without a real scrap. He began his career with Scottish non-league side Musselburgh, moved to Colchester at 20 and spent seven years there as they twice went up from the old Fourth Division to the Third and twice slid back down.

Lol Morgan signed him for Norwich in 1969 for just £10,000, but it was Ron Saunders, who took over as manager a year later, who forged the Forbes legend. Saunders, a martinet, demanded football without frills. That suited Forbes, who was a superb foil for the more thoughtful Dave Stringer, with whom he formed a resolute centre-back pairing which helped carry the club to history.

Norwich were famed cup fighters, and often solid campaigners in the second tier, until, with Saunders, Stringer and Forbes the key men, the unique yellow and green shirts finally reached the top tier for the first time in 1972.

The following March, Forbes walked out proudly at the front of the line of Norwich players for the League Cup final.

But one year later, City were relegated. Saunders resigned. The new manager, John Bond, was enticed away from Bournemouth and began recruiting players from his old club. He also insisted on playing the ball along the ground, building from the back and using guile instead of brute force.

With new players and new tactics, surely Forbes would be on his way? I know that Bond thought so. But the big-hearted Scottish defender was determined to prove that he could adapt and still be invaluable.  Bond was soon persuaded and Forbes and Stringer were his centre-backs as Norwich won promotion for the second time and another trip to the League Cup final.

Those lone, long, training runs up and down the hills of Mousehold Heath helped Forbes keep his battle-scarred legs pumping, but eventually both he and Stringer had to make way for younger men.

Of course, Forbes wouldn’t go quietly. He didn’t do anything quietly. Farmed out on loan to Torquay, when he returned to Carrow Road he won back a first-team berth.

I believe his last first-team game was the final (old) First Division match of 1977-78. That was certainly the last Norwich match I reported for the Pink Un. My intro was about Forbes because he had scored a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw. He gleefully thumped the ball into the net in front of the adoring Barclay. Not a bad finish for a remarkable career.

Forbes provided the template by which all subsequent Norwich captains should be judged because he was perfect for the job on and off the pitch. On it, he looked as if he had been quarried from granite. Off it he was just as devoted to the club’s cause but a lot less formidable.

Despite that written prank about my wedding (which was a friendly compliment, really), Forbes made a point of ensuring that other players never crossed the line with me. I was a callow pup, timorously dealing with famous men, but he made sure everyone was polite and helpful, whatever I called them in print.

After finishing playing, he worked for the commercial department, had two stints as chief scout, and spent a total of 33 years as an employee of Norwich City.

I left Norfolk for Fleet Street, but our paths crossed over the years and my heart always leapt when I saw him. If that sounds a bit wet, I make no apologies. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many footballers. I’ve known a few really renowned people in other walks of life. But I haven’t encountered anyone I liked more than Forbesy, nor anyone I admired more.

I’d heard he had been stricken by Alzheimer’s. Most of us have seen its effect on people we know or love. It is a particularly pernicious illness which strips away the personality and leaves a husk. To think of Duncan Forbes so diminished is utterly devastating.

Now we learn that his devoted wife can no longer provide the round-the-clock care he needs. For her, the despair must be too much to bear. If you have a god, pray for her today.

And know this. As long as there is a Norwich City, we must talk about Duncan Forbes. Nobody has made a more epic contribution to our club.


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Filed Under: Column, Mick Dennis

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Comments

  1. Canarylad says

    24th October 2019 at 3:38 pm

    The word Legend get brandied around to lightly on footballers whose eyes are on zeros on a cheque. But if there is one man who is still deserving of that tag. It is Big Dunc

    Mr Norwich City for over 30 years. he loved the club, the area and the people. I spent a 4 hour train journey talking with the man, a week or so later I was in a queue in Lloyds Bank on the Walk. and I hear this booming scots voice, roar “come on ginge stop holding us all up.”

    There was no mistaking who it was. perhaps 2 weeks later and he still remembered me, a raw very wide eyed 18 yo. I dropped back to him in the line and we carried on where we left off on the train.

    I don’t proclaim to have known as a friend, but sure as hell was a massive fan. I have been dreading this day since I first heard, hoping there was a cure or miracle but knowing there is not. His poor family and friends have lost the big man twice. that is double the pain nobody should have

    Just keep that voice down to a roar. .

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  2. martin penney says

    24th October 2019 at 4:07 pm

    Great article Mick.

    We all have our own personal memories of “Big Dunc” in one way or another – but you can bet your back teeth that every single recollection will be positive.

    I’m sure the Club will do something at what I guess will be the Watford match – applause at 78 minutes of course – but hopefully something before kick-off as well.

    Duncan’s ilk do not appear very often on this mortal plane.

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  3. Rick says

    24th October 2019 at 5:35 pm

    Yes, a legend for City over many years. The first time I saw him was the Derby at CR in 1972. It was a goalless draw, mostly down to Dunc and David Stringer. In addition to his playing appearances, he and other players would often drop in to the café up by the castle. They did that by choice, enjoying the banter with those present. Dunc was always the leader, but also very warm in his banter. Tragic that such a great figure should have to end his life that way.

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  4. Ed Couzens-Lake says

    24th October 2019 at 5:37 pm

    A small but brightly burning yellow and green flame has just dimmed but only briefly. Because it will continue to give off warmth and light for as long as we all remember and treasure Duncan Forbes. Which means it’ll be burning for ever.

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  5. Canaryboy says

    24th October 2019 at 5:57 pm

    Good piece Mick.

    Sad to say that the man who made him, Ron Saunders, is now himself suffering from the same affliction in a nursing home in Sutton Coldfield.

    Alzheimers is cruel indeed…

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  6. Andrew Gillie says

    24th October 2019 at 6:42 pm

    R.I.P. from Scottish Canaries. A true legend. OTBC!

    3
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  7. Herr Cutz says

    24th October 2019 at 9:48 pm

    Most players can kick the ball out of stadium, Big Dunc could head it out, which sadly may have caused his Alzheimer, he truly did give his all for the Canary’s. It was a privilege to see him in his prime.

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  8. Canarylad says

    24th October 2019 at 10:29 pm

    Ron has dementia along with many other ex players his family lays the blame on football

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/08/13/family-ron-saunders-blame-football-dementia-diagnosis/

    Reply
  9. Geoff says

    25th October 2019 at 7:06 am

    My Mum, who knows bugger all about football, took me to my first match in the early seventies. I was born in ’70. She told me to watch Duncan Forbes. Perhaps she knew more than I’m giving her credit for!!

    RIP Big Man

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  10. MGW (ScotCan) says

    25th October 2019 at 8:59 am

    The guy was quite simply a legend, no overuse of the word here.
    He was captain of the team when I first started watching and as boys we would cycle to the Colney training ground to collect autographs from the players as they arrived and departed. Big Dunc always had time for a few words. A true gentleman.

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  11. Chris says

    25th October 2019 at 11:32 am

    So sad. Duncan Forbes forms a strong link to many a Norfolk boyhood, growing up supporting City. Keelan, Stringer, Paddon and of course Forbes, iconic, sleeves rolled up embodying the magic that was the yellow and green in the 1970’s.
    I still have the old programmes, emblazoned with the image of Forbes kissing the division 2 trophy ln the balcony of city hall. I even had a flashback to that glorious night during the summer with the scenes on that same balcony.
    Yesterday a friend of mine greeted me with news of Forbes passing. The sadness at the news spread and soon several of the guys in the gym were reminiscing about games from long ago.
    I would like to say I won’t shed a tear on Sunday when the inevitable pre match tribute takes place but I can’t promise that will be the case,

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  12. Dave H says

    25th October 2019 at 9:22 pm

    For no particular reason, I’ve not been on MFW all season but I was keen to read this when I heard about it – I’m glad I did.
    My memories of Duncan Forbes iare asking my Dad about him when I was about 8 or 9 & enjoying hearing about him. A true club legend.

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