Fourteen managers have managed Norwich City Football Club in the top flight since Ron Saunders first achieved it in 1972/73.
But how do their records compare?
In the following table all fourteen managers are ranked by the percentage of games won under their leadership in the top division in English football. All competitive league and cup games have been included. Data sourced from across the internet.
Interesting, eh? What if Chase had given Walker the money he was asking? What if…
And how about a trivia question to finish off with:
Norwich City first broke into the top English football division in 1972 with Ron Saunders – but who was the first manager after Saunders to not manage City in the top division?
a) Dave Stringer
b) Bruce Rioch
c) Martin O’Neill
(The answer will appear in the comments section later today.)
Best wishes and happy memories all.
OTBC!
Hi Chris.
The answer to your question has to be Martin O’Neill – as I’m sure many of us will know.
Didn’t Mike Walker once say of Chase something along the lines of “I’d have to win the League, the Cup and the Eurovision Song Contest in the same season to earn decent wages”?
Looking forward to part two.
Hi Martin. Indeed it is the marvellous Martin O’Neill! Although he went on to achieve great things in the Premier League (which will be detailed in my piece on MFW later today) I’m convinced he would have taken us up too had he stayed longer. The Chase factor again, tut. Also, out of interest, we lived next door to him in Thorpe in 1983 when he was still an NCFC player.
Quite a few City players have lived in Thorpe over the years – RvW, Steeno and I think Tony Spearing.
The Club also owned or rented a few houses on Dussindale where players were accommodated until they did their own thing.
Several have hit on the Wymondham area – eg Alex Neil and Russell Martin.
Thanks Martin. I remember Malky used to drive past me at the bus stop on Dussindale in the early 2000s. His numberplate was M4LKY 1 or somesuch!
Ha!
Wesley had/has WES 14 and Bruce Rioch R1 OCH.
My N17 MJP looks a bit poor compared to that. A discretionary from Sabers SAAB 20 years ago but I’ve been vain enough to transfer it several times – and I’ve still got it – on a Fiat [almost-but-not-quite] Abarth convertible.
No hairdressing jokes please.
Definitely Martin O’Neill he stay was to short.
Dave Stringer laid the first team foundation for Walker to have the success he had but was it Bondy or Brown both long term managers under South that laid the foundations for Stringer with the youth players.
I will go with John Bond who is your choice???
Thanks AlexB. John Bond was excellent and competed very well in a tough tough top division. Ken Brown took things on marvellously and Dave Stringer followed up with an exciting team too. It’s amazing how many seasons they were there and kept on doing it. A real purple patch for our top division status. NCFC were a real fixture at the top table. Happy days.
And Martin O’Neil walked out on City because Chase wouldn’t spend £70,000 on Dean Windass from Hull.
Yes, of course. I remember the Windass thing. He was about 28 at the time and would have cost around £700,000. Interesting character and scored lots of goals. Kept playing for several years after that too. Another one that got away. Thanks Tony.
The figures for Ron Saunders look wrong. In his first season in the top division, we escaped relegation with one game to go and in the next season we were bottom all season.
Hi Gordon. thanks for the comment. If there are any errors, I’m happy to amend the chart. The figures I worked from were as follows:
Ron Saunders was manager from 9th July 1969 to 17th November 1973. He managed City in the top division for one and a bit seasons.
In 1972/73, City played all 42 league games under him (W11 D10 L21) and played 10 cup games (W6 D2 L2). In 1973/74, City played 16 league games under Saunders (W2 D6 L8) and also 2 cup games (W2 D0 L0) before he was replaced by John Bond in November.