As the expiry date for this year’s FA Cup final slips by, maybe it’s of interest to mention those Canaries who have scored in major cup finals during their career.
Do you remember any of these?
FA Cup
– Peter Osgood 1970
– Alan Taylor 1975
– Kevin Reeves 1981
– Andy Linighan 1993
– Dean Ashton 2006
(NB. Norwich City made the FA Cup semi-final in 1959, 1989 and 1992.)
League Cup / EFL Cup (Named after various sponsors over the years)
– Martin Chivers 1971
– Peter Osgood 1972
– Asa Hartford/Gordon Chisholm (o.g.) 1985
– (Nearly) David Bentley 2009 (Missed in the penalty shoot-out)
(Norwich won the League Cup in 1962 and 1985 and were runners-up in 1973 and 1975.)
UEFA Champions League / European Cup
– John Robertson 1980 (Although he didn’t play for NCFC, he was assistant manager to Martin O’Neill in 2005)
– (Nearly) Patrik Andersson 2001 (Missed in the penalty shoot-out.) (Mike Walker attempted to sign Andersson in 1993 to strengthen Norwich’s most successful team, but the attempt was thwarted by then-chairman Robert Chase. He could have been the missing piece and won us the title that year.)
UEFA Cup / Inter-City Fairs Cup
– Martin Chivers 1972
– Simon Davies 2010 (Yes really, look him up.)
UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup
– Peter Osgood 1971
– Keith Robson 1976
– Wynton Rufer 1992 (This really was the one that got away. Rufer had a fantastic European career and was named Oceania Player of the Century! Why didn’t he stay? We couldn’t get a work permit. Politics, eh?)
– John Hartson 1995
UEFA European Football Championship
– Teemu Pukki 2020 (Hat-trick)*
(* – Pools panel decision**)
(** – Possibly***)
(*** – Well no, it’s me. You knew that. But who knows what might have been?)
And, of course, it’s nice to end on a very good one…
FIFA World Cup
– Martin Peters 1966 (A fine, fine player.)
But just before the final whistle blows…
Norfolk has provided official representation for several major cup finals too. Great Yarmouth’s Norman Burkenshaw refereed the FA Cup final in 1971. The following year he officiated the League Cup final and a European Cup semi-final. Alf Grey (also from Yarmouth) also refereed the FA Cup final in 1983.
Who’ll be the next Canary to contribute to Cup Final success?
OTBC
(NB. Data gathered from a variety of online sources including Norwich City Football Club, the Football Club History Database, and Wikipedia.)
Good one Chris.
Where you get your ideas for articles from I dunno!
The only ones I got were the obvious ones – Gordon Chisholm, Alan Taylor, Martin Peters and Andy Linighan, who created quite an opportunity for his previous club with that header against Wednesday.
And no, I’ve never heard of Simon Davies 🙂
Thanks Martin. Yes, the Linighan one was fantastic finally allowing NCFC into Europe after being denied unfairly several times by the blanket ban on English clubs.
And nicely fumbled by another ex Canary in goal for Wednesday that night!!
Thanks Dan Rear. From memory it was Sheff Wed, so was it Chris Woods?
A former City youth team player was also involved in a Champions League Final and the World Cup Final too….
Now you’ve piqued my interest, Keith B. Pray tell…
C’mon Keith put us out of our misery!
I couldn’t even get anything from uncle Google.
I do know it wasn’t Keith O’Neill, Shaun Carey or Chris Llewellyn though.
In case Keith meant World Cup FinalS I’ll go for Robert Green.
I know, I’m wrong.
Had to resort to Google but list should include Bill Punton, Derrick Lythgoe, and Jimmy Hill. 1962 League Cup against Rochdale.
Keeps the brain ticking over.
Nice one, Gerry. Glad you mentioned those fellas. Punton was and is a favourite, and Lythgoe scored a stack of goals, from memory. And Jimmy is a different guy from the one with the beard who always got things very wrong on old-school BBC MOTD!
Incidentally, I tried to avoid travelling down the rocky road of triallists etc. I was tempted to include David Beckham – as I believe he had a trial here – but having a brief glance at his resume and I can’t see he scored in a major final? Bit of a surprise if not. But, I may be wrong…
Sorry to keep you in suspense, been golfing.
Darren Cann.
Ha!
You DID word it perfectly correctly, and cunningly too. I hadn’t thought of match officials but I do recall Darren Cann once saying he was on our books as a youngster.
Good one 🙂
Kept us hanging on there, Keith B! I couldn’t find anyone but of course assistant ref Darren Cann from Norwich (and ex NCFC youth player) has done the lot. An astonishing CV. Thanks Keith,