On Friday I posted a piece in which I looked at my unlikely City favorites and anti-heroes of yesteryear, and most agreed it was a healthy distraction from the hand-wringing and brow-furrowing that tends to occur when we talk about the here and now.
So to continue that theme (and to fill space in the longest international break known to Man), this morning I’m taking a look at five City games that have lived long in the memory for reasons both good and bad.
I’ve tried to avoid the obvious, like Munich ’93, and more recent ones like Wembley 2015 and ‘Jackson…. chance‘ but a couple of classics may have still managed to sneak in.
For me, the whole journey started in 1972 and so all of the games in that first season – City’s first-ever in the top flight – were crammed full of awe and wonder. But it was the final game of that campaign that brought home to the seven-year-old me the sheer joy and ecstasy that football can bring:
City 2, Crystal Palace 1 — 24 April 1973
36,688 were crammed into Carrow Road that night. I suspect it’s the biggest Carrow Road crowd I’ve ever been in. It would have been 36,687 but for a rare appearance at the footie from my mum. I’m not sure why she was there and I suspect she’s not either (if indeed she can recall) but it’s Mothers Day, so she deserves a mention.
Anyway, it was the last game of the season and City needed a win to survive. The atmosphere was crackling – that I can recall above all else – while vaguely recalling Colin Suggett putting us ahead before Palace equalized. The final act of the night was performed by the great Dave Stringer, whose diving header late in the game preserved the club’s top-flight status. Imagine that!
Stringer was already a club legend by that point but if there were any waverers before, there were none after that header. What a night.
City 2, Leicester City 3 — 2 May 1981
This one was painful and is a tale I’ve told before, so apologies if it’s a repeat. But this was a season, a bit like the current one, where City had been mired in the relegation dogfight. Leicester arrived here on the final day of the season with us needing a win to give ourselves a chance of staying up.
Instead, in true Norwich fashion, we screwed it up. A little Scottish bloke by the name of Jim Melrose decided to score a hat-trick against us and broke our hearts.
As it transpired, an unlikely Sunderland win at Liverpool would have sent us down anyway, but I prefer to blame Melrose and, anyway, it was whoever was on the Carrow Road ‘decks’ that day that made it so memorable rather than the game itself. Upon the final whistle, and as that numb feeling that accompanies relegation started to gnaw, the ground was filled with the sound of this – a more beautiful but heartbreaking piece of music you’ll never be likely to hear.
To this day, it still brings a tear to the eye.
Sheffield Wednesday 2, City 1 — 15 May 1982
This was good. City were in the old Division Two at the time thanks to the relegation described above but after a run of ten wins from their last 11 games had given themselves a chance of promotion. They just needed a point at Hillsborough to achieve it and so it was one not to be missed. I travelled down with a mate and his dad (and someone else who I can’t recall) along with 10,000 others who formed the first yellow wall I can properly recall away from home in the Leppings Lane end.
It was the most Norwich City afternoon ever. Bonkers. We went behind as per, but in the dying minutes, Keith Bertschin headed one in, in front of the 10,000 to create pandemonium, only for this bloke called Gary Bannister to restore Wednesday’s lead a minute or two later. The odd thing about it was there was a Wednesday fan on the pitch who’d have probably headed it in if Bannister had missed it! But the goal stood.
Yet in a final twist of the craziest afternoon ever, Leicester, against whom we were battling for that promotion place, could manage only a goalless draw at home to Shrewsbury. We were up! The journey home, with the roads seeming draped in yellow and green the whole way, was unforgettable.
City 3, Ipswich Town 1 — 11 October 1996
I mean, every win over that lot is special, but this one was the first after poor old Gunny’s air shot from Robert Ullathorne’s back pass on that cow field that passed off as a football pitch. It was also the first one after the Ian Crook to Ipswich transfer that never happened when an eleventh-hour intervention from Mike Walker put a stop to the madness.
Boy were they chirpy… and salty… and cocky. I know this for a fact because an afternoon spent drinking in the city (it was a Friday) involved bumping into some Ipswich supporters I worked with at the time. But we had the last laugh on what was a glorious night. ‘Cheer up George Burley…’ was at its height and the old place rocked even with just 20,000 in it.
Andy Johnson started the ball rolling with a tap-in from a brilliant team move and added another 15 later before they pulled one back just after halftime through Danny Sonner. John Polston clinched it though for City in the second half, and in an era where they would beat us frequently (weird eh?) this was really good.
City 4, Cardiff City 1 — 13 December 2003
You know the one. It was supposed to be Darren Huckerby’s Norwich City swansong as his loan spell here ended and he would return to Man City. At the time we had no idea that Hucks was going to tell his agent to do one and would soon re-appear on Boxing Day as a bona fide Canary.
It was, as I’ve said many times, a Huckerby masterclass. To this day, the best individual performance I’ve ever seen in a Norwich City shirt and included a Hucks special where he slalomed in and out of Cardiff defender on a run that took him half the length of the pitch before scoring. Magical. He also found time to put one on a plate for Iwan.
Little did we know at the time the great man would go on to make Norfolk home and Norwich City his club.
So… five of the best from me – a very personal choice that won’t chime with everybody. Obviously, there are loads of others I could bore you with but these five all resonate for very different reasons.
Let us know your top five…
32 of us went to Hillsborough, in a Commer furniture van. We got spotted by the police in Mansfield and were given a police escort to the ground. On the way back Newark was all yellow, and a lone Bobby was sent to try and control the crowd!
Hi Gary
City 4, Cardiff 1 was one of the most emotional matches I have ever been to – it seemed like Hucks was sending a message to the world and he was on fire that day. It’s in my top five too.
Bayern 1, City 2 must be on my list simply because I was there. Stunned, but there.
City 1, Colchester 7. Unforgettable for anybody who was there for all the wrong reasons, but a rather clever man called David McNally quickly made a bad ting good, as my old mate Rastamouse would say.
City 3, Derby 2. You don’t want it so I’ll happily claim it. A game that had everything and Robbie Savage got exactly what he deserved – zilch. The night we knew we’d be promoted.
City 1, Sunderland 0, Wembley 1985. A poor game but the only time we’ve ever landed a meaningful trophy and I was there. The atmosphere with the Sunderland fans was just as described everywhere since. An obvious pick but it has to be on my list.
There are many more of course 🙂
I got hit by a wayward Robbie Savage shot in the warm-up for that Derby game. Not deliberate, but just increased my annoyance for someone who I had a thorough dislike for (enhanced by an interesting story from a lovely book sales rep that I knew – wouldn’t want to print it here though)..
For that match, I was right near the front and right by the goal for Jackson’s winner, It was unbelievably hot that day with the sun shining full force on the Barclay End and I felt more drained at the end of that game than I had for a long time. I still blame this for the fact I was laid up ill in bed a couple of days later. Absolutely worth it though.
Hi, a good selection. That Palace game being the biggest Carrow Road crowd I have ever been part of. The Leicester game was bad but I assumed that we would stroll back up the following season. My Aunt married a Sheffield man so we made plans at the start of the season to visit them and watch the match at Sheffield Wednesday (Uncle was a Wednesdayite). For much of the season it looked like a non-event but suddenly it was in our hands. Sadly my Aunt was taken ill so instead of a day with them and a trip to the match we visited my Aunt who was recovering in the hospital were she worked. She was keen for us to go to the match so Uncle gave us a lift. We won promotion and my Aunt made a full recovery. I have fewer memories of the later games mentioned. I remember Fleck’s strange dance by the post in the Ipswich match and the Cardiff match was a week after the match at Millwall where Crouch made his last appearance for us, Muscat was sent off and I took my Dad to the Central London pub where he spent his early childhood for the first time in 70 years. There are 2 matches that stay in my mind from 1976. We lost to Bradford in Round 4 and that probably was the year that should have seen us at least reach the final. A few weeks later we put in an inspired performance to beat QPR and ultimately deny them the title. I suspect that victory against Bradford would have seen us reach the final. I don’t think a team with the Cup Final on their minds would have been so determined to beat QPR so they would have clinched the title. Man Utd never turned up for the Final so it doesn’t take much to imagine that the yellow shirted player scoring against them in the Final could have been Supermac rather than Bobby Stokes. The impact would have been that we would play QPR in the Charity Shield but it would have been far more important than that as that title for Liverpool was the prelude to a decade of dominance and all that followed. That match against Bradford which was delayed because of illness in the opposition camp was probably a defining moment in English football history but it just seemed to be a normal cup shock at the time
A good selection and it’s the personal side as well as the football context. For most their first game where the love/addiction sets in is usually remembered for either good or bad. For me City 1 Stoke 0 1962. Remember little but Stan Mathews was on show. The only city players I remember were Ron Ashman and the great Bill Punton.
September 1973 Everton 0 City 1 in the League cup. An evening kick off pre crowd segregation not aware on the day of any other City fans present. Trevor Howard scored after about 15 seconds and I don’t remember us getting a sniff of goal again until injury time.
Your final choice City v Cardiff is always my go to game, as you say Huckster was simply magical that afternoon and left us with a lifetime memory. I agree the best performance ever by a City player.
City 3 – 2 Derby April 2011 – Robbie Savage’s slow departure adding enough time for Simeon Jackson’s injury time winner and almost certain promotion, has to be the loudest ear splitting moment ever at Carrow Road as Neil Adams famously said, “The place has gone bananas”, worth a listen online.
Oct 1994 City 4 – 2 QPR – 1st time I took my eldest daughter, she was 8, she loved it and the rest is history. Eddie, Gunny, Robins, Bowen, etc, Happy days.
Just one to add for the time being, Gary:
City 3, Sheff Utd 2 — FA Cup 5th Rd – 18 February 1989
A pulsating cup tie against a powerhouse lower league side fronted by the impressive Tony Agana and Brian Deane, which saw City triumph 3-2 in exciting fashion (Thompson o.g., Malcolm Allen, Dale Gordon). That game had the Carra jumping. Great stuff. Was slap bang in the middle of Dave Stringer’s reign – probably the acme of City’s finest sustained period of success – and sandwiched somewhere between the 8-o disposal of Sutton Utd and 0-1 against Everton in the semi-final on Hillsborough day. A wide array of memories and emotions.
That was a magnificent game which I feel has often been overlooked amidst many great memories since. Glad you remember it well. United looked too good for a Third Division outfit (which they were – the side were in the top flight within two years) plus they brought a huge and very noisy following from Sheffield to Carrow Road. It was a thriller from start to finish and despite us having one of the best sides I can remember, I honestly wouldn’t have fancied a replay at Bramall Lane.
Tried to narrow the challenge down to the top 5 City games this season; but, alas, that proved a challenge too far. Mind you, there was one little spark in the darkness early on….
City 6, AFC Bournemouth 0 — EFL Cup 2nd Rd – 24 August 2021
(Tzolis (2), McLean, Rupp, Sargent (2))
I enjoyed that one. It could almost have been described as a ‘romp’.
Sadly, not many romps since. Not positive ones anyway.
Maybe next season… And we can unveil the ‘romp’ once again?
I remember the Leicester defeat but not the music, for me the abiding memory was City fans singing “We’ll be back in 82!” with total and well founded conviction.
My five would have to start with
1) my first ever visit to Carrow Road in 1976, a 3-1 home defeat to Sheffield United, but I was hooked.
2) The second was the first game of the 80/81 season, we beat Stoke 5-1, Fashanu scored a hat-trick and I thought we were going to set the world on fire…the season ended with the Leicester defeat and relegation.
3) Third would be home against Nottingham Forest in 77/78, they were on their way to football history and the Championship, Norwich were 3-0 down and apparently out, but staged a wonderful come-back to draw 3-3. The highs and lows all in one game.
4) Coventry at home in the League Cup 2016, my son’s first visit to Carrow Road, a 6-1 victory and a Ben Godfrey wonder goal, what’s not to like?
5) A bit left-field since the game doesn’t feature Norwich, but the FA Cup replay victory for Arsenal over Sheffield Wednesday in 1993, secured by an Andy Linighan header, that sealed our qualification for the UEFA Cup and the rest is history…
So many memories when you get to my age, but some do stand out.
10 January 1959. City 3 Busby Babes 0 in the snow, and later in that cup run, being behind the goal at Brammall Lane when Ken Nethercott dislocated his shoulder, but played on (no substitutes in those days), keeping us in the game till we got the equaliser to bring them back to Carrow Road.
24 April 1972. Orient 1 City 2 to get promoted to the top division for the first time. I was living in Harlow at the time, and one of my colleagues working an evening shift in Forest Gate needed a spare part delivered to him, so I happily did the delivery, and got to the game in time, having had my mileage paid! (Paddon with a penalty, and Kenny Foggo were the scorers.)
9 February 1980. Justin Fashanu’s goal of the season winner, even though we lost that one against Liverpool 5-3.
Can’t remember the date, but Steve Bruce’s own goal on his home debut. It was, as Martin Penney would say, a “thunder blaster”, giving Chris Woods no chance. I can close my eyes and see it still.
And last but not least, Bruce’s header at the right end in the League Cup semi-final against you know who.
Gary, that Leicester game was from my first ever season watching City. I only attended about eight fixtures and went from having no idea or interest in what was going on in the football world, to crying my eyes out at the end of the match. How quickly the footballing bug sets in!
I don’t recall the music at the end, but that would have set me off even more! I can remember ‘You Can’t Win ‘Em All’ by Brian Clough being played during the season, and hearing that funny car horn noise that came from the Barclay (Dukes of Hazzard related?)
The highs and lows of the game, being a raw teener who was allowed to go zOld Trafford to see. City in The FA Cup. Being on cloud nine for the rest of Saturday through to the next Saturday. A historic win with goal from Don Heath and Gordon Bolland. With a. Wonder goal from the majestic Dennis Law. – What a memory.
Next round. Home draw against Sheff Wednesday surely we could see the Owls off. We had just beaten, Best, Stiles, Charlton,Law & co, on their own patch. 1 person short of 41 thousand filled Farrow Road filled with high hope of another scalp.
Wednesday were in the 1st Div to, but not in the same class as United. But Sadly this was not to be a 3-1, (Tommy Bryceland) reverse ended our dream,
Highs and Lows, that’s football
Great theme for a piece Gary and takes us away, temporarily, from this miserable season. I could go on and on here and my lists will change over time (monthly, daily, weekly, but here are five from the memory banks).
Norwich 1 Bayern Munich 1 (UEFA Cup 2nd Round 2nd Leg 1993)
Obvious choice, but the peak of my City supporting life. I couldn’t go to Munich, but to have a great seat in the Barclay, with my dad, right in the throng of the atmosphere was something that could never be equalled and despite some close calls, never has been. Gossy’s goal is still vivid in my mind today. None of it seems real anymore.
Norwich 3 Wolves 1 (Division One Play Off 1st Leg 2002)
Wolves 1 Norwich 0 (Division One Play Off 2nd Leg 2002)
Yeah, it’s two games together, but there was so much over both legs to remember. Paul Butler of Wolves saying that they’d finish the job at Carrow Road, Malky’s stoppage time third goal that sparked total hysteria and made the difference, Kevin Coopers shattering, but stunning goal at Molineux that made the last fifteen minutes unbearable, the hapless Butler’s miss in the dying moments, the “You’ve let us down banner” by the home faithful, the sheer terror of getting out of Wolverhampton alive, and Peter Drury’s incredibly patronising praise on the ITV highlights which made us sound like the local villagers out on a jolly for the first time in their lives. Still the most resolute and outstanding performance I have ever seen from an away game with City,
Ipswich 2 Norwich 1 (Division One 1996)
If we’re gonna put a bad one in here (and my god there are plenty) then this always jumps out first. Not just horrible for Gunny’s air-kick, but the pitch invasion at the end by the home fans which saw hundreds congregate right in the front of the away end singing “There’s only one Robert Chase” in the faces of the dispirited City support. Utterly desperate times for Norwich, and this coming right near the end of a seriously turbulent season in the club’s history, this was just a major low point. It still hurts.
Chelsea 2 Norwich 3 (FA Youth Cup Final Second Leg 2013)
Not a first team game but it felt like one. I almost missed it due to a work commitment, but managed to change shifts at the last minute. The Club Canary coach I was on (and believe me, that was never my first choice of travel) was some kind of cute double decker that ended up being one of the most trouble free and pleasant journeys I’ve ever encountered on an away trip (there’s not much competition mind, especially on CC). Travelling back on the top deck past the floodlit River Thames knowing we’d just won a trophy at one of the Premier League behemoths was a feeling that couldn’t really be replicated. Great too that some of the lads have gone on to have decent careers in the game, even if it wasn’t with us.
Sheffield United 2 Norwich 3 (Division One 1997)
I might save this for a longer piece. A taxi over the Snake Pass, a singing student, an encounter with Carl Bradshaw’s dad, and an utterly bonkers second half that had all sorts going on the pitch. Even Ulf Ottosson scored.- it was that sort of day. Not to mention what happened to Bradshaw junior later…
That Ipswich away game so nearly made my list, mate. Great shout.
I too was in that City contingent that was subject to hundreds of gurning, hyped-up locals singing and gesturing to us as if they’d never won a game before. Was the Jamie Cureton green hair day as I recall.
My biggest take away from that day was when a paper cup was launched from a few rows behind me in the direction of said gurning fans that splattered on impact and clearly contained something ‘unpleasant’ 🙂
Not condoning it of course, but was amusing (and fully deserved) at the time.
Got to add a shout for Saturday, 22 January, 2005, City 4 – Middlesbrough 4, Never has a draw felt so good. 4-1 with ten minutes left. People were pouring out of the ground. But what a come back, first from Dean Ashton on his home debut, then from Leon on the 90, and then Adam Drury, of all people, with a header in stoppage time. The place went totally berserk. Yes, the season still ended in relegation from the Prem after that game at Fulham, but at least we gave it a go.
Thanks for the mention, Game actually changed my life 💪🏼