• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Football Writer

My Football Writer Norwich City news… comment… analysis

Norwich City – news, comment and analysis

Find the best betting sites
  • Home
  • About us
  • The Team
  • Archives Index
  • Patreon
  • ADVERTISE
  • Contact us
WE MEET AGAIN… SUNDERLAND

WE MEET AGAIN… SUNDERLAND

26th August 2022 By Allan Kemp Leave a Comment

Please share

The Premier League dream is over (again!). City are back in the Championship and it’s a very familiar fixture list that the Canaries face in 2022-23. 

But this being football, there will be a few new(ish) faces and, as such, an opportunity for a brief return of ‘We Meet Again’ – the series that looks back at the history between Norwich City and our upcoming opponents.

One to appeal to the nostalgic side in us, so enjoy the memories…

Next up it’s a footballing giant with six top-flight titles and a couple of FA Cups in the bag. So famous they even had their own Netflix documentary.

Yes, it’s a club we have a deep-rooted and unusual friendship with – it’s Sunderland AFC.

There’s only one place to start when talking Norwich and Sunderland. The 24th March 1985 – arguably the greatest day in Norwich’s history.

As an excited 10-year-old holidaying in Hemsby, I watched City play live on TV for the first time, play on a Sunday for the first time and crucially, City lift a major domestic trophy, at Wembley, for the first time.

There was joy and emotion from John Deehan picking the defender’s pocket to set up Asa Hartford’s deflected winner through to Dennis van Wijk’s blatant handball (no need for VAR on that one) and Sunderland’s penalty miss – another first for a major final. 

Both sides achieved another first that season – this time unwanted – as both would end the season relegated from the top flight; our 3-1 home defeat to the Black Cats just a week before Wembley proving critical in sealing our fate.

That Wembley final became known as the ‘friendly’ final, notable nationally for the friendship shown between both sets of fans. A beacon of light in the dark days of hooliganism and that day still lives on in the ‘Friendly Cup’ – a trophy awarded to the winners of each game since 1985.

For the record Norwich are ahead in said trophy race – winning 14 to Sunderland’s 8.

If 1985 represented a historic high for our club, then another cup clash v Sunderland, in 1992 was definitely a club low point. This time it was the FA Cup, and a semi at Hillsborough, that City were clear favourites to win, with lowly second division Sunderland standing in the way of a first FA Cup final.

But Flecky was unfit and City were in poor form. Whatever the reasons it never happened that day. John Byrne’s winner decided the tie and it was a massive opportunity lost.  

Eighty-two years earlier the tables were turned as non-league Norwich beat the mighty Sunderland 3-1 in the 1910 FA Cup. It was a huge shock against one of the game’s giants who would become champions of England two seasons later.

But back to the present, and our last meeting was in Daniel Farke’s transitional season, where an early-season visit to Carrow Road saw a rare win for the Mackems in a campaign that saw them end rock bottom. The return game, a 1-1 draw, was notable only for a late goal by popular full-back Ivan Pinto.  

Sunderland at home brings memories of an Alex Tettey wondergoal and Big Sam doing a tactical job on us in a relegation six-pointer.

There was also a title won on Wearside – the Championship of course – but it was a strange one as Nigel Worthington’s troops celebrated despite a 1-0 defeat as results elsewhere went for City.

Sunderland, of course, have finally emerged from darker days, Only last year there were two divisions separating them but now the friends are back together.

There is even a popular connection in the Black Cats dugout as Alex Neil welcomes his old club to the North East.

***

Let's ride the positivity – fresh after the Millwall win – It's episode 3 and our friends from Wearside – Sunderland! We talk about the highs of '85 and lows of '92. With plenty in between! – Give us a download @NorwichCityFC @SunderlandAFC #ncfc https://t.co/OvJCpP7tDX

— NCFC 'Al and Val's We Meet Again' – Podcast (@AlandValWeMeet1) August 19, 2022

Please share

Filed Under: Column, WE MEET AGAIN

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FIND MY FOOTBALL WRITER ON

As featured on NewsNow: Norwich City news” style=

Norwich City News 24/7

#NCFC LATEST

pinkun The Pink Un @pinkun ·
55m

🟡🟢 Trust in the process 👊

💬 There will be no ambiguity under Wagner, once he has the time to embed a check list at #NCFC that as you could see watching Kompany's #Burnley is second nature

https://www.pinkun.com/news/23305036.norwich-city-paddy-davitt-david-wagners-approach/

Reply on Twitter 1622966403178369024 Retweet on Twitter 1622966403178369024 Like on Twitter 1622966403178369024 Twitter 1622966403178369024
fan_banter Fan Banter @fan_banter ·
1h

Football matches live on TV this week - https://fanbanter.co.uk/football-matches-live-on-tv-this-week/

#watfordfc #ncfc #twitterclarets #safc #rufc #wafc #bcfc #rovers #utmp #bristolcity #ccfc #bluebirds #pusb #htafc #hcafc #coyh #ltfc #boro #millwall #qpr #readingfc #twitterblades #scfc #sufc #championship

Reply on Twitter 1622960371102371846 Retweet on Twitter 1622960371102371846 Like on Twitter 1622960371102371846 Twitter 1622960371102371846
norwichcityes Norwich City FC en español @norwichcityes ·
1h

🔜 Ashton Gate

Nuestro último viaje a Bristol fue en octubre de 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣

#NCFC

4

Reply on Twitter 1622960127744655361 Retweet on Twitter 1622960127744655361 Like on Twitter 1622960127744655361 Twitter 1622960127744655361
chrisreevo Chris Reeve @chrisreevo ·
2h

1️⃣ Wessi
2️⃣ @DHucks6
3️⃣ @BradJohnson15
4️⃣ @EM10Buendia
5️⃣ Howson

#NCFC

Reply on Twitter 1622948133834555393 Retweet on Twitter 1622948133834555393 Like on Twitter 1622948133834555393 2 Twitter 1622948133834555393
yellabuh Yella @yellabuh ·
2h

JT and Omo at CB next season if we don’t get promoted, he looked solid against Burnley at turf moor #ncfc

Reply on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Retweet on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Like on Twitter 1622947922408079360 Twitter 1622947922408079360
Load More...

Copyright © 2023 21VC Ltd | All rights reserved | Not to be reproduced without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.

Developed and Hosted by