Canaries return to a very different tree

Norwich City will be in the Premier League next season and it will be only their second year in the top flight since the heady days of twenty years ago but the division has changed a lot since then.

Norwich secured promotion earlier this month thanks to a 1-0 victory at Portsmouth. This, aligned with Cardiff’s 3-0 defeat at home to Middlesbrough on the same day, enabled the Canaries to gain entry at the nation’s top table after a six year absence.

However, if you cast your mind back further, to the beginning of football, as Sky Sports always seem so keen to remind us, the start of the Premier League era in August 1992 saw Mark Robins scoring a hat-trick on his debut. This was against the recently deposed champions, Arsenal, on their own turf, as Norwich City posted a 4-2 victory.

The Canaries began that season in fine style and continued in a similar vein right through to April, when Manchester United, inspired by a certain Eric Cantona, won 3-1 at Carrow Road, preventing the Norfolk side from winning their first ever league championship.

Indeed, Norwich were top at Christmas but this title tilt was not a surprise as Norwich frequently finished in the upper echelons of England's top flight in those days. For almost a decade in the late 80s, early 90s Norwich threatened the establishment. Twice they finished in the top four during that spell, without betraying the club’s traditions of playing attractive football along the way.

Those league positions would have made Norwich an infrequent participant in world football’s premier club competition - the Champions League. But the landscape of football has changed drastically since then and the thought of the Norfolk club entertaining the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid on a regular basis sounds as barmy as a rousing half-time speech from owner Delia Smith. ‘Where are ya’, the TV cook famously asked the loyal Carrow Road support. Well, you won’t hear the giants of European football asking the same question of Norwich each year they enter the latter stages of the Champions League.

It was a case of bad timing for Norwich when they exited the Premier League in 1995. They left the party just as things were about to get good.

Sky’s financial input was increasing with every new deal; the new millennium arrived as English clubs began to find their feet in European football; to make matters worse for the Canaries, the Champions League pot of cash increased year upon year and so did the number of English participants.

In 1995, the number of English entrants was just one. This had doubled by the 98/99 season and Manchester United took full advantage by winning the Champions League, despite finishing second in the title race to Arsenal the previous season.

Of course, as it stands today, UEFA, European football’s governing body, awards four Champions League places to the Premier League. How Norwich must wish that had been the case when they were a prominent force in English football.

To add to Norwich’s chagrin, a glance at the prize money awarded by the Premier League has changed dramatically since its inception in 1992. The inaugural winners, Manchester United, earned £815,000, approximately the same as what West Ham will earn for finishing bottom this year. For winning the title this season, United will earn in excess of £16 million. 19 years ago Norwich finished third. They received £741,000 for their efforts. If they had finished in the same position in 2011 they would have expected to be £14.5 million richer.

City legend Jeremy Goss, who is about to embark on a charity bike ride to Munich, the scene of his famous volleyed goal in a 2-1 victory for the Carrow Road outfit in a 1993 UEFA Cup tie, thinks super rich owners have added to the financial gulf in today’s game.

The former Wales international said: "It started off with Jack Walker when he bought Blackburn (in 1995). They bought Tim Sherwood, (Alan) Shearer, Chris Sutton. They bought success."

Sherwood and Sutton were both snatched away from Norwich and the club were relegated as Blackburn won the title.

The financial input of new owners did not end there, as Goss continues: "The next big thing was Abramovich at Chelsea who blew the footballing world apart. It was ridiculous. No-one could compete with them, players earning £10 million a year, unheard of in my day.

"This was on top of the big clubs, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, who were all paying massive wages and filling 40, 50, 60,000 stadiums. Little old Norwich couldn’t compete."

In addition, transfer fees and player wages have increased ten-fold over the last two decades.

Goss, however, is not bitter about the riches on offer to the current crop of Premier League footballers. He said: "You can’t help when you were born. My era was terrific and I loved every minute of it. I didn’t go into the game for financial gain – the fast cars, the flash houses. But I think a lot of the young players of today are motivated by money."

What is particularly galling for Norwich’s support is the manner in which they went down in ‘95. Comfortably in the top half at Christmas, Norwich suffered an unlikely relegation and almost ten years of frustration.

The Norfolk club regained Premier League status in 2004 under the guidance of manager Nigel Worthington but this time the priority was survival, not a Champions League spot, as the landscape of the Premier League had changed beyond all recognition since they last kicked a Premier League ball in anger nearly ten years previously.

In spite of an end of season run of victories, including a 2-0 home win over Manchester United, the Canaries did not have enough to preserve their top flight status. The final nail in their Premiership coffin coming at Craven Cottage, a humiliating 6-0 defeat at Fulham on the last day of the season, as they headed back whence they came, to English football’s second tier.

This was soon followed by relegation to League One as Delia’s team went into freefall.

The 7-1 opening day home defeat to Colchester at the beginning of the 2009/10 season is often seen as a nadir for the club. Two season ticket holders remonstrated with then coach Bryan Gunn on the touchline, ripping up their season tickets in front of the former City goalkeeper.

However, the appointment of Paul Lambert, who won the Champions League as a player with Borrussia Dortmund as Norwich’s demise was taking hold in 1997, has seen Norwich gain successive promotions and a return to the promised land.

Lambert has brought an indomitable spirit to the club as BBC Radio Norfolk commentator Chris Goreham confirmed: "I think the most remarkable transformation under Lambert has been the away form. Our approach to games has been really refreshing. Having been away with Norwich as a commentator for almost every game since 2005 our away record before Lambert was appalling but now it is much different. Look at the way we dismantled Ipswich at Portman Road."

Norwich won 5-1 against their arch-rivals from neighbouring Suffolk last month to help propel the club towards promotion.

However, it’s the club’s penchant for last minute goals that has really caught the eye since the Scot took over as manager.

Goreham added: "It doesn’t happen by accident. I think it comes back to the spirit and the belief that comes from the manager. Last season they scored 12 or 13 late goals which speaks volumes."

Needless to say, their first, and possibly sole, mission next season is to retain their Premiership status. The days of a newly promoted side finishing in the top four, or even better, are over.

Jeremy Goss is hoping for a little more than safety, though. He said: "I can see them being a team like Fulham, where they progress slowly into the Premiership."

They certainly won’t be lacking in support. The Norwich faithful are renowned for filling their stadium. When they were in League One they would still sell out Carrow Road’s capacity of 27,000 on a frequent basis.

Now that they’re in the Premier League, ex-midfield maestro Goss feels that they could expand their stadium to appease demand. He said: "If you built a 40,000 seater stadium they’d fill it. When I worked at the club last season (as Reserve team manager) I think there were plans to build on the existing City stand. Add maybe 5,000, plus executive boxes and they would fill it every week. Every single person round here wants a taste of Premiership football."

With the additional income that would bring, the future could be very bright, particularly as there isn’t a league club within 40 miles of Norwich.

Attracting players has proved to be a problem for the Norfolk-based club in the past as Radio Norfolk’s Chris Goreham explains: "Glenn Roeder, when he was manager, once described Norwich as being like a city in a big field and I do think it puts players off coming here but Paul Lambert has shown there’s no reason why that shouldn’t stop us recruiting the right kind of players. Maybe the young players want the bright lights of London and see Norwich as the back and beyond but the characters Lambert wants at this club are level-headed, intelligent, experienced blokes that give us great team spirit."

The manager is certainly Norfolk’s very own ‘special one’. In the future he may want to fly the Canaries’ nest but, for now, City fans can dream. Who knows, one day maybe City can rejoice with an invitation from UEFA president Michel Platini to join Europe’s elite. City fans whose memories stretch back to the days of Goss, Crook and Gunn would say it’s not before time.

*If you wish to sponsor Jeremy Goss please go to http://www.nnab.org.uk/ for more details.