Remember my Durham holiday photo challenge? That stemmed from me trying to avoid getting bored during a week off work. Well – I’ve had another week off.
I always try to have a week off just before the Christmas rush starts, but I’m not very good at resting or doing nothing. So last week I decided to use one of my free days to go in search of something that had fascinated me for ages. I went looking for the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.
I had not been to London for a proper day out since last December. I’d been there for the play-off final at Wembley, but this was my first visit to the city itself in almost a year. As such, after getting off the train at Liverpool Street I wandered around for a while, taking in my surroundings and the big buildings before making my way anywhere.
Eventually I went to Canada Water station and took the London Overground to Crystal Palace. When you come from Norwich you are used to everything being pretty close by – it took about half an hour to get from Canary Wharf to Crystal Palace! When the train finally arrived, I walked out of the station and was immediately filled with hope.
When you’ve come all this way looking for Dinosaurs, this was a pleasing sign to find.
I was definitely on the right track.
In case you don’t know, the Crystal Palace was a huge glass building that was built to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. When the exhibition closed, the Crystal Palace was moved from Hyde Park to Penge Common in South London. It had such an impact that the area it stood in itself became known as Crystal Palace.
The land surrounding the Crystal Palace was landscaped and became Crystal Palace Park. The Palace burned down in 1936, but you can still see where it would have been. And one of the elements of the original park that still remain are the dinosaurs.
I followed the path and got my first glimpse of the sculptures.
You don’t get those in Eaton Park.
These models have been in place since 1854. 161 years! They were the first attempt to make large scale models of dinosaurs in the world, and were designed using the Victorians’ best ideas of what they looked like -they were made a full six years before Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Scientifically speaking, we now consider the sculptures to be rather inaccurate. But for me that just makes them all the more interesting.
The Iguanodon models, the Park’s most famous residents.
A close up of Iguanodon.
There are not just dinosaur sculptures there. The idea was to make models of extinct animals from different eras. The dinosaurs were one part of that.
This is a Megaloceros. You can probably guess it is related to the deer.
It was well worth the trip out to see them. It takes a bit of extra time to get there, and it’s a little bit off the tourist track, but there is plenty to see out there. I might even come back when it’s a bit warmer.
After ticking the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs off my ‘to do’ list, I headed back to central London and did the usual things tourists do when they are in central London.
The London Eye is ready for Christmas.
Parliament, taken from the other side of Westminster Bridge.
It was then time to head home. And I managed to make it back, despite Greater Anglia’s best efforts. My train back to Norwich was cancelled so I had to make a detour to Cambridge in order to get home! I didn’t mind that much though, it had still been a decent day.
I have another week off work in January – I wonder what I’ll get up to then?
I’ve been spending a few days in Durham. While Norwich City do in fact play away at Newcastle this weekend (about 18 miles away) my visit is unrelated. I had a week off work coming up, did not want to be at home crawling up the walls with boredom, and my godmother – who works up here – kindly offered me the chance to come and stay at her place.
My Durham Cathedral selfie.
Last night, while out for a walk, I had an idea. I asked my godmother to come up with a list of things that she wanted me to go and photograph the next day – a sort of treasure hunt. When I got up this morning, I had a Skype message from her containing this list:
Whatever is up both of those alleyways (alleyways we had seen on our walk)
The Sanctuary knocker
Harry Potter style cloisters
A cathedral made of Lego
A poem on a stone bridge with the cathedral in the background
A piece of rubbish in an inappropriate place
A large map of the UK embedded in the pavement, made up of coloured stone in a geological manner
Tracy Franklin’s studio
A nice pile of washing up on the draining board
A cup of coffee in your hand
Around midday today, I was ready with my phone to start the challenge. Here’s how I got on.
Whatever is up both of those alleyways
Durham is a very old city. It’s full of narrow streets, listed buildings and hidden passages. On our walk last night, my godmother and I came to one of these hidden passages.
The entrance to one of the alleyways.
It was getting quite late and the alleyway looked rather spooky in the dark, it has to be said. In the comfort of daylight, I headed up the steps and saw this ahead of me:
This is what was up one of those alleyways.
When we had been looking at the entrance last night, a man in a suit strolled past us and went up there. It felt rather narrow and a bit eerie even during the day, so I would certainly not have gone up there at night like he did! The other alleyway I was tasked to explore looked like this:
The other alleyway.
It turns out that this alleyway merges with the other one and they both take you just outside Pizza Express!
The Sanctuary knocker
In case you don’t know, a Sanctuary knocker (or ‘haogday’ but that’s just a weird name for it) is an ornamental knocker on the door of a cathedral. Long ago, if you touched the knocker, you were afforded the right of asylum inside. Think of a medieval Julian Assange. This ended about 400 years ago, so don’t try it the next time you are on the run from the police. Here’s the Sanctuary knocker on Durham Cathedral.
It’s much bigger than it looks here.
Harry Potter style cloisters
The city of Durham is dominated by its cathedral. It looms large over the whole peninsula.
Durham Cathedral looms large over the city.
I knew that the next target on the list would involve a trip inside this magnificent building. I made my way to the cloisters – stopping to take in the awe-inspiring interior – and got the shot I needed.
The Harry Potter style cloisters of Durham Cathedral.
My godmother hadn’t put ‘Harry Potter style’ cloisters on the list just because they look like they should be part of Hogwarts – she put it like that because they are part of Hogwarts. Durham Cathedral was used as a location for the first two films in the series – the Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets. The cloisters are where Ron’s spell backfired and he ended up coughing up slugs. Here is a page showing some of the scenes shot here.
Parts of Durham Cathedral are currently covered in scaffolding as it undergoes major repairs and development. They are calling the project Open Treasure and you can donate to help them maintain this amazing place.
A cathedral made of Lego
Reading the list with somewhat bleary eyes this morning, I did think ‘she wants me to make the cathedral out of Lego!?’. It seems an unlikely request, but you don’t know my godmother like I do. I then realised that there must be a Lego model of Durham Cathedral. After taking a photo of the cloisters, I headed for the gift shop and found what I was looking for.
That’s a lot of Lego.
The ‘182,000’ on the roof of this impressive Lego creation refers to the fact that there are now more than 182,000 pieces of Lego used in the model. And it’s not even finished. People can buy a brick and add it to the model personally.
A poem on a stone bridge with the cathedral in the background
Having left the cathedral, I went in search of this rather specific target. I had heard vaguely before about a bridge in Durham inscribed with a poem, but I had no idea where it was. It turns out it is on the secluded Prebends Bridge. It’s more than 340 years old and features the words of Sir Walter Scott from Harold the Dauntless.
I was pretty pleased to get the money shot of the cathedral in the background too.
A piece of rubbish in an inappropriate place
I thought this one would be easy. Durham is so historic that pretty much any rubbish lying around would be inappropriate. However, it seems the people here know that and so I discovered that Durham is one of the most litter-free places I have ever been to. I was scouring the flowerbeds close to the cathedral for just one crisp packet. I was desperate enough at one point to consider putting a piece of rubbish on the toilet seat in the flat and claiming that as target complete. Eventually, I settled on this:
I get a pass for this one, don’t I?
That’s rubbish. Check. That’s in the front yard of the road leading to the World Heritage Site. That’s got to be inappropriate, right? I do wonder what the people who saw me take that photo must have thought of me.
A large map of the UK embedded in the pavement, made up of coloured stone in a geological manner
This was the most difficult one on the list to find. This is because it’s not in the city centre, but outside the University of Durham’s Bill Bryson Library.
Like Ronseal, it does exactly what it says on the tin.
Once you get the idea of what it is and what it represents it’s pretty cool I think.
Tracy Franklin’s studio
‘Who the hell is Tracy Franklin?’ I hear you ask. Good question. I hadn’t got a clue either. Tracy Franklin is an embroiderer, and her studio is here in a back street.
Tracy Franklin’s studio.
I would tell you more about Tracy Franklin and her embroidery, but as embroidery is one of the most boring things in the world, I won’t.
A nice pile of washing up on the draining board
Now this was a very sneaky way for my godmother to get the washing up done in her flat. Being the excellent guest that I am, I did this before heading out this morning. Here’s the proof.
How clean is your house?
Last but not least…
A cup of coffee in your hand
After traipsing around Durham for more than three hours, I was quite happy to complete the challenge with this one. Sat back in the flat, this cup of coffee was very welcome on a chilly October day.
Raising a mug to my successful completion of the challenge.
With that, my photo treasure hunt was finished. It was a lot of fun actually, a great way to explore somewhere you’re not familiar with. I recommend this game the next time you go on holiday.
Thanks for reading, and rest assured normal service will be resumed shortly.
Carrow Road stands empty as we wait for yet another international break to end.
It’s Sunday afternoon. Football fans should be watching the final stages of the first ‘Super Sunday’ game on Sky, ready for the next one at 4pm. They should be reading the papers analyse and discuss the events of Saturday’s matches. They should be setting their PVRs to record Match of the Day 2 on.
But they’re not – for this is a weekend hand-crafted by the devil. It’s a weekend that comes along just as the football season is getting into its stride. This is the dreaded international break.
As Norwich City fans, we tend to be pretty proud when one of our players is called up by their country. Until recently it was a pretty rare occurrence, so we would send them on their way wishing them to go and show what talent Norwich had in their ranks. As well as hoping they wouldn’t get injured.
I thought I’d take a look at a City team from ten years ago, to see how many internationals we had then, and compare that to the eleven that lost to Leicester last Saturday.
On 1st October 2005, Norwich beat Brighton 3-1 at the Withdean Stadium. The Canaries were getting back into life in the Championship after Premier League relegation, and lined up that day like this:
Robert Green
Jürgen Colin
Gary Doherty
Calum Davenport
Adam Drury
Dean Marney
Youssef Safri
Andy Hughes
Paul McVeigh
Darren Huckerby
Kevin Lisbie
Substitutes: Darren Ward, Jim Brennan, Ian Henderson, Simon Charlton, Craig Fleming
Goalkeeper Robert Green is best known for his embarrassing error against the USA in the opening game of the 2010 World Cup. He made his England debut against Colombia a few months before this Brighton match, becoming only the sixth Canary to play for England. He was set to go to the Germany World Cup in 2006 but ruptured his groin in a B international against Belarus. He was sold to West Ham shortly afterwards and the rest of his 12 caps came elsewhere.
Robert Green. Oh Robert.
Gary Doherty – aka the Ginger Pele – made 34 appearances for the Republic of Ireland. Strange as it may seem but Doherty was mostly played as a striker by the Republic, while he obviously found a home at centre half for Norwich. His last international cap came in 2005.
The most capped international in the City side that day was midfielder Youssef Safri, who played 77 times for Morocco, including games at the 2004 African Cup of Nations, where his team made it to the final. Safri will be remembered by Norwich fans for doing this in a Premier League match against Newcastle:
Paul McVeigh played 20 times for Northern Ireland over six years, Kevin Lisbie has 10 Jamaica caps to his name, and among the substitutes at the Withdean, goalkeeper Darren Ward made 5 appearances for Wales and Jim Brennan 49 for Canada.
That was it – a total of 207 international caps and most of those for British or Irish nations and the smaller footballing countries. Now let’s remind ourselves of the Norwich City team from last Saturday:
John Ruddy
Steven Whittaker
Russell Martin
Sebastien Bassong
Robbie Brady
Jonny Howson
Alex Tettey
Graham Dorrans
Matt Jarvis
Wes Hoolahan
Cameron Jerome
Substitutes: Declan Rudd, Dieumerci Mbokani, Kyle Lafferty, Nathan Redmond, Martin Olsson, Ryan Bennett, Gary O’Neil
Kyle Laffery struggles to get into the Norwich team but has top scored for Northern Ireland as they qualified for Euro 2016.
This squad has nearly 250 international appearances between them from as many as 12 different players. Overall, this shows how much things have changed for Norwich City in the last decade – and these players have been doing well for their nations too. Wes Hoolahan was man of the match for the Republic of Ireland as they beat Germany on Thursday – a game Robbie Brady also played in. Kyle Laffery is the top scorer in Northern Ireland’s European qualifiers, Dieumerci Mbokani scored for DR Congo and Alex Tettey scored for Norway against Malta last night.
I hope you’ve found this an interesting look at how Norwich’s representation of the international stage has changed in the last 10 years – and I hope it’s made this awful international break that little bit more bearable.
Sitting in the Barclay on Saturday, watching Norwich City’s excellent 3-1 win over Bournemouth, it began to dawn on me that I was watching a player who had the ability to bring back all the excitement and giddiness for me that I used to get from watching football as a child.
I feel that Wes Hoolahan is a player we need to cherish while he is still around. Sometimes nicknamed Wessi, Hoolahan did exactly the same job for Norwich at the weekend as the Lionel the name alludes to does for Barcelona – he pulled the strings. He made things happen. He was the playmaker every team craves – creative, quick, making the right decisions.
Hoolahan is City’s longest serving player, joining in June 2008. Yes, he appeared to be angling for a move to Aston Villa two seasons ago – refusing to celebrate after scoring against the side then managed by Paul Lambert, and reportedly making some derogatory comments about the club to a journalist – but he stayed with us, as he has done throughout some very good times and some very bad times in the recent history of the Canaries.
The Irishman cost Norwich £250,000. His career with the club started slowly, stalled as many things were by the awful reign of Glenn Roeder, but few would argue now that for what Hoolahan has brought to City the transfer fee was a bargain.
Part of the ‘holy trinity’ during the League One campaign alongside Grant Holt and Chris Martin, Hoolahan is like most creative players in that he can delight and infuriate in equal measure. Some days he will give the ball away cheaply, try one mazy dribble too many or simply get eased off the ball, but when he’s on form he is an absolute joy to watch.
Wes Hoolahan belts the ball into the Bournemouth net on Saturday.
On Saturday, Wes Hoolahan was most definitely on form. He’s 33 years old now, but he seems to have found even more pace from somewhere and Bournemouth couldn’t handle him. Skinning a defender and cutting back for Cameron Jerome to put Norwich ahead – all whilst carrying his shin pad in his hands – and then scoring one of his own, brilliantly finishing past goalkeeper Artur Boruc when he could have passed left or right, punctuated an excellent display from a man who is now a regular in the Republic of Ireland team and was earlier this year named in the Football League Team of the Decade.
I think it’s time to start talking about him in the same way we do the likes of Darren Huckerby, Iwan Roberts and Grant Holt – because in my eyes Wes Hoolahan is already a Norwich City legend.
Last summer, a few weeks after Norwich City’s entirely avoidable relegation from the Premier League, the World Cup got under way in Brazil. Of course, I watched it. To bridge the gap between Norwich losing 2-0 to Arsenal and that Brazil v Croatia match, I watched the two friendlies England played in the USA against Ecuador and Honduras – the second game was so uneventful that I remember it mostly for the referee taking the players off the field for a while because of lightning.
England’s friendly with Honduras in Miami last summer was halted by lightning.
The football thirst was not quenched after 64 games in 32 days. I went hunting for more, and found Newcastle playing in the ‘Schalke 04 Cup’ on a Freeview channel so obscure I can’t remember the name of it. At last, the second weekend in August saw the competitive action kick off once again and the waiting was over.
By January, though, I think I was getting a little fatigued. The Premier League was as dull as it had been for a long time – it had been obvious since October that Chelsea were going to win the title, it was just a case of when, and no matter how hard Sky Sports tried to convince us that they were, Manchester City were never really in it. This was a problem, as I find Chelsea difficult to like, as they played less like a fluid example of the beautiful game at its best and more like a machine focussed on winning and winning alone. There was no entertainment. The ‘race for the top 4’ featured only Manchester United and Liverpool, and even that wasn’t a close race. I have so little interest in the Europa League that I did not give two hoots about who qualified for that. At the bottom, Burnley were obviously a hard working side without the quality required to stay up, QPR were the circus that they usually are, and Hull’s final day survival task looked a long shot from the start. The only real excitement was the remarkable recovery of Leicester City, who spent 140 days rock bottom of the league only to finish pretty comfortably safe.
There’s no real reason for this picture to be here other than I never want to stop looking at it.
I was still more than interested in Norwich, of course, especially as in January things changed with Alex Neil becoming manager. I’ve written plenty about the great season we’ve had, culminating in promotion through the play-offs. You can relive it with my season review, which is in twoparts.
With all this in mind, I took the decision to have a proper break from football this summer. I wouldn’t watch any live action between the Champions League final and the start of the new league season in August. That means no internationals, no Women’s World Cup, no friendlies and no Nathan Redmond in the Euro Under 21s. I’m doing this so I can feel properly refreshed for next season, and I’ve made it to 4 days so far – surely the next 60 or so will be a breeze?
This is the second part of my review of Norwich City’s 2014-15 season. If you haven’t seen the first part yet, here it is. I hope you enjoy looking back on an amazing season. This part starts with the appointment of a little known Scotsman…
Alex Neil left Hamilton Academical to become Norwich City’s new manager in January
9th January 2015 – Hello Neil (again)
A few names were linked with Norwich City as the club decided who would replace Neil Adams. I can remember thinking that Nigel Adkins or Uwe Rosler would be sound appointments. In the end it was Alex Neil. Few south of the border had heard of the 33-year-old, but he had been making a name for himself in Scotland where he had been player-manager of Hamilton Academical. Neil had guided Accies to the Scottish Premiership the season before, and when he left to start work at Carrow Road they were third in the table, having already beaten Celtic at Parkhead. It was the sort of left-field appointment that might be expected of chief executive David McNally, who had pulled off something similar with Paul Lambert. But could this young, inexperienced Glaswegian really be the man to arrest Norwich’s slump?
10th January 2015 – Bournemouth 1-2 Norwich
Alex Neil was sat in the stands for this match, with Mike Phelan and Gary Holt taking caretaker charge for one week only. Matt Ritchie put the league leaders in front, but Gary Hooper equalised just before half time. Jonny Howson was harshly sent off for a tackle not long after the hour mark, at which point the new Norwich manager appeared in his suit on the touchline and started barking orders at his players. Cameron Jerome’s great goal ten minutes from time sentenced eventual champions Bournemouth to a rare home defeat and a stirring start to life under Alex Neil for Norwich City.
24th January 2015 – City blow their chances of a play-off place
Victory against Brentford would put Norwich back in the top six, but they blew it as Jota and an Alex Pritchard penalty gave the West London side the points. It was the first defeat for City under Alex Neil. They would go on a seven match unbeaten run afterwards.
Norwich’s magnificent February
The Canaries moved back into the promotion picture with a perfect February. Victories over Blackpool, Charlton, Wolves, Watford and Blackburn suddenly put Norwich in touch of the automatic promotion places again. It is worth pointing out that they beat Watford for a second time this season, again 3-0, and that the 2-1 win at Blackburn was secured with an 84th minute winner from Bradley Johnson after City had been behind for a long while.
1st March 2015 – Norwich 2-0 Ipswich
Norwich were in red hot form going into the second East Anglian derby of the season, and it showed. A thumping goal from Bradley Johnson sent Carrow Road wild, and a scrappy second off the heels of Lewis Grabban made it a double over the old enemy and a fourth derby win in a row.
Bradley Johnson celebrates after his fantastic strike against Ipswich sent Norwich on their way to doing the double over the old enemy
4th March 2015 – Norwich 0-1 Wigan
It was very much after the Lord Mayor’s show for City as they were beaten by Wigan three days after the derby triumph. An early goal from Kim Bo-kyung was enough for the Latics, managed by former Norwich defender Malky Mackay. It was a game City didn’t get going in and was another missed opportunity, as a win would have put them top of the table. Wigan would go on to be relegated to League One, having sacked Mackay and replaced him with club captain Gary Caldwell.
17th April 2015 – Norwich 0-1 Middlesbrough
Norwich’s hopes of an automatic promotion place were all but ended on a cruel Friday night against Middlesbrough. Alex Tettey flicked an early Boro corner into his own net, and the disgusting timewasting that followed was a low point of what had been a fantastic Championship season overall. The referee stopped the game more than once for Patrick Bamford’s minor injury, and the almost comical sudden collapse of goalkeeper Dimi Konstantopolous capped a disastrous night for Alex Neil’s team.
2nd May 2015 – It’s the play-offs, and guess who we are playing…
With Bournemouth and Watford promoted automatically, and a play-off place secure for Norwich, issues were being dealt with elsewhere as the Canaries finished the regular season with a 4-2 win over Fulham and a first victory over the Cottagers since 1986. Derby County incredibly collapsed from automatic promotion favourites to missing out on the play-offs altogether after losing 3-0 at home to Reading, and it was Brentford who took a play-off place at their expense by beating Wigan by the same scoreline. City’s rivals Ipswich lost 3-2 at Blackburn but managed to hold on to 6th place, meaning the play-off semi-finals would see two more East Anglian derbies as well as the tie between Middlesbrough and Brentford.
Nathan Redmond scored as Norwich won the play-off semi-final against Ipswich to make the final at Wembley
16th May 2015 – Norwich 3-1 Ipswich
After a 1-1 draw at Portman Road, it was winner-takes-all in the second leg at Carrow Road. After a nervy first half, Wes Hoolahan played in Nathan Redmond, who had his shot blocked on the goal line by the arm of Ipswich defender Christophe Berra. Berra was shown a straight red card, Hoolahan buried the penalty and Norwich were in front. Ipswich responded well and capitalised on some poor defending from a free kick to equalise just ten minutes later through Tommy Smith, but Nathan Redmond and Cameron Jerome put City ahead again and on their way to Wembley.
Middlesbrough overcame Brentford 5-1 on aggregate, following up a late 2-1 win at Griffin Park with a resounding 3-0 success at the Riverside to set up a fascinating play-off final.
25th May 2015 – The perfect day
The days after the semi-final win over Ipswich saw City fans make a mad scramble for tickets for the club’s first appearance at Wembley since 1985. On the day, 40,000 headed to London by car, coach and train to create an amazing atmosphere at the national stadium. Those 40,000 could not have wished for a better start when Cameron Jerome stole the ball from Middlesbrough defender Daniel Ayala and slotted past Konstantopolous at his near post to give Norwich a 12th minute lead. Nathan Redmond finished off a brilliant passing move with an arrowed shot three minutes later and the Canaries had one foot in the Premier League. Alex Neil had said before the game how important it was to start well, after what had happened in the defeat to Boro a little more than a month previously. City saw the game out with little worry to spark jubilant celebrations at the final whistle. Norwich City, after an incredible ride, were back in the top flight at the first attempt.
Norwich’s aim when the season began was to make an instant return to the Premier League. It’s a difficult task. We were going to have to do a lot of hard work. But we did it, and we have the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea to look forward to playing again. What a roller-coaster ride it was, with all the late goals and defining moments. I can’t wait to go through it all again.
We did it! It was an amazing day at Wembley yesterday and it capped off a thrilling season for Norwich City – full of ups and downs – but we can celebrate because we have achieved our aim and we are Premier League once more. I have never been prouder of my club and my fellow supporters.
My article about wearing my dad’s old City shirt to Wembley got a lovely response. Thanks to everyone who read it. I didn’t write it looking for pity or sympathy, I just thought it was a nice story to tell. To my surprise the Norwich Evening News got in touch wishing to feature the story and you may have seen it in the papers yesterday. Thanks to Peter Walsh for that.
I’ve picked some pivotal and memorable moments from the season for my season review. I got a bit carried way writing it so I’ve split it into two parts. This is part one. Part two is here. I hope you enjoy looking back at this incredible season for Norwich City.
Norwich fans head down Wembley Way before the Canaries’ glorious victory in the Championship play-off final
22nd May 2014 – Hello Neil
Norwich City were licking their wounds in the days and weeks after relegation from the Premier League. The club’s decision to sack Chris Hughton as manager had come too late to save them, and chief executive David McNally – who had said relegation would be ‘worse than death’ – appeared on BBC Radio Norfolk with other members of the board to give the fans some answers. Eventually, Neil Adams was given the job on a full time basis. Adams had played 182 games for City as a midfielder, and had led the club’s Under 18s side to winning the FA Youth Cup a year before.
5th June 2014 – Welcome aboard
A club that is run very smartly in financial terms, and backed up by Premier League parachute payments, Norwich did have some cash to spend in the summer transfer window. On 5th June they made their first purchase, with striker Lewis Grabban signing from Bournemouth. Grabban had scored 22 goals in 44 games in the season that had just ended and was seen as an exciting buy. The club would end up buying nine players in the summer window – players such as Cameron Jerome and Gary O’Neil were signed for their experience of Championship promotion, and others such as Conor McGrandles and Louis Thompson were signed with an eye very much on the future.
30th June 2014 – Hull of a fee for Snodgrass
When any team is relegated from the top flight, the fans expect the players who don’t think they belong in the Championship to find moves elsewhere. Norwich’s player of a bad season was Robert Snodgrass, who worked tirelessly down the right for the club for two seasons after joining from Leeds. On 30th June 2014 it was announced that the Scotland international would be leaving to join Hull City for a fee believed to be around £7m. Many City fans were pleased with the money the club made on the deal. As it turned out, Snodgrass suffered an agonising-sounding dislocated kneecap in the very first game of the Premier League season and would not play again for the rest of the campaign. Hull were relegated.
Anthony Pilkington, Leroy Fer and Andrew Surman also left Norwich – for Cardiff, QPR and Bournemouth respectively. The club had managed to keep hold of the core of a decent squad and it was a reason for optimism as the season approached.
20th July 2014 – We have Novara idea who we’re playing
One of the lighter and perhaps more farcical moments of Norwich’s preparations for life in the Championship, on the club’s pre-season tour of Italy they were due to play a friendly against little-known Novara, but they pulled out of the fixture at short notice. A game against Saint-Christophe Vallée d’Aoste was hastily arranged, which Norwich won 13-0. Saint-Christophe Vallée d’Aoste later denied that it was them that had faced The Canaries, and that in fact it was an amateur team made up of players from all over the region that had been given a beating. Later friendlies against Sampdoria and Livorno were also cancelled at short notice, and Norwich’s trip to Italy wasn’t quite the preparation they were after.
5th August 2014 – The Wolf departs
Everyone with a connection to Norwich City was so excited when Ricky van Wolfswinkel became the club’s record signing. But after a terrible season in which his debut goal against Everton would turn out to be his only positive, van Wolfswinkel left to join French team Saint-Étienne. It was only a season long loan, but there was an option to buy at the end of it. After 9 goals in 40 games, Saint-Étienne have not taken up that option and so The Wolf will be returning to Carrow Road.
10th August 2014 – Wolves 1-0 Norwich
On a warm Sunday afternoon in August, Norwich got back into competitive action with the opening game of the Championship season at Wolves. The year before there had been two divisions between the teams but they pretty much matched each other. The game will be mostly remembered for Martin Olsson’s push on the referee earning him a red card, which was later put down to the out-of-sorts left back grieving the loss of a family member. A header from David Edwards saw City got off to a losing start in the second tier.
16th August 2014 – Norwich 3-0 Watford
The first game of the season at Carrow Road felt like a fresh start after the depression that had captured the place in the grim end to the Premier League campaign. Watford defender Joel Ekstrand was sent off just two minutes in for drawing blood on Nathan Redmond, and lovely chipped goals from Bradley Johnson and Lewis Grabban were punctuated by an Alex Tettey strike to give Norwich a comfortable 3-0 win. Watford would go on to get automatic promotion.
23rd August 2014 – Ipswich 0-1 Norwich
Of course, being back in the Championship meant the return of the East Anglian derby for the first time in more than four years, and the fixtures computer decided that the first meeting would be at Portman Road just weeks into the season. The Canaries showed how strong they would be on the road by holding out for a 1-0 win – Lewis Grabban’s first half header was the only goal. It gave the City fans a sweet taste of derby success once more and was the third win in a row in the league.
Lewis Grabban heads the winner for Norwich in the first East Anglian derby of the season.
13th September 2014 – Cardiff 2-4 Norwich
A theme of Norwich’s relegation season was how poor they were away from home, so the fans who had travelled all the way to Cardiff would not have expected much after Joe Ralls and Aron Gunnarsson had put the home side 2-0 up after 22 minutes. But second half goals from Martin Olsson, Wes Hoolahan, Michael Turner and Cameron Jerome sealed an incredible comeback. Cardiff had come down with Norwich and would finish 11th in the Championship, proving just how hard it is to bounce straight back.
20th September 2014 – Norwich 2-2 Birmingham
Norwich were among the Championship’s pacesetters going into the home game against struggling Birmingham. However, goals from Callum Reilly and Demarai Gray saw the Blues were 2-0 up at half time. Cameron Jerome scored twice against his former club in the second half to make sure of a point but this was a sign of Norwich having trouble breaking teams down and being too open at the back.
30th September 2014 – Norwich 0-1 Charlton
If the Birmingham game hinted at the problems Norwich would have if they couldn’t break sides down, this game against Charlton was a clear example. City dominated the match but couldn’t find a way through a resolute Addicks defence, and to add insult to injury Johnnie Jackson’s deflected shot gave Charlton a late winner and all three points.
21st October 2014 – Cameron Jerome vs Giuseppe Bellusci
The 1-1 home draw with Leeds would play second fiddle to the moment Norwich striker Cameron Jerome lost his cool with defender Giuseppe Bellusci. Jerome complained to referee Mark Clattenburg that Bellusci had used racially abusive language towards him, and an investigation got underway. Several months later, The FA cleared Bellusci, accepting that the Italian defender had been ‘misheard or misinterpreted’ and that he had actually threatened to give Jerome ‘a black eye’.
Cameron Jerome accused Leeds defender Giuseppe Bellusci of racially abusing him during the 1-1 draw at Carrow Road
4th November 2014 – Middlesbrough 4-0 Norwich
Norwich’s heaviest defeat of the season would come on a Tuesday night on Teesside, as Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford, Grant Leadbitter and winger Yanic Wildschut scored to give Middlesbrough the win in a game the Canaries never turned up in. They would pick up only one point from their four games in November.
3rd January 2015 – Out of the FA Cup with a whimper, and it’s goodbye Neil
The first game of the new year saw Norwich travel to League One Preston on FA Cup third round day. Two Paul Gallagher goals knocked City out after a dismal performance. It took some by surprise, but this turned out to be the last game Neil Adams was in charge of – he left two days later, with a suggestion that he had jumped before he was pushed. With half of the season still to play, Norwich were in mid-table and 11 points behind leaders Bournemouth. The search began for a manager who could get the club back on track.
Going to the football was the thing me and my dad did together.
Dad was 48 when I was born. He had the son he had always wanted – someone to kick a ball around with and watch the match with him. Yet I was a latecomer to football, and to his obsession with Norwich City. I can remember protesting that I wanted to watch cartoons when dad had sat himself in the living room ready for the Super Sunday game on Sky Sports.
My dad in his room in his care home, a Canary from beginning to end.
It is an old family tale that dad was a very handy footballer, who scored plenty of goals for teams such as Gothic. He was part of the Norwich Boys team, a side made up of players picked from local schools. He played at Carrow Road several times. He always insisted that someone from Norwich City asked his father about him turning professional, but his father refused and made his son go and get an apprenticeship. Whether that’s true I’m not so sure, but it’s a lovely story.
At some point, I became interested. Perhaps through sheer osmosis. I remember getting very excited at England beating Germany 5-1 a week after my 9th birthday. The next May I went through emotional turmoil watching the now defunct ITV Digital, who were showing Norwich’s agonising penalty shootout defeat to Birmingham in the Division One play-off final. I was in tears at the end of that game. At that point, the Canaries had got me. From then on I was a Norwich City fan, and I always would be.
Dad had got up extremely early that morning and travelled to Cardiff on a minibus to be at the match. On his return, our conversations about football would become more knowledgeable on my part, and increasingly partisan. He must have loved it. I can imagine him thinking ‘Finally! After nearly a decade my boy has got the football bug!’.
Less than a year later, in March 2003, I went to my first Norwich game. We lost 2-0 to Ipswich, of all teams, but that didn’t put me off. I was part of the enormous crowds as our Division One champions of 2004 celebrated with an open top bus parade. I recall both me and dad jumping up and down in pure elation as we went 2-0 up against Manchester United in what would be a brief stay in the Premier League. Dad was 61 at that point, but he certainly didn’t look it or move like it.
As the next few years passed dad’s memory became something of a concern. He had to give up working after more than 40 years. He was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
In August 2008, me and dad took our seats at Carrow Road for our first game sitting next to each other as season ticket holders. I had only been to the odd game a season up to that point. We sat three rows back in the upper Barclay, just to the right of the goal. We watched a 1-1 draw with Blackpool. We got relegated to League One that season. In fact, our first seasons with those tickets saw us witness a relegation, a promotion and another promotion. We sat through the 7-1 defeat to Colchester, through the 2-0 win over Gillingham that confirmed Norwich as League One champions, through the joyous last game of the season against Coventry as we celebrated promotion to the Premier League.
Dad’s undying faith in Norwich City showed in his score predictions. Ask him what he thought would happen in that particular game, and he would ask who we were playing. When I told him, he would usually say ‘we should beat them shouldn’t we?’ in a fantastically confident voice as if to say ‘of course we should beat them, we’re the mighty Norwich City!’. His predicted score would usually be 5-0 to City, but if he wasn’t feeling quite as confident that day we might only win 3-0.
Gradually, getting dad to and from Carrow Road became increasingly difficult. His particular type of dementia appeared to strike his mobility. He found it hard to walk, hard to negotiate stairs, and on one occasion he found it impossible to walk over the Novi Sad Friendship Bridge. A very kind couple stopped and helped me get him to the other side, where they waited with him while I ran to get the car. It was a desperately sad and worrying state to see him in, someone I had looked up to so much.
Dad cut down on his trips to see City play. I took him to what would turn out to be his last visit to Carrow Road on Boxing Day 2012, a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. From then on I would carry on going to home games, but would go and sit with him in his care home to listen to the away matches on Radio Norfolk.
On 1st February 2014, just over a month short of his 70th birthday, my brilliant dad finally gave in to this most evil of diseases. This classic Norwich City song was played at his funeral. I still sit in the same Barclay seat as I did for that Blackpool match nearly seven years ago, and I have often wondered what my dad would make of the latest goings on in yellow and green.
These feelings have been particularly felt in the last week, with Norwich of course preparing for the Championship play-off final at Wembley. He would have been there, without a shadow of a doubt. And he would have loved the sight of around 40,000 fellow City fans inside the home of football.
I have decided to wear dad’s old City shirt to Wembley. This way, I know a part of my old man will be with me at the biggest game I’ve ever been to.
What would he say about the result?
‘Middlesbrough? We should beat them shouldn’t we?’
Me with my dad’s old Norwich shirt which I will be wearing to Wembley.
I found this video on YouTube recently. Uploaded by madmusician91, who must take all the credit for it, the video shows the last few minutes of Channel 4’s excellent live coverage of cricket:
England had just won the Ashes for the first time in 18 years, in what is regarded as the greatest Test series ever played. Cricket was in the public consciousness like it had not been since Botham’s Ashes of 1981, enjoying popularity akin to football, being talked about across the country. Ironic, then, that that series was to be the end not only of Channel 4’s coverage, but of live international cricket coverage as a whole on terrestrial television in the UK.
Television was still in its infancy when the BBC decided to show the Lord’s and Oval Tests against Australia in 1938. Very few people owned a television then – and if they did they were rich. Even so, whatever viewers there were got the chance to see Len Hutton score 364; at the time it was a world record and it is to this day the highest Test score by an Englishman. The BBC continued to show live England cricket right up until 1999.
Test cricket at Old Trafford in 2014 – but you needed to pay to see it on television.
Pay television first made an impact on live England home matches at this point – Sky Sports shared coverage with Channel 4. Rupert Murdoch’s network had already been showing England tours since 1990, but this was their first foray into home internationals. The rights deal, however, remained in favour of the terrestrial broadcaster. Sky showed just the one Test match each summer, with the other five or six on Channel 4. Sky showed all of the one day matches live.
In 2004, to some surprise, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that it had awarded exclusive rights to England home matches to Sky Sports. This meant that from 2006, fans would have to pay to watch England play live for the first time. The deal went ahead despite a campaign to ‘Keep Cricket 4 Us’ and with an extension until 2017 cricket will only be shown as highlights on Channel 5.
While Sky’s money has been invested in grassroots cricket, with the sport not easily accessible to the general public interest has inevitably waned. The conclusion of Sky’s first live Ashes series in 2009 was watched by just under 2 million viewers, with the average throughout the day at 856,000. Compare this to Channel 4’s live coverage of the 2005 Ashes finale – 7.4 million watched the end of play, with an average of 4.7 million between the lunch break and the close.
With such a gulf in viewing figures between the pay TV channel and the terrestrial, there remain calls for live England cricket to return to free-to-air television. With no prospect of this until at least 2018, however, it looks like an hour of highlights per day is all we will have to satisfy us for now.
Last night, England played a friendly against Norway. The official attendance for the match at the 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium was 40,181 – the smallest crowd to have seen the men’s national team at the ground since it was rebuilt. There are a number of explanations for the poor turnout – expensive tickets, families unwilling or unable to venture to the match after the first day back at school, parents tightening their belts after a summer of spending – but the overriding feeling was that people had simply lost interest in the team. The desperately disappointing World Cup campaign means the players will have to convince the public that it’s worth coming to see them. Only performances on the pitch are going to address that particular issue. A dour 1-0 win, through a Wayne Rooney penalty, isn’t going to do it. The small attendance last night, however, opened another debate entirely – is it time the England team played away from Wembley?The rebuilt Wembley is a fantastic arena, but the England team should tour the country.
The reason why every single England home match is played at Wembley is simply cost. The rebuilt stadium came in way over budget and was incredibly expensive at £798 million. Despite the stadium being in use since 2007, Wembley is still being paid off. The semi-finals of the FA Cup are also played at the national stadium for the same reason. Yesterday, the head of ‘Club England’ Adrian Bevington said it might be “eight or nine years” before England matches can be played away from Wembley. Ignoring the typical money matters, the idea of moving England matches would be beneficial to fans and to the team itself.
Playing games around the country would bring forward the idea that the national team belongs to the nation again. Fans in, say, the north east would be able to go and support the England team if a friendly was at St James’ Park much easier than the weeks of planning it must take to head down to London. There is also a chance that the youngsters would be inspired by seeing the national team play on their doorsteps. The England women’s team already do this, as do the various age group teams. The England cricket team do not confine themselves to Lord’s – every summer fans can see them play as far north as Durham to as far south as Southampton. I wonder if even were Wembley to be paid that The FA would even consider sending the senior team on tour.
Wembley Stadium and Ashburton Grove – a tale of two stadiums
Around the same time Wembley was being rebuilt, Arsenal were making progress on their ground Ashburton Grove (better know due to sponsorship as The Emirates). While Wembley came in over budget at £798 million and about four years late, Ashburton Grove was built on time and on budget.
While Wembley was being rebuilt between 2000 and 2007, the England team did indeed play around the country. Most of these matches were played at Old Trafford, but Anfield, St James’ Park, Villa Park, and even Portman Road played host at some point. I believe that – once Wembley is finally paid off – the idea should be considered again. Even if this is just for friendlies, with qualifying matches continuing to be played at Wembley.
In an article for his paper The Telegraph on the eve of the Norway friendly, journalist Paul Hayward went as far as to claim that The FA should sell Wembley Stadium and invest the proceeds in grass-roots football, coaching and player development. I am not sure I would go that far. I have been to the rebuilt Wembley – first for a stadium tour and then for the friendly against Ghana in 2011 – and there is no denying it is a magnificent arena. Hayward does, however, make some interesting points. Europe’s other top football nations such as Spain, Italy and world champions Germany, do not have a national stadium and tour their countries for all matches. He says the selling of Wembley would not mean it would be demolished or become a white elephant – the concerts, American Football matches, boxing and a whole range of other events that already take place their could continue.
While the selling of the national stadium is unlikely, there is without doubt an angst about Wembley since it has been rebuilt that was not there with the original. It is not universally loved, it is not the pinnacle of every football fan’s season to see their team there, and it is not the undisputed ‘home of football’ it has always claimed to be. I believe sending the national team around the country would be for the good of the game in this country, but ultimately it is for The FA to decide. Anyway, it’s San Marino next month.
LEE PAYNE 