Another day, another disappointment. Norwich City put in a strong shift on Saturday and worked hard to get themselves 2-0 up – but this is no longer the time to be taking the positives. We need to win, we need points and we need to stop the rot.
For the West Ham game, a lot had been changed at Carrow Road. I don’t just mean the team selection (three alterations from last week) or tactics, but pretty much everything. The players walked out to Kasabian instead of Kanye, we were treated to live opera in the centre circle before kick-off, and – that sure sign that things aren’t going well – clips of the commentary of some of the club’s greatest moments boomed from the speakers in an attempt to fire us up. That last one, in particular, made it feel like the last few months of the Hughton reign all over again.
I try to be as fair as possible when forming my opinions on City. I’ll leave it a few hours after a draw or defeat before I pass comment, so I can be sure that what’s going through my head isn’t just in the heat of the moment. I still feel that on Saturday Norwich were the better side and did not really look threatened until West Ham scored their rather fortunate first goal.
We came racing out of the blocks and while we didn’t manage to score in the first few minutes, the approach was correct. West Ham had gone all the way to the end of extra time with Liverpool in their FA Cup fourth round replay just four days previously. They had injury problems. City went out to get on top from the start.
Robbie Brady scored an excellent goal, which hopefully signals a return to form for him, and the exhilaration around Carrow Road was palpable. There was an even bigger outpouring of joy when Wes Hoolahan doubled the lead. What a position we were in – 2-0 up, 25 minutes to go – would we get a better chance for a Premier League win?
Robbie Brady gave Norwich City the lead but it wasn’t to last.
Nearly ten minutes later, when West Ham scored, there was a definite feeling around the ground of despair. They had only made it 2-1, but there was an air of ‘here we go again’ as if the crowd just knew that the Hammers would go on to equalise. Or worse.
The defence was blamed again – but I’m not sure that’s fair this time. Brady made a superb tackle on Victor Moses, but the West Ham substitute got a bit of luck and managed to shoot. The shot was well saved by John Ruddy (who played well on his return to the side, I thought) but the rebound fell kindly for Dimitri Payet. For the equaliser, perhaps Timm Klose could have been slightly stronger but it was a well-spotted pass and a great strike from Mark Noble. I just think it’s too easy at the moment to blame the defence for every goal we concede. Sometimes you have to admit the opposition forced their way through.
In the end, we had to settle for a point. A point that we say we probably would have taken before the game, but having been 2-0 up it feels like a defeat. City missed the chance to end this horrible winless run and build confidence going forward. Before Saturday’s game, I attempted to predict the outcomes of Norwich’s thirteen remaining games. I came up with three wins, three draws, and seven defeats – ending with 35 points. It’s unlikely to be enough to stay up.
The worrying thing is I predicted a draw with West Ham…
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.
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.
LEE PAYNE 