Norwich City Heaven - Club history

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Norwich City was formed by two schoolteachers Robert Webster and Joseph Nutchey on June 17th 1902. The aforementioned had connections to CEYMS which was formed in 1888. Norwich City's first competitive match was against Harwich and Parkeston at Newmarket Road on September 9th 1902. Three years later in 1905 they were elected to the Southern League. Originally nicknamed "The Citizens" (or "The Cits" for short) the team played in blue and white halved shirts, similar to Blackburn Rovers. However in 1907 Norwich's nickname was changed to "The Canaries" because manager John Bowman referred to his players as "my little canaries" because breeding the bird was popular at this time. Hardly surprising then that the kit was changed to yellow and green the following year. Also in 1908 Norwich City moved to The Nest on Rosary Road. "On The Ball City" was already being sang by the Canary faithful at this time. The oldest football song in the world actually originates from the 1890's.

In 1920 Norwich City joined the Football League, via the newly formed Division Three (South). Fourteen years later under the stewardship of Tom Parker the Canaries were promoted to the second tier of English football for the first time. In 1935 Norwich City moved to Carrow Road, a stadium that was apparently built in only 82 days. On 29th October 1938 King George XI visited the ground.

Unfortunately Norwich were relegated back to Division Three (South) just before World War II and it wasn't to be until 1960 that they returned to Division Two. The time in between saw City nearly go out of business and reach the FA Cup Semi-Final. The 1956/57 season was the ultimate lowpoint in the club's history. Bottom of the Football League, not only did they have to apply for re-election for the fourth time, they nearly went extinct. A purchase of floodlights for £9,000 left Norwich on the brink of disaster but thankfully Geoffrey Watling and Arthur South helped the club raise money through the supporters and funds from the Norfolk News Company. Watling took over as chairman and stayed in the role for sixteen years (a Norwich City record). He helped the club again in times of strife during the 1990's when he sold his shares to the Wynn Jones'. South was the Lord Mayor of Norwich and would later replace Watling as chairman and appoint the charismatic John Bond as manager.

In 1957 Archie Macaulay became Norwich City manager and famously led the Third Division club to the FA Cup Semi-Finals in 1959, beating the mighty Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The following year Macaulay led the Canaries back to the Second Division. Macaulay left to manage West Bromwich Albion in 1961 but his replacement Willie Reid was an instant success, guiding the club to the League Cup in 1962. The rest of the sixties was a bit hum drum with the Canaries' best finish being 6th in the Second Division during 1964/65. However the appointment of Ron Saunders as manager in 1969 proved to be a master stroke because in 1972 the Canaries were promoted to the First Division for the first time.

The seventies saw the club reach two League Cup Finals (both were lost narrowly to Spurs and Aston Villa respectively) and establish themselves in the top flight under the stewardship of John Bond. In October 1984 the Main Stand at Carrow Road caught fire when an employee left a three bar electric fire switched on. It cost £1.7m to replace and was formally reopened by the Duchess Of Kent on February 14th 1987. The stand was renamed after Geoffrey Watling in 2004.

In 1985 the Canaries gained their first "major" trophy by winning the Milk Cup against Sunderland thanks to a Gordon Chisholm own goal. This should have resulted in the club's first entry into European competition but we were denied this right when English clubs were banned from Europe following Liverpool supporters' part in the Heysel Stadium tragedy of May 1985. Norwich were denied European entry twice more in 1987 and 1989 following final top flight league placings of 5th and 3rd respectively before they finally got what they deserved in 1993 after finishing third in the newly formed Premier League. Mind you, they still had to rely on Arsenal winning the FA Cup. Under the guidance of Dave Stringer Norwich reached the FA Cup Semi-Finals in 1989 and 1992.

Norwich reached their biggest low since the late fifties when they were relegated to League One (the third tier of English football) in 2009 but thanks to the former Colchester manager Paul Lambert (who had inflicted the shocking 7-1 defeat at Carrow Road by the U's on August 8th 2009) were back in the Premier League only two years later.

1902: The club was formed.
1905: Joined the Football League.
1930: Recorded highest ever win, 10-2 v Coventry City. Division Three (South).
1934: Promoted for the first time.
1959: Reached the FA Cup Semi-Finals as a Third Division team.
1962: Won the League Cup, beating Torquay United 4-0 on aggregate.
1963: Highest ever attendance at Carrow Road, 43,984 v Leicester City in FA Cup Sixth Round. Norwich lost 2-0.
1972: Promoted to the top flight for the first time.
1985: Won first "major" trophy, beating Sunderland 1-0 at Wembley in Milk Cup Final.
1993: Finished third in the Premier League, highest ever league placing. Beat Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium (UEFA Cup Second Round), the only British side to do so. Bayern now play at the Allianz Arena (since 2005/2006).
2006: Record transfer fee received, £7.25m from West Ham United for Dean Ashton.
2013: Record transfer fee paid, £8.5m to Sporting Lisbon for Ricky Van Wolfswinkel.