Norwich City in Europe

Those were the days, hmm? Small boys in the park, jumpers for goal posts....

And Norwich City terrorising the biggest clubs in Europe.

Yes. You heard me. Norwich City. Now mired in mid-table obscurity in the Nationwide League Division One.

Yet there was a time, about eight years ago, when Norwich were one of the best teams in the country.

It was in the first season of the FA Carling Premiership, all of those years ago, when Norwich proved they could hang with the big boys then. With a new manager in Mike Walker, he brought in the likes of Manchester United fringe-player Mark Robbins, and Efan Ekoku, to boost a relatively small squad that included the likes of Chris Sutton, Jeremy Goss, Bryan Gunn, Ian Crook and Ian Butterworth.

That season went really well. For a greater part of the season, Norwich were top of the league, surprising almost everyone, including me. No one expected them to be up there with the likes of Aston Villa, and of course, Manchester United, who, midway through the season, purchased a certain Mr. Cantona.

The entire city of Norwich were convinced that their team could go all the way. But if one thing stopped them, it was their defence. Some big defeats at the hands of Tottenham towards the end of the season cost them dearly. These slip-ups allowed Manchester United in for the first championship since the late sixties.

The third place finish meant that Norwich qualified for the UEFA Cup. This was actually the second time they had qualified for European competition, but they couldn't compete the last time because of the Heysal Stadium tragedy, and the subsequent ban on English clubs competing in Europe.

I could tell from the television schedules that no one gave Norwich a chance. While United and Villa's games were shown live on television, Norwich's first round match, against Dutch team Vitesse Arnheim, was relegated to a late-night highlights slot.

What brought it home about this was while watching the Manchester United European game. The commentator, Ron Atkinson, said that English clubs were well represented in Europe that season by United and Villa. Norwich were not even mentioned.

Norwich won their first round tie against Vitesse 3-0 on aggregate, and in the second round, were drawn against none other than the might Bayern Munich from the German Bundesliga. Again, no one gave them a chance. Neither of the major television networks were willing to show the match live. The only channel that was willing to show the game was Sky Sports.

For some reason, I can't remember what, I didn't watch the majority of the first half, but when I turned over, about five minutes before half-time, I could not believe my eyes. In the Munich Olympic Stadium, something that was considered an impenetrable fortress by their fans, Norwich were winning 1-0, Jeremy Goss having scored a brilliant volley. And shortly before half-time, Mark Bowen made it 2-0. Not even the commentators in the stadium or the summarisers in the studio could believe what they were seeing.

Bayern managed to pull on back in the second half, but it was to no avail. Norwich had done something no other English team had ever done before, and which no other English team had done since - they had beaten the mighty Bayern Munich in their own backyard.

Now people were beginning to take notice, so much so that the BBC brought the rights to the rest of Norwich's European matches. The second leg came around at Carrow Road, and it was one hell of a game. A 1-1 draw meant that Norwich won 3-2 overall. Our boys were on a roll, and they needed to be. In the third round, they drew Italian giants Inter Milan.

By the time the Inter match came around, the bookings had begun to pile up, and so had the suspensions. A packed house at Carrow Road, including my future Italian boss, piled in, and yours truly watch live on television for what was possibly Norwich's biggest match ever.

Inter failed to impress on that night. Despite their highly paid superstars, Norwich's workmanlike ethic really put the frights up Inter. However, this wasn't enough. If memory serves, a Denis Bergkamp penalty was enough to see Inter through to the second leg.

So Norwich now faced a daunting task, and things were piling up against them. Nearly half of their first team were out through suspension. No one gave them a chance in the massive San Siro stadium.

So, with a makeshift team, Norwich set about their task, and set about it damn well. In the first half, they made Inter look ordinary. The lads were playing the best game of their lives.

However, it wasn't enough. Another Denis Bergkamp goal settled it. Norwich went out 2-0 overall. But they did themselves proud. They had nothing to be ashamed of.

In hindsight, their defeat against Inter was the beginning of the end. Mike Walker said at the time that with the players they had, the great team, the great team spirit, they could achieve great things, and he pleaded with Norwich chairman Robert Chase to release the purse strings a little, to pay the players a little more so they wouldn't be tempted to move to bigger clubs and bigger wages.

Walker's plea fell on deaf ears, and it wasn't long afterwards that Walker himself left Norwich for the sunnier climate of Everton, while John Deehan took over the reigns.

Norwich didn't do much after that. That season, they finished mid-table, and the next, they were relegated to the Nationwide League.

A series of bad decisions, several managers, Robert Chase leaving, and television cook Delia Smith gaining a majority share in the club brought us to where we are today, in the middle of the Nationwide League, looking up at the big boys, looking over at our close neighbours Ipswich Town, and going green with envy over their success last season.

And while Ipswich compete in the UEFA Cup next season, we Norwich fans can take comfort in this one fact - not even the mighty Manchester United have beaten Bayern Munich on their own ground!

Ah memories! They can be great things can't they?
1