Norwich City F.C.

City of Norwich Coat of Arms

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Norwich City's nickname, "The Canaries", has long influenced the team's colours and badge Originally, the club was nicknamed the Citizens ("Cits" for short), and played in light blue and white halved shirts,[5] although the halves were inconsistent; "the blue was sometimes on the left-hand side of the shirt and sometimes on the right."[64] The earliest known recorded link between the club and canaries comes in an interview recorded in the Eastern Daily Press with the newly appointed manager, John Bowman in April 1905. The paper quotes him saying "Well I knew of the City's existence... I have... heard of the canaries."[65] "This as far as we can tell is the first time that the popular pastime of the day ie... rearing... canaries was linked with Norwich City FC... the club still played in blue and white, and would continue to do so for another two seasons."[65]

By February 1907, the nickname Canaries had come more into vogue; thoughts that an FA Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion (nicknamed "Throstles" after a bird) was "a bird -singing contest" were dismissed by the polymath C.B. Fry as "humbug" but the national press increasingly referred to the team as Canaries.[66] The following season, to match the nickname, City played for the first time in Canary livery; "yellow shirts with green collars and cuffs. One paper produced the quote 'The Cits are dead but the Canaries are very much alive'."[67] While the home colours of yellow and green remain to this day, the away colours have varied since introduction. For example, the away kit for the 2012–13 season was black shirts and shorts.[68]

A simple canary badge was first adopted in 1922.[69] The current club badge consists of a canary resting on a football with a stylised version of the City of Norwich arms in the top left corner.[70] For the club's centenary celebrations in 2002, a special badge was designed, featuring two canaries looking left and right, plus a ribbon noting the centenary.[71]

Carrow Road before a match in 2019

Norwich City F.C. played at Newmarket Road from 1902 to 1908, with a record attendance of 10,366 against Sheffield Wednesday in a second round FA Cup match in 1908.[72] Following a dispute over the conditions of renting the Newmarket Road ground, in 1908 the club moved to a new home in a converted disused chalk pit in Rosary Road which became known as "The Nest".[73] By the 1930s, the ground was too small for the growing crowds, and in 1935 the club moved to its current home in Carrow Road.[74] The original stadium, "the largest construction job in the city since the building of Norwich Castle... was "miraculously" built in just 82 days... it was referred to [by club officials] as 'The eighth wonder of the world'"[75][76] An aerial photograph from August 1935 shows three sides of open terracing and a covered stand, with a Colman's Mustard advertisement painted on its roof, visible only from the air.[77] Another photograph, taken on a match day that same season, shows that despite the era's limited car ownership, a parking area was provided at the ground.[78]

Floodlights were erected at the ground in 1956, but their cost of £9,000 nearly sent the club into bankruptcy. However the success in the 1959 FA Cup secured the financial status of the club and allowed a cover to be built over the South Stand, which was itself replaced in 2003 when a new 7,000 seat South stand, subsequently renamed the Jarrold Stand, was built in its place.[74]

1963 saw the record attendance for Carrow Road, with a crowd of 43,984 for a 6th round FA Cup match against Leicester City, but in the wake of the Ibrox disaster in 1971, safety licences were required by clubs, and this drastically reduced the ground's capacity to around 20,000. A two-tier terrace was built at the River End, and soon afterwards seats began to replace the terraces. By 1979 the stadium had a capacity of 28,392 with seats for 12,675. A fire in 1984 partially destroyed one of the stands, which eventually led to its complete demolition and replacement by 1987 of a new City Stand, which chairman Robert Chase described as "Coming to a football match within the City Stand is very much like going to the theatre – the only difference being that our stage is covered with grass".[74] After the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the subsequent outcome of the Taylor Report in 1990, the stadium was converted to all-seater. Today, Carrow Road is an all-seater stadium, with a capacity of 27,244.[79]

Norwich City fans at the 2015 Play-off final at London's Wembley Stadium

While much of the support that the club enjoys is local, there are a number of expatriate fan clubs, notably in London and stretching from Scandinavia to countries further afield such as the United Arab Emirates, Bermuda, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia and the United States.[80]

The fans' song, On the Ball, City, is the oldest football song in the world still in use today; the song is, in fact, older than the club itself having probably been penned for Norwich Teachers or Caley's FC in the 1890s and adapted for Norwich City.[65] Although the first use of the tune and song is disputed, it had been adopted by 1902 and it remains in use today in part if not the whole.[65] The chorus is:[81]

Kick off, throw in, have a little scrimmage,

Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die;
On the ball City, never mind the danger,
Steady on, now's your chance,
Hurrah! We've scored a goal,

City! City! City!

Historical league positions of local clubs; one of the bases for claims to the "Pride of Anglia" title

Locally, much is made of the informal title "Pride of Anglia". Fans variously claim the title for either winning the East Anglian Derby, finishing highest in the league, having the better current league position, having the more successful club history or for reasons without any apparent logical basis. The club's main local rival is Ipswich Town. When Norwich and Ipswich meet it is known as the 'East Anglian Derby', or, informally, as the 'Old Farm Derby' – a comic reference to the 'Old Firm Derby' played between Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers.[82] Norwich are currently unbeaten against Ipswich in a decade, encompassing 12 matches, including 5-1 and 4-1 victories, as well as a victorious play-off semi final fixture in 2015.[83]

The club also maintains a healthy celebrity support with celebrity cook Delia Smith and comedian Stephen Fry both having moved from fans of the club to running it.[84] Actor Hugh Jackman is also a fan of the club, having been taken to Carrow Road as a child by his English mother, though he turned down an opportunity to become an investor in the club in 2010.[85] BT Sport Presenter Jake Humphrey, who was born in Peterborough but moved to Norwich with his family at the age of nine, is another celebrity supporter.[86][87] Other well-known supporters include Sky Sports presenter Simon Thomas, who is Vice-President of the Norwich City Supporters Trust,[87][88] Norfolk-born musician, model and media personality Myleene Klass, fiction author Philip Pullman, and Labour ex-politician Ed Balls.[89][90] Journalist and documentary filmmaker Jon Ronson expressed his admiration for the talent of Charlie Gilmour on Twitter.[91] Journalist and broadcaster Sir David Frost also declared his love for The Canaries during his lifetime.[92]

In March 2018, supporters helped the club raise £5,000,000 through a mini-bond investment scheme via sports investment platform Tifosy.[93] The purpose of the mini-bond, called the Canaries Bond[94] was to raise money to fund new academy facilities at Colney Training Ground for the Norwich City F.C. Under-23s and Academy.[95]

Norwich City FC is a public limited company that, in 2003, comprised approximately 8,000 individual shareholdings.[96] Since purchasing their shares from Geoffrey Watling, Delia Smith and husband Michael Wynn-Jones have been joint majority shareholders.[37]

Michael Wynn-Jones and Delia Smith at a fans' event

At the 2006–07 Norwich City FC Annual General Meeting (on 18 January 2007) Smith and Wynn-Jones announced that they would be open to offers to buy their majority stake-holding in the club. They made clear that any prospective buyer would have to invest heavily in the squad, with regards to team improving.[97]

The only way we would relinquish our shares is if somebody is going to put money into the football ... Only if they put money into the squad – not if they buy our shares, we don't want money. It has to be that there is money for the squad, serious money for the squad.

On 8 May 2007 the football club announced that Andrew and Sharon Turner had bought out all 5,000 shares belonging to former Board member, Barry Skipper and had given the club an interest-free loan of £2m. Mr and Mrs Turner are owners and directors of personal finance company Central Trust.

During July 2008 Peter Cullum declared that he was interested in a takeover of the club, and pledged that he would invest £20m for enhancement of the playing squad. On 8 July the EDP reported that Delia Smith and the board had invited Peter Cullum for talks. Reports later stated that the talks had been terminated with immediate effect, and no deal was to be reached.

On 2 September 2008, Andrew and Sharon Turner announced that they were leaving the football club's board of directors. This left a £2 million hole in Norwich City's budget. On 4 September 2008, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones announced that they would be injecting £2 million, avoiding financial problems for the club.

The 2011 Annual General Meeting, attended by over 500 shareholders,[98] saw joint majority shareholder Delia Smith and Stephan Phillips re-elected as directors and new director Stephen Fry formally re-elected having joined the Board the previous August.[98]

On 27 December 2015, former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was appointed Chairman, however he left in late 2018.[99]

Chart of Norwich's table positions since joining the Football League

Kevin Keelan holds the record for Norwich appearances, having played 673 first-team matches between 1963 and 1980. Ralph Hunt holds the record for the most goals scored in a season, 31 in the 1955–56 season in Division Three (South), with Johnny Gavin the top scorer over a career – 122 between 1948 and 1955. Mark Bowen holds the club record for most international caps, with 35 for Wales.[100]

The club's widest victory margin in the league was their 10–2 win against Coventry City in the Division Three (South) in 1930. Their heaviest defeat in the league was 10–2 against Swindon Town in 1908 in the Southern Football League.

Norwich's record home attendance is 43,984 for a sixth-round FA Cup match against Leicester City on 30 March 1963. With the introduction of regulations enforcing all-seater stadiums, it is unlikely that this record will be beaten in the foreseeable future.

The highest transfer fee received for a Norwich player is £22 million, from Leicester City for James Maddison in June 2018, while the most spent by the club on a player was the signing of Ricky van Wolfswinkel for £8.5 million (€10 million) from Sporting Lisbon.[101] This transfer fee was then equalled by the signing of Steven Naismith from Everton in January 2016.[102]

The club's highest league finish was third in the FA Premier League in 1992–93.[79] The 2019–20 season was Norwich's 26th in the top flight of English football. The club has won the League Cup twice (most recently in 1985) and reached the FA Cup semi-final three times, most recently in 1992.[79] Norwich have taken part in European competition just once, reaching the third round of the UEFA Cup in 1993–94 and are the only English side to beat Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium.[27]

Source:[103]

Between 2006 and 2008 the club was sponsored by airline Flybe but on 26 April 2008, it was announced that the company was stepping down as the main sponsor.[104] On 29 April 2008 it was announced that Aviva which has offices in the city and is the parent company of the former Norwich Union, would be the new shirt sponsor, having signed a three-year contract.[105] In 2009 the deal was extended until the end of the 2011–12 season.[106] It was further extended in 2012 by four more years to the end of the 2015–16 season. During the 2016–17 season, Aviva Community Fund were Norwich's main shirt sponsor. On 26 June 2017, the club announced that Swedish mobile betting company LeoVegas would take over as their main shirt sponsor for three seasons, starting from the 2017–18 season.[107]

As of 22 November 2020. Not including caretaker managers. Only professional, competitive matches are counted.[116]

Name	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	%W
John Bowman		1 August 1905	31 July 1907	78	31	23	24	039.7
James McEwen		1 August 1907	31 May 1908	43	13	10	20	030.2
Arthur Turner		1 August 1909	31 May 1910	86	27	22	37	031.4
Bert Stansfield		1 August 1910	31 May 1915	248	78	75	95	031.5
Major Frank Buckley		1 August 1919	1 July 1920	43	15	11	17	034.9
Charles O'Hagan		1 July 1920	1 January 1921	21	4	9	8	019.0
Albert Gosnell		1 January 1921	28 February 1926	233	59	79	95	025.3
Bert Stansfield		1 March 1926	1 November 1926
Cecil Potter		1 November 1926	1 January 1929	101	30	26	45	029.7
James Kerr		1 April 1929	28 February 1933	168	65	43	60	038.7
Tom Parker		1 March 1933 1 May 1955	1 February 1937 31 March 1957	271	104	69	98	038.4
Bob Young		1 February 1937 1 September 1939	31 December 1938 31 May 1946	78	26	14	38	033.3
Jimmy Jewell		1 January 1939	1 September 1939	20	6	4	10	030.0
Duggie Lochhead		1 December 1945	1 March 1950	104	42	28	34	040.4
Cyril Spiers		1 June 1946	1 December 1947	65	15	12	38	023.1
Norman Low		1 May 1950	30 April 1955	258	129	56	73	050.0
Archie Macaulay		1 April 1957	1 October 1961	224	105	60	59	046.9
Willie Reid		1 December 1961	1 May 1962	31	13	6	12	041.9
George Swindin		1 May 1962	30 November 1962	20	10	5	5	050.0
Ron Ashman		1 December 1962	31 May 1966	162	59	39	64	036.4
Lol Morgan		1 June 1966	1 May 1969	127	45	47	35	035.4
Ron Saunders		1 July 1969	16 November 1973	221	84	61	76	038.0
John Bond		27 November 1973	31 October 1980	340	105	114	121	030.9
Ken Brown		1 November 1980	9 November 1987	367	150	93	124	040.9
Dave Stringer		9 November 1987	1 May 1992	229	89	58	82	038.9
Mike Walker		1 June 1992 21 June 1996	6 January 1994 30 April 1998	179	69	46	64	038.5
John Deehan		12 January 1994	31 July 1995	58	13	22	23	022.4
Martin O'Neill		August 1995	December 1995	26	12	9	5	046.2
Gary Megson		December 1995	21 June 1996	32	5	10	17	015.6
Bruce Rioch		12 June 1998	13 March 2000	93	30	31	32	032.3
Bryan Hamilton		5 April 2000	4 December 2000	35	10	10	15	028.6
Nigel Worthington		4 December 2000	2 October 2006	280	114	104	62	040.7
Peter Grant		13 October 2006	9 October 2007	54	18	12	24	033.3
Glenn Roeder		30 October 2007	14 January 2009	65	20	15	30	030.8
Bryan Gunn		16 January 2009	13 August 2009	21	6	5	10	028.6
Paul Lambert		18 August 2009	2 June 2012	142	70	37	35	049.3
Chris Hughton		6 June 2012	6 April 2014	82	24	23	35	029.3
Neil Adams		6 April 2014	5 January 2015	32	11	8	13	034.4
Alex Neil		9 January 2015	10 March 2017	108	45	21	42	041.7
Daniel Farke		25 May 2017	present	161	64	39	58	039.8

Norwich City have won a number of honours:[117]

Making of Mike Bassett: England Manager

In the 2001 film Mike Bassett: England Manager,[119] the eponymous hero, played by Ricky Tomlinson, rises to prominence as a result of success as manager of Norwich City, having won the 'Mr Clutch Cup'. The celebratory scenes of the open-top bus ride around the city (right) were actually shot in St Albans, Hertfordshire, rather than Norwich.

In 1972 the Children's Film Foundation released a movie called The Boy Who Turned Yellow about a boy living in London who supports Norwich City. In the film, he and everyone and everything else on his tube train are turned yellow. That night he is visited by a yellow alien called Nick, short for electronic, who teaches him all about electricity. The link to the football club is used to explain why the boy already has so many yellow things in his bedroom.[120]

In a 2015 episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show, character Super Hans encourages Mark to pursue his love interest, no matter the odds, because "Norwich are never going to win the league, but they still turn up every week, don't they? The pricks."[121]

Norwich City Ladies is the women's football club affiliated to Norwich City.[122] They are managed by Scott Emmerson and compete in the Women's South East Combination League, in the third tier of English women's football.[122] According to Norwich City, "They are the official women's team of Norwich City Football Club and are linked to the Girls' Centre of Excellence programme".[122] Consequently, 95% of the club's players have progressed from the youth ranks. Norwich City LFC play their home games at Plantation Park, Blofield, Norwich.[122]

• Norwich City F.C. on BBC Sport: Club news – Recent results and fixtures
• NCFC Official Site
• The Pink 'Un
• BBC Norfolk's Norwich City Page
• Norwich City Anthem
• Norwich City Highlights