Colin Chapman has followed Norwich City for almost six decades and this is also in the blood of his granddaughter Jess and his son Simon who are also season ticket holders. Watching the Canaries’ celebrations last Monday, he looks ahead at the team and its tactics for the coming season in the Premiership.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur – by results Europe’s top teams this year – will all be at Carrow Road next season. The Canaries will also face huge crowds the Emirates, Stamford Bridge, Anfield and White Hart Lane. Most, if not all, the matches will be shown on television across the world.
This is the real and just reward for the players, owners, supporters and staff of Norwich City Football Club, celebrated in fine style on the May 6 bank holiday. Our boys will be mixing it with the best Europe currently has on offer, providing fans the kind of stylish football all four play, and that has also been the hallmark of City’s title-winning success.
We are talking of fluid football, pleasing to watch, not the bruising style of many Championship teams ,in a league hard to get out of and where the standard of refereeing leaves much to be desired.
Thanks to an excellent article in The Times, we know the building bricks of the Canaries’s success were laid at a crucial meeting in last summer, when the board and the management had to face up to mounting debt and the threat of going into administration. Immediate decisive action was agreed. As we know, this involved the lucrative sale of valuable assets like Maddison and Murphy, and parking overpaid misfits (Naismith and Oliviera come to mind) out on loan. Then came the rebuilding of the time, under the daily stewardship of head coach Daniel Farke, who bravely mixed experience with young men from Colney and unknowns from abroad.
This squad gelled into a team not seen at Carrow Road for many years. An estimated 50,000 fans, most garbed in yellow and green, swarmed in front of City Hall to watch the players come on to the balcony, in groups of two or three, to relate their experiences of an amazing year. They had partied together the previous night, and quaffed champagne for breakfast.mixing with backroom staff at City Hall, who had all been invited by joint majority shareholders Delia Smith and husband Michael Wynn-Jones. The couple received many deserved tributes from those present, including talented BBC broadcaster Chris Goreham, whose live two hour commentary was streamed on the internet.
As fans sang in unison the club song “On the Ball, City, with more than a little scrimmsge in the packed market place, they really needed no reminder that Delia and Michael rescued the club 21 years ago from the perilous position it found itself in . They not only risked their own personal fortunes; there was a huge emotional commitment.
‘I’ve supported Norwich for over 60 years”, explained Wynn-Jones proudly from the City Hall balcony, “but I can honestly say this is the best squad and the best football I’ve ever seen”.
Delia thanked the supporters for sticking by Norwich through good times and bad.When we went down to League One we sold the same amount of tickets.This is really outstanding. Everyone feels like they've gelled together as one and I think this year the supporters are in on that. We are all one.”
Then it was Farke’s turn, again to acclaim not seen before across Britain’s most famous market. Television presenter Jake Humphrey, conducting the balcony proceedings, exchanged views with Farke about his success, but then turned to the future, and the challenge of life in the Premiership. A smiling but guarded Farke refused to be drawn, insisting it was a time for celebration and that the future hard task would come soon enough.
He is right. Farke is known to be a friend and admirer of his fellow German Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool manager, who is widely credited with the introduction of gegenpressing into professional football. For the uninitiated this is broadly the system whereby a team, on losing possession of the ball, immedialy seeks to get it back, rather than seeking to regroup. One theory behind gegenpressing, which is also followed by Spurs, is that you can concdede goals but hope to score many more. Farke’s team has done this, along with speeding up City’s possession and passing game that has served them well, even when falling behind.
It does not look as if our head coach will be joining his players and having much of a vacation in coming weeks. He will no doubt be watching the conclusion of the Premier League season and then the Europa and Champion's League final with four teams who he will be pitting his wits against next season. Oh, and there is the little matter of working with sporting director Stuart Webber in agreeing half a dozen reinforcements to strengthen the squad for the tougher days ahead. These will include a new deputy for goalkeeper Tim Krull and Striker Temmu Pukki, an additional, fast winger, defensive midfielder and one or two defenders.
We should not forget the benefits to our fine city, Norwich. The Premier league has a worldwide TV audience of 47.5 million, and it provides a wonderful opportunity to attract more tourists to find out what one of Britain’s oldest cities is like, and that it has many other attractions than the football club.
Breckland Council’s work to support vulnerable residents through the coronavirus pandemic has been boosted by a donation from Norwich City Football Club and Norwich City Community Sports Foundation.
There are more than 3,600 people in the district who the NHS consider to be ‘extremely vulnerable’ and the council is supporting them by making welfare calls and, where needed, distributing medicines and food parcels.
The club and its foundation recently boosted the local effort by donating 120 parcels to the council, containing essential non-perishable food items such as tinned goods and dried foods. The boxes also included hand sanitiser, toilet roll, sweet treats, a NCFC gift and a note from celebrity chef and Canaries shareholder Delia Smith.
The support is part of the club and foundation’s Canaries COVID-19 Community Support Project which has seen £200k donated by the football club’s players, staff and directors, to help the county respond to covid-19.
All Things Norfolk has teamed up with Paul Dickson Books to give you a chance to win a collection of fabulous local books.
Paul Dickson Books is an independent Publishing House in Norwich, working with Norfolk writers and titles include Ink in my Blood - my half centiry in newspapers by Neil Haverson which was finalist in the East Anglian Book Awards 2018, Biography and Memoir.
Paul and his team have put together the following package of books as a prize to the lucky winner and there is something here for all members of the family to enjoy:
Local charity, The Benjamin Foundation, has announced its annual Sleep Out fundraising events with Norwich City and Ipswich Town Football Clubs hosting this year’s events.
Taking place on Thursday 19th November, the Norwich Sleep Out will be held at Norwich City Football Club, Carrow Road with the Ipswich Sleep Out taking place at Ipswich Town Football Club on Portman Road on 5th November.
The annual Sleep Out fundraising events support The Benjamin Foundation’s work in Norfolk and Suffolk to prevent youth homelessness by inviting people to spend one night sleeping outside so others don’t have to. Money raised through sponsorship helps their work to tackle the homelessness problem locally by providing a home and support to over 100 vulnerable young people aged 16 to 25 every night. The Benjamin Foundation also gives them the skills they need so they can go on to forge independent lives.
The Maids Head Hotel in Tombland, Norwich, has purchased an elegant Edwardian style Frolic 31 electric launch and, following a winter refit, the boat will take to the River Wensum in Norwich, when it will be officially named The Murtle Fish.
The boat will be driven by a Maids Head skipper, assisted by a steward, and can take 12 passengers. The Murtle Fish will be available to hire from the spring for afternoon tea afloat, wedding photography and receptions, business away days, drinks receptions and guided river tours.
A two-hour trip will depart from the Quayside next to Fye Bridge and will head to Whitlingham before returning to the city centre. The Murtle Fish will also be used to transport guests to the Maids Head's box at Norwich City FC.
All Things Norfolk have teamed up with the Maids Head Hotel to provide you with the chance to win a meal for two up to the value of £80 at their new contemporary look AA 2 rosette Wine Press Restaurant, which is located in the former courtyard of the 15th century inn that first took the name Maids Head.
The Lord Mayor of Norwich, Councillor Vaughan Thomas and the Sheriff of Norwich, Dr Marian Prinsley visited the hotel on Thursday, November 14 to officially reopen the restaurant following its £60,000 makeover.
Interior Designer, Nicola Lovell, working closely with General Manager, Christine Malcolm, has created a colourful and exciting restaurant with new tables, chairs, banquettes, pictures and decoration, which complement the ancient courtyard of the hotel.
The Wine Press refurbishment is the latest project at the Maids Head, which has seen £3.5 million invested by the hotel’s owners, the Chaplin family, over the last six years across all public areas and guest bedrooms.