My first match was in 1970, a reserve game played in glorious sunshine so I seem to remember. the opposition escapes me, I was only eight years old. My first full season was 1971-72 and what a season that was. Promoted as Champions to the old First Division for the first time. Dad was and still is City through and through although he rarely visits Carrow Road these days he's getting on a bit now at 83. They were great days, me and Dad standing on the River End Terrace and if we thought we could get a better view in the South Stand, for a small fee you could get a 'transfer' through a small turnstile. Does anyone else remember that ? Games that stand out for me from that period are: Beating Orient at Brisbane Road to secure promotion in 1971-72 Being part of the Yellow army that descended on Vicarage Road on the last day of that season. Dave Stringer's goal against Crystal Palace in our last game in 72-73 to secure safety in our inaugral season in the top flight, sending Palace down at the same time. 'Chelsea in the fog', the League Cup sem-final in 1973 when we were 3-1 up I believe with about 3 minutes to go, the fog came down and the match abandoned. Heatbreak at the time but we did eventually win the tie. My first trip to Wembley for the 1973 League Cup final against Spurs, the match was a disappointment and so was the stadium, it was a bloody dump then ! Things I miss about those days are: 1. Standing on the Terraces, It's a shame you young 'uns have never experienced the atmosphere of standing on the terraces' especially at a midweek night game. 2. The little man with the hot oxo drinks wheeling his trolley around the outside of the pitch. 3. MacKintosh's Munchies Dad always used to buy me upon entering the ground. 4. Being able to get a 'transfer' to a different part of the ground as per earlier comment. 5. Senior players sitting in the main stand watching the reserves who would chat to you and sign your autograph book, no problem. 6. John Bond's TV interviews; "You know Gerry, we were so good today it frightened me" (that's Gerry Harrison, remember him?) 7. Turning up at the ground with no ticket (tickets were for big cup games only), and paying at the turnstile. 8. The F.A. Cup being regarded as THE trophy to win. Things I DO NOT miss: 1. Hooliganism, the absolute fear when Millwall, Leeds, Chelsea, Man Utd, West Ham came to town. 2. The 'toilets', pissing up against a slimy green wall ! 3. The acceptance of racist chanting, the call of 'trigger, trigger, trigger' from the back of the stand and then practically the whole of the Barclay yelling 'Shoot that n****r! 4. Being searched by the Police for weapons as you entered the ground. 5. Being 'fenced in' like cattle to prevent pitch invasions and all out war with the opposition fans. Given more time, I'm sure I could come up with a lot more 'likes' but not so many more 'dislikes'. One more thing, who else remembers the A,B,C scoreboards where a liitle man would hang numbers to denote the half-time scores around the country ? OTBC
Or the half time entertainment, usually a military or brass band (Norwich Citadel SA had a regular gig I seem to remember), the blanket being carried round the ground for donations, and last of all but by no means least......... PROPER BOVRIL!!!!
First game was October 1967 - we won 1-0 against Rotherham with a goal from the great Tommy Bryceland. Stood in what is now the Jarrold with my dad (RIP - 4 years tomorrow) and can still remember the excitement. Used to have rattles and rosettes as well as a scarf in those days and can remeber running fights going on behind me with QPR and Cardiff fans - quite scary for an 11 year old. Sang On the Ball City as we always have done and remember some great games over the years - too many to mention here but the two League Cup Semi-Final wins I went to against Chelsea (Steve Govier scored - this was the replayed game after the original game got fogged off) and against the Binners with Brucie's memorable goal were stand-out games for me. It's a bit different now - a bit less hectic - I still sit in the Jarrold (old habits die hard) but the love of the team and all things City has remained throughout the 45 years of following the club. OTBC.
Just interested to know amongst you old'uns when you saw your first old farm derby match? Strangely enough the first Ipswich v Norwich match I saw was at Carrow Road back in 1973 for the Texaco Cup Final!
City 3 Binners 4 - Colin Viljoen scored a hat-trick - bit of a blow as we had gone 2-0 up. Remember Ray Crawford elbowing Laurie Brown and then taunting the Barclay....
As well as the board for half time scores we also had the reserve matches on a Saturday afternoon. If the 1st team were away the reserves were at home. In the 50's and 60's there was no live contact with Football games and no technology such as mobile phones so you never knew scores until Sports Report on the wireless at 5 o'clock when you got all the final scores and a few reports from reporters ringing from public phone boxes. I kid you not!! If, however, you went to the reserve match they kept you ' up to date ' with the 1st Team score. In reality all it involved was somebody legging it out of the ground every 30 mins to ring Carrow Road with the score and details of scorers. The announcer, I seem to recall, had a dull flat voice and you would suddenly hear over the tannoy in this emotionless voice ' Ron Davies has scored for City in the 7th minute so we lead 1-0. Hurrah ' By then it was 3.30 and in reality City were already 3-1 down!! And to think that was one of the main reasons to go to a reserve match.
Hats off to you guys, my long term memory goes back to about Friday week ! Hope i can remember these heady days under PL when im a coffin dodger
Believe me - when you get to our age you try and dodge the bugger as long as you can. Mind you my cause would be helped if I became a cask beer dodger instead of a lettuce dodger!!!
1972, Portman Rd, and they'd just been promoted, I had a seat in the Pioneer Stand with my dad for it, (I would later graduate to the North Stand)...if I remember correctly, it was a sunny, late summer evening match, but what I certainly do remember is that we lost 2-1, with Jimmy Bone scoring one of the Budgie goals Incidentally, my first trip to Carrow Rd was also the Texaco Cup Final the following year!
Dave Stringer's goal against Crystal Palace in our last game in 72-73 to secure safety in our inaugral season in the top flight, sending Palace down at the same time. OTBC[/QUOTE] My first game!
We got our own back that night Welly! Happy days! My Dad was a train driver for British Rail back in those days and he allowed me to sit up front with him in the cab. We went by train that day and he was driving!
Wow hairs on the back of my neck remembering all the things you've put down kickitoff-throwitin How about 60p to get into the Barclay as an under 16 and being gutted having to pay £1.20 when I could no longer get away with it
How about the invalid three wheelers parked at the River End and the two old fellas who carried the Golden Goal boards around. And Canary and Dumpling .... and the Aviva Divas !
Does anyone remember the 'Willhire Cup' a pre-season tournament for EA teams in the 1970's ? One year we played Cambridge United away and believe it or not we took thousands ! City fans packed out one end of the ground and were also in the other stands. Unfortunately it all kicked-off for some reason and fights broke out everywhere. I'm ashamed to say that City fans also trashed a train station en route, can't remember which one. Anyway, the next game was against Colchester and we took about seven, including me ! It was hilarious, we got off the train at Colchester and there was about two dozen Coppers with dogs waiting for us. I remember this Copper saying to me, "Is that it just you lot?" Mind you, laughter was short lived, we got to the ground and it was full of 'squaddies' itching for a ruck. We left halfway through the second half as it looked like things were gonna kick-off again. When we got outside, said 'squaddies' started chasing after us, as we ran past a pub some prick put a brick thru the window and even more 'brick ****-house types' came storming out chasing us ! Never been so scared in my life, a beer glass brushed my head and smashed on the ground in front of me, the adrenalin was pumping like fcuk. We made it back to the train but never did find out who threw that bloody brick ! Happy days
I first started to go regularly in the 60s; prior to that I was in the services and away most of the time. At first I stood in the Barclay, right behind the goal, where for half the game we would give Sandy Kennon some stick. Then me and my mates moved to the South Stand so that we could tell Bill Punton and Gerry Mannion to get running at their full back; mind you, in those days that was all they were expected to do, so they didn't need much telling. I don't think I ever saw Bill Punton do any defending, ever! Two vivid memories from those South Stand days: first, Kevin Keelan on a mud bath, I think against the Owls in the FA Cup; he had collected the ball and was taunting the Wednesday centreforward; he tried to bounce the ball intending to catch it again and boot it upfield, but the ground was so soft it just stuck in the mud and the centreforward wellied it past him into the goal! Did we give Keelan stick! (Ron Davies scored an equaliser right at the end to take it to a replay, but we were well beaten in the return); second, Laurie Sheffield's debut. Ron Davies was sold to Southampton and the 1966 season started without a proper replacement for him until Laurie Sheffield signed from Doncaster in November or December. He was a strange looking man, a bit like a cartoon character, a long body on very short legs; when he ran out to make his debut there was stunned disbelief all around. Even more so at the full time whistle, by which time he'd scored all 4 goals in a 4-1 win! Unfortunately, although he had a pretty good strike rate in his two years at Carrow Road, he never lived up to the promise of that first game! One of the major differences between then and now is the quality of the pitch. In those days you really didn't see much grass after October. Keeping the ball off the ground was one of the better ways of moving it around. Another difference, at least in those early days, was the genuine banter between the players and the crowd. I don't recall much nastiness, just a lot of good humoured ribbing handed out, with the players giving as good as they got. Bill Punton's bald pate was a favourite target -- we used to tell him there was as little inside it as on it!
FA Cup 1962 (weren't meeting in the league as you were in 1st Division). Drew 1-1 at Carrow Road and we won 2-1 at Portman Road. Terry the Count Allcock scored. Those were the days when we had a season ticket for at least the 5th round in the cup.
Warky, my first Yellows/Blues clash was an FA Cup game in 1962, seem to remember the place was packed out for the first match which was at home, which ended 1-1 and Terry Allcock scored. Can´t remember who scored for Town, but then in the replay Allcock scored twice to win it 2-1. But I do remember there wasn´t any of this waiting a week and a half to get your breath back before playing again, the replay came up 3 days later.
There used to be this real doddery old fella selling coffee/tea/hot chocolate from a trolley. He used to start at the corner of the river end. Someone would shout out 'bovril' and he would stop and look for who had called out. Then realising a sale wasn't imminent, he would set off again, only for it all to start again. If he made it to the goal by half time he was doing well. He was often overlapped by the over drinks sellers during the game. Oh and the golden goal board. The people carrying it would shelter behind it like saxon warriors in a shield wall. They would walk around the whole ground. By the time they had finished the whole board was dripping with gob. I never understood why people felt the need to spit at the board but hey ho...
At the end of every match, an inaudible announcement would be made over the worst tannoy system ever about the next home match, and the same chorus of "you're bloody joking mate" would spiral of into the evening air. Of course, they would all be there for the next match. Flat hats, green macs and bag of sherbert lemons. I had a green top hat with Keelan Supreme on it! Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly HAve you heard of the North Bank Highbury Shanks said No, I don't think so But I've heard of the Norwich Barclay!
