CLUB HISTORY - 2005 to 2010
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2005-06 SEASON Incoming were Andy Hughes, Mattheu Louis-Jean, Peter Thorne and Jason Jarrett with Dean Marney joining on a season loan from Tottenham, an agreement that would end early after the midfielder picked up a serious achilles injury in October. The Canaries played their first three league fixtures at home after their opening day opponents Coventry were forced to swap venues, with the Ricoh Arena yet to be completed. Home advantage counted for little though, as City were held to three draws after lacking killer instinct in front of goal. The first away match of the season ended in defeat, with Nigel Quashie scoring the winner for Southampton with a twice-taken penalty after Robert Green had saved his first effort. This season was to see a number of disappointing away displays with the Canaries only winning on five league trips and a Carling Cup game at MK Dons. August saw the Canaries announce a new contract for star striker Dean Ashton, ending transfer speculation linking him with a move back to the Premiership. However, the rumours would continue until he completed a January transfer window move to West Ham for £7.25m. But before his departure he would become the first City player since Iwan Roberts in 2000 to bag a hat-trick in a memorable 3-1 win over Southampton. Norwich got September off to the best possible start by recording their first league win of the season against Plymouth in front of the Sky television cameras at Carrow Road. Unfortunately the loan acquisitions of Spurs defender Callum Davenport and Charlton striker Kevin Lisbie could not stop the Canaries getting back to losing ways with a miserable trip to Watford.
The first away league win of the season came at Portman Road where Darren Huckerby sealed the win with a coolly taken goal in the second half. The Canaries returned to Carrow Road to face Northampton in the Carling Cup, and produced a workmanlike display to see off the lower league opposition thanks to a penalty from Huckerby and an instinctive finish from Ashton. However, their cup run would be ended by a third round trip to Premiership strugglers Birmingham City. Midfielder Carl Robinson arrived on loan from Sunderland, making his debut in the match at Coventry in November before sealing a permanent switch in January for £50,000. Inconsistency was proving to be Norwich's biggest enemy over the autumn period and December started with another lacklustre 2-0 defeat at Derby. However, City responded in magnificent style with a run of five successive wins during the festive period, which saw Nigel Worthington collecting the Championship Manager of the Month title for December. City's great run was ended in the New Year by Preston leaving Norfolk with three goals and all three points and Premiership new-boys West Ham beating the Canaries 2-1 at Carrow Road in the third round of the FA Cup. Prior to the trip to Reading and the closure of the January transfer window, the Canaries announced the signing of West Brom hit-man and Welsh international Robert Earnshaw for a fee of £2.75m. Fulham defender Zesh Rehman and Charlton forward Jonatan Johansson also joined on loan, but their arrivals were not enough to prevent City from slumping to a 4-0 defeat at runaway Championship leaders Reading. That display and result left the Canaries a long way off the promotion chasing pack, with the play-offs now looking less and less likely. Canary inconsistency continued throughout the remainder of the season with a 3-0 win over relegation haunted Brighton, one of the best away displays of the season at Leeds United and an Earnshaw cracker earning the Canaries a win at his former club Cardiff some of the best moments. The season was to finish with Paul Gallacher making his first start in goal in place of Robert Green who had injured himself in the warm-up at Hillsborough and Earnshaw in hot form, scoring eight goals before the end of the season. However, a last day defeat to Wolves would see the Canaries end the season in a disappointing ninth place and 13 points outside the Play-Off places.
2006-07 SEASON First Team Coach Steve Foley left the Club after 10 years at Carrow Road to be replaced by former England U19 Head Coach Martin Hunter. An announcement was made that low-cost airline Flybe would be the Club's new main sponsor with new home and away kits also launched at the beginning of May. July saw the opening of Carrow Park, a Barclays Spaces for Sport development behind the Jarrold Stand. The initiative to be run by Football in the Community will provide the nearby community with access to a huge range of sporting activities. City goalkeeper Robert Green was named in the full England squad to travel to Germany for this year's World Cup, only for his dream to be dashed by a groin injury ahead of the competition. After 241 appearances (one as substitute) for the Canaries the 26 year-old made a return to the Premiership in August, joining West Ham in a deal which could be worth up to £2m to City. The summer transfer window was to prove a frustrating one for the Club with Jason Jarret, Simon Charlton and Darren Ward leaving Carrow Road but Lee Croft the only addition to the Norwich squad. The 21-year old right-sided midfielder joined the Canaries from Manchester City for £600,000. The close season also saw Academy players Michael Spillane, Andrew Cave-Brown, Matthew Halliday, Robert Eagle and Andrew Fisk sign professional contracts with the Canaries and central defender Jason Shackell extend his contract for another two years, tying him to Carrow Road until the summer of 2009.
City got off to a good start to the season, which saw them reach second place in the league after five league matches and progress to the third round of the Carling Cup. However, a poor run of performances culminated in a 4-1 loss to Burnley. After the game the Club announced that it had parted company with Manager Nigel Worthington after more than five years in charge. First team coach Martin Hunter is currently in charge of the first team as caretaker manager, assisted by Doug Livermore. City Chairman Roger Munby commented: "The Board would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Nigel for all that he has done for the Club in his time as manager. "The search for a new Norwich City manager will start immediately." On October 13 the Club confirmed the appointment of former Celtic and Norwich City player Peter Grant as new first team manager. Grant had been assistant manager to Alan Pardew at West Ham during an exciting period of rejuvenation for the Hammers which saw them promoted to the FA Premier League in 2005 and narrowly beaten in a thrilling FA Cup Final against Liverpool the following summer. After a 1-1 draw at Bloomfield Road, City managed to make home advantage tell as they secured a fifth round trip to Chelsea by defeating the Seasiders 3-2 after extra-time. City put on a brave showing at Stamford Bridge and the final 4-0 scoreline was more than a little harsh on Grant's men. The cup exit, coupled by a long-term injury to striker Robert Earnshaw, was swiftly followed by a number of disappointing league results which left City sliding towards the Championship danger-zone. However back-to-back away wins, inspired by young striker Chris Martin, at Luton and Barnsley hauled City away from trouble. The league campaign ended with City recording just four wins from their final 12 games and finishing in 16th position.
2007-08 SEASON Although the season started with a hard-fought point at Preston, a five-goal mauling of Barnet in the Carling Cup and an impressive win over Southampton - things soon started to go wrong for Grant's new-look City. With just one win from the next eight Championship games City were rooted at the wrong end of the table and following a 1-0 defeat at managerless QPR on Monday, October 8, 2007 Grant resigned as City boss. As the Board searched for Grant's successor, Assistant Manager Jim Duffy took charge for three matches on a caretaker basis - sadly Duffy's reign witnessed three straight defeats as a drop to League One looked more and more likely. Former Newcastle United and West Ham manager Glenn Roeder was the man the Board turned to in an attempt to beat the drop. He brought with him Lee Clark as Assistant Manager and Paul Stephenson as Coach. The new boss made an instant impact as City produced a memorable comeback from 2-0 down at home to arch rivals Ipswich Town to salvage a much-needed and confidence-boosting point. Roeder soon knew he faced a massive task in keeping the Club in the Championship but set about the challenge by moving on a number of Grant's unsuccessful signings and bringing in a host of his own players on loan. In came experienced defenders Martin Taylor and Mo Camara plus exciting youngsters Ched Evans, Ryan Bertrand and Keiran Gibbs. A mid-season run of just one defeat from 16 games saw City climb the table under Roeder in impressive style. Despite that great run of form, mathematical Championship survival was not achieved until the final home game of the season when City defeated QPR 3-0. As the season came to an end fans voted Dion Dublin their player of the season - a fitting tribute to one of the game's greats who had decided, at the age of 39, to hang up his boots. Despite suffering a 4-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season, City and Wednesday fans both gave Dublin a fitting send-off. The defeat at Hillsborough resulted in City ending the campaign in 17th place. Although the fixtures were completed and City safe in the Championship, two major events were still to unfold at Carrow Road. Firstly, Roeder decided not to renew the contract of crowd favourite Darren Huckerby. Secondly, the Club confirmed a new three-year sponsorship with insurance giants Aviva as main club sponsors.
2008-09 SEASON Northern Ireland international midfielder Sammy Clingan was the first to arrive on a free transfer from Nottingham Forest. He was swiftly followed through the gates of Colney by Wes Hoolahan from Blackpool, David Bell from Luton and Dejan Stefanovic from Fulham. The remaining six summer signings all joined on various loan deals. The season started with a 2-0 defeat at Coventry and was followed three days later by a 1-0 Carling Cup defeat away to MK Dons. The early weeks of the season soon highlighted the Club's chronic need for a striker, the Jamie Cureton/Arturo Lupoli pairing failed to get off the ground and Darel Russell was often employed as a makeshift forward. With goals proving harder to come by as each game came and went Roeder dipped into the loan market again as strikers Antoine Sibierski (Wigan) and Leroy Lita (Reading) arrived at Carrow Road. Lita proved a roaring success in his three months in Norfolk and ended the season as the Club's top scorer with seven goals. It was the Reading man that inspired back-to-back home wins over Wolves and Doncaster - he also featured in the 2-0 East Anglian derby success over Ipswich Town at Carrow Road in December. Assistant manager Lee Clark left to become manager of Huddersfield Town in December and Lita finally returned to Reading at the end of the calendar year. Three consecutive league defeats over the Christmas and New Year period, coupled with an FA Cup exit at the hands of lowly Charlton Atheltic heaped the pressure on Roeder, who was dismissed from the Carrow Road hotseat on January 14, 2009. Gunn was subsequently named boss for the remainder of the season. He added former team-mates Ian Crook (first team coach) and Ian Butterworth (assistant manager) to his backroom staff and set about the massive task of maintaining the Club's Championship status. With just 19 games in which to save a City side teetering over the relegation trapdoor in 21st place, sadly the new-look management team were unable to halt the Club's slide towards League One, which was confirmed on the final day of the season as City crashed to a 4-2 defeat away to already-relegated Charlton. 2009-10 SEASON Former Fulham MD David McNally was swiftly installed as Chief Executive and the Board also grew in numbers with Alan Bowkett and Stephan Phillips joining majority shareholders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones plus Deputy Chairman Michael Foulger. The new Board, chaired by Alan Bowkett, soon set about supporting Bryan Gunn's plans to rebuild the squad with Michael Foulger offering to match pound-for-pound any amount of money not claimed by season ticket holders who were entitled to a rebate following relegation. Any unclaimed rebates plus the equivalent match from Mr Foulger was then channelled directly into Gunn's playing budget. It was certainly a busy summer as the Club made sure it learned from the previous season's experiences, where it was generally accepted that the over-reliance on loan players may have contributed to the team's downfall. Ahead of the new season Gunn acquired the services of 12 new players, 11 signing permanent deals with the Club. A string of positive results and performances in pre-season led to an upbeat feeling ahead of the season's opening League One fixture at home to Colchester United. But any fans who thought City had hit rock bottom at Charlton four months earlier were sadly mistaken as City suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Essex club. Despite a 4-0 Carling Cup triumph at Yeovil and a hat-trick for summer-signing Grant Holt three days later - the damage was done and time was up for Gunn. The 7-1 defeat, on the back of relegation and a record of five wins in 20 league games saw the Board decide that a new man was needed to take the team forward. Under the guidance of Ian Butterworth and Ian Crook, City picked up their first league point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Exeter City and three days later on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Paul Lambert, the man who had overseen City's 7-1 demise on the opening day of the season, was installed as the new manager of Norwich City Football Club. Following him from Colchester United to Carrow Road was former Norwich City favourite Ian Culverhouse, who took up the position of Assistant Manager and Gary Karsa, who arrived as Head of Football Operations. Butterworth left the Club but Ian Crook stayed on in a coaching role and to oversee the running of the reserve team. The new management team soon made their mark - a new look line-up, with Holt handed the captain's armband, recorded an impressive 5-2 win over Wycombe Wanderers and the team began to climb up the League One table. An ability to engineer late equalisers started to serve City well as they picked up useful points at Gillingham and at home to Charlton. Nine goals in two games against Leyton Orient (4-0) and Bristol Rovers (5-1) in the space of five days saw City on the verge of the play-off picture as they made the long-trek to Carlisle on October 10. By the time City faced the Cumbrians, Fraser Forster had arrived on loan from Newcastle and was starting to make his presence felt in the City goal and at the other end a diamond formation was working wonders for City with goals flowing for a Canary strike trio of Holt, Wes Hoolahan and Chris Martin. A 1-0 victory at Brunton Park saw City hit the top six for the first time. Despite a last-gasp 2-1 defeat away to runaway league leaders Leeds United in their next fixture, City then proceeded to go on an outstanding 16-match unbeaten run in the league where they collected an incredible 44 points from a potential 48. City suffered a 2-1 defeat at Millwall on February 6 and that was their first league reverse since the Elland Road defeat on October 19 - it was a run that had seen the team climb to the summit of League One. The month of March looked to be a make or break month for Lambert's men with matches against Yeovil and fellow promotion hopefuls Huddersfield, Swindon and a Carrow Road date with second-placed Leeds all on the agenda. City took seven points from nine and then made it 10 for the month with a late diving header from Chris Martin sealing success over Leeds and all but confirming promotion back to the Championship. After suffering relegation at The Valley in May 2009, City confirmed their remarkable return to the Championship at the same venue with a 1-0 win over Charlton on April 17, 2010. Promotion as champions was then confirmed with a 2-0 win over Gillingham a week later. The Canaries were presented with the League One trophy at Carrow Road following the final game of the season and a civic reception took place in Norwich City centre five days later as the Canary faithful paid tribute to their promotion-winning heroes. The summer of 2010 sees the Club prepare for life back in the Championship with two pre-season Carrow Road dates against Premier League Newcastle United (July 24) and Everton (July 31). |
