In this feature we are counting down Norwich City's top 15 Premier League appearance makers. At number five is a midfielder who made 418 appearances for Norwich between 1986 and 1997.
Ian Crook
Premier League stats
Norwich
Games: 106
Goals: 3
Assists: 16
Bio: Ian Crook began his career at Tottenham Hotspur, but only made 20 league appearances for them with his route into the midfield being blocked by the likes of Glenn Hoddle, Steve Perryman, Ossie Ardiles and Gary Stevens.
He signed for Norwich City for just £80,000 in June 1986, helping the club to three top 10 finishes in the First Division in his first six seasons at the club.
In the first season of Premier League football, Ian played 36 games and netted in both home and away victories against Nottingham Forest and a draw at Highfield Road against Coventry City.
The following season, as Norwich competed in the UEFA Cup as well as the Premier League, Ian played in all but five of the club’s fixtures and, while he didn’t net in the league, he scored at Highbury in a League Cup third round tie.
Norwich were relegated the following season, with Ian making 39 appearances. And the popular midfielder would go onto feature for another two seasons at the club before signing a lucrative one-year contract with Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J-League. The previous summer he had come close to joining Ipswich Town, with the Suffolk club having announced his arrival on the same day as Norwich reappointed Mike Walker as boss. Walker phoned Crook to convince him to stay at Norwich and he did.
Memorable moment
Ian Crook v Nottingham Forest. Mar 17, 1993.
Where is he now?
Ian Cook now lives in Sydney having ended his playing career with Northern Spirit and managed a number of Australian teams, including Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC. He was also assistant manager of Australia’s under-20 side and worked as an assistant manager and technical director at Western Sydney Warriors.
