It was 2pm in Dubai on February 11, 2022 when Ashley Ward’s phone rang, canaries.co.uk calling the former Norwich City forward to remind him of his stoppage time equaliser against Southampton 27 years prior.
Being surrounded by towering skyscrapers is somewhat fitting, given the nature of Ward’s sixth Premier League goal in 1994/95. Receiving the ball from Ian Crook, Ward muscled off a “big, strong centre-half” in Dutchman Ken Monkou, before hooking it into the far corner to secure a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road.
“He was trying to pull me back and I sort of dived at it to guide it into the far corner and it all worked out well and was a great end to the game,” Ward recalled. “It was a tight game all the way through and there’s nothing better than scoring in the last few minutes because it creates a great atmosphere and a great feeling.”
England coach Terry Venables was watching on, and he’d have liked what he’d seen from Ward, who arrived at Norwich in December of 1994 from Crewe Alexandra.
“I wanted to play in the Premier League and I knew Norwich played good football, so it was nice, especially in those days of 90s football. It wasn’t like today, when every team seems to try to play out from the back and play nice football. Norwich played decent attacking football and as a striker it was important to go into a passing side like they were.
“They’d done well in recent years. It wasn’t long after the journey into Europe, so that stuck in my mind at the time as a great club to join.”
But the second half of the season didn’t go according to plan. City fell to the bottom of the table for the first time during 1994/95 in mid-April courtesy of a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. One point from the final nine available confirmed relegation to the First Division.
“It just felt like, when we got a few injuries towards the end, that age old story of just being a little bit light in the squad in terms of numbers,” Ward said. “Gunny was a big part of Norwich in those days, so to have a top class experienced goalkeeper injured, we looked a little bit thin on the ground.
“The pace started to tell and we barely got any rest. You look at Premier League squads nowadays and the way they rest the players, almost a different team plays each game, but we had virtually the same 11 starting each game within less than 48 hours and we weren’t equipped to deal with that kind of schedule. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t have enough in the end in terms of the squad.
“On our day, we were more than good enough to stay up, which is why we did so well at the start of the season.”
10 Division One and three Coca Cola Cup goals later, Ward was sold to Derby County with City needing to cash in on their reliable forward.
“I was very happy there, as happy as I ever was in my career I think,” he said. “I liked the area. Myself and my wife had never lived out of Manchester, but once we’d gone to Norwich, we really thought we’d stay there for as long as possible, if not ever. Even when we left, we were talking about coming back one day and buying a house, which never actually happened, but that’s how much we liked the area.
“The club got in a bad predicament and pretty much sold myself and Jon Newsome on the same day to keep it going. Although we wanted to stay, for the pair of us it would’ve been selfish of us and worse for the club if we had stayed. It would’ve been a bit of a mess financially.”
Despite spending just over a couple of years at Norwich, the Ward family got to experience various parts of Norfolk during their time in East Anglia.
“The beauty of Norwich and also the problem with it is that it’s so far away from everywhere. Once you leave, you don’t pass through unless you’re going there, but when you live there that’s the beauty of it. We absolutely loved it.
“We lived in Reedham for a bit, then Thorpe St. Andrew and then in a village called Watton. We loved the countryside and the market town. It felt very homely and people welcomed you. It’s a nice place to play football, to be honest.”
In 1999, an interview in the Lancashire Telegraph revealed that Ward wasn’t keen on having any more pets because they were driving him mad. 23 years down the line, he now has four dogs.
“Oh god,” he said. “Sadly, I get little say in it. They need cleaning up after, but all the family seem to enjoy going out and bringing dogs home.”
So what is the former City forward up to nowadays, aside from enjoying the company of his pets? After starting a business to build bespoke, top-of-the-range homes in Cheshire, the Wards now have their sights set further afield.
“We’re in Dubai at the moment. We spent two years in lockdown here and moved out on January the first of this year. My youngest two are in school over here and now we’re moving from one apartment to another, then into a house long-term on Monday, so it will be good once we get in the house to make everything a lot easier.
“I don’t think you can get further away from Norwich! The greenery and the lovely countryside… here it’s skyscrapers everywhere, but it’s also a really exciting place to be. We’re into high-end interior architecture and there are a lot of sculptures and work for us over here, so we’re really excited for the next challenge.”
This canary has firmly flown from the nest.