Ahead of Wednesday's Sky Bet Championship fixture at home to West Bromwich Albion, Paul Crichton spoke to our matchday programme OTBC about his time at both Norwich and West Brom.
While Norwich City’s record appearance-maker Kevin Keelan is perhaps the most high-profile former Canary to be residing in Florida, he’s not the only one.
Nor is Keelan the only former Norwich goalkeeper based in Florida either – step forward Paul Crichton, the one-time Canary ‘keeper and later goalkeeper coach also names West Bromwich Albion among a plethora of clubs he pulled on the gloves for – he spoke to Peter Rogers.
After landing the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy as City’s player of the season in 2000/01, goalkeeper Andy Marshall made the decision to quit the Canaries and controversially join bitter rivals Ipswich Town in the summer of 2001. Marshall was out of contract and the Portman Road opportunity offered him a chance of Premier League football but the move left then-Norwich boss Nigel Worthington with something of a goalkeeping dilemma ahead of his first full season in charge at Carrow Road.
While Worthington was fully aware of Robert Green’s potential, the former academy graduate had little first-team experience to call upon. With the City manager keen to add experience and cover to his goalkeeping ranks, he turned to then 32-year-old Burnley goalkeeper Paul Crichton – a character who had certainly made his mark on the City boss when he briefly spent some time with the Clarets and their manager Stan Ternent following his first foray into management at Blackpool.
“When Nigel was out of work he came into Burnley for a few days, Stan invited him in, and he trained with us and he kicked a few people as Nigel always did!” recalled Crichton when quizzed as to how his move to Norwich initially came to fruition.
“I think some of it also came from when Norwich came up to Burnley for a game and it got postponed in the warm-up due to rain. I remember shouting to a few of the Norwich boys at the other end: ‘Enjoy your trip back, I bet you’re all looking forward to that one!’ Then of course I ended up moving there the year after having given them stick about the distance and saying I’d never go to Norwich!”
After joking about the somewhat isolated location of Norfolk, Crichton was given some serious food for thought when Burnley accepted City’s £150,000 bid for him in June 2001 and Worthington came calling with a two-year deal and the option of a third year at Carrow Road.
“I got the call in the summer, Burnley had agreed the move and I think I only had a year left on my deal there. I went down and met Nigel in Peterborough and agreed the deal, then I went on to take a look around and signed straight away – beautiful place and probably the only place I’d come back to if I came back to the UK,” explained Crichton following an instant change of heart on all that Norwich and Norfolk had to offer.
You can read our exclusive interview with Paul in full in our matchday programme against West Brom. You can purchase from the shop website or from one our vendors on a matchday.
Words: Peter Rogers
