Muzz’s Weird & Wacky tour of Ipswich Town vs Norwich City

YouTube can be a wonderful place, but it can also be extremely terrifying. On behalf of Norwich City fans everywhere I would just like to apologise for the seven and a half minutes that follows…

2007/08 Review: January – featuring Crystal Palace, Bury, Barnsley, Leicester and Southampton

2008 began with the traditional trip to Selhurst Park but unlike recent years didn’t end with a traditional defeat, Darel Russell putting City ahead only for Clinton Morrison to level things up at 1-1.

A home FA Cup third round tie followed against Bury, and despite creating several gilt-edged chances City were grateful for Gary Doherty’s 80th minute equaliser to earn a replay up at Gigg Lane.

A fourth win in five games was secured against Sheffield United. Evans made it two in two for the Welshman but there was a huge let-off for City when Matthew Kilgallon’s last minute header was ruled-out for offside.

A week later a fine comeback earnt the Canaries a 3-1 win against Barnsley at Oakwell. Martin Devaney gave the Tykes the lead heading into second half before goals from Ched Evans, Mark Fotheringham and Dion Dublin gave City a well-deserved away win.

Next up was the FA Cup replay against Bury, and the less said about that the better. Let’s just say we got it out of the way to concentrate on the league.

Leicester were the next visitors to Carrow Road, and the biggest crowd of the season had to settle for a goalless draw, as the Yellows once again spurned chances, and January was rounded-off with a hard fought (and extremely fortunate) 1-0 win at St Marys against Southampton.

Monthly Stats

Games played – 6.

Won – 2.

Lost – 1.

Drawn – 3.

Goals Scored – 7.

Goals Conceded – 5.

Win % – 33%.

Position after last league game – 16th.

Monthly verdict

Onwards and upwards, undefeated in the league, January was a successful month.

Check back tomorrow for the review of February, featuring Preston, Cardiff, Hull, Leicester and Barnsley…

Canary Classics – Norwich City v Burnley, 1st October 2006

We don’t have to have won a game for it to be memorable, but sometimes they live in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Take this hammering at home to Burnley for example, the game that signalled the end of Nigel Worthington’s time in charge. It is the first (and I hope last) time I have ever heard City supporters cheering a goal scored by the opposition.

2007/08 Review: December – featuring Stoke, Plymouth, Sheffield United, Colchester, Scunthorpe, Charlton and Wolves.

On 1st December City travelled to the Britannia Stadium to meet high-flying Stoke. Darren Huckerby gave the Canaries a 5th minute lead before Carl Cort equalised for the Potters in the first minute of the second-half, and in the last minute Richard Cresswell broke Canary hearts with the winner for the home side.

Three days later Plymouth were the visitors to Carrow Road. Following the Home Park mauling three weeks earlier it couldn’t possibly be any worse – and thankfully it wasn’t. Ched Evans scored just two minutes into his debut and Huckerby’s 87th minute penalty eased the nerves, but there was still time for Argyle to pull one back through Timar in the 89th minute.

A fourth win in five games was secured against Sheffield United. Evans made it two in two for the Welshman but there was a huge let-off for City when Matthew Kilgallon’s last minute header was ruled-out for offside.

A pretty dire 1-1 draw took place at Layer Road against Colchester the week later in front of the Sky cameras, Danny Granville’s late own goal giving City a point.

Jamie Cureton’s 78th minute goal was enough to seal all three points at Glanford Park against Scunthorpe, and 2007 was rounded off with 1-1 draws against both Charlton on Boxing Day and Wolves three days later at Carrow Road.

Monthly Stats

Games played – 7.

Won – 3.

Lost – 1.

Drawn – 3.

Goals Scored – 8.

Goals Conceded – 6.

Win % – 43%.

Position after last league game – 20th.

Monthly verdict

Three wins and three draws in seven, the fightback was on.

Check back tomorrow for the review of January, featuring Palace, Bury, Barnsley, Leicester and Southampton…

Canary Classics: Norwich City v Barnsley, 26th August 2006

It’s not very often that we hammer teams (especially these days) so we should make the most of evidence that we can actually do it.

Behold, City 5 Barnsley 1 from the end of the Nigel Worthington era…

2007/08 Review: November – featuring Ipswich Town, Watford, Plymouth Argyle, Coventry City and Blackpool

November kicked off with a new manager in the form of Glenn Roeder. A lot of people, including me, were rather uninspired by the board’s choice of new manager, and had been holding out for Paul Jewell. If only we knew then what we knew now.

The first act of the Roeder regime was to try and plug the gap at the back by bringing in Martin Taylor on loan from Birmingham, and his first game could not have been more important – the East Anglian Derby against Ipswich at Carrow Road.

Despite dominating much of the play the hosts found themselves 2-0 down at half-time following goals from Alan Lee and Pablo Counago.

Most City fans feared the worst, but a second-half fightback sealed by Jamie Cureton’s cool finish evened the spoils before Darren Huckerby was sent off for a foul on Walters.

Two days later Watford came to Carrow Road and dominated almost from first minute to last to run out worthy 3-1 winners. Roeder demanded more from his players, and what followed was Plymouth (A).

Wolves was supposed to be the low-point and then we had QPR. That was supposed to be the low-point, and then we had Home Park – arguably the real low-point of the season.

It’s quite hard to put into words how bad things were at Plymouth. The 3-0 defeat was bad enough, but it will be remembered more for the subsequent coining of the phrase “Home Park Six” (Brellier, Murray, Lappin, Martin, Brown and Strihavka) – four of which have since left (praise the Lord).

Moving swiftly on to Coventry at Carrow Road, and the first signs of revival. Luke Chadwick’s first half goal and Jamie Cureton’s second half strike gave the Canaries a 2-0 win, and all of a sudden we were “only” one win away from second-bottom!

Three days later and City were level on points with Preston after a 3-1 win at Blackpool – an actual away win! With ten minutes to play and the Canaries leading 2-1, Wes Hoolahan’s penalty was saved by David Marshall and when Dion Dublin scored in injury-time the points were secured.

Monthly Stats

Games played – 5

Won – 2

Lost – 2

Drawn – 1

Goals Scored – 8

Goals Conceded – 9

Win % – 40%.

Position after last league game – 24th. Just.

Monthly verdict

Still a lot of work to do, but we seemed to find something that had previously been missing all season – spirit.

Check back tomorrow for the review of December, featuring Stoke, Plymouth, Sheffield United, Colchester, Scunthorpe, Charlton and Wolves…

2007/08 Review: October – featuring Scunthorpe United, QPR, Bristol City, Burnley and West Brom

Oh October. Where to start?

The Yellows were held to a goalless draw by Scunthorpe at Carrow Road three days after the Sheffield Wednesday defeat, and dropped into the relegation zone.

The following Monday and the trip to winless QPR live on Sky proved to be the straw that broke Peter Grant’s back.

The Wolves game was supposed to be the low-point of the season, but QPR was absolutely awful. Grant simply had to go, and he did.

Jim Duffy took on the role of Caretaker Manager…and promptly lost 3-1 at home to Bristol City in his first game in charge – although we did score for the first time since 15th September so it wasn’t complete doom and gloom.

Duffy’s next game in charge looked like being almost as disastrous as his first when Burnley raced into a 2-0 lead inside five minutes at Turf Moor. Chris Brown’s first (and last) City goal at least made the second half more interesting, but Burnley held on for the win.

October’s last match was away at high-flying West Bromwich Albion, who cruised to a 2-0 win.

And I almost forgot, we signed John Hartson on loan. John Hartson!!

Monthly Stats

Games played – 5.

Won – 0.

Lost – 5.

Drawn – 1.

Goals Scored – 2.

Goals Conceded – 8.

Win %- 0%.

Position after last league game – 24th.

Monthly verdict

October was the real low point, but fear not, a hero was coming…

Check back tomorrow for the review of November, featuring Ipswich, Watford, Plymouth, Coventry and Blackpool.

Norwich City Kitty News

Apparently the Norwich City Kitty will be launched early next month.

Most people should be aware of what the idea of the Kitty is by now but if you’re not, the basic premise is that supporters pay a monthly amount into the kitty (say, a fiver) and that money is donated to the club to be used as additional transfer funds.

It was dreamt up by former Waveney District Councillor Iain Walpole and whilst far from an original idea, it looks like somebody is actually going to at least try and get somewhere with it.

The Kitty came in for a bit of stick (including by me and erm, me) but as part of my kick to be less cynical I’m going to try and keep more of an open-mind.

From what I can gather the intention is for there to also be some sort of free prize draw for people who contribute over a certain amount of time which could potentially be worth a fair amount, and as I am half-Scottish and constantly being told how tight I am but my Yorkshireman friend (how ironic) I will certainly be listening.

And I’ll give you credit for one thing Iain – that website is a hell of a lot better now than when it was “leaked” a month or so ago – although I think you still might have a link missing!

2007/08 Review: September – featuring Cardiff City, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Manchester City and Sheffield Wednesday

City’s 100% home record was the first thing to go as September turned out to be a miserable month for all Canary supporters.

Cardiff performed the classic smash-and grab raid at Carrow Road on 1st September to win 2-1. Simon Lappin got the hosts off to the perfect start after 12 minutes, but the Bluebirds clawed their way back into the game to draw level through Peter Whittingham on 64 minutes, and with just six minutes to go Roger Johnson sealed the points for the visitors with a free header from a corner.

Following the international break City got back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Carrow Road – David Strihavka scoring what would prove to be his only goal for the club with fifteen minutes to play.

Charlton away on 18th September was the night that I realised Peter Grant had to go. The Addicks were there for the taking but for some reason the Canary boss thought it would be a much better idea to keep his strikers on the bench. Two late, hotly-disputed penalties later we were 2-0 down and I was on the way out of the ground – only the second time I have left a City game early. Oh and Dion got sent-off for headbutting Danny Mills.

The Wolves game at Molineux that followed will go down in history as one of the most inept team performances in recent memory. Two more red cards followed from Jason Shackell and the idiotic Julien Brellier, who managed to pick up two bookings within about ten seconds of each other.

Three days later the Canaries travelled to Eastlands to meet Manchester City in the Carling Cup and put on a much more assured display – only to be undone by Georgias Samaras’ last minute winner for the Premier League side.

September was rounded off with another defeat, this time at home to Sheffield Wednesday, to leave Grant and his charges hovering perilously closer to the dop zone.

Monthly Stats

Games played – 6.

Won – 1.

Lost – 5.

Drawn – 0.

Goals Scored – 2.

Goals Conceded – 8.

Win % – 16.67%

Position after last league game – 21st.

Monthly verdict

A truly miserable month, but it wasn’t about to get any better…

Check back tomorrow for the review of October, featuring Scunthorpe United, QPR, Bristol City, Burnley and West Brom.

2007/08 Review: August – featuring Preston, Barnet, Southampton, Hull City and Rochdale

The 2007/08 season kicked-off with a 0-0 draw away to Preston North End on 11^th August, and approximately ten seconds of coverage on ITV1’s The Championship the following morning.

Most were agreed that Preston, who had narrowly missed out on the play-offs the previous season, would be there or thereabouts come the end of the season so a goalless draw at Deepdale was far from a good result.

Three days later League Two side Barnet were welcomed to Carrow Road in the first round of the Carling Cup. Five goals in the first half an hour gave the Canaries the dream start, but after switching off in the second half Barnet managed to reduce the deficit to 5-2.

Next up were Southampton when Jamie Cureton’s brace giving the Canaries a 2-1 win over George Burley’s Saints in Youssef Safri’s first game back at Carrow Road, and that was followed a week later by City’s first defeat of the season – 2-1 at the KC Stadium against Hull.

The last game of the month was the Carling Cup Second Round game at Spotland against League Two Rochdale.

Glenn Murray struck after nine minutes for the hosts who dominated for long periods with Ian Murray given a particularly torrid time at left-back, but Dion Dublin grabbed an equaliser four minutes in to the second half, and the visitors managed to squeeze through on penalties to setup a plum tie at Premier League Manchester City in the next round.

Monthly Stats

Games played – 5.

Won – 3.

Lost – 1.

Drawn – 1.

Goals Scored – 9.

Goals Conceded – 6.

Win % – 60%.

Position after last league game – 15^th.

Monthly verdict

Not a bad start, but little did we know what was to follow…

Check back tomorrow for the review of September, featuring Cardiff, Palace, Charlton, Wolves, Man City and Sheffield Wednesday.