Norwich City are facing relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1960 – a fate already confirmed for Southampton, who had a similarly long time away from the wells of football and now face a potentially graver fate.
They still have a chance to escape, owing to a favourable goal difference compared to Barnsley, who are three points ahead of them. This morning’s 2-0 loss to Reading also saw two Australians play for the home side – David Carney starting and Adrian Leijer coming off the bench.
Between 1972 and 1995, Norwich were in the top flight for all but three seasons.
A succession of managers followed Ron Saunders – John Bond, Ken Brown, David Stringer and Mike Walker – who all established a reputation for enterprising and attractive passing football, a tradition shared with their East Anglian arch-rivals Ipswich Town.
Ian Crook, later to coach in Australia, was among the players to have played for the club.
Under Mike Walker, Norwich rose to finish third in the Premiership in 1993.
This gave them the opportunity to play in Europe, where they famously defeated Bayern Münich. But this was as good as it got.
Walker left to manage Everton (which proved disastrous), and Norwich slipped.
Players were then sold left, right and centre by chairman Robert Chase, who quickly became a hated figure for the club’s supporters.
The 1994-95 season saw Norwich in the Top Eight up to Christmas. Then tragedy struck.
Bryan Gunn was injured against Nottingham Forest, and Norwich plummeted to relegation. Chase was forced out the following season, and a succession of managers failed to revive the club.
Chase’s departure paved the way for Delia Smith and her husband Michael Wynn-Jones to become joint majority shareholders.
Mike Walker returned as manager, and when he failed to bring success back, Bruce Rioch was given the task, which was going well until Kevin Muscat (who else?) injured Craig Bellamy.
The near-disaster of Bryan Hamilton followed, before Nigel Worthington stopped the rot. Norwich made the play-offs in 2002, and won the Division One title in 2004.
Their subsequent Premiership adventure lasted one season, highlighted by a 2-0 win over Manchester United, before succumbing to relegation on the last day of the season.
Worthington was unable to mastermind a return to the Premiership, and Peter Grant and Glenn Roeder both left them in trouble, prompting the return of the much-loved Bryan Gunn and Ian Crook.
Norwich’s problems stem from boardroom ineptitude, and lead to suggestions that Delia Smith has run her course.
Once welcomed with open arms as an improvement over the Con Constantine-esque Robert Chase, Delia Smith and the rest of the board now faces culpability for the sad decline of Norwich City.
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