Away Days: Norwich 1999

Carl Davies' Memory

Norwich is always an away trip to look forward to. It’s a great city to visit, there are plenty of away fan friendly pubs & for those stopping over it is far enough away to leave all your troubles behind but close enough to drag that hangover ridden body back home the following day. Less than two hours on the train is perfect for having a few cold beverages on the way and ensures that there is a boisterous atmosphere in a full away end.

20 minutes from arriving in Norwich you also get the opportunity to warm up your vocal chords as the train pulls into the penultimate stop ‘Diss town is coming like a ghost town’. The novelty never wears off!

“Performances and success can be judged versus your expectations.”

If trips to Norwich are normally good, then our visit there on 03rd April 1999 was magnificent, undoubtedly it is up there in my 5 favourite Palace matches. Performances and success can be judged versus your expectations, on that Saturday train journey to Norwich for every Palace fan our expectations for the day were rock bottom. We were going to lose that was for certain! Rumours were circulating that we may not even field a team and if we did it would be made up of academy players. The reason behind such pessimism? Palace were again in financial trouble with debts reported at £22m and wages going unpaid.

With our league position seemingly secure following 7 games without defeat, Mark Goldberg had let half a team go out on loan on transfer deadline day. Out went, Bradbury to Birmingham City, Fullarton to Bolton, Linighan to QPR, Tuttle to Charlton and Jamie Smith to Fulham. Goldberg claimed the wage bill over the last 3 months had been reduced from £7.5m to £2.2m meaning players could be paid and the threatened player strike wouldn’t happen. Less than 15 years ago, we had a whole squad playing in the Championship with a wage bill of £2.2m, today, that gets you Chamakh! To add to the depleted squads woes both Gordon Petric & Sasa Curcic were unavailable due to taking part in protests at Downing Street following NATO air strikes on Serbia. To top it off, 24 hours before the game, Craig Moore had been repossessed by Rangers after just 6 months at Selhurst. Only at Palace!

“News filtered through that Palace had indeed managed to muster a team together.”

Arriving into Norwich, we walked over the road from the train station, dumped our bags into the Nelson Hotel and it was straight into the Compleat Angler for a few more beers by the canal. With a couple of hours to kick off we moved closer to the ground for a few more drinks at the original away fans pub and it clearly wasn’t just Palace who had financial problems. The Clarence Harbour had swapped tables and chairs for trestle tables and cans of lager. News filtered through that Palace had indeed managed to muster a team together, albeit, the coach had turned up late having brought the players that morning from South East London. There wasn’t the budget for an overnight stay.

In the ground, Palace packed out 3 blocks down the side of the pitch, ‘Stevie Coppell’s red & blue army’ echoed around Carrow Road. Into the team came our next generation of academy lads, ready to take the opportunity given to them. Andy Frampton slotted in at full back, David Woozley at centre back, Steve Thomson in midfield and Andrew Martin up front. On the bench, Wayne Carlisle (my Lord), James Hibburt & Gareth Graham had all yet to play a league game. With Mullins & Morrison both starting, 9 of the 14 players representing Palace that day had been trainees at the club, surely some form of record?

"Of all the people to score!"

Palace started the game brightly, on 3 minutes, Clinton Morrison intercepted a weak Malky Mackay back pass, he rounded Andy Marshall in goal but could only find the side of the net with his angled shot but Palace didn’t have long to wait to take the lead. On 13 minutes, Craig Foster’s free kick was headed home hard and low to the keepers left by Dean Austin. Of all the people to score, Austin had divided opinion since his arrival from Spurs and this was the defenders first goal in over 7 years. ‘Deano, Deano, Deano’ sang a disbelieving away end. Norwich came fighting back, Iwan Roberts headed just over and Craig Bellamy just failed to get on the end of an in swinging cross with the goal gaping.

The second half started as the first finished with Palace defending resolutely. Daryl Russell hit a volley from 25 yards that Miller did well to tip over. Norwich threw on their new signing Paul Dalglish. Despite him not being fit enough to lace his fathers boots, he was expertly denied again by Miller and a jinking run saw a shot that thankfully narrowly went wide.

With 15 minutes to go Palace brought on Carlisle (my Lord) for his debut replacing the tiring Morrison. The Eagles now had an outlet as Carlisle (my Lord) would pick-up the ball deep and run at Norwich both relieving pressure and creating a counter attacking threat. It was from one such attack that Palace nearly doubled their lead, Carlisle (my Lord) fed Martin who prodded towards goal from close range only to see the ball hit the outside of the post.

"The last 5 minutes were like the Alamo."

The last 5 minutes were like the Alamo but Palace were not to be denied and players and fans alike joined together for ecstatic celebrations at the final whistle. ‘We’re proud of you’ we sang and I’d never been more proud of a team wearing red & blue. Every one of the players had given everything on the pitch. History was to show how good a performance it was. The record books show that Norwich were beaten that day not by a Palace team made up of some of the countries best young talent but by a team who comprised of players who went on to spend most of their careers playing non league and, in some cases, lower league football. Steve Coppell had masterminded a fantastic performance. Dean Austin & Craig Foster had showed leadership and 9 former Palace trainees showed the passion for wanting to wear red & blue.

One of the greatest away days was the perfect set-up for a night out in Norwich. Pubs & clubs were frequented until at some stage in the early hours we returned to our hotel. It really was our lucky day, the bar was still open and we hit the top shelf whilst serenading the other guests with Palace songs. It was a very quiet train journey home on Sunday but inside we were all so proud of our Palace.

Follow Carl Davies on Twitter @carl_babs

Alan Russell's Memory

There's something about Mary was a popular comedy film of note from some years ago that caught on quickly at cinemas with audiences through word of mouth. Well for Palace fans, there's something about Norwich as most of them seem to have had a love affair going with the place for some years now and there's always a buzz around when we get the chance to travel there.

A lot of this I think is to do with a certain day in April 1999 that transcribed itself in the Palace history books, as the club (then in administration) was forced to play with a team comprised largely of its own academy players including David Woozley, Andrew Martin and James Hibburt plus the likes of Dean Austin who had waved aside playing bonuses in order to be able to compete and do his part for Palace while they were deep in the mire for the first time.

"Creating an amazing bond for the remainder of the season."

The result that day with Palace looking for points with what players they had left was one totally un-expected as the entire team pulled in one direction and got the desired result in front of a large noisy sell out away contingent, creating an amazing bond for the remainder of the season.

Hand in hand with that as an attraction is the pub the Compleat Angler right outside the station which has grown and grown as a meeting place where most Eagles fans congregate on match days, spilling out onto the river terrace at the side when we pack it over capacity.

Going back further to 15 years or so ago, Norwich began to take on "must go to" proportions while the new developments were going up around the canal leading up to Carrow Road. There was a large pub (now pulled down) right near the away end that always hosted a packed away support inside and also outside in the large car park area before staggering the minute walk across the road.

Palace's most recent encounter against Norwich at Carrow Road was back in October 2010 with goals from on-loan Julian Bennett and fellow defender Anthony Gardner sealing a 2-1 victory after Grant Holt had given the Canaries the lead. Given the positions of the two teams in the table right now, the same result would also be most welcome this coming weekend.