Norwich City

Norwich City was founded in 1902 and struggled mostly in the third and fourth tiers until the late 1950s. During the 1958-59 FA Cup, they made the semifinals as a Third Division side, beating Tottenham and Manchester United along the way. The next season they made the Second Division and finished fourth, and then the year after that they won the League Cup, beating Rochdale 4-0 in a two-legged final.

Aside from one season, they have been in the second or first tier ever since. They made the first tier in the early 1970s, when they also lost two League Cup finals at Wembley. They won the League Cup again in 1985, beating Sunderland in the final, 1-0. (Read more about that interesting final in the Sunderland club profile.) They would have made it into a European competition based on that, but all English clubs had been banned for hooliganism.

The peak came in the early 1990s when they were founder members of the Premier League and finished third the first season. That got them into the UEFA Cup (now Europa League), where they became the first British team to win at Bayern Munich before bowing out in the third round. In the 1994-95 season, they won only one of their last 20 league games and got relegated again. They even spent a year in League One (tier 3) as recently as 2009.

They gained two straight promotions, getting back to the Premier League in 2011, but they have become a classic yo-yo club of late. When they went up to the Premier League two seasons ago, they didn’t go crazy and buy a bunch of players. So when they went back down, they kept the team and manager together, won the Championship the next season, then finished dead last in the Premier League in 2023. They reached the playoffs in 2024 but were knocked out by Leeds in the semifinals.

Just so you’ll know about it, until recently their majority shareholder was a super famous TV cook who is also the author of several cooking and religious books. Such is the fame of Delia Smith in the UK that she has caused runs on various products, such as minced beef, just by mentioning them on TV; this is known as the “Delia Effect.” She also gained attention in 2005 when, at halftime of a home game with Manchester City, she went on the pitch, grabbed the microphone from the on-field host, and went on a tear. “A message for the best football supporters in the world: we need a twelfth man here. Where are you? Where are you? Let’s be ’avin’ you! Come on!” It’s even crazier than it sounds—and is, of course, on YouTube.

2024–25 SEASON: 13th in the Championship, 3rd Round FA Cup, 2nd Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: The Championship (relegated in 2022)

Norwich shares the East Anglian derby with Ipswich Town. The two sets of supporters have a genuine hatred for each other. Being British, they also have a sense of humor about the whole thing. It’s a heavily agricultural area, leading to their calling the rivalry the Old Farm derby and the Combine Clasico.

It’s Norfolk vs. Suffolk, each club being the only one in its county. Oddly enough, the distance of forty miles between Norwich and Ipswich is thought to contribute to the hatred. Nobody seems to know anybody who supports the other club, which apparently makes it easier to chant “scum” and worse at them in public. It’s also a close rivalry in terms of results, and since neither of them ever wins any silverware, beating each other seems to be all they have.

With Ipswich’s relegation from the Premier League this season, this rivalry is on again for the next season.

East Anglian Derby: Norwich City vs Ipswich Town

I love a derby day. It’s the peak experience of watching English soccer. And the East Anglian Derby featuring Norwich City vs Ipswich Town is a lesser know example (outside of England anyway) of a proper rivalry. This post was...

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Norwich City Women FC began as an independent outfit but were affiliated with the men’s club in 2022. They play in the FA Women’s National League Division 1 South East, tier 4 of the pyramid. Home games are at The Nest in Norwich.

Norwich have what is thought to be the oldest football song still in use in the world. It’s so old, it’s not even really a song; it’s a throwback to the days of sis-boom-bah and all that. It’s called “On the Ball City,” and they start every game with it after the announcer counts down from three. It goes like this:

Kick it off, throw it in, have a little scrimmage,

Keep it low, a splendid rush, bravo, win or die;

On the ball, City, never mind the danger,

Steady on, now’s your chance,

Hurrah! We’ve scored a goal.

City! City! City!

Carrow Road is one of our favorites: in town, old but comfortable, cozy, and loud. It’s also really, really green and yellow. It holds 27,244 and was built in 1935, and of course there’s been a lot of work done since. Today there are four separate stands with infill at the corners that make it feel nearly closed in.

It also has great banter between home and away fans, as the most passionate City fans sit in the Barclay End behind a goal and the away fans are just across the corner in the near end of the South Stand, which is actually named for a former club chairman named Sir Arthur South.

TOURS: Tours are offered a few times a week for £20 each. Visit Norwich’s website for more information.

GETTING THERE: It’s just a 10-minute walk from the train station, and a lovely one at that. Along the way you will pass plenty of places to eat and drink.

PUBS: Right across the river from the station is a great little pub called The Compleat Angler. Farther down that road, which leads to the center, is an Irish pub called Pogue Mahon’s. Walking to the game, if you take the path along the river on Wherry Road, you’ll pass a Wetherspoon the Queen of Iceni. All this and more is in a new development called the Riverside. Back near the station, look for the Coach and Horses with TV, real ale, and good food.

Down in the center, there are all sorts of options, including The Bell Hotel, The Belgian Monk (with Belgian beers and a cool patio), The Mash Tun and Gin Palace (the gin bar is upstairs), St. Andrews Brew House (good food), and—out behind the cathedral, near the river—The Adam and Eve, a 17th-century building on a site known to have had a pub since 1429. Norwich is a good place for the beer lover.

GRUB: The Riverside has lots of places to eat, the pubs listed above serve food, and the Norwich Market in the center has nearly 200 stalls…but the very best fish and chips your author has ever eaten came from the nearly-100-years-old Grosvenor Fish Bar in the medieval quarter. You could have bounced a pound coin off the crust, and the fish fell apart in a pile of steamy goodness upon first contact. They fry just about everything that walks, crawls, or swims, and they deliver to a pub across the street. You’re welcome.

AROUND TOWN: Norwich is one of the lesser-known gems we have come across in our English travels. It’s an easy train ride from London but just long enough that you’ll want to spend the night. (If you do, we recommend the Marlborough Hotel near the station.) From medieval days all the way up to the Industrial Revolution, Norwich was second only to London. Even the tradition of raising canaries goes back to the 15th century.

You want to wander around the old city center to check out all the shops and pubs and little walkways. The Market, one of the largest in Europe, is right in the center near The Forum, an amazing glass structure that houses the library and also collections relating to the U.S. 2nd Air Division, which was based here for decades. Make your way to the Norwich Cathedral, begun in the 11th century, have a pint at the Adam and Eve, and then follow along the river and look for Elm Hill, an intact medieval street so charming they use it in movies. One final, random fact: Norwich was the original home of Colman’s Mustard. Sadly, their little shop and museum in town closed in 2017, and in 2019 the production plant was moved to Burton-upon-Trent.