Yobocops Big Post of theWeek: NCFC travel adventure stories

[Yobocop 1,105]

Hey Pink Un family,

Yobocop here, bringing you the biggest post of the week! Let's dive into the world of Norwich City-related travel stories. I want to hear about the craziest modes of transport you've taken to get to a game. Hot air balloon, unicycle, or maybe even a jetpack? Share your wild rides!

And speaking of commitment, who's taken their love for NCFC to the next level by buying a car in the iconic yellow and green colors? Any die-hard fans cruising around town in their own Canary-themed chariots?

But let's not forget the ups and downs of travel – any mishaps on the road, rails, or in the air? Whether it's your own misadventures or stories of the team's travel woes, spill the beans! We've all got those unforgettable tales that make supporting the Canaries a unique journey.

Can't wait to read your epic travel sagas, Pink Un crew. Let the stories flow like a perfectly executed Pukki goal!

Yours in yellow and green,
Yobocop

[Midlands Yellow 4,057]

Night match May 2022 at Leicester was a tricky one. Taxi to the Bowling Green pub (The Polar Bear then but has since reverted back to original name, great pub too) £8 fare and a ten yard walk from car to the bar. After getting slightly intoxicated we all set off for a brisk walk to the ground to witness another ‘Surrender No Show’ of that season. 

Post final whistle we all endured another fifteen minute walk for a second taxi ride of the night from Braunstone Gate. Back home for half ten to start on the wine. How we all managed I’ll never know but looking back it was enjoyable for our first NCFC adventure since Covid struck. 
 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Midlands Yellow

[shefcanary 2,444]

Nah, struggling with this one Yobocop. Whether it has been a stroll, a public bus, a coach, a tram, the tube, a train or just a car, nothing out of the ordinary strikes a chord with me. Perhaps I've been lucky that nothing untoward ever happened. The odd traffic jam leading to a mad rush to get in for kick off, but nothing exciting, never actually missed a match we intended to attend. 

I can remember those days in the early 80's of going to away matches on a coach, like the old Victoria Ground in Stoke, where another coach in the Canary convoy would suffer a concrete brick through the windscreen as we left the ground, but it never happened to us. No breakdowns either, perhaps more's the pity with some of the performances watched.

One other memory, I was working away and staying at a hotel in Walsall one year, went to watch the lads play at Molineux where we won 2-0 and pissed on them. On my return to the hotel saw the team bus outside, the driver had arranged to pick up a video of the match recorded by the hotel staff so they could watch it on the way back to Norwich. Went on the bus and had a celebratory chat with some of the team and nicked a bottle of lager from the crate they had.

[Terminally Yellow 2,477]

2 hours ago, Yobocop said:

Hey Pink Un family,

Blah blah blah 

Yours in yellow and green,
Yobocop

The state of you.

[CANARYKING 644]

Went on al football special train to Birmingham, Jimmy Bone's first game. Lost 4 - 0 then ran out of petrol on way home at one o'clock in the morning.

[Yobocop 1,105]

2 hours ago, shefcanary said:

Nah, struggling with this one Yobocop. Whether it has been a stroll, a public bus, a coach, a tram, the tube, a train or just a car, nothing out of the ordinary strikes a chord with me. Perhaps I've been lucky that nothing untoward ever happened. The odd traffic jam leading to a mad rush to get in for kick off, but nothing exciting, never actually missed a match we intended to attend. 

I can remember those days in the early 80's of going to away matches on a coach, like the old Victoria Ground in Stoke, where another coach in the Canary convoy would suffer a concrete brick through the windscreen as we left the ground, but it never happened to us. No breakdowns either, perhaps more's the pity with some of the performances watched.

One other memory, I was working away and staying at a hotel in Walsall one year, went to watch the lads play at Molineux where we won 2-0 and pissed on them. On my return to the hotel saw the team bus outside, the driver had arranged to pick up a video of the match recorded by the hotel staff so they could watch it on the way back to Norwich. Went on the bus and had a celebratory chat with some of the team and nicked a bottle of lager from the crate they had.

Thanks shefcanary 

I do remember missing one when the Honda civic’s gearbox gave up the ghost near duxford, towed back to my friends garage in Luton for refit but of course missed the game. 

That’s about the only one I ever did miss 

[Yobocop 1,105]

1 hour ago, Terminally Yellow said:

The state of you.

Gotta have your critics 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,036]

I have had quite a few experiences going to away games in the 80s. I suppose one that sticks out is getting a football special to see Norwich play Man City in the FA Cup at Maine Rd. John Bond had left Norwich to manage Man City three months earlier and our first £1M player (was the money used to build the new River End Stand?) Kevin Reeves was leading the line for them. When we arrived in Manchester we were decanted onto a fleet of double decker buses, one reversed into another whilst manoeuvring out of the station yard. Whilst we were being corralled to the ground a police horse stood on my foot. We got absolutely hammered (6-0) and Reeves scored the first goal. On the way home our train stopped at Peterborough station, on the adjacent platform was another football special carrying Ippo fans back from (I think) Shrewsbury. Once the realisation had dawned on both trains, doors flung open and there was a skirmish on the platform, coins were thrown, I will never forget the look on the face of  the lone British Transport police officer as our train rolled in and came to a halt, he decided to leg it rather than get caught up in what followed and I do not blame him.........

[PurpleCanary 5,580]

This is nowhere near as exciting as Faded's story, but does involve a train. This was the 1981-82 season, with the last game away at Hillsborough. We lost to a last-minute goal and I had to run for the train immediately afterwards, with no idea whether we'd been promoted. Pre internet of course, and I didn't have a radio. It was only when some Gillingham fans got on at Chesterfield that I found out we'd done it.

[Robert N. LiM 4,472]

39 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:

This is nowhere near as exciting as Faded's story, but does involve a train. This was the 1981-82 season, with the last game away at Hillsborough. We lost to a last-minute goal and I had to run for the train immediately afterwards, with no idea whether we'd been promoted. Pre internet of course, and I didn't have a radio. It was only when some Gillingham fans got on at Chesterfield that I found out we'd done it.

You had me at 'does involve a train'

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

15 April 1989. FA Cup Semi Final versus Everton at Villa Park. My two sons, two of my son's mates and myself got the train up.

Forget the game. The train back was delayed and further behind by the time we got to Plymouth where they announced it would be terminating. What??? No mobile phones then. Phoned home and Mrs KG said she would come and get us which was just over an hours drive. Another lad appeared and said he was stuck. He had to get to Truro and could we give him a lift? No problem.

Except when Mrs KG turned up it wasn't in our lovely big Renault 25 but her friends XR2. Our car had a dodgy tyre she said and she didn't want to risk it. So off we set, with five lads in the back of this XR2 which were never really more than 2+2. 

Sparks must have been coming off the back. We got through Trerulefoot which is a notorious accident black spot when we saw the blue lights flashing. He pulled us over and saw these five lads jammed in the back. And it wasn't our car. Long story short, he saw our scarves, was a football fan and let us off. 

[yellow 63 23]

1 hour ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

I have had quite a few experiences going to away games in the 80s. I suppose one that sticks out is getting a football special to see Norwich play Man City in the FA Cup at Maine Rd. John Bond had left Norwich to manage Man City three months earlier and our first £1M player (was the money used to build the new River End Stand?) Kevin Reeves was leading the line for them. When we arrived in Manchester we were decanted onto a fleet of double decker buses, one reversed into another whilst manoeuvring out of the station yard. Whilst we were being corralled to the ground a police horse stood on my foot. We got absolutely hammered (6-0) and Reeves scored the first goal. On the way home our train stopped at Peterborough station, on the adjacent platform was another football special carrying Ippo fans back from (I think) Shrewsbury. Once the realisation had dawned on both trains, doors flung open and there was a skirmish on the platform, coins were thrown, I will never forget the look on the face of  the lone British Transport police officer as our train rolled in and came to a halt, he decided to leg it rather than get caught up in what followed and I do not blame him.........

I was on that train ,going through the backstreets and all the Hilda Ogdens having a pop.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,036]

44 minutes ago, yellow 63 said:

I was on that train ,going through the backstreets and all the Hilda Ogdens having a pop.

The locals in Moss Side were having a right laugh at us as we travelled back to the station after the game........

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,036]

49 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

15 April 1989. FA Cup Semi Final versus Everton at Villa Park. My two sons, two of my son's mates and myself got the train up.

Forget the game. The train back was delayed and further behind by the time we got to Plymouth where they announced it would be terminating. What??? No mobile phones then. Phoned home and Mrs KG said she would come and get us which was just over an hours drive. Another lad appeared and said he was stuck. He had to get to Truro and could we give him a lift? No problem.

Except when Mrs KG turned up it wasn't in our lovely big Renault 25 but her friends XR2. Our car had a dodgy tyre she said and she didn't want to risk it. So off we set, with five lads in the back of this XR2 which were never really more than 2+2. 

Sparks must have been coming off the back. We got through Trerulefoot which is a notorious accident black spot when we saw the blue lights flashing. He pulled us over and saw these five lads jammed in the back. And it wasn't our car. Long story short, he saw our scarves, was a football fan and let us off. 

I was at that game, went in about the last minibus available in Norwich, a Sherpa, right old heap, the wing mirror was held on with elastic bands..........

[Yobocop 1,105]

Bit of a slow burner this week but some good stories thank you all

They’ll probably write a book about this one day 

[How I Wrote Elastic Man 1,191]

Munich 93

I had "retired" from attending football by then, but felt I was owed a trip to Europe after what happened in the 80's.

Some mates hired a van and left Norfolk on Sunday evening, picking me and another mate up in Brentwood. No seats in the back, we just sat around a big pile of beer cans in the middle 

We got an early morning ferry to Calais, arriving around an hour before the supermarket opened, so we had a game of football in the car park before buying more beer. I recall having to get on the roof of the store to retrieve the ball at one point.

We weren't long out of Calais before getting an inevitable tug from French police. One of our number seemed to speak some passable French, and explained we were headed for Germany. This pleased the coppers no end and we were on our way

Unfortunately, our bladders were not all in sync, so we stopped at virtually every service station on the way, for various people to relieve themselves in the holes in the ground that appeared to be toilets.

Upon reaching the border, it turned out that the German police were a little less pleased than their French counterparts to see us. Around an hour and a half to get through after a thorough search of the van and accusations of possession of drugs.

By the time we got to Munich it was night and the camp site we had been hoping to stay at was shut, so we had to sit in our van until the morning 

Once there, we were delighted to find the campsite had a vending machine that dispensed lager, so we took advantage of that before getting some rest and heading out later in the day for the match, of which many of you will need no reminder 

For some reason, I don't recall much about the trip home....

 

[A K Narey 97]

I was on one of the 3 Football Special trains to Brighton for the FA Cup game many years ago. For some reason the police sent the first two trains back to Norwich after the game half empty and the rest of us were packed onto the final train.

Standing all the way back to Norwich was not fun, especially after Jimmy Case had scored an offside goal to knock us out.

[Midlands Yellow 4,057]

On 21/11/2023 at 08:53, Yobocop said:

Hey Pink Un family,

Yobocop here, bringing you the biggest post of the week! Let's dive into the world of Norwich City-related travel stories. I want to hear about the craziest modes of transport you've taken to get to a game. Hot air balloon, unicycle, or maybe even a jetpack? Share your wild rides!

And speaking of commitment, who's taken their love for NCFC to the next level by buying a car in the iconic yellow and green colors? Any die-hard fans cruising around town in their own Canary-themed chariots?

But let's not forget the ups and downs of travel – any mishaps on the road, rails, or in the air? Whether it's your own misadventures or stories of the team's travel woes, spill the beans! We've all got those unforgettable tales that make supporting the Canaries a unique journey.

Can't wait to read your epic travel sagas, Pink Un crew. Let the stories flow like a perfectly executed Pukki goal!

Yours in yellow and green,
Yobocop

Maybe next Monday start like this. 
 

Hi Canary Fans, who’s had a great weekend? 
 

I wish I’d gone down on you all in slow motion and lapped up every love juice flowing. 
 

Your’s forever 

Yobo. 

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,036]

26 minutes ago, A K Narey said:

I was on one of the 3 Football Special trains to Brighton for the FA Cup game many years ago. For some reason the police sent the first two trains back to Norwich after the game half empty and the rest of us were packed onto the final train.

Standing all the way back to Norwich was not fun, especially after Jimmy Case had scored an offside goal to knock us out.

Dare I say I was at that game, the Jimmy Case goal will always be remembered.......

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,036]

5 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

This is nowhere near as exciting as Faded's story, but does involve a train. This was the 1981-82 season, with the last game away at Hillsborough. We lost to a last-minute goal and I had to run for the train immediately afterwards, with no idea whether we'd been promoted. Pre internet of course, and I didn't have a radio. It was only when some Gillingham fans got on at Chesterfield that I found out we'd done it.

I was at that game, the journey there and back was second on my list of memorable away games........

[A K Narey 97]

5 minutes ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

Dare I say I was at that game, the Jimmy Case goal will always be remembered.......

My late father always said he hated Billy Bingham after the semi-final defeat in 1959. I feel much the same about Jimmy Case! 😉

[FenwayFrank 2,465]

47 minutes ago, A K Narey said:

I was on one of the 3 Football Special trains to Brighton for the FA Cup game many years ago. For some reason the police sent the first two trains back to Norwich after the game half empty and the rest of us were packed onto the final train.

Standing all the way back to Norwich was not fun, especially after Jimmy Case had scored an offside goal to knock us out.

I was on that train too. Also went on a football special to Wolves which wasn't a pleasant experience 

[Yobocop 1,105]

4 hours ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Maybe next Monday start like this. 
 

Hi Canary Fans, who’s had a great weekend? 
 

I wish I’d gone down on you all in slow motion and lapped up every love juice flowing. 
 

Your’s forever 

Yobo. 

Hahaha amazing midlands 

who knows? If norwich do the biz tomorrow it could be a goer 

[Yobocop 1,105]

7 hours ago, Yobocop said:

Bit of a slow burner this week but some good stories thank you all

They’ll probably write a book about this one day 

Bunsen burner nice little earner 

hence the 👌🏼

[dylanisabaddog 4,972]

During the petrol crisis we went to Bristol City on a Wednesday night. Had enough fuel to get to London and caught the train from there. Got into the ground just as the game was starting only to find we were on the wrong side of the ground. Finally got to the right seats in time to see Kevin Keelan badly injure his arm/shoulder. He played on one handed and we lost 3-0.

My one and only visit to Ashton Gate. 

[KiwiScot 1,460]

I never used them, but I am sure it would have been superb with free flowing scampi and not a sight of any BK8 hotdogs.

http://www.canarytravelthailand.com/

Photo from around 2012/13 -

[Robert N. LiM 4,472]

16 hours ago, How I Wrote Elastic Man said:

We weren't long out of Calais before getting an inevitable tug from French police.

Phwoar

[Robert N. LiM 4,472]

10 hours ago, Yobocop said:

Bunsen burner nice little earner 

hence the 👌🏼

@Yobocop quipped

Edited November 25, 2023 by Robert N. LiM

[Feedthewolf 4,866]

In the early days of dating Mrs Wolf, I decided to wow her by booking us a long weekend away in Portugal. She had expressed an interest in going to watch a Norwich match, but probably wasn't expecting a pre-season friendly away to Braga.

We spent four nights in Porto, getting a coach to Braga on the morning of the match for a nose around the city. In the evening we walked down to the rather picturesque stadium (it's the one that has a hillside at one end instead of a stand, as it was blasted out of an old quarry to create a new ground for Euro 2004).

The match passed off relatively uneventfully; Norwich were 2-0 up at half time (a brace from Gary Hooper), then Braga fielded a completely different XI for the second half and came back to draw 2-2. We counted 49 away fans in total.

Mrs Wolf enjoyed herself, mission accomplished... or not. As we were making our way down the steps inside the stadium, everything went pitch black. At first we thought it was a powercut, but then we heard the roar of the home fans... what was going on? We navigated our way out of the stadium, and then walked up the hill behind the goal, affording us a great view of the unfolding spectacle.

It turns out that Braga had won the Portuguese league cup at the end of the previous season, so they were having some kind of celebration. Firstly a Roman chariot comes out drawn by horses, and starts charging round the edge of the pitch under a spotlight, roared on by fans wielding banners and pyrotechnics.

Then, once the chariot has ridden off into the night, a giant replica of the league cup trophy (I mean it must have been thirty feet high) gets wheeled out into the centre circle. The crowd are going absolutely nuts, and then the top of the giant trophy unfolds and...

...there's a woman inside it playing a f**king violin. Absolute madness. So we're standing there on the side of the hill, watching all this happen, and then we realise we're running out of time to get back to the bus station to take the last coach back to Porto.

Because we exited the stadium in a different direction to how we entered it, we're a little bit disorientated, and Google Maps on smartphones wasn't really a thing back then. So we set off in the general direction of the city centre, unsure of where we're supposed to be going.

Then we stop outside a cafe, where a few local fellas are drinking beer. They notice our Norwich shirts and start talking to us, so we ask for directions to the bus station. They gabble in Portuguese for a bit, and then one of them picks up his car keys from the table and says "come with me... I will take you there".

Mrs Wolf is looking apprehensive, but my belief in human kindness (and desperation not to spend the night on the streets of Braga) takes over, so I accept the lift. Mrs Wolf is looking nervous, but I'm acting like the cool traveller and reassuring her everything will be fine.

Within a couple of minutes, we're heading out of town on a dual carriageway. Eek. I'm starting to get a little twitchy, but I can see Mrs Wolf is looking really scared so I style it out. Her eyes are pleading with me to say something, so I ask the guy if this is definitely the right direction to the bus station. "Sure", he says, "we are nearly there".

And lo and behold, a minute later we come back into the city and pull up right outside the bus station with five minutes to spare... despite having seemingly been heading directly away from it for the past ten minutes.

Your man wishes us a safe trip, and point blank refuses to take any money from us. We get the coach back to Porto, with NCFC one supporter richer.

And thus ends the story of Mrs Wolf's first ever Norwich match.