Worst away days

[Newtopia 582]

1 hour ago, essex canary said:

Losing at Crawley in the League Cup on a ludicrous day for travelling with many of our fans not getting there.

That was bad.....

[Robert N. LiM 6,422]

12 hours ago, benchwarmer said:

December 1995 v Leicester at Filbert Street, a top of the table six-pointer.  We were there in numbers and full of optimism.

As we entered the away section, we heard a steward say that our manager Martin O'Neill had left Carrow Road to join Leicester.  The news spread faster than covid and we could see that O'Neill wasn't in the dugout.  The atmosphere was toxic beyond belief, with City fans roaring "CHASE OUT" and some of the players openly applauding us.  At half time we were 2-0 up but lost 3-2.

After nine seasons in the top division and barely two years after beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, we knew in our hearts that O'Neill's departure signalled the end of NCFC as an established top flight club.  A bleak day indeed.

Just to rub it in, O'Neill took Leicester back to the Prem at the first attempt.  We finished 16th.

Ugh, yes. I was at that one. Your summary is exactly as I remember it.

Edit: And I was at that Crawley game, too. Adam Idah's debut. Scored the match-winner (og).

Beginning to think - am I the problem?

 

Edited September 9, 2024 by Robert N. LiM

[Foxy2600 392]

3 hours ago, essex canary said:

Losing at Crawley in the League Cup on a ludicrous day for travelling with many of our fans not getting there.

Yeah went to that as it is local to me - Klose and Zimmerman never played much for us after that game. Didn’t the ‘pick -up’ at the gate tickets arrive like 3 minutes before kick off? 🤮

[Drazen Muzinic 1,509]

Port Vale 6 - 1 Norwich

1996

*shudder*

[raunds canary 238]

10 hours ago, Duncan Edwards said:

Reading away when we lost 4-0 and having to listen to their fans… grim. They genuinely believed they were somehow relevant and significant.

Losing 3-0 to Wimbledon at Selhurst back in the 90s was awful too. We’d spent the whole coach trip ripping up yellow pages to give a ticker tape celebration when we scored. First thing seen as we arrived late was a Wimbledon goal. Great.

We let the celebratory paper go out of the skylight of the coach but the weirdest thing was the woman that picked up a discarded carton of milk outside the ground and drank from it. Just a sight that you can’t get rid of. Another was the kids playing in the streets in Bradford that didn’t have shoes. 2-0 up and drew 2-2 that day. Michael fecking Branch I believe..

Stuff like that reminds you that Norwich is, mainly, a fine city. 

That Bradford game was just about the hottest I can ever remember being at a game 

[non-scoring strikers 158]

12 minutes ago, Drazen Muzinic said:

Port Vale 6 - 1 Norwich

1996

*shudder*

I went to Vale away a couple of seasons later. We lost 1-0 and the ground was like a building site.

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,876]

Losing 2.1 to the Binners , at Portaloo , to Megson's last minute OG. Was the worst away day by a country mile. We got kept in after and even the ground staff replacing the divots took the p1ss. No idea what year it was, i know it was near Christmas because of the decorations in the pub afterwards. 

 

I could look it up but I don't want to add to my pain. 

[Robert N. LiM 6,422]

2 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

Losing 2.1 to the Binners , at Portaloo , to Megson's last minute OG. Was the worst away day by a country mile. We got kept in after and even the ground staff replacing the divots took the p1ss. No idea what year it was, i know it was near Christmas because of the decorations in the pub afterwards. 

 

I could look it up but I don't want to add to my pain. 

Yeah, at that one too #jinx

[CANARYKING 715]

Just remembered the “ kicking the bucket “ match at Porterloo. Very frosty pitch with City 2 - 0 down at halftime.and on came to groundsmen with buckets and salted the goal area that Ipswich would be defending. Needless to say that City fans went bananas with one fan invading the pitch to kick over the bucket, promptly arrested.Final score 3 - 0 !

Edited September 9, 2024 by CANARYKING

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,234]

15 hours ago, benchwarmer said:

December 1995 v Leicester at Filbert Street, a top of the table six-pointer.  We were there in numbers and full of optimism.

As we entered the away section, we heard a steward say that our manager Martin O'Neill had left Carrow Road to join Leicester.  The news spread faster than covid and we could see that O'Neill wasn't in the dugout.  The atmosphere was toxic beyond belief, with City fans roaring "CHASE OUT" and some of the players openly applauding us.  At half time we were 2-0 up but lost 3-2.

After nine seasons in the top division and barely two years after beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, we knew in our hearts that O'Neill's departure signalled the end of NCFC as an established top flight club.  A bleak day indeed.

Just to rub it in, O'Neill took Leicester back to the Prem at the first attempt.  We finished 16th.

Pivotal moment in the clubs history, a true reflection of the Chase legacy...........

[K Lo 248]

On 08/09/2024 at 08:59, CANARYKING said:

Having read the other thread with interest I thought I’d start an alternative. Mine was that F.A. Cup game at the old West Ham ground, five thousand supporters crammed in with the only access a tiny staircase, another Hillsborough waiting happen. Plus being a tad short I could only see about a quarter of the pitch.

I was at that match.
One of the very few times we caught the club coach. Yes, very crammed. I remember seeing people laying on top of the back wall, with very little room between that and the roof.
It was like a cattle shed.

[K Lo 248]

On 08/09/2024 at 09:14, Commonsense said:

Absolutely correct-it predated Hillsborough by a couple of months. Don’t forget the enormous queue to get in first of all as the insisted on using a single metal detector on everyone.

There was an almost-Hillsborough at Hillsborough in 1981 for the Semi between Wolves & Spurs.
The signs were there many years before April '89 but I really don't think the authorities cared; viewing most supporters as yobs.
 

 

Edited September 9, 2024 by K Lo

[Lord Horn (again) 154]

In no particular order -

Losing 6-0 to Man City in the FA Cup (1980-81) followed by my car breaking down on the M62 on the way home.  My  first ever away game - a 3-0 defeat to Leicester (Aug 1969) made all the better for getting a good kicking from some Leicester skinheads.  Any game at Grimsby (apart from when we did them in the 1985 League Cup QF).  Others already mentioned - the crush at West Ham, the 3-0 defeat to Wimbledon at Selhurst Park, the Simon Tracey debacle in goal at Everton in the FA Cup, the Leicester game and O'Neill departure.  The list is endless 😂

 

[shefcanary 3,072]

35 minutes ago, Lord Horn (again) said:

Losing 6-0 to Man City in the FA Cup (1980-81) followed by my car breaking down on the M62 on the way home. 

In a "it was so bad it was quite good really" way, I quite enjoyed that one as we ended up taking the **** out of everything going on around us. It was also because we were kept in for a good 45 minutes after the final whistle for our own safety, so had nothing to do but sing lots of silly songs, which you can hear in the background of the TV interviews after the match that are online. We saw John Bond getting interviewed (no-one could miss his hair and the gabardine mac he was wearing), the one where he told the story of how he broke a rib jumping down from the directors' box to console his son Kevin, our captain for the day, at the end of the match. Our coach (not club cabbage) got home alright, stopped in Newmarket for a few pints and some nice fish n chips as consolation.

[benchwarmer 673]

I'm sure there's a law of nature governing away games weathered off at the last minute, to the effect that the likelihood of postponement increases in direct proportion to the length of the journey from Norwich.  For example:

Blackpool in the League Cup, can't remember the year but Bryan Hamilton was the manager.  A lovely clear September evening when we arrived but out of nowhere, about half an hour before kickoff, came a cloudburst of biblical proportions which completely flooded the pitch. 

Burnley in the early 2000s.  The weather was pretty poor all the way, but when police motorbikes flagged down our coach and diverted it off the M6 about 20 minutes from the ground, we assumed it was to search for contraband.  The only happy fans were the hardened smokers who relished the opportunity to light up even in horizontal wind and rain.

Portsmouth (twice). 

I rest my case . . .

Edited September 9, 2024 by benchwarmer

[Hissing Sid 160]

3 hours ago, Drazen Muzinic said:

Port Vale 6 - 1 Norwich

1996

*shudder*

Just 3 days after WBA 5 Norwich 1

Yep, I was at both

*double shudder* 

[benchwarmer 673]

7 minutes ago, Hissing Sid said:

Just 3 days after WBA 5 Norwich 1

Yep, I was at both

*double shudder* 

So was I.  It was during Mike Walker's second spell.  The only silver lining was that it forced the club to buy a couple of half decent defenders.

Edited September 9, 2024 by benchwarmer

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,234]

3 hours ago, Lord Horn (again) said:

In no particular order -

Losing 6-0 to Man City in the FA Cup (1980-81) followed by my car breaking down on the M62 on the way home.  My  first ever away game - a 3-0 defeat to Leicester (Aug 1969) made all the better for getting a good kicking from some Leicester skinheads.  Any game at Grimsby (apart from when we did them in the 1985 League Cup QF).  Others already mentioned - the crush at West Ham, the 3-0 defeat to Wimbledon at Selhurst Park, the Simon Tracey debacle in goal at Everton in the FA Cup, the Leicester game and O'Neill departure.  The list is endless 😂

 

I was at the 6-0 defeat at Maine Rd, went on the football special, as we were corralled from the buses to the ground a police horse stood on my foot, funny the things you remember from away day trips 😀.........

[Clever Farke 75]

On 08/09/2024 at 09:59, CANARYKING said:

Having read the other thread with interest I thought I’d start an alternative. Mine was that F.A. Cup game at the old West Ham ground, five thousand supporters crammed in with the only access a tiny staircase, another Hillsborough waiting happen. Plus being a tad short I could only see about a quarter of the pitch.

Was there too. People might have died in the half time crush in the tunnel under the stand. Pushing from both ends.  Shouting and panic. I will never forget it. Awful experience. 

[Clever Farke 75]

1 hour ago, Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB said:

I was at the 6-0 defeat at Maine Rd, went on the football special, as we were corralled from the buses to the ground a police horse stood on my foot, funny the things you remember from away day trips 😀.........

Ah Clive Baker. He was 1,75 m but seemed much smaller that day. 

[Clever Farke 75]

On 08/09/2024 at 09:59, CANARYKING said:

Having read the other thread with interest I thought I’d start an alternative. Mine was that F.A. Cup game at the old West Ham ground, five thousand supporters crammed in with the only access a tiny staircase, another Hillsborough waiting happen. Plus being a tad short I could only see about a quarter of the pitch.

Away trip to Old Trafford in the snow. Never got there. We got as far as the Peak District on Club Canary. Got out, had a snowball fight and headed home again. Heard on the radio we’d lost. 

[Midlands Yellow 4,704]

Birmingham 4 City 0 (Mooney treble) was grim. We walked out when the fourth went in and were back home by 6pm. 

[Spillay 194]

12 hours ago, benchwarmer said:

The away section at Filbert Street was a terrace with the front few rows below pitch level - fans were so close to the action that mud churned up by the players' boots would fly into the crowd.  Those were the days . . .

I was there for that match and also the FA Cup game when they'd gone up and we were still in the Champs, a gallant 2-1 defeat and remember Spencer Prior getting pelters from our lot all game!

[PurpleCanary 6,459]

On 08/09/2024 at 12:56, TIL 1010 said:

Grimsby is pretty grim.

The ground is in the borough of Cleethorpes.

[Rupethebear 29]

1992 Norwich v Sunderland FACup Semi at the ill fated Hillsborough 

The chance to get to an FA Cup Final and the biggest day out ever for Canary fans, we didn’t turn up, lost to League 2 Sunderland and have never had a sniff of Wembley since, gutted.

[Grando 342]

20 March 1993. Losing 3-0 away to Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Grim. And really the start of the end to our title challenge.

[TIL 1010 5,300]

10 hours ago, PurpleCanary said:

The ground is in the borough of Cleethorpes.

Indeed it is.

[Mr Angry 2,089]

My worst away day was Watford away to Coventry in a League Cup match-9 December 1980, the day after John Lennon died. (My brother reminded me of this as we were only discussing it last week, he delivered the daily local paper-the Evening Echo-and it was the headline that day).

As a 17 year old with my 15 year old cousin and 14 year old brother it was our first experience of the ‘Football Special’ train which took us to Birmingham and then a police escort to the bus to Coventry and a police escort to the ground.

It was also our first experience of people pissing on the terraces as the toilet facilities were minimal and everyone was packed in so tightly.

Then we repeated the journey back, having lost 5-0. Happy days 🤣🤣🤣

[BigManInTheBarclay 84]

Fulham, Palarse, Watford, Oxford (this season...awful place)

[BicesterCanary 10]

Crystal Palace away New Years day. My brother and I, both very hungover, made our way to the ground running slightly late. We asked a local lad who led us close enough to see the stadium, before pointing us down a long alley in the opposite direction.
We declined his dubious directions and jogged onto the ground to hear the stadium roar. We just missed Norwichs opening goal 4 minutes in.

Got in and only saw Palace equalise, before making our way through a flooded Croydon stepping through peoples gardens. We vowed to skip New Years day for a few years haha