Move over Exeter City, stand aside the Brunswick at Derby, we have surely found football heaven in the form of Norwich City.  What more can you ask for?  Great pubs, real ale in abundance, a short walk from an excellent city centre, a supremely organised club, Delia’s pies, a friendly crowd and a great atmosphere.  Add on to that one of those intense, hard fought, edgy games that was hugely entertaining despite a lack of goalmouth action.

This was a great weekend break, taking in Cambridge (is there a lovelier city in Britain?) on Friday and Norwich on Saturday.  I had been to Norwich once before, over 30 years ago.  It was March/April, in the mid-70s.  I was working in a butcher’s shop during my end-of-term holiday from university.  My mate in the shop, Richard Robinson, was a big Blues fan and he and a few of his buddies were going to make the long trip to Norwich one Wednesday night to watch a First Division relegation four-pointer.  He invited me to go so I thought “why not?” so we left in mid-afternoon for the arduous journey into the heart of Norfolk.  We got to the game right on kick off.

These were the days of Trevor Francis, Bob Hatton, Roger Hynd et al for Blues and Kevin Keelan, “gorgeous” Duncan Forbes and Dave Stringer for the Canaries.  Memories of the game are scant but I do remember Norwich won 2-1 in a game with an electric atmosphere.  Norwich were to go on to relegation, along with Manyoo and Southampton, with Blues ending the season with their name underlined in the table; a regular occurrence for them or Cov at the time.  The teams that came up were Middlesbro (Craggs, Maggs, Sproggan, Boggon, Foggon, Armstrong, Bootstrong, Ashcroft et al), Luton and, yes, Carlisle.  Leyton  Orient just missed out.

Back to 2006, and we are grateful to Mr Skirrow who recommended a book that describes the best real ale pubs near football grounds.  After a morning of pottering the fascinating cobbled streets and huge market square of Norwich, we went to the first of three pubs recommended in Norwich, the Ribs of Beef, picturesquely located on a humpback bridge over the River Wensum.  It was a small place but with ten real ales on tap.  My pint of Woodforde’s Wherry went down nicely.  With such a selection, I was saddened when a group of Canary fans came in and ordered two pints of Grolsch and two of Worthington Smoothpour.  The power of marketing I suppose.

The pub had an interesting framed drawing of the “Legends of Norwich”, by a local artist.  It consisted of a squad picture of renowned Norwich players over the years.  It was autographed by most of the players shown; I suspect those with no autographs are probably dead!  It included the likes of the aforementioned Keelan, Forbes and Stringer, Bryan Gunn, Iwan Roberts and Robert Fleck. 

Now for your quiz question.  The picture included two current Midland managers, and one former Villa forward.  Can you name these three?

How nice it is to visit a city that seems to cherish and preserve its pubs and eclectic, eccentric shops.  Real ale is the norm here; even the newer bars carry a selection.  Apparently, the quaint shops in the older part of the city are charged very low rates to allow the individual shopkeepers to ply their trade.

We moved off to the Coach and Horses, just out of the city centre and a ten-minute walk from the ground.  What a place!  The Brunswick is relegated into second place.  It’s an odd-looking pub, looking a little like a converted detached house.  It actually houses a microbrewery, the Chalk Hill Brewery.  It was heaving, but there were loads of bar staff and I got served quickly.  I had a pint of ‘CHB’, a gorgeous pint from the microbrewery.  There were other real ales on offer, plus a large selection of other beers, and the food looked good too.  When you are brought up on the rubbish pubs on offer around Villa Park, St Andrews, etc., you realise just how lucky Norwich fans are to have this place.

While tempted to stay at the Coach and Horses all day, we moved off to the match.  The ground has been re-developed on all sides over the years and is a thoroughly pleasant place to watch a game.  Beautiful cooking smells emanated from Delia’s restaurant (boeuf bourguignone I reckon).

We arrived in time to sample the fare on offer at the refreshment outlets.  I tried a “Delia’s match pie”.  Apparently, these change from game to game.  It’s not often you can get chicken, asparagus and leek pie at a game, is it?  Janet had a cheese and onion pasty.  Verdict: delia-icious.  Can’t believe I’ve just written that L

The pitch was immaculate (as Bristol City’s had been, by the way).  The game was entertaining, not because it was action packed but because it was one of those intense games where everyone gives their all.  Norwich were well on top in the first half.  Dickson Etuhu had already had one long range shot as a “sighter” when he picked up the ball on six minutes and curled an absolute beauty into the top right hand corner from 20-odd yards.

There was little to be seen of Cardiff in the first half.  Norwich dominated and could have added three more in the last ten minutes of the half as Robbie Earnshaw (twice) and Carl Robinson missed when it looked easier to score.

The second half saw mostly Cardiff pressure but with no cutting edge.  How they missed Michael Chopra, who was injured (I think).  Norwich defended very well and held out without too much trouble.  With about 20 minutes to go, Norwich brought on forward Paul McVeigh.  Now here’s a guy who needs an image consultant.  To be blunt, he looks like a woman.  Janet quickly nicknamed him “the girlboy”.  He has long blonde hair that appears to be tied back with some sort of Alice band and runs in a mincing sort of way.  Also, the way his shirt hangs seems to give the impression of lickle boobies.  Have a look at this; I think you’ll see what I mean.

At the end of the game, the girlboy and ?????, the Cardiff right back, got themselves sent off after trying to head butt each other.  A thoroughly enjoyable game, amongst those friendly Norfolk folk.  Defenders were the prominent players although I thought ex-Cov midfield man Safri was the man of the match.  Gary Croft, an ex-Mancee midfielder looked quite good too.  I can’t like Cardiff while they have Darren “come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough” Purse in the side.  We saw Cardiff at Watford in March and they do look a more purposeful team than they did then.  Ex-Villan Scimeca, who looked slow and ponderous in midfield at Watford, played very well at Norwich.  They had nothing up front though.

There was time for another swift half before the long and tortuous route home, this time in the Lawyer, an upmarket pub near the Ribs of Beef, carrying loads of lagers but nonetheless offering a couple of real ales.  Can’t remember what it was; an IPA but not the ubiquitous Greene King.

When we arrived back, I spent an hour reading the programme.  This was possibly the worst example of the sheer pap that is on offer in programmes these days: a whopping 100 glossy pages of non-bio-degradable drivel. 

But how’s this for something spooky.  Twilight Zone or what?  They have a regular feature on ex-players they’re trying to locate and this time it was ………. none other than ………. a forward by the name of John Manning !! 

Apparently he was known for wearing ladies trousers, had hobbies that included trainspotting, couldn’t remember where we was born, had a pathological hatred for the Welsh and took his binoculars out when arriving at Watford Junction.

Bizarrely, I’ve just looked up as I’m writing this on the train, and guess where I am?  Yes, Watford, and the Harlequin Centre looks enticing with its sparkly Christmas trees.

Total Ground Number: 56
Current League Ground Number: 49