Norwich City FC

Founded in 1902, Norwich City can boast their highest top-flight finish of third during the inaugural Premier League campaign in 1992-93, remarkably with a goal difference of minus four. Yet silverware success has been few and far between during more than a century of football in East Anglia with just two League Cup trophies and six Football League titles to their name, the most recent of which coming in 2018-19 when they won the Championship under Daniel Farke.

Notable former players include the likes of World Cup winner Martin Peters, the highly decorated Steve Bruce and goalscoring heroes Iwan Roberts, Darren Huckerby and Grant Holt. 

Known as the Canaries, Norwich are the most Easterly situated elite side in England, representing the sparse array of football clubs in Norwich, and became the first English side to beat German giants Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium. Carrow Road was also the first professional home for the late Justin Fashanu, the first and only openly gay professional footballer who also became the first black footballer to move for a fee over £1 million. Their infamous chant, "On the Ball, City" is a decade older than the club itself and believed to be the oldest chant in football.

Canaries Fly The Nest

Norwich endured a rocky road in the opening years of their existence. Within six years of being founded they were rejected from amateur football for being 'too good' and had to move grounds due to their popularity - in 1908, the Canaries would move to The Nest as they donned the famous yellow and green strip still seen today. 

In 1920, Norwich would join the Football League Third Division but it took them 13 years to achieve their first promotion. Within months, it was deemed necessary for the Canaries to fly The Nest and Carrow Road was developed within a matter of days...

Carrow Road

Carrow Road is believed to have been built within three months during 1935 and in 1956 entertained the first set of floodlights. Now capable of seating over 23,000 spectators, the record attendance was formulated in 1963 with almost double that number filling the ground for a cup contest against Leicester City.

Improvements have been made over time, most notably in 1984 when a fire ripped through one of the stands. Now boasting an array of colours, flanked by a Holiday Inn that has rooms overlooking the pitch, Carrow Road is recognised as one of the friendliest stadiums in England.

The 59ers

But it would take a substantial period of time for the Norwich faithful to enjoy their football at Carrow Road. Relegated back to the Third Division just four years after the stadium opened, Norwich endured 20 years of disappointment in and around the Second World War.

The club virtually reached rock-bottom in 1957. Dwindling at the foot of the league table, they were stunned by non-league Bedford Town in the FA Cup, arguably the worst result in the club's history. Unable to balance the books after introducing the stadium floodlights just a year earlier, only a public appeal to raise £25,000 kept the club running.

But in 1958-59, they would enjoy an infamous FA Cup run, despite almost going out to another non-league club in the first round, Ilford. After edging past Swindon Town in a replay, they would stun Manchester United's Busby Babes as Terry Bly's double saw them progress to the fourth round.

Bly would be the hero again when Norwich defeated Cardiff City, Tottenham Hotspur and then Sheffield United as the Canaries flew into the semi-finals, partly in thanks to a couple of replays and late strikes, but they would fall just short of an historical final when Luton Town defeated them in another replay.

The Wembley Years

That cup run sparked Norwich into life as they started to create landmarks in both the league and the cup. 

After winning the 1960 League Cup, a two-legged tie with Rochdale rather than a date at Wembley, Norwich reached the top tier in 1972 which would present a rollercoaster five decades of bouncing between the top two divisions.

Within the space of three seasons, they would visit Wembley twice for two League Cup finals against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, losing both games 1-0. Yet they would finally earn success again ten years later when Gordon Chisholm put through his own net in the only goal of the game between Norwich and Sunderland. Ironically, both clubs were relegated from the First Division that season, a feat that has yet to be repeated in the history of English football.

Premier League

Norwich were beginning to make a name for themselves in English football and endured a frustrating few years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Twice they missed out on European football because of a ban on English clubs due to the Heysel Stadium disaster and twice they missed out on elusive FA Cup finals, in 1989 and 1992 respectively.

Now a stalwart in the top-flight, the introduction of the Premier League in 1992 presented new opportunities, finishing third in their debut season thanks to the goals of Mark Robins. A year later, Norwich would finally experience European football, defeating Bayern Munich with an infamous volley from Jeremy Goss.

But, just two years later, Norwich would be relegated from the Premier League, only returning again in 2003 for a solitary season.

Promotions and relegations would become regular features of Norwich's recent history. After dropping to League One in 2009, 53 league goals in two seasons from Grant Hold saw the Canaries fly through the divisions and back into the Premier League. This time, they would remain for three seasons before being relegated, then promoted back to the top-flight the season after, only to be immediately relegated again.

The Present Day

Unfortunately for Norwich, a similar trend looks set to continue this season. Shocking a strong second tier with an impressive brand of football under Daniel Farke, Norwich netted 93 goals in the 2018-19 campaign, the most they have ever scored in one season with Teemu Pukki striking 30 times, matching Holt's tally in 2010.

But a youthful side with a European influence have struggled to adapt to their Premier League return, sitting bottom of the division for much of the season before the campaign was halted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Squad List (as of 22nd March 2020)

Tim Krul

Michael McGovern

Sam Byram

Christoph Zimmermann

Timm Klose

Jamal Lewis

Grant Hanley

Max Aarons

Ben Godfrey

Lukas Rupp

Mario Vrancic

Moritz Leitner

Emiliano Buendía

Tom Trybull

Kenny McLean

Alexander Tettey

Todd Cantwell

Josh Martin

Marco Stiepermann

Josip Drmic

Teemu Pukki

Onel Hernández

Adam Idah