At Norwich City, you may get Premier League football, but in Carrow Road, it does not feel like you are at a million-dollar club for a second. A visit to Norwich City is for the football fan who is more into the little clubs than the stars, and the Canaries have surprisingly vocal fans.
'Too big for the Championship, too small for the Premier League ' is an expression that currently applies to Norwich City. They won the EFL Championship in 2019 by a large margin, then relegated from the Premier League the next season to then become the undisputed champion of the second division once again the following year. A true yo-yo club.
Carrow Road is one of the smallest stadiums in the Premier League, but we like that. At the time of construction in 1935, the locals even called it the 'eighth wonder of the world' given the fact that the construction only took 82(!) days. Of course, things have changed since then, but Carrow Road has always retained its charm. It's not a hypermodern arena but a real football stadium, with four different stands, fans close to the pitch and the green-yellow club colours in abundance.
By far the best match you can visit on Carrow Road is the derby against Norwich's arch-rival Ipswich Town. It's the East Anglia derby, a battle between the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, jokingly referred to as 'The Old Farm' given the rural character of both teams. But as friendly as it can be on Carrow Road, matches against Ipswich Town turn into war. Unfortunately, the derby is not on the programme for the time being as Ipswich Town is struggling in League One.
At the time of Norwich City's founding in 1902, the club did not have its own stadium yet. It did have its own pitch, which they stopped using after 1908. Fortunately, that pitch still exists today and can be found on Newmarket Road, at the intersection with Daniels Road. Competitive football is no longer played here, as it now serves as the sports field of a nearby school.
After disagreements over the lease of the pitch on Newmarket Road, Norwich City moved to a very special place. The new stadium on Rosary Road, The Nest, was in fact a disused limestone quarry. As a result, it sat in a kind of pit, with bleachers on one side and also a large, concrete wall, that thousands of people would stand on when the team was flying high. Not really safe, which was why the club decided they would move to a new stadium in 1935, which eventually became Carrow Road.
Although Norwich City left a long time ago, there are still some elements that are reminiscent of the past in this place. There is a plaque on the wall of number 57 on Rosary Road with the Norwich City logo, which tells the story of the club's former stadium. In the park next to the house is a tall sculpture with a ball at the top, a monument to the old stadium.
There are also still some old elements of The Nest to explore: If you can't go any further at the far back of Bertram Way, you will come across some overgrown terracing in the corner at number 59 and a bit further you will find a part of the old concrete wall.
The football club is also very well represented in the city centre of Norwich. Traditionally after a promotion, the players appear at the brutalist town hall on St. Peters Street on the balcony to celebrate with the fans.
The lion from the club's logo and the city's Coat of Arms can also be seen in front of the town hall: It is a royal lion, which can also be seen, for example, in the logo of the FA, with the well-known 'Three Lions'.
The absolute centrepiece of the city is 11th-century Norwich Castle, towering over the city. The castle is depicted alongside the canary and the lion in the Norwich City badge. Apart from the beautiful castle, the panoramic view from the top is also more than worth the climb. You can see the entire city and Carrow Road from here.
Just around the corner from Norwich Castle is White Lion Street, the place where it all started for Norwich City. Number 20, which now houses a stately men's fashion store, used to be the Criterion Café. Norwich City Football Club was founded here on the 17th of June 1902 and it is thus the cradle of the club. A plaque in the alley (York Alley) on the side wall of the building serves as a testament to the history of this place.
There are several good pubs where you can have a good pint whilst Norwich City plays. One of the most well-known is the Compleat Angler, diagonally opposite the train station on Prince of Wales Road. Here you can sit on the terrace by the water. On match days this place is bursting with Canaries.
A hotel room with a good view? Say no more. On the corner of Carrow Road is a Holiday Inn hotel, of which several rooms have a view of the pitch. Not the perfect place to watch a game, given that one goal is not visible, but technically you can see the players from the comfort of your hotel room.
When Norwich City plays in the Premier League, public interest increases. Yet it is still easy to get tickets for matches against the lesser teams without a membership. You can buy the tickets through the official website of Norwich City.
Norwich is not a very big city, so you can do everything easily on foot. Carrow Road, which is located on the street of the same name, is less than a ten-minute walk from Norwich train station. From the city centre, it is a fifteen-minute walk to the stadium.
Images: Shutterstock
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