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Norwich City: Pre-season games Canaries fans won’t forget
The first set of Canaries players are expected back at their Colney training ground for testing on June 26, with a friendly against German side Kaiserslauten already announced for July 15.
With the strange cocktail of travel, transfers and semi-competitiveness pre-season provides, there’s no doubt there’ll be some memorable moments created.
Here are some of the games that have been most memorable in prior years.
Aosta Regional XI 0-13 City, 2014
In perhaps the most bizarre tale of any Norwich pre-season, Neil Adams’ side didn’t even know who they’d beaten when they trounced their opposition 13-0 in July 2014.
After Serie C side Novarra had pulled out of the originally planned fixture, the Canaries thought they were playing Serie D’s Saint-Christophe Vallee d’Aoste, and reported on the game as such.
They went on to win 13-0, with goals scored by a variety of players including Anthony Pilkington, Gary Hooper, Wes Hoolahan and Russell Martin.
But the Italian club took umbrage with this, forcing an apology that read: “In our original match report for this warm-up fixture, acting in good faith on the basis of information given to the club, we incorrectly reported that we had played against local club side SC Vallee d’Aoste,” said Norwich in a statement.
“In fact the game was against an Aosta regional select side and we are happy to put the record straight and apologise to SC Vallee d’Aoste and their fans for the misunderstanding.”
Dynamo Dresden 2-3 City, 2020
This game has to make the list simply because of the number of peculiar and idiosyncratic stipulations attached to it.
Firstly, it wasn’t even one game. City and German club Dynamo Dresden played two friendlies back-to-back, with one kicking off at 1pm and the next 3pm.
Add to this the fact that it was behind closed doors at a ramshackle ground in Delbruck, and the chances of repetition are incredibly low.
Attempt one was far more entertaining, with goals from Przemyslaw Placheta, Teemu Pukki and Josh Martin securing a 3-2 win for Norwich.
The second match was a dull 0-0, but secured the victory over two legs for Daniel Farke’s team.
City 3-2 Wigan Athletic, 2009
This victory is on this list mainly for what it represents as the final game of the Canaries’ infamous 2009 pre-season.
Bryan Gunn’s side prepared in stellar fashion, going unbeaten, scoring 17 goals and drawing with a Manchester United XI.
They looked in fine shape as they plotted an immediate return to the Championship, and then lost 7-1 to Colchester United on the opening day of their attempt.
Gunn was sacked before he got the chance to oversee another league game, and Paul Lambert was brought in from United to replace him.
The summer clearly prepared his charges well for the term at large, however, as Lambert’s side went amassed 95 points on their way to the League One title.
City 1-1 Real Sociedad
Included because of its status as another false dawn, this meeting with Real Sociedad really underlined how useful pre-season is as an indicator of what’s to come.
It was the first time home supporters got the chance to see record signing Ricky Van Wolfswinkel live in action, and they were elated when he got on the scoresheet.
He’d perform the trick again when it really mattered against Everton at Carrow Road, but that was his last league goal for the club as he went down as one of the biggest transfer flops in its history.
That pattern was true of the entire Norwich team that season, as predictions of a European tilt collapsed into relegation.
By the following summer the club were in the Championship, Chris Hughton was no longer the manager, and Van Wolswinkel was not a part of the plans.
