Norwich City - Taking Them All On!

It's been coming through the news today that Norwich manager Chris Hughton has had the sack by chairman Alan Bowkett. No one knows yet why this has happened but odds are that he has just had a falling out with the chairman.

A product of Tottenham Hotspur's youth system, the left back made his debut in 1979 in the second round of the League Cup against Manchester United. He was a member of the Tottenham side which won both the 1981 FA Cup and the 1982 FA Cup, the 1984 UEFA Cup and was runner-up in the 1982 Football League Cup and the 1987 FA Cup. He played 398 games for Tottenham in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and is considered one of the best full-backs to have played for the club.


In November 1990 Hughton signed for West Ham, initially on a loan, then on a free transfer. He played two seasons at West Ham, making 43 appearances in all competitions without scoring, helping them win promotion from the Division Two in 1991. In 1992 he signed for Brentford, again on a free transfer. He played one season for Brentford, before retiring aged 34.

From June 1993 to October 2007, Hughton was a coach at Tottenham Hotspur, initially in charge of the under-21 team, then the reserve side in 1999, being promoted to the first team two years later. On 25 October 2007, Hughton was dismissed as assistant manager along with then manager Martin Jol, following a UEFA Cup home defeat (in the group stages) to Getafe. On 22 February 2008, he was appointed first team coach at Newcastle United by director of football Dennis Wise, joining Kevin Keegan's coaching staff, working primarily on defence with Steve Round.

A positive start to the 2009–10 season saw Hughton win successive manager of the month awards for August and September and then again in November, resulting in the board naming him as the new permanent manager of the club, after two stints as caretaker. Following a 3–1 defeat at West Brom in December, Hughton became the first Premier League manager of the 2010–11 season to lose his job, as he was dismissed by Managing Director Derek Llambias.


After media speculation linking Hughton with a variety of clubs,Hughton was appointed manager of Championship club and League Cup holders Birmingham City in June 2011. Hughton guided the Blues to a 4th placed finish in the Championship, qualifying for the play-offs, where they lost 3-2 over the two legs of the Semi Final against Blackpool.

At the end of the 2011–12 season Birmingham gave Norwich City permission to talk to Hughton about their vacant managerial post, and he signed for the Canaries on 7 June 2012. His first league game in charge was against Fulham, where Norwich lost 5-0, although this result was followed by memorable league victories against both Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as a League Cup victory against Tottenham Hotspur. Norwich however experienced bad form throughout the winter and towards the end of the season. Wins against West Brom and Manchester City prevented relegation, meaning Wigan Athletic instead went down.

Skysports have announced today that former Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway will take charge of Norwich one a permanent deal. The 50 year old has only recently been sacked from Crystal Palace and many fans feel this is a terrible move due to his lack of Premier League experience.

Holloway began his playing career as an apprentice with his home town team Bristol Rovers, turning professional in March 1981 and making his league debut the same year. He usually played on the right side of midfield, and made his name as one of the more promising players in the Third Division (now League One). After four seasons at Rovers, he was transferred to Wimbledon in July 1985 for £35,000.

Holloway's stay at Wimbledon was a short one. In March 1986, after less than one year at the club, he was sold to Brentford for £25,000, where he also spent just a little over a year. In January 1987 he joined Torquay United on loan, playing five times. In August 1987, after two years in London, Holloway returned to Bristol Rovers for a fee of £10,000.


In four seasons, he missed only five games. When Francis was appointed manager of First Division side QPR in 1991, one of his first signings was Holloway, for a fee of £230,000 in August 1991. Holloway spent five seasons at QPR, playing more than 150 games for the club, before returning to Bristol Rovers for the third time in August 1996, this time as player-manager.

Since his retirement from playing, Holloway has managed no less than 6 teams, including QPR, Leicester, Blackpool and Crystal Palace. Holloway has also managed to get Crystal Palace promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.

Many Norwich fans woke up this morning to hear the shock news that fan favourite Wes Hoolahan has departed the club along with Alex Tettey to Celtic and Hull respectively. Hoolahan, aged 31, departs for Celtic for a relatively cheap for of 1 million. Meanwhile Alex Tettey departs for fellow Premier League side Hull for a slightly bigger fee of 2.4 million.


Hoolahan joined the Norwich side in 2008, coming from Blackpool. During his time at Carrow Road Hoolahan managed to rack up a total of 184 appearances, scoring 30 goals and becoming a fan favourite. Tettey on the other hand, had only been at Norwich for one season, joining from Stade Rennais for just 1 million. During his one season at the club he managed to make 27 league appearances, failing to score a goal.

Should be interesting to see how you do! I love Ian Holloway, gonna miss his press conferences IRL.

Today Norwich City manager Ian Holloway confiermed that he had completed three signings. These three players are Ola John, Eric Dier and Zlatko Junuzovic from Benfica, Sporting and Werder Bremen respectively.


Ola John joins from Portuguese side Benfica for a fee of 4.6 million. John had only been in Portugal for a year having moved from FC Twente for a fee of 7.25 million at the start of last season. Moving to Norwich for 4.6 million gives Benfica a loss of 2.65 million.

Eric Dier joins from another Portuguese side Sporting for a fairly cheap fee of 1.6 million. The 19 year old is thought to be a replacement for Michael Turner who's contract expires at the end of the season.

Finally Zlatko Junuzovic joins from Werder Bremen for a fee of 6 million, which is a rather expensive fee for a team like Norwich. The centre midfielder is thought to pair up with fellow midfielder Leroy Fer this season.

It has come out today that one of the Norwich players is not entirely happy with Ian Holloway taking charge of the team. The player that is not happy is Elliott Bennett. Bennett posted a comment on Twitter which said,


It's thought that the FA are investigating this statement and Bennett could face a fine. It's also thought that he won't be at the club for much longer having been transfer listed by manager Ian Holloway.

It has been announced today that Elliott Bennett has departed Norwich heading for Celtic for a fee of 3 million. The 24 year old was thought to be on bad terms with newly appointed manager Ian Holloway hence the sale.


Bennett joined Norwich in 2011 from Brighton for a fee of 1.9 million. During his time at Carrow Road he made 57 league appearances, scoring 2 goals. Recently Bennett has made some bad remarks on Twitter, aimed at newly appointed manager Ian Holloway. For them remarks he has been given a £26,000 fine and a two match ban. Many fans sore this move coming and aren't really that surprised.

Today Norwich City manager Ian Holloway announced that he had completed the signings of Andi Weimann and Javi Espinosa from Aston Villa and Barcelona B respectively. Holloway also announced that Luciano Becchio had departed the club to Spanish side Valladolid.


Andi Weimann joins Norwich from fellow Barclays Premier League side Aston Villa for a fee of 3.7 million. The Austrian striker made a total of 61 league appearances for the side scoring 10 goals. The 22 year old looks to be a replacement for former Norwich striker Grant Holt, who departed for Wigan earlier in the transfer window.

Javi Espinosa joins Norwich from Barcelona B. The centre midfielder racked up a total of 81 appearances for the Spanish side, scoring 11 goals. It is thought that this signing is more for the future, but everyone believes he can play a major role in Norwich's league campaign this season.

Meanwhile Argentine striker Luciano Becchio has departed Carrow Road heading for Spanish side Valladolid for a fee of 1.8 million. The 29 year old failed to make a mark on Norwich hence the sale. Norwich haven't really lost any money on this player as he joined the club in exchange for Steve Morrison.

Norwich 2 - 0 Aston Villa (VAN WOLFSWINKEL 14' pen, FER 55')
Arsenal 1 - 0 Norwich (OZIL 62')
Norwich 3 - 0 Scunthorpe - Capital One Cup (VAN WOLFSWINKEL 51' pen, JOHN 62', DIER 83')
Norwich 2 - 2 Liverpool (ASPAS 32', 34', FER 74', OLSSON 81')

Aston Villa Game...

A fairly good game for us with us winning 2 nil. The first goal came from the penalty sport with Ricky Van Wolfswinkel firing home. The second goal came from a free kick about 26 yards out which was superbly finished by Leroy Fer.

Arsenal Game...

A rather boring game which Arsenal controlled, having 69% possession to our 31%. The only goal came from Mesut Ozil. A superb attack lead to him being through on goal and then there was no doubt he would miss it.

Scunthorpe Game...

An excellent game for us. The first half was pretty dull with no major thing happening, but the second half come to life with goals coming from Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Ola John and of all people Eric Dier.

Liverpool Game...

A superb comeback from us after we went two goals down in the first half. The players really showed there quality throughout the second half of the game. Goals coming from Iago Aspas, Leroy Fer and Martin Olsson.

League Table

Would be good to loan Espinosa out: maybe Bristol Rovers- continue that link!
Good start to the season for the team from Norfolk. Hopefully you can keep it up...

get sosme logos please hehe