Today’s ‘On This Day’ feature sees us take a look at Norwich City’s programme from the 1980/81 season. Read our full review of the issue below and click here to see all of the Division One programmes from the season.
The cover of Norwich City’s programme proudly stated that their issue had been voted either the first or second ‘Best Programme in Britain’ for three consecutive seasons. ‘Canary’ boasted 23 pages of content – more than any other programme in the division – and packed these with various readable features.
The cover of the Manchester City issue showed the Canaries’ Justin Fashanu on England Under-21 duty – in one of eleven caps at that level won by the striker. A column on the inside front cover discussed the safety improvements made by clubs throughout the country since the passing of the ‘Safety of Sports Grounds Act’ in 1975. The opinions of Ken Brown were then provided in the manager’s column. Brown bemoaned refereeing inconsistencies in recent games, with the Canaries perched precariously in the relegation zone with six games to play.
‘Press Box’ was penned by Jack Steggles of the Daily Mirror, who praised the work undertaken by the club in establishing a successful youth scheme, noting that this was due in part to the work of Ken Brown and John Bond, then manager of matchday opponents Manchester City. ‘Scene’ gathered various items of club news, including Norwich’s latest programme award from the Football Commercial Managers Association. There were two pages of pictures from City’s recent game against Arsenal, with the focus being on Fashanu, who scored one of his 19 goals that season against the Gunners.
A detailed retro article was presented across the centre pages, which in this issue featured Joe Mullett, who made 248 appearances for Norwich between 1959 and 1968, and forming part of the Canaries team that won the League Cup in 1962 with a two-legged victory over Rochdale. The main player feature in the programme was a two-page interview with Canaries midfielder Martin O’Neill, who reflected on the success he enjoyed at previous club Nottingham Forest and the reception he had enjoyed at the City Ground on the occasion of Norwich’s visit the previous week.
A couple of pages of stats provided the Division One table, and results and fixtures for the first-team and reserves, whilst there was a page of news and match updates for the Youth Team. The programme also included a page for members of the ‘Canary Kids Club’, a ‘Postbag’ column, and ‘Coach’, which captured the thoughts of reserve team boss Doug Livermore. Coverage of the visitors from Maine Road consisted of a two-page article, accompanied by pictures of John Bond and another former Canary in the shape of forward Kevin Reeves, who had left Norwich to join the Citizens for £1.25m a year earlier. The article discussed City’s improving form since Bond’s appointment the previous October and covered the key players responsible for lifting City away from the foot of the table.
It’s not hard to see why this Norwich issue was considered to be among the best programmes in the country in 1980/81. ‘Canary’ contained various features of interest, with a mix of retro and contemporary content, all well laid out with thoughtful use made of the club’s colours throughout.