Blower will not reapply for NCISA job

Chris Lakey Roy Blower says Norwich City's supporters are top of the league, after stepping down from his role in the club's biggest fan group, NCISA.

Chris Lakey

Roy Blower says Norwich City's supporters are top of the league, after stepping down from his role in the club's biggest fan group, NCISA.

The city's Lord Mayor, one of the founding members of the Norwich City Independent Supporters Association in 1995, resigned as chairman when he took over his civic duties and has decided not to seek re-election.

He will now become a life president of the organisation - an honour he says means as much to him as being made Lord Mayor.

“I have decided not to reapply for election - like everything else, you shouldn't go back,” he said. “I mean it sincerely when I include being a president of NCISA in the same breath as being made Lord Mayor.

“To be made president by your fellow supporters and peers - it can't get any better.

“I think this football club has the best supporters, not just in terms of the following, but the way they conduct themselves.

“Wherever I go in the world, I am proud to say I am a Norwich City supporter, and long may that continue.

“Being Lord Mayor is a 100pc commitment and I didn't think I could keep my eye on the ball if I was chairman of NCISA as well. I am not getting any younger and I think it's time to recharge the batteries.”

Blower, 64, helped launch the organisation during the Robert Chase regime, when protests forced the then City chairman to resign and sell his majority stake to Geoffrey Watling.

“It was a difficult period,” recalled Blower. “People didn't believe some of the things that were going on, but I make the point that we didn't protest inside the ground because we didn't want to affect the team.

.“Everything I have done during my time with NCISA has been done so it wouldn't have an adverse effect on the team. When they tried to drown us out in the ground by bringing in speakers for the game against Liverpool, we protested outside. The bank said he'd lost customer faith and pulled out their guarantee - in effect he was sunk.”

NCISA, with John Tilson at the helm, is still going strong, and Blower says it still serves a valuable purpose.

“It is a conduit for supporters who have issues they want to discuss with the football club,” he said. “We can look at issues in a different way.

“But we tread a fine line: we raise money for the club and people say we are too cosy with them, but at the same time when we criticise them people tell us we can't.

“Overall, I believe NCISA has proved to be a very good organisation.”