Our look at Norwich City's seasons in the top flight takes us to 1976-77 - a season of extreme highs and lows... as CHRIS LAKEY reports
Manager
John Bond
Bond didn’t mind a dabble in the transfer market and this season there were plenty of ins and out – Peter Morris, Mervyn Cawston and Steve Goodwin went as did club legend Dave Stringer, who joined Cambridge. John Ryan came in from Luton, but perhaps the biggest exit was Ted MacDougall, who pined for the south coast and in October 1976 joined Southampton.
Season
Finished 16th. Fixture list compiler did City no favours – they lost 1-0 to champions Liverpool on the opening day. Took a while to get going, with just one win in their first seven games. Their best run of the season came over the festive period where they won three in a row – beating Sunderland, QPR and Leicester. After a couple of defeats they got their revenge on Ljverpool with a 2-1 win at Carrow Road.
Low point
Without a shadow of a doubt it came on February 15 when City were thrashed 5-0 at Portman Road – a win which saw Ipswich go top of the table. The Town goals came from Trevor Whymark (hat-trick), John Wark and Paul Mariner. It has been labelled the Destruction Derby – they're not far wrong. If any salt was needed for that gaping wound it came in April, when Town won 1-0 at Carrow Road.
Highlight
Beating Liverpool 2-1 in January. Martin Peters put City ahead from the spot on 15 minutes, Jimmy Neighbour made it 2-0 in the final minute, although there was still time for Phil Neal to score a penalty for the visitors. Neighbour’s goal was his first since his arrival from Spurs the previous October. “As I ran on with the ball it bobbled up in front of me,” he said. “I was a bit lucky that it bounced right because it could have gone anywhere.”
Player of the season
Martin Peters
The classy midfielder picked up the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy for the second year in a row.
Leading scorer
Viv Busby (11)
When Ted MacDougall made it clear he wanted to leave, John Bond turned to the Fulham man as his replacement. The 26-year-old cost just £40,000 – the same price Southampton paid for MacDougall, not that Busby had any intention of leaving Craven Cottage. That was, until Bond sold Norwich to him. “I wasn’t interested in moving and said so,” recalled Busby. “I was happy at Fulham and didn’t feel as if I wanted to go anywhere else. What could I do? I went up to Norwich to have a chat with Bondy and he sold the club to me. No problem.”
Busby’s finest hour was on New Year’s Day when he scored a top-flight hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Leicester at Carrow Road.
Anything else?
Kevin Reeves. Bond signed him from Bournemouth in January 1977 for £50,000. Scored eight in 21 games in the 76-77 season. He ended up scoring 42 goals in 133 league and cup games and when he left in March 1980, for Manchester City, he became the Canaries' first £1m player sale.
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