Continuing our series, well-known local journalist Kevin Piper, whose career has taken in newspapers, radio and TV, looks back at a momentous night ... after a few panics in the build-up
I guess I’m in good company when I say picking one favourite match from a lifetime of following your football club is easier said than done.
Should I go back to the very beginning, the first time my dear old dad took me to Carrow Road in 1968 (Bolton Wanderers, 3-1)?
Or my first away match, at Oxford United’s old Manor Ground, New Year’s Day, 1972, the promotion-winning campaign en route to the top flight of English football for the first time ever?
There’s my first trip to Wembley’s Twin Towers for the League Cup final against Spurs, 1973. All memorable occasions for a local lad whose childhood was immersed in the trials and tribulations of the mighty Canaries. Much as it has been since, to be fair.
But when it comes down to it, there can be only one game. A match which, to this day, represents the pinnacle of City’s brief flirtation with European football. Yes, the Uefa Cup tie at Bayern Munich.
I was Anglia TV’s Head of Sport at the time. The day the draw was made I called Mike Walker, who was on the team coach heading for an away game.
The conversation went along the lines of: “It’s a tough draw, Mike.” To which the City boss replied, “Who for? Us - or them?”
Mike was delighted. Having qualified for Europe and seen off Vitesse Arnhem in the first round, he desperately wanted one of Europe’s big guns in the next round.
This was a chance to show the watching world what we were capable of. And believe me, it was a great Norwich squad, featuring the likes of Bryan Gunn, Ian Crook, Jeremy Goss, Chris Sutton. Legends one all...
Anglia didn’t have the TV rights to the game; nonetheless we headed out to Munich to shoot colour footage before, during and after the game, with the focus on City’s travelling fans.
It turned into something of a calamitous trip for the Anglia crew, not least my dear friend and former colleague Richard Henwood and ace cameraman Chris Warner.
Before the match we were granted access to Munich’s trophy room, showcasing a dazzling array of silverware. In pride of place, a replica of the European Cup, testimony to Bayern’s proud record in the competition.
All of a sudden there was a commotion; I turned in time to see Chris’s camera and tripod crashing down in the direction of said European Cup. Chris leapt up, hurled himself at the tumbling tripod and managed to divert it from the trophy just in time, missing it by millimetres. Disaster averted.
Problem was, the camera lens was damaged when it hit the floor, leaving us with a real problem in terms of capturing the all-important colour footage at the match itself.
But that was only part of an unfolding crisis. Back in the day, camera tapes had to be physically sent back to headquarters, which meant organising a courier service to get the tapes back to the UK.
We duly arranged for the footage to be collected from the hotel reception, taken to the airport and flown home to Norwich, where it would be edited and screened as part of Anglia’s build-up to the game. Or at least that was the plan...
The courier never arrived. The tapes stayed on reception. The flight was missed.
So we were confronted with a double whammy. Our pre-match footage was stuck in Munich - and the lens on Chris’s camera was pretty much wrecked.
It called for a hasty review, the upshot of which saw poor Richard delegated as emergency courier, with the job of taking the tapes back to England in person.
At the same time, another Anglia colleague, Tony Jones, would fly out to Munich to cover Richard’s reporting duties - and bring a replacement lens for Chris’s camera. Sorted.
Richard was understandably disappointed, to say the least. He’d worked hard, producing some cracking pre-match colour footage, only to be denied the chance to go to the actual game.
On the up side, the plan worked; Richard and the tapes made it back to Anglia in time, while Tony joined us in Munich to take care of coverage with Chris.
As for the game itself, I remember watching, almost dumbstruck, as Norwich romped to a two-goal lead. Surreal. Here we were in the Olympic Stadium, home to one of the giants of world football, cruising. Tough game for who, eh, Mike?
I could hardly believe it. In fact, I remember calling my wife Carolyn, watching on television at home and saying something along the lines of: “It’s 2-0 to Norwich here in the stadium, what’s the score back home on the telly?”
The rest, as they say is history. That wonder goal from Gossy. The stunning save by Gunny. Mission accomplished in the return leg. Halcyon days.
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