Spud Thornhill: Mind the crash, some records are in danger of being broken

 In my eyes, we were best team in the land. I remember so much from that season. 

 Memories of beating European Cup-Winners Cup holders and then Division One champions Everton and drawing with Manchester United shortly after they had won their opening 10 games. And we had some great Canaries playing for us, from England goalkeeper Chris Woods to striker Kevin Drinkell.

 I missed only a few home games that season. We enjoyed some great wins - one of my favourite Pink Un headlines was after we had beaten Millwall 6-1 with John Granville in goal for the Lions. It read: ‘Granville’s goal Open All Hours’. I don’t remember much about the away games as I didn’t go , not even the 1-0 win at Fulham. Yep, that’s how special the season was - that was  our last win at Craven Cottage!

What I remember most from the season is the 10 consecutive league wins. Again, as a 10-year-old I didn’t really appreciate what an achievement it was at the time. It’s only through the years that I've understood how good it was. 

 Since then we’ve only come near to equalling it, with eight consecutive league wins in the 2009/10 and 2018/19 seasons. The one in 2019 was so frustrating as it took a very late Reading equaliser to end the run. I still remember being more gutted about the run ending than the three points being snatched at the death. Gutted for Daniel Farke and the team.

I know some records were broken for unwanted reasons last season, but we may break a lot of worthwhile records this season.

The first record I would love us to beat is the consecutive wins. I didn’t think after we lost 2-0 at Swansea at the beginning of February  that we would win our next seven games in the space of just three weeks.

 If we do win our three games in the next eight days, starting on Sunday, we would equal the consecutive wins record by next Saturday - just five weeks after the first win over Stoke City. That would be a  phenomenal achievement, especially if you go to  back to 1985/86, which was over nine weeks.

Teemu Pukki celebrates goal number 20 of the season as Norwich beat Luton last weekend (Image: ©Focus Images Limitedhttps://www.focus-images.co.uk+44 7813 022858)

If we do equal it next week, so many people will deserve the plaudits, but none more so than Teemu Pukki. Nine goals in the last seven games has taken his total to 20 in 32 games this season, with an overall record of 61 goals in 116 games.

 Teemu  has a goal average of 0.53, placing him seventh on the best goal average table. With how the modern game is, it makes the record more phenomenal: the top six players were all playing before 1960. 

 His 61 goals have now placed him 13th in the all-time highest goal scorer list. Pukki may not get to beat John Gavin’s 132 goals, but five more will put him in the top 10.

 At the other end of the pitch, we kept another clean sheet - number 15 - against Luton last weekend. We need six more clean sheets to beat the club record of 20 in the 1971/72 season. Tim Krul has kept 14 of those clean sheets in his 25 appearances and that’s not including the clean sheet he kept at Stoke City before coming off at half-time with an injury. 

 Since Krul’s return, we have kept eight clean sheets in 11 games. If this continues, not only could we break the clean sheets record, we could also break the club record of fewest goals conceded for the season, which at the moment stands at 36 and is held by those who played on the 1971/72 season - 42-game campaign

The final record which we may beat is for the most points. Whilst many fans would like us to smash the 100-point barrier, I just want us to beat the 95 points we got in 2009/10.

 If - or should I say when? -  we win promotion, us fans might not look back with as much fondness as other promotions, but I’m sure in years to come we'd look at these records with a lot of pride. 

 Come on, you Yellows!