Susannah George
As things stand, the Canaries are heading towards the Championship play-offs, a path not taken in the club’s history.
We should be quite proud that most of our promotions from the Championship, or equivalent, were automatic and for the most part came from winning the division.
The Canaries finished in 3rd place on three occasions, the first two in the 74/75 and 81/82 seasons, when third place in the Second Division, as it was then, earned automatic promotion.
The other was the fond memory of the 2014/15 season, where our third place finish in the league saw us defeat our East Anglian rivals in the play-offs (naturally) and move on to Wembley where we beat Middlesbrough in style thanks to stellar efforts by Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond.
To remember our only other foray into the Championship play-offs, you’ll need to go back two decades to 2001/02, when we reached the top six with a goal difference of one over Burnley.
A less cherished memory as, whilst we successfully navigated the play-offs against a Wolves team who lost their cars and finished 11 points ahead of City, we were eliminated on penalties against fifth-placed Birmingham at the Millennium Stadium in the final.
With third place already well out of reach this season, City could finish in an unprecedented fourth or fifth place if they reach the play-offs. Needless to say, many of us, given our incredible home form, would prefer fourth place to have the pick.
The reality is that if we finish fifth or sixth, which seems likely, we won’t have the luxury of home advantage in the second leg. Should we be nervous if this is our destiny? In the 2001/02 season most of our defeats were also away from home and we still managed to emerge triumphant and reach the final. However, it’s worth pointing out that Wolves’ home form was also poor that season, with two of their away defeats (of which there were only four) handed to them by division winners Manchester City and our own Norwich City. So perhaps this result wasn’t a surprise.
Going back to this season, a fifth or sixth place finish would see us face Southampton or Leeds. Based on meetings between our respective clubs this season, if Norwich are to overcome the lack of home advantage in the second leg.
Southampton look to be the better of the two in terms of prospects (or Ipswich if, through some misfortune, their performance continues to decline due to their recent defeat and draw).
Ultimately, Norwich did not progress to Wembley (2001/02 it was the Millennium Stadium) for the Championship play-off final after a fourth, fifth or sixth place finish, let alone without home advantage in the second hand in the playoffs. We didn’t even lose the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
This unknown quantity brings with it a multitude of emotions for the club and the fans. But there is no reason to suspect that City will not thrive when they need to, as we did in Saturday’s derby. But if we want to get through the second leg of the playoffs with these important points, the role of the twelfth player cannot be underestimated. I have no doubt that if we replicate our efforts on Saturday and our trip to Portman Road in December, we can take the boys home for another chance at Wembley glory. I for one am certainly ready to start another unbeaten record.
