With the Champions League (proper) starting today, it takes me back 13 years to when Norwich City came third in the Premier League, before football was spoilt by the money and foreign ownership, before the powers that be decided that only Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United could challenge for the title, and when 90% of players in the Premier League were British.
Of course, in those days only the "champions" qualified for the "Champions League", which meant Norwich went in to the UEFA Cup, where they beat Vitesse Arnhem and Bayern Munich (Norwich remain the only English team ever to have beaten Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium), eventually losing to Inter Milan, who went on to win the cup that year.
Oh how things change. Just 18 months later Norwich were relegated, faced financial ruin and took years and a large amount of Delia Smith's money in order to get back on to an even keel.
Still, think of what the Champions League could have done for Norwich.
I don't really care who gets in to the Champions League next year, but please let it be someone other than the usual four !
No comments:
Post a Comment