page_title: History of Norwich City F.C.
section_title: New millennium and centenary: 2000–today
hierarchical_section_title: History of Norwich City F.C. / New millennium and centenary: 2000–today
caption_attribution_description: English: Iwan Roberts celebrates scoring against Crewe Alexandra F.C. in his last match for Norwich City F.C., the game that saw The Canaries confirmed as Champions of the Football League, 2003-2004.
context_page_description: The history of Norwich City F.C. stretches back to 1902. After a brief period in amateur football, Norwich City F.C. spent 15 years as a semi-professional team in the Southern League before admission to English Football League in 1920. For most of the next 50 years, Norwich City F.C. played in Division Three, then the joint lowest tier of the football league, a period that was distinguished by "a thrilling giant-killing sequence which took them to the FA Cup semi-finals" in 1959. Shortly afterwards, the club won its first major trophy, the 1962 League Cup. Norwich finally reached the pinnacle of the league structure in 1972, with their first promotion to the top tier.
  Since then, Norwich City has acquired a reputation as a "yo-yo club", with, to the end of the 2017–18 season, 25 seasons in the top league and 19 in the second tier. It is during this period that the club has achieved most of its greatest distinctions, claiming its second major trophy, the League Cup in 1985, reaching two more FA Cup semi finals, finishing fifth, fourth and third in the top division and beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup.
context_section_description: Rioch's successor, Bryan Hamilton, lasted in the job for six months before he resigned with the club 20th in the First Division, and in real danger of relegation to the third tier of English football for the first time since the 1960s. The new appointee was Nigel Worthington, who had been Hamilton's assistant manager. Worthington's time as Norwich manager was one of peaks and troughs, with mid-table comfort a rarity. In his first part-season, he successfully steered the team away from the threat of relegation. The following season, Norwich exceeded expectations and reached the 2002 play-off final, losing to Birmingham City on penalties.
  Norwich City celebrated its centenary in 2002. Among the celebrations and events was an initiative to create a Hall of Fame, to honour players, coaches, managers, directors and executives who have "made the greatest contribution to the club in its long history both on and off the pitch". Initially, 100 significant figures from the club's history were honoured; 25 were nominated by the club and a further 75 were subsequently chosen by a fan vote. A further 10 members were inducted in 2006, elected by the club's supporters.
  After a season of consolidation, in 2003–04 Worthington led the club to the First Division title, a success achieved by a margin of eight points and Norwich returned to the top flight for the first time in nine years. For much of the 2004–05 season, the club struggled in the Premiership, but the team staged a remarkable comeback in the final weeks of the season: Norwich, who had not won in months, secured 13 points out of 18. On the last day of the season, the club needed a win to ensure top flight football the following season, but a 6–0 away defeat to Fulham condemned them to relegation.
  The club was expected to make a quick return to the Premiership in the 2005–06 season, but a terrible first four months to the campaign saw City fall as low as 18th in The Championship and "the fans started to turn on Nigel Worthington". Dean Ashton was sold for a club-record £7million, approximately double what they had paid just one year earlier. Half of Ashton's fee was immediately reinvested in the purchase of Welsh striker Robert Earnshaw, who helped the Canaries' revival to a ninth-place finish. Worthington made just one permanent signing in the close season, and when a poor run of form ensued, leaving the club in 17th place in the Championship, he was dismissed. First team coach Martin Hunter acted as caretaker manager for a fortnight before former City player Peter Grant left West Ham United to become the new manager.
  Grant managed to lift the side to finish 16th in the league. During the 2007 close season, Grant brought in nine players; ten players, including Earnshaw, departed and Darren Huckerby criticised the club for selling their best players. When the 2007–08 season opened with only two Norwich wins by early October, Grant left the club by "mutual consent". On 30 October, former Newcastle United boss Glenn Roeder was confirmed as the new manager. Roeder released several players, largely replacing them with inexperienced loan signings. Results improved enormously, lifting the club from five points adrift at the foot of the table to a comfortable mid-table position. Following a poor first half of the 2008–09 campaign, Roeder was dismissed in January 2009.
  The appointment of the club's "legendary former goalkeeper", Bryan Gunn, as manager did not prevent relegation to the third tier of English league football (League One), a level the club had not played at since 1960. Norwich started their League One campaign at home to fellow East Anglians Colchester United. They were widely expected to return swiftly to the Championship, but suffered a shock 1–7 defeat, the worst home defeat in their 107-year history. Gunn was sacked six days later. The club moved swiftly to appoint the man who had masterminded the downfall of Gunn, Colchester manager Paul Lambert.
  Lambert oversaw a turnaround in fortunes to lead Norwich to promotion back to The Championship as League One champions, duri
caption: Iwan Roberts scored 84 goals for Norwich in a space of seven years around the turn of the millennium.
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