Carrow Road
Norwich City v Chelsea
Saturday, January 21st 2012
Premier League, 12.45pm
By Harry Williamson
Carrow Road
Norwich City v Chelsea
Saturday, January 21st 2012
Premier League, 12.45pm
By Harry
Williamson
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1. Why you
were looking forward to going to the ground (or
not as the case may be):
There was
always something about Carrow Road which made me
want to visit. What it was I am not sure but
seeing that Sky tv had changed the fixture to a
12:45 kick off was not enough to put me off
visiting the lovely city of Norwich. (Although
it did mean getting up at 6:30 on a Saturday and
I am not a morning person!)
2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking? After what
seemed like an eternity on a train passing
endless East Anglian fields, me and my Canaries
supporting friend finally arrived in Norwich. We
had travelled on a National Express East Anglia
train from London Liverpool Street which still
had slam doors and probably should have been
scrapped about 10 years ago. As you pull into
Norwich station the floodlights and the back of
the Jarrold Stand are easily visible on your
left. From the station we simply followed the
crowds on a 5 minute walk to the ground.
3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly? At Norwich
railway station me and my friend met up with
some more Norwich City supporters and walked to
the ground, discussing Chelsea's poor recent
form and Norwich's surge up the Premier League
table. All of the Norwich fans seemed very, very
friendly. With some time to waste before kick
off, the Norwich fans showed me the WAGS and
players car park, which is located opposite the
Jarrold Stand. When walking back towards the
stadium, Les Ferdinand kindly stopped his Range
Rover to let me cross the road.
4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground? My first sight of the
stadium came as the train was arriving into
Norwich. The steel grey, cantilevered
Jarrold Stand was an impressive sight from the
train, as were the four large floodlight
pylons. Behind each goal are two virtually
identical two-tiered stands with floodlights
extending from their roofs. These are called
The Barclay and the River End, with The
Barclay being the hub of Norwich's vocal
support. Opposite the Jarrold Stand (where the
away fans are situated) is the Geoffrey
Watling City Stand which houses the directors
box complete with Delia Smith and the players
tunnel. It is quite a small, single-tiered
stand.
As I mentioned, the away fans are housed in the Jarrold Stand which is a very impressive facility. The roof is translucent and there is adequate leg room between seats. The gradient of the seating is also more or less perfect. I was seated in Row I and had an excellent view of the pitch. The away area is shared with the family enclosure. The two are separated by a narrow piece of netting which covers about 4 seats. With Carrow Road having such a relaxed and friendly atmosphere to it, then there were no problems with that. 5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, facilities etc.. The game was very
dull. It ended 0-0 and there were not too many
chances. The best chance fell to Fernando
Torres who as you would expect, failed to hit
the target. Norwich also had their chances and
Anthony Pilkington demonstrated some wonderful
skill to beat Ashley Cole and John Terry early
in the second half. In terms of atmosphere, it
was pretty good but livened up a lot more when
Norwich fans felt that they should have been
awarded a penalty. All of the noise came from
The Barclay and the 'snake pit' as it is
called in the wrap around section of the
Geoffrey Watling City stand. There was a fair
bit of friendly banter between the Chelsea
fans and the Norwich fans in The Barclay. The
stewards were fine and did not have much to do
really.
The only problem I had was forgetting a raincoat and getting a bit wet in the first half. My seat may have been in row I but it was a very windy day. Before the match I used the toilets which were quite large. The concourse was clean and modern as you would expect from a newish stand and it looked like it would be able to accommodate the half time pie rush. Half time was probably the highlight of the game. Two Norwich fans were selected to play crossbar challenge. Despite shooting from the edge of the penalty area, their attempts were miserable and it took 16 attempts before one of them at last grazed the crossbar. This resulted in a lot of taunting from the away fans. There were also half time announcements although I must say I find announcing deaths at half time rather strange. 6. Comment on getting away from the ground after the game: After the game it was
a quick trip to a nearby Morrisons to stock up
on food for the journey home. Then it was back
on the train to London Liverpool Street. The
ground was easy to get away from.
7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out: Apart from the boring
game I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Carrow
Road. It is a very nice stadium with a relaxed
atmosphere. I have no real complaints to make
about Carrow Road at all and with Norwich
looking in a good position to stay in the
Premier League it looks like another trip to
Carrow Road could well be on the cards for
2012/13.
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