Summary of our They Think It’s All Over Event by Sarah Wilkinson
Poaching and Coaching
The last time this much laughter was heard coming from the Barclay, the Ipswich keeper was picking the ball out of the net for the fourth time……
East Anglian derbies of the past got a good airing, alongside the dead mouse in the toaster, Stanley Matthews’ autograph and the back of the bus card schools in the latest forum organised by the independent Norwich City Fans Social Club.
Fans’ favourites from past decades Bryan Gunn, Jamie Cureton and Bill Punton had plenty of stories to tell about themselves and each other in a screamingly funny recap of life at, and after, Norwich City.
Sixties winger Punton recalled poaching pheasants to make ends meet, the skipping rope and hot bath “physio” methods more akin to a Soviet Gulag than a professional football club and how you got round the twelve pound a week wage cap (but maybe we better leave that there!)
Held the evening after Angus and team mates put up such a good show against Chelsea, of course proud dad Bryan had plenty to say about his lad’s abilities – while still pointing out that the strapping present-day keeper still needed his dad’s help to deal with scary things like noisy bin lids.
Host Darren Eadie competed with friend and former room-mate Cureton to tell the silliest stories about each other. Now a reformed character playing part-time at Bishop’s Stortford as well as coaching at Arsenal, Cureton admitted he was a proper party boy back in the day and would do anything for a laugh including the famous green hair dye incident – an effect only slightly spoiled by it running down his face during the game as he hadn’t dried it properly.
The three showed they more than deserved their hero status by staying on for plenty of questions, photos and chats after the event too. And as if it wasn’t a good enough evening already, £288 was raised for our friends at the Community Sports Foundation with a raffle and auction of Bryan Gunn’s own tickets for the Gunn Club
