ACN Flashback – Norwich City 3-5 Liverpool (1980 – H)

The Story of the Game

Like the letters through a stick of rock, stories run through the histories of football clubs that become so much a part of its lore they are literally unforgettable.

On 9 February 1980, Norwich City’s number nine Justin Fashanu, raised the index finger of his right hand into the air and trudged back to the halfway line having just completed one of the most incredible pieces of footballing brilliance. “Oh what a goal! That’s a magnificent goal!” screamed the usually unflappable Barry Davies, unable to catch the astonishment in his voice as the ball somehow nestled into the back of Ray Clemence’s net in front of an awestruck Barclay stand.

Liverpool were, as was often the case in the 70s and 80s, flying high in the league and their visit to Carrow Road was notable enough to mean that the BBC Match of the Day cameras came with them, for what most were thinking a routine win against the steady mid-table Norwich City. Instead, what transpired was an 8 goal thriller of a breathless match of fast attacking, 80s-style, football. Yet it is one man’s moment of individual artistry that ended up going down in history. Two absolutely perfect touches of a football, two bemused defenders, one ball looping into the net. One finger pointed at the air.

No matter how overused the word iconic has become, the picture of Fashanu with his hand raised in a demonstration of nonchalant mundanity is burned into the subconscious of every Norwich City fan. Everything from the kit, to the state of the pitch, to the way the ball oh-so-perfectly-loops up over the defender. It’s Carrow Road social folklore, now handed down from generation to generation to generation. It’s opening YouTube up on the iPad and saying “come over here kids and watch this”. It’s trying to replicate in the playground and in the park. It’s as big a part of the club as the canary crest or the colours green and yellow. It is Norwich City.

Long term significance

Fashnu’s goal would go on to win the BBC’s Goal of the Season award for 1980, the only Norwich player to ever win the award. It would not be hyperbolic to suggest that it was one of the best televised English goals of the pre-Premier League era, and, even though we can now see any insane goal from the Ukrainian 3rd Division upwards anytime and anywhere, it is still regularly revisited and rebroadcast. The shockwaves sent out from the goal, by the fact that he was a gay and black footballer are, of course, still reverberating in time.

You might have forgotten that…

Not withstanding that it’s easy to forget that Liverpool won, David Fairclough also scored a hat-trick, which is hilarious when you consider that he was completely upstaged by one flick and one smack off the boot. Fairclough signed for Norwich later in his career, but only made two league appearances.

What happened in the rest of that season?

Norwich finished a comfortable 12th, in what was otherwise a moderately unremarkable year that secured top flight football for the 6th successive season. We were relegated the following year despite Fashanu’s 22 goals. He was sold to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest and in doing so became the first £1m black footballer.

Liverpool won the First Division title ahead of Manchester United in 2nd and, uh, *checks notes* Ipswich Town in 3rd. They also, intriguingly, lost in an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in a tie that saw three replays and the two teams meet each other five times in three weeks.