Norwich City F.C. - Stadium

Stadium

Norwich City F.C. played at Newmarket Road from 1902 to 1908, with a record attendance of 10,366 against Sheffield Wednesday in a second round FA Cup match in 1908. Following a dispute over the conditions of renting the Newmarket Road ground, in 1908, the club moved to a new home, in a converted disused chalk pit in Rosary Road which became known as "The Nest". By the 1930s, the ground capacity was proving insufficient for the growing crowds and in 1935 the club moved to its current home in Carrow Road. The original stadium, "the largest construction job in the city since the building of Norwich Castle... was "miraculously" built in just 82 days... it was referred to as 'The eighth wonder of the world'" An aerial photograph from August 1935 shows three sides of open terracing and a covered stand, with a Colman's Mustard advertisement painted on its roof, visible only from the air. Floodlights were erected at the ground in 1956 whose £9,000 costs nearly sent the club into bankruptcy but the success in the 1959 FA Cup secured the financial status of the club and allowed for a cover to be built over the South Stand, which was itself replaced in 2003 when a new 7,000 seat South stand, subsequently renamed the Jarrold Stand, was built in its place.

1963 saw the record attendance for Carrow Road, with a crowd of 43,984 for a 6th round FA Cup match against Leicester City, but in the wake of the Ibrox disaster in 1971, safety licences were required by clubs which resulted in the capacity being drastically reduced to around 20,000. A two-tier terrace was built at the River End and soon after seats began to replace the terraces. By 1979 the stadium had a capacity of 28,392 with seats for 12,675. A fire in 1984 partially destroyed one of the stands which eventually led to its complete demolition and replacement by 1987 of a new City Stand, which chairman Robert Chase described as "Coming to a football match within the City Stand is very much like going to the theatre – the only difference being that our stage is covered with grass". After the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and the subsequent outcome of the Taylor Report in 1990, the stadium was converted to all-seater with the corners being filled. Today, Carrow Road is an all-seater stadium, with a capacity of just over 27,000.