Having had the joy of deciding who Norwich’s top five signings ever was last week, I decided to take on the challenge of an even harder task which consisted of deciding the five worst players to put on the famous yellow and green jersey. Arguably, I could have picked the majority of Glenn Roeder’s dreadful team from 2007-2009 but the majority of those deals were loans and I will stick to the permanent transfers that Norwich City have made. Throughout the years, there have been some dreadful Canaries and while there are one or two that may have just missed the cut, I have endeavoured to be as selective as possible while reliving Norwich City nightmares.
This is just my opinion, however if you disagree, feel free to tweet us your five at @ReadNorwich or comment below.
David Strihavka
The Czech striker signed a four year contract with Norwich City after moving from Banik Ostrava but his career failed to take off in England. Strihavka scored just once in 11 appearances before his contract was mutually terminated in January 2008. Strihavka said at the time that “he failed to adapt to the English game and wanted to restart his career in Prague” and cited that the change in management was a factor too after Peter Grant was sacked and replaced by Glenn Roeder. Roeder confirmed it was a “gamble that didn’t pay off.” Strihavka had a hard time in Norfolk but he won’t be the only striker to have struggled with Norwich on this list…
Julian Brellier
Unfortunately, I was unable to find an image of Julian Brellier wearing a Norwich shirt, probably for the best as the image was wiped from my memory long ago and I feel no need to revisit it. Having been signed from Scottish Premier League club Hearts, many thought the Frenchman would go on to become a stalwart in the Canary midfield. But quite the opposite happened and like Strihavka, he made 11 appearances and was subsequently released that same January. Although, Roeder righted the wrongs his predecessor Peter Grant had made by letting Brellier and Strihavka leave, he replaced them with short-term loans that also didn’t work out. Oh and let Huckerby go but that’s a moan for another day!
Luciano Becchio
Having had a very impressive goal record at Leeds United, Norwich swooped for the Argentine on transfer deadline day in January 2013 which consisted of a swap deal of Steve Morison and an undisclosed fee. But, Becchio’s Norwich career never took off and he only made 16 appearances for the Canaries without scoring a goal before being released in 2015 when his contract expired. It must also be said that the majority of Becchio’s appearances were towards the end of games but the matches he did start, the Argentine failed to make an impact.
Ricky Van Wolfswinkel
I was sorry to have to put RVW on this list but I’m afraid in all honesty, his £8.5m transfer to Norfolk turned out to be a massive waste of money and after one sorry season with Norwich, the Dutchman has been loaned out for the last two seasons. After signing from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2013, there was a great sense of intrigue and optimism that Norwich had got themselves a striker capable of scoring 20 goals a season. With Van Wolfswinkel in and around the Dutch side and with it being a World Cup year, the stage seemed to be set for RVW and his goal on his debut against Everton seemed to be a sign of only good things to come for him and Norwich City. Unfortunately, no further goals followed and Ricky couldn’t save Norwich from being relegated to the Championship. He is currently still a Norwich player so if he does ever play for Norwich again, he could still turn his career around but it is a big if.
Michael Theoklitos
I’m sure you could have all guessed who would have been my number one. Yes, that ‘goalkeeper’ if you can justify calling him that. Michael Theo as he is now known signed for Norwich in the summer of 2009 with the Canaries looking to bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt having been relegated to League One. Norwich signed what they thought would be their new number one for many seasons after he had been released from Melbourne Victory. He came with a good pedigree, Norwich fans weren’t expecting a new Robert Green or his manager at the time Bryan Gunn between the sticks but they thought he would be able to hold his own in the third tier of English football. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Theoklitos conceded seven as the Canaries lost 7-1 to Paul Lambert’s Colchester United and ultimately cost Bryan Gunn his job. He would never play for Norwich again and was released the following March.