Chris Lakey: Norwich or Ipswich, it matters not - this is about the good stuff

Ian Culverhouse in 1993 kit. Picture: Archant (Image: Archant)

Over many years of experience we collect information which we can retrieve at any time… usually.

A lot of it is useless, a lot is vital. The useless stuff may be of little use to someone else, but to the owner of the information, it's part of life.

I can remember ridiculous things which make me smile, make me happy and sometimes a littler sad (don't worry, it doesn't happen often).

I can remember sitting at my first proper football game. I can remember standing next to the goalpost at Leverington sports field and getting a ball in the chops watching my village side play when I was knee high to a grasshopper. I have lots of sporting memories that pop up every so often and which I don't want to go away, which is why our history should not be consigned to the waste bin.

Up the road at Ipswich Town the players wear shirts which display a number plays of stars. The derisory side of me laughs at it, but it is just as relevant to the Tractor Boys as the 59ers are to Norwich fans and, of course, this weekend's Legends game is.

If you haven't won the Champions League half a dozen times and dominated the top flight season after season, then you have to go for what you have. In Ipswich's case, its their three stars – FA Cup, Uefa Cup and the old Division One.

In Norwich's case, the Uefa Cup run of quarter of a century ago is one of the club's major achievements. It wasn't just Vitesse Arnhem and Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. It was finishing third in the first ever Premier League, the dream that they could have won it. It was Gunn and Sutton and Bowen and Culverhouse and Goss and Robins. It was defying the odds by doing memorable things.

Everyone who was watching City at the time will remember the story and those memories are being jogged this weekend when inter Forever come to town.

Don't knock it: every one of the players out there will produce a memory for someone – Bryan Gunn and Andy Marshall, Mark Bowen and Rob Newman. Then more recently, Darren Huckerby and Adam Drury, Grant Holt and Phil Mulryne.

These people have been staple parts of our existences at one time or another.

Today, perhaps memories are more hard to establish. Seems you often have to work doubly hard to earn yourself a place in people's life.

Take, for example, young Angus Gunn, whose dad will grace the Carrow Road stage once more tomorrow. Angus has just been called in by Gareth Southgate to work with the England team. Good story. We write it, we put it on our Pink Un Facebook page.

Yet some people suggested the fact he was no longer a Norwich City meant it was not of interest.

This is a Norwich-born lad who played every game of the last Championship season, whose dad is a club legend, who many fans would like to see back here, who many fans thought had an exceptional season, who many fans voted for as their player of the season.

Yet some people appear to have forgotten him already. What a shame that the attention span has disappeared.

We should savour the Angus Gunn season and not forget the best moments, because one day when he is playing for England we will need to delve into the memory bank and say, yup, I remember him playing for us.

So enjoy tomorrow's game, look at the players who have graced some great games for City, games which you may have seen and remember, and enjoy it.

It's all in a good cause too - you won't forget it.

Spud-U-Like

You cannot fail to like Spud Thornhill, one of our Pink Un columnists and all-round good guy.

Remember the day he became a near global sensation online in November after emerging from the City Stand during the match against Preston to step in as fourth official, after one of the linesman went down injured?

Well, he's back.

The man whose beaming smile as he lifted up the electronic board to signal 10 minutes of added time went viral on social media.

The diehard Canaries fan will resume his fourth official role at Carrow Road tomorrow for the fund-raising exhibition match between Norwich City Legends and Inter Forever in aid of the Community Sports Foundation (2pm kick-off), assisting some top-level officials.

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher will take charge of the game. The Irishman, who refereed more than 1,200 professional games over a 22-year career, will be ably supported by assistant referees Darren Cann, from, Norwich, and John Busby.