Canaries, Cherries And Hammers - 1970'S

I have made reference on a few occasions to Norwich City raiding AFC Bournemouth for players back in the seventies.  The time has come to add a bit more detail to those events, together with something of a timeline. And whilst these activities all stemmed from the appointment of John Bond as manager of the Canaries, the story actually goes a lot deeper than one of a new boss returning to his old club to plunder the most sought after treasures. He did not stop at players - he also filled his backroom with other Bournemouth old boys (Ken Brown, John Sainty, Fred Davies). He chased, and caught, former Cherries who had played for him at Dean Court and had moved away to other teams. This policy was not restricted to a short spell of time either, as many fans may well wrongly remember. It did in fact carry on for a number of years.

The trade between the two clubs was as busy as the old silk or tea routes from days gone by, and was in fact a two way trek - a number of Canaries found themselves moving south to Bournemouth, who, not surprisingly, found themselves a little short ...