Remember when ‘the bench’ was just a bench?
City’s official 2024-25 team photo was taken and released yesterday. On it, there were 28 players and 25 coaching and related staff. Now translate that to a matchday…
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that you could have fitted everyone who sat on the bench for the duration of a football match into one of those little tents so beloved of Glastonbury and other music festivals.
Manager, trainer, substitute and a man in a tracksuit from Woolworths armed with a galvanised bucket full of cold water and the sponge he used to clean his Ford Escort.
Not that anyone really noticed them before, during or after a match as they were more intent on watching the match that just happened to be taking place at the time, which was fine by the quartet on the bench as they were focused on watching it as well.
Their domain was called “the bench” because, more often than not, that’s exactly what it was. A piece of wood placed on top of two supports long enough to seat four. No backrests, no shelter and no sponsor’s slogans in and around them.
And certainly no supporting cast of thousands.
Because if you take a look at the Norwich City “bench” these days – laughably still called that within the game although, in truth, it looks more like one of the meeting rooms at the nearby Holiday In – you are witness to a scene that looks like it might have been set up by Peter Jackson as part of one of the Lord Of The Rings films.
