10 Best Players Who Played for Both Norwich City and Ipswich Town
Norwich City and Ipswich Town have been rivals for a very long time. Their rivalry goes back as far as 1939 when the derby was first played. Matches played between the two are termed East Anglian Derby. It is one of the fiercest rivalries in England. Many good players have played for the two clubs and some of the players have also played for both of these clubs at different times.
It is not very common for players to go on and play for their arch-rivals and it is always very difficult for the players due to the hatred they get from the fans, especially when returning to their former home ground. Despite this, time and again we see players crossing the great divide. In this article, we have listed down the 10 best players who played for both Norwich City and Ipswich Town.
Here are the ten best players who played for both Norwich City and Ipswich Town.
10. David Wright
David Wright played as a defender and midfielder during his playing career. He started his career in the third tier of English football with Crewe Alexandra. He then moved to Wigan Athletic in 2004, from where he was sent on loan to Norwich City on a one-month deal. Wright played five games for the Canaries before returning to Wigan.
The very next season he returned to East Anglia to play for Ipswich Town for a fee of around £200,000 on a three-and-a-half-year deal. In his first campaign with Ipswich, he scored only one goal which was against his former club Norwich City in a 1-1 draw. He played a total of 128 games for Ipswich and scored 5 goals.
9. Louie Donowa
Louie Donowa played as a winger for many different clubs and also played for England U21. He made around 400 appearances for club and country in his entire career.
Donowa kicked off his professional career by signing for Norwich City in 1982 at the age of 18 years. He made 81 appearances for Norwich City, scoring 15 goals. Donowa won the FA Youth Cup in 1983 with the Norwich City Youth team and he also was part of the team that won the League Cup in 1985.
After a loan spell at Stoke City and 3 years in Spain with Deportivo de La Coruña, he returned to England in 1989 to play for Ipswich Town. He spent one year with the Tractor Boys, playing 30 games and scoring 2 goals.
8. Alan Lee
Alan Lee started his career with Aston Villa. He played for various clubs before signing for Ipswich Town from Cardiff City in January 2006. The striker performed very well in the first season, finding the net 17 times in 44 games. After playing a total of 109 games and scoring 34 goals, the Irish international moved to Crystal Palace from where he was loaned out to Norwich City in March 2009 for the remaining season.
He scored 2 goals in 7 games he played with the Canaries. He then returned back to Selhurst Park from where he was transferred to Huddersfield Town, there he spent 3 years and decided to end his career with Ipswich Town, so he returned back there in July 2013 as part of the club’s academy staff but was signed on a non-contract basis as a player while still retaining the coaching position but was forced to retire in 2014 due to a knee injury.
7. Allenby Driver
The English inside-forward started his career when he joined Sheffield Wednesday. He joined the club as an amateur in March 1936 turning professional the following month. He also served for six years with the Royal Artillery before joining Luton Town in 1946 and then Norwich City in January 1948.
Allenby Driver scored 19 goals in 49 league appearances for the Canaries before joining Town for £3,000 two years later. He spent two years with Ipswich Town, appearing in 85 league games and scoring 25 goals in that time. He is one of the best players who played for both Norwich City and Ipswich Town.
6. Keith Bertschin
Keith Bertschin had a very long career playing with teams like Ipswich Town, Birmingham City, Norwich City, Stoke City, Sunderland, Walsall, Chester City, Aldershot among others. He played a total of 476 games in his entire career. After just one year of kicking off his career with Barnet in 1972, he joined Ipswich Town in 1973.
He was required to wait to make his professional debut for the club. Keith played his first senior game in April 1976 against Arsenal, in which he scored. He played there for 4 years until 1977.
He joined Norwich City in 1981, after spending four seasons with Birmingham City. Keith played 138 matches for the Canaries and scored 38 goals in them. He helped Norwich win promotion in 1981-82.
5. Trevor Putney
Trevor Putney kick-started his professional career with Ipswich Town in 1980. Before that, he was playing for non-league team Brentwood. When he joined Ipswich Town, they were among the biggest teams in English football. He was voted Ipswich Town Player of the Year for 1983-84. Trevor played for Ipswich from 1980 to 1986 but only managed to make 103 appearances due to injuries.
He then joined arch-rivals Norwich City in an exchange deal that saw John Deehan move to Ipswich Town. Injuries did not trouble him with Norwich as much and he ended up enjoying some of the club’s best success. He played there for 3 years and then left for Middlesbrough.
4. John Deehan
The English international played 379 matches in his entire professional career. Out of those 379 matches, John Deehan played 162 for Norwich City. He played as a striker and scored 62 goals for the Canaries over a period of five years from 1981 to 1986. He was voted into Norwich City Hall of Fame by the fans in 2002.
Deehan started his career with Aston Villa and also played for clubs like Man City, West Brom and ended his career at Barnsley but he was best known for his time with Aston Villa and Norwich City.
In the summer of 1986, Deehan joined Ipswich town, leaving Norwich in an exchange deal with Trevor Putney moving to Norwich. He scored a total of 11 goals in 49 games he played for Ipswich Town in two seasons before moving to Man City.
3. Andy Marshall
The English goalkeeper played for Norwich City for the first 7 years of his career. Marshall played 195 matches for the club. He also played for England U18 and U21 teams during that time.
Andy Marshall began as a trainee with Norwich City but got his first-team debut when their main goalkeeper Bryan Gunn got sidelined for the season. He was also loaned out to Bournemouth and Gillingham during that time which helped him with his experience. He was voted player of the season in his last season with the Canaries.
Marshall then left for Ipswich Town in 2001, having refused to sign a new contract with the club in order to play in the Premier League. Very few players have moved directly from Norwich to Ipswich or vice versa, so that had the fans of both clubs fuming. After playing 53 games with Ipswich, things didn’t quite seem to have worked out between him and the fans, so he left for Millwall in 2004.
2. Peter Morris
Peter Morris appeared in over 600 games in his entire football career starting with Mansfield Town, where the Englishman spent almost half of his career from 1960 to 1968. From there he joined Ipswich Town, where he played 220 games and scored 13 goals.
After that, he moved to Norwich City and played 66 games there from 1974 to 1976. He mostly played as a central midfielder or a half-forward. Morris was a skilful player with a great pace. He is among the best players who played for both Norwich City and Ipswich Town
1. Clive Woods
Woods was born in Norwich on 18th December 1947. Being a native there, he started his career with Norwich Gothic where he played on a trial basis, mostly on the reserves. After getting trials from different clubs, he was finally signed by Ipswich Town in June 1969. There he played 267 games as a winger during the time when Ipswich was at the top of English football.
In the 1978 FA Cup final against Arsenal, he was named the man of the match for his performance. After being a part of Ipswich Town for 11 years, he joined Norwich City in March 1980. He spent one year as a Norwich player, appearing in 32 games and scoring 4 goals.
Peter Morris, Trevor Putney, John Deehan, Clive Woods, Johnny Miller. All great players not mentioned Shame on you!