2008–09 Norwich City F.C. season explained

The 2008–09 season was Norwich City's fourth consecutive year in the Football League Championship. On 3 May 2009, the club was relegated to play League One football for the first time in 49 years after losing 4–2 to Charlton Athletic and finishing in 22nd place. This article shows statistics and lists all matches played by the club during the season.

Club sponsors

From 26 April 2008, it was announced that Flybe would be stepping down as the main club sponsor.^[1] On 29 April 2008 it was announced that Aviva would be the new shirt sponsors, having signed a three-year contract. Aviva are the parent company of Norwich Union.^[2]

Board changes

On 2 September 2008, Andrew and Sharon Turner announced that they were leaving the football club's board of directors. This left a £2 million hole in Norwich City's budget. On 4 September 2008, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones announced that they would be injecting £2 million, avoiding financial problems for the club.

Board and staff members

Coaching staff

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[3]

Left club during season

Transfers

In

	Pos	Player	From	Fee	When
6	DF			Undisclosed	Summer
8	MF			Free	Summer
14	MF			Undisclosed	Summer
17	MF			Undisclosed	Summer
25	GK			Free	Summer
29	FW		Unattached	Free	December[4]
27	FW			Undisclosed	February 2009[5]

Out

	Pos	Player	To	Fee	When
4	DF			Undisclosed	Summer
6	MF		San Jose Earthquakes	Released	Summer
9	FW		Retired		Summer
12	GK			Part of Hoolahan deal	Summer
14	DF		Panthrakikos	Released	Summer
23	FW		Leyton Orient	Released	Summer
25	DF		Luton Town	Released	Summer
29	DF		Wroxham	Released	Summer
31	DF		Leyton Orient	Released	Summer
34	GK		Grays Athletic	Released	Summer
36	MF		Kerkyra FC	Released	Summer
37	DF		Released	Released	Summer
11	MF			Free	Winter[6]
17	MF			500,000	Winter[7]
16	MF		Released	Released	April 9[8]
26	DF		Released	Released	April 9

• Indicates player joined club after being released by Norwich City

Loans in

	Pos	Player	From	When	Until
5	DF			Summer	January 2009
9	MF			Summer	January 2009
15	DF			Summer	December 2008
18	FW			Summer	January 2009
21	DF			Summer	Season
22	DF			Summer	January 2009
23	FW			Summer	January 2009
27	DF			Summer	December 2008
44	FW			October 2008	December 2008
15	DF			January 2009	March 2009
11	MF			January 2009	May 2009
9	FW			January 2009	May 2009
17	FW			January 2009	May 2009
22	DF			January 2009	May 2009
18	FW			January 2009	April 2009

Loans out

	Pos	Player	To	Until	When
10	FW			February 2009	November 2008
11	MF			January 2009	October 2008
28	MF			Season	Summer
35	FW			Season	Summer

Competitions

Pre-season

Date	Opponents	H/A	Result F–A	Scorers
25 July 2008	Dereham Town	A	1–2
28 July 2008	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–5
29 July 2008	King's Lynn	A	2–2
2 August 2008	Colchester United	H	2–2

League

May

League Cup

Notes and References

1. Web site: Flybe Step Down As Main Sponsor . Norwich City FC . 2008-04-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080428044723/http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0%2C%2C10355~1297089%2C00.html . 28 April 2008 . dead .
2. Web site: Aviva To Sponsor City . Norwich City FC . 2008-05-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080502133513/http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0%2C%2C10355~1300844%2C00.html . 2 May 2008 . dead .
3. Web site: First Team Profiles. Norwich City F.C.. 2007-10-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20070523070236/http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10355,00.html. 2007-05-23. dead.
4. Web site: Cort Joins Canaries . Norwich City FC . 2008-12-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081211002141/http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0%2C%2C10355~1480716%2C00.html . 11 December 2008 . dead .
5. Web site: City Swoop For Mcdonald . Norwich City FC . 2009-02-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090417052657/http://www.canaries.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0%2C%2C10355~1540431%2C00.html . 2009-04-17 .
6. Web site: Winger Chadwick makes Dons switch. BBC Sport. 2008-01-02.
7. Web site: Norwich's Bell in Coventry switch . BBC Sport. 2008-01-30.
8. Web site: Canaries release midfield duo . Sky Sports. 2009-04-29.