Norwich City’s fairytale season finally suffered the briefest of hitches after the club’s celebratory bus broke down during Monday’s victory parade around the city.
The Championship winners finished the season with 94 points after beating Aston Villa 2-1 on Sunday and were all set to celebrate their surprising triumph with a special Norwich styled bus adorned with the slogan “We Are Premier League” on the side. Unfortunately, the special vehicle was faulty and the bulk of the parade had to be completed in a standard red tourist bus.
Unsurprisingly, a city that has been swept up in the excitement of their club’s march back to the pinnacle of English football was not bothered by the defective bus, happy to celebrate their collective achievement in any shape or form as players and supporters even attempted to help push the bus forward, but to no avail.
Questions were asked of manager Daniel Farke at the beginning of the season, but standing in front of a sea of yellow and green enthusiasts, the German manager was noticeably emotional as he spoke of his whirlwind second season in East Anglia.
“It’s really outstanding what this club and these supporters and this place has achieved during this season.
“All words are right. So world class, special, unique, extraordinary. We are all unbelievably proud.
“It’s more like when Stuart (Webber, the sporting director) and me signed here for Norwich.
“We said ‘Okay, the most important thing is we want to give the pride back’, and when you got the picture (on Monday at the parade), you got the feeling it was well done.”
After finishing last season – Farke’s first in charge – in 14th place, Norwich defied expectation to earn Premier League promotion and nearly 50,000 supporters gathered in the city streets to celebrate the occasion.
Midfielder Kenny McLean also took to the microphone to declare himself the local mayor.
“I am now the mayor of Norwich,” he said to the cheering crowd. “What do you guys want (introduced to the city)?
