573 Craig Norrie

Biography

Striker Norrie was a Sydney Smith High School product who signed apprentice terms at City in 1976, elevating to a first professional contract in 1978. He made his debut in May 1979, coming on as substitute for John Farley in a home win against Exeter. Craig was back in the first team seven months later as Ken Houghton’s departure from the manager’s office ushered in Chris Chilton on a temporary basis – Chillo started the 19 year old Norrie in all three of his matches and when new boss Mike Smith took over Craig rewarded the Welshman with his first goal, albeit a consolation effort in a 1-5 shoeing at Plymouth. When Norrie scored an equaliser against perennial rivals Sheffield United, resulting a a mid-January 1-1 draw, Smith’s faith in Criag seemed strong. But when City spent reasonably big money to sign Welsh international forward Nick Deacy it heralded Norrie’s return to the reserves. Towards the end of the season Criag was restored to the first XI at the expense of winger John Farley, and he scored two further goals against Plymouth (again, this time securing a 1-0 win) and Wimbledon.

At the start of 1980/81 season Smith again turned to Norrie to play in attacking positions centrally and wide, but in eight starts no goals were forthcoming and Smith looked elsewhere. For the next two seasons Norrie’s appearances were sporadic, though he did feature strongly in an epic FA Cup battle against Blyth Spartans (which drew City’s attention to the magnificent Les Mutrie) scoring in the first replay in Northumberland and the second replay at Elland Road. He left City in February 1982 with Mutrie now firmly established in Norrie’s preferred striker position.

Craig didn’t immediately beat the usual path to Bridlington or North Ferriby, instead seeking a new start and joining Dutch side Wageningen FC in February 1982. Located on the banks of the Lower Rhine River, Wageningen had just been promoted to the Eredivisie but were promptly relegated back to the second tier. Norrie stuck around for a further season before moving to Belgian League side Winterslag in May 1983. Winterslag (who later became KRC Genk after a merger) had recently played Arsenal in the UEFA Cup but Norrie stayed only half a season before joining Belgian rivals Lierse in January 1984. He left Belgium that summer and resumed the more well trodden non-league path back in England for two years. In 1986 Norrie again got the wandering bug, spending a season in Japan playing for Mazda Sports Club (now Sanfrecce Hiroshima) in the emerging Japan Soccer League (a forerunner of the J-League) while also working as the English language guide at Mazda’s motor factory.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 22 July 1960, Hull
Hull City First Game: 7 May 1979, Exeter City H (Division Three), 18 years, 289 days old
Hull City Final Game: 9 January 1982, Bradford City A (Division Four), 21 years, 171 days old

Clubs

Hull City (1976-1982), Wageningen (1982-1983), Winterslag (1983-1984), Lierse (1984), Grantham (1984), Gainsborough Trinity (1984-1985), North Ferriby United (1985-1986), Mazda Sports Club (1986-1987)

Hull City Record

Career: 47 apps, 6 goals

Craig Norrie

Season	LGE App	LGE Gls	FAC App	FAC Gls	FLC App	FLC Gls	EUR App	EUR Gls	OTH App	OTH Gls
1976/77	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1977/78	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978/79	0 (1)	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1979/80	14 (1)	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980/81	7 (7)	0	6 (0)	2	2 (0)	0	-	-	3 (0)	0
1981/82	1 (0)	0	1 (1)	0	-	-	-	-	2 (1)	0