Blast from the Past no.54: Jeremy Goss

Reviving the Premier League players you forgot existed…

There are certain historical events that some people still refuse to believe actually happened - the main three being the Moon landings, the death of Elvis Presley and Jeremy Goss’ spectacular 20-yard volley against Bayern Munich.

Of all these zany conspiracy theories, the one relating to the alleged events in Munich’s Olympic Stadium on 19 October 1993 is the most convincing.

It is claimed that Goss, a wavy-haired Welshman who spent most of his career struggling to get into Norwich City’s midfield, unleashed an unstoppable strike at the home of the German giants and set the Canaries on their way to a dazzling UEFA Cup triumph.

But it doesn’t make any sense. Because it was Norwich. And it was Bayern Munich. And it was Jeremy goddamn Goss.

Yet as sure as Neil Armstrong made one giant leap for mankind and the King of Rock and Roll has croaked his last shaky breath, Bayern 1-2 Norwich was an event that really happened - and Goss was its unlikely hero.

The journey that led him to that momentous evening was not particularly storied. Although Goss spent 13 years at Carrow Road, man and boy, all his highlights were crammed into one crazy season in 1993/94.

The previous year, Norwich had surprised the Premier League with a third-placed league finish, despite having a negative goal difference.

Equally surprising was their qualification for Europe for the first - and still the only - time in the club’s history. The Canaries only made it into the UEFA Cup because both domestic cups had been won by Arsenal.

Goss was by no means a star of the side that came third. Chris Sutton, Ruel Fox, Mark Robins and even Ian Culverhouse were more glamorous names. Many weeks Goss didn’t even make the team. But some nicely timed wonderstrikes have ensured his status as a Canaries legend.

“If any player really did have a season in the sun it was Goss in 1993-94. A perennial substitute playing second fiddle to the likes of Ian Crook, Gary Megson, Tim Sherwood and Andy Townsend in his time at Norwich, it all happened to him all at once,” recalled one fan on the Pink'Un forum.

In the third game of that season, Mike Walker’s free-flowing side produced one of their finest displays, beating Leeds 4-0 at Elland Road as Goss hit a volley so sweet that even the home fans applauded it.

“The beauty of that goal was breathtaking. Not just the shot, but the sheer poetry of a lovely weighted pinpoint cross from Ruel Fox followed by the no-nonsense finish from Goss. One of our best goals ever,” gushed another supporter.

Having finally cemented a regular place in the team, 10 years after coming through the Carrow Road youth ranks, Goss also scored in a 1-0 win against East Anglian rivals Ipswich and in a glorious 3-0 triumph against Vitesse Arnhem in the club’s first ever European match.

The best was to still to come in next round of the UEFA Cup, as the Canaries stunned a Bayern team captained by Lothar Matthuas.

Goss’s 12th-minute opener, an acrobatic, slightly unorthodox right-footed volley from the edge of the box, was one of the most shocking East Anglia-related events since Alan Partridge failed to get a second series.

Goss also scored in the return leg - a 1-1 draw that sealed the Canaries’ path to the third round, where their adventure was finally ended by Inter Milan.

Nonetheless, Goss’ place in Norwich folklore was secure. He capped a glorious season by netting the last ever goal in front of the Kop - another long-range cracker - as City pooped Liverpool’s end-of-season party with a 1-0 win.

“What made Goss so good was that he had what might now be described as a ‘Scholes-esque’ ability to arrive or to be in the right place at the right time in the box, and to hit the target nine times out of 10. And of course, he had that ability to hit from long range too. He really was a Scholes-type player before Scholes’ time,” said one Canaries follower.

That being said, it would silly to pretend that Jeremy Goss was anywhere near as good as Paul Scholes. His international career consisted of nine caps for Wales, while he scored a total of 14 goals in 188 league appearances for Norwich - six of them in 1993/94.

“He was a bit of an enigma. Pretty average being brutally honest, but boy could he volley the ball and he was involved in loads of great memories,” said another supporter.

A fellow fan agreed, “He was average in almost everything he did but he worked really hard off the ball to make a passing option for his team-mates, which allowed the team to pass and move really well.”

Goss left Carrow Road in 1996, having short spells at Hearts, Colchester United and non-league King’s Lynn before retiring.

He has since left football to concentrate on fundraising for the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind. In 2011, he undertook an epic 1300-mile bike ride retracing that famous Canaries UEFA Cup route - from Norwich to Arnhem to Munich to Milan - and raised £28,000.

He spends the rest of his time, according to Wikipedia, delivering “humorous after-dinner speeches”. When he invariably rolls into that classic anecdote about his volley at the Olympic Stadium, there are probably still some audiences who think he’s making it up.

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