Top Gunn Bryan ...and the balls of steel that beat Bayern
BRYAN GUNN’S eyes water every time he talks about the greatest night in Norwich City’s history.
Gunn was between the posts when the Canaries toppled mighty Bayern Munich at the Olympiastadion in October, 1993, beating the German giants in front of their home crowd in the UEFA Cup.
Jeremy Goss and Mark Bowen were the goal heroes for Mike Walker’s team – and Gunn’s private parts were the other stars.
Adolfo Valencia looked certain to level the scores at 2-2 when a cross found him unmarked around seven yards out – but somehow Gunn kept out his flying header.
“It wasn’t a technical save,” said
Gunn. “But I had put in many hours of work and practice over the years and had to get across the goal quickly enough and be brave enough to take it in the privates.
“Put it this way, if it was in a boxing match, it would have been a belowthe-belt punch. It was a diving header from seven yards and there was enough force for me to feel it. The pain went by the final whistle.”
By then, Norwich were 2-1 winners and, after falling behind early in the second leg, Goss struck again to send the Canaries through.
Inter Milan ended their interest in the competition with a 2-0 win in the third round and the season rather fell apart after Walker left for Everton in January, marking the end of a golden era for Norwich. “Mike was very charismatic, a great motivator,” said Gunn. “And Norwich were very good at picking up players from good clubs who weren’t getting game time.
“We had four or five players from Tottenham, Robert Fleck came down from Scotland and Mark Robins was out of favour at Manchester United.
“Over the years we developed a style of play and ended up being top of the Premier League. We liked to pass the ball.
“People compared us to West Ham and ( former Norwich boss) Ken Brown came from West Ham. The desire was to play good football and winning football.”
Gunn had played at Aberdeen under Alex Ferguson, who he still calls ‘ the Boss’. Ferguson brought
Gunn to the club when he was 14 and he was on the bench when the Dons won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1983.
“Nobody was spared the hairdryer treatment,” said Gunn. “Eric Miller and Alex McLeish had hundreds of international caps, but the Boss gave it to the biggest and best in the changing room – even if we were winning.
“He didn’t need a reason. He would choose someone as a surprise. He did it to keep everyone on their toes and get a reaction. They were words of wisdom he was shouting at you. There were times when the whole team would get it.
“I don’t think modern players get it as much, but it didn’t do us any harm and we still have a lot of admiration for the Boss.”
Gunn is remembered for being in the thick of it when a 21-man brawl broke out in the Arsenal-Norwich match at Highbury in November, 1989. Scrapping started after Arsenal overturned a 3-2 deficit in the dying minutes through two penalties.
“My idea was to clear up the trouble and then I saw David O’Leary and Tony Adams running over to get stuck in,” said Gunn.
“I was the biggest in our team, so I went for the biggest in their team.” That was Adams.
“I had one hand around his throat and the other was throwing punches at his nose,” he said.
“But then we had a pint together afterwards.”
I had to get across fast and be brave enough to take it
in the privates