In my opinion, Norwich's
defence has never been as solid since the departure of Ian Culverhouse.
The right back position was not adequately replaced and this problem
need not have occurred if Robert Chase's Norwich regime had been
willing to discuss contracts in a sensible manner. From being an
integral part of the City team that finished third in the Premiership
and enjoyed UEFA Cup success, Ian Culverhouse found himself at the
start of the 1994-95 season, out of contract and out of favour with
Robert Chase and manager
John Deehan. Similar
problems had occurred the previous season with
Dave
Phillips. Ian's outburst at being dropped from the first team
squad offended the powers-that-be at Carrow Road and destroyed what
chance he had of regaining a first team position.
Mark Robins and
Mark Bowen would suffer similar fates. Despite injuries in
October 1994 to his replacement
Carl Bradshaw
and youngster
Johnny Wright, Ian was still
not recalled to the first team and eventually was transferred to
Swindon for the bargain sum of £150,000 in December 1994, the
fee being fixed by a tribunal. Ian's career was rejuvenated in Wiltshire
and he had made 97 league appearances for Swindon by the end of
the 1997/98 season.
Ian Culverhouse began his career with Tottenham Hotspur and made
just 2 league appearances for the Spurs before joining Norwich in
October 1985 for £50,000. His career improved as he became
a first team regular and had made 369 appearances for the Canaries
before he fell from grace and out of the first team. He won the
Division Two championship in his first season, reached two FA Cup
semi finals, finished in the top five of the old First Division,
finished third in the Premiership's inaugural season, played in
Europe and won the Club's Player-of the-Year award in 1990/91.
The Swindon Town Official website revealed that Ian was given
a free transfer by The Robins on transfer deadline day 1998. No
league club showed any interest then in his services and he only
signed up with a team in July 1998. After a two week trial with
Stevenage, he joined Kingstonian and played in a pre-season victory
over Nottingham Forest on 30th July. He played for Kingstonian on
the opening day of the Vauxhall Conference season but joined Brighton
on a short term contract shortly afterwards. He made his debut on
19th August against Northampton in the Worthingtons Cup. He was
playing alongside former teammate
Mark Walton. Ian then took over the responsibility of managing
the Brighton reserve team thus making fewer appearances for the
first team.
Ian joined Barnet as Youth Team manager in the summer of 2000 but
was not been registered as a player. Unfortunately for Ian, Barnet
were relegated into the Conference on 5th May 2001. In January 2002,
Ian moved across London to join Leyton Orient as their youth coach.
He was later promoted to Assistant Manager. Orient manager Martin
Ling instigated a shake-up at the end of the 2004/5 season which
saw Culverhouse leave the club and replaced by youth team coach
Dean Smith. Ian wasn't out of the game for long, joining Wycombe
Wanderers as their youth team coach at the end of July 2005. He
was promoted to first team coach in June 2007