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

On 10th October 2008, it was announced that Culverhouse had been appointed as Assistant Manager to new Colchester boss Paul Lambert who Culverhouse knows from their time together at Wycombe.

When Lambert was appointed Norwich manager on 18th August 2009, Culverhouse resigned from his position at Colchester to take up a similar role at Carrow Road.