As with many of the more unusual gifts in the Club’s museum, it was a gift to mark the Blues visit to Norwegian side Tromsø IL during City’s 1989/90 pre-season tour of Norway.
Howard Kendall’s side were enjoying their training camp and friendly matches against local sides.
Japanese warriors and Darth Vadar
City’s 114-year old flag
First up were Askim FK, who City beat 2-1 before seeing off Sandefjord BK 3-2 two days later.
The build-up continued two days after that with the 10-0 thrashing of Norwegian minnows Lervik.
A 3-3 draw with Oslo-based SF Grei was the Blues’ fourth game in six days so by the time team took on Tromsø IL, fatigue was starting to set in with the game coming just 24 hours after the SF Grei clash.
The 13-man squad that day was: Andy Dibble, Andy Hinchcliffe, Gary Megson, Brian Gayle, Mark Seagraves, Steve Redmond, Clive Allen, David White, Wayne Biggins, Ian Bishop, Nigel Gleghorn Ian Brightwell, Trevor Morley
Tromsø held out for a 0-0 draw and before the game, the Ice Trophy - a polar bear that wouldn’t look out of place in a Fox’s glacier mint advert (ask your parents!) - was presented.
The thinking behind the trophy? The official supporter club is called Isberget (The Iceberg) and their logo is a polar bear with a football and a red and white striped jersey holding a Tromsø IL scarf!
Mystery explained...
Do you have any rare City treasures you’d like to share with the Club - we’d like to hear from anyone who has any items from yesteryear...
