Dražen Mužinić

Dražen Mužinić

Dražen Mužinić and Luís Pereira
Personal information
Date of birth	(1953-01-25) 25 January 1953 (age 68)
Place of birth	Split, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1969–1980	Hajduk Split	280	(13)
1980–1982	Norwich City	30	(0)
Total		310	(13)
National team
1974–1979	Yugoslavia	32	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Dražen Mužinić (born 25 January 1953) is a former Croatian professional footballer

Mužinić spent most of his career in his native Yugoslavia. With Hajduk Split he won four league titles, five cups and was capped by his country 36 times, representing them at the 1974 World Cup and Euro 76.

He was named the Yugoslav Footballer of the Year in 1977.

Norwich City manager John Bond signed him in 1980, paying what was then a club record £300,000 for his services. However, his time at Norwich was not a success. He struggled for form and did not speak English, making communication at times impossible. At one match, Bond employed the services of an interpreter from the University of East Anglia to pass on instructions to Mužinić from the touchline.

Mužinić made just 23 appearances for Norwich, 17 starts and 6 substitute appearances. He did not score a goal for the club. He made his debut on 13 September 1980 and his final appearance for the club came on 28 December 1982. By then, Bond had left the club to manage Manchester City and his successor Ken Brown cancelled the player's contract at the end of the 1981–82 season. Bond admitted that he had not seen Mužinić play and had signed him on reputation, leading then-Norwich player Justin Fashanu to say "I don't think we got Mužinić, I reckon they sent his milkman."

In his 2002 updated edition of Canary Citizens, Mike Davage reported that Mužinić has been running a restaurant in Brač. He has also worked as a scout for his former club Hajduk Split.

Sources[]

• Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

External links[]

• Dražen Mužinić at National-Football-Teams.com
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• Dražen Mužinić at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)