'I was almost resigned to not being a footballer': Portsmouth and ex-Burnley, Ipswich and Wolves man on his remarkable rise

Will Norris remains a footballing oddity, the blueprint for a career which bucked convention, surpassing even his own expectations.

The Watford-born goalkeeper was never picked up by an Academy, instead focusing on A-level studies while progressing through non-league with Hatfield Town and Royston Town.

Even after securing his big break with then-Conference club Cambridge United, the ever-patient Norris had to wait another 18 months before receiving a first-team debut.

Now aged 30, the stopper has represented Wolves and Burnley in the Premier League, won two promotions, claimed a Wembley trophy, and is currently catching the eye as a Pompey regular.

It has been quite a journey.

‘Mine isn’t the usual route of starting in a Premier League Academy and filtering down. Aged 17-18, I had no expectation that I would necessarily be a footballer,’ Norris told The News.

‘I didn’t play in any Academy, I never had any trials. I played a few development games at Watford, but never really knew the Academy set-up as I wasn’t in it.

‘It was strange, but I suppose there were good goalies at my age at Watford. Jonathan Bond, who played for Reading and is now at LA Galaxy, was Watford’s keeper at my age group. If you’re no better than him then you’re not going to get into the team.

‘I never really had any feedback as to why no Academy wanted me, but then I never had any drive to ask why I wasn’t getting picked. I played district games, but if you’re not getting picked up by 16-18, you don’t expect to.

‘I attended Queens’ School in Bushey and was really lucky because they had a good football programme. It was like an Academy set-up, run by Dave Reddington, a former first-team coach at Crystal Palace and now at AGF (Danish side Aarhus Gymnastikforening).

‘They would get us out playing for non-league clubs and one of the links was Hatfield Town. Hatfield would tell them “We need players” and the school would fix it up, so that was my first entry into non-league.

‘I played a few games on Tuesday and Saturdays, which was good, then moved onto Royston Town reserves. When their first-team goalie got injured, I was promoted. At the age of 17-18, I had already played in men’s football, which is a massive experience.

‘Goalies coming out of Premier League clubs kind of get stuck there because they are needed for training, so you reach 21 and have played almost no games. I was the opposite.’

Having represented Hatfield and Royston during A-level studies, Norris was at a career crossroads in the summer of 2012 upon leaving school.

However, the goalkeeper’s performances had caught the eye nearby Cambridge United, then of the Football Conference and managed by Jez George, who recruited him on a two-year deal following a successful trial.

Loaned back to Royston for the 2012-13 campaign, he eventually made his Cambridge debut in a 1-0 win at Tamworth in January 2014 - 18 months after his Abbey Stadium arrival.

Norris went on to retain his place for the remainder of the season as the U’s won the FA Trophy against Gosport at Wembley in March 2014 and clinched a return to the Football League after a nine-year absence.

Yet the goalkeeper's the remarkable journey would continue, all the way to the Premier League.

Norris added: ‘I was playing non-league at a level comfortable to me and it got out of hand a little!

‘I took A-levels for three years, having retaken a year, and didn’t know what to do next. I didn’t really apply for university anywhere, I wasn’t looking too far ahead. I had no idea about the next part of my life.

‘It was really weird, the season finished and then the school year ran for another month and that was it. We’d all done our exams and handed our coursework in and I had five days off.

‘Then Cambridge’s Jez George got in contact with Royston, asking if they could have me on trial. I went along and was taken off after 60 minutes, I don’t really know why. I had been asked to help out, so thought they only needed me for that long.

‘Afterwards Jez came up and said: “We put this trial game on for you. Do you fancy signing?”.

‘I had just gone past the scholarship ages, so they offered me a two-year professional deal - and it went from there.

‘At one point we had Ryan Bird on loan at Pompey, I remember him turning up for training in an electrician van. I love Birdy, he missed a penalty against me when he played for Burnham.

‘Birdy helped us win the FA Trophy against Gosport and that year we also won promotion and suddenly I was in the Football League.

‘I ended up training with Premier League players every day at Wolves and Burnley, so your game’s not going to stand still, you’re always picking up things along the way. It was time very well spent.’

In July 2017, Championship Wolves raided League Two Cambridge to sign Norris for an undisclosed fee, following 93 appearances.

Over the next six seasons, he featured in the Premier League for Wolves (one game) and Burnley (twice) as well as a Championship loan at Ipswich, before spending the second half of last term with Peterborough.

Now Norris is impressing at Fratton Park, so far featuring in every League One outing for John Mousinho’s promotion-chasing side following his June 2023 arrival.

He said: ‘There’s no right or wrong way to make it in football. You almost take the blessing of not being at a Premier League club, take it as a good thing, instead go out and play loads of games, enjoy it.

‘Mine is not the usual way people get into football, but it gives it an extra bit of appreciation. I was almost resigned to the fact I wasn’t going to be a footballer - then you get the opportunity to become one.

‘Football changes so quickly. If you’re well-rounded, training 100 per cent every day, and bright and enthusiastic, all the things that managers want you to be, then you’re going to have half a chance.

‘That sets you up so much better than just having ability.’