Oliver Norburn chosen as Peterborough United captain due to “nasty streak” Darren Ferguson recognises in himself

Darren Ferguson selected Oliver Norburn on Saturday (December 11) due to his “nasty streak” that Ferguson says he had himself as a player.
Oliver Norburn applauding the efforts of his side. Photo: Joe Dent.Oliver Norburn applauding the efforts of his side. Photo: Joe Dent.
Oliver Norburn applauding the efforts of his side. Photo: Joe Dent.

Norburn was a surprise choice to take the captain’s armband against Millwall given that Nathan Thompson had previously been the captain of the side in matches Mark Beevers has not been involved in. The change worked as he inspired Posh to a 2-1 win.

Ferguson chose the summer signing because of what he describes as a “nasty streak,” something Ferguson says that he had during his playing career.

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He said: “I spoke to Nathan on Monday morning and he was absolutely fine with it. Norbs’ has got a nasty streak in him. I was a bit like that as a player myself.

“I wasn’t a very nice captain, but I was always there for my team-mates and drove them on. He’s got that in him and that’s what I feel we need. He has also been a captain for a long time before at a lower level.”

Norburn, who skippered previous club Shrewsbury Town, in the past two seasons, added: “It was the manager’s decision and I am more than happy to have it. It’s something I’ve done before and I see leading as part of my game, especially with such a young squad here. I think when he says ‘nasty’ I don’t think he means that off the pitch. I’m actually an alright lad!

“When you cross the white line though, you have to have a bit of nastiness and an edge so that’s the type of player that I am and hopefully I can lead us to a few more wins.”

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Given the improvement in the defensive partnership between Ronnie Edwards and Josh Knight, Norburn is likely to bo called on to lead the side over the coming weeks and he has encouraged his side to replicate the performance against Millwall, especially in the trip to Blackpool on Saturday (December 18).

Speaking after the Millwall victory, he said: “We’ve been where we were at half-time so many times before where we’ve been in the game or controlled large parts of it and the message was just keep going, if we get one goal then we can go on and win it.

“The manager and staff want us to be brave on the ball, they drill it into us and we went out and did that today. The most important thing was that we got the three points on the board. We’ve gone to places this season and we’ve played well for large parts, for example last week at Forest, but then we get sucker punced and come away with nothing so that’s the icing on the cake today.

“When we are down where we are, we need people to get tough and roll their sleeves up and dig in. We’ve had a really tough spell and confidence can get shot but as a group, we’ve got to keep on believing and performances like that should give us a bit of confidence. Not too confident though because we’ve got to go to Blackpool and repeat it next week.”