Oliver Norburn confirmed as Peterborough United captain as Darren Ferguson praises professionalism of previous captain Mark Beevers

Darren Ferguson has confirmed that Oliver Norburn has officially taken over as the captain of Peterborough United but has praised the professionalism of previous captain, Mark Beevers.
Oliver Norburn wore the captain's armband against Millwall.Oliver Norburn wore the captain's armband against Millwall.
Oliver Norburn wore the captain's armband against Millwall.

Norburn took the armband against Millwall on Saturday (December 11) for the first time since joining Posh in the summer from Shrewsbury, where he captained the Shrews in the previous two seasons.

Initially, Beevers retained the armband from last season but when he was injured, between August and October, Nathan Thompson assumed the role. He also did so against Barnsley and Nottingham Forest in recent weeks after Beevers was dropped from the side in the wake of the 4-0 defeat at Blackburn.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 32-year-old did not even make the bench for the 2-1 win over Millwall.

Mark Beevers in his last Posh appearence at Blackburn. Photo: Joe Dent.Mark Beevers in his last Posh appearence at Blackburn. Photo: Joe Dent.
Mark Beevers in his last Posh appearence at Blackburn. Photo: Joe Dent.

Now, however, Ferguson has spoken about his desire to appoint a different type of captain but has praised Beevers for the way he has reacted to the decision.

He said: “I’ve made a decision based in terms of Saturday and in terms of wanting a different type of captain. Norburn is slightly different to others and if he is to be selected in the team, he will be the captain, it’s a simple as that. All of the other players, like Beevs, they fully understand that.

“Sometimes you just need a bit of a tweak. Like I’ve said before, you’ve got different types of captains and Norbs is different to Beevs and Tommo but if he’s selected, at the moment, he will be captain.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Mark has been fine; he’s been disappointed, but he’s not given me a problem, as you would expect because he’s a good professional. He understands that certain things had to change and he was as disappointed as Jonno was on Saturday, as anyone left out of the squad would be, but I’ve got a squad and I think Josh Knight deserved a run in the team, given the amount of goals we were conceding.

“That’s no fault of Mark, it was a team thing but sometimes you just need to tweak something and Josh and Ronnie have come in and I think they’ve done ok. Mark understands the situation and he also understood I wasn’t going to go with two centre-halves on the bench at home as I wanted more attacking players on the bench or in general really when we’re not scoring as many goals as I’d like. He’s fully understanding of that, just like the previous week when Frankie (Kent) wasn’t on the bench.

“These are the decisions I need to make; players are always disappointed when they are left out but if you do it in a respectful way and explain it to them, then they may not agree but at least they will respect you for that.”

On his Hard Trush podcast, Chairman Darragh MacAnthony added: “Ollie is a leader, he’s a winner. Nathan leads by example, but Ollie will get in your face, demand better from his teammates and unsettle the dressing room in a good way, when they need to be unsettled. He’s a monstrous personality.

RELATED: