Will Norris

Will Norris
Will Norris with Cambridge United in 2016
Personal information
Full name William James Norris[1]
Date of birth (1993-08-12) 12 August 1993
Place of birth Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number 31
Youth career
2006–2011 Northwood
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011 Hatfield Town 16 (0)
2011–2012 Royston Town 28 (0)
2012–2017 Cambridge United 84 (0)
2012–2013 → Royston Town (loan) 28 (0)
2013 → Royston Town (loan) 6 (0)
2015–2016 → Braintree Town (loan) 24 (0)
2017– Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:00, 6 May 2018 (BST)

William James Norris (born 12 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Club career

Royston Town

Without a club at the start of the 2011–12 season, Norris made an approach to join Hertfordshire side Royston Town who in the previous season had narrowly missed out on promotion after finishing 3rd in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division. He played a number of games for the reserve team where his performances caught the attention of then first team manager, Paul Attfield, who pulled him into the first team.[3] On 20 September 2011, he made his debut for Royston in a 4–1 home win against Haringey Borough in the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Cup.[4] Norris went on to make 41 appearances in all competitions in 2011–12 helping the club to secure the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division title and a cup double which included the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Cup and the South Midlands Floodlit Cup. In the quarter final of the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup against Cambridge City on 25 January 2012, the game was decided by a penalty shoot-out in which Norris pulled off a number of saves in sudden death before scoring the winning penalty to send Royston into the semi-final.[5][6]

Cambridge United

On 16 July 2012, Norris signed for Cambridge United on a two-year deal and was loaned back to Royston Town for the duration of the 2012–13 season, helping the club to a 7th-place finish in the Southern Football League Division One Central.[7]

Norris spent the first half of the season 2013–14 with Cambridge as second choice to Chris Maxwell, before re-joining Royston in December 2013 on a short-term loan spell.[8] He was recalled to make his first team debut for Cambridge in a 1–0 away win at Tamworth in the Conference Premier on 21 January 2014.[9] On 30 January 2014, he signed a new contract with the club which extended his previous deal by two and a half years to 2016.[10] He went on to make a total of 15 league appearances helping Cambridge make a return to The Football League, after a nine-year absence, via the Conference play-offs. Norris kept a clean sheet in Cambridge's 4–0 victory over Gosport Borough in the 2013–14 FA Trophy Final.[11]

Norris made his Football League debut for Cambridge in a 2–2 draw at home to Accrington Stanley on 11 April 2015.[12] He went on to make a total of 3 appearances in the league in 2014–15 as Cambridge finished 19th in their first season back in the Football League.[13] At the end of the season his contract was extended to 2018, and was loaned to Braintree Town for the beginning of 2015–16.[14] On 8 August 2015, he made his debut for Braintree in a 1–0 away defeat to Chester City in the National League.[15] After a run of impressive performances, keeping four clean sheets in six games, he was named the National League's Player of the Month for October.[16] At the time of collecting the award Norris had amassed 9 clean sheets in the league; the most of any goalkeeper in the top 5 English divisions. On 9 January 2016, Norris was recalled from his loan with Braintree.[17] He went on to make a total of 21 league appearances for Cambridge, keeping 9 clean sheets, as the club finished 9th in League Two. His contract was extended by a further year, to 2019.[18]

In the 2016–17 season Norris saved a club record of five penalties in one season, including two in second half stoppage time against Accrington Stanley.[19] The gloves he used in the double penalty save against Accrington raised £1,000 at a charity auction, with the proceeds being donated to injured footballers Shaun Whiter and Joey Abbs, who were victims of a hit-and-run incident.[19]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 11 July 2017, Norris signed a three-year deal for Wolverhampton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee, a day after the Championship club had signed a fellow former Cambridge goalkeeper, John Ruddy.[20] He made his debut for the club on 8 August 2017 in a 1–0 win against Yeovil Town in the second round of the Carabao Cup.[21] Norris made his league debut for Wolves on 6 May 2018 against Sunderland.[22]

Career statistics

As of match played 17 January 2018
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Hatfield Town 2010–11 Spartan South Midlands League Premier 16 0 — — 1[lower-alpha 1] 0 17 0
Royston Town 2011–12[23] Spartan South Midlands League Premier 27 0 — — 13[lower-alpha 2] 0 40 0
Cambridge United 2012–13[24] Conference Premier —
2013–14[25] Conference Premier 15 0 0 0 — 4[lower-alpha 3] 0 19 0
2014–15[26] League Two 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
2015–16[27] League Two 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 0
2016–17[28] League Two 45 0 4 0 1 0 4[lower-alpha 4] 0 54 0
Total 84 0 4 0 1 0 8 0 97 0
Royston Town (loan) 2012–13[23] Southern League Division One Central 27 0 — — 11[lower-alpha 5] 0 38 0
2013–14[23] Southern League Division One Central 6 0 — — 0 0 6 0
Total 33 0 — — 11 0 44 0
Braintree Town (loan) 2015–16[27] National League 24 0 2 0 — 2[lower-alpha 6] 0 28 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2017–18[29] Championship 1 0 2 0 4 0 — 7 0
Career total 185 0 8 0 5 0 35 0 233 0
  1. ↑ One appearance in the South Midlands Senior Floodlit Cup
  2. ↑ Four appearances in the FA Vase, Three appearances in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division Cup, Three appearances in the Cambridgeshire Invitation Cup, Two appearances in the South Midlands Senior Floodlit Cup, One appearance in the Herts Senior Cup
  3. ↑ Four appearances in the FA Trophy
  4. ↑ Four appearances in the EFL Trophy
  5. ↑ Three appearances in the FA Trophy, Two appearances in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, Two appearances in the Herts Senior Cup, One appearance in the Herts Charity Cup, One appearance in the Hinchingbrooke Cup, One appearance in the South Midlands Floodlit Cup, One appearance in the Red Insure Cup
  6. ↑ One appearance in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, One appearance in the FA Trophy

Awards and honours

Club

Royston Town
Cambridge United
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "EFL: Club list of registered players" (PDF). English Football League. 20 May 2017. p. 71. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  2. ↑ "Player Profile: Will Norris". Cambridge United FC. 28 January 2016.
  3. ↑ "Will Norris: How an approach to Royston led to Cambridge United chance". Cambridge News. 27 January 2016.
  4. ↑ "Match Report:Royston Town v Haringey Borough". roystontownfc.co.uk. 20 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "Norris heroics send Crows into semis". Royston Crow. 27 January 2012.
  6. ↑ "Norris the hero for Royston". Hertfordshire Mercury. 26 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Cambridge United sign teenage goalkeeper Will Norris". bbc.co.uk. 16 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "Cambridge United goalkeeper Will Norris loaned to Royston". Cambridge News. 6 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "Will Norris produced a 'mature' performance in Cambridge United's win over Tamworth". Cambridge News. 22 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Duo Sign New Deals". Cambridge United F.C. 30 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "Will can't wait for Wembley return in FA Trophy Final". thefa.com. 21 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Cambridge United 2–2 Accrington Stanley". bbc.co.uk. 11 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Will Norris taking the positives from Cambridge United's Sky Bet League Two campaign". Cambridge News. 6 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "Cambridge United keeper Will Norris moves to Braintree Town on loan after signing new deal". Cambridge News. 7 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Chester 1–0 Braintree". bbc.co.uk. 8 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "Braintree Keeper Takes October Player Award". thenationalleague.org.uk. 6 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Cambridge United boss Shaun Derry urges Will Norris to play for keeps". Cambridge News. 11 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Will Norris signs new three-year Cambridge United deal". Cambridge News. 9 June 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Cambridge United view from the pressbox: Will Norris is a grand keeper". Cambridge News. 11 October 2016.
  20. ↑ "Will Norris: Wolves sign Cambridge United goalkeeper for undisclosed fee". BBC Sport. 11 July 2017.
  21. ↑ "Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 Yeovil Town". BBC Sport. 8 August 2017.
  22. ↑ "Sunderland 3-0 Wolves". BBC Sport. 6 May 2018.
  23. 1 2 3 "Royston Town – Appearances/Scorers". Royston Town. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  24. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  25. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  27. 1 2 "Games played by Will Norris in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  28. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "Games played by Will Norris in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  30. 1 2 3 "Attfield looks back on treble-winning campaign". Royston Crow. 9 May 2012.
  31. ↑ "No go Crows in Hinchingbrooke Cup". Cambridge News. 24 June 2013.
  32. ↑ "Cambridge United 4–0 Gosport Borough". bbc.co.uk. 23 March 2014.
  33. ↑ "Cambridge United 2–1 Gateshead". bbc.co.uk. 18 May 2014.
  34. ↑ "Braintree's superb defensive record helps earn Norris the Vanarama National League's top player award for October". Braintree & Witham Times. 5 November 2015.
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