It has been a rumour that has had the Terrors fan base rather excited, but it now looks to be a long shot. Is Norwood moving from Ipswich to Dundee United in the SPFL?
Ipswich boss Paul Lambert stated that he expects James Norwood to stay in Suffolk – unless, of course, he’s just playing things down to suit his own agenda.
Who is James Norwood?
Norwood, who turned 30 at the weekend, has emerged as somewhat of a late bloomer south of the Scottish border. The majority of his career has been spent in non-league circles but a couple of back to back seasons of banging in the goals earned him a move to League One Ipswich Town, who are managed by former Celtic man Lambert.
His first year with the Tractor Boys was a mixed one. Things got off to a strong start with Norwood netting five goals and laying on two assists in the first six league games as Ipswich made an unbeaten start to the campaign. The striker was quickly establishing himself as a fan favourite with the Blues’ support too thanks to his personality on and off the pitch, which happened to include some light-hearted WWE wrestling celebrations on social media.
Unfortunately, Norwood’s goal involvement dried up after that with his performances clearly becoming hampered by the groin injury that he had been playing through for, in truth, probably too long. Despite missing a few matches due to that niggling injury, Norwood still ended the season with 11 goals and three assists giving him a goal involvement every 137 minutes. It also saw him share Ipswich’s top scorer award along with Kayden Jackson.
Why is a move even a possibility then?
When you read about Norwood’s contribution, it is easy to think Ipswich would be desperate to keep him. It’s not actually as simple as that though.
For starters, Lambert’s men were strongly tipped as one of the favourites on bet365 betting and other bookies for promotion back to the Championship this time last year. However, they ended up in a lowly 11th place.
For a club that hadn’t been in the third tier for 62 years before their relegation in 18/19, the financial repercussions of not bouncing straight back are thought to be substantial. Throw in a global pandemic along with a snap salary cap being introduced and the club are walking a financial tightrope.
The question of Norwood leaving Portman Road has been muted a few times over the last couple of months with Lambert remaining fairly tight lipped on the matter. Firstly, he questioned whether the clubs reportedly interested – Fleetwood, Swindon and Dundee United – could afford him before stating that Norwood would be given ‘another chance’ at Ipswich, which are words that indicate a potential issue behind the scenes given his more than respectable performances.
In Lambert’s press conference before the Blues’ 3-0 cup win though he was asked again about Norwood remaining in Suffolk. The Ipswich gaffer claimed that, in his opinion, Norwood ‘will be here’. It was far from a ‘he’s not got sale’ statement though.
Why Dundee United?
There is one reason and one reason only why Norwood to the Terrors is a real possibility. That’s Micky Mellon. Mellon, who arrived at Tannadice in July, worked with Norwood for two and a half years at Tranmere with the striker pivotal to their promotions out of the National League and then League Two. During the two full seasons the pair shared together, Norwood hit an impressive 53 goals – 30 of which came in the football league.
Would Norwood score goals in the SPL?
In a word? Yes. Norwood has proven himself to be a goal scorer with a goal every two and a half games over his career. That said, it’s not just his strike rate that has Mellon reaching out. Norwood is far from a one chance, one goal sort of striker but many of his chances are created from nothing thanks to his never say die attitude.
Given Mellon’s side have notched just four goals from the six games they’ve played so far this season, they could do with a scorer. The odds of whether or not that man will be James Norwood remains in the balance.
