Sheffield United, Brighton and Fulham will share Ollie Norwood feeling | OneFootball

Ollie Norwood won promotion to the Premier League with Brighton, Fulham and Sheffield United

Stockport County midfielder Ollie Norwood made the decision to ply his trade in League One for the Hatters ahead of the 2024/25 season, after his contract with Sheffield United expired.

Norwood has proven his worth at third-tier level for the Hatters, which is no surprise given the fact that, throughout his career, he has shown his class in both the Championship and the Premier League.

Over the years, he has portrayed himself as a successful midfield metronome and has provided supporters of the teams he has represented with several positive memories.

Perhaps most notably, Norwood made four appearances and notched one assist in the process when Northern Ireland defied expectations to reach the Euro 2016 knockout stages.

The former Blades man has made 52 international appearances for his nation, while he has also won promotion to the Premier League with three different clubs.

Sheffield United, Fulham and Brighton will all have fond memories of Ollie Norwood

Norwood rose through Manchester United's youth academy ranks, but he never made a senior appearance for the Red Devils, and instead endured loan spells with the likes of Carlisle United, Scunthorpe United and Coventry City before leaving Old Trafford to join Huddersfield Town during the summer of 2012.

He made 90 appearances for the Terriers before then fellow Championship outfit Reading acquired his services in August 2014.

Norwood's time with the Berkshire club was largely successful, as he further established his ability to dictate play at second-tier level and notched a solid return of three goals and eight assists in 43 league appearances for the Royals during the 2015/16 season.

Those exploits were clearly enough to impress Brighton, who signed the Northern Ireland international ahead of the 2016/17 campaign, which was a decision they would not regret.

In fact, the Seagulls went on to win automatic promotion to the Premier League at the end of that season, and Norwood played a major role in that success as he made 33 Championship appearances, creating two assists.

However, the midfielder never represented the Seagulls in the top flight, as he joined Fulham on loan prior to the beginning of the 2017/18 second-tier season.

But the Brighton faithful will never forget that the Man United youth academy product helped their side win promotion to the Premier League for the first time in the club's history.

Norwood subsequently displayed his talents in the Championship once more during his season-long loan stint with Fulham, as he helped the Cottagers return to the top flight by producing a league return of five goals and three assists for a side who went on to beat Aston Villa in the play-off final.

But somewhat agonisingly, he was still yet to test his skills in the Premier League despite winning promotion to the top tier on two occasions when Brighton loaned him out to Sheffield United ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.

Once again, though, the Northern Ireland international proved himself as one of the best midfielders in the Championship and helped guide the Blades to the top flight as he scored three goals and made eight assists in 43 second-tier outings.

The best times of Ollie Norwood's club career came with Sheffield United

By January 2019, Norwood agreed permanent terms at Bramall Lane, and he was an ever-present member of Chris Wilder's team when they remarkably finished ninth at the end of the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.

Deservedly, the former Brighton man was finally handed the opportunity to prove his worth at the highest level of the English game, and he passed that test with flying colours.

However, Norwood did suffer relegation back to the Championship at the end of a disappointing 2020/21 season, but he continued to create happy memories in Blades colours nonetheless.

With the Northern Ireland international at the heart of their midfield, the South Yorkshire club reached the play-offs in 2022 and won automatic promotion to the Premier League once more just a year later.

He made a further 27 top-flight outings for the Bramall Lane club, before departing in favour of a move to Stockport during the summer of 2024.

In total, Norwood has won four promotions from the Championship to the Premier League, providing Brighton, Fulham and Blades fans with plenty of happy memories in the process.