Ollie Norburn relishing Tranmere Rovers return with Shrewsbury
Captain Ollie Norburn is relishing his Rovers return as he prepares to face the club that helped him relaunch his career.
Norburn dropped out of professional football in 2015 after leaving Plymouth but found his way back up through stints at Guiseley, Macclesfield and Saturday’s hosts Tranmere.
He played under John Askey at Macc but it was a season under another former Shrewsbury boss, Micky Mellon at Tranmere, that propelled Norburn back into the Football League.
Saturday is the midfielder’s first return to Prenton Park since winning the National League play-off final in May 2018 and Norburn admits the Merseyside club played a ‘massive’ role in his recovery in the game.
“It was special. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about Tranmere as a club and the fans and manager there,” said Norburn.
“There’s still players that I played with, I’ve got nothing but respect for them.
“It was a great season that we had. We had good players, the likes of James Norwood, who has obviously gone on to Ipswich now, Connor Jennings who is still there and Andy Cooke who went to Walsall.
“It was a good time but the opportunity to come here came around and I’ve not looked back
.”
Norburn’s Rovers side beat Boreham Wood with 10 men to seal Wembley success, a feat Shrewsbury have passed up on five occasions.
The 26-year-old, who became Sam Ricketts’ captain last season, added: It’s a nice feeling and I’ll hopefully be back there one day to win again.”
“I’d played in the league previously, obviously I had to drop out into non-league. To me it was massive because I needed to get back into the league,” added Norburn.
