Blackpool boss Neil Critchley questions Peterborough United's conduct during Ollie Norburn transfer saga

Peterborough United’s approach of speaking so openly about Blackpool’s rejected bid for Oliver Norburn is not the right way to conduct business.
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That’s according to Blackpool boss Neil Critchley, who refused to be drawn on the speculation following yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Fulham.

Posh’s director of football Barry Fry told our sister paper the Peterborough Telegraph on Friday that they had rejected a six-figure bid for the midfielder.Norburn was subsequently left out of Peterborough’s squad for their defeat to Sheffield United on Saturday evening, although it’s claimed that was through injury.

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“Blackpool made a bid, but we turned it down flat,” Fry said.

“We need players like Oliver in our situation.

“Anyway, we only signed him in August after our manager managed to persuade the owners to make it happen and he’s subsequently been made captain.”

Chairman Darragh MacAnthony, meanwhile, took to Twitter to describe Blackpool’s bid - believed to be in the region of £350,000 - as “silly season”.

Norburn was left out of Peterborough's squad for their defeat to Sheffield United yesterdayNorburn was left out of Peterborough's squad for their defeat to Sheffield United yesterday
Norburn was left out of Peterborough's squad for their defeat to Sheffield United yesterday

“It’s true another Champ club bid us for a player we signed from L1 last August,” he wrote.

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“He has been one of our best players since joining and they bid us the same money we paid five months ago.

“Like I said, silly season.”

According to the Daily Mail, Norburn, who lives in Bolton, is keen to return to the North West just five months after joining Posh from Shrewsbury Town.

The 29-year-old, who has a young family, is already unsettled and would prefer to play for a club nearer his home.Norburn, who has also played for the likes of Macclesfield Town and Tranmere Rovers, was handed the captaincy in December, replacing Mark Beevers.

Speaking after yesterday’s 1-1 draw with league leaders Fulham, Critchley had no interest in addressing the speculation - but he did send a parting shot towards Peterborough.

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When asked if he’s confident of getting a deal over the line, Critchley told The Gazette: “I’m not going to speculate about players that are at other football clubs.

“I’m not sure you should be mentioning other clubs in the press, that’s not how you want to conduct your business in my opinion.

“But listen, we’re trying to improve our squad, we have 48 hours left but I promise you, if that’s the squad I’ve got for the rest of the season then I’ll be more than happy.”

Speaking after Peterborough’s game on Saturday, Posh boss Darren Ferguson also spoke of his disappointment at how the news had been leaked.

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“A lot more has been made of things than I would have liked leading into the game,” he told BBC Radio Cambridge.

“It was a story that was going around about Ollie being unhappy in terms of his family being up north and Ollie being down there.

“Obviously someone has put that out in the newspaper, I’d imagine someone from his side for whatever reason.

“The fact of the matter is we’ve had a bid from Blackpool and we’ve turned it down, it’s as simple as that.”

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When asked if he’s confident of Norburn remaining at the club, Ferguson added: “At the moment that’s the case, yeah.

“We’ve had bids for Siriki (Dembele) as well and the club have turned them down, so that’s where we’re at.

“Siriki and Ollie had a problem injury wise today, that was the problem.”

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