Sheffield United: Oliver Norwood on The Blades, growing up in Burnley and his season ticket at Turf Moor

Instead, the former Burnley season ticket holder will spend Saturday afternoon doing his damndest to ensure the team he once followed up and down the country return home with nothing except bruised egos and shattered hopes.

"I used to sit in the Longside, down at the bottom in the James Hargreaves Stand," Norwood smiles, remembering his trips to Turf Moor and mischief-making with his mates. "I was a little bit of a hooligan at school, I suppose we all were looking back. There are lads that I knocked about with at school who I still knock about with now. It was a group of friends who I used to go on with, we were all scallywags, hanging about street corners and that. We used to enjoy going on and giving the away fans a bit of stick from the bottom corner. That's why we used to go in there."

Norwood is seated behind a desk inside the Steelphalt Academy's media suite as, in a broad Lancashire burr, he traces his journey through football to Sheffield United. It is a route which has included pitstops in places like Huddersfield and Brighton. But the rolled 'r's' and sometimes indecipherable dialect confirms Norwood has never forgotten where he comes from. Even, as Sean Dyche's players prepare to travel across the Pennines, he is preparing to cast old loyalties aside.

"You could see Turf Moor from my bedroom window," Norwood continues. "I had a season ticket up until I was about 16 and then, when my scholarship started at Old Trafford, it was difficult to get to games. I wasn't one for posters or anything like that. But Robbie Blake was a favourite. He was unbelievable. Then, a little bit later on it was Graham Alexander. He always did really well for Burnley. There were quite a few to be fair."

Norwood has become one of United's most influential players since arriving at Bramall Lane at the beginning of last season. The pivot of the midfield which helped deliver promotion from the Championship, he captains Chris Wilder's team in Billy Sharp's absence.

"I love it here," he says. "It's the best feeling of my career."

But 10 years ago, when United faced their latest opponents in the play-off final, Norwood was cheering on the enemy at Wembley Stadium. And, although he now blushes at the memory, dancing deliriously in the stands when Wade Elliott's effort propelled Burnley into the top-flight. It was a result which, on reflection, precipitated the start of United's slide into the backwaters of League One.

"I was there," Norwood confesses. "But we'll keep that one quiet! It was good for the town, but it's all in the past now. We're both here in the Premier League. I think it's going to be a decent game.

"It's weird when you look at things like that. You don't know where you're career is going to take you. I can't even remember how old I was. I probably never thought that I'd play for Sheffield United at that time. It's funny how things work out.

"I remember being there and the buzz of a play-off final," he adds. "Going to Wembley Stadium, it's the level you want to play at and it's your dream as a boy when you're playing football. You don't really remember too much about the game, apart from little Wardy (Jamie Ward) getting sent off. I played with him later on for Northern Ireland, so that's another one when you think I'd probably never play with him when watching the game at the time. Obviously Wade Elliott smashing that one in to the top corner was a big moment in Burnley Football Club's history."

Despite his love for Burnley, Norwood leaves no room for doubt about where his allegiances lie now.

"I'm proud of where I'm from but I'm here to do a job for Sheffield United. Not make friends with anyone. Still, I've put a few old mates in a box for this one so hopefully they don't end up getting kicked out."

But like the manager responsible for lifting them out of the third tier and into the top-flight, Norwood believes Burnley are the perfect example for United to follow as they seek to establish themselves among England's elite.

"I think so, yeah," Norwood says, echoing Chris Wilder's admiration for the template Dyche has developed. "It's got to be something we look at and try and develop Sheffield United the way Burnley have done. You look at the training facilities now, everything's geared up to being in the Premier League. I remember going there when it was the old Goldthorpe on the astroturf and I played there quite a few times with school.

"They've got themselves to the Premier League and we need to look at how they've gone about it and maybe try and replicate a few things but we want to do it our own way as well, which we are doing. It's important we establish Sheffield United as a Premier League club."

Like Wilder, who makes no secret of his admiration for the team Dyche has constructed, Norwood is struck by the similarities between United and the Burnley side, now in its fourth consecutive season at the highest level, they are preparing to face this weekend.

"I think just the honesty about it all and the way they play. They've stuck to how they play, they've stuck to their beliefs and not changed for the league to glamorise it.

"You listen to how people think football should be played and all that rubbish but to be honest, it's about winning football matches, it's about accumulating points, however the best way is to do that. There's no written rule in football that you have to play a certain way. We play a different way to other teams.

"I think that's where Burnley deserve more credit but to me they play winning football, which is what it's all about, isn't it? It's not about being pretty and going home and saying, 'We got beaten again.' It's about winning football matches, and they've done that."

Norwood, aged 28, has been an ever-present for United this term. Sticking to their principles and beliefs, he believes, is the key reason why they enter the 11th match of their campaign ranked eighth in the table; a point and five places above Burnley.

“I don't think you'd get away with not being grounded under this manager," Norwood explains. "It's how the club's run. It's honest people who work hard every single day and want to better themselves. If you don't want to do that, you won't be at the football club very long.

"I don't really know much about Burnley from the outside but I'm sure it's very similar there and everything's done from the foundation of honest, hard-working lads who want to give it a good go."