Early career Born in
Eastbourne, East Sussex, He later represented,
Eastbourne Town youth,
St Bede's School and England Schools as a youth player in the
2008–09 season. Later in that same season, he played for Eastbourne Town's senior side despite still being at school, making eighteen appearances for the
Isthmian League Division One South club, scoring ten goals. In April 2009, he won the English Schools FA Trophy with St Bedes. He made his debut for
England Schools on 5 March, against Wales in the Carnegie Centenary Shield. In June 2009, Norwood represented England Schools again in their 4–2 defeat against France at
Wembley Stadium. Following the successful trial, he signed for the club on 25 July 2009. His move was helped with funding from a branch of the
Exeter City Supporters' Trust called the 1931 Fund, which was created with the intention of signing players. He replaced
Marcus Stewart as a
substitute in the 70th minute. Exeter manager
Paul Tisdale commented on his debut saying; "It's remarkable that James should be on the field after only joining us a few weeks ago. He put in a really good 20 minutes and he showed some real touches of know-how, there's a bright future for him." In August 2010, he joined
Conference Premier club
Forest Green Rovers on a one-month loan deal. Norwood impressed in his first month with Forest Green and the loan deal was extended for a further period. He scored his first goal for Forest Green in a 4–3 loss against
Eastbourne Borough. Norwood returned to Exeter in October. On 31 December 2010, he joined
Eastbourne Borough on loan. He made his debut for the club the next day, playing the entire match against Crawley Town. In May 2011 Exeter announced that he would not be offered a new deal at the end of the season.
Forest Green Rovers in 2012 Norwood joined Forest Green Rovers on a permanent deal in June 2011. In October 2011, Norwood had surgery on his hernia which ruled him out of action for a month. Norwood returned from his injury as a second-half substitute on 26 November 2011 against
York City and scored a last minute equaliser to earn Forest Green a draw. He scored his first hat-trick for Forest Green on 1 January 2013 in a 5–0 away win at
Rodney Parade against
Newport County. On 11 February 2013, Norwood signed a new two-year extension to his contract at Forest Green, a move that would see him tied down to the club for up to the summer of 2015. He scored his second hat-trick for Forest Green on 12 February 2013 in a 4–1 win against
Braintree Town. An impressive 2012–13 campaign for Norwood saw him earn the Player's Player of the Year award at the end of the season and a call up to the
England C squad for the first time for an international with
Bermuda. He made his hundredth league appearance for Forest Green on 21 September 2013 in a defeat against
Cambridge United. He ended the
2013–14 season as the club's top goal scorer for a second consecutive season with 19 goals. He scored his first goal of the
2014–15 campaign in a 1–1 draw at
Welling United on 30 August 2014. His brace in a man of the match performance on 1 November 2014 against
Lincoln City helped inspire Forest Green to a 3–3 draw after Lincoln had led 3–0 with less than half an hour to go. On 7 February 2015, he came off the bench to score the winning goal in a 2–1 win over
Grimsby Town which saw him overtake
Yan Klukowski in becoming Forest Green's all-time top Conference Premier goal scorer. He helped Forest Green to the Conference Premier play-offs for the first time in the club's history, although they were knocked out in the semi-finals in May 2015 by
Bristol Rovers. A day after Forest Green's play-off defeat it was confirmed that he would be leaving the club.
Tranmere Rovers On 13 May 2015, Norwood signed a two-year contract with
Tranmere Rovers following his release from Forest Green. Norwood's opening weeks with Tranmere were dogged by injury issues but he finally found the net for the first time against rivals
Chester in mid-September. Norwood had netted nine times for Rovers come the turn of the year, including a looping header in a 2–0 victory against former club Forest Green and Tranmere's eventual goal of the season in a 4–1 away defeat at
Woking. Despite Norwood averaging a goal every other game across his 38 league appearances in 2015–16, Tranmere finished in 6th place, narrowly missing out on the
National League play-off spots. Norwood's second season at Tranmere got off to a flyer, scoring four goals in the opening three games of the season including a dramatic injury time winner at home to
Eastleigh. However, this purple patch did not last long with Norwood managing just one goal from the next eight games, the final of these games being a 1–0 defeat away at
Sutton United, Tranmere manager
Gary Brabin, the man who brought Norwood to
Prenton Park, was sacked following the defeat. Between September and mid-April, as Tranmere battled for top-spot with
Lincoln City, Norwood netted six times. In mid-December, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Norwood signed a two-and-a-half-year contract extension, keeping him at Prenton Park until June 2019. Norwood finished the 2016–17 season strongly with 5 goals in as many games including one in each leg of the play-off semi final against
Aldershot. The only game of the final five that Norwood didn't score in was the
National League play-off final which ended in a 3–1 defeat for Tranmere. The 2017–18 season would turn out to be Norwood's most successful season yet. Norwood and Tranmere suffered a torrid start to the season, Tranmere languished in the bottom half of the National League and at one point dropped to their lowest ever league position. Norwood managed just one goal from his opening nine games and was sent off in the first of these for an elbow against
Torquay. Norwood finished the season with 24 goals and 11 assists in all competitions, this was good enough to finish 3rd top scorer in the National League, the top scorer being Norwood's strike partner
Andy Cook. Two of these goals came in the play-off semi-final versus
Ebbsfleet, the first being a clinical left footed finish into the far-bottom corner and the second being a curling 25-yard extra time free-kick that put Tranmere 3–2 up. On 12 May 2018, almost three years to the day of his arrival at Tranmere, Norwood scored the winning goal in the
play-off final against
Boreham Wood at
Wembley to ensure the club's return to the
EFL after a three-year absence. Norwood finished 2018–19 season as the joint top goal scorer in English football with 32 goals in all competitions,
Ipswich Town 2019–20 season Norwood joined
Ipswich Town on 10 June 2019 on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract, with the option for a further year. He made his debut for the club on 3 August 2019, in a 1–0 win over
Burton Albion on the opening day of the
2019–20 season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with
Peterborough United, on 17 August 2019. He scored five goals in six matches during the first month of the 2019–20 season, including a brace in a 5–0 away win over
Bolton Wanderers at the
University of Bolton Stadium. His form over the course of his first month at
Portman Road earned him the
PFA Fans' League One Player of the Month award for August. Norwood reached double figures for the 2019–20 season on 11 January 2020, netting his 10th league goal of the season in a 4–1 win over
Accrington Stanley. On 21 February 2020, Norwood underwent surgery on his adductor, putting him out until April. However, due to the season being suspended in March and ultimately not restarting due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, he made no further appearances for the rest of the season. He ended the season having scored 11 goals in 28 appearances, finishing as the club's joint top goalscorer. Norwood made his return from injury earlier that expected, coming on as a second-half substitute and scoring in a 3–2 loss to
Portsmouth in an
FA Cup tie on 7 November. He suffered a repeat of his previous hamstring injury in a match against
Charlton Athletic on 28 November. He returned to the first-team on 9 January 2021, coming off the bench to score and get an assist in a 3–2 loss to
Swindon Town. He continued his goal scoring form during February, scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 away win over
Hull City on 23 February, before scoring in the following league game in a 2–1 home win against
Doncaster Rovers. On 1 May 2021, Norwood captained the club for the first time, netting two goals in a 2–1 win against
Swindon Town. He finished the season as the club's top goalscorer for the second season in a row, scoring ten goals in all competitions.
2021–22 season Despite remaining at the club following a summer in which more than 12 players departed and 19 were signed, Norwood initially made very few appearances during the 2021–22 season. In November, it was reported that Norwood had been told he had no future at the club and was told to train with the club's under-23s. However, Norwood returned to the first team in December and scored his first league goal of the season upon his return on 11 December 2021 in a 1–1 draw against Wigan Athletic. He went on to score in his following two appearances that month and was subsequently named Ipswich Player of the Month for December. On 5 May 2022, Ipswich confirmed that Norwood would leave the club following his contract's expiration. His 88th and final appearance for the club came a few days prior on 30 April, when he scored Ipswich's fourth goal (and his 28th for the club overall) in a 4–0 win against Charlton Athletic.
Oldham Athletic On 3 August 2023, Norwood joined National League side
Oldham Athletic for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal, reuniting with former Tranmere Rovers manager
Micky Mellon. On 1 June 2025, Norwood scored his side's second equaliser as
the Latics defeated
Southend United 3–2 in extra-time of the
2025 National League play-off final.
Fleetwood Town On 18 July 2025, Norwood joined fellow League Two side
Fleetwood Town on a one-year deal. He made his debut for the club on 2 August 2025, in a 2–0 win against
Barnet. He scored his first goal for the club on 16 August 2025, in a 2–2 draw with
Bromley. ==International career==