Surman also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Walsall, Norwich City and Milton Keynes Dons over the course of a 17-year professional career.

Surman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa,[2] where his parents had moved to from Britain, whilst his father worked for an insurance company.

[citation needed] Surman was the youngest player ever to play for the Saints Reserves until Theo Walcott took his record.

He then enjoyed a successful loan spell with AFC Bournemouth between August 2005 and January 2006, playing in every league match for the team, and scoring six goals.

He might have figured in Southampton's FA Cup tie against Milton Keynes Dons, but was cup-tied, having played earlier in the season for Bournemouth against Tamworth.

Surman joined newly promoted Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers in a three-year deal, plus another year's option, for a fee worth around £1.2 million on 1 July 2009.

[6] He made his first Premier League start on 21 November 2009 against Chelsea, but struggled to hold down a first team place, making just nine appearances in total for the club.

Surman signed for newly promoted Championship side Norwich City on 22 June 2010 in a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

After an impressive start to his Norwich City career, he sustained a knee injury in training, two days before the 2–1 victory over Barnsley on 11 September 2010.

[9] After the match, Surman said that the defeat to Manchester City would turn things around to winning ways for Norwich by the end of the season.

[10] After Norwich survived in the Premier League, Surman signed a new three-year deal which will keep him at the club until 2015, saying, "It feels great.

[16] On 4 March 2017, Surman was sent off for two bookable offences in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United, the second being for a push on Zlatan Ibrahimović after the latter had elbowed Tyrone Mings.

[22] In July 2021, Milton Keynes Dons manager Russell Martin reported that Surman was yet to sign a new contract with the club and was likely to retire as a player.

In the match against Montenegro, he came on as a second-half substitute and scored the final goal in a 3–0 victory, tapping the ball home in stoppage time from a knock-down by former Saints' trainee Dexter Blackstock.