Sunderland centre-half Michael Turner became Chris Hughton's fourth signing of the 2012 pre-season for Norwich City on 27th July 2012, for an undisclosed fee. Turner signed a two year contract with the Canaries

Turner started his career at Charlton Athletic. As part of a link-up Charlton had with Internazionale, he spent several months of his apprenticeship with the Italian club's under-19 team. After signing professional terms with Charlton, he went out on loan to Leyton Orient in March 2003 until the end of the 2002–03 season. The following season, he was captain of Charlton's reserve team.

In August 2004, Turner joined Brentford on an initial one-month loan, which was later extended to two, then three, months. At the end of his loan spell, in November 2004, Brentford signed Turner permanently, on a two-and-a-half year contract, for an undisclosed fee. He made a total of 91 appearances for Brentford, scoring three goals before joining Hull in July 2006 for £350,000.

He helped Hull into the Premier League and played every minute of their 2008/09 Premier League campaign.After 129 league appearances and 12 goals, he joined Sunderland on 31st August 2009 for £4million despite interest from Liverpool and Man City.

He played 61 league games for the Black Cats, scoring once, before joining the Canaries.

Turner made his Norwich debut in the 5-0 defeat away to Fulham on 18th August 2012. He finished the season with 28 appearances and 3 goals, as City finished 11th in the Premier League.

Turner made 22 appearances in the 2013/14 season in which Norwich were relegated from the Premier League. Injuries curtailed his season and probably contributed to City's downfall.

Turner was loaned to Fulham on 12th March 2015 until the end of the 2014/15 season. He made his debut on 14th March in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in which he was booked. He had made 24 appearances for Norwich that season scoring once.

Turner was loaned again on 27th August 2015, joining Sheffield Wednesday for the remainder of the 2015/16 season. He played 12 games, scoring once.

On 10th June 2016, Norwich announched that they had extended Turner's contract until 2017.

On 2nd May 2017, Norwich City announced that they would not be renewing the contracts of seven senior players in the summer including Turner. He had made 76 appearances for City but just two were in 2016/17 (both in the League Cup)

At the end of June 2017, Turner joined Southend on trial, accompanying them on pre-season training in Spain. He would be linking again with former Hull boss Phil Brown. “We’ve agreed a deal in principle with Michael that will hopefully be signed at the end of this trip." Brown told the Southend Echo. “He’s not on trial with us but it was noticeable Michael didn’t play much last year.However, he’s assured me he’s in good condition and he certainly looks like he is. He’s a good, conscientious kid and I’m looking forward to working with him again. He’s a very relaxing kind of person and he does his job to the best of his ability. Hopefully we’ll see that in the next couple of years.” This transfer was completed on 11th July 2017, Turner signing a one year deal.

Turner was one of eight senior players to be released by Southend at the end of 2018/19 season.