Steve Morison – The Pros and Cons, and Sir Alex Ferguson's advice

It seems that we are nearing the end of the coaching hunt for our next Number 1, if press reports and rumours are to be believed. Fans are forming opinions and jumping into the “Morison Yes” or “Morison No” camps. Before favouring on or other, it is worth remembering the pros and cons of Morison. It is equally important for him in choosing whether to take it on or not to understand what is expected of him. Alex Ferguson often said that when choosing the first big club as young coach coach it is important to understand the expectations, the nature of the owner, and the backing and time that you will receive in achieving that goal. Getting it right gets you up the ladder for the next big success and pay day. Grabbing any job, or taking a bad one can be career-catastrophic. Who would take a risk with you next?

Let’s revisit the pros and cons of Steve Morison.

Pros
1. He is a coach that will, and already is, transitioning us to a style to passing / possession game.

2. Listening to his public statements it is clear he is intelligent and well versed in managing player psychology. The more he speaks, the more he impresses me.

3. He is a new coach, so he is young and hungry to succeed. He is motivated.

4. Like Klopp, Brendan Rogers, Arteta, Ragnick, Jesse March, Guardiola etc. he is a coach that focuses heavily player skill development, not just a tactician, organiser, selector or motivator.

5. He has vested interest in the promoting the U23s and grow them into established seniors.

6. He generally favours seeing all the youth academy integrated with the same style.

7. He doesn’t have a king sized ego, and is intelligent and measured

Cons
1. Questionable major contacts in player recruitment. Key to getting loans, free transfers, or any other player in the market is the quality of your contacts in the game and knowledge of top grade emerging youngsters. Does he have this ability, to the same degree as other promising young managers such as Brian Barry-Murphy, Neil Critchley and Michael Beale, who have that at Manchester City and Liverpool, where a glut of young talent is flowing through?

2. Coach reputation as a senior coach - with a time pressure. Some players just look for the money. Unless they are young, or from a lower league, we don’t have much money, so if we cannot use the “golden handshake” of good signing on commissions to agents and players, higher relative wages to our competitors or heavier transfer fees to outbid our competitors, then the reputation of the coach is key. If young players know that his playing / coaching environment is fun or the coach is known for nurturing and developing a players, that can override the lack of money. With Tan’s new lack of budget this cannot be overlooked. Morison’s name will be known in UEFA or coaching circles, but how many players will be swayed to sign for us by Morison? How many players other than our U23s (and a few young players at Leicester and Millwall where he coached) will know anything about him?

3. Coach influence outside of the Cardiff Under 23s. If the senior players contracts expire in summer without renewal, we will need to enter the transfer market and replenish. Regardless of the laughable Alan Hansen comment “You cannot win titles with kids” about Ferguson’s early 1990s United side, it is generally true that good teams have a balance of youngsters (18-25) , players in their prime (25-30) and mature leaders (30-33). You at least need one of the last two categories to complement the youth. That means a lot of transfer market activity in summer. Does Morison have a pull in the market for senior players, or have extensive agent relationships to pull these players in? Dalman may have the contacts, but it is the coach that influences the securing of the players. He is very green here.

I have stated my preferences from the outset, as per my original link. For all those reasons I would have preferred the appointment of Neil Critchley of Blackpool. I would have chosen Michael Beale as my second choice. Brian Barry-Murphy would have been my third. Steve Morison is a decent choice, and ticks most of the above requirements except the cons in the above list. With the downsides in mind, it is now important to consider how relevant they are.

Club Expectations
I have given my call. But is it the right call for the club? It depends on the club’s objectives. If Tan, Choo and Dalman decide that the objectives are to secure survival, retain the existing seniors and promote our Under 23s, then I think Morison could do that. For me, what he has embedded in just two to three weeks is impressive, and sign of things to come. But if the expectation is that we expect promotion next season based on retaining all or most of the existing senior players and the U23s, but without decent extra transfer funds, then I fear that Morison will not succeed and will come under undue pressure too early in his career. And if I were him I’d stay in the Under 23s until Tan is prepared to commit more funds.

If I were him, I would seriously consider the advice above of Alex Ferguson before taking the offer. Initial impressions are that, even at senior level, he is a good coach. But he does have drawbacks. And the club expectations, the owner and the backing of the club in achieving those goals have to be weighed up carefully. In his first venture in taking a senior side, this is a very big call. Not just for fans, and the club but also Steve Morison.

The expectations of the club? To save money and keep us up.

There has supposedly been an extensive search for a new man and it looks like we've chosen someone who was passing by the door at the time. He was written out of it two weeks ago but since getting four points from nine (three of those rather fortunately) he's now first choice.

I assume he'll have a boost in salary and if it doesn't go well won't want a drop in wages to return to the U23s and won't want the demotion anyway so it's possible we'll lose a decent U23 manager.

He seems no more intelligent or articulate than our previous managers or any other candidate. Up and coming coaches generally have the same qualifications and so it boils down to character and imagination to manage a team ahead of the rest. I'm not sure Morison is someone of that ilk (hope I'm wrong though).

Perhaps they tried and couldn't get anyone else or at the end of this we'll get the new Guardiola (or that's Morison) but all this does for me is suggest yet again we're shambling along in an unsure, half-arsed, short-term manner.

Morison himself will take the chance because getting a managerial role is a rare opportunity.

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Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays

The expectations of the club? To save money and keep us up.

There has supposedly been an extensive search for a new man and it looks like we've chosen someone who was passing by the door at the time. He was written out of it two weeks ago but since getting four points from nine (three of those rather fortunately) he's now first choice.

I assume he'll have a boost in salary and if it doesn't go well won't want a drop in wages to return to the U23s and won't want the demotion anyway so it's possible we'll lose a decent U23 manager.

He seems no more intelligent or articulate than our previous managers or any other candidate. Up and coming coaches generally have the same qualifications and so it boils down to character and imagination to manage a team ahead of the rest. I'm not sure Morison is someone of that ilk (hope I'm wrong though).

Perhaps they tried and couldn't get anyone else or at the end of this we'll get the new Guardiola (or that's Morison) but all this does for me is suggest yet again we're shambling along in an unsure, half-arsed, short-term manner.

Morison himself will take the chance because getting a managerial role is a rare opportunity.

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It’s hard to discard the feeling you set out in your penultimate paragraph because that’s what we’ve been doing for a decade isn’t it.

There’s no doubt Morison has improved things, but they could hardly get worse could they and those improvements have been pretty modest so far. On the other hand, it would be daft to expect anyone to come in and make dramatic improvements to any club that is on the worst losing run in its history and setting a club record run of most consecutive home defeats. All anyone could do in such circumstances is stem and then stop the bleeding, Morison has done that, but the patient is still in poor shape overall.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

It’s hard to discard the feeling you set out in your penultimate paragraph because that’s what we’ve been doing for a decade isn’t it.

There’s no doubt Morison has improved things, but they could hardly get worse could they and those improvements have been pretty modest so far. On the other hand, it would be daft to expect anyone to come in and make dramatic improvements to any club that is on the worst losing run in its history and setting a club record run of most consecutive home defeats. All anyone could do in such circumstances is stem and then stop the bleeding, Morison has done that, but the patient is still in poor shape overall.

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All he's done is stopped playing Ciaran Brown and put Giles there

I don't really see a marked improvement and in all honesty as bad as Huddersfield were they should have been out of sight by the time we scored our first

But as you say you can't expect overnight improvements and we've stopped the rot at the moment but I am very cautious of this appointment

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Originally Posted by WJ99mobile

All he's done is stopped playing Ciaran Brown and put Giles there

I don't really see a marked improvement and in all honesty as bad as Huddersfield were they should have been out of sight by the time we scored our first

But as you say you can't expect overnight improvements and we've stopped the rot at the moment but I am very cautious of this appointment

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Really, did you watch the games. In no way was just swapping Giles for Brown the only changes to how we set up.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

It’s hard to discard the feeling you set out in your penultimate paragraph because that’s what we’ve been doing for a decade isn’t it.

There’s no doubt Morison has improved things, but they could hardly get worse could they and those improvements have been pretty modest so far. On the other hand, it would be daft to expect anyone to come in and make dramatic improvements to any club that is on the worst losing run in its history and setting a club record run of most consecutive home defeats. All anyone could do in such circumstances is stem and then stop the bleeding, Morison has done that, but the patient is still in poor shape overall.

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To stay with your theme, we're going to need some blood donors of the right type after January to hopefully keep the team alive before some major surgery in the summer.

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Originally Posted by 2b2bdoo

Really, did you watch the games. In no way was just swapping Giles for Brown the only changes to how we set up.

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I would agree. Looking through a coaching pair of eyes:

1. An attempt to build up play with pass and move. No coaching eyes needed there. That was obvious.

2. I thought positioning of players was fundamentally different, when on the ball. It isn't about just the pass, but availability of players in passing lanes. That was laid down quickly.

3. A willingness, when nothing was on in the attacking area, to move the ball around. Under prior coaches, simply tossing it into the box was encouraged. Now, an intelligent moving of the defence by passing back, and recycling the ball was a valid option.

4. Despite goal chances created ball in possession was much higher. Increased time in possessions meant less possession and less chances for the other team.

Fans forget that implementing a new style takes 6-8 weeks to just to get the basics clicking with this type of style. It will take 3-6 months for it to be what they want. But already, the statistics and eyeline evidence is better.

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Originally Posted by WJ99mobile

All he's done is stopped playing Ciaran Brown and put Giles there

I don't really see a marked improvement and in all honesty as bad as Huddersfield were they should have been out of sight by the time we scored our first

But as you say you can't expect overnight improvements and we've stopped the rot at the moment but I am very cautious of this appointment

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I was going to answer the OP but fell asleep half way through reading it. Then I noticed your ‘effort’. Your first two sentences are just plain silly and indicate to me that you didn't actually watch the game at all, whether you were in the stadium or not.

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Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

I would agree. Looking through a coaching pair of eyes:

1. An attempt to build up play with pass and move. No coaching eyes needed there. That was obvious.

2. I thought positioning of players was fundamentally different, when on the ball. It isn't about just the pass, but availability of players in passing lanes. That was laid down quickly.

3. A willingness, when nothing was on in the attacking area, to move the ball around. Under prior coaches, simply tossing it into the box was encouraged. Now, an intelligent moving of the defence by passing back, and recycling the ball was a valid option.

4. Despite goal chances created ball in possession was much higher. Increased time in possessions meant less possession and less chances for the other team.

Fans forget that implementing a new style takes 6-8 weeks to just to get the basics clicking with this type of style. It will take 3-6 months for it to be what they want. But already, the statistics and eyeline evidence is better.

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So you think that he should have the job then ? Make your mind up.

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

It’s hard to discard the feeling you set out in your penultimate paragraph because that’s what we’ve been doing for a decade isn’t it.

There’s no doubt Morison has improved things, but they could hardly get worse could they and those improvements have been pretty modest so far. On the other hand, it would be daft to expect anyone to come in and make dramatic improvements to any club that is on the worst losing run in its history and setting a club record run of most consecutive home defeats. All anyone could do in such circumstances is stem and then stop the bleeding, Morison has done that, but the patient is still in poor shape overall.

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Nice to see that you are being your usual optimistic self.

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Originally Posted by 2b2bdoo

Really, did you watch the games. In no way was just swapping Giles for Brown the only changes to how we set up.

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Yes - I thought we were pretty on the eye, but still shakey at the back and toothless at the front

I do think we're on a upward trajectory but I cannot say that it's going to be all easy from here

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Originally Posted by dml1954

Nice to see that you are being your usual optimistic self.

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:hehe: I thought I was being balanced, I was trying to be like you :hehe:

One of the big pros for me is that he surely knows a lot about the U23 players the 'plastic' clubs have at heir academy's? If so, I am expecting a couple of really good loan signings come the January window.

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

One of the big pros for me is that he surely knows a lot about the U23 players the 'plastic' clubs have at heir academy's? If so, I am expecting a couple of really good loan signings come the January window.

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Agree with that.
My concern is with the “board expectations” that is being talked about.
The owner never appears at the stadium and Dalman appearances are also few and far between. Choo may be there but by the sound of Dalman recent statements, have no real responsibilities other than carrying out the leaders instructions.
I cannot believe that we will become a club with any plans but in the absence of clear leadership I would give Morison until the end of this season

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Originally Posted by DubaiDai

Agree with that.
My concern is with the “board expectations” that is being talked about.

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My own thoughts are that Tan is happy to keep us in this division, and is doing so until he gets a decent offer for the club. He doesn't appear to have shown much interest in us at all, since we changed back to blue.

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

My own thoughts are that Tan is happy to keep us in this division, and is doing so until he gets a decent offer for the club. He doesn't appear to have shown much interest in us at all, since we changed back to blue.

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We changed back to blue in January 2015 - nearly 7 years ago.

Tan was showing a lot of interest in the club a year later with a major fan reps meeting in Cardiff as the heat built up on Slade.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...-best-10879235

He was certainly interested (and present at a good few matches) in the promotion and Premier League seasons. He was interested enough to provide decent transfer and wage funds up until the summer of 2019 (change of strategy from January 2020 - but even then 4 big loan deals to add to Moore, Ng etc. in summer 2020). We keep on being told that he gets up in the middle of the night to watch all Cardiff matches, and given he is subsidising the club by a stupid amount why would anyone doubt that commitment to watching his investment?

I'm sure you are right that the ambition for this season is Championship survival - and bringing through and blooding a good number of u23s to reduce costs and increase squad value. Sensible change of strategy, made easier by a long anticipated arrival of our own 'golden generation'.

The question is more about what (if anything) the owner and board want to achieve after this season. Is there a plan? The academy is coming good and costs have been controlled to an extent, but that doesn't ad up to a plan. Waiting for 'a decent offer' isn't a plan either.

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Originally Posted by jon1959

We changed back to blue in January 2015 - nearly 7 years ago.

Tan was showing a lot of interest in the club a year later with a major fan reps meeting in Cardiff as the heat built up on Slade.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...-best-10879235

He was certainly interested (and present at a good few matches) in the promotion and Premier League seasons. He was interested enough to provide decent transfer and wage funds up until the summer of 2019 (change of strategy from January 2020 - but even then 4 big loan deals to add to Moore, Ng etc. in summer 2020). We keep on being told that he gets up in the middle of the night to watch all Cardiff matches, and given he is subsidising the club by a stupid amount why would anyone doubt that commitment to watching his investment?

I'm sure you are right that the ambition for this season is Championship survival - and bringing through and blooding a good number of u23s to reduce costs and increase squad value. Sensible change of strategy, made easier by a long anticipated arrival of our own 'golden generation'.

The question is more about what (if anything) the owner and board want to achieve after this season. Is there a plan? The academy is coming good and costs have been controlled to an extent, but that doesn't ad up to a plan. Waiting for 'a decent offer' isn't a plan either.

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Hi Jon, some good points made by you. I have to ask though how many times though has Tan been at home games though since we turned back to blue? Maybe I'm wrong, but I can only think of two, against Derby, I think it was and the game that we got promoted in 2018 v Reading. Maybe I am wrong though as I don't get to every home game these days. To me his interest waned big time. Also my thoughts are that are, he has put his hand in his pocket to sanction the buying of players as he obviously wants us back in the "big" league. One because of the kudos, two because it means as when he sells the club is worth far more money than being in the Championship. I guess you see things differently which is no bad thing, because this messageboard would be a total waste of time we all agreed with one another's points.

Morison is a huge gamble BUT his football will be more fun to watch.

It's the antithesis of signing Warnock when we were last in this position.......... safe bet, shit football.

Who knows what the result will be but I'd be surprised if we ended the season any higher than 15th or so.

This kind of approach to recruitment of hiring from within reminds me a little of Wales' approach. It's worked well at that level, although we evidently don't have the same sort of talent in our squad.

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Originally Posted by Mr Soul '68

One of the big pros for me is that he surely knows a lot about the U23 players the 'plastic' clubs have at heir academy's? If so, I am expecting a couple of really good loan signings come the January window.

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Why would he? Our Under-23s don't play against the "plastic" clubs.

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Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy

Why would he? Our Under-23s don't play against the "plastic" clubs.

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Yes, I am well aware we don't play against the "plastic" clubs at U23, but football is a very small world. I am sure (although I may be wrong!) that being a knowledge guy (and let's hope he is, or we are doomed!) then he would be well aware of really good U23 players who possibly could be persuaded to go out on loan to us from what i term the 'plastic' or 'tourist' clubs. I would have thought his knowledge of U23 players would be better than say current players who may be available who are over that age, and wouldn't have come under his radar. Just my thoughts that's all. You may well disagree, and see things completely differently, however....

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Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays

The expectations of the club? To save money and keep us up.

There has supposedly been an extensive search for a new man and it looks like we've chosen someone who was passing by the door at the time. He was written out of it two weeks ago but since getting four points from nine (three of those rather fortunately) he's now first choice.

I assume he'll have a boost in salary and if it doesn't go well won't want a drop in wages to return to the U23s and won't want the demotion anyway so it's possible we'll lose a decent U23 manager.

He seems no more intelligent or articulate than our previous managers or any other candidate. Up and coming coaches generally have the same qualifications and so it boils down to character and imagination to manage a team ahead of the rest. I'm not sure Morison is someone of that ilk (hope I'm wrong though).

Perhaps they tried and couldn't get anyone else or at the end of this we'll get the new Guardiola (or that's Morison) but all this does for me is suggest yet again we're shambling along in an unsure, half-arsed, short-term manner.

Morison himself will take the chance because getting a managerial role is a rare opportunity.

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That is pretty much spot on.