Last week perhaps signalled the start of a bright new dawn
at Ashton Gate, and I’m not talking about the remarkable and dramatic victory
at Hillsborough. When Joe Morrell
committed his most formative of years to the club – spurning interest from five-time
European Champions Liverpool in doing so – the moment gave the club their launch
pad to go on the offensive about the investment in the new Academy.
Joe, thanks very much, and I along with all City fans wish
you all the luck in the world with your future career – we can’t wait to see
you in the first-team!
For too many years, millions of pounds have been sunk into
an under-performing, unproductive system doing nothing to justify its
worth. Since the class of late-90’s
produced the likes of Tommy Doherty, Aaron Brown and Matt Hill, only Cole Skuse
has come through and established himself in the first team. Dave Cotterill & Leroy Lita spent a
little time with the Robins before moving on and earning the academy some much
needed ‘profit’, whilst recently the likes of Christian Ribiero, Joe Edwards
and James Wilson have all threatened the senior squad without ever truly
establishing themselves.
The club have spent the last year talking up the improvements
Derek McInnes has instigated. No wonder –
pay-offs of existing staff members allied with relatively expensive new
salaries within the greater coaching and support teams, no doubt contributed to
the recently announced financial losses, along with the new training facility
being built at Filton.
However this week, the ball of momentum appeared to start
rolling. The signing of Morrell was
lauded by the club and seen as the first step towards justification for the changes made, with the
club citing the clearly communicated objective of becoming a Phase II Academy,
the new training facilities, and the new coaching staff as giving Morrell the
incentive he required to ignore his big-name suitors.
I caught up with Joe this week, and asked him about his new
deal.
Well I’ve got to
start with “Congratulations” on the new deal, how pleased are you to be able to
commit to another couple of years at Ashton Gate?
“Thank you very much. I’m really pleased to have signed the contract
and looking forward to now concentrating on my football.”
I asked Joe about the
interest from Liverpool, and why he chose City over the Merseyside giants? I also
noted that the club seemed more dedicated to providing youth with its chance in
the future, something that hasn’t necessarily been the case over the past few
years, and whether that played a big part in his decision.
“I don’t want to talk about it [the
Liverpool interest] too much, but I can say that I was very close. It’s not really about turning Liverpool
down, it was about me seeing the plans for the academy and players such as Joe
Bryan and Bobby Reid in and around the first team squad that makes Bristol City
an exciting place to be for a young footballer. Really it was the plans for young players that Derek McInnes and Willie
McStay had explained to me.”
Your deal signalled a
strong message from the club that it was a sign of progress within the
“substantially revamped” Academy set-up, a pointer in the right direction. There have been movements in the coaching
staff – and you recently moved to the brand new Filton training complex – but
have you, as players, seen improvements and changes across the Academy?
“The academy has always has always had
a good setup. My current U16's coach,
Dave Horseman, is brilliant but yes, the new facilities and Willie coming in
have made it a good place to be.”
I then asked Joe about
his style, the level of contact he and his teammates have with Derek McInnes, who
else we should be looking out for in the youth set-up.
“I can play either holding or attacking
midfield, I work hard for the team and try to get on the ball as much as
possible. Xavi of Barcelona is a player that I really aspire to be like. There are some really exciting players in the
academy setup at the moment, but Jack Batten is one to really look out for. Derek doesn't tend to have much contact with
us you can see his influence in the way that we play, and he was really
involved in my contract talks.”
You’ve played for
Wales in the Victory Shield, clearly impressing a number of good judges – what was it like pulling on the international shirt
for the first time?
“It doesn't really get much better for
a young player, especially then to go on and captain the team this year, a very
proud moment indeed.”
Joe spent time at former
Bristol Rovers midfielder Jamie Shore’s Soccer Academy, a set-up outside the
professional club ranks, promising to train and educate young footballers in
the style Spanish and Portugese young footballers are brought up. There is a view that this could be the future,
getting youngsters to ‘footballing’ academies before they join clubs so I asked
Joe whether he felt this time had benefitted his career thus far?
“I really enjoyed my time at Jamie
Shore and Paul Taylor was an excellent coach. It gave me the chance to play abroad and
taught me lessons on and off the pitch. There
are a few former Jamie Shore lads at City and [England goalkeeper] Jack Butland
was there too. However I felt it was the
right time to sign for City when I was twelve but I would not be the player and
person that I am now without Jamie Shore.”
What are your
ambitions in the game, and where do you hope to be ten years from now?
“I want to be playing to the best of my
ability and still be enjoying my football, the rest will take care of itself.”
And finally, when you
Google ‘Joe Morrell’, ‘Joe Morrell Soccer AM’ comes up high on the automated
list – care to talk us through why that might be?
“Ha ha, well earlier this year I was
due to go there just to be part of the audience and then found myself sitting
on the famous orange sofa next to Helen Chamberlain and Max Rushden. I was very surprised and I still can’t believe
that I missed my first attempt at getting the ball through the hole!”
You can follow Joe on Twitter here:
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