On Tuesday afternoon, West Bromwich Albion confirmed the news that former midfielder James Morrison had now hung up his playing boots and would instead continue his footballing career as a coach, within our Academy setup.
Legend.
Mozza has announced his retirement, but he'll be returning to the Albion ????#WBA https://t.co/EokQRDp4K2
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) October 29, 2019
The 33-year-old only left The Hawthorns over the summer and despite having interest in his services from other clubs, he’s taken the surprise decision in some ways to hang up his boots whilst he may have had a few playing years left in him – although I guess after more recent injury problems, the decision makes perfect sense to him.
After 12 years with the club, the pivot to our youth setup should work well as regardless of the last couple of seasons, what Morrison bought to the pitch for us speaks for itself and he has bags of experience to pass over to our next generation.
341 appearances for us, just shy of a 100 for Middlesbrough and 49 Scotland caps says it all.
Speaking to wba.co.uk, Morrison explained.
“It’s been really hard to make this decision. Football has been my life for so long. It’s difficult to say goodbye to that. Having said that, being offered the opportunity to return to this club to begin some coaching has helped me come to terms with my playing days coming to an end. I loved playing here. It’s easy to take it all for granted, but I really have loved my time here, so to be able to extend that in a non-playing capacity is great. Coaching is obviously new to me and I’m thankful the club are giving me this opportunity, because it’s not a given that a club will just throw their doors open to you, especially not so quickly after you decide to retire.”
Sporting and Technical Director, Luke Dowling, added.
“As soon as it was clear Mozza wanted to get a taste for coaching there was no question that that should be here with our club. It will be a great opportunity for him to dip his toes into the water of coaching in an Academy environment. It’s great for the club too, to have all that influence and experience out amongst the age groups. He’ll work with the Under-16s, 18s and 23s, and we’ll assess things with him as we go along.”
This is FABULOUS NEWS!!!! Well done to the club for giving James the opportunity. Great work again by Luke Dowling ????????????????????????
— Carl 1878 ???????????????????? (@baggyboy1878) October 29, 2019
Great move to keep him around. The blokes a legend. Still surprised no one took a punt on him.
— DOOD (@DoodWBA) October 29, 2019
A modern day legend for most but for me this bloke is a real club legend! All the best Mozza. What a servant and so many memories ????⚪????⚪????????????
— Adam (@adam_wba) October 29, 2019
Great decision by the club.
Wish you all the best Mozza.— chris parkes (@parksey1972) October 29, 2019
Congratulations on a great career Mozza. Club legend. Getting him in as a coach is a great move for the young players at the club as well – fantastic move @WBA ????????
— Nick (@Nikolarse_) October 29, 2019
This kind of thing is the best of our club. Mozza is a #HawthornsHero and getting him into coaching at home is a great move.
— inderjit singh (@DesiBaggie) October 29, 2019
Once a baggie always a baggie????⚪️????⚪️ true gent!
— ♡Emma♡ (@emmahaleyxox) October 29, 2019
Previous Article: