Clinton Morrison


Clinton Hubert Morrison is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Since his retirement from playing he works as a pundit.
Morrison began his career at local side Crystal Palace in 1998, for whom he scored over 100 goals across two spells, despite a less successful period at Birmingham City in between.
Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland 36 times at full international level, scoring 9 goals, and made their squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

First spell at Crystal Palace

Morrison was born in Tooting, London. He began his career at Crystal Palace of the First Division, making his debut on 10 May 1998 as an 82nd-minute substitute for Neil Shipperley, and scoring the injury-time winner over opponents Sheffield Wednesday. The next season saw him score 13 goals, while Palace were struggling both on and off the pitch. Whilst they were in administration, Morrison agreed to play for the club for free.
In 1999–2000, he played more than 30 games, and scored 14 goals, including his only brace of the season at Swindon Town.
His 2000–01 saw 14 goals, but the next season he scored 26 goals, and transferred to Premier League side Birmingham City.

Birmingham City

With a tricky relationship becoming clear between Morrison and Trevor Francis, then Palace manager, it was Birmingham City who fought and won his signature, for £4.25 million, in exchange for Andrew Johnson. However, Morrison struggled somewhat in the top league, scoring only six goals in his first, and four goals in his second season, although he did score Birmingham's first goal against arch rivals Aston Villa in 16 years following the club's return to the top flight, during a 3–0 victory at St. Andrews. However, following a spell on the sidelines with injury, during the 2004–05 season he began to form a decent strike partnership with Emile Heskey.

Return to Crystal Palace

Due to pressure for first team places Morrison left Birmingham on 24 August 2005. Palace agreed a £2 million fee for the 26-year-old, who was also linked with Norwich City and Southampton. He claimed that a large part of his decision to return was, ironically, due to being able to play alongside Andrew Johnson, the man Birmingham had originally swapped to get Morrison.
Morrison had a successful first season back at Palace, alternating with former strike-partner Dougie Freedman in playing alongside Johnson, scoring 13 goals in 33 starts and 8 substitute appearances.
In season 2007–08, Morrison started the season brightly scoring twice in the first three games, taking himself to 99 goals in his Palace career, however the 100th goal became an albatross round his neck, and manager Peter Taylor dropped him from the starting line up for several games. It was under new manager Neil Warnock that Morrison eventually scored his 100th Crystal Palace goal in the London derby against Queens Park Rangers on 10 November 2007, with an 88th-minute equaliser, making him the eighth player in the club's history to reach this milestone. He was given a Special Achievement Award to mark this feat at the end of the season's "Player of the Year" ceremony.
After breaking the 100th goal deadlock, Morrison hit a purple patch of scoring, and he finished his Palace career with 113 goals in all competitions for the club, the fifth-highest of any player in the club's history. He scored on the final day of the 2007–08 season in a 5–0 win over Burnley that confirmed Palace's play-off place. This meant that he had scored in his first and last league games for the club.
This was Morrison's last season at Palace, with his contract expiring at the end of the season. Morrison wanted to stay at Palace but manager Neil Warnock said that Morrison would have to fight for his place in the starting line-up. Morrison then took a higher wage offer to move to Coventry City.

Coventry City

In July 2008 Morrison trained with Coventry City and accompanied them on their pre-season tour of Switzerland. He signed a two-year deal with the club on 7 August 2008. He wore the number 19 shirt during the 2008–09 season with a plus sign between the 1 and 9. The reason for this being that 1+9 equals 10, which was the number Morrison played with whilst at Palace. He changed to wearing number 11 for 2009/10.
At the end of the 2009–10 season, Morrison said he was keen to sign a new contract with the club, but Coventry City told him he was surplus to requirements and he was subsequently released.

Sheffield Wednesday

In July 2010, Morrison signed a two-year contract with Sheffield Wednesday, newly relegated to League One. He scored on his league debut for the Owls in a 2–0 win over Dagenham & Redbridge. Morrison struggled to keep his place in the team towards the end of the season after new manager Gary Megson arrived, as Gary Madine and loan signing Neil Mellor kept him out of the side.
In September 2011, Morrison signed for Milton Keynes Dons on a one-month emergency loan. On his third appearance for the Dons he scored his first goal for the club, against Notts County on 1 October, as well as making one assist.
He joined League One club Brentford in March 2012 on loan until the end of the season.
Wednesday released Morrison at the end of the 2011–12 season.

Colchester United

On 16 July 2012, Morrison signed a two-year deal with League One side Colchester United following his release from Sheffield Wednesday. He went on to make his debut for the U's in a 3–0 League Cup defeat away at Yeovil Town, before leading the line to begin the new Football League season four days later in a 0–0 draw at Deepdale against Preston North End.
Morrison's first goal for Colchester arrived towards the end of August in the third game of the season, as his late equaliser salvaged a 1–1 draw for the U's; their third successive draw to start the season. Morrison celebrated the goal by running the length of the pitch with his hands cupped behind his ears to taunt the Sheffield United fans who, throughout the game, had been doing likewise to the striker for his connections with their city rivals, Wednesday.
Joe Dunne took over as the U's boss at the end of September and immediately brought in Jabo Ibehre on loan from MK Dons, with the loanee displacing Morrison from the starting eleven and consigning him to the bench. Dunne's fourth game in charge was a Football League Trophy defeat to Northampton Town where Morrison was handed a start, but he was dismissed for violent conduct in the closing stages of the game which would suspend the striker for three matches.
The impressive form of Ibehre ensured that Morrison only started four more games for the U's until March, when injury to Freddie Sears created a hole in attack. This was coupled with Ibehre receiving a three-match suspension and Morrison went on to spearhead the U's attack once more, providing crucial experience in Colchester's bid for League One survival. In his fourth successive start, he notched his second U's goal in a 2–1 win away at Bury; a vital match-winning goal in a crunch relegation fixture.
Morrison registered his first goal of the 2013–14 campaign on 30 November, scoring an injury-time consolation goal against Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park to bring his U's tally to three goals in 50 appearances in all competitions. He scored his second of the season late-on during a 3–0 win against Gillingham on 11 January 2014. Morrison announced in the latter stages of the season that he would leave Colchester once his contract expired in the summer. He played his final game for the U's in their 1–0 away victory over Walsall on 3 May 2014.

Later career

He did some media work, and played three matches for Long Eaton United in the Midland League, scoring once himself and also dummying Lye Town's goalkeeper into letting a backpass into the net, before signing for League Two club Exeter City in November 2014 on non-contract terms. He played 25 league matches in what remained of the season, and was then released, but rejoined the club on a short-term deal ahead of the 2015–16 campaign.
Morrison was released by Exeter City at the end of the 2015–16 season and duly signed for Southern Premier Division side Redditch United in June 2016. Morrison has also done some media work as a pundit on Sky Sports and Football League Tonight on Channel 5.
In September 2016 he joined Mickleover Sports.

International career

Apart from England, the country of his birth, Morrison was also eligible to represent Jamaica and the Republic of Ireland. He chose to play for Ireland, qualifying for that country because his grandmother was from Dublin.
Morrison made his debut for Ireland in a 2–2 draw on 15 August 2001 against Croatia; he entered the game as a 52nd-minute substitute and scored the second Ireland goal. He also travelled to the 2002 World Cup, but did not play.
Morrison's international career began to gain momentum during his time at Birmingham City. He scored his first competitive international goal in a 4–2 European Championship qualifying defeat to Russia in Moscow in September 2002. Morrison later became a key part of the side as the Republic competed for a place at World Cup 2006. He scored three goals in the qualifying campaign, but Brian Kerr's side finished fourth in a tight group that included Switzerland, France and Israel.
Despite scoring in 11 out of 14 games for Palace, he was not called into the Ireland squad to face Brazil in a friendly in February 2008. However, his continued good form with Palace led to him being recognised by Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni in his first provisional 40-man squad, though he did not make it to the 28-man squad.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

GoalDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetitionRef.
1.15 August 2001Lansdowne Road, Dublin2–02–2Friendly match
2.27 March 2002Lansdowne Road, Dublin3–03–0Friendly match
3.7 September 2002Dinamo Stadium, Moscow2–32–4UEFA Euro 2004 qualifier
4.12 February 2003Hampden Park, Glasgow2–02–0Friendly match
5.19 August 2003Lansdowne Road, Dublin2–12–1Friendly match
6.4 September 2004Lansdowne Road, Dublin1–03–02006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
7.8 September 2004St. Jakob Park, Basel1–01–12006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
8.26 March 2005Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan1–01–12006 FIFA World Cup qualifier
9.29 March 2005Lansdowne Road, Dublin1–01–0Friendly match