WRITING IN HIS latest book ‘Leading’, Sir Alex Ferguson describes Ravel Morrison as having ‘as much natural talent as any youngster we ever signed’.
But, he only ever made three senior appearances. There had been warning signs, like his time-keeping and general attitude to training. But, there was also the ability and the irresistible, magnetic relationship he had with the ball.
A litany of videos are online showcasing the way in which Morrison swaggered around the centre of a pitch, shirt un-tucked, and dazzled with his dizzying runs, deft flicks and an intoxicating impudence.
United tried to keep him onside but it was hard. He already had a police caution for common assault dating back to 2008 when he found himself in the dock of the Trafford youth court three years later. He was admitting to two charges of intimidating a witness who had been the victim of a robbery at knife-point. Two of his friends served prison sentences for the offence.
Morrison faced a spell in a young offenders facility only for the judge to show some leniency.
He was back in court just a few months later, charged with assaulting his girlfriend and causing criminal damage. He pleaded guilty and was fined.
But later that year, at the age of 18, he was playing for United in League Cup games against Aldershot and Crystal Palace. It seemed like a breakthrough.
And then he signed for West Ham in January of 2012 – Sir Alex Ferguson finally losing patience.
Years later, Mike Phelan – who was then Ferguson’s assistant – filled in some of the details to the BBC.
“At Manchester United there were other things going on which were a distraction for him and that played a part in his downfall”, he said.
He had a tendency to disappear for the odd day or two and then we would manage to find him and bring him back in. It really was a day-to-day project with him. One day he was there and then another he wasn’t. He is a nice guy when he is with you, when he is around football, but obviously there were distractions. At the end of the day is it too much work to put into one person and keep the harmony and the balance? That was a decision that the club had to make.”
Phelan was speaking in October 2013, when Morrison had started the season brilliantly in east London. He had returned reborn from a season-long loan at Birmingham and had scored five goals in his first 12 appearances of the campaign.
Phelan was quizzed on whether it had been a smart move for United to let him go, seeing as though he was blossoming at West Ham.
“He needed to get out of Manchester”, Phelan said.
“It is still a risk with Ravel, but he seems to have got his head in the right situation, his performances are decent and getting better. Hopefully he can maintain that.”
But he couldn’t.
Despite starring for his new side in the early part of the season, a furious Sam Allardyce sent him on loan to QPR.
In his autobiography, the current England manager reveals what happened.
“The end came after we’d played at Manchester United”, Allardyce writes.
Rav stayed up north to see his family and didn’t come back. He wasn’t injured, he just didn’t fancy getting involved in our festive relegation battle. We couldn’t get hold of him until the lads saw a picture of him on Facebook enjoying Christmas lunch with his family while they were preparing for our Boxing Day game. Rav was potentially a £50million player but he has blown his career and it’s unlikely to happen for him now.”
He did well at Loftus Road, netting six times in 17 appearances as the club reached the play-offs. But he had broken Allardyce’s trust and was farmed out to Cardiff at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season.
Morrison seemed quite aware of what was going on. He was being punished but struggled to deal with it. Perhaps, he had been given so much leeway at other points in his career that he just got used to it.
Instead of buckling down at Cardiff and trying to impress Allardyce with renewed purpose and dedication, he wasted the opportunity. He hit out at West Ham in a tweet he later deleted.
And, once again, there was some traumatic off-field drama. He was accused of threatening to throw acid in the face of a former girlfriend. He was accused of threatening to have her killed. He was also accused of threatening to blow up the woman’s house and of assaulting her and her mother.
In total, he racked up seven uneventful appearances for Cardiff. Once he returned to West Ham, Allardyce wasn’t even trying to hide his disdain anymore.
“You can lead the horse to water but you can’t make it drink”, he said.
“There’s only a certain amount of times you can tell somebody what they should or shouldn’t be doing. If they don’t want to take it on board there’s little you can do. It’s very difficult to sit and watch such a great talent wasted.”
Morrison eventually signed for Lazio in the summer of 2015 but, once again, his impact has been largely insignificant.
He gave a rare interview later that year and discussed his release from United.
“Manchester United and Alex Ferguson gave me too many chances. I can only blame myself and not look for excuses. A lot of the things I did wrong at United was silly stuff. It wasn’t because I was involved in robberies. It was more messing about playing computer games and hanging out too much with my friends when I should have been more dedicated to training.
Even Rio Ferdinand took me to one side and said: ‘You need to get out there 15 minutes before the session starts and stay later as well. He was right, of course. But I had concentration and focus issues at the time.
I also remember my coach Rene Meulensteen trying to advise me not to leave when West Ham came in for me. But I was young and wanted to play football. I would have done things differently if I was in that situation now. But it’s done now and there’s no going back. All I can do is look forward.”
Recently, he’s been uploading videos of himself to social media accounts.
On Twitter, he shared a ‘Panenka’ penalty from a pre-season friendly. On Instagram, it was a goal from what looked like a training game in Rome.
It speaks volumes. It’s what Morrison has to do in order for anyone to see him play football right now.
With the transfer window about to close, Lazio have said Morrison is free to leave. According to reports today, he’s been offered to Championship clubs but none are willing to take him on.
At 23, he continues to pay for past indiscretions. And the way in which he’s walking down such a well-worn path is lamentable.
While Morrison tries to look forward, others, understandably, will always be drawn to the past. And what could have been.
“This guy was the best young kid I’ve ever seen in my life”, Rio Ferdinand told Copa90 earlier this year.
“Better than Joe Cole when he was a kid. He was doing circus tricks on the football pitch. I’ve never seen a guy look so comfortable. You can’t just have one element without the other. You’ve got to have everything. I’d love to see him have a chance again to come back and show everyone his talent because the kid was just different. Pogba, Januzaj, Lingard – they used to look up to this boy.”
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