IAN MORRIS ISN’T the type to harbour regrets.
At 29, the early stages of his journey as a coach have left him content. He sees his future in coaching and management and he’s taking the necessary steps to make that a reality. But given the ability to go back in time and make one change, he knows exactly what it would be.
“Sign for someone other than Leeds!” he laughs.
“Every decision I’ve made in my career has led me to where I am, and I’m quite happy where I am. I’m in a role I want to be in and which gives me a chance to progress. I’m getting there at a fairly young age as well. I’m happy with the path I’m on but I still feel I have a lot to offer and achieve as a player. I still have goals.”
This season is set to be Morris’s first full campaign in the League of Ireland. After reaching the end of a two-year spell with Northampton Town in 2015, he rejected the offer of a new contract with the club to return to his native Dublin.
The versatile former Ireland U21 international, who can play at the back and in midfield, opted to come home with his wife and two children after leading a somewhat nomadic existence for much of his time in England, which began when he joined Leeds United as a 15-year-old in 2002.
“It’s been really good since we came home,” Morris says. “The main reason we came back was the two kids and they’re absolutely thriving now, so we’re bearing the fruits of that. We wanted to settle. We didn’t have a support network over there but we’re surrounded by family and friends now.
“It’s not great when you’re trying to put down roots and socially have a good relationship with people where you live. You’re up and you’re down, moving from one place to another. It doesn’t bode well for a man with a family.
“I got an injury and, while I was out, myself and my wife agreed that it was time to make a change. I was offered a new contract but we had already made the decision to come home. It was the right decision, especially looking at the kids now.”
At Leeds United’s academy, Morris rubbed shoulders with the likes of James Milner, Aaron Lennon and Scott Carson. A club which wasn’t reluctant to give young players an opportunity, Leeds had reached the semi-finals of the Champions League the year before Morris arrived. He had other options when departing Dublin, but the decision was easy.
Morris: “You were talking about a massive club with massive players. There were about 13 or 14 other Irish lads at the club as well. There were offers from other clubs but there was nowhere else I even considered, to be honest.
“But over the next couple of years, the club started to go into freefall. I think there were five managers in about two-and-a-half years and the finances became a big problem. That’s when the club started to spiral downwards.”
Just three years after reaching the last four of the Champions League, Leeds were relegated from the Premier League and Morris’s chances of making a first-team breakthrough subsequently suffered. Under pressure to deliver results, managers like Peter Reid, Eddie Gray and Kevin Blackwell were hesitant to take a chance on the club’s youngsters.
“It was a very strange situation to be around,” Morris explains. “Obviously when you go over you have dreams and aspirations of breaking into the first team and playing at the highest level. Not only myself, but there were a lot of really good young players there who were really peaking and should have been given a chance.
“It wasn’t a great place for young players then because at the time it was a tricky one for any manager. It was a case of sticking with the tried and tested and hoping for the best. If one manager had stayed in place and steadied the ship it could have turned out differently for a lot of young players.
“There was plenty of talent there at the time and a lot of those players have had very successful careers at other clubs. I ended up going on and enjoying great experiences and success at other clubs so I don’t look back on it as a bad thing. Everyone has a sob story in football. The only choice you have is to pull your socks up and get on with it.”
Morris did just that, firstly during a loan spell at Blackpool in the 2005-06 season. He made 30 League One appearances for the Seasiders, scoring twice in a 5-2 win over Scunthorpe United — who signed him the following season. It was at Scunthorpe where Morris enjoyed what he describes as the highlight of his career.
In May 2009, with Morris playing at left-back, Scunthorpe were promoted to the Championship thanks to a 3-2 win against Millwall in the League One play-off final in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Wembley. Morris would have been playing against Leeds that day had his former club not lost 2-1 on aggregate to Millwall in the semi-finals.
As well as Northampton Town, Morris went on to have spells with Carlisle United, Torquay United and Chesterfield, with whom he won a League Two medal in 2011. His first stop when he returned to Ireland in July 2015 was St Patrick’s Athletic. A brief spell with Glenavon followed, before he got involved with Bohemians last summer.
First he was appointed as Youth Development Officer at Dalymount Park, having seen the vacancy being advertised. The role has allowed Morris to pursue his passion for coaching and he’s currently in the process of securing his Uefa A licence.
But the desire to succeed as a player remains too. A couple of months later, Bohs found room for manoeuvre in their budget and added Morris to their squad. Last season culminated in an eighth-place finish for the Gypsies. A club of their stature expects more, but they might settle for the same in 2017.
Key players like Kurtis Byrne, Roberto Lopes and Keith Buckley have departed, leaving manager Keith Long with a relatively inexperienced panel of players to choose from this season, which begins for the Phibsboro outfit at home to Derry City on Friday night. Nevertheless, as one of the squad’s elder statesmen, Morris is optimistic.
“The pre-season was excellent,” he says. “Trevor Croly has come in with Keith and the training has been really, really good with the new group. There’s a hell of a lot of new faces and younger players that have really come into their own in the past few weeks.
“The lads that have come in are all very hungry. They all want to succeed. The competition for places is a hell of a lot stronger than it was even last season. We’ve come a long way and things are really starting to click for how we want to play.”
He adds: “It’s very hard to know how this year is going to go. The added fear, I suppose, of three teams going down is going to be playing on the minds of a lot of players and managers. I couldn’t put my finger on what I think we can achieve.
“But the squad we’ve assembled, with the power and the pace going forward, the hunger, the strength at the back, I believe we’re going to be very tough to beat and I think we’ll excite a lot of people this season.”
Survival, not silverware, is likely to be the target for Bohemians, but Morris isn’t deterred by that assessment. Whether it happens this year or beyond, he wants more success. The former Lourdes Celtic player, who turns 30 next week, is keen to ensure that the EA Sports Cup medal he won at St Pat’s in 2015 won’t be the final accolade of his career.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to win trophies in England, whereas a lot of players can go through their whole careers without winning anything. I still want to get into Europe and I want to win leagues and cups,” he says.
“Coaching is a big thing for me now but the hunger is still there as a player. I’m not done yet.”
