Andy Morrell

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Andy Morrell
Andy Morrell.jpg
Morrell training with Bury in 2009
Personal information
Full name Andrew Jonathan Morrell[1]
Date of birth (1974-09-28) 28 September 1974 (age 50)[1]
Place of birth Doncaster, England
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Nuneaton Borough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–1998 Newcastle Blue Star
1998–2003 Wrexham 109 (40)
2003–2006 Coventry City 98 (17)
2006–2008 Blackpool 78 (21)
2008–2010 Bury 73 (18)
2010–2014 Wrexham 113 (25)
2014–2018 Tamworth 28 (4)
2018 Redditch United 1 (1)
Managerial career
2011–2014 Wrexham
2014–2018 Tamworth
2020 Hednesford Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andrew Jonathan Morrell (born 28 September 1974) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, Morrell played 359 games in the Football League for Wrexham, Coventry City, Blackpool and Bury, scoring 96 goals.

Initially handed the manager's role on an interim basis at Wrexham, after Dean Saunders left to manage Doncaster Rovers, Morrell was given the job until the end of the season after a run of seven wins in nine games, he continued his playing career serving as a player-manager, leaving the position in February 2014 after two and a half years as manager[2] with a win record at over 52%.[3]

Morrell has also served as assistant manager at Shrewsbury Town.

Career

Newcastle Blue Star

Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire[1] and brought up in Market Bosworth, and attending Twycross House School, he played for the Leicestershire County Cricket Club from under-15 to under-19 level. He started his football career as a youth team player at Nuneaton Borough, before deciding to make the move north to Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne to study Sports science. It was then that he started playing for Newcastle Blue Star making 31 appearances scoring 25 times in his season.

Wrexham

Morrell's first big break came when he started talking to Sky Sports presenter Rob McCaffrey, who was helping to write the autobiography of Joey Jones, Wrexham's first-team coach at the time. McCaffrey arranged for Morrell to have a trial at the club. After a week's trial he was kept on at Wrexham and was coached by their striking coach Ian Rush, from whom he learnt a great deal. With his new strike partner Lee Trundle he scored 34 league goals in 45 games in the 2002–03 season, making him top scorer in all four divisions that year, having only scored two goals the entire previous season.

Coventry City

After a very impressive spell with Wrexham, Morrell caught the eye of Coventry City manager Gary McAllister, who signed him on a free transfer in the summer of 2003. Morrell scored nine goals in 19 starts in his first season with Coventry; however, this decreased to six goals the following season following a transition to a wide midfield position.

Blackpool

Morrell signed for Blackpool on a free transfer on 15 August 2006, after failing to make an appearance for Coventry during the first three games of the 2006–07 season. On 5 May 2007, he scored four goals in Blackpool's 6–3 victory at Swansea City.[4] He also scored against Oldham Athletic in the second leg of the play-off semi-final, which put his league goals in his nine months with Blackpool at 17, which was the total he scored in three years with Coventry. He finished the 2006–07 season as Blackpool's top scorer with 20 goals in all competitions.

Bury

On 7 May 2008, Morrell was offered a new contract by Blackpool.[5] But Morrell declined the offer instead joining Bury on 9 August. He signed a two-year contract with the League Two club.[6] In his two seasons with the Gigg Lane club Morrell made 78 appearances scoring 18 goals.

Return to Wrexham and start of managerial career

Morrell playing for Wrexham in 2011

After his two seasons with Bury, Morrell left the club and on 28 June 2010, and signed a two-year contract with his former club Wrexham.[7] Morrell scored the winning goal on his debut, a 1–0 win over Cambridge United in the first game of the season. Morrell took a major part in Wrexham's first team and played in the Conference Play-off semi-finals of the 2010–11 season but lost to rivals Luton Town.

On 23 September 2011, Morrell took over as caretaker player-manager at Wrexham, following the departure of Dean Saunders to Donaster Rovers.[8][9] After leading Wrexham to seven wins in nine games, he was appointed player-manager on a permanent basis on a contract until the end of the 2011–12 season on 29 October.[10] During his first season as Wrexham manager he led the reds to an FA Cup 3rd round match against Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion, with Wrexham taking the Albion to a replay in front of a packed Racecourse Ground. Wrexham lost the game on penalties 5–4 with Brighton keeper Peter Brezovan saving the first penalty taken by Wrexham captain Dean Keates.[11] Also Morrell guided Wrexham to the Play-offs after narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to Fleetwood Town even after gaining 98 points in the season. Morrell's side lost in the semi-final for the second year running once again to Luton Town who went on to lose to York City in the final.

In April 2012, Morrell signed a new two-year deal with Wrexham, one year as a player then an additional year as manager, working alongside assistant and goalkeeper coach Michael Oakes and Assistant Billy Barr.[12] In 2013 Morrell led his Wrexham team to Wembley on two occasions. The first against Grimsby Town, in the FA Trophy Final. Wrexham won the game on penalties after it finished 1–1 after extra time.[13] The second occasion was for the Conference Play Off Final.[14] Wrexham had beaten Kidderminster harriers 5–2 on aggregate to get to the final, but were beaten by fellow Welsh side Newport County 2–0. The following season began terribly for Morrell's Wrexham which saw them in the bottom half for most of the first half of the 2013–14 campaign, Morrell decided not to play in most games although on 23 November he came on as a sub in the first half for injured Brett Ormerod and scored a fantastic volley and earned the man of the match award against Forest Green Rovers.

On 23 February 2014, Morrell left his position as manager of Wrexham FC by mutual consent after a meeting with the board members, leaving the club after four years as a player, and two and a half years as player-manager.[15]

Shrewsbury Town

Morrell was appointed as assistant manager to his former Blackpool teammate Mike Jackson at Shrewsbury Town on 7 March 2014, on a deal that ran until the end of the season.[16] Following the club's relegation to League Two, Morrell left the club, with Jackson assuming assistant duties under new manager Micky Mellon.

Tamworth

On 23 September 2014, Morrell made his return to football management by taking over at Conference North side Tamworth.[17] He took over the side and quickly turned around their league campaign by taking them to the play-off spots, to the delight of the fans. He also played regularly for them, contrary of the previous seasons lack of games.

Redditch United

In February 2018, Morrell departed Tamworth.[18] Later in the same month, he joined Redditch United, scoring on his début in a 4–2 win over Gosport Borough on 20 February.[19]

Hednesford Town

Morrell was appointed manager of Hednesford Town in April 2020.[20] He was sacked in October of that year after three defeats and a draw from the opening four games of the season.[21]

Career statistics

As of 5 March 2013
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[lower-alpha 1] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wrexham 1998–99 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 8 0
1999–2000 13 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 15 1
2000–01 20 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 21 3
2001–02 24 2 1 0 0 0 2 2 27 4
2002–03 45 34 1 0 2 1 1 0 49 35
Total 109 40 3 0 3 1 5 2 120 43
Coventry City 2003–04 30 9 2 0 2 0 0 0 34 9
2004–05 34 6 2 0 2 1 0 0 38 7
2005–06 34 2 3 0 2 1 0 0 39 3
Total 98 17 7 0 6 2 0 0 111 19
Blackpool 2006–07 40 16 4 3 1 0 3 1 48 20
2007–08 38 5 1 0 4 0 0 0 43 5
Total 78 21 5 3 5 0 3 1 91 25
Bury 2008–09 41 9 1 0 1 0 3 0 46 8
2009–10 32 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 33 9
Total 73 18 1 0 1 0 4 0 79 18
Wrexham 2010–11 41 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 41 10
2011–12 44 10 5 3 0 0 2 1 51 14
2012–13 21 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 22 3
2013–14 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
Total 110 24 6 3 0 0 2 1 114 27
Total 464 119 22 6 15 3 14 4 515 132
  1. ↑ Includes Football League Trophy and play-offs.

Managerial statistics

As of 3 February 2018[22]
Team From To Record
G W D L Win % Ref.
Wrexham 23 September 2011 24 February 2014 140 73 31 36 52.14
Tamworth 23 September 2014 7 February 2018 198 89 48 61 44.95
Total 338 163 78 97 48.22 —

Honours

Player

Blackpool

Individual

Manager

Wrexham

Individual

References

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  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Andy Morrell named new Hednesford Town boss Express and Star, 17 April 2020
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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