Andy Morrell

Andy Morrell

Morrell training with Bury in 2009
Personal information
Full name Andrew Jonathan Morrell[1]
Date of birth (1974-09-28) 28 September 1974[1]
Place of birth Doncaster, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Tamworth (player-manager)
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– Tamworth 25 (4)
Teams managed
2011–2014 Wrexham
2014– Tamworth

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 04:01, 20 August 2016 (UTC).


Andrew Jonathan "Andy" Morrell (born 28 September 1974) is an English semi-professional footballer and manager who is the current player-manager of Tamworth.

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 2010/2011 season but lost to rivals Luton Town.

On 23 September 2011, Andy 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 4–5 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/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 FC, 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 Andy 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 team mate Mike Jackson at Shrewsbury Town on 7 March 2014, on a deal that ran until the end of the season.[16] Following the clubs 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.

Career statistics

Club

As of 5 March 2013.
Club statistics
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other[18] Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Wrexham 1998–99 7000001080
1999–2000 131100010151
2000–01 203001000213
2001–02 242100022274
2002–03 45341021104935
Subtotal 109 40 3 0 3 1 5 2 120 43
Coventry City 2003–04 309202000349
2004–05 346202100387
2005–06 342302100393
Subtotal 98 17 7 0 6 2 0 0 111 19
Blackpool 2006–07 40164310314820
2007–08 385104000435
Subtotal 78 21 5 3 5 0 3 1 91 25
Bury 2008–09 419101030468
2009–10 329000010339
Subtotal 73 18 1 0 1 0 4 0 79 18
Wrexham 2010–11 41100000004110
2011–12 44105300215114
2012–13 213100000223
2013–14 4100000041
Subtotal 110 24 6 3 0 0 2 1 114 27
Total 464 119 22 6 15 3 14 4 515 132

Managerial statistics

As of 11 October 2014[19]
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 Present 45 24 12 9 53.33
Total 185 97 43 45 52.43 —

Honours

Player

Blackpool

Manager

Wrexham
Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
  2. ↑ "Andy Morrell quits as Wrexham manager". BBC Sport. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  3. ↑ http://www.soccerbase.com/managers/manager.sd?manager_id=2420
  4. ↑ "Swansea 3–6 Blackpool". BBC Sport. 5 May 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  5. ↑ "Retained List Latest". Blackpool F.C. 7 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  6. ↑ "Goal scorer signs For Bury". Bury F.C. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  7. ↑ "Reds Make Double Move". Wrexham F.C. 28 June 2010. Archived from the original on 1 July 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  8. ↑ "Wrexham appoint Andy Morrell as caretaker manager". BBC sport. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "Andy Morrell Takes on First Team Affairs". Wrexham F.C. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Andy Morrell appointed Wrexham manager". BBC Sport. 29 October 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  11. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16593136
  12. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17614739
  13. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21882684
  14. ↑ Yorke, Graeme (5 May 2013). "Wrexham 0 Newport 2: County promoted to the Football League as Welsh fans unite to boo national anthem". Daily Mail. London.
  15. ↑ "Andy Morrell quits as Wrexham manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  16. ↑ "Shrewsbury Town: Andy Morrell and Yeovil's Sam Foley join". BBC Sport. BBC. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  17. ↑ "BREAKING: Tamworth FC's new boss is ex-Wrexham manager Andy Morrell". Tamworth Herald. 23 September 2014.
  18. ↑ Includes matches in other competitive competitions, including Football League Trophy and play-offs.
  19. ↑ "Andy Morrell's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 23 September 2014.

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