The finishing touches are currently being put on Ravel Morrison’s move from West Ham to Lazio as he seeks pastures new having failed to craft a career in England. A budding young talent, likened to some of England’s finest, where did it all go wrong?
Let’s go back to his youth days at Manchester United. Morrison, aged 17, has handed his Manchester United debut on the 26th of October 2010 against Wolves in the League Cup when he came off the bench, and most believed this was the first of many appearances the starlet would make for United over the next decade or so. He starred for the United youth team in the FA Youth Cup final against Sheffield United, where he scored twice in a 6-3 aggregate win over two legs in May 2011.
While being dubbed the next great English prospect that summer, things started to take a turn for the worse off the field for Morrison. Later that month Morrison was ordered to undergo domestic violence counselling after his third assault charge in as many years was brought against him, but it was dropped after his then girlfriend refused to testify. Morrison was also cautioned in 2008 for assaulting his mother, as well as another assault charge against the same girlfriend two years prior to this incident, but she again failed to testify. Featuring prominently for England at U16, U17 and U18 youth levels, the judge presiding over the hearings, district judge Jonathan Feinstein, had this to say to Morrison about his previous charges:
“I’m sure you appreciate that this behaviour is not acceptable. You are somebody with a considerable future [ahead of you] and you must at all times understand that, no matter what the provocation, loss of temper is not acceptable.”
The 2011-12 season saw Morrison edge his way closer to the Manchester United first team.In October, he came off the bench in the League Cup against Aldershot in a 3-0 win, and then featured in the next round loss to Crystal Palace after replacing Dimitar Berbatov at half-time.
Morrison was only contracted by United until the end of the 2011-12 season, and had offered him a new deal, which he refused, according to Sir Alex Ferguson. “We have offered him terms, which he has refused. His demands are unrealistic. His agent has been working hard to get him another club.” he said. United rejected an approach from Newcastle early in the January transfer window, and it took until deadline day for him to find a taker for the youngster – Sam Allardyce decided to take a chance.
West Ham announced the signing of Morrison on a three-and-a-half-year contract for a fee believed to be around £650,000. At the time, this was seen as a real coup for the club, to bring in a talent once hailed by Ferguson as ‘the best player he had seen at that age’. Shortly after signing however, Morrison was caught up in an FA probe about a homophobic tweet he sent out. After investigation, Morrison was fined £7,000 by the FA for his latest off the field antic.
“A brilliant footballer. Brilliant ability. Top class ability. Needs to get away from Manchester and start a new life” Allardyce said about his new signing, who had to be content with a place in the Development Squad before his first senior appearance for the Hammers came on the 17th of March against Leeds United, coming on for Jack Collison late in the game.
Having gained promotion that season, Allardyce decided it was best to loan out Morrison for the 2012-13 season, instead of tinkering with his side trying to find a place for him, so he was sent to Birmingham City on a seasons loan. Morrison featured in both of Birmingham’s first two games of the season, but was then dropped, and a lack of determination and poor work ethic nearly drove manager Lee Clark to terminate his loan contract early. “Sometimes when he gets disappointed if he’s not in the starting XI, it affects his training performances.”
After two months out of the team, Clark recalled Morrison for a home game against Leicester City in October, where he stole the show. His creative passing and trickery was often too good for his team-mates, spurring him on to become a first-team regular for the Championship side. Morrison began to ‘knuckle down’ at Birmingham, so says Clark, who believed he has similar talent to an England legend.
“I think he’s shown people what he’s about. I can comment because I was around Paul Gascoigne at the same age. They have the same natural ability. He just goes past people with ease; as if they’re not there. He sees a pass quickly and he can deliver the pass.Paul only had his problems later in life when he picked up the injuries. But he’s so much like Rav – they’re at their happiest when they’re on the football pitch. They love it in a genuine way and not because of the trappings that come with it.”
Morrison featured against Millwall the next week, where a reporter for the Birmingham Mail had this to say about Morrison: “it wasn’t just his elegant, effortless ability on the ball and passing, but work rate, too”. It appears that his sit down with Lee Clark had done him a lot of good, as he went on to make 30 appearances for the club that season, scoring three times.
It was the next season where Ravel came into the public limelight. Featuring prominently in West Ham’s pre-season ahead of the 2013-14 campaign, Morrison was handed the No. 15 shirt and was guaranteed a place in the first team squad, much to the fans’ delight, as his ingenuity and guile in the final third of the pitch was a much-craved asset in a team desperately lacking a creative spark.
Handed his full debut in the League Cup against Chesterfield, Morrison scored his first West Ham goal, the first of many we had hoped. He bagged his first Premier League goal with the opener in a 3-2 home defeat to Everton, as he continued to regularly feature for West Ham, making 21 appearances and scoring five goals over the first half of the season, but it was the away trip to Tottenham which really caught the public’s eye.
On the 6th of October, Morrison scored West Ham’s third goal in a 3-0 win at White Hart Lane, a goal that would be voted ‘Goal of the Season’ by Hammers fans. A wonderful solo effort as he glides past challenges to chip Hugo Lloris from close range, and as a result he was called up to the England U21 set up. He made his U21 debut on October 10th in a 4-0 away win at San Marino, and scored his first U21 goal in a 5-0 win over Lithuania. He was always impressing in training as well.
West Ham’s form took a turn for the worse over the Christmas period, forcing Allardyce to make tough decisions, such has leaving out the in-form Morrison to play a more rigid, defensive formation as we looked to grind out results. Morrison was loaned out again, this time to QPR with Harry Redknapp to help their promotion push. During his three month loan spell, he scored six times in 15 games for QPR as they gained promotion via the play-offs.
Scoring 13 goals in 33 appearances for club and country during the 2013-14 season was an impressive feat from Morrison, one that didn’t go unnoticed by Allardyce, who wanted the player to become a key player in his side ahead of the 2014-15 season – provided he could keep himself out of trouble off the field, a task that proved to tough to complete.
Morrison was remanded in custody in late July after being accused of ‘punching and slapping’ his ex-girlfriend and mother. He was released on bail after three days in custody. He was due to go on trial for threatening to throw acid over his girlfriends face, at one point threatened to blow up her house, and then have her killed, which he pleaded non-guilty to. The chargers have since been dropped for these accusations, as well as the assault charges from July as he was set to stand trial this month.
“It’s not that he has to impress me as a footballer, we know about his talent. It’s about playing the talent and himself to a disciplined life in general, is what needs to happen with Rav. If that happens we’d want him here.” Allardyce said about Morrison at the start of the 2014-15 season.
Morrison made one appearance for West Ham this season, in their defeat to Sheffield United in the League Cup, and in September 2014 he was sent to Cardiff City on a loan deal until January. He made seven appearances for the club, and then had his loan deal cut short, citing ‘personal reasons’ for this. Allardyce decided enough was enough, and made Morrison available for transfer this month, with his contract expiring in the summer.
No takers from Premier League sides, as he was offered to Newcastle, the club previously interested in him as a youngster at Manchester United, turned down the chance to sign him. It now looks like Morrison will join Lazio on a pre-contract agreement and join them next season.
He has all the talent in the world; he takes your breath away at times, figuratively and literally, unfortunately. His rash nature and uncontrollable anger makes him a headache for any manager. He has no footballing future if he can;t get his head down. Maybe he can do that in Italy, out of the spotlight of the British media. I fear this is the last time we hear anything relevant about Ravel Morrison, as his career will fade away into nothingness, and will be spoken about in the same sentence as Freddy Adu as ‘what might have been’ footballers.
