James Morrison of West Bromwich Albion arrives at the stadium on the team bus during the Sky Bet Championship Play-off Semi Final Second Leg match between West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa at The Hawthorns on May 14, 2019 in West Bromwich, England.
West Bromwich Albion have appointed James Morrison as assistant manager of the U23 side.
Morrison, 34, announced his retirement from playing in October of last year. He’d spent 12 consecutive seasons with the club – only three of which in the Championship – making 341 appearances in total, and scoring 39 goals.
The club initially offered Morrison a voluntary role working in the youth set-up, but now he’s been offered a full-time role with the U23 squad.
Speaking on the appointment, academy boss Richard Stevens explained how Morrison has quickly adapted to his new post-playing career, and how he expects Morrison to flourish with the U23 side:
“We’re looking to re-shape the Under 23s programme a little bit which we hope will give the players a better chance to develop within the game,” Stevens told www.wba.co.uk.
“James will now play a big part in that and I’m delighted he has taken up this opportunity. He grew into it, started to love it and then you could see this massive desire to help with the 18s and 23s.
“He’s been outstanding and it’s brilliant to have a player of his significance to the whole club able to now impart that experience and leadership.”
This season at West Brom has seen a number of younger players break into Slaven Bilic’s first-team. The likes of Nathan Ferguson, Kyle Edwards and Rekeem Harper to name a few, have all prevailed in the Championship.
Bilic is definite trying to usher the next generation of young Baggies into his side, with many of them having worked their way up and through development as well.
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