Jody Morris ?

[RED4LIFE]

Some of you are writing this signing off far too easily. Your team has obvious problems with professionalism and Del is trying to change that.

When Jody Morris came to Saints there was many posts like these about his past. There were doubters. So what did we get? A star.

Club captain, settled with a family, great with supporters, no problems on or off the pitch. He was clearly very well liked by the players and staff and was the heart and soul of the dressing room. We had a team that gave 100%, every game and he was part of that.

As a player Jody still has class. Almost never loses the ball and works his ass off to win it. Classy player who always played better against better teams. Always stood out against the old firm. Hes not that creative but he will likely sit a bit deeper than that and dictate play.

Frank Lampard said last season he could easily still cut it in the prem. Xavi said hes the hardest player hes ever played against. Morris isn't exactly a washed up has been. Hes a winner and if your not winning and not trying in his team you will know about it. Sounds to me thats exactly what you need.

Thanks for an informed opinion SaintsB.

Personally, I half expected this signing to be honest considering he was Del's voice on the pitch at Saintees.

Yes, I would have preferred to sign someone younger with potential, but those players tend to cost money and if JM can do a decent job for us (which I think he will) then we have got a bargain.

He has had his issues in the past, but seems to have grown up a lot over the last few years both personally and professionally which is why I wont judge him until I see him play.

Welcome to Bristol City Jody. I hope you enjoy it down here.

[formerly known as ivan]

Fine for me. Low risk signing, good player.

Can see us signing a free agent keeper, leaving money to be spent on CB LB and a ST to go with Stead.

That would mean were still lacking the quality midfielder we have been after for years now.

As his career will tell you Morris is not very good. Certainly no better than what we already have.

As for whoever said he being a low risk signing, this isn't low risk. It's very much in risk as our midfield is already worse than last season.

Regretting renewing my season ticket already

[slartibartfast]

if he was 5 years younger i'd be delighted, as it is will wait and see how he plays

5 years younger he may still have had his "trouble head" on.

[TRL]

The only issue I have is Morris, is now more of a holding midfielder. Now, that isn't really an area of midfield that were are short on! I don't mind the signing, on the pitch, his voice and command of the game will be of benefit. I only hope his signing, does not stop us signing that creative passer that we are so missing in midfield. If he is our only midfield signing (Pearson aside) I will think we are still not addressing our real problems in midfield.

[Tins]

Pro's: Worked with Del before, has a passion for the game, will bring leadership qualities

Con's: Worse than Cisse (meaning midfield has got worse), Very short term, Not creative (meaning won't sign creative player we need), Already have 2/3 players in his position.

In my opinion this is a bad signing, waste of money, no improvement on what we have got.

Most disappointing signing we have made for a while.

[chipdawg]

Can't say this signing excites me, but I think it all depends on the context. Morris is likely to be on relatively low wages, perhaps (as others have intimated) with the promise if help to obtain his coaching badges. I would personally like to think that we'll be looking to sign another centre midfield player (possibly moving Kilkenny and/or Elliot out) as with the best will in the world, he's a near 34 year old stepping up to a more physically demanding and higher-quality league so he's not going to be able to play 46+ games this year. That said, in the past Morris has always been a talented player, he's just been an utter @#%$ to go with it. If he's calmed down and is more focused then he can do a good job for us

On his past indiscretions, I still find what he, Terry et al did on 9/11 utterly repugnant and drink driving remains a dangerously irresponsible act, but everyone (even Luke McCormack) deserves a shot at redemption. He's behaved himself for 6 years now, he should be given a chance

[RobArnold10]

That would mean were still lacking the quality midfielder we have been after for years now.

As his career will tell you Morris is not very good. Certainly no better than what we already have.

As for whoever said he being a low risk signing, this isn't low risk. It's very much in risk as our midfield is already worse than last season.

Regretting renewing my season ticket already

Very harsh fella, Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. Think the positions I highlighted are seen as priority and will be what Del works at most. If he can get Morris and others on board for frees then it provides a stop-gap till next season to then focus on when other rooms in the house are in order. Good busineds IMO.

I think people are hiding behind his age a bit, and I hope people are proved wrong about him.

[Andy Horsman]

Pro's: Worked with Del before, has a passion for the game, will bring leadership qualities

Con's: Worse than Cisse (meaning midfield has got worse), Very short term, Not creative (meaning won't sign creative player we need), Already have 2/3 players in his position.

In my opinion this is a bad signing, waste of money, no improvement on what we have got.

Most disappointing signing we have made for a while.

Can't help feeling the same! Will obviously be Cisse's cut price placement and without raking up old arguments, impressing against St. Mirren, Dunfirmline, Kilmarnock etc etc is not the same as having an impact against the likes of Wolves, Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday. I wish him well, and I genuinely hope I am made to 'eat my words', but I am seriously underwhelmed at this stage.

p.s. Comparisons with Hartley are way off the mark, he was a current international, with recent Champions League experience, and was exactly what we needed at the time, creativity. Morris is more of what we already have IMO.

[Murraysrightplum]

Yay another holding midfielder! To be fair this is a clear signal that Cisse and maybe one other is on the way out. Still looking for that elusive creative midfielder then?

[Monkeh]

I got a sneaking feeling our new right back is going to be Cole Skuse

[Super]

Yay another holding midfielder! To be fair this is a clear signal that Cisse and maybe one other is on the way out. Still looking for that elusive creative midfielder then?

the difference is this one can pass

[Devereux]

I think he is a replacement for Cisse. I dont think he is that much worse than Cisse. As combative as Cisse was his distribution was not great. I believe that Jody can win as much ball as Cisse with his aggressive nature, but he can also stroke the ball about from the back and control the tempo of a game (as Saints man said). That said, he could prove to be an upgrade on Cisse.....who knows, excited to find out.

I think Derek is still going to add someone more creative in midfield to go with him. Remember that Derek said he wanted to add a creative midfielder while he was still hoping Cisse signed his new contract.

Morris + creative midfielder = good business

[SaintB]

Have a look at goal 8 here.

Wins the ball with a drag back, reverse passes whilst looking the opposite direction to throw the defender a dummy then cracks a volley into the top corner with his weaker foot. This goals shows all aspects of Jody's game. Of course he's a washed up has-been though.

And before it's brought up that its easy to do this sort of thing against 'diddy opposition', Motherwell will be playing Champions league this season.

http://www.skysports...1,19893,00.html

[Tins]

I think he is a replacement for Cisse. I dont think he is that much worse than Cisse. As combative as Cisse was his distribution was not great. I believe that Jody can win as much ball as Cisse with his aggressive nature, but he can also stroke the ball about from the back and control the tempo of a game (as Saints man said). That said, he could prove to be an upgrade on Cisse.....who knows, excited to find out.

I think Derek is still going to add someone more creative in midfield to go with him. Remember that Derek said he wanted to add a creative midfielder while he was still hoping Cisse signed his new contract.

Morris + creative midfielder = good business

I think you'll find Morris is our new creative midfielder. That is what it says on the Bristol City website anyway.

I got a sneaking feeling our new right back is going to be Cole Skuse

Joe Edwards has signed a new contract, and we have Foster.

[ciderincornwall]

Thanks SaintB - i'm holding judgement until he has actually played for us.

[john shaws hair]

jobs for the boys...... again ,blokes a scummer as mentioned early wana be joey barton differance is barton can play a bit morris cant thats why hes plyed his trade in scotland disapointed is a understatment

[Brislingwood Red]

Then you have problems understanding football matters, he is a quality player that will do us a job, what is there to be disappointed with (Hugely?)

Disappointed that we've signed a player who was released by Millwall a few years ago and failed to obtain a contract at either Brentford or Bradford after a trial period. A player who's playing in the footballing backwater that is the SPL at tge age of 34. That's why I'm hugely disappointed. If your happy to settle for another relegation scrap then fair play to you, I'm not and that's why I was hopeful of better signings.

[SaintB]

jobs for the boys...... again ,blokes a scummer as mentioned early wana be joey barton differance is barton can play a bit morris cant thats why hes plyed his trade in scotland disapointed is a understatment

Nothing like Joey Barton. I don't think he had a single red card in his 4 years at Saints and has never had a single bit of trouble. He's also a family man who has never been in the press once in the last 4 years other than positive stories. The reason he escaped to Scotland was his reputation was so tarnished in England we were the only ones prepared to give him a chance. His reputation didn't matter up here.

St Johstone got lucky - we would never have got a player like Morris without some baggage. Lucky for us he left his baggage back in his youth and we got a cracking player.

[real_bristol]

Dels Dad's Army, Ahoy!

It would appear that we never learn in the transfer market. Our 3 summer signings are 30,35/36 and now 33/34. So much for not signing journeymen looking for one last pay day.

Tbh I couldnt give a monkey's if Jody Morris is the greatest thing since sliced bread, in the next year or two we will have to replace him again, having spunked a huge signing on fee, and wages with a player that will get us nothing in return

As a side note, he got booked 8 times last season, so given our new found disciplinary issues, should fit right in.

I give up

Good. Please stay away from Ashton Gate.

[SaintB]

A player who's playing in the footballing backwater that is the SPL at tge age of 34.

Last post on the subject because this type of post tends to 'boil my piss'.

The SPL may not be the best league in the world and it doesn't pretend to be. However, aside from maybe the top 3 or 4 teams the championship is no better than the SPL. I follow Middlesbrough and Blackburn so have been to many Championship and Premier League games and the standard isn't that great. It's overhyped, like much of English football. Jody played in the top end of the SPL so the Championship will be comfortable for him.

[glynriley]

Morris will be a coach after it.So making him captain in the team,makes perfect sense .As he will have authority over the same group off players afterwards.And Del was playing in the EPL for WBA at the same age as Morris.Seems like most off your fans,do not even know about your own managers carer

Why does Del need a carer ? Some might say this signing proves why !!

Pesronally , I agree with what some others have said. We need to trust Del's judgement on this one. I'm not one of those who writes a player off before giving him a chance to prove himself , so we'll see come October / November if he's the answer or not.

[Chivs]

What almost everyone seems to be missing is this quote from McInnes:

"

I feel it's important we bring in the right players but also the right types as well and Jody fits that bracket

"

Whether or not Morris is better than our existing players (I have no idea not really following other teams...), he sounds like a forceful player. And I think that everyone would agree that all of our other midfielders are not forceful types.

For the same reason I'd like us to sign McManus. He may be no better technically than Fontaine, Nyatanga etc but he's got a bit of steel abotu him. We've massively missed this recently.

Fontaine, Skuse and Elliot as captain is laughable. Morris as captain is probable. Good move Derek.

[ciderincornwall]

If he's retained 50% of his talent then its a hell of a lot more than anything else we have here and I'd prefer to believe the views of Frank Lampard and someone who watched him week in and week out than some the wiki fans on here (and don't kid yourselves that the championship is better quality than the SPL - as McInnes has said, it aint, just more "athletic").

He's on a free transfer, its no risk.

+1

[Strictly Obi]

In all honesty, even with the inclusion of Morris - we still have quite a young side.

We benefited greatly from having Paul Hartley in the short spell he was with us.

Once again too many on here slagging of players before they have even kicked a ball for us!

[Bar BS3]

Del has worked with him for over 4 years. Del has had time to have a good look at what we are in need of around our club and on the pitch. SaintB has watched him play regularly over a period of 4 years.

Both of these people rate him, so who are half the people on here to write him off before he has even kicked a ball for us..?!

For those slagging the guy off, for immature mistakes that he himself aknowledges, which go back 10 years or so... Really??!! Some people need to take a good hard look at themselves before acting so high & ****ing mighty towards someone who has clearly worked hard to reform and become the model pro that he appears to be today!

Welcome to Bristol Jody - all the best!

[i_am_red]

Decent signing, in Del we trust.

Whatever signing we made would be knocked on here its part and parcel of OTIB. That's why we all love/hate it.

As for his past, he has been a bit of a scamp but he has truly matured the last couple of years and seems a decent character nowadays. Comparing him to John Terry and Joey Barton, players who have claimed to have matured but are still causing controversy and players like McCormack and Marlon King are slight exaggerations.

Del is building a side to compete, Morris will compete. A player with big experience and previous potential who has been humbled by his downfall and still has a passion and a desire to prove he can play at a good level. I am happy with that.

[ron10bc]

He's a free transfer on a 1 year contract why are people stressing?

[i_am_red]

He's a free transfer on a 1 year contract why are people stressing?

He could be playing for free, being our main consultunt on bamboo pits and manning the (now more expensive) hot dog stand at half time and people would still question his worth to the club.

I love being a City fan.

[Monkeh]

He's a free transfer on a 1 year contract why are people stressing?

Spot on its not as if we've given him or carey 5 year contracts is it?

We are very short of quilty numbers Del trusts him so we must trust del,

He hasn't let us down so far in the transfer market

[Kermit the Frog]

I find it funny how people say how Del and Doc have done a great job here so far and how they trust his judgement, but when he brings in a player that he knows better than most on a low risk low cost contract his decisions get slagged off and within minutes of signing!

Wait until we see him play, i am sure he won't disappoint and if he does then hey-ho he doesn't get into the starting eleven.

And for those who want to reply saying that our midfield just got worse then don't panic lads. Jesus christ its 13th of June, the transfer window doesn't shut for over 2 months yet!

Good signing, welcome to Bristol Jody