Cheers, Morro...

 

Another hero of the 2011/12 League One championship winning season departs. Unsurprisingly (or at least not to me) central defender, Michael Morrison, will join Birmingham when his current loan deal with the same club expires. The fee has not been disclosed, but I would hope it's no small figure and will be transferred straight into Big Bob's fighting fund for the January transfer window.

 

I will fondly remember Morro's leadership and undeniable selfless defensive qualities, but I think it is fair to say that his ability on the ball is the reason his time at Charlton has come to an end. With Peeters favouring a passing game, Morro was always going to find it increasingly difficult to play. For me, Morro was sometimes guilty of looking for a long ball a bit too quickly, although I appreciate this may well have been under instruction.

 

I know there will be some that believe Morro has been treated badly since he resigned for Charlton in the summer, but I don't go along with that. Reading briefly some comments on twitter I see there are some that don't understand why we have let him go. I think Morro's last six months at Charlton are easier to understand if you will allow yourself to do so.

 

In short, I suspect Morro knew exactly the risks of resigning a new deal in the summer with a new, largely unknown manager coming in, but I also suspect he was more than happy to do so. He wasn't forced to re-sign, don't forget, and he would have had other offers. At the same time, Charlton done the right thing in securing his services; they got someone they knew they could rely on with a new season fast approaching. After all, we the fans would have gone mental if they hadn't, wouldn't we?

 

Whatever the good intentions (and why believe anything different?) it never worked out. Morro is not a man to sit on the bench, and when Peeters chose Bikey and TBH as his first choice center-backs (and few would argue against that now), it would be my guess Morro was banging on Peeters door daily. I wouldn't blame him, but that's obviously not good for Charlton.

 

There are times when us Charlton fans flatter ourselves in thinking players never want to leave our great club, and that is wrong. This is football. Moves like this are part of the game. Clubs move in a different direction and as a result some players move on. Simple.

 

That doesn't stop us remembering the good times, and with Morro there was many.

 

In all, Morro played 150 times for the Addicks, scoring 8 goals along the way.

 

To his undoubted credit, I think it's fair to say that Morro will fall within that rare 'former player' category that will get a very warm reception when he next faces Charlton. He deserves that. Good luck Morro, thanks for the memories.