I COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR MOR

STEVE Morison has thanked both Hornchurch and Sutton United for giving him the chance to say a proper goodbye to the Urchins supporters.

Appointed in the summer – less than a year after managing Cardiff City in the Championship – Morison led Hornchurch to the summit of the Isthmian Premier League, losing just two of his 27 games at the helm.

But the 40-year-old departed in dramatic fashion last weekend, personally announcing that he’d agreed to join the EFL’s bottom side Sutton in the Hornchurch clubhouse just minutes after

a 1-1 draw against Horsham.

“The two clubs came to an agreement on Friday night, before they played Plymouth and we played Horsham,” explained the former Millwall, Norwich and Leeds striker.

Rumour mill

“I wanted to take that game, just to try and get one more win and say goodbye to all the people who’ve been really good to me. Both clubs agreed it would be a nice thing to do, which I really appreciated.

“I ended up telling the players about ten minutes before the game started.

There was a bit of an atmosphere, which is often the way when the rumour mill starts in football. I wanted to clear that out of the way, get the elephant out of the room.

“Once the game finished, me and the owner (Alex Sharp) went into the clubhouse and told the fans what was going on.

“It was nice to do it like that. It’s not something that would happen normally. One way or another, you leave a club and it’s kind of sayonara, goodbye, off into the distance.

“The whole thing was a credit to everyone involved. To Sutton for allowing me to take that last game. To Alex for looking after me and treating me so well when Sutton came in. To the fans who wished me well.

Brave decision

“It made it very difficult to leave but it meant I could walk into Sutton on Monday morning with no bad blood, no ill feeling and crack on with a new adventure.” Morison was delighted that his decision to make the five-division drop to manage Hornchurch earned a move back to the EFL.

“It was a brave decision,” he said. “Not everyone would have done it. But I backed myself to put a team together that could compete in that league. I’m really pleased people took notice.

“Ultimately, it’s no different to when you’re a player. It doesn’t matter how good you think you are. It doesn’t matter where you’ve played or what you’ve done.

“You’re only worth what someone is willing to pay for you and you’re only going to play for someone who wants you. Nobody has a divine right to work anywhere.”