Dons’ Board pushed for Tommy’s dream debut
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes picked the team he thought was best equipped to beat Celtic in yesterday’s Premiership game at Parkhead.
The days when club directors had a big influence on team selection are mostly gone.
It was a lot different when Tommy Morrison made a shock debut for the Dons at Celtic Park in 1963.
Pressure from up above convinced the manager to re-model his forward line.
Tommy recalled: “I’d always been a midfield player when I signed for Aberdeen from Kilsyth Rangers.
“But two of their strikers were injured when I arrived and they were struggling for someone to play up front for the reserves.
“I was put in as a striker and started scoring for fun.
“The first team was struggling for goals a bit at the start of the 1963-64 season. The newspapers were asking why the club should buy someone when there was a young player scoring every week in the reserve team.
“I believe the directors had a meeting with the manager, Tommy Pearson, and suggested he should be playing me.
“I then got a phone call from the manager, saying that I’d be in the first team on Saturday.
“I had to admit that I didn’t know who we were playing that week and was amazed to hear it was Celtic at Parkhead.
“We were beaten 3-0. But being picked for the match gave me a big boost.
“It was also an education to play against defenders like Tommy Gemmell, Dunky McKay and John Cushley.
“I was pretty fast in my day but the Celtic players never looked rushed.
“They weren’t quicker running across the ground, but they were quicker in their thinking.”
Tommy’s debut was also remarkable because it came 33 years after his father, Jock, played his first game for Celtic against Aberdeen.
He said: “Football seemed to be in the genes because my older brother, Willie, played for Portsmouth and Queen of the South.
“My father won the League, Scottish Cup and Empire Exhibition Cup with Celtic.
“Aberdeen chief scout Bobby Calder asked him if he minded me joining Aberdeen.
“He was in favour of the move because he thought I’d have a better chance of making it and there wouldn’t be the pressure of being the son of a well-known player.”
Tommy was the only member of Aberdeen’s front four to be picked for their next game, but he suffered torn ankle ligaments after just 20 minutes against Kilmarnock.
He scored in five consecutive matches during his second season, but was sold to Port Vale by new manager Eddie Turnbull.
He went on: “Things were fine at Port Vale under Jackie Mudie until Stanley Matthews arrived as General Manager.
“He told me I was too old, at 23, for what he had in mind. His plan was to bring in schoolboys and coach them.
“I could hardly believe what I was hearing.”
Celtic’s assistant manager Sean Fallon then organised for Tommy to play for Sligo Rovers, where his father was chairman.
They reached the semi-final of the cup during his time flying to Ireland.
He joined St Johnstone on his return from Irish football. But a season in their reserves left him disillusioned with the senior game.
He returned to Junior football and won the Scottish Junior Cup with Cambuslang Rangers in 1974, scoring the opening goal against Linlithgow Rose at Hampden.
Now 74, Tommy is retired from his job as a council transport manager.