Michael Morrison’s exit from Charlton Athletic in October 2014 always felt like another prime example of the Roland Duchatelet era being totally unaware of the valuable playing commodity that they had in their ranks.
The centre-back’s first season in SE7 saw the Addicks win the 2012 League One title in emphatic fashion.
Morrison was one of four in Chris Powell’s squad to make the divisional PFA Team of the Season, along with Ben Hamer, Rhoys Wiggins and Johnnie Jackson. He made 50 appearances in all competitions and scored five goals.
The Suffolk-born player was the very definition of a key first-teamer. The following season he featured 45 times as Charlton finished ninth in the Championship. Morrison went on to rack up another 51 games in the 2013-14 campaign.
So when Morrison signed a new two-year contract that summer, it felt like he was going nowhere soon.
But just over three months later, his Charlton career was over.
Morrison joined Birmingham City on loan on October 31 before becoming Blues boss Gary Rowett’s first permanent signing at the start of January 2015. Charlton had tried - and failed - to sell Morrison to Romanian side Astra Giurgiu, who were competing in the UEFA Europa League.
Michael Morrison/Picture: PA Images
Before we get to the point of Morrison’s departure, let’s add some more context. Bob Peeters had been appointed as Charlton manager in May 2014, replacing Jose Riga.
“Within three days of pre-season starting we went to Standard Liege and played them on an astroturf pitch,” Morrison told South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition. “Normally when you start pre-season you tend to have a build-up before you have a game. But we went straight into the football.
“I was still a little bit rusty because I hadn’t played since the end of last season. The ball came over my shoulder, I fell over and one of their guys scored. It was a really poor mistake by myself but, at the same time, we were three days into pre-season. If that had been with Chris then you would normally say: ‘We are three days in - it doesn’t matter’.
“But with Bob it was his first impression of me. He might have watched videos of our games before but he can only see what was there. It wasn’t very helpful. The lads were taking the mick afterwards while we were having dinner but I wasn’t joining in with the laughing. I was thinking ‘this is going to be a problem for me’.
