Where Are They Now – Andy ‘Jock’ Morrison

This edition in the Where Are They Now series takes a look at the career of Andy ‘Jock’ Morrison.

ANDY MORRISON – Born 30th July 1970 Inverness, Scotland.

Andy, widely known as Jock due to his country of birth, moved to Plymouth with his family when he was three years old. He joined Argyle as a trainee he was given his first team debut by manager Dave Smith as a seventeen year old when he came on as a substitute on 27th February 1988 in a 5-2 defeat at Aston Villa with Tommy Tynan and Kevin Hodges scoring the Argyle goals. It was the only appearance he made that season.

He fared slightly better during the 1988-89 when he played in the last two games of the season, the first a 3-1 win at home to Oxford with Adrian Burrows, Tommy Tynan and Mark Stuart all scoring.
His other appearance came in the final game a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.
The following season he began to appear more regularly in the first team, making nineteen league and three cup appearances, he also scored his first league goal on 31st March in a 1-0 win at home to Ipswich.

By the start of the 1990-91 season Jock had developed into an uncompromising centre half whose style of play led him to picking up injuries, although he was by now a first team regular, making 32 league and three cup appearances. He even managed to score two goals, he scored the first goal in an easy 4-1 win at home to Hull with Danny Salman scoring a rare double and Robbie Turner getting the other one.
He also got the first goal in a 3-3 draw at home to Oxford with Danny Salman and an own goal securing a point for Argyle.

As far as his goalscoring exploits went 1991-92 was his best in a green shirt scoring three in the league and one in the cup. He started early in the season when he scored in a first round League Cup game at Shrewsbury which ended in a 1-1 draw. His next came on New Year’s Day in a 3-2 win at home to Portsmouth when he scored in between goals from Robbie Turner and Dwight Marshall.

Jock’s career at Home Park became uncertain after Peter Shilton took over as manager on 2nd March and despite scoring in his first game in charge, a 1-1 draw at home to Derby the two strong characters never hit it off.
Jock scored his third league goal of the season in a 3-1 win at home to Oxford, after he had scored the opener, goals from Nicky Marker and David Lee made the points safe.
Despite being a fans favourite Peter Shilton was determined to look for a buyer for Jock who was now one of the most sought after defenders outside of the top flight and one of the club’s biggest assets to raise the funds to bring in his own players.
Even though he knew he had no long term future at the club he continued to give 100% in every game he played until a £500,000 bid plus Wayne Burnett from Blackburn manager Kenny Dalglish signalled the end of his Argyle career.

He played his last game on 12th April 1993 in a memorable 5-2 win at West Brom with a Steve Castle hat-trick and one each from Paul Dalton and Martin Barlow sending the Argyle fans home happy.
After making 133 appearances and scoring seven goals he was on his way to Ewood Park.
I never realised until I was looking at his scoring record but all six of his league goals were scored at Home Park and six of the seven he scored were the first goal of the game.

Jock found it difficult to break in to a star studded Blackburn team, in the seventeen months he spent at the club he only started one league and one FA Cup game making another four league appearances when he came on as a substitute. The lack of opportunities meant he had to look elsewhere for first team football and when an offer of £245,000, a club record fee, came in from Blackpool he was soon on his way to Bloomfield Road.

He signed for Blackpool on 9th December 1994 and made his debut the following day in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth, unfortunately he was booked in the game and as a result of the disciplinary points he had accrued he was suspended for the next two games, it was not the first, nor would it be the last suspension of his career.
He had eighteen fairly successful months at Blackpool making 53 appearances and scoring three goals when Huddersfield signed him on for a fee of £500,000.

Injuries and suspensions limited Jock’s appearances with Huddersfield in one and a half seasons he made 44 appearances scoring two goals when after a disagreement the manager he was loaned out to Manchester City. Jock only made one appearance, in which he scored a goal, while out on loan but it was enough for City to make an offer of £80,000 for him to join the club permanently.

He joined Manchester City on 6th November 1998 for the most successful period of his career. Jock’s leadership qualities led him to being made captain and he led his team to victory in the 1998-99 Division 2 play-off final at Wembley over Gillingham.
His performances in Division 1 brought him to the attention of Scotland manager Craig Brown and it was rumoured he was going to be called up to play in a Euro 2000 qualifier against England. Unfortunately after only twelve games he picked up an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season.

With City finishing as runners-up they were promoted to the Premiership with new players being brought in for the new season. At the start of the 2000-01 season to gain match fitness Jock was loaned out to former club Blackpool for a month.
He made six appearances scoring one goal but was booked three times.

He returned to Maine Road after the month was up and right away joined Crystal Palace for another month to continue to gain fitness. He played five more games before again returning to Manchester City. Although he was now match fit he had to wait another month before he played for his parent club, his chance came on 19th December in a league cup game at home to Ipswich, unfortunately for Jock Ipswich won the game 2-1 despite him being awarded the man of the match award.

Due to disciplinary points picked up in reserve games he was unable to play again until New Year’s Day when he made his Premiership debut in a 1-1 draw at Coventry when he again was voted man of the match by the travelling City fans.
Five days later Jock scored with a bullet header in a third round FA Cup game in a 3-2 win at home to Birmingham. On 18th February in a fifth round FA Cup game at Liverpool he was substituted and ended up squirting Liverpool fans with water which resulted in him being cautioned by the police.
A month later he was loaned out to Sheffield United for the rest of the season. Unfortunately he was only able to play in four games as he sustained an injury that would ultimately lead to the end of his playing career.
At the end of the season City were relegated to Division 1 and Kevin Keegan was appointed manager.
Jock continued to train hard and was praised for his efforts by his manager, but with no improvement in his injury was released after making 47 appearances and scoring four goals.

At the end of 2002 Jock had a trial with Bury in an attempt to revive his playing career but was only able to play the first half of a reserve game before the injury forced him to retire.

Despite an appalling disciplinary record Jock had become a cult figure at both Blackpool and Manchester City for his never say die performances. City fans voted him as their third best ever captain behind Roy Paul and former Argyle player Tony Book. He was inducted into the Blackpool Hall of Fame in 2006 with their fans voting him as one of their all-time heroes. He is also an official Fan Ambassador at Maine Road.

With his playing career over Jock became assistant manager to Andy Preece at Worcester City. He remained there until he resigned in April 2007. When Andy Preece took over as manager at Northwich Victoria Jock joined him as part of the management team.
On 16th January 2012 all of the first team management resigned. Northwich reported that Preece was to become Director of Football at the Welsh Premier League club Airbus UK Broughton and the following day Jock was appointed as assistant manager with the club, a position he still holds.

plymouthvital@aol.co.uk